Floor Statements

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to Calendar No. 835, S. 3186, a bill to provide for the Low- Income Home Energy Assistance Program; that the bill be read three times, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to Calendar No. 835, S. 3186, a bill to provide for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, at a time to be determined by the majority leader, following consultation with the Republican leader, and that when the bill is considered, only six germane first-degree amendments be in order to the bill, three amendments from each side, and that they be subject to second-degree amendments that are germane to the first- degree to which offered; that upon the disposition of all amendments, the bill be read a third time, and the Senate then vote on passage of

the bill; that upon passage of the bill, the bill be held at the desk.

I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to Calendar No. 882, S. 3268, the gas speculation bill, at a time to be determined by the majority leader, following consultation with the Republican leader.

I certainly understand that.

I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 882, S. 3268.

Madam President, I hope matters can be arranged today so we can move to this without having to try to invoke cloture again. This would be the 83rd or 84th time we would have to do that. I hope we can work something out.

I have said, I say again today: Is speculation the only problem with high gas prices? No. But it is a problem. Everyone acknowledges that. That is evidenced by the fact that the Republican part of the energy package has a provision in there dealing with speculation. So I hope if the Republicans, when they look at the speculation bill that we have introduced, if there is a way that can be changed, we will be happy to work with them.

I would be happy to continue discussions with the minority to determine how we can proceed through this to see what amendments need to be offered.

One of the things I want to make sure everyone understands, I have been obviously here a long time, more than a quarter of a century. And during my tenure here in the Senate, it has always been, with rare exception, when we get to a bill, whether you have a Republican majority leader or a Democratic majority leader, you find out what amendments people are interested in offering and take a look at those amendments. We look at theirs, they look at ours. This does not mean you have to approve or disapprove of the amendments. But there needs to be an idea to find out if this is worth the time of the majority or minority in entering into this debate.

So I hope we can work out something. It is extremely important that we do something on speculation and other issues relating to energy, because it is a problem.

Madam President, I am so sorry, these scripts are prepared and sometimes I do not look up to see--on our side we have 11 women now in the Senate.

I commented to my wife today, now in our family we do not do ``short'' jokes, about people being short, because my wife is 5 feet tall, I have a son who is 5 feet 2 inches, and a boy who is 6 feet 2 inches. And we do not do short jokes.

We were very busy here yesterday, and I looked to the back of the Chamber, and there were Patty Murray and Barbara Boxer, both about 5 feet tall, back there talking, I am sure scheming as to what they were going to do to get something done.

This place has changed so much in the years I have been in the Senate. When I came here, we had Barbara Mikulski. Now, of course, we have, just on the Democratic side alone, 11 Democratic Senators who are women. And without any qualifications, this Senate is such a much better place because of women.

Men and women are different. They have, at least in my opinion, different thought processes and they have different abilities. So, anyway, I am sorry if I referred to the Chair as ``Mr. President'' when I know that the Senator from Arkansas is one of the fine Members of Congress, having served in the House and in the Senate, and what a pleasure it is to work with her.

Madam President, as if in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that on Thursday, July 17, that is today, at a time to be determined by the majority leader, following consultation with the Republican leader, the Senate proceed to executive session and consider the following nominations: Calendar Nos. 687 and 688; that there be 60 minutes of debate to run concurrently on both nominations, with the time equally divided and controlled between Senator Leahy and Senator Specter or their designees, with Senator Schumer controlling the chairman's time; that upon the use or yielding back of that time, the Senate proceed to vote on confirmation of Calendar No. 687; that upon the confirmation of Calendar No. 687, the Senate then proceed to vote on confirmation of Calendar No. 688; that upon confirmation of the nominations, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, en bloc, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, there be no further motions in order, and the Senate resume legislative session.

Madam President, I am not going to agree to that modification; I will tell you why.

Madam President, the hue and cry of the Republicans is that we do more judges. We wanted to do more judges. I say to my friend, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, we have lots of time on the floor. The American public sees it all the time, where we are in quorum calls. Anytime we are in a quorum call, with rare exception, Senators can come and ask that it be called off and proceed to speak for as long as they want.

We have a number of things we need to do today. There is going to be a conversation on energy. And I recognize there are some problems with the economy. Housing is a difficult problem. Energy is a difficult problem, as are gas prices and global warming, education. But I am telling you, I cannot ever remember going home and someone coming up to me and saying: Could you guys do some more judges? We need to take care of this judges problem.

