Floor Statements

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I appreciate everyone's patience. The Republican leader and I have been doing our best. Sometimes it is tough to work through the process.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that tomorrow following

the joint meeting, when we will hear the President of France speak, the Senate proceed to the consideration of the conference report on H.R. 3043, the Labor-HHS appropriations bill, if it has been received from the House; that there be 1 hour for debate divided equally among Senators Harkin, Reed of Rhode Island, Specter, and Hutchison, and 2 hours for debate under the control of the two leaders or their designees; that following the use or yielding back of time, Senator Hutchison be recognized to make a rule XXVIII scope point of order; that Senator Harkin be recognized to waive rule XXVIII, and the Senate then proceed to debate the motion as under the provisions of rule XXVIII; that if the point of order is sustained, Senator Coburn be recognized to move to suspend the rules, provided it had been timely filed; that there then be 30 minutes for debate equally divided in the usual form; that at the conclusion or yielding back of time, the Senate vote, without any intervening action, on his motion to suspend the rules; that if the motion to suspend is adopted, Senator Coburn's amendment be agreed to and the Senate proceed to concur as stated below; that if his motion fails, then the Senate, without any intervening action or debate, vote immediately on the motion to recede and concur with the further amendment as under the rule; that if the motion to waive is successful, the Senate then vote on Thursday, November 8, on cloture on the conference report as if it had been filed on Tuesday, November 6.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 371, the nomination of Patrick Francis Kennedy, to be Under Secretary of State; that the nomination be confirmed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then return to legislative session.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the President pro tempore of the Senate be authorized to appoint a committee on the part of the Senate to join with a like committee on the part of the House of Representatives to escort His Excellency Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France, into the House Chamber for a joint meeting at 11 a.m. tomorrow, Wednesday, November 7, 2007.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 369, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to S. Res. 370.

I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid on the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business tonight, it stand adjourned until 10:30 a.m. tomorrow, Wednesday, November 7; that, on Wednesday, 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; that following any remarks of the two leaders, the Senate proceed as a body to the House of Representatives for a joint meeting to hear an address by the President of France; that the Senate then stand in recess until 12:15 p.m., and the Senate then proceed to the conference report to accompany H.R. 3043, as provided under a previous order.

Unless the distinguished Republican leader has further business to bring before this body, I ask unanimous consent the Senate stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, today the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 3 p.m. Senators are allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each. Then, at 3 p.m. today, the Senate will proceed to the farm bill. Once the managers offer the substitute amendment, the bill will be up for debate only for the remainder of today's session. That is the previous order that was entered by the Chair. As I previously announced, there will be no rollcall votes today as a result of what we were able to accomplish last week.

On Tuesday, the House is expected to vote on overriding the President's veto of the water resources bill, which is a very bipartisan bill which passed overwhelmingly both in the House and the Senate. I anticipate the Senate will debate that veto message sometime this week, and a vote on overriding could be as early as Wednesday.

I would remind Members that the President of France will address a joint meeting of Congress Wednesday morning at 11 a.m.

Also this week, the Senate has a lot of other work to do. I have had a lengthy conversation, just a few minutes ago, with the Republican leader. He is aware of the many obligations we have, and it is going to be difficult to get our work done this week. We can get it done, but the reason I mention this, I know Veterans Day is coming and people have a very busy schedule Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I know I do, and I am sure, like everyone else, they also are obligated. But there are certain things we have to finish. We are going to be out of here for the Thanksgiving recess to go back to our States, to our families, but there is work that obligates us to stay until we finish, and we only have this week and next week to do that.

appropriations

This week, we will receive the conference report for the Veterans and Labor, Health, and Education appropriations bill. This legislation was again supported on a bipartisan basis. It provides the greatest funding increase ever to care for our troops and veterans, who have sacrificed so much for our country. It repairs the woeful conditions we have seen at Walter Reed and at other medical centers. It helps reduce the logjam that is keeping thousands of veterans from receiving health care because the VA has been underfunded during the Bush years.

This bill makes critical investments in America's children and substantially increases the Federal financial commitment to medical research for a multitude of diseases, which the Bush budget goes backward on rather than increasing.

