Floor Statements

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m., Tuesday, October 23; that on Tuesday, following the prayer and the pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed to have expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for use later in the day, and the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 3043, as provided for under the previous order; that on Tuesday the Senate recess from 12:30 to 2:15 p.m. for the respective party conferences.

Madam President, we have said we would finish the bill by 12:30 tomorrow. That may be difficult to do. I am disappointed, but I know everybody is working in good faith. I accept the distinguished Republican leader at his word that the bill will be completed sometime tomorrow afternoon. We are making progress. We have a number of things going forward.

The Republican leader knows what I am going to do as soon as we finish the Labor-HHS bill--appoint conferees, and it will go to conference, and we will bring that back as quickly as we can. He knows what I am moving to after that bill is finished.

Madam President, if there is no further business, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, I believe there are two bills at the desk and they are due for a second reading.

Mr. President, I object to further proceeding with respect to both of these bills.

Mr. President, today, following any remarks that I or Senator McConnell make, the Senate will immediately go to the Labor-HHS appropriations bill. Last night, an agreement was made to provide for the filing of all first-degree amendments by 1 p.m. today. Additionally, there is a commitment to complete action on this bill by noon on Tuesday--by 12:30, I should say, on Tuesday.

There will be no rollcall votes today, but I do expect a number of Members to offer amendments during today's session. It is my understanding this morning Senator Coburn and Senator Brown will offer amendments. Votes will occur Monday evening at around 5:30 p.m., and there could be a long series of votes Monday night. I will have more to say about the schedule later today.

Mr. President, I see my friend from Ohio is in the Chamber. Does the Senator from Ohio wish to be recognized?

Mr. President, we have no morning business. The Senator can proceed as in morning business if he asks. We are not going to have morning business. I say to the Senator, my understanding is you want 10 or 15 minutes to speak as in morning business.

No objection.

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

Madam President, earlier this month, I came to the floor to discuss some comments made by Rush Limbaugh.

Following my remarks, more than 40 of my Senate colleagues and I cosigned a letter to the chairman of Clear Channel, Mark Mays, telling him that we wanted him to confer with Rush Limbaugh regarding the statements he made. I have since spoken to Mark Mays about this. Mark Mays, in fact, called me regarding this letter.

This week, Rush Limbaugh put the original copy of that letter up for auction on eBay. We did not have time or we could have gotten every Democratic Senator to sign that letter. But he put the letter up for auction on eBay and, I think very constructively, left the proceeds of that to go to the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation.

What is the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation? It provides scholarship assistance to children of marines and Federal law enforcement personnel whose parent dies in the line of duty, as well as health care assistance for disabled children of fallen troops.

What could be a more worthwhile cause? I think it is really good that this money on eBay is going to be raised for this purpose.

When I spoke to Mark Mays, I think he and I thought this probably would not raise much money--a letter written by Democratic Senators complaining about something.

This morning, the bid is more than $2 million. We have watched it during the week. It keeps going up and up and up, and there is only a little bit of time left. But it is certainly going to be more than $2 million. Never did we think this letter would bring money of this nature; and for the cause, it is extremely good.

Now, everyone knows that Rush Limbaugh and I do not agree on everything in life, and maybe that is kind of an understatement. But without qualification, Mark Mays, the CEO of the network that has Rush Limbaugh on it, and Rush Limbaugh, should know that this letter they are auctioning is going to be something that raises money for a worthwhile cause.

I do not know what we could do more importantly to help ensure children of our fallen soldiers and police officers who have fallen in the line of duty have the opportunity to have a good education. Think about this: More than $2 million. This is going to really help. That is, again, an understatement.

There is only a little bit of time left, so I would ask those who are wanting to do more--they can go to eBay and search for ``Harry Reid Letter'' and it will come up. I would encourage anyone who is interested, with the means to do so, to consider bidding on this letter and contributing to this worthwhile cause.

I strongly believe when we can put our differences aside--even Harry Reid and Rush Limbaugh--we should do that and try to accomplish good things for the American people. This does that--more than $2 million for a letter, signed by this Senator and my friends.

I have indicated, Madam President, we have a lot of work to do. The chairman of the Judiciary Committee and I have stated on a number of occasions that on controversial judicial nominations we are not going to move on those until the minority tells us that is what they want to do. One of those nominations is Judge Southwick. That matter was reported out of committee sometime ago, and both Senator Leahy and I have said that when the Republicans tell us they want to move to that nomination, we would do that. So sometime next week I am more than likely going to move to that matter. So I want everyone to know that, in fact, is the case.

