Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to S. Res. 314.

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 understand that H.R. 1908 is at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask for its second reading but object to my own request.

Mr. President, in short, we are going to be in late tomorrow. We hope to finish this bill Wednesday by the time we recess for the Jewish holiday. We tried to clear a few nominations tonight, but there were some objections on the Republican side. We hope to get those cleared for the President tomorrow.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m. tomorrow morning, September 11; that on tomorrow, following the prayer and the pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, and the time for the two leaders reserved for their use later in the day; that the Senate then resume consideration of H.R. 3074, the Transportation Appropriations Act; that the Senate stand in recess from 12:30 to 2:15 p.m. to accommodate the respective party conferences; further, that on Tuesday, in commemoration of the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attack, the Senate observe a moment of silence at 12 noon.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that we now stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, the good news is that we have accomplished a great deal this week. We have had a number of late nights, but we have completed what we needed to do, and today we are going to complete a very important piece of legislation that will certainly make it unnecessary that we be in late today and certainly not tomorrow.

As I indicated to everyone, we are going to have some votes before noon on Monday. But today, everyone should understand that at 10:15 a.m., we will have a vote. There will be no extending that time. Senator Kennedy and Senator Enzi have expressed the desire that if people want to speak about this legislation--the vote will take 15 to 20 minutes--Members will have ample opportunity to speak as long as they want to speak on this very important measure.

I look forward to the debate being completed, the vote being completed at 10:15 a.m., and I congratulate both Democrats and Republicans for the work we have been able to accomplish this week.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Monday, September 10, at 10 a.m., the Senate proceed to executive session to debate en bloc Executive Calendar Nos. 238, 239, and 241; that there be 60 minutes for debate on the nominations equally divided between Senators Leahy and Specter or their designees; that at 11 a.m., the Senate proceed to vote on Calendar No. 238, followed by a vote on Calendar No. 239, followed by a vote on Calendar No. 241; that the motions 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; that Senator Barrasso be recognized to speak in morning business--as a side note, this is his maiden speech in the Senate--for up to 30 minutes, following which the Senate begin consideration of H.R. 3074, the Transportation appropriations bill.

I will also say, while the distinguished Republican leader is present, we are going to complete the Transportation bill next week. The last vote next week will be at about 1 o'clock, no later than 1 o'clock because of the beginning of the Jewish holiday at sundown.

I have talked with the distinguished Republican leader, and we have some items we are going to look to on September 17 and 18. On September 17, there will be no votes. On September 18, there will be votes. We are going to try to develop--we have not done it yet; I have had a number of conversations with the Republican leader--as to how we proceed on the Iraq matters. We need to finish the Defense authorization bill. We want to make sure there is time to adequately debate that measure. But we also want to again address the Iraq situation. We have people, as I speak, trying to work out something that will be different from what we have done in the past. I hope that can be done, something on a bipartisan basis. We still may have to do the partisan matters. But, hopefully, Senators working together can come up with some way we can proceed on that issue. We are not there yet.

I want to alert everyone that during the week of September 17, we are going to have to do a lot of work on Defense authorization and also the Iraq matters. We hope we can complete the bill that week. Again, we are not at a point where we are near able to work out a unanimous consent agreement on that measure, but I have kept the minority advised about every step we have taken in this regard.

Mr. President, this morning, the Senate will be in a period for the transaction of morning business for 1 hour. The time will be equally divided and controlled. The majority controls the first portion and the Republicans control the last portion. Under an order entered last night, we will resume the Military Construction appropriations bill after morning business. There are five amendments that are remaining that are in order that are going to be disposed of.

After the Senate completes action on the Military Construction bill, the Senate will begin consideration of the Foreign Operations appropriations bill. The managers of that will be Senator Leahy and Senator Gregg. This should be a busy day with votes throughout the day. In addition, the education reconciliation conference report will be available and, as I mentioned earlier this week, we will act on that measure this week.

I will talk in more detail with the Republican leader when we have a better picture of what is going on with the Foreign Operations bill and how long it is going to take to dispose of the Military Construction-VA bill.

