Floor Statements

Mr. President, Senator Ensign and I hold, every Thursday, in a room right off the Chamber, in the Johnson Room, the LBJ Room, a breakfast where we have Nevadans come and visit with us.

Today it was a larger crowd than we usually have because school is out. Even if it were not a larger crowd, there were a lot more kids there.

One of the young people who was there is Anna Ressell. Anna is from Sparks, NV. She came to see me the day before yesterday with some other Nevada girls because she is a diabetic. She was there today with all of her family--a wonderful child. She is 13 years old.

During her lifetime, this young lady has had 20,000 finger pokes, 35,000 injections. She is a diabetic, I repeat. Think about that. When we go to the doctor and they draw blood or give you a shot, we always wince because it hurts. We try to have a backbone of steel, but it hurts. This young lady has had 20,000 finger pokes to determine what her blood sugar levels are and 35,000 injections.

That is why it is so sad, when we see this young girl with her family, that that hope has been taken away. She came here with these other girls to talk about the need for stem cell research.

The President, yesterday, in his message to the Senate, snuffed out hope for tens of thousands of people in Nevada, people such as Anna and many others suffering from Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, spinal cord injuries--millions of Americans. Their hope was snuffed out with the President vetoing this bill. It is too bad.

I also think it is so important that I mention to everyone, as I said on the floor--I get up every morning and do my exercises and listen to public radio. I get the news at the top of the hour and the middle of the hour. I try to be up to date on what is going on in the world today that is not in the morning newspaper.

It was not on the morning news this morning, the tragic, sad news from Iraq, that 14 more of our soldiers were killed in the last 36 hours--14. I don't know if any are from Nevada.

Meanwhile, we see further evidence that the Iraqi leaders are frozen in an increasingly dangerous stalemate. The Vice President resigned. The fact is, our troops are caught in the middle of this civil war in faraway Iraq, trying to give Iraqi leaders the space and security to bring their country together. We have 160,000 to 180,000 troops there now, protecting the Shias, protecting the Sunnis, protecting the Kurds. They are all after our soldiers.

Unfortunately, Iraq's leaders continue to drag their feet, while our

troops are getting killed; 14 more brave American soldiers.

But the problems aren't just in Iraq. The Middle East is engulfed in civil war in Lebanon, civil war in Iraq, civil war among the Palestinians. The Israelis do not know where to turn. Iran is thumbing its nose at us.

That is why we have fought so hard, as Democrats, and will continue to fight, to change the course in Iraq. We need a new mission, one that is aligned with our strategic interests. We need to begin redeploying our troops from Iraq so we can reduce our large combat footprint and extricate forces from this Civil War.

We need more than two Republicans to help us. We have had two, and I so appreciate that. They made it so we were able to pass a bill, send it to the President, and he vetoed it. We need more.

I have signaled to my colleagues that the Defense authorization bill will be coming up shortly. We intend to wage our battle on Iraq, changing the course of the war in Iraq.

This morning, under an order entered yesterday, the Senate will resume the energy legislation. We will have 70 minutes of debate on the matter of the Kyl amendment, which is No. 1733, and a motion to invoke cloture on the Baucus-Grassley energy tax amendment, with that time equally divided and controlled. Once the time is used or yielded back, the Senate will conduct two rollcall votes: The first vote will be in relation to the Kyl amendment, followed by cloture on the Baucus- Grassley amendment. As Members are aware, if cloture is invoked on the Baucus amendment, then postcloture time runs and the second-degree amendments which have been timely filed and are germane postcloture are in order. The filing deadline for germane second-degree amendments is 11 a.m. this morning, 20 minutes from now.

Mr. President, a few minutes ago, a record was broken. Senator Frank Lautenberg has passed Senator Clifford Case's record for the most votes cast by a Senator from the State of New Jersey.

Senator Lautenberg's career can't possibly be summed up, though, on numbers alone. I have had the good fortune of serving with this man in the Senate since I came here. Sometimes the term ``American Dream'' is thrown around, and probably a bit too much, but if there were ever a Member of this body who exemplifies the American Dream, it is Frank Lautenberg, the Senator from New Jersey.

Frank Lautenberg was born without privilege to immigrant parents. He served his country bravely in World War II and put himself through Columbia University on the GI bill. He is an example of what the GI Bill of Rights did for America.

Frank Lautenberg achieved great personal success in the business world, but he wanted to do more than be a successful businessman. And he was a successful businessman, both in reputation and in the ability to make money in our great free enterprise system. He was an exemplar of that.