This legislation passed the Senate overwhelmingly because they are good priorities for America. Unfortunately, the President has said he is going to veto this bill. That is unfortunate because this is the same President who has underfunded and shortchanged our troops, our veterans, and other domestic priorities here at home. He argues this bill costs too much. Yet, in the same breath, he reported last week that there is $100 billion being spent in

Iraq on infrastructure. And only this much of it is still standing. Most of the money has been wasted. What was attempted to be constructed has been destroyed or construction has been so faulty it simply is not usable. The President is wrong.

It appears the Republicans will attempt to separate the VA portion of the bill. I think that is unfortunate. The minority supported the VA bill and the Labor bill overwhelmingly, and it would be a shame to put up roadblocks to their passage. So I urge all my colleagues to reject that effort so we can pass and send this crucial legislation to the President as soon as possible.

The Farm Bill

The farm bill. Chairman Harkin, Senator Baucus, and Ranking Members Chambliss and Grassley deserve a lot of credit for working among their caucuses to write the bill we are debating this week. In the 24 years I have been in the Congress, first in the House and now in the Senate-- actually, 25 years--no farm bill has embodied as much reform as this one. There are some who say this bill doesn't go far enough in the direction of reform. To those critics, it should be clear there will be an opportunity for Senators to offer amendments during debate. Would I personally like more reform? Of course I would. But I would like to focus on the positive and forward-looking elements that lie at the heart of this bill.

This bill saves billions of dollars by reforming existing programs, which allows new investment to expand food and nutrition programs for families, the elderly, and the disabled, as well as an expansion of the fresh fruits and vegetables programs to all 50 States to improve the health and wellness of America's children. It invests more than $4 billion in conservation programs to protect wetlands, grasslands, and working farms. More than 60 percent of this bill is simply nutrition programs.

This bill takes us a step closer to the vital goal of energy independence, with more than $1 billion for programs that are environmentally responsible while growing the farming economy. We import about 70 percent of our oil. We don't import 70 percent of our food. One reason we don't is because we have farm programs that work. Could they be made better? Of course they could be. But this bill does do some extremely important things.

It responds to the urgent need for permanent disaster assistance, which will help farmers respond and recover from future unavoidable disasters. It invests about $2 billion in specialty crops. What are specialty crops? Strawberries, apples, and those programs that are so important to our country, so that it stops us from having to import as much as we would have to if we didn't have these programs. But with weather changes, some of these farmers have had tremendous losses from which they have not been able to recover. It offers a reasonable compromise on country-of-origin labeling, and it improves competition in the livestock industry.

There will be a number of amendments offered during the floor debate. Senators Dorgan and Grassley will offer an amendment on payment limits. Senators Lautenberg and Lugar will offer an alternative farm bill amendment. Senator McConnell and I understand these amendments are important to Members on both sides of the aisle, and we will work together to ensure ample time is given for consideration.

I am confident and hopeful that this process will result in a truly bipartisan bill which will support our agricultural communities, promote a cleaner environment, and grow our economy. But I do say and alert everybody to this fact: We have had a really good legislative session. Once we get to a bill, we have basically offered amendments on most every bill. I think this bill is going to have trouble with that. We have to complete our work by next Friday, so we will make sure the amendments correctly relate to this bill and everybody will have an opportunity to offer those. We will do our very best to see that is the case. But this bill is a tax bill, and there could be a lot of mischievous amendments offered if it were an open amendment process. I think, with it being late in this year's session of Congress, everyone understands we can't do that. We have work we must complete.

The farm bill is a very bipartisan bill. I think we could seek cloture on the bill right now and probably do a pretty good job because it is really a bipartisan bill. I don't want to have to do it now, but I do want everyone to know we are not going to have an open amendment process, and I have explained that to the Republican leader.

Pakistan

Mr. President, this weekend we have seen a crisis unfold in Pakistan. It is an ongoing crisis which has become much more difficult. A leader whom the administration considered a partner in the fight against terrorism and extremism has taken steps away from the path of democracy, and he has suspended fundamental human rights in the process. I have had great hope for Pakistan. Senator Daschle and I took a trip to that part of the world right after Musharraf took power, and we were impressed with him. We came back to the United States, and the State Department had told President Clinton he shouldn't go to Pakistan. He was already headed for India. We prevailed upon him to go to Pakistan, and I am glad the President did go to Pakistan. But things haven't worked out the way I would have hoped.