Democrats and Republicans worked well together yesterday. We have a lot to do. One of the things we have to do is look forward to somehow funding the Government after October 1. There will be consultations between the Republican leader and me and the appropriations people on Capitol Hill. Also, we have the President to deal with on these issues. Even though there has been a lot made about the difference between what the President wants and what Congress wants, it is not that much different. I hope we can work out those issues.

Anyway, we have a picture ahead of us of what we need to do, and we will proceed to do that business as quickly as we can today and hopefully finish everything today, tomorrow and hopefully not have to worry about tomorrow afternoon or even Saturday. I hope we need not do that. We will keep everyone informed as soon as we can.

Mr. President, this bill we are going to take up also is an interesting bill in that it is $700 million less than the President requested, and that is unusual, especially in a Foreign Operations bill. We hope we can work through that legislation. Senator Gregg is certainly experienced, as is Senator Leahy.

On our side, the time for morning business is going to be allocated as follows: 10 minutes each to Senator Nelson, Senator Salazar, and Senator Sanders, the 30 minutes we have that will be beginning soon.

Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Thank you, Mr. President. We have had a very productive day. We have two of our finest managers on this legislation, Senator Leahy and the Senator from New Hampshire, Judd Gregg. I always get the names turned around. It should be ``Gregg Judd.'' Anyway, the end is in sight.

We have a number of amendments that are still pending. We have a number of amendments offered by one Republican Senator. We will accept those amendments. The problem if he demands votes on these amendments and we have other amendments that come forward--I would hope there would be some consideration given to that.

We are at a point now where we have had a number of Senators who have been looking over in detail the managers' package. We should be able to complete this bill very quickly. The point I am making is, we are going to finish this bill tonight whether there are four votes or however many votes it takes. I would hope we could do this. We have been meeting with Senator Kennedy and Senator Enzi to see if we can work something out on reconciliation. That should be able to be completed likely not tonight, but I think we could do it sometime early in the morning. But we are going to finish this appropriations bill tonight.

I have had this conversation with the distinguished Republican leader. He knew I was going to make this brief statement. So I would hope everyone would understand where we are. We have had a very productive few days. This would be a good way to end the week. I look forward to completing this legislation as soon as possible tonight.

Amendment No. 2708

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

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

Mr. President, I would advise all Senators here that the majority and minority staffs are working on a unanimous consent agreement to get us to the end of tonight, which they will get to. In the meantime, I have something that will alert everyone as to what is going to happen tomorrow.

Unanimous Consent Agreement--H.R. 2669

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate resumes consideration of the conference report on H.R. 2669--that is the Education reconciliation--tomorrow at 9 a.m, there be 75 minutes for debate equally divided between the chairman and ranking member, and the Senate vote on the conference report at 10:15 a.m. with no intervening action or debate.

I would say to everyone here that I have talked in some detail to Senators Kennedy and Enzi about this. When we finish the work on the Foreign Operations appropriations bill tonight, anyone who wants to talk about this tonight--that is this, the Education reconciliation bill--can do that, up to 8 hours and 45 minutes. It will not take that much time. When we finish the proceedings for this evening, there will be 75 minutes left tomorrow for debate equally divided between Senators Enzi and Kennedy on the Education reconciliation bill.

I have had a number of Senators on both sides ask what the schedule is in the morning. That is it. I ask that this be confirmed.

Mr. President, I would say that Senators Leahy and Gregg and their valiant staff are working on something to complete the Foreign Operations bill. We should have that momentarily. So if everyone would be patient, we should have that shortly.

Yes.

I object.

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

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. President, I have spoken to the managers of the bill. I have conferred with the Republican leader. If everybody will be patient, we should be completed--all work--in about 10 minutes. They are working on the Budget Committee with some final numbers. There are no problems, but they want to make sure. Senator Gregg and Senator Leahy said do it right; we don't want problems popping up later. We should be finished in about 10 minutes. During that 10 minutes, if somebody wants to give a speech as in morning business, they are welcome to do that. So cool your heels, we will be done soon.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, this morning, the Senate will be in a period for morning business until 11:30 a.m., with Republicans controlling the first half of the time, the majority controlling the final portion. I ask that be a full 90 minutes because both Republicans and Democrats have indicated a desire to speak. So whatever time Senator McConnell and I take we will not count against that time.