He decided he would seek public service, and, very unusually, he shot for the top. He ran for the Senate--and ran and ran and ran--and was elected in 1982. Senator Lautenberg's legislative record is fantastic. It is terrific. He has been a titan here.

Guns and crime: Author of the Domestic Violence Ban, and sponsored countless laws to make neighborhoods safer.

Health and safety: He led the fight regarding drunk driving by toughening Federal laws and penalties relating thereto in the States.

The environment: I had the good fortune of serving with him on the Environment Committee from the first day I arrived in the Senate, and I do say to Frank, and he knows this, that as a result of his having a very short retirement, voluntarily, I was fortunate enough to be able to become the chairman of that committee twice. Had he been here, he would have been the chairman on those two occasions.

But no one, and I say it without any reservation, has a better environmental record in the history of our country than Frank Lautenberg. He sponsored countless laws to reduce pollution; clean up Superfund sites. One of the real battles of the Senate in recent years was the battle he and the ranking member had--and the chairman, they went back and forth--as to what would happen regarding the Superfund in the Environment and Public Works Committee. He has followed that like no one else has ever followed it.

He has promoted recycling by legislation. He has done legislation to protect our drinking water. Very importantly, he has ensured the public's right to know about environmental hazards in our communities.

For me, personally, the legislative accolade that I wish to give him relates to what he did regarding smoking cigarettes. I have five children, and traveling back and forth to Nevada as we have done, one of my boys was terribly affected by cigarette smoke. They tried something where you could only smoke in certain parts of the airplane, but that didn't work. If you are allergic to cigarette smoke, that didn't work. And my boy, Key, suffered as a result of people smoking in those airplanes.

When Frank Lautenberg took on this battle, people actually made fun of him--why would he take on the tobacco industry; and if he did, did he mind losing? Well, he lost a few battles, but he won the war, and my boy is extremely happy he did win that war. Today they do not even have ashtrays on commercial airlines anymore.

The list is longer than I can possibly enumerate of his legislative accomplishments, but one of the things that is not a legislative accomplishment that I so admire about Frank Lautenberg is his sense of humor. There is a story he tells, and he tells a number of stories, and I would go around and ask him, would you tell your story again, and he would tell it just as good as the last time. The one reason I so admire his humor is he reminds me of Red Skelton, because even though he has retold those jokes many times, in my presence, he laughed harder each time at his own jokes.

Suffice to say, when the day has come, and it will come, when historians write about Senator Frank Lautenberg, he will be hailed as a great legislator for the State of New Jersey, a legend in the Senate, and a foremost legislator of great repute standing up for the health, safety, and welfare of every single American, not just those from New Jersey.

His record-breaking vote is reason enough to honor him, but his tremendous record is an accomplishment that will endure for many generations to come. Congratulations, Frank.

(Applause.)

cloture motion

Mr. President, I enter a motion to reconsider the vote by which cloture was not invoked.

Mr. President, if I could have the attention of Senators?

Mr. President, the man seated behind me, Robert Byrd, just voted for the 18,000th time, more than any other Senator in history.

Let me tell a couple of things that are important to me about my relationship with this unusually brilliant man.

I had returned from Nevada to Washington. I was a new Senator. I asked Senator Byrd what he had done that weekend--he was standing back here. He said: I have been studying the Roman Empire. I am reading, for the third time, Gibbon's ``The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.''

He said: What did you do? I was a little chagrined. I said: Well, I grabbed a little pocketbook out of my library at home. It was ``The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.''

He looked--we all know Senator Byrd when he is thinking about something. He rolled his head back, and he looked up and he said:

Robinson Crusoe, let's see. How long was he on that island?

Twenty-eight years, two months, two weeks, and five days.

I looked at him like: What are you talking about? I just read the book. I didn't know how long he had been there. So I went home that night and looked. Senator Byrd was right. Robinson Crusoe had been on that island 28 years, 2 months, 2 weeks, and 5 days. I bet he hadn't read the book in 45 or 50 years, but he remembered that.

All of us will remember how he disliked the line-item veto. He came to the Senate floor once a week for 10 weeks and gave a lecture on the evils of the line-item veto. But he did it in a unique way because it was all about the fall of the Roman Empire. His thesis was that the Roman Empire fell because the executive took power away from the legislative branch of government. He gave 10 lectures, every lecture lasting exactly 1 hour.