As Senator Lott said when he was the majority leader, and I am repeating my friend Senator Lott's statement: Frankly, judges are not a big issue as it relates to the other problems we are facing here in America today.

So I say, if the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee wants to come and talk for 3 hours, he can do it on his own time. There is lots of time here. We have made an offer giving reasonable time to confirm two judges, and we are happy to do that. An hour is certainly more time than is normally taken. And if Senator Specter wants to come and talk about the plight of the American judiciary system, he can do that, but I wish to get these two judges approved.

If they are not going to agree to that, we are not going to do the judges. It is the Republicans' call.

Mr. President, I will make sure my friend from Pennsylvania doesn't lose a second of his time.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Pennsylvania have 3 minutes.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that morning business be closed so that I might file cloture on a motion to proceed to the speculation bill we tried to move on earlier and that once the motion is stated, the Senate return to morning business.

Mr. President, I welcome the women of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., to Capitol Hill in celebration of its centennial anniversary.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. is our Nation's first African- American sorority, and was founded on January 15, 1908. Since then, the sorority has always exemplified its motto of ``being of service to all mankind.''

Over the course of ten decades, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., has grown its membership to include over 200,000 members throughout the United States, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean. Through the years, the sorority has remained committed to improving the lives of countless Americans through its involvement in programs including the Mississippi Health Project, the Job Corps, and the African Village Development Program.

In my home State of Nevada alone, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.'s Theta Theta Omega Chapter has provided over $100,000 in scholarships to deserving African-American female Clark County high school students, while its Kappa Xi Chapter has a distinguished record of service both on the University of Nevada Las Vegas campus and throughout the community.

In the coming century, I am certain that this illustrious organization will continue to empower communities and respond to the increasingly complex issues facing the world. I commend the women of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., for their 100 years of distinguished service to our great Nation.

Mr. President, today is the 40th anniversary of Special Olympics, an organization that has touched the lives of people with intellectual disabilities in Nevada and throughout the country. This spring, I had the chance to meet with one such Special Olympics athlete: Cari Davis, a resident of Henderson, NV, who has been winning medals since beginning her athletic career in 1988. It is my privilege today to recognize the achievements of all Special Olympics athletes, as well as the

broader impact of their participation in sports.

Forty years ago, Eunice Kennedy Shriver founded Special Olympics with the belief that everyone, regardless of ability or disability, deserves opportunities to participate in sports. What began as Camp Shriver on the lawn of her Maryland home has now grown into an international organization reaching over 180 countries. Through these programs, people with intellectual disabilities can do more than just develop skills in a particular sport or improve their physical fitness. They also get opportunities to form friendships, build self-confidence, learn teamwork, and enjoy the sheer joy of the athletic experience. That is why I was pleased to help enact the Healthy Special Olympics Sport and Empowerment Act of 2004, which enabled Special Olympics to expand its programs and increase the number of athletes served.

In my home State, Special Olympics Nevada provides year-round training and competition opportunities in a variety of sports, including alpine skiing, basketball, swimming, and gymnastics. In addition to providing these activities and sponsoring competitive trials, Special Olympics offers services that promote good health, such as screenings through the Healthy Athletes Program. Larger events are also held, like the Special Olympics Nevada Summer Games that took place this June in Reno.

These events highlight more than the athletes' determination, talents, and spirit. Their participation in sports is also serving to dispel myths and change attitudes, contributing to the greater inclusion, understanding, and acceptance of people with disabilities. In fact, there are Special Olympics initiatives, like its collaboration with the school district in Clark County, NV, that give students with intellectual disabilities and other students the chance to participate in sports together. Perhaps it is these young athletes who best embody this remark by Mrs. Shriver: ``May you overturn ignorance; may you challenge indifference at every turn; and may you find great joy in the new daylight of the great athletes of the Special Olympics.''

Mr. President, I wish Special Olympics all the best as we celebrate its 40th anniversary and look forward to many more years to come.

Mr. President, I rise today in remembrance of Dorothy Phillips, who passed away yesterday at the age of 84.

Born in Utah in 1923, Dorothy was a dedicated mother of 7, grandmother of 15, and great-grandmother of 14. She lived in the small southeastern Nevada town of Caliente for over 70 years and was known to its residents for her active leadership in the community. She was an enthusiastic participant in local, county, and State politics, and her prominence in local Democratic Party matters led many to seek out her support and advice, and one of my best ever campaign volunteers.

