Floor Statements

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 3233, and that the Senate then proceed to its consideration.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read three times and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to this matter be printed in the Record.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that S. 2131, the Senate companion, be discharged from the Homeland Security Committee and be placed on the calendar.

Madam President, Monday night--my announcement to everyone here today--could be that we have a significant number of votes. It is very likely we will certainly have more than one vote and we hope that vote will start around 5:30. Senators Harkin and Specter have worked together and their staffs have worked together trying to come up with what they can clear. They have Monday during the day to work on this also. We are going to try to clear most everything out Monday night so we can finish the bill Tuesday, as agreed upon.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it

stand adjourned until Monday, October 22; that following the prayer and the 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 then there be a period of morning business until 3 p.m., with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each; that at 3 p.m. the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 3043.

Madam President, I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, the Senate will be in a period of morning business for 1 hour. The Republicans will control the first half of time. We will control the second half of time. Following this period of morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of the Labor, HHS appropriations bill. Senator Harkin and the ranking member, Senator Specter, will be here to move forward on this bill. If people have amendments, I hope they would do more than just think about them, that they would come and offer them and debate them. A lot of work remains to be done on this bill and other measures that require the attention of the Senate.

Mr. President, it is my understanding we have six bills at the desk due for a second reading.

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

Mr. President, we are making progress on this legislation. The two managers are working very hard to consider all the amendments that people have suggested to them.

We have just spoken to the distinguished Republican leader, and we believe this bill can be finished--it is 1 o'clock Thursday afternoon, and I hope we will not have to work into the evening tomorrow. We really need to finish this bill and have some cooperation from Senators as to how it can be finished with a time certain. So I tell the two managers, this is a bill we need to do.

As I said before, there are a couple of reasons we need to do it. No. 1 is we need to get this bill completed so we can get something to the President, and this would be a bill to do that. If the President is going to veto legislation, which he said he is going to do, this would be a good one to send to him because what the President is complaining about, in actual dollars, is in this bill.

Second, the chairman of the Agriculture Committee is the manager of this bill. We have to get him the ability next week to start and finish marking up the farm bill. We have to do the farm bill every 5 years. We are now past the time when we should have already completed that.

So there are a number of very important reasons we have to push forward this week to finish what we are working on today. I hope everyone understands that. I said before, I am so happy last week we were able to find a way of finishing the Mikulski-Shelby appropriations bill. We were able to do that. It took the cooperation of both sides, but we wound up with a good product.

I hope we do not have to work late tomorrow. I hope we can figure out a way to do this. When Senator McConnell was speaking earlier today, a few minutes ago, we had both our floor staffs with us, and they are going to help work through this. If people have amendments they want votes on, let's set them up today or tonight. It should be, and could be, an important day to complete this legislation.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent on the subsequent three votes they be 10 minutes in length.

Madam President, I note the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I had a long conversation with the Republican leader to determine how we are going to get done what we have to get done. I have discussed with the two managers the conversation the Republican leader and I had. The first thing we are going to do is get consent at the appropriate time, which will be in a few minutes, that all first-degree amendments be filed tomorrow at 1 p.m. I am not asking that consent now.

The managers should know, though, the amendments we will need to deal with. We will have a finite list of amendments.

The commitment that the Republican leader, I think, is going to be willing to make is that we finish this bill by the time of our caucus luncheons on Tuesday; that is, by noon on Tuesday, October 23. That being the case, we have a lot of work to do. Everyone should understand we may have a number of votes Monday night. This is not going to be come in Monday night and go out to some event you have. Everyone should have Monday night free because we could have a lot of votes Monday night. Everyone should understand that.

The following week we have a lot to do. I have made a commitment to the chairman of the Agriculture Committee--that bill needs to be marked

up next week and he has scheduled that for next Wednesday. We have to finish this matter next Tuesday. This avoids a lot of trouble.

I could file cloture on it, and the Republican leader knows this better than I, and we could have a vote on Saturday. We have people not here today. To get everybody here on Saturday is no easy thing to do.

I think what I have suggested here would be very appropriate. As I said, I talked to the Republican leader about this. We would have votes Monday night. We are going to have whatever votes are necessary Tuesday morning to complete this legislation and then go on about the week's business that we would have, which should be a significant week. After next week we only have 3 weeks left here until Thanksgiving. We have already scheduled a break at that time.

I ask unanimous consent, then, that all first-degree amendments be filed on this bill by 1 o'clock tomorrow.

I would say, the managers have already acknowledged they are going to process more amendments tonight. There will be no more rollcall votes tonight. They will process what amendments they can work out tomorrow also. So I think this is good.

It is no secret we are doing our very best to get this bill finished so we can get it to the President. There has been a lot of preconferencing. I talked to the Senator from Pennsylvania and the Senator from Iowa. They have done a lot of work.

The reason I want to try to get this bill to the President is the concern the President has involves about $22 billion. More than half of that is in this bill we have here, so that would be a good place to start to see if we can work something out on this bill with the President. If we cannot, it certainly points to where we need to work something out to finish our work on the appropriations matters for the rest of the year.

