Floor Statements

Mr. President, I have notified a number of Members--I had a meeting with them at 9 o'clock this morning--that because of a Senator not allowing us to move forward on this legislation last night and throwing every procedural hurdle in the way of these bills, which is now in the form of one bill, we are going to have a vote Sunday morning in the Senate. So everyone should understand, Sunday morning we are going to have a vote in the Senate.

I have had a number of meetings with President-elect Obama. We have a lot to do. I spoke with Senator Mikulski right before coming in. I have spoken with Senator Kennedy today. The Ledbetter legislation, to make things more fair for people, especially women, is the next piece of legislation we are going to move to after this bill. We have just a few days to do all this work.

As President-elect Obama has said, there are people out there who would love to work on Sunday. We are going to have to spend time on Saturdays, Sundays, and nighttime, especially during the first several months of this difficult time in which we find ourselves in this country. Everything that should be up is down. Alcoa is laying off 13,500 people today. The word is out that they expected about 400,000 jobs to be lost this month. They are reporting within the next few hours almost 700,000 jobs were lost this month. Do you think we can work a weekend, maybe take a Saturday vote or a Sunday vote? I think we better do that. Senators should cancel their travel plans this weekend.

I have a family just like everyone else does, and I would rather not be here this weekend. But I want everyone to understand--I am glad Republicans are on their retreat. That is important. We are going to have one later on. I hope the staff will alert them that on Sunday we are going to have a vote. I am sorry for the inconvenience, but as President-elect Obama has said, there are people out there who would like to be able to work on Sunday. They would like to work anytime; they don't have jobs. Mr. President, 670,000 people this month have lost jobs. Think about that--670,000 people have lost jobs.

Mr. President I want to say just one thing. This is Senator Byrd's 50th anniversary. I spoke at some length yesterday about his record. I don't want this day to go by without having acknowledged the 50th anniversary of Senator Byrd's service in the Senate. Senators will be coming to the floor today to talk about Senator Byrd's 50 years of service. At a later time, we will put that into a document and have that available for the public and individual Senators.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that the nominations to the Office of Inspector General, except the Office of Inspector General of the Central Intelligence Agency, be referred in each case to the committee having primary jurisdiction over the department, agency, or entity and, if and when reported in each case, then to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs for not to exceed 20 calendar days, except in cases when the 20-day period expires while the Senate is in recess or adjournment the committee shall have 5 additional calendar days after the Senate reconvenes to report the nomination, and that if the nomination is not reported after the expiration of that period, the nomination be automatically discharged and placed on the Executive Calendar.

Mr. President, we are going to be in a weekend session. All Democratic Senators have been told this, and Republican Senators have been notified. We earlier anticipated that the vote would be early Sunday, but I have worked with the Senate staff and we are going to be protected with postcloture time by having that vote at 2 p.m. So what we will do is come in Sunday at 1 p.m. and have a vote at 2 p.m.

There are a few procedural games people can play, if they desire, and

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until 10:30 a.m, Thursday, January 8; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and there then be a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. I further ask that the Senate recess from 3:30 p.m. until 4:45 p.m. tomorrow to accommodate a special Democratic caucus meeting.

As a reminder, Senators will gather in the Senate Chamber at 12:45 p.m. to proceed to the House Chamber for a joint session to count the electoral ballots. The joint session will commence at 1 p.m.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the joint resolution be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the joint resolution be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.