Dorothy was also passionate about the needs of Nevada's senior citizens. For her 26 years of service as the director of the Caliente Senior Citizen Center, a senior housing development was named the ``Dorothy Phillips Manor'' in her honor. She was even selected to

represent Nevada's seniors as a delegate to the 1995 White House Conference on Aging.

In addition, Dorothy was a vocal opponent of the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. The Department of Energy's transportation plan would bring trainloads of nuclear waste right through Caliente. Dorothy spoke out against this plan, fueled by concerns for how it would impact her small town. In part, Dorothy's activism was inspired by tragedy. Dorothy recalled being told that the mushroom clouds created by the testing of atomic weapons at the Nevada Test Site during the 1950s were not harmful. In fact, she said residents were encouraged to go outside and watch. Unfortunately, Dorothy's father and two siblings died of cancer caused by radiation from the test site. It was in their memory that she fought against Yucca Mountain and the Caliente Corridor.

Dorothy will be remembered for her devotion to her family and her community, and she will be missed by those who had the privilege of knowing her. I extend my most heartfelt condolences to her husband Donald and their family. They should all be proud of her legacy of service to Nevada.

Mr. President, following leader remarks, there will be a period of morning business for up to 1 hour, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. The majority will control the first 30 minutes, Republicans will control the second 30 minutes. Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of S. 2731, the Global AIDS bill.

There should be rollcall votes during the day. Senator Biden told me last night they expect to finish the bill today. So I hope that, in fact, is the case.

Mr. President, I understand that S. 3268 is at the desk and due for a second reading.

I object to any further proceedings with respect to the bill.

Mr. President, the bill that was read for the second time is a bill I introduced last night and put on the calendar. I attended a chairmen's meeting 2 weeks ago today. Much of the discussion at that meeting was on gas prices. Much of the discussion on gas prices dealt with speculation. The chairs of that meeting asked if I would prepare a piece of legislation dealing with speculation.

That is what this is all about. There are four or five Democratic proposals, there are some bipartisan proposals dealing with speculation. That is what the bill that I have introduced does. It takes some from all of those, what we believe is a good part of these bills and brings it to the floor.

There might be perfection in some things, but legislation is not one of them. It is very difficult to get something that is absolutely perfect. So this bill is not perfect.

Is speculation a problem? Of course, it is a problem. Is it the problem? No. But it is an issue we must deal with. So I would hope in the near future to bring this bill to the floor as a starting point for us to have some discussion as it relates to energy.

In arriving at the point where we introduced this bill, I had a meeting last Thursday, where we had people from the financial management world, banks, academics. We had, for example, one person who is the chief executive officer of United Airlines, who previously was chairman of Texaco and vice chairman of Chevron, who has a unique view as to what is going on.

His airline, all airlines in the country, are in deep trouble. He sees it from the perspective of someone running a major airline, United Airlines, and also having run major oil companies.

These academics, and you will see the writers, believe that probably speculation amounts to about 30 percent of the cost of a gallon of gasoline. Now, the bill that has been introduced does a

number of things. It closes the London loophole, which prevents traders in the U.S. oil energy commodities from going overseas to evade regulatory requirements in the U.S. exchanges.

It directs the Commission to work with international regulators to develop uniform international reporting standards. It eliminates excessive speculation. It requires the Commission to set position limits on traders who are not involved in legitimate hedge trading of energy commodities, requires large trader reporting, requires large traders of energy commodities in over-the-counter markets to file reports of their activity with the Commission and directs the Commission to step in whenever a major market disruption occurs.

It makes index traders and swap dealers report. These market participants must routinely provide detailed reporting to the Commission to ensure that their activity is not adversely impacting price in any negative fashion.

It increases the CFTC enforcement resources. It directs the Commission to hire an additional 100 employees to improve enforcement transparency. It makes energy markets more transparent by directing the Department of Energy to collect information, analyze market data, and investigate financial institution investments in natural gas markets.

I have had a number of informal discussions with the Republican leader. I hope this piece of legislation dealing with speculation, which we hope will be bipartisan in nature, will be the beginning of our having a good discussion on energy prices, before we leave for the August recess.

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

Mr. President, the Republicans have been talking now for several weeks about needing to do something about oil. But you see, we on this side of the aisle have been talking about doing something about it for a long time--a long time. That is why we brought the global warming bill to the floor. That is why we pushed very hard to have the renewable energy tax credits put in place so the American entrepreneur can invest in solar, wind, and geothermal, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. We have been stopped doing anything about global warming, we have been stopped doing anything, of course, about renewable energy, which would take tremendous pressure off the oil markets.