There is not a professor who teaches Roman history who could give the detailed lecture on the Roman Empire that Senator Byrd did, but he gave it. It was so good. At the University of Las Vegas they had a political science department, and they took those lectures and turned them into a course, a graduate course.

What was quite remarkable is he did it without a note. He just walked out here and gave his lecture. As we know, he referred to the Emperors and how long they were there and the battles that took place and the times they took place.

I said: Senator Byrd, tell me how you do that without a note.

He looked at me and said, ``I memorized what I was going to say.'' So he gave 10 hours of lectures, and every word of it he memorized.

I could tell stories about this man for a long time. Let me just tell one more. I was a fairly new Senator. Some of the Senators may be listening to this who went on this little trip we took to West Virginia. He invited the British parliamentarians to meet with us, a few Senators, in the hills of West Virginia. It was beautiful. They had bluegrass music there. It was a festive occasion for a relatively small number of British parliamentarians and Senators. He even sang.

I can still remember him singing: ``There's More Pretty Girls Than One.'' Senator Byrd sang that. But the music stopped, and he said: OK, if anybody hears anything that I have said that is wrong, I have given a little notebook and pencil. You write it down and we'll talk about it later.

He proceeded to tell us and the British parliamentarians about the reign of the British monarchs, starting from the beginning. Remember, he has no notes, he is just standing there, starting from the beginning. If it was necessary, he would spell the name of the monarch. Every one of them he gave the years they reigned. If it was something interesting that happened during their reign, he would tell us about it. It took him about 1 hour and 20 minutes to do this.

The British parliamentarians were dumbfounded. Here is this American Senator telling them far more than they knew about their own country.

This man has been such an inspiration to all of us, with his mind, this incredible mind. I just finished reading Walter Isakson's ``Einstein''--a wonderful book, 528 pages, that talks about this brilliant genius. I did not know and I did not have the opportunity to meet Albert Einstein, but I had the opportunity to meet this genius. He has an unparalleled knowledge of the Rules of the Senate. He has a reverence for this institution that is unsurpassed. One of the things that I think is so important is that he believes in the Constitution. I have here with me--the other one is worn out, but I have here, with a very nice inscription that I prize--I have it with me virtually every day--signed by the Senator from West Virginia, Robert Byrd.

These gifts he has been given by the Almighty bring to my mind words from Ralph Waldo Emerson in his ``Essays on Self-Reliance,'' which was 10,000 words long. Now, Senator Byrd, if he were familiar with this, would recite it. I cannot. I can't give you 10,000 words, but I am going to give you the last paragraph of this brilliant essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson, which I think talks about who this man is.

Use all that is called Fortune.

Most men gamble with her, and gain all, and lose all, as

her wheel rolls.

But do thou leave as unlawful these winnings, and deal with

Cause and Effect,

the chancellors of God. In the Will work and acquire, and

thou hast chained the wheel of Chance, and shalt sit

hereafter out of fear from her rotations.

A political victory, a rise of rents, the recovery of your

sick, or the return of your absent friend, or some other

favorable event raises your spirits, and you think good days

are preparing for you.

Do not believe it. Nothing can bring you peace but

yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of

principles.

So said Ralph Waldo Emerson. I congratulate the Senator from West Virginia, Robert Byrd, for accomplishing all he has done as a Member of the Senate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the filing deadline be extended until 2 p.m. for second-degree amendments.

Mr. President, we are all partisans here, but I really do believe this vote we just took is going to change the complexion of the Senate. The American people are upset at us--Democrats and Republicans--because we are not getting things done. We have to get over that.

I so appreciate Democrats and Republicans doing what is good for the country on this vote. There are still things with this bill I do not particularly like. There are things my colleagues on the other side of the aisle do not like. But we have to start legislating. I really do say--and I repeat--I think this could be the beginning of our being able to legislate.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I withdraw that suggestion so the distinguished Senator from West Virginia can be recognized.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Maryland, Ms. Mikulski, be allowed to follow the statement by Senator Byrd.

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

Mr. President, I make a point of order that the pending amendments are either nongermane or are drafted improperly and are out of order.

Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. President, the managers of the bill, Senators Bingaman and Domenici, are now going to try to see if there are amendments that can be called up, so that a quorum call will be entered into. Hopefully, we can have other amendments in this matter as soon as possible.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, in this downtime, the managers are working. At this time, what we are trying to do is clear amendments. There are a number of amendments that have been filed, some of which are germane. We are working to see if we can clear amendments without a lot of determination at this time as to whether they are germane or not. Managers are working on this real hard and speaking to the individual Senators and staffs.

