Floor Statements

Mr. President, we have had a number of inquiries already in the cloakroom whether there will be votes tomorrow. I will be in consultation with the distinguished Republican leader during the day, and that decision will be made later.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, the White House has been telling America that Democrats are doing the wrong thing by calling for a change of course in Iraq. They say holding the Iraqi Government accountable is wrong. They say finding a political solution in Iraq is wrong. They say redeploying troops out of a civil war is wrong. They have said even debating a strategy for changing course is dangerous, and many Senate Republicans have backed that up by blocking several of our attempts to debate this issue here on the Senate Floor.

The American people want us to debate the war, and they want us to change the course. Listen to what the President's own Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in the last few hours, and I quote:

The debate in Congress has been helpful in demonstrating to

the Iraqis that American patience is limited. The strong

feelings expressed in the Congress about the timetable

probably has had a positive impact in terms of communicating

to the Iraqis that this is not an open-ended commitment.

The President and some of my Republican colleagues have also attempted to create a false crisis by claiming that Democrats are putting the troops in danger by not sending the supplemental bill immediately. But today, the Pentagon acknowledged what Democrats have long known--that President Bush continues to misstate the reality on the ground and in Iraq to score political points.

Like the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, the Pentagon now acknowledges that it can pay for the Iraq war at least through June with the funds that have already been provided.

I hope the President and our Republican colleagues in Congress will put these false claims aside so we can get back to working toward a bipartisan solution.

Yesterday I met with President Bush to express the will of the American people, senior military officials, and a bipartisan majority of Congress that we must change course in Iraq. I told President Bush that, going on to 5 years, more than 3,300 American soldiers lost, tens of thousands wounded, a third of them gravely wounded, and billions and billions of dollars depleted from our Treasury, we as a country must change course in Iraq.

Conditions in Iraq get worse by the day. Now we find ourselves policing another nation's civil war. We are less secure from the many threats to our national security than we were when the war began. As long as we follow the President's path in Iraq, the war is lost. But there is still a chance to change course and we must change course. No one wants us to succeed in the Middle East more than I do. But there must be a change of course. Our brave men and women overseas have passed every test with flying colors. They have earned our pride and our praise. More important, they deserve a strategy worthy of their sacrifice.

The supplemental bill we passed with bipartisan support offers that. It includes a reasonable and attainable timeline to reduce combat missions and refocus our efforts on the real threats to our country's security. It offers a new path, a new direction forward. If we put politics aside, I believe we can find a way to make America safer and stronger.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, first I ask unanimous consent, and it has been cleared by the minority, that the time spent with the prayer and pledge and my statement not be taken away from the hour on cloture on the two votes.

Mr. President, this morning there will be 60 minutes available to the Members to discuss the issues on which there will be cloture votes on the two motions to proceed. Time is equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. At approximately 9:30 a.m, the Senate will vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 3, the prescription drug bill. If cloture is not invoked on that motion, there will be 2 minutes of debate controlled equally by Senators Leahy and Specter, after which time the Senate will proceed to a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to S. 378, the court security bill. If cloture is invoked on that motion, then I hope the managers can work together for expeditious consideration of this measure. Later I will have more to say about the schedule for the remainder of the week.

Mr. President, on the first cloture vote dealing with prescription drugs, I think probably I have said enough to indicate my displeasure and disappointment with what has happened this week, for our inability to proceed on something that is so basic to the security of this Nation, the Intelligence authorization bill, which deals with our espionage efforts, our ability to collect intelligence from around the world. That was stopped on a strict party-line vote because the Vice President didn't want that. So that is enough said on that.

On the prescription drug issue, when all else fails I think we should look at common sense. What we are asking is that Medicare be able to negotiate for lower prices in the purchase of drugs for senior citizens. This is opposed by the pharmaceutical industry, the insurance industry, and HMOs because they have a sweetheart deal. They can negotiate for lower prices but Medicare can't.

You can throw around all the statistics you want, it is not going to lower prices. I call upon our common sense. Doesn't it make sense that Medicare should be able to compete with these HMOs and negotiate for lower price drugs? Of course. That is why AARP and dozens of other organizations that care about seniors, not about profits, are on the side of moving forward on this legislation. I hope there will be Senators on the other side of the aisle who will step up and allow us to move forward on this legislation.

Finally, it is hard to comprehend, but in addition to not being able to move forward on the issues relating to intelligence, and probably on prescription drug negotiations, we have been

stymied in being able to bring forward a bill on court security. I hope it is just a small minority of Senators on the other side holding up this bill. We have had violence in courtrooms all over America. In Reno, NV, a disgruntled man did not like what a judge was doing on a divorce proceeding. He drove to a garage with his high-powered, deer- hunting rifle and fired, at almost 200 yards, through the window of the judge's chambers. The shot did not kill him but badly wounded him.

We know what happened in Atlanta, GA, with someone who was in cahoots, basically, with one of the violent prisoners. As a result of that, people were killed.

