Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 404, S. 1640.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read the third time, and passed; that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate; and that any statements relating thereto be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 344, which was submitted earlier today.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed, en bloc, to the consideration of Calendar No. 407, S.J. Res. 17; and Calendar No. 408, S. Con. Res. 39.

The clerk will report.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the joint resolution be read the third time, and passed; that the preambles be agreed to, en bloc, and the motions to reconsider laid upon the table; that consideration of these items appear separately in the Record; and that any statements relating thereto be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, there are two bills at the desk, and I ask for their first reading en bloc.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the pro forma session of the Senate on Friday, October 5, the bills be considered to have received a second reading and placed on the calendar.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 9:30 a.m. Friday, October 5; that on Friday, the Senate conduct a pro forma session only, with no business conducted; that at the close of the pro forma session, the Senate stand adjourned under the provisions of S. Con. Res. 49 until 2 p.m., Monday, October 15; that on Monday, October 15, following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and there then be a period for the transaction of morning business until 3 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each and the time equally divided and controlled between the majority and minority; that at the close of morning business, the Senate then resume consideration of H.R. 3093, the Departments of Commerce and Justice and Science appropriations bill.

Mr. President, I finally will say that there will be a vote Monday afternoon on the day we get back between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.

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

Mr. President, those of us in the Senate do not take for granted our Chaplain. I want those who were fortunate enough to hear his prayer this morning to understand that the Chaplain of the Senate, Barry Black, is a brilliant man. He has a photographic memory. He is a great writer, as indicated by the prayer he delivered. The prayer itself says it all about what our function should be as legislators.

His mother was a great mother. He talks about her all the time. He is from Baltimore. She used to give him pennies for memorization, and even at that, I am sure she lost a lot of money because he has such a great mind. He is the only person I have dealt with over the years with a memory that is comparable to Senator Byrd who has the ability to recite things.

I want to make sure those listening to this prayer understand that we don't take this great man for granted. He is a retired admiral from the U.S. Navy, a fine man.

It is my understanding that S. 2128 is at the desk and due for a second reading.

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

This morning, following the time Senator McConnell and I may use, the Senate will be in a period of morning business for an hour. The time is equally divided and controlled. The majority will control the first half; Republicans will control the final half. Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of H.R. 3222, the Department of Defense appropriations bill, and then conduct up to 30 minutes of debate with respect to the Graham amendment relating to emergency funding for border security. A vote in relation to that amendment will occur once the time is used or yielded back, around 11 or shortly thereafter.

I know I speak for the managers when I say that if Members have any amendments, they better get here because Senator Stevens and Senator Inouye won't wait. In fact, I think they will ask consent when the bill is on the floor that at a certain time, if no other amendments are offered, the only amendments in order would be those filed up to that time. Cloture was filed--not that it is necessary. We hope it isn't. I hope we can finish this bill today. I have had a short conversation

this morning with the Republican leader. We are moving along. If we can finish these two bills this week, we will have done half of what we are obligated to do regarding the appropriations bills.

I think at that stage--and I told the Republican leader--we are going to start conferences on all these bills we have passed, four already, starting today. We need to be in a position where we can start sending some of these bills to the President. As I indicated, I will confer with the Republican leader as to which ones we should send out first. We need to get moving along.

We have to do everything within our ability to try to finish our work by November 16. That is not going to be easy, but we should try. As I have indicated previously, there are a lot of things left to be done prior to the Senate recessing on November 16 and work to be done prior to our recess--hopefully, tomorrow--dealing with various work we think we can do by unanimous consent. I urge Members to continue the level of cooperation we have witnessed, as we consider other appropriations bills.

I have also explained this to Senator McConnell, my desires in that regard; that is, as soon as we get back, that we start to complete the Labor-HHS bill. Before we leave here this week, we are going to do a circuit judge and a number of district court judges.

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, if I could say to the distinguished chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, we are trying to work toward the end of this bill. I am wondering, do you want votes on these two amendments?

I thank the Senator.

Mr. President, we turn again to the Feingold-Reid amendment. I have cosponsored this amendment in the past, and I am happy to do so again today. This amendment is another chance for us to show real leadership by forging a responsible and binding path out of the quagmire in which we find ourselves in Iraq.

In just a few short months, we will be starting the sixth year of this war. We just watched the series on television, the wonderful piece that Ken Burns produced of that war, a terrible, difficult war. It was long over by the time

we engaged in this war--a war that fought the world, the Far East, Europe, Africa, the South Pacific. And here we are soon to start the sixth year of this war, and we are in a war that has been fought in an area the size of the State of California.

This amendment puts before us a binding national policy, a strategy that Democrats and some courageous Republicans have advocated for months. I don't agree with my friend from Nebraska, Chuck Hagel, on a lot of issues, but I say that his leadership, leading Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, on this war issue is one of the most courageous political acts I have seen. I have told him so. I believe it. So there are Republicans who have joined in this effort, and I admire every one of them.

