Floor Statements

While my friend, the distinguished chairman of the committee, is not here, the ranking member is here. I think we all owe you a debt of gratitude. The way this bill was managed has been exemplary, and I speak for all of us in extending my appreciation to you and your partner in this very important committee, Senator Baucus, for the work you have done.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, August 2, 2007, at 11:30 a.m. in closed session to receive a briefing on drawdown planning for U.S. forces in Iraq.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on August 2, 2007, at 9:30 a.m. in order to conduct a Hearing on the nominations of the Honorable Randall S. Kroszner, of New Jersey, to be a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; Ms. Elizabeth A. Duke, of Virginia, to be a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; and Mr. Larry A. Klane, of the District of Columbia, to be a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to hold a hearing during the session of the Senate on Thursday, August 2, 2007, at 10 a.m., in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building. During the Executive Session, Committee members will mark up the following agenda items:

1. S. 781, to extend the authority of the Federal Trade Commission to collect Do-Not-Call Registry fees to fiscal years after fiscal year 2007;

2. S. 602, Child Safe Viewing Act of 2007;

3. S. 1578, Ballast Water Management Act of 2007;

4. S. 1892, Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2007; and

5. Nominations subject to July 31, 2007 Confirmation Hearing. (PN 571) Mr. Ronald Spoehel, to be Chief Financial Officer, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, (PN 522) Mr. William G. Sutton, to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce. (PN 645) Vice Admiral Thomas J. Barrett, to be Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation. (PN 656) Mr. Paul R. Brubaker, to be Administrator of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. (PN 781) Nomination for Promotion in the United States Coast Guard.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate in order to conduct a hearing entitled Preserving Prosecutorial Independence: Is the Department of Justice Politicizing the Hiring and Firing of U.S. Attorneys?--Part VII'' on Thursday, August 2, 2007, at 10 a.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building room 226.

Witness list

Karl Rove, The White House; J. Scott Jennings, The White House.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate in order to conduct a markup on Thursday, August 2, 2007, at 11:30 a.m. in Dirksen room 226.

Agenda

I. Bills: S__, School Safety and Law Enforcement Improvements Act, (Chairman's mark); S. 1060, Recidivism Reduction & Second Chance Act of 2007, (Biden, Specter, Brownback, Leahy, Kennedy, Schumer, Whitehouse, Durbin); S. 453, Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act of 2007; (Obama, Schumer, Leahy, Cardin, Feingold, Feinstein, Kennedy, Whitehouse); S. 1692, A bill to grant a Federal Charter to Korean War Veterans Association, (Cardin, Isakson,

Kennedy); S. 1845, A bill to provide for limitations in certain communications between the Department of Justice and the White House; (Whitehouse).

II. Nomination: Rosa Emilia Rodriguez-Velez to be United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on August 2, 2007, at 2:30 p.m. in order to hold a closed hearing.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs' Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services and International Security be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, August 2, 2007, at 10 a.m. in order to conduct a hearing entitled ``Service Standards at the Postal Service: Are Customers Getting What They Paid For?''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on National Parks of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to hold a hearing during the session of the Senate on Thursday, August 2, 2007, at 2:30 p.m. in room SD-366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony on S. 1253, a bill to establish a fund for the National Park Centennial Challenge, and for other purposes.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Security and International Trade and Finance be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on August 2, 2007, at 2:30 p.m., in order to conduct a hearing entitled ``Reforming Key International Financial Institutions for the 21st Century.''

Mr. President, today there will be 30 minutes of morning business, and it will all be under the control of the Republicans. Following that time, the Senate will resume consideration of the children's health bill and then conduct 30 minutes of debate with respect to the Ensign amendment. That time will be equally divided and controlled between Senators Ensign and Baucus. Upon the use or yielding back of that time, the Senate will vote in relation to the Ensign amendment. Following the disposition of the Ensign amendment, the managers hope to come to a short agreement with respect to the Gregg amendment and have a vote shortly thereafter. Senator Byrd is to be recognized to speak for up to 30 minutes at 12 noon. Other votes with respect to the bill are expected today.