I also, Madam President, have indicated that one of our priorities is to do an energy bill this year. I had a meeting yesterday with Democratic chairs and other interested people, including Senator Cantwell and Senator Dorgan, to find out how we can move forward. We realize we can move forward. We have a number of issues that are important. The issues are somewhat limited. One is what are we going to do on CAFE, raising the fuel efficiency of vehicles? What are we going to do about a renewable portfolio standard? And what are we going to do about the tax aspect of this that will do a number of important things, not the least of which is give the great entrepreneurs

in our country the incentives to invest in alternative fuel--sun, wind, geothermal, biomass? We need this to be done on a multiple-year basis. So those are three important things we need to do.

I have had a number of conversations with my Republican colleagues. Senator Domenici and Senator Lott--there are others with whom I have spoken--but just in recent days I have spoken to them. I spoke this morning with Leader Pelosi, the Speaker of the House. She wants to go to conference on this issue. One Republican Senator said: I understand you don't want to go to conference. The Speaker wants to go to conference. I want to go to conference. We would like to be able to do a bill, and we are going to do our very best to do that.

We are going to include the Republicans on anything we do. We know we cannot do a bill unless we include the Republicans in it, and we are going to do that. We are going to do our utmost to come up with a strong bill, one that is in keeping with the needs of this country.

Madam President, everyone is occupied on that side of the aisle, but I am going to, in the near future, when we have a Republican who can come to the floor, ask consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 340, which is H.R. 3221, which is the House Energy bill. And I will move that we go to conference on it. I will come out this afternoon, as soon as we can, and offer this unanimous consent request.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Madam President, I had indicated earlier today that I was going to move to go to conference. The record should reflect that Speaker Pelosi and I have talked about this matter and we think it would be appropriate to go to conference. It is my understanding we are close to being able to do that. That would be good.

This is a bill that needs to be done and can only be done if Democrats and Republicans agree. The majority of us in this body are Democrats, but it is a slim majority. So everything we do, I need to get 20 percent of the Republicans to move forward on legislation. Hopefully, we can do that and have a real good conference on this matter.

As I indicated this morning, there are a number of issues that are important: A renewable portfolio; it is important we do something about CAFE; It is also important we do something about taxes so we can have the great entrepreneurs of America have the ability to invest in renewable energy. Right now the ability to do that is very limited because we have only given them a year, 2 sometimes with the tax credits, and they can't plan ahead for that. So those are the three things we need to work on.

There is much more, but that gives us an idea of what we need to focus on, and it is not easy because the House did not have CAFE, we did not have the renewable portfolio. So it is going to take some mathematical moving around to get this done because we need to work it out, I would hope, so we can do CAFE in both bodies and renewables in both bodies. Anyway, we need to give this a valiant try, and that is what conferences are all about.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 340, H.R. 3221, the House Energy bill; that all after the enacting clause be stricken and the text of the Senate engrossed amendment to H.R. 6 be inserted in lieu thereof; that the bill be read a third time, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; that the Senate insist on its amendment, request a conference with the House, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees and that the title amendment at the desk be agreed to.

Madam President, we have had a good couple of months here in the Senate. We have accomplished a lot, working together. Hopefully, on this momentous piece of legislation, we can continue to do that.

As I indicated this morning, we had a number of conversations yesterday, Republican Senators that want to move this forward, and I think there is a real possibility we can get a conference and move forward on this and come up with legislation where this body agrees with the House as to how to proceed.

I understand that is the case, and I understand why the junior Senator from Texas had to object. It is Friday afternoon. Hopefully, maybe next week, we can appoint conferees and move forward.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to a period of morning business with Senators allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Madam President, the current Presiding Officer joins a very elite group of freshman Members who have achieved the distinction of presiding in the Senate for over 100 hours.

I am so happy to announce that Senator Klobuchar achieved this distinction today an hour and 5 minutes ago. I congratulate her. I am embarrassed to say that as a freshman, we had a large freshman class, but I didn't preside for this long. I thought I was here all the time. It is really quite a nice award. It is something one can keep forever. We have gone to some length to make sure it looks good. For the time that I presided over the Senate as a freshman, I really learned a lot. One learns Senate procedures, different personalities of Senators who come to the floor.

The Senator from Minnesota is to be commended. She takes good care of her State. She goes back often. She has a wonderful family. She does it all. She sets a great example for the rest of the people in America, but especially she has added so much to the Senate.

When I first came here, the woman was Mikulski. The woman still is Mikulski, but she has a lot of people to help her now. The Senate is a much better place with more women. Someday--it won't be in the immediate future but not in the distant future--we will have a body that will have an equal number of women as men. When that happens, the Senate will be a better place. Congratulations.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Executive Calendar No. 1, the Protocol Treaty of Friendship Commerce, and Navigation with Denmark; that the protocol be advanced through its various parliamentary stages up to and including the presentation of ratification, and that there now be a division vote on the resolution.

I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate now return to legislative session.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to S. Res. 354.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc; that any statements relating to this matter be printed in the Record.