There will be no votes tomorrow. The first vote will be Monday; 5:30, probably.

Mr. President, we will have an hour of morning business today. The majority will control the first half, the Republicans the second half. Senator Stevens is going to be recognized for up to 7 minutes following any time Senator McConnell and I use. Following that period of morning business, the Senate will begin consideration of the Labor-HHS appropriations bill, Calendar No. 280.

Last night, with the cooperation of all Members, the Senate concluded action on the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill. It is the sixth appropriations bill we have acted upon. Today, we will begin consideration of the seventh appropriations bill.

At 1 p.m. today, the Congress will honor the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet with the awarding of the highest civilian honor--the Congressional Gold Medal. In view of this ceremony, the Senate will be in recess from 1 to 2 p.m. today.

Members should expect votes throughout the day and into the early evening as we move forward with the consideration of this bill.

Mr. President, I want to underscore and confirm we are working hard to try to get a bill or bills to the President as quickly as we can. The conferences are moving along well. I instructed my folks to make sure that Republicans know what is going on with all these conference reports. I think we have to show good faith that they are going to be some real conferences, and I am confident that will take place.

With all our new rules, with the earmarking rules we have, we cannot do things as quickly as we used to. But there has been work going on between the staffs--Democratic and Republican staffs--on both sides of this building with the Appropriations subcommittees. As a result of that, I think the final conference product should move fairly quickly.

Mr. President, if I could briefly say, while the distinguished Republican leader is on the floor, I had a meeting late yesterday afternoon with the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Senator Rockefeller. He indicated to me that he and Senator Bond, the vice chair of that Intelligence Committee, are moving forward this week to have a markup on the Intelligence bill. It will be bipartisan. Senator Leahy has announced he would move very quickly with the Judiciary Committee, which has joint jurisdiction of that.

Hopefully, we can have that bill to us within the next couple of weeks. We should get that done so it is not a last-minute deal like it was right before we broke for one of our breaks. I think it was before the August recess when we were pushed so hard on that matter. So I think things are moving along well. The Intelligence Committee is working extremely well. I am very satisfied with the work they have accomplished.

I see one of the members of the Intelligence Committee on the floor today, Senator Nelson, who has been such a great addition to the Intelligence Committee. He and other members of that Intelligence Committee devote hours of their time away from the TV cameras, away from reporters, trying to work out ways we can move forward against the evil that is focused on our Nation.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there now be a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to H. Con. Res. 182, which was received from the House.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to S. Res. 349.

Mr. 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, and any statements relating to this matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I am so pleased to rise in support of this resolution. It has now passed, and it is very important that it has. It is to honor our former colleague, the Vice President of the United States, Al Gore.

When I was first elected to the House of Representatives 25 years ago, I was placed on the Foreign Affairs Committee, which was wonderful. I loved it. Clement Zablocki from Wisconsin was the chairman of that committee. I have told people it was like going to school and not having to take the test. I was also put on the Science and Technology Committee. That was a wonderful committee. It opened my eyes to so many different things that I had not seen before and had not been exposed to before.

The first day we met on that committee for organizational purposes, a young man came up to me and he said: I am Al Gore from Tennessee. He said: There is going to be a lot of activity here, people wanting to go to subcommittees. He said: Just wait. They have formed a new subcommittee. I am going to be the subcommittee chairman. Take my word for it. It is going to be the best subcommittee. Don't try to get on all those others. Get on mine.

I did. I followed his suggestion. It was wonderful. I knew at that time that not only was he a very nice man--and I knew, of course, of him because of his father having been a U.S. Senator--but I came to learn what a brilliant man he is.

We did such outstanding things on that subcommittee. We uncovered corruption within the Federal Emergency Management Agency. We held hearings on that. He got into, for the first time, looking at how people are affected who do shift work. Those people who come from manufacturing areas are aware of that, the people who work the graveyard shift, the swing shift. For Las Vegas it is very important because it is a 24-hour town. People work 24 hours, around the clock. He approached it from what does it do to the minds and the bodies of people who have had this shift work. It was a wonderful, enlightening hearing, not only for members of the committee but for the country.

Also, he did, for the first time, public hearings on organ transplants. Remember, this was 25 years ago. I can remember it as if it was yesterday. He brought in before our subcommittee a little girl by the name of Jamie Fisk. I will never forget this little girl. Her color was the color of a light-colored lemon. She was so yellow. She was so jaundiced. This little girl was dying. She needed an organ transplant, a liver transplant, and this wasn't done much. But she was going to die. As a result of this hearing, she was able to get an organ transplant, a liver. I don't know what has happened to Jamie. The last time I checked a number of years ago, she was doing just fine, and I am confident she is. She was able to live as a result of this hearing held by Al Gore. It really paved the way for organ transplants and what we do with people who are on a waiting list to get these organ transplants.