Mr. President, we have two major amendments we have been told exist with respect to this children's health legislation. One will be offered by Senator Kerry, which is going to increase the amount of money we believe is needed in this legislation. The other is by Senators Lott and Kyl, which is a substitute amendment. I hope those Senators who are going to offer those amendments will come and do them quickly. We need these two amendments. That is what this legislation is all about. Other individuals also have a right to offer amendments, but I do hope those two amendments will be offered very quickly. We need to finish this bill. We are going to finish this bill before we leave.

Of course, everybody knows we have, in the morning, the cloture vote on ethics and lobbying. We will do that an hour after we come in in the morning. I very much appreciate the willingness of the minority to work with us and that we didn't have to go--because it was a privileged piece of legislation that came from the House, that we didn't have to waste time from last night until tomorrow morning. I appreciate very much the Republicans allowing us to work on this legislation today. It would have been a wasted day otherwise.

I hope we can get a lot of work done on SCHIP today. I will speak with Senator McConnell as to when, if at all--and I hope it is not necessary--we will file cloture on SCHIP to finish it. I hope we don't have to do that. We had good luck last week on the first appropriations bill and not having to do that.

We have one other must-do item before we leave here, and that deals with the surveillance program that everybody has read about and knows about. That has to be done. I had a briefing meeting with Admiral McConnell this morning, and he has sent some proposed changes to the legislation up here. It is already here. We hope that will be enough to have that legislation pass quickly. I hope we can get it done. It is something on which we all acknowledge we should give it the old college try and do everything we can to complete that.

Those are the things we must do.

There are other things we would like to do. One of them is the competitiveness bill, which is very important. It is such an interesting piece of legislation. In conversations with the most liberal members of my caucus, I find that they love this piece of legislation, as do moderates and conservatives in my caucus, and it is the same with the Republicans. They think this legislation is very good.

I see my friend from Tennessee on the floor who worked with Senator Bingaman on this early on. I hope we can do this before we leave. It is my understanding that the conference, if not completed, is virtually completed. It would be good to do that before we leave. It would show real bipartisanship.

Yes.

Mr. President, I say to my friend, the distinguished chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, a tireless advocate for Native Americans his entire career, I have 22 different tribal organizations in the State of Nevada. You say ``rationing'' health care. I think that is even being too generous because there is no health care rationed, in many instances, in Nevada. We have gone from having two wonderful hospitals for Native Americans and now we have one that is closed. The other they don't use for acute care. It is a situation that, for our country, should be an embarrassment. It is an embarrassment. People just don't know how bad it is.

I say to my friend, through the Chair, that we are going to do this bill this year. If it is reported out of the Finance Committee, we will find a way to bring it to the floor. It is the right thing to do. We talk about people who don't have advocates for them. My tribal organizations in Nevada don't have people back here advocating for them. We need to advocate for them. I have to do that, especially on this issue of health care. They deserve the basic minimum; they deserve the ability to have some kind of health care. It is in such a state now that I, frankly, don't know what to tell the tribal organizations when they come to see me. There has been more than a decade waiting to do something about this.

So I support my friend from North Dakota and will do everything I can to move this forward and make a commitment that we will do something this session of Congress.

Mr. President, can I be heard?

Mr. President, I am very sorry people missed the vote. We waited almost 25 minutes for the vote. And I am sorry. Senator Lieberman certainly did not do anything intentionally. He thought the vote would be held open. I have checked with the very loyal staff we have in the cloakroom, and there was a misunderstanding between the cloakroom and Senator Lieberman.

But, regardless, I hope everybody understands we have to have some semblance of order around here. We are doing our very best to save people time. One of the things we are doing to save time is have a vote start on time and end on time. A 15-minute vote is a 20-minute vote. This vote was cut off approaching 25 minutes.