Mr. President, at approximately 11:30 a.m., the Senate will resume consideration of the Military Construction and Veterans appropriations measure. This, of course, is an extremely critical proposal for current members of the Armed Forces and those who have previously served, our veterans.

We got word yesterday from the comanager of this bill, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, that the President said he would sign the bill in its present state, which is a good message. Therefore, I think we should proceed posthaste to complete this legislation as quickly as we can today. We have business, as I already indicated, we have to finish this week. We will do our best to complete this legislation. I hope we don't have to file cloture on it. I hope we can complete the bill. There was no indication yesterday there would be a lot of amendments. I don't know if there will be any.

When we finish the bill, then we go to the Foreign Operations appropriations bill. That bill is $700 million less than what the President requested. There certainly should be something we can work out in that regard.

Then we have to complete education reconciliation. There is a statutory 10 hours on that legislation.

We can complete all that business very quickly this week or, if necessary, we will work on Friday and Saturday, hopefully not on Sunday.

Monday morning, there will be votes. As I have indicated to the Republican leader, we will have no votes after about 5:30 or 6 p.m. on Monday. On Tuesday, we will have a full day. We might have to work into the night because we hope to be on Transportation appropriations. We will have our last vote about 12:30 or 1 p.m. on Wednesday in relation to the Jewish holiday. We may work past that time, but there will be no votes after midday.

I hope Members will cooperate. Today, we have our weekly recess for party conferences. We are going to come back at 2:15. In the history of the Senate, this is an important day. Someone who has stood for bipartisanship his entire career as a Member of the House of Representatives and as a Senator is coming back. Tim Johnson has been extremely ill. He was about as sick as a person can get. He is back. His brain is 100 percent. The right side of his body is not back. His speaking, as he said last week when he announced his coming back in South Dakota--he hoped all Senators would follow his example because his mind works faster than his mouth. The doctor said his speech will return totally.

Right now, it is not, but it is still very good. So I hope Senators will come to the floor at 2:15 p.m. to hear his speech upon his return. Senator McConnell and I are going to submit a resolution welcoming him back. So I encourage Members to be here at that time.

We will have some rollcall votes later today, maybe even into this evening. Senator Reed and Senator Hutchison are the ones managing the Military Construction and Veterans bill.

I have a matter of business, Mr. President.

There are two bills at the desk due for a second reading.

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

Mr. President, if I may say also--I said this personally to the distinguished Republican leader--Senator McConnell and the entire Republican caucus have been so thoughtful regarding Senator Johnson's illness. There were things the Republican minority could have done to have taken advantage of the situation of his being ill. That was never done, not on one occasion. I appreciate that very much. I know Senator Johnson does. It speaks well for the Senate.

I don't think I need to say more on that issue other than it is the right thing to do, but sometimes we try to take advantage of a situation politically. The Republican Senators did not do that, even though there would have been times it would have been to their advantage.

Mr. President, before my Republican colleagues leave the floor, I want to repeat what I said this morning when the Senate opened--the only person here was Senator McConnell--and that is what the Republicans have done during the illness of Senator Johnson has been exemplary. There have been occasions when, for partisan advantage, the minority could have taken advantage of the majority as a result of Tim being incapacitated. That was never done, even though there were opportunities to do that. As I said this morning, I personally appreciate that. I know the Johnson family does. More importantly, Mr. President, the American people do. This is the Senate, and I will always remember during the past 8 months as we have waited for Tim to return how--I repeat--the Republicans never once tried to take advantage of his illness. Thank you very much.

(Applause.)

Mr. President, Tim Johnson is a fourth generation South Dakotan. I want to underline the fact that John Thune and Tim Johnson remind me of Harry Reid and John Ensign, because we too had a very difficult race for the Senate, and it ended up very similar to the Thune-Johnson race. But we have set those differences aside and now are friends. Above all, I say to my friend John Thune, I admire and appreciate what you have done in helping Tim in his absence and for being the person who would not allow anything to be done that would in any way harm Tim Johnson on a partisan basis. Thank you very much, John.