The former majority leader, Dr. Frist, was an organ transplant specialist. I talked to him on a number of occasions about the important work Al Gore did in that subcommittee.

That was only the beginning. Al Gore came to the Senate. I can remember coming to him when I decided to run for the Senate. He came here 2 years before I did. He gave me great advice. He was very concerned about campaign spending laws that needed to be changed. He was totally supportive of McCain-Feingold and was a real leader and a leader in so many different respects as a Senator.

President Bill Clinton, using such good judgment, chose him to be his Vice President. Prior to that, Al Gore ran for President, and I am happy to say the first time he ran for President, other than the Senators from Tennessee, I was the only Senator supporting him. I have never, ever regretted having done that. I think the world of this man. His wife Tipper, if there were an all-American boy, she is the all- American girl. She is just what you would want your daughter to be like. I have a daughter, and I certainly hope she turns out like Tipper Gore.

The Vice President and Senator Gore--I visited him in his office years ago. He had in his office a chart, and it was so unusual. It showed how global warming was taking place, what was happening in the environment, and it went way up into the ceiling. Way back then, 20 years ago, he knew it was a problem. He knew that global warming was a problem.

He is a man of humor. He is real family person. We all lived with him here when he took his little boy to a baseball game and his little boy darted in front of a car and was hit and almost killed. For me personally, he is my friend.

What he has done for the State of Nevada is remarkable. Lake Tahoe. There are only two lakes in the world like Lake Tahoe: Alpine Glacial Lake, and the other one is in Russia--Lake Baikal. Lake Tahoe that we share with California is a wonderful lake. It is almost a mile deep. It was in a state of distress. I talked to Al Gore and said: We need to do a Presidential summit at Lake Tahoe, and we did. He and President Clinton came there 10 years ago and spent 2 days at Lake Tahoe. There was international coverage of what they were doing at Lake Tahoe to show that this wonder of nature was being destroyed. As a result of their having been there--they had 7 Cabinet officers who spent time with more than 1,000 people preparing them for the summit. I thought it would be a photo-op, and it certainly was more than that. It led to our turning around the environmental degradation of that great lake, and we have made progress. Since they came there, we have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on that lake, and it has been worth every penny of it.

Mr. President, Al Gore has had a pretty good year. He won an Emmy, an Oscar, and now the Nobel Peace Prize. I, of course, know he got more votes than the person who beat him in the Presidential election. We not only know he got more votes, we know the tremendous problems they had in Florida. The Supreme Court made a decision. Even though I disagreed with the 5-to-4 decision, it was made by the Supreme Court. As hard as it was for me to accept it, the minute the Supreme Court made that decision, George Bush became my President. Think about how Al Gore felt about that. Al Gore had gotten more votes than the man the Supreme Court said would be President. How did Al Gore lead the country after that disappointment to him? He didn't whine or cry or ask for there to be a contest in the House of Representatives, which he was entitled to. He led the country in saying George Bush is the President.

I say to you there wasn't a single rock thrown through a window and there were no demonstrations held; it was a changeover to George Bush being President. I give that to the greatness of Al Gore. He could have whined and cried and complained. He didn't do that. He set out, in spite of the fact that he was not President of the United States, to change the world. He has done that, earning an Emmy, an Oscar, and now the Nobel Peace Prize. It is one of the all-time great stories in history.

I have to also say that Al Gore, this very serious man, is also very funny; he has a great sense of humor. When I was first elected minority leader, and then became the Democratic leader, he is one of the first people I called. What did he do? He said: How much time do you have? I said: All the time you want. I was on the telephone and he talked to me for more than 2 hours. I took notes. I still have those notes. He gave me such a good view of my job.

I want everyone within the sound of my voice to understand what an extraordinary man he is and how much good he has done. I have watched his progress from the days we spent together on the subcommittee and the committee in the House, and we talked about the environment. This Nobel Peace Prize is a reflection of the man and his accomplishments.

Is there anyone who doubts today that global warming is real? I don't think so. If they do, they are in a very distinct minority. Global warming is here and we must act. Listen to what Vice President Gore says regarding the challenge. He says we must have optimism. He said:

We sometimes emphasize the danger in a crisis without

focusing on the opportunities that are there. We should feel

a great sense of urgency because it is the most dangerous

crisis we have ever faced, by far. But it also provides us

with opportunities to do a lot of things we ought to be doing

for other reasons anyway. And to solve this crisis, we can

develop a shared sense of moral purpose.

Does that depict what a great man he is? Al Gore looks at this optimistically, saying these are things we should have been doing, but we are not doing it, so let's work together to fight the scourge facing our world.

On behalf of our former colleague and my friend, Vice President Al Gore, I am so pleased to support this resolution. More important than passing this resolution, which has happened, I hope all my colleagues will honor his cause and moral purpose to continue the fight to reverse the threat of global warming and leave an Earth to our children and grandchildren that is safe, clean, and livable.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 350.

Mr. 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, and that any statements relating thereto be printed in the Record.