So I am sorry that people missed the vote. I had one Senator tell me it was the first one they missed. It is a favor to that person. I say the first vote I missed took a lot of the pressure off.

This vote passed, I think, 2 to 1. It is not a very difficult issue. I am so sorry that people are disturbed about following the rules here. That is what we are doing.

I appreciate my friend from Montana because if he had not objected, I would have.

Yes.

Because I will object to it.

Yes.

Mr. President, will the Senator from Montana yield?

Mr. President, I say to all my colleagues, we have been in this session now for 7 months. This is something we all decided would be best for the institution. We all decided this. This is not something we put into effect yesterday. And I say to my dear friend, the senior Senator from Utah, I understand his compassion. He does not want to miss votes. But if we decide to change it this time, then we will be doing it every time people miss a vote.

Now, it would be different--I say to my friend, the ``Babe Ruth'' of the Senate, Senator Byrd, this was not 60 seconds, a few seconds off. We have a lot of work we need to do here. The vote was a 15-minute vote. We waited almost 25 minutes. So I think we have been fair.

The one I feel worst for is my friend Joe Lieberman, because he felt they had the time to get here. I have checked with the cloakroom, and they emphatically said there was a misunderstanding, because they have a time, they know when the vote is going to end. When everybody calls, they say there is no extension, the time the vote will end is such and such a time. They have been instructed to do this because one Senator missed a vote Monday. So the cloakroom has instructions as to what to do.

I am sorry people missed votes, but remember, this is not anything that is new. It is something that has been going on for 7 months, and we have a lot of work to do. I respectfully suggested to one of my friends, who said: Well, we wasted all this time; we could have gone ahead and waited for everybody--but while we are waiting for everybody to come and vote, some people got here on time, and other people have work they want to do, waiting for people to get here on time.

So I think it is best for the body that we stick to our 15 minutes, plus 5 minutes. That is when the vote will be called. For those of us who have had service in the House--many of us have--you do not have any wiggle room in the House. That vote is over, and you are through. It is done mechanically, and you are all through. We do not want it to be like the House. This is the Senate, and we want it differently. That is why we have a 5-minute leeway.

I appreciate everyone's thoughtfulness, but I am certainly trying to do the right thing.

Let me say this. I have heard everyone loudly and clearly because we have spent a lot of time on this. Just so everyone has the total, absolute understanding, in the future--Senator Leahy; Senator Lieberman; Senator Baucus; Senator Kerry; Senator Dorgan; Senator Byrd, on Appropriations--if Appropriations chairmen tell you there is more time to vote, there is not any. Therefore, if the chairman is trying to keep you there, and the time is running, walk out of there.

I ask unanimous consent that those Senators who missed the vote because of the misunderstanding with Senator Lieberman be allowed to cast their votes.

Never been done. OK.

We tried, Kay.

Mr. President, it is my understanding the distinguished Senator from West Virginia is going to be recognized now; is that right?

Mr. President, if I can interrupt my friend for a minute, will the Senator yield to me to make a brief statement regarding the statement made by the distinguished Republican leader, to be followed by 5 or 6 minutes by the Senator from Vermont, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and then the Senator from West Virginia would, of course, have all of his time?

Mr. President, it appears at this time that we will move to table this sense-of-the-Senate resolution offered by my friend, the distinguished Republican leader. I appreciate his advocacy for Judge Southwick. Some of us have a different opinion about Judge Southwick, and that has been made a part of the record already. I would refer to the Congressional Record of July 20, where I gave an extended statement on Judge Southwick and why I thought he should not be confirmed, but there will be more time to talk about this.

We have done a very good job, working with Senator Leahy, in clearing judges. We have a bump in the road with this one, there is no question, and the bump is still there. I admire and appreciate the work done by the Senator from Vermont because we have been through some difficult times in recent years with the Judiciary Committee. Senator Leahy will make a brief statement about some of the travails we have had.