We have worked on doing other things. We introduced legislation dealing specifically with gas prices, and we were turned back from doing that. We could not get 60 votes.

The causes of high gas prices we all know are complicated: We have stability problems in Iraq and in Iran, the Middle East; we have problems in Nigeria now, which is the fifth largest producer of oil in the world; the weak dollar is creating more problems; some say the global demand is outpacing supply with India and China coming online to buy a lot of this oil; and the failure of the oil companies to use their record profits to invest in new refining capacity and research alternatives.

Speculation in oil, is that the problem? Of course not. But it is a problem. It is a big problem, and I think there is a lot of agreement to that effect. Economists agree that probably up to 30 percent or more of the price we pay at the pump is due to speculation.

I had a conversation this morning with the head of United Airlines. This man comes with a pretty good resume. I did not meet him until a few months ago when he and a number of people from the airline industry--all the bosses--came to see me lamenting the fact that these companies were in desperate need of help. They explained to me there were airplanes that were filled to capacity every trip they took in America, but they were going to cancel those flights. Why? Because the airplanes they are using use a lot of gas. The flights they took used a lot of kerosene, is basically what they burn. Therefore, they were going to terminate the flights and use airplanes that did not use as much gas because they lose less money. They lose basically money on every flight they take and that we take as consumers.

I met him then the first time. I have had other conversations with him. He is one of the experts we had in a meeting last Thursday to talk about speculation. Today I talked with him because we introduced legislation to deal with speculation to get the energy debate started.

The Republicans, in the bill they have introduced, have a provision about speculation. So they should join with us in allowing us to get this bill to the floor.

Mr. Tilton said to me today he appreciated our working to get this bill done. We have taken parts from Democratic bills and Republican bills to be at a place where we are now. Mr. Tilton said this is extremely important for the industry, to recognize that we in Congress are trying to do something to tamp down speculation.

President Bush said yesterday there is no immediate fix, that it took a while to get to this problem; there is no short-term solution. That is true. When President Bush took office, a gallon of gasoline cost $1.46. Today the average price is $4.11 or $4.12 a gallon. When President Bush took office, a barrel of oil cost $32. Today, with the

volatility involved, it has been up near $150 and has dropped down to $140, but it is very high, certainly more than $32 a barrel.

The President is correct that his administration's energy policy has created a crisis that the American people will suffer long past his Presidency. It is true we need long-term solutions, including a serious commitment to providing tax cuts, as I already talked about, to companies and innovators who are investing in clean alternative fuels that could take us off our addiction to oil--and that is what it is. President Bush identified that in one of his first State of the Union Messages, but he has not done anything about that.

The American people deserve solutions that will ease the pain at the pump and also make the future look better for them. One of those solutions is this bill that has been introduced, the Energy Speculation Act of 2008. We have done that together. We reach out and ask the Republicans to join with us in a bipartisan effort to tamp down speculation. Right now Wall Street traders are raising gas prices with nothing more than a click of a mouse.

In the nearly 8 years of this Bush-Cheney administration, the most oil-friendly administration in the history of the country--both made their fortunes in oil--they have turned a blind eye to this excessive speculation. Our legislation will finally hold the energy futures market to the same standards of accountability that other futures markets are held.

Sadly, for American consumers, the Federal watchdog that is working to do this has been understaffed over the last many years. Part of our legislation gives them more staff, to give them more power to do things. They were tremendously underfunded as a result of the work of Phil Gramm, one of John McCain's chief economic advisers. The 2000 Commodities Futures Modernization Act, which, in effect, allowed traders to buy and sell oil without actually taking physical delivery of it.

We are not saying in our legislation they have to take physical delivery of it. But we know where the problem started. The so-called mouse-click energy market was born as a result of John McCain's chief economic adviser, who, by the way, thinks people who are complaining about high gas prices and the housing crisis are a bunch of whiners. Those are his words.

We talked with one of the most fair, seasoned legislators in Congress, Carl Levin, a Senator from Michigan, to get more information on large traders of energy quantities in over-the-counter markets. That is in our legislation--something he came up with.

So we feel we are headed in the right direction. We have gotten help from the CFTC, the man who runs that, we have gotten help from the chairman of the Energy Committee, Senator Bingaman, and we are doing our best to address an issue we feel is very important to the American people.

I would be glad to yield to my colleague from Illinois.