This unfolding crisis must be watched carefully, and we must be prepared to respond to protect our security and our national interests. I hope all sides will show restraint. Musharraf must keep the promise he made when Senator Daschle and I met with him and when he took power almost 8 years ago--to put Pakistan back on a path toward democracy.

I call upon General Musharraf to return to the constitutional rule of law, release the lawyers and other peaceful protestors he has imprisoned, and restore the path to free and fair elections as soon as possible.

This situation is also a reminder of why we must change the course in Iraq. We have been so focused on Iraq that we have had this situation develop in Israel with the Palestinians. I was stunned this morning to hear the Secretary of State on the news say this is our first meeting, the one that is going to take place in Annapolis. That isn't anything she should boast about.

For 7 years, this administration basically ignored the crisis we have had in the Middle East. We have a bad situation in Iran that we have ignored--no diplomacy, only threats of war. We have this intractable civil war in Iraq which is ongoing and now made more complicated as a result of what is going on in northern Iraq with the Kurds. We have not focused on our diplomacy. Look what has happened in Pakistan because we placed all our emphasis on a person rather than on a country. By staying so bogged down in the Iraq civil war, President Bush has made it harder to respond to the Pakistani problem and other challenges throughout the world.

The Iraq war leaves Secretary Rice and other officials responsible for the Middle East and South Asia with no strategic reserve to respond to humanitarian and other crisis situations. We are reminded that, while the administration has been focused on Iraq, it has failed to craft an effective strategy for eliminating what a recent National Intelligence Estimate described as an al-Qaida safe haven in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border regions, and it has failed to catch Osama bin Laden or his No. 2--Zawahiri.

So today I also call upon President Bush to conduct an expedited end- to-end review of his national security strategy as it relates to the war on terror and Pakistan, including a review of U.S. aid to Pakistan and how we are going to get our troops out of Iraq. I hope President Bush will take a good look at the costs and missed opportunities caused by his stay-the-course approach in Iraq and take steps to craft a more effective strategy for addressing the threats and challenges America faces across the globe.

Order of Procedure

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that time for morning business be a full hour.

Mr. President, the Senate will be in a period of morning business today, with Members allowed to speak therein for whatever time they feel is appropriate.

There will be no rollcall votes today or tomorrow as a result of our being able to work something out on a very contentious Children's Health Initiative Program.

Next week, it is expected the Senate will receive the veto message on the water resources conference report. This measure passed with overwhelming votes in both the House and Senate. If it continues to have broad, bipartisan support, the veto will be overridden.

Mr. President, it is my understanding there are two bills at the desk due for a second reading.

Mr. President, I object to any further proceedings with respect to these bills.

Mr. President, I had a long meeting last night with the Speaker of the House and Senate Members, which lasted several hours. It is very clear that next week is going to be a very difficult week. The following week is going to be very difficult--important but difficult.

The reason I mention this is we had the obligation, procedurally, to vote this morning at 1 a.m., but we were able to work that out as a result of a unanimous consent request, which was very helpful. It avoided the necessity of our working this weekend. We only have one weekend left until Thanksgiving. I hope we can work everything out.

I don't think we can. I have a very busy, difficult schedule next weekend, but I am not sure I am going to meet the obligations I have already committed myself to--I want everybody else to understand-- including parades and other events on Veterans Day. What do we have to do? We have to send appropriations bills to the President. At least the Labor/HHS bill, which is now tied in with the VA military construction--we need to send that to the President. We have a time schedule to do that.

We have to do the Defense appropriations bill. It is something we have to consider getting to the President as soon as possible. We have to do a continuing resolution. There is some talk about doing a bridge fund for Iraq. Chairman Byrd is talking about marking up in a week or 10 days the supplemental appropriations bill. We have numerous other things. It is very difficult.

Monday is not a vote day, so we have 4 days next week. So I say, with all sincerity, I am going to call our Presidential candidates and let them know they better look at their schedules because these are not votes you can miss--Defense appropriations; the first appropriations bill, Labor/HHS, with benefits for veterans tied into it, which we need to do before Veterans Day; the CR, which funds our Government; and whatever we decide to do with the bridge funds or the supplemental appropriations bill.

So everyone should be alerted to the fact that they better have their schedules somewhat loose for this coming weekend and, I repeat, Monday. There is always a way, it seems, to try to work out some of these difficulties. I hope we can find a way to not do it next Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, but we have to be prepared.