Senator Domenici has been notified of this situation. Senator Craig is here from the committee representing the minority at this time. We hope they can expedite the clearing of some of these amendments, and then we will make a determination after that to see if there are any other votes we have to have on some of these germane amendments.

I will be happy to yield.

I thank the Senator from Idaho very much. I say to my dear friend from a neighboring State of Nevada, we are trying--and I have had a number of conversations this afternoon with the Republican leader--to see if we can expedite the time. It is very possible that we could move forward on this legislation and not have to work the weekend because a lot of the weekend would be spent just standing around.

If we can accomplish what we need to do without a lot of standing around time, we would be better off, and then we can move early next week to finish the debate on immigration. We have a limited number of items left to do. We have to finish the germane amendments. I have already indicated the managers are willing even to take a look at some nongermane amendments. We need to finish the germane amendments, and we have to have cloture on the bill if, in fact, that is required. Sometimes it isn't. Most of the time it isn't. I said that earlier. And then we would have final passage on the bill. Then we would have 20 minutes on card check. That is the time for the vote. There would be no debate on that. I have a strong suspicion that cloture will not be invoked on that legislation. Following that, we would move to immigration.

One of the proposals, I say to my friend, was to start immigration on Monday and maybe some other odds and ends around here on this matter. The other proposal Senator McConnell and I have talked about is starting everything Tuesday morning. We would arrive at the same end time. It would just be we wouldn't have to be in session with people standing around guarding to make sure somebody isn't going to do something when the quorum call is on. We could wind up at the same place and accomplish just as much. That doesn't take away how difficult it is going to be once we get on immigration.

There are meetings being held on that today and progress is even being made.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I withhold for a minute. We are going to be in a quorum call. If someone wants to give a speech for 10 minutes, recognizing they will speak as in morning business just for that 10-minute period, that would certainly be appropriate. But we are not going to do any

business on this bill until the managers give us some direction.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I would answer the chairman of the Energy Committee, who has done great work in managing this complicated energy bill, that I agree with him as to the importance of this amendment to the Nation, and on the broad support that it enjoys in the Senate.

There is little that we could do in the electricity sector that would bring more benefits--in terms of consumer savings, reducing natural gas demand, and slowing the growth of greenhouse gas emissions. We have sought in this bill to broaden the range of energy resources that we depend on for motor fuels to include renewable resources. We must do the same for our electricity supply. I share his strong belief that enactment of a national renewable electricity standard is critical for the Nation's efforts to become more energy independent and to reduce the risks of global warming, as well as create new jobs in the clean energy industry. I promise to work with him to see that proposal gets fair consideration, a vote and, if at all possible, enacted into law this Congress.

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

First of all, Mr. President, the distinguished Republican leader and I apologize to everyone.

However, I ask unanimous consent that at 11 p.m. tonight the substitute amendment be agreed to; the bill be read a third time, and the Senate vote on cloture on H.R. 6; that if cloture is invoked, the Senate vote immediately on passage of the bill with the preceding all occurring without any intervening action or debate; further, that the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to H.R. 800 occur at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 26; that if cloture is invoked, the motion be agreed to and the Senate vote immediately on cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 1639, the immigration bill; that if cloture is invoked, the motion be agreed to; and further that if cloture is invoked on S. 1639, it be in order upon the disposition of all postcloture debate time there be

20 minutes equally divided for debate only on a motion to waive the Budget Act in response to a budget point of order against the bill made by Senator Jeff Sessions or his designee; further, that on Wednesday, if the Senate is considering the immigration bill, Senator Sessions be recognized for debate only for up to 2 hours.

I renew my consent request.

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 have spoken to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, and they are concerned about some ability to get in conference the cloture motion; that is, the tax aspects of the Energy bill that was defeated. It is not part of this matter we are working on now. As I told my friend, the distinguished Republican leader, if he could figure out a way to do it, he should let me know. I want everyone to cool their jets. The Republican leader and I have had a pretty good agreement on matters that pass this body, as to what goes to conference.

Now, we have preconferenced--we don't need to run through the things we have preconferenced, but I think the Republican leader will tell everyone here that I have been on the level with him, and I intend to be on this matter. So if anyone is concerned about some trick to put this energy tax package in the bill in conference, they need to tell me how to do it because I don't know how. It takes three cloture votes for me to get to conference. I have been through that. They are procedural votes. Although I wish I had the magic wand to tell a lot of you how to vote on the procedural votes, I haven't been too successful so far.