I say to my friend, if you had to put a mark on this legislation--what does it do more than anything else--I would say transparency. It will allow the entity we depend on to allow us to know what is going on with trading of futures, to have more manpower in order to get more information for the American people.

I say to my friend from Illinois it is important that we have transparency. That is what we are talking about. That is why I mentioned Senator Gramm and what he did. He took away transparency so that the American people will have some idea of what is going on.

I say to my friend that the direct answer to the point is yes. But talking about 200 pilot layoffs, the last time I flew to Las Vegas was right before the July 4 break. I got on the plane and the pilot said to me, the captain: Senator, good to have you on our plane. He said: You know, there are 950 of us going to be laid off--950 pilots were given notice less than a month ago. Now we have 200 more.

The Senator said in a side remark that these people likely felt like jumping out of that window of that high-rise. My comment to that is, that is fairly valid. They are desperate. These are companies which are the largest companies in America--United Airlines, Delta, Northwest. These companies have been around for a long time and have employed hundreds of thousands of people.

The State of Nevada has two population centers. It is a huge State areawise, some 700 miles tall and some 400 miles wide at its widest part. But the population, 90 percent of the people, live in Reno and Las Vegas. If you want to go to Elko or Ely, you have to drive. It used to be that from Salt Lake to Elko you had a flight every hour. Now there is one a day. There used to be a number of flights from Reno to Elko. None.

Rural America is going to be in deep trouble. We have become an airplane society. We go places in airplanes. That is going to come to a screeching halt unless something is done quickly, because these airlines are cutting the flights as we speak. I repeat, every hour there was a flight from Salt Lake to Elko. Now there is one a day.

Be happy to.

Yes. And let me say to my friend, going back to the President of the United Airlines today--and again let me remind everyone of his background: president of Texaco, vice chairman of Chevron, and now the chief executive officer of United Airlines. He said not only are businesses, including the airline industry--using his words--``patting us on the back,'' but in addition to that, all the banks that have loaned money to these airline companies, all the other entities around our country that are looking at these businesses, such as the airline industry, to succeed, this has a wide-ranging impact on our success as a country. We have to do something about this.

Now, people can criticize this legislation all they want. It is not perfect legislation, but it is very good legislation.

Would my friend be good enough to put up the previous chart that is under that one?

Common sense enters into Government as it does in everything. Common sense dictates, when looking at this information we have before us, that we should do something about speculation. Now, this is not information that was dreamed up by some high school student. These were hearings that brought this out, congressional hearings that looked at what took place in 2000 and what took place in 2008. Look at this difference. Look at the difference--a more than 100-percent increase or close to a 100-percent increase as to what has taken place.

If somebody could sue us because we didn't do anything, they should sue us for negligence that we, looking at this chart, would do nothing as it relates to speculation.

Now, I say to my friend, is speculation the only thing we need to do? Of course not. There is a lot more we can do. Do we believe in increasing domestic production? Of course we do. We want to work and increase domestic production, and there are lots of ways we can do that. But it speaks volumes. My friends on the other side of the aisle keep talking about: let's go drill someplace else. The 68 million acres? We will just hang on to that, and that will be part of our balance sheet. We have 68 million acres, and we want other places to go.

I say to my friend, and everyone within the sound of my voice: We listened to the oil companies less than 2 years ago. They said they wanted to drill in the best place they could find in America, in the Gulf of Mexico, the Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico. We agreed with them. We said: OK, 8.3 million acres--because this is what they wanted. We gave it to them.

Everyone should know what they have done in 2 years: Nothing. Nothing. In the area they said was the most ripe for discovering new oil, they have not driven a boat to fish off the side of there. They have done nothing.

Now they are coming to us, these oil companies that have during the past year made $250 billion. Have they built new refineries as we gave them tax incentives to do? Of course not. It appears, some say, they don't want the quantity to go up any more so they keep these prices high.

But separate and apart from that, we know the last 8.3 million acres we gave them they have not so much as gone swimming there, as far as we know.

I say to my friend, the business community is crying for help. They believe this is a big step in the right direction. Our offices are now receiving e-mails and phone calls from all the airline companies, banks that are concerned about them, and hundreds of other business entities that believe this is the right thing to do.

Are these organizations usually those that support Democrats? I am somewhat constrained to say no. They usually are all Republican- oriented businesses. But they know we are doing the right thing. I plead that my Republican friends will join us in helping the American business community. If there are other things that need to be done at a subsequent time, we will try to work with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. But this is part of their legislation.

When they introduced their bill, they said speculation was important, so let's focus on speculation.