Judge Southwick has had a hearing. It is up to the Republicans-- namely, Senators Lott and Cochran--whether they want to vote in that committee. That is so much more than was given to Senator Clinton's nominees, where about 70 never even had a hearing.

So we will have more time to debate this at a subsequent time, and sometime later today I will confer with my distinguished Republican colleague, the minority leader, to determine when I will offer a motion to table or Senator Leahy will offer a motion to table.

Mr. President, could I ask the distinguished Senator from South Dakota if I could interrupt for a unanimous consent request?

I yield a couple of minutes to Senator Baucus for the unanimous consent request.

Mr. President, if I could interrupt, Senator Thune was speaking and I would ask, how much more time does the Senator need?

How much time does Senator Craig need?

Madam President, just a brief comment on the distinguished Republican leader's statement.

As we speak, there are meetings going on to see if we can resolve this matter in a manner that is acceptable to Republicans and Democrats in the Senate, and of course then we have to also be concerned about the House. Senator McConnell and I were in a meeting early this morning with individuals, including Admiral McConnell, and we hope something can be worked out.

We waited a little longer than I wanted, waiting for Admiral McConnell's papers to come here this afternoon, but they are here and they are being reviewed. I spoke to Senator Levin just a few minutes ago. There is nothing serious, but Senator Rockefeller has been with his wife today on a minor problem, but it was necessary he not be here. So we are trying to work our way through this.

Hopefully, we can resolve this. It is something important, we are going to do everything we can, and we hope all sides will be reasonable. At this point they have been. It is an issue we certainly need to resolve, if at all possible, before we leave for our August recess.

I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. President, I have spoken to the distinguished Republican leader. I have spoken to the two managers of the bill. I think it would be appropriate to announce at this time there will be no more rollcall votes tonight. However, if people have a desire to offer amendments, the managers are willing to talk to you about those amendments. They need some idea of who else wants to offer amendments. You can hear from them.

My main purpose in making this statement is announcing there will be no more rollcall votes tonight, after this next vote, of course.

Amendment No. 2602

Mr. President, I ask the Senator from Georgia to yield so that I may speak for a few minutes. I am sorry I wasn't on the floor to listen to the speech of the Senator from Kentucky, the Republican leader, dealing with FISA.

Let me say briefly, we got the bill and the rule XIV late this afternoon. Ours is almost completed. We are working on it in my office, and the Speaker has to sign off on some of these things. It could take a little while before we are able to file this.

I so appreciate the Senator from Maryland. She is a woman who takes tremendously difficult jobs as a Senator. She has been a valued member on more than one occasion on the Ethics Committee, doing some of the most difficult work we have had to do on ethics in the entire history of the country. And then as far as her serving on the Intelligence Committee, she has been exemplary. I depend on her for information on what to do. A lot of times these meetings are held, and you need direction as to what we need to do on the Senate floor because what goes on in the Intelligence Committee is all secret. I admire and respect her so much because she helped us get to the point where we are.

We are going to come back with the proposal that we will file, a rule XIV, as the Republicans did theirs. It is meeting the expectations of the American people. One of the things we have going for us with this repair of FISA is Admiral McConnell. We trust this man. He is a man who speaks in a language we understand. He is direct and concise. Because of that, I think we can work something out. I just spoke to the vice chair of the Intelligence Committee, Senator Bond. We talked about the fact that ours will be laid down, and theirs is already laid down. Certainly, we should be able to work something out. We are all trying to obtain the same goal: to be able to protect ourselves from the evil people in the world who are trying to do harm to us as a country and individually and others from around the world.

We are going to proceed in good faith to try to get this done, and hopefully sometime in the next little bit, we will be able to file our legislation and what we call rule XIV so we are matching what the Republicans did this afternoon.