In Illinois, a disgruntled litigant waited in the judge's home, and when the father and one of the children came home, he killed them both.

This legislation dealing with court security is extremely important. We just had this terrible incident in Blacksburg, VA, indicating how prone this country is to violence. This legislation dealing with court security allows grants to States to beef up the security in courtrooms. It will allow bulletproof glass, as should have been in the judge's chambers in Reno, NV, and metal detectors. It would allow jurisdictions to obtain metal detectors. It would limit what Federal judges have to list in their various personal papers. It would not be possible, if this legislation passes, for some disgruntled defendant, witness, or whatever the case might be, to go to the Internet and find out where the judge lives, as happened in Illinois. They would not have to disclose personal information like that. They would not have to disclose the jobs of family members so one of these violence-prone people could go to someone's place of business and hurt and injure a child or loved one of one of these judges who make difficult decisions.

This legislation is important to allow us to better understand and protect against disgruntled litigants. It increases the penalties for people who do these bad things, who harass prosecutors, judges, and witnesses.

It is very important legislation, and we should have already completed it. But here we are. We are going to have to move to proceed to it. Once--I hope--cloture is invoked, then we have 30 hours to wait before we get onto the bill. It would be a shame that we have to waste the time of our country, time that could be spent on valuable legislation that could be done here in this Chamber, waiting to move forward because of people not wanting to legislate.

Mr. President, I enter a motion to reconsider that vote.

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

Mr. President, I appreciate very much the minority allowing us to move to this bill, this most important bill, dealing with court security. But here we go again; nothing happening on it. I am willing to have Democrats and Republicans debate these amendments. There have been some that have been filed but not offered.

I just left a meeting in my office with the head of the U.S. Marshals Service. His name is John Clark. He indicated to me, among other things, that this year there has been a 17-percent increase in the threats against our Federal judges, Supreme Court Justices, and all our other Federal judges; about 11,000, I think that is what he told me. I may have that number a little bit wrong; I just left him a minute ago.

This is important legislation. It allows our Federal judges not to have to list the names of their children, where they live, where the individual judge lives. We had in Illinois a terrible situation where one of these disgruntled defendants in a criminal case went to some judge's home and waited for the family to come home and killed them.

We need to move this bill. I don't want a hue and cry from the minority that we are not allowing amendments; we want amendments. If people want to amend this bill, let them do it. But I am going to file cloture on this bill tonight for a Friday cloture vote. We have got to complete legislation around here. We cannot come here each day and sit around looking at each other. We should be doing some legislating.

If people do not like this bipartisan bill that is now before the Senate, offer an amendment to change it. I am not going to give my speech--I have given it too many times--on our being thwarted in efforts to move forward on improving the intelligence services of this country. I don't need to give a speech about our inability to negotiate for lower prices of prescription drugs. But we are now on court security. I had to file cloture on that. After cloture was invoked, they allowed us to move to the bill, saving us 27 hours or 28 hours on it. I do not think it is appropriate that we stand around here today and tomorrow.

We have a bill that is bipartisan to its very core, a competitiveness bill. Senator Bingaman, a Democrat, and Senator Alexander, a Republican, have worked on this bill. This is their pride and joy. It is the legislation that will improve this country's ability to be more competitive scientifically. I want to move to that bill and finish it this week. I cannot while this is still around with nothing being done on it.

I alert everyone within the sound of my voice, if you don't like this bill, come and amend it. Lay down an amendment and we will debate it, we will table it, we will approve it, we will vote, and it won't be passed.

But our judges, our U.S. Marshals, our U.S. attorneys need this. In my heart I so understand the importance. I said this morning here, this legislation will also help State courts, not only Federal courts. In Washoe County, Reno, NV, a divorce proceeding was going forward. A very rich man, quite frankly, didn't like what was happening in the divorce proceeding, so this man killed his wife in her home--they were divorced, his ex-wife. The child was in the house, and he took her in the garage, slit her throat, killed her, took the car, drove to a garage, took his hunting rifle, and from 200 yards from a parking lot shot through a window and hit the judge.

That window should have had bulletproof glass in it. It didn't. This bill will allow local jurisdictions to have the ability to obtain items such as bulletproof glass.

We are living in a violent society. We have to, with our judiciary, which is so independent and strong, do what we can to protect it. I was in Ecuador with a congressional delegation. The President of that country, when I told him a little story--and we were in the Embassy. The President of Ecuador was standing next to me, and I told him about the 2000 Presidential election.

I said: You know, that is an interesting election. President Bush got less votes than the person he beat. The matter went to Florida where there was so much confusion and consternation in counting the votes there. The matter worked its way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decided that George Bush would be President of the United States. The minute that was done, I said, in Ecuador: George Bush became my President.

In our great country, which is ruled by law, not by men, there was not a tire burned, a window broken, a demonstration held, because we are a country of laws, and George Bush became everybody's President. I did not like the decision of the Supreme Court; I disagreed with it. But that is the law, that is the law of our country.