We are asking for a strategy that is the best path for the people of the United States and Iraq. It is a path. This legislation changes our fundamental mission away from policing a civil war, reduces our large combat footprint, and focuses on those missions which are in the national security interests of the United States.

It exercises congressional powers that we have within the Constitution--powers to limit funding after June 1 of next year well into the sixth year of the war--to counterterrorism, force protection, and targeted training of Iraqi forces.

This amendment recognizes we have strong interests in Iraq and the Middle East, but it does not permit the open-ended role of the United States in a civil war.

Nearly all experts agree that 6 years after our country was attacked on 9/11, the President's preoccupation with Iraq has not made America any more secure. Afghanistan is under attack. We need more forces there, not less. We cannot send them because we are bogged down in Iraq. The Taliban is attacking us with drug cultivation and trafficking at the highest level in years.

Pakistan's tribal border areas have become an increasingly alarming safe haven where bin Laden and a new generation of al-Qaida affiliated terrorists remain free to plot terrorist attacks.

As we all know, Iraq is mired, I repeat, in a civil war, an intractable civil war with no political reconciliation in sight. It is long past time for meaningless resolutions and minor policy tweaks. We need a major change of course in Iraq, one that responsibly brings our troops home, rebuilds the readiness of our military, and returns our focus on fighting a real war on terror against bin Laden and his al- Qaida network.

I urge my colleagues to support this responsible and long overdue legislation. I think Senator Feingold and I are not aware of how votes have been taken on this issue in the past, but we want others to step forward and do what we believe is right. It is time to chart a course out of Iraq and return our forces to the real and growing threats we face throughout the world.

Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the Tanner bill with overwhelming bipartisan support. This legislation would require the President to provide Congress with reports within 60 days of the administration's plans for drawing the war to a close.

Is this a step in the right direction? Some say so. We know the administration failed from the very beginning and repeatedly thereafter to adequately plan for the war in Iraq. We know the President took us to war without a plan for peace. Since then, his administration has resisted any attempts to examine his failures or to consider broad changes to his strategy in Iraq. The White House stubbornly refused to take on all the detailed planning that those changes would require. There is no sign that this shortsighted administering of the war will end.

If Congress does not act, the administration is bound to repeat the same mistakes--finishing the Iraq war as irresponsibly as it was started. The administration should begin planning for the end of the war and the redeployment of our troops, and Congress should expect this to be made available for oversight and examination.

Some of my colleagues would like to see the Senate take up the legislation that passed the House yesterday. It is within their rights. It is legislating on an appropriations bill, and in a conversation I had with one of my colleagues who indicated they might offer it, the two managers said they will raise a point of order.

I am not one for more reports. I think we need more than reports. But I admire those people who proffered this amendment that was adopted overwhelmingly in a bipartisan vote. I hope we can get those who believe the war has gone on too long, and we need a change, to support this amendment.

Mr. President, I ask that the pending amendment be set aside so that I may offer an amendment on behalf of Senator Boxer.

I send an amendment to the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I appreciate that very much. As when I announced this bill, I indicated we had two of our most senior Members managing it, with great experience, and here is an indication of what I was talking about. This is a time when these two men understand this bill more than anyone else, because they have managed it for so many years. I appreciate their management on this, and we hope to be drawing this bill to a close.

Madam President, one of the privileges I have as majority leader is the opportunity to welcome, on rare occasion, fellow legislators from various places. Today, we are fortunate to have legislators from the European Parliament who are here as part of a regular transatlantic legislative dialog. It is very important. This is a tradition that started in 1972 and has continued every year since.

The current delegation includes members of the Parliament from the newest European Union countries of Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, as well as from the founding members of Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Germany. We are pleased as well to see colleagues from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, the Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal, and Finland.

The European Parliament today has 727 members who sit in 9 different political groups, not by country, representing the entire political spectrum of Europe from left to right. They work in more than 20 languages, representing 450 million people who elect the Parliament in free and democratic elections every 5 years.

It wasn't very long ago that some of these nations represented by our colleagues here today broke free from totalitarian communism. Now they are participating in the European Union as full and equal members, enjoying the benefits of growing market economies and stable democratic governments under the rule of law.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the names of our colleagues from the European Parliament.

I would advise Senators that our colleagues from the European Parliament are available now to meet on the floor for the next few minutes. I welcome them.

I would announce also, every time I meet a foreign dignitary, I say to them--because they go to Dallas and New York, Chicago, and L.A--that they never go to Nevada. Well, tomorrow they are headed for Las Vegas.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in recess subject to the call of the Chair.

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

Madam President, there will be no more rollcall votes tonight. We received permission from both sides to voice vote the matter that is now before the Senate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 398, S. Con. Res. 45.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution and preamble be agreed to; the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; and that any statements be printed in the Record.

The concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res 45) was agreed to.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from consideration of S. 2106, and that the Senate then proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time, passed and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; that any statements be printed in the Record.