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

Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

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

Mr. President, small rural water systems are facing compliance deadlines, and need assistance without burdensome matching funding requirements. The Small Community Drinking Water Funding Act that I am introducing today with Senators Ensign, Boxer, Murray, Clinton, Baucus, Sanders, and Conrad, amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a Small Public Water System Assistance Program. This program is to support small water systems in complying with national primary drinking water regulations, and includes a program for Indian tribes.

The smallest public water systems, which serve fewer than 3,300 people, represent 85 percent of all public water systems. Small public water systems serving fewer than 10,000 people represent 94 percent of all public water systems. Small communities throughout Nevada would benefit from a grant program designed to provide funding for water quality projects without a difficult matching requirement; and Federal programs in effect as of the date of enactment of this act do not adequately meet the needs of small communities in Nevada with respect to public water systems. The Small Community Drinking Water Funding Act will authorize $750,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2008 through 2014. Nevada should be able to secure a substantial portion of this funding because of the State's rural water systems needs.

The purpose of this bill is to establish a program to provide grants to small public water systems to meet applicable national primary drinking water regulations under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Second, maintain water costs at a reasonable level for the communities served by small public water systems. Third, obtain technical assistance to develop the capacity to sustain operations over the long term.

This legislation is intended to ensure that our Nation's small, disadvantaged communities have access to the financial help they need to provide safe, reliable, and affordable drinking water with the authorization of $750 million annually for 7 years starting next year. The Small Community Safe Drinking Water Act provides substantial flexibility to States.

Nevada's small communities are facing a drinking water infrastructure crisis. These communities, and other small communities nationwide, confront increasing demand for clean, reliable, and affordable drinking water. But it is simply too costly for small communities, alone, to address this water infrastructure crisis.

They need a financial helping hand from the Federal Government.

I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, this morning the Senate will be in a period of morning business for 1 hour, with the time divided equally between the majority and the minority. The minority will control the first half of the time and the majority will control the second half.

Following morning business, the Senate will proceed to the consideration of H.R. 976, and I expect the majority manager, Senator Baucus, to call up his amendment at the desk, which will be the text of the SCHIP legislation reported overwhelmingly by the Senate Finance Committee last week.

Today the Senate will recess at 12:30 for its respective policy work periods.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the majority leader, following consultation with the Republican leader, may at any time proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 127, S. 849, the Openness Promotes Effectiveness of Our National Government Act of 2007, sponsored by Senators Leahy and Cornyn, and that the bill be considered under the following limitations: that there be a time limit of 2 hours of general debate on the bill, with the time equally divided and controlled between the chair and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee or their designees; that the only amendment in order be a Leahy-Cornyn technical amendment, which is at the desk; that upon the use or yielding back of the time, the amendment be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read the third time, and the Senate vote on passage of the bill, with the above occurring without further intervening action or debate.

I would be satisfied if the junior Senator from Arizona could work on this. I hope there can be an agreement reached that we can take this bill up maybe when we get back, with a limited amount of time and amendments. It is very popular legislation--the Freedom of Information Act--which our friends in the press

love, and other organizations around the country. It is very important. I hope we can move forward on this bipartisan piece of legislation.

I thank the Chair.

I ask that the Chair lay before the Senate the message from the House on S. 1, the lobbying reform bill.

The Presiding Officer laid before the Senate the following message from the House of Representatives:

Resolved that the bill from the Senate (S. 1) entitled ``An

Act to Provide Greater Transparency in the Legislative

Process'' do pass with an amendment:

Mr. President, I move that the Senate concur in the amendment of the House, and I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. President, I move to concur in the House amendment with the following amendment which is at the desk.

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

Mr. President, I send a second-degree amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate continue consideration of H.R. 976.

Mr. President, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 3 p.m. The time will be equally controlled between the two leaders. At 3 p.m., the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 796, with the time until 5:30 to be equally divided and controlled between Senators Baucus and Grassley or their designees.

At 5:30, the Senate will proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed. If cloture is invoked, we can proceed to this very important legislation quickly.