So everyone just relax on that issue. I don't know what more I can say. I have told the Republican leader personally about that. That is how I feel.

Mr. President, I say to my friend the Republican leader, I hope we would proceed on the basis--I gave a little speech here earlier today, after cloture was invoked, talking about a new day having arrived. I hope people would vote the way they have in the past on this issue earlier today. It would be a real bad day for this Congress now, after the progress we have made, not to pass this bill.

Mr. President, due to a family obligation, Senator Boxer was unable to attend today's session. Had she been present for the vote to invoke cloture on the Baucus energy tax package, she would have cast a vote of ``aye''. She would have also cast a vote of ``aye'' on the motion to invoke cloture on the Reid substitute, cloture on the underlying bill, and on final passage of H.R. 6.

Mr. President, I am pleased to speak today about the passage of H.R. 1429, the Head Start for School Readiness Act. This bipartisan legislation reauthorizes the Head Start program, something the Congress has not done since 2003.

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson launched a summer program for low- income children and their families, and called it Project Head Start. The program's mission was simple: prepare low-income, preschool-aged children for success in school. Today, Head Start serves children and their families in urban and rural areas across the United States. And, since its inception, more than 20 million children and families have benefited from the Head Start program.

Nevada's eight centers range from a Head Start and Early Head Start Center in rural Ely, to larger, more urban centers in Reno, to a Tribal Head Start center in Gardnerville. Each of these programs is unique and, with the input and involvement of parents and families, help meet the needs of the communities they serve.

Head Start currently provides comprehensive early education and health services to almost one million low-income preschool children to help them prepare for and succeed in school. Unfortunately, this is only a fraction of the number of children that could benefit from Head Start services. In my own state of Nevada, there are just under 10,000 3- and 4-year-olds that are eligible for Head Start programs. But, last year, only about 27 percent of those eligible were able to participate.

The bill that we have passed will allow many of these children in Nevada and across the Nation to get the early childhood services that they need, by expanding access and eligibility for low-income children and families.

The legislation also makes a number of other important changes to the Head Start program. It focuses on developing the skills that children will need to enter school ready to learn by aligning Head Start standards and services with state child care and preschool programs and local public schools, and requiring new research-based standards and assessments.

And, to ensure that Head Start programs are effective, the bill requires greater accountability through improved monitoring and recompetition for poor performing Head Start centers. Finally, this bill strengthens the Head Start workforce by setting new education and training goals for Head Start teachers and curriculum specialists.

With proven and lasting results, Head Start is a wise investment in our future. I applaud the good work of the HELP Committee, and thank Senators Kennedy, Enzi, Dodd, and Alexander for their efforts on behalf of low-income children across the Nation.

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

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

Mr. President, following any remarks that I make and the Republican leader does, if he chooses to do so, we will begin consideration of H.R. 6, the Energy bill, with 30 minutes of debate on the DeMint amendment No. 1546. A vote in relation to that amendment is expected to occur at 10:10 or 10:15 this morning. Last night cloture was filed on the Baucus-Grassley amendment, and cloture was filed to the substitute amendment and the Energy bill itself.

Last night I stated the obvious. Every step of the way for 6 months we have had to procedurally jump through every hoop the complicated Senate rules allow. That is unfortunate. We, as Democrats, have been in the minority, and we never did anything similar to this. There were times when it was necessary, because of what we did not allow, that cloture was filed. But this is untoward, what is happening now.

I hope the Republican leadership would look at this. Is it necessary, if we get cloture on the substitute, to have to go forward on a cloture vote on the bill itself? I hope not.

Germane first-degree amendments to the substitute and the bill need to be filed at the desk by 1 p.m. today. There will be votes today and into the evening.

Mr. President, yesterday, a few feet out of this Chamber, I had the opportunity to meet with three young ladies from Nevada. Megan Christensen is 14 years old; Anna Ressel, from Sparks, 13 years old; and Jordan Exber, a 14-year-old from Las Vegas.

These girls were here to present me with a little award as a result of work I have done on juvenile diabetes. I was representative of many people who have worked on the issue. But the reason I mention this is not any award that was given to me or any of the other Senators but the plight of these young ladies.