When I finished, the President of Ecuador said: I only wish we had a court system like yours.

That is what this bill is all about, to try to have our court system one that is as strong as it has been.

So if my friends on the other side of the aisle come here and say, as they have done on a number of occasions: Well, we didn't have a chance to offer an amendment--we finished this vote early today. They have had all day to offer all of the amendments they wanted. Democrats had every opportunity, if they do not like this bill, to offer an amendment to change it. But we are going to complete this bill by Friday one way or the other.

Now, Mr. President, it is possible under the rules that when we vote on Friday on cloture on the bill--we are on the bill now. It could be 30 hours, but everyone here should understand, we are going to be in session 30 hours after cloture is invoked.

We are not going to play around here, and think, well, we will finish it next week. We are going to finish this bill this week, if it takes Saturday or Sunday or whatever it takes, and everyone should understand that.

I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I ask the distinguished Senator from Iowa, my dear friend, I have to file a cloture motion. It will take me just a minute.

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

Madam President, I now ask unanimous consent we be allowed to proceed to a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak therein. The Senator from Iowa wishes to speak for a half hour. After that, Senators will be recognized for up to 10 minutes each.

Madam President, if I could take another minute of the time of the distinguished Senator, we hope we can finish this bill tomorrow. That would be my desire. Tomorrow is Thursday. I am filing this tonight. The time ripens for voting on this Friday morning. But Friday morning occurs at 1 a.m. We have to finish this bill as soon as we can. I am alerting everyone, there could be a vote Friday morning at 1 a.m.

I also suggest that I have been trying for some time now to do a bipartisan bill that has been worked on by many Senators. There are 50 cosponsors of this legislation, dealing with competitiveness. On our side it will be managed by Senator Bingaman. It is my understanding on the other side it will be managed by Senator Alexander. I hope we can have an agreement to move to that. I hope I do not have to file a motion to proceed to that piece of legislation. Remember, next week we need to complete work to send to the President the supplemental appropriations bill.

Having said that, I want to alert everyone I think it is too bad. This bill that is before the body now, the Court Security bill, has been passed by the Senate on two separate occasions. We have filed cloture; cloture was invoked. I appreciate very much the minority allowing us to move to the bill. But this afternoon I had a meeting with Mr. Clark, head of the U.S. Marshals Service. This year, threats to Federal judges have gone up 17 percent. We have had vile things done to judges all over the country, even in the State of Nevada, and we need to give Federal courts and local courts protection. We need to be a country that is ruled by the finest judicial system in the world, which we have now, and we cannot have bad people take away our court system--and violence can do that.

I hope we can finish this bill in a reasonable time tomorrow. If not, tomorrow will be a long night.

I appreciate very much my friend from Iowa allowing me to speak for a minute.

Mr. President, I rise in recognition of National Infant Immunization Week, which is being held this year from April 21-28. In Nevada and throughout the country, State and local health departments, health care providers, parents, and other partners will be working together to make sure that all infants are protected against vaccine- preventable diseases. This week is also an opportunity for all of us to spread the message about getting immunized. Not only do immunizations give our children a healthy start to life, they also save lives and protect the American public's health.

Immunization against vaccine-preventable diseases is a tremendous success story. Due to the development of vaccines and immunization campaigns, infectious diseases that used to devastate entire communities have been reduced to record lows or eradicated outright. Thanks to immunizations, few Americans today have any direct knowledge of once commonplace scourges like polio, smallpox, measles, and diphtheria. For most of us, the deaths, suffering, and disability associated with these diseases are now known only through textbooks and old newspaper accounts.

The National Infant Immunization Week is a time to reflect on these achievements. More importantly, this week is also a reminder that we cannot lose ground by becoming complacent or taking the benefits of immunizations for granted. Approximately 1 million children in this country are not fully immunized by age two and many regions of the country have disturbingly low immunization rates. In my home State of Nevada, the immunization rate for infants and young children is ranked last in the country.

Fortunately, there are Federal and State programs that work to provide lifesaving vaccinations to children and adults who would otherwise have to go without. During this year's National Infant Immunization Week, I urge my colleagues in the Senate to support these efforts. By promoting access to immunizations against serious but preventable diseases, we can work to ensure that all Americans will benefit from this invaluable public health tool for generations to come.

Mr. President, Sunday is the 37th anniversary of Earth Day. I have been pleased to read reports that people across the country are planning to come together to celebrate our environmental accomplishments and to renew their environmental commitment to future and current generations. Everyone should celebrate the major steps forward we have taken to achieve clean air and water, to reduce pollution, and to clean up hazardous waste sites.

Earth Day is celebrated because of the great work of former Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. In 1970, he founded Earth Day to celebrate the environment and to bring attention to the legislative challenges facing those who want to want to protect the environment. Senator Nelson also cosponsored the Wilderness Act of 1964, a law that has been amazingly important to protecting Nevada's beauty