For all Members of the Senate, last week we accomplished a lot. Here are the ``must dos'' this week: SCHIP and lobbying and ethics reform. There are other things we would like to do and, if we can get consent, we will do them.

The competitiveness conference report is completed. I hope we can do that by unanimous consent. The WRDA bill is completed, and we hope to be able to do that by unanimous consent. We also, again, later today, will offer a unanimous consent request to do the Freedom of Information Act improvements. This is an extremely important piece of legislation. It has bipartisan support and Senators Leahy and Cornyn are the sponsors. I hope we can complete this before we leave. The Republicans raised an objection last week when we raised this by unanimous consent. I hope that problem is now taken care of.

So that is what we have to do. I will repeat, we must complete SCHIP and lobbying and ethics reform, and the other matters would be icing on the cake if we can do them.

Mr. President, last week was a very productive week for the Senate and the American people. With Democrats and Republicans working together, the Senate was able to pass the conference report implementing the 9/11 Commission recommendations. Also, we passed the Fiscal Year 2008 Homeland Security appropriations bill and the Higher Education Reauthorization Act.

This week, we will turn our attention to important domestic initiatives, including reauthorizing the Children's Health Insurance Program and passing the ethics conference report to strengthen the integrity of our Government. That legislation is completed. The House will pass it tomorrow. Without any qualification or reservation, it is the most significant lobbying and ethics reform in the history of our country. I hope we can do this piece of legislation without a lot of turmoil. I hope that people understand how important it is to the American people.

As we focus on issues that will lead to a better and brighter future for millions of Americans, two new reports illustrate that neither the present nor the future seem particularly bright for the Iraqis and Iraq itself, where our brave troops are fighting in this intractable civil war.

One report that came down this morning is from a humanitarian organization. The other is from President

Bush's own Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.

According to the first report--released by Oxfam, an international aid organization, and the NGO Coordination Committee network in Iraq--8 million Iraqis are in need of immediate emergency aid. So according to this first report, 8 million Iraqis are in need of immediate emergency aid. That is probably more than a third of the population. It means they are desperately lacking basic daily necessities such as food, water, and sanitation.

Even more troubling, these conditions are worse now than before the war started. Before the war, 19 percent of Iraqi children were malnourished. Today, that is 28 percent. And 50 percent lacked adequate water supplies before the war; that is now 70 percent. So 70 percent of all Iraqis live without clean water.

With awful and deteriorating conditions such as these, it is no wonder a recent poll of the Iraqi people showed 70 percent of the Iraqi people believe the American presence is making them less safe.

Our troops are certainly not to blame for these failures to make the Iraqi people safer or healthier. In the war's 4-plus years, they have accomplished everything they have been asked to do. They took down the Iraqi dictator. They have heroically battled those who seek to destabilize Iraq and the region. They have provided time for Iraqi factions to come together and negotiate a peaceful settlement of their differences which, unfortunately, these factions have not taken advantage of.

These failures lie with the President, who took us to war without a plan for peace, and the Defense Department generally, which has not managed to administer a strategy for success, and the Iraqi Government, which hasn't taken responsibility for their country's own future.

The second new report, from the Inspector General's Office for Iraq Reconstruction, sheds new light on how thoroughly our efforts in that area have failed to help Iraqis and how dearly that failure is costing American taxpayers.

This inspector general's report tells us Iraq's central government has refused to take responsibility for more than 2,300 reconstruction projects America has already paid close to $20 billion to construct.

The result is many projects are lapsing or continue to rely on American funds only.

I say this in the background of the Iraqi people having arguably the largest oil reserve in the world. When I met those in the first Iraqi Government, along with Senator Frist, one of the Iraqis proudly said of the governing body: People say we have the second largest oil reserves in the world, but we have the largest oil reserves in the world.

I don't know whether it is first or second, but they have a lot of oil, which translates to money, and they are not helping at all with these projects.