One of the girls was determined to have diabetes 3 months ago--a beautiful child, Jordan, from Las Vegas. They prepared a book for me: ``2007, Children's Congress.''

Among other things, one of the pictures in this is a bunch of syringes. Look at this. I can't count them. This is 1 week's picking and poking at this young lady's body that she has to go through because of diabetes.

Type 1 juvenile diabetes is a chronic disease and for the child with type 1 diabetes, the pancreas does not produce insulin, a hormone necessary to sustain life. Without insulin the sugar in the blood can't be used. It builds up in the bloodstream, even though the body is starved for energy. A person with type 1 diabetes must take one or more injections of insulin daily to stay alive.

She has written here: ``I take 42 shots, at least, every week. This does not count the testing,'' to find out

what her blood sugar levels are; 42 a week.

The reason I mention this is these young and beautiful children were here to talk about something the President is going to do today--veto stem cell research legislation. What a shame. Last year, the Republican-controlled House and Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill to open up hope for these young ladies.

To indicate this is not just something that is important for Nevada, they had there a girl from Australia. A teenager from Australia was here to indicate this is an international problem. We in America, with the genius we have here--out of the top 142 universities in the world, we have 129 of them in America. One of the best, of course, is in the State of the Presiding Officer--Johns Hopkins. Research is going on there. Stem cell research should be going on there, and it is not.

It was a happy day for all of us when the bill passed the House and the Senate. It was a day Democrats and Republicans put politics and partisanship aside to do the right thing for the American people. Yet when we sent this historic bill to the President's desk, he vetoed it. It was his first veto of his Presidency.

With the health and hope of literally millions of Americans hanging in the balance, he vetoed the bill. It was the first veto, I repeat, of his administration.

A year passed. The best scientists continued to work with one hand tied behind their backs. I indicated 129 great universities in America, the best universities in the world, are not allowed to do this. Countless millions of Americans have been diagnosed with dread diseases, thousands and thousands, with Parkinson's, spinal cord injuries, heart disease. A year has passed, but today we are told the President plans to veto the stem cell bill again.

These children suffer from diabetes. They were here to help get this bill passed.

When we sent the bill to the President 2 weeks ago, Speaker Pelosi and I were joined by 10-year-old Toni Bethea, who lives in the District of Columbia and suffers from diabetes, and Allison Howard, who suffers from Rett Syndrome--beautiful children, one of them extremely ill. They deserve hope, just like these girls from Las Vegas, Sparks, Reno, from Australia.

President Bush has indicated that he would not give them any hope. He is going to veto the bill, we are told. He would not listen to the more than 500 leading organizations who support this bill, the American Association of Retired Persons, AARP, the American Medical Association, the American Diabetes Association, more than 500 organizations. He would not listen to 80 Nobel laureates who have said this is essential. He would not listen to his own Director--I am talking about President Bush--his own Director of the National Institutes of Health, who supports embryonic stem cell research. He is not listening to the majority of the American people. This proposal is supported by more than 80 percent of the American public. They call for stem cell research.

This narrow ideology that has guided this administration, that has us in this intractable war in Iraq, that has us losing standing in the world community, having 47 million Americans with no health care and no plan coming from the White House to improve that--a program that is lacking in keeping our children in school. On the environment, global warming is taking place. It is being ignored by this White House. This, a hope for millions--stem cell research--indicates this narrow ideology is wrong, and it is preventing the curing of diseases, the prevention of diseases. We deserve better. We are a nation of endless compassion and unlimited ingenuity. Megan, Anna, Jordan, Toni, and Allison deserve to know we are a better country than this narrow ideology.

President Bush's veto is a setback, but we are going to continue to give hope to these children and the American people.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the veto message on S. 5 be considered as having been read and that it be printed in the Record and spread in full upon the Journal. I further ask unanimous consent that the message be held at the desk.

Mr. President, let me briefly say I have had a conversation with the distinguished Republican leader and this will be brought up at a later time. We will fully consult with the distinguished Republican leader, and we will do it at a time that is more appropriate than today.

Could I ask a question, through the distinguished Senator from Louisiana, to the manager of the bill, the Senator from New Mexico?

Would the distinguished chairman of the Energy Committee inform the Senate why there isn't more done on this bill? People have said to me we want to have it debated--and not just Democrats; Republicans have asked me the same question--why aren't we able to move on to get some of this done?

I don't know if the Senator from Louisiana still wants the floor?

Would it be OK if I direct another question to the manager of the bill?