I have learned a lot about Tim Johnson in the past 8 months. I know he went to school at the University of South Dakota, that it is there he met Barbara, his wife. It is in a town called Vermillion that he started his law practice, and it is there that he saw success in the legal field. He served 4 years, starting in 1982, in the House of Representatives in the State of South Dakota. He has received many awards: Outstanding Citizen of the State of South Dakota, first recipient of the Billy Sutton Award for legislative achievement. He was elected to the House in 1986. During that year he was responsible for passing more legislation than any of the other 50 first-term Members.

He has now been in the Senate doing outstanding work. I noticed on his resume, of course, he listed the Appropriations Committee, the Budget Committee, the Banking Committee, the Energy Committee, the Indian Affairs Committee, but he left off the Ethics Committee. He was chosen on that committee to be the chair of that committee, because he is the example of an ethical, honest legislator and person.

Tim and Barbara still have their home in Vermilion, but I have gotten to know that family so well. Brooks served and is serving in the U.S. Army, having been a combat veteran in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He is now an Army recruiter. Brendan is a lawyer and has a law practice and is doing excellent work. Kelsey and I--during her father's illness--spent lots of time together, especially waiting for her brothers to come. It took a couple of days for them to get here from around the country, as air travel out of South Dakota is not that easy.

As you proceed through life, you find people that you have such admiration for. Of course, we all admire Tim. But there is a person in this Chamber--and I know the Senate rules. We are not to refer to people in this Chamber, but I hope people will forgive me today in recognizing someone I will never forget, and that is his loving wife Barbara.

(Applause, Senators rising.)

I think Barbara and I will never forget--Tim was unconscious at the time--the first night Tim got sick. The reason I mention this is there was a doctor--and I don't want to in any way embarrass Tim or his family, but I think the man deserves recognition. I was asked to be with Barbara, and I was happy to be there with the children coming that first terrible afternoon. Things weren't going well. Barbara recognized it at first that he wasn't doing well. The doctor came and said, We are going to have to relieve the pressure. I am going to have to go into his skull. I said to this doctor, How many times have you done that? He said, Innumerable times. He was not an old man, but he was surrounded by old neurologists and neurosurgeons.

He came back a while later, an hour and a half, maybe, and he said, I am going to have to do an angiogram; I don't know what is going on in his brain. So they put something in to look at his brain. I said, How many times have you done that? He said over a thousand times. Then he comes back about an hour and a half or 2 hours later and tells us they are going to have to operate on Tim. It is going to take a long time, probably about 7 hours. After he worked all of this time, I said to him, Who is going to do this, because he had to be getting tired by then. He looked at Barbara with these piercing eyes, and said, I am going to do it. That is what I do. He said, I am not only a neurosurgeon, I have a subspecialty in the blood supply to the brain. He walked out of that room, and we had so much confidence in his ability that we felt Tim was going to make it. That man's name is Dr. Vivek Deshmukh. I haven't had the opportunity--I wanted to make sure Tim came back here--but some day I am going to be able to express to him on a personal basis how he handled this man's illness. Tim wasn't there, only in spirit, but this doctor deserves recognition, and I hope that is what I do with my little speech here today.

Amidst the daily scuffles that take place here in the Senate, we have the press, but many Americans may not realize we are a family. We sometimes joke about it, but we are, and this proves it. Sometimes people say this Senate family is dysfunctional, and maybe sometimes it is. But despite our quarrels on policy and politics, the 100 men and women who serve in this Chamber have the deepest respect and admiration for each other. We care about each other's health, families, and all the things that go on outside the walls of this Capitol building. I have dear friends, and we all do in this Chamber, but my admiration and respect for Tim Johnson is difficult to calculate.