Not a single project has been turned over to the Iraqi Government in more than a year. Even among those few that have been turned over, many, if not most, are now failing.

As a result, our almost $6 billion investment in Iraq reconstruction is largely being wasted. What would happen in America? We would not tolerate $6 billion being wasted in taxpayer dollars, and we should not stand for it in Iraq--especially when it is our taxpayers' money that is being wasted.

As long as we continue our open-ended commitment of troops, the Iraqi Government has no incentive to step up. As long as we continue financing projects that they let lapse, they will continue to let our troops and taxpayers shoulder the burden.

The father of a soldier from Nevada wrote me recently to tell me how that burden is affecting his son and his son's fellow soldiers. He gave me permission to read this when I called and asked him after reading this heartfelt letter. He asked me not to mention his son's name, so I am not going to do that. I will not mention the man's name who wrote the letter. If anybody has a question, I will be happy to show them the letter in my office.

He wrote:

Our son is a 20-year-old cavalry scout in the Army. He and

his best friend quit college their first semester to ``make a

difference.'' We are a close-knit family and although we only

get to speak to Mike once every 3-4 weeks, the conditions,

morale and circumstances he deals with are like nothing we

read about in the press.

I have always supported our troops but cannot support the

war anymore, particularly when I continue to receive

information from my son that is upsetting to me. He has not

had a day off since his deployment in early January. He has

had his hummer blown up and narrowly escaped death, seen his

close friend blown to pieces 30 yards away, had a suicide

bomber blow up a hummer in his unit 50 yards away, and the

stories go on.

My concern is no days off, 7 days a week in combat, 4 hours

of sleep per night and no days off in sight for the future. I

have to buy a good deal of equipment for him to send over to

Iraq . . .

I am a successful local businessman and a very patriotic

person . . . but we feel helpless and do not know who to

speak to . . . What do our soldiers have to look forward to

except fighting every day, looking death in the eye daily, no

days off, strategy that changes daily, 125 degree weather,

[and] little communication with the outside world . . .''

The Presiding Officer, from firsthand experience, knows what this man is talking about. Most of us don't.

This young man from Nevada, fighting with bravery far beyond his 20 years, deserves better.

As his father said, he signed up for the Armed Forces to ``make a difference.'' There are challenges facing America in nearly every corner of the globe--real dangers that will affect our security for generations to come. This young soldier should be helping us wage a real war on terrorism that goes after those who attacked us. He should be involved in peacekeeping missions to stop genocide and spread peace. Instead, he is stuck in an endless war that even President Bush's own military experts admit has no military solution.

It is long past time to end this preoccupation with Iraq. It is time to rebuild our overburdened military, so this young soldier from Nevada, and 160,000 more just like him, have the rest and care they need to do their job effectively.

As we work this week to make life better for millions of Americans at home--especially children--we continue to think of our troops and the Iraqi people who suffer abroad, and we will continue to work every day to bring about the new course our troops and all Americans deserve.

Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, this resolution concerns a request for testimony and representation in trespass actions in Denver County Court in Denver, CO. In these actions, protesters have been charged with trespassing in the building housing Senator Ken Salazar's Denver, CO, office on February 21, 2007, for refusing repeated requests by the police to leave the premises. Trials on charges of trespass are scheduled to commence on August 22, 2007. The defense has subpoenaed a member of the Senator's staff who had conversations with the defendant protesters during the charged events. Senator Salazar would like to cooperate by providing testimony from his staff. This resolution would authorize that staff member, and any other employee of Senator Salazar's office from whom evidence may be required, to testify in connection with these actions, with representation by the Senate Legal Counsel.

Mr. President, this morning the Senate will be in a period of morning business for an hour. Once that is closed, we will go back to the Homeland Security appropriations bill. There are no votes scheduled, although there are seven amendments pending. Perhaps we can dispose of some of those before lunch. We will certainly have some votes during the day.