I say through the Chair to the distinguished Senator from New Mexico, I have worked for all the time I have been in the Senate, for more than a dozen years, on a very close, intimate basis while we were managing the Energy and Water appropriations bill, with the senior Senator from New Mexico, Senator Domenici. What is going on here, as the comanager of this bill, is very unlike Senator Domenici. Senator Domenici likes things debated. He likes votes to take place. He likes movement here in the Senate.

Senator Domenici is not part of holding this legislation up, is he?

One last question, if the Senator will be patient, the Senator from Louisiana.

The Senator from New Mexico, the senior Senator from New Mexico, the manager of the bill, has been in the Senate longer than I have, and he knows more about procedure than I do, but has the Senator tried, for example, having 60-vote margins on some amendments that people may not want, to see if there is any other way to move this along to get that objection withdrawn?

Mr. President, I want the record to reflect my appreciation for the courtesy extended to me by the distinguished Senator from Louisiana.

Mr. President, if I could do a little bit of business, and I will yield to the distinguished Senator from Delaware.

I was going to ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. 1639, the immigration legislation, at a time to be determined by the majority leader following consultation with the Republican leader. However, I am advised there would be an objection from the Republican side, so I am not going to ask for that unanimous consent.

Therefore, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 208, S. 1639, and I send a cloture motion to the desk.

I now ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum required under rule XXII be waived, and I therefore withdraw the motion.

Mr. President, I have been listening to the Senator speak. I wish to say one thing. I participated in an event today where we had a car there that was a hybrid. Gee, it was fun. There were two vehicles there, a Prius and a Ford. One of those--they would both get basically the same mileage--but the man there who was promoting these batteries, this past week, drove 177 miles on 1 gallon of gasoline. That is the future. That is the future of our country, that we will be able to have these hybrids driving across the country, pulling into a motel and plugging it in. There will just be a cord, like an extension cord.

I wanted to say one thing. I want to comment on the Senator's advocacy. The people of Delaware--I say this without any hype at all-- are so fortunate to have someone who is so into legislation. I don't know of another Senator, in looking at an issue, who understands it so thoroughly. I say that sometimes I wish you didn't know it so thoroughly, because it doesn't allow me to have any wiggle room at all. But I say that without any reservation. I am so admiring of the Senator's talents to legislate. I am very partial to you because you and I came here together in 1982 as freshmen Members of the House of Representatives. But the

people of Delaware got a well-trained legislator when you came to the Senate. Your experience in the State, as a Statewide officeholder, a Member of the House of Representatives, a Governor, a Senator--you have not only had the experience, but you still have the tenacity and the will to be a good legislator, and the people of Delaware are very fortunate, but so are we as a country.

I would ask my distinguished friend, there are a few closing matters. Could you do those when you complete your statement?

Madam President, this morning the Senate will be in a period of morning business for an hour, the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders. Republicans will control the first half and the majority controls the final 30 minutes.

The reason we did not go immediately to the bill at this time is there is a very important markup taking place in the Finance Committee dealing with the Energy bill, particularly the tax portions of the Energy bill. It is my understanding that Senators Boxer and Grassley, with other members of the committee, have worked out a bipartisan measure they will bring to the floor as an amendment in the immediate future and it will be done today.

Once morning business closes, the Senate will then immediately resume consideration of the Energy bill about which I referred. Under our order of yesterday, the Senate will debate the Bunning and Tester amendments for a total of 2\1/2\ hours.

order of procedure

I ask unanimous consent that the time for debate for these two amendments this morning be equally divided and controlled as previously ordered until 1 p.m., and that the Senate then recess until 2:15; that at 2:15, the remaining debate time also be equally divided and controlled, with the other provisions of the previous order remaining in effect.

The agreement just entered now delays the conference recess period until 1 p.m. Following disposition of those two amendments this afternoon, the Senate will then debate three more amendments with the total debate time up to 90 minutes. Votes on these amendments will occur upon the use or yielding back of that time, so Members should expect two votes around 3 to 3:15, and then three more votes around 5:30.

I have conferred in detail with the distinguished Republican leader going over the schedule. I have told Democratic Senators, and I will repeat this at the caucus, we have a lot to accomplish before this work period ends. We have to complete the energy legislation, we have to complete work on the immigration bill, and we have to start defense authorization in some manner, recognizing that we will not have a lot of time on that.