When he fell ill in December of last year, we were all touched by this unfortunate incident. But as we look at what happened, we have heard this overused term: Maybe it was a blessing in disguise, because Tim Johnson was taken immediately to George Washington Hospital where they have a team of physicians as good as any place in the world to take care of his injury--maybe not of other injuries, not other illnesses, but for this one it is as good as any place in the country. Had it happened the next day, he would have been on an airplane going to South Dakota. Had it happened the next day, he would have been on an Indian reservation in South Dakota. So maybe, maybe his misfortune was a blessing. Maybe it was a blessing.

We all prayed for him. We all hoped for his recovery. We couldn't watch his recovery because he was away from us most of the time. We all prayed for his recovery with hope for his strength. Tim's wonderful wife Barbara, whom I have already mentioned, said last month:

I have learned a lot about Tim Johnson during the last

months. I have learned that he is extremely determined. How

he has gotten through this and maintained an even balance I

will never understand. His sense of humor and just the: OK, I

know what I have to do, I am going to go ahead and do it, and

he does it.

So these past months, with humor and determination that Barbara mentioned, we all in the Senate now know what she is talking about.

Tim, I am so glad you are back. I am so happy that your mind is 100 percent. We have all been told your speech shortly will be 100 percent, and you should know it is 95 percent right now. We throw words around like we are happy to have you back, but I have to say in front of the whole world, Tim, we love you. I love you.

(Applause, Senators rising.)

Mr. President, will the Senator yield?

Mr. President, it is my understanding the Senator from Iowa is speaking on veteran suicide; is that right?

I spoke briefly yesterday morning. A 19-year-old--as the Senator knows, my dad killed himself, so I understand something about suicide--a 19-year-old soldier from Las Vegas came back to Las Vegas. He told his parents and everybody else he didn't want to go back to Iraq. I think they said they gave him medicine--Prozac, whatever it was--and sent him back. In a matter of a few days, he killed himself.

Suicide is a devastating problem. It is a problem in the civilian population. Mr. President, 31,000 people kill themselves every year. We don't understand the issue at all. We haven't studied it enough. What is going on in the civilian side is a mere shadow of what is going on in the military.

We have had hundreds of soldiers who have killed themselves in Iraq. A lot of them are not suicide reported.

I so admire and appreciate what the Senator from Iowa is doing with regard to this legislation. It is so very important. Suicide is a national problem, and with the emotional and mental problems our troops are having coming back, we have to get to the bottom of this issue and see what we can do to prevent further deaths.

Mr. President, if I could direct another question to my friend. We have so much to do in the Senate. Certain measures expire at the end of the fiscal year. But I say to my friend, I feel very strongly about this issue, for obvious reasons. Everyone should understand, if people want to stop us from moving forward on this legislation, they are going to have to vote accordingly. We are not going to let one or two Senators stop us from moving forward on this bill.

I have the greatest respect for Dr. Coburn, the junior Senator from Oklahoma. I hope the Senator's conversations with him will bear fruit and we can move forward tonight. But if they don't, we are going to figure our way past this before we leave here this year, OK?

Every day we wait is another person calling--as I remember it, and it has been a long time ago now, I say to my friend, a long time ago. My dad was a lot younger than I am right now when he killed himself. I can remember that phone call. I can remember that phone call. I had a wonderful morning. I had been out to watch Muhammad Ali work out. I spent many hours with Muhammad Ali. I got back to the office and Joan Shea, the receptionist, said: Your mother is on the line. I said: Hi. She said: Your pop killed himself. What is this about?

So anyway, 31,000 people get phone calls such as that every year on the civilian side, and we have probably thousands of other people who commit suicide who are not listed as suicides. And then we have the situation the Senator from Iowa just indicated. The people who are coming home are 35 percent higher, in a ratio of killing themselves, than the people in the civilian population. That is scary.

The other problem, I say to my friend, is Active-Duty soldiers, troops also have problems. Every day we don't do this bill is another day someone is going to kill themselves.

I have indicated to the Senator, we are going to do that. We, of course, have to see what is ahead of us, but it is something about which I feel strongly. The floor staff is watching Senator Harkin and me talk today. We will figure out a way to do it.