Another issue which I have mentioned on many occasions is the 9/11 Commission recommendations conference report. That report was to be filed late last night. It is not available. It should be momentarily. We will make sure Senators have the opportunity to look at that. It is a large document.

Let's talk about this week. I know there is a trip scheduled this weekend. I contacted Senator Boxer last night and indicated to her I wasn't quite certain it would be able to take place. She was understanding and said I would have to do what I have to do, although she was disappointed. Maybe the trip can still go. It is a bipartisan trip to Greenland, led by Senators Boxer and Isakson.

We don't have a lot to do this week, but it could take a lot of time. We have 2 days. It is Thursday. We need to finish Homeland Security appropriations. I had a conversation last night with Senator Cornyn. We were waiting to get his language yesterday when we were trying to work something out for funding for the border. He had it written out in longhand. Anyway, we don't have it yet, but I am sure we will get that soon. Maybe we can complete that with a unanimous consent. Senator Voinovich indicated he wished to speak on it for a while but not long. So we want to accommodate him.

So we want to finish the bill we are on, either today or tomorrow. The other thing we need to do is complete the conference report. I hope we don't have to file cloture on the Homeland Security appropriations bill, which I have said many times I don't want to do. It is an open process, where people can file amendments, and they have done that. We hope we don't have to file cloture also on the conference report. What I wish to do--and I indicated this on a number of occasions--is to be able to start SCHIP on Monday. It appears that is pretty well set, what would happen when we get to that bill. It is a bipartisan bill that would be brought to the floor. There are a number of Senators who have worked on a substitute--Senator Kyl, among others. That substitute would certainly be the main topic of the debate. I am confident there will be some other amendments offered, but that is the main issue as to whether the substitute would pass.

So children's health, we need to do that next week. I hope we can start it on Monday. Then the only other thing we need to do is to complete ethics and lobbying reform. As I have indicated, I wish to start another appropriations bill, but that would not take a vote during this session, though we would move to it before we leave. We would only do WRDA, the conference report

on WRDA. It is my understanding the conference is basically completed, but we would only move to that if Senators Boxer and Inhofe indicated they wanted us to do that. I understand they do. It has wide-ranging bipartisan support. But that wasn't in my original package and that will not hold us up. The only thing that will hold us up is the bill we are on now, SCHIP, 9/11 Commission recommendations and the ethics and lobbying reform. So I hope we can complete those things in a timely fashion, and I hope we don't have to work this weekend. If we do because of cloture votes, then we will schedule those according to whatever the standard procedure is.

Mr. President, I will just take a minute and then the Senator from Texas can speak. I told the Senator from South Carolina that I was going to make a unanimous-consent request.

I say to my friend from Texas, what a difference a night makes. As you know--as some know, not very many--Senator Cornyn and I, Senator Graham, and a few others were trying to work something out on border security, and Senator Cornyn and I were the last two to speak on this issue. Like a lot of things around here, if you don't get your way, you kind of throw a tantrum a lot of times. I didn't get my way, so I thought I would throw just a little tantrum.

The evening has brought to my attention that I was wrong. Senator Cornyn was right. I hate to acknowledge that, but that is basically valid. Having said that, Mr. President, and swallowing a little bit of pride, which I shouldn't have had, I now ask unanimous consent that when the Senate resumes consideration of H.R. 2638 today--which will be in just a few minutes--the time until 11:35 a.m. be for debate with respect to the Graham-Pryor border security amendment--and that has the language of the Senator from Texas in it--I would interrupt and say that I have spoken to the distinguished Republican manager and told him I was going to offer this consent agreement--with the time divided as follows: 30 minutes under the control of Senator Voinovich and the remaining time equally divided and controlled between Senators Graham and Pryor or their designees; that no amendments be in order to the amendment prior to the vote; that upon yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to vote on the amendment, with no further intervening action or debate.

Is our consent granted, Mr. President?