It is up to the individual Senators as to how much time we take. If all time is used--as I said, I have gone over this in detail with the Republican leader and our staffs--we will not be able to finish until Saturday, a week from this Saturday, sometime in the evening. That would mean we would have to be in session this weekend. Maybe we have some people who may not object to one or two things. That being the case, we may not have to be in on Sunday this week. But everyone should understand, we have a lot of important votes. We have people running for President on both sides of the aisle. They should plan on being here, because their votes could make the difference. The energy legislation is extremely important. There are three issues that are the main focus of this

legislation, by the business community, the environmental community, and the press. That is coal to liquids--that matter is going to be resolved this afternoon, hopefully; CAFE, which hopefully will be resolved in the next 24 hours; and then we have the renewable portfolio standards we are always working on. We hope we can get that done in some manner. There are other important amendments, but I mentioned the top three. We have what we have to complete prior to the July 4 recess. It is up to us how much time we take. If we happen to finish this conglomeration of legislation earlier, it would be to the good of the order, but if we aren't able to do that, we are going to have to stay here, which would be sometime Saturday evening.

Madam President, I understand that S. 1639 is at the desk and is due for a second reading.

I would object to further proceedings at this time.

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

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Baucus be recognized, following him, Senator Enzi, following him Senator Gregg.

Senator Enzi, how long do you wish to speak?

How long do you wish to speak, Senator Gregg?

Senator Murkowski, do you know?

We will follow that by Senators Menendez, Schumer, and Brown, up to 10 minutes each. Is that OK? You have all that down? Thank you very much.

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

Mr. President, I first would like to express my appreciation to the distinguished Senator from Ohio for his advocacy for better trade policy for our country. I also appreciate his graphic illustration of what is happening in our country now, when sons are making less than their fathers.

It is difficult to comprehend, but that is the position in which we find ourselves, so we need a better trade policy, and we certainly need to pass the card check and Employees Free Choice Act.

I appreciate the statement of the Senator from Ohio and his constant advocacy for a better trade policy.

Mr. President, I will be very brief, but I do want to say that I have been in the Senate now for a number of years, with Republican leaders and Democratic leaders, Democratic majorities and Republican majorities,

and never have we had a situation like we have had this past 6 months. We have to move to cloture on virtually everything--everything. I am going to file, now, tonight, four cloture motions. Never have we had to do this before.

It is common practice, and has been for all the time we have been a Senate, that, because you are dealing with the House, you are offering a substitute amendment that takes place with the Senate bill. Without going into a lot of detail, we rarely in the past had to file cloture on not only the substitute but also the underlying bill. We have to do it on virtually everything. We have never had to file cloture on every motion to proceed. That is what we are having to do now. It is a tremendous waste of the time of the Senate and of the country, but that is what we have to do. That is what I am going to do tonight.

It is going to become apparent, and is to some people, and some writing is taking place on it now, that we had to file so many cloture motions. It is because we have on almost every occasion had to file cloture on everything. It is a struggle to get legislation here to the floor. The minority's goal, the Republicans' No. 1 goal, I guess, at this time is to see that we don't get anything done. But in spite of that, we have been able to get a lot done. It has been difficult. It has been slogging. It has been slow.

We have a list of things we have been able to accomplish, with which I think the country should be very happy--minimum wage; we have been able to get disaster relief for farmers for the first time in 3 years; we passed a balanced budget amendment; we funded the Government with a continuing resolution. We have been able to do a number of things. There is no need to run through the entire list tonight other than to say it is too bad it has been so difficult to get those things done. We are very close to being able to finish the conference on the lobbying ethics reform; 9/11--I spoke to Senator Lieberman earlier this evening, that is basically all done.

We have a difficult schedule. Why? Because of having to jump through every procedural hoop. It would be different if we were doing it because of people who didn't like immigration. I understand that. But we are doing it on everything we bring through the Senate.

I send a cloture motion to the desk.

I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on the first cloture motion I filed, the mandatory quorum required under rule XXII be waived.

Mr. President, on the one I just filed, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call required under rule XXII be waived.

I send a cloture motion to the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call required under rule XXII be waived.

Mr. President, I was going to ask, on a number of these matters, unanimous consent that we move forward on them. I am not going to do that tonight. I only appeal to my friends, the Republicans, that they take a look at this and find out if it is absolutely necessary that we have these cloture votes. If we follow through on all these, we will have to work both this weekend and part of the next weekend. I hope we do not have to do that. If it were productive time, it would be one thing, but it is basically a waste of time.