The things I have talked about doing are not things we can do some other time. We have to do them before we leave for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Madam President, I rise today to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Air Force. As you are well aware, the Air Force was created by the National Security Act of 1947, the very same law that established the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, and the Central Intelligence Agency.

Like many of my colleagues in this distinguished Chamber, I represent a State with a rich history of involvement with and support for the U.S. Air Force. Less than 6 months after the Air Force was officially founded on September 18, 1947, the Las Vegas Air Force Base was reactivated to host a pilot training wing. With the onset of the Korean war, its mission changed from an advanced single-engine school to one of training jet fighter pilots for the then Far East Air Forces. And thus began a long tradition of air combat training programs held at this site that has earned this Air Force base the proud nickname ``Home of the Fighter Pilot.''

No single airman in Nevada history exemplified the meaning behind this slogan more than LT William H. Nellis. Born in Santa Rita, NM, in 1916, as a young man Lieutenant Nellis moved to my hometown of Searchlight, Nevada, where his father--like so many other respectable Nevadans--worked as a hard rock miner. When World War II began, Lieutenant Nellis was already married with 2 children, but this passionate young man knew he could not remain uninvolved in America's effort to rid the world of foreign oppression. After seeing a newsreel about the Army Air Corps, the precursor to the U.S. Air Force, he decided to enlist.

During the course of his valiant service, Lieutenant Nellis flew 69 missions over Europe and was shot down twice, surviving each crash and making his way back to Allied lines. Unwavering in his patriotism, he continued to volunteer to fly, doing what he saw as his duty for the great cause. Sadly, Lieutenant Nellis' last flight would come on December 27, 1944. During the Battle of the Bulge, an engagement that would cost the lives of nearly 20,000 Americans, Lieutenant Nellis was killed in action while flying with the 513th Fighter Squadron, 406 Fighter Group over Bastogne.

To honor this great Nevadan and a true American hero, the Las Vegas Air Force Base was renamed in his honor on May 20, 1950. Ever since, Nellis Air Force Base has been a stalwart of Nevada's military infrastructure and has provided U.S. airmen with the very best aerial combat training in the world.

As the pinnacle of advanced air combat aviation training, Nellis Air Force Base has provided invaluable service to the United States and its efforts in the global war on terror. The mission statement at Nellis sums it up best,

``The crews do not come to learn how to fly, but instead how to be the best combat aviators in the world.''

As we celebrate this historic occasion, we must never forget the importance of places like Nellis Air Force Base. I know many of my colleagues here in the U.S. Senate share my belief that America's ability to project its military might in the skies around the world is a direct result of the expert training programs at facilities like Nellis. Today we honor all of the men and women who have served proudly in the U.S. Air Force over the past 60 years. We owe them a tremendous amount of gratitude for their courageous sacrifices in defending the nation that we all work so hard to preserve.

Mr. President, this morning the Senate will conduct morning business for 1 hour, and the time will be equally divided and controlled, with the Republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the second half.

Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 3963, the children's health insurance legislation. Cloture was invoked on that motion to proceed yesterday.

As I indicated, after the cloture vote, if we have to stay here to run the 30 hours postcloture, that time will expire at 12:50 a.m. tomorrow morning.

I have had several conversations with Senator McConnell with reference to this legislation and how we can move forward with concluding action in a manner that would not cause the Senate to remain in session over the weekend. But there is no guarantee we can do that.

In the interim, our debate will continue on the motion today. If and when an agreement is reached with respect to moving forward, Members will be alerted to the schedule.

There are some Senators working to come up with another compromise, and I hope they can do that. If they can, I will be the first to have that matter effectuated. At this stage, that hasn't been done. I had a number of meetings yesterday with interested Senators, but talking about it and getting there are two different things. We will work to see what we can do.

Mr. President, we have a lot to do, there is no question about that. But I said to one of my friends on the Republican side several days ago, when he was lamenting the fact that the President's standing was low and ours in Congress was low, I said to him: What do you hope to accomplish by denigrating the place you work in? You work here. What good is it to do that? He said: That is right, I will not do it anymore.

I say to my friend from Kentucky, it is easy to find fault with what anyone does anyplace in life, including the Senate of the United States. But we have worked very hard these last 10 months to try to work on a bipartisan basis, to accomplish things for the country. We have done a pretty good job.