I want to say one other thing, Mr. President. My friend from North Dakota has been a real activist on this issue and trade issues and others that are important to the American economy. I appreciate his willingness to compromise. This legislation is not everything he wants. If he were King Dorgan, he would have written something else. But we are now in the legislative process, and the Senator from North Dakota and I have been in it for a long time. Legislation is the art of compromise, and that is what we have.

I hope my friends will realize our good faith. I am trying to do something we believe will have tremendous impact on stabilizing oil prices in our country.

I will be happy to.

I say through the Chair to my friend from Washington, I have been to Washington. I have driven a lot of the State of Washington. It is absolutely a beautiful State. Part of it reminds me of Nevada. People think that Washington is a State where the ocean is everyplace, and it is not. Washington is a State where there is desert. So I love the State of Washington.

But the Senator from Washington is in a very good position to understand how I am sure her constituents feel about what we are trying to do; that is, do something to affect this increase in price, to try to tamp down speculation. To have the people of Washington be told this doesn't matter, speculation doesn't matter, let's drill some more off the coast of Washington and not only drill some more, in effect--no one questions the Federal Government owns 200 miles off our coast. That is the Outer Continental Shelf, and that is recognized by international law.

To think that the Federal Government would just give up on that and say: OK, States, do whatever you want--how do the people of Washington feel about that?

Mr. President, following leader remarks, there will be a period of morning business for up to 1 hour, with Senators allowed to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each. The Republicans will control the first 30 minutes, the majority the second 30 minutes.

Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of S. 2731, the Global AIDS bill, at which time there will be a motion to table the DeMint amendment No. 5078 regarding funding limitations.

Therefore, Senators should expect a rollcall vote sometime shortly after 11 o'clock this morning. The Senate will recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucuses to meet.

Senators should expect a busy day, with rollcall votes in relation to the Global AIDS bill throughout the day. As a reminder, there is an event for all Senators at the National Archives tonight from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I wish to express my appreciation to the distinguished Senator from Louisiana for yielding while I make this unanimous consent request.

I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate receives from the House the veto message on H.R. 6331, it be considered as read, it be printed in the Record and spread in full upon the Journal, held at the desk, and that the Senate consider the veto message at 5:30 p.m. today, Tuesday, July 15; that the time from 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. be equally divided and controlled between the leaders and their designees, with the majority leader controlling the final 10 minutes; that at 6 p.m. the Senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill, the objections of the President to the contrary notwithstanding.

Mr. President, I yield 1 minute to the Senator from Michigan.

Mr. President, there is 2 minutes left, right?

I will yield that time to Senator Baucus. I have a short statement, and I will use leader time. It is maybe 2\1/2\ minutes. I yield 2 minutes to Senator Baucus.

Mr President, it may have taken just one flourish of a pen to affix the name ``Lyndon Baines Johnson'' to the law that created Medicare in 1965.

But that one pen stroke created a program that has come to reflect a bedrock American principle: That all those seniors who have worked hard--and all those who need a helping hand--will find themselves embraced by the care of our compassionate Nation.

And though Medicare was created by a Democratic Congress and a Democratic President, that principle has always been anchored far too deep in our soil for the roots of partisanship to entangle.

When the program has been threatened, Democrats and Republicans have risen to the occasion to protect it.

So it was last month, when the House of Representatives approved the ``doctor's fix'' by an overwhelming vote of 355-59.

So it was last week, when Senator Kennedy led a veto-proof majority of all Democrats and 18 Republicans voting yes.

So it was earlier today, when the House voted to override President Bush's veto, 383-41.

So it must be now, as we follow suit to reject the veto and place this legislation into law.

On the July day in 1965 when President Johnson signed the original Medicare bill, he said this:

Just think, because of this document--and the long years of

struggle which so many have put into creating it--in this

town, and a thousand other towns like it, there are men and

women in pain who will now find ease.

There are those, alone in suffering who will now hear the

sound of some approaching footsteps coming to help.

There are those fearing the terrible darkness of despairing

poverty--despite their long years of labor and expectation--

who will now look up to see the light of hope and

realization.

Since the day President Johnson handed the very first Medicare card to President Truman, hundreds of millions of senior citizens and people with disabilities have received their own card.

Each new card issued strengthens our commitment to the health and well-being of our most vulnerable.

Now it is our turn to do our part--to renew the light of hope for those who need our help the most, those people in their golden years, the senior citizens of America who depend on Medicare.

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