We passed the minimum wage for the first time in 10 years. We passed a budget--a pay-as-you-go budget. No more red ink; we are paying for everything. That is different than the last 7 years under a Republican- controlled Congress. We passed a law mandating how U.S. attorneys should be appointed, as a result of the scandal in the Attorney General's Office. We mandated, through legislation, equipment for the Guard and Reserve that they simply didn't have. We are the ones who pushed the President to focus on having better equipment for our troops, including MRAPS, these vehicles that were more mine resistant. We passed that and it is in the form of a law. Because of the scandal at Walter Reed and other places, we have worked to protect veterans; hurricane recovery, Katrina. Our President made 22 trips down there, but there was no money until we forced money into the supplemental appropriations bill; SCHIP, we passed a law extending health care that 5.5 million children have to 10 million children. The President vetoed that.

That is the matter before the Senate today. We are going to send that back to him, and I hope he will not veto it. We have made changes because Members on the other side wanted those changes made. Disaster relief for ranchers and farmers, we passed that. It is 4 years overdue. Wildfire relief, we have had these fires sweeping the West. We put $600 million in the supplemental so we can make up for some of the problems we had.

As far as Iraq, we have had over 100 hearings on Iraq. That is 100 more than were held during the first 5 years of this war. The hearings have been good. It is true we have tried very hard to change course in the war in Iraq, and we have changed course, indirectly, as a result of the votes we have taken. It did not change it enough, but we have changed course in the war in Iraq.

There will be other opportunities for us to do that in the near future. We have to do that. The President doesn't mind asking for another $200 billion of totally red ink--that is, borrowed money--for the war. But he is not willing to spend a few nonred dollars for children's health, paid for. Maybe the President is trying to protect the tobacco industry. I think they have had

enough protection. A small increase in the tax on tobacco to pay for the children certainly seems reasonable. Stem cell research, we passed that. On ethics and lobbying, we passed the most significant reform in the history of the country, which is now law. The 9/11 Commission recommendations, there was a lot of talk about those recommendations. They were not put into law until we did it this year. We did it because it was the right thing to do. We reauthorized FDA. We passed WRDA-- which is years and years past due--by a huge bipartisan vote.

Everything I have talked about has been bipartisan, even the votes on Iraq. We could not get 60 votes, but we had bipartisan support on Iraq. We all acknowledge we can do better. Certainly, we can do better. But I don't think we should lament the fact that we have not been able to do everything everyone wants done.

With the Attorney General nominee, Judge Mukasey, a problem has arisen with that nomination. It seems like we are in the ``Twilight Zone.'' We are in the Senate talking about whether waterboarding is torture, and this man cannot acknowledge whether waterboarding is torture. I read this morning in the newspaper the reason he cannot do that is he is afraid if he says waterboarding is torture, it may create criminal or civil responsibilities for some of the people who did torture people through waterboarding. We are the United States of America, and we are concerned about talking openly about torture?

I read a book a couple of years ago. The name of the book is ``1492.'' It talked about how our world changed in 1492. One of the reasons it changed is the Inquisition. It started in 1492, the same time Columbus discovered this Nation, this world. In 1492, they also discovered waterboarding, how to torture people, mostly Jews but not all Jews. Some Christians who were not Christian enough were waterboarded.

Maybe we will work our way through Mukasey, but no one should be concerned about the fact that we have an obligation and a right to talk about torture. Shouldn't we know where the chief legal officer of this country, the Attorney General of the United States, stands on waterboarding, on torture generally?

I look forward to our having a good day today and accomplishing a lot. We don't have a lot of time left in this legislative session. We have at the most about 6 weeks, but I hope during that period of time we continue to work together for the American people. That is what the American people want.

Mr. President, the distinguished Republican leader is absolutely correct. We have to fix AMT, and we will do that. The reason we have been a little slow in doing so is how we are going to pay for it. Being an appropriator for my years in Congress, I certainly want to do that. We have struggled over the last several years doing appropriations bills.

The Republican leader and I believe appropriations bills should be done, and we have to do them this year. I am going to devote a lot of my energy--the meeting I had just before coming to the Chamber was dealing with appropriations bills. I had a good conversation with the Republican leader yesterday about appropriations bills generally.

He is absolutely right. We can do better. I will certainly attempt to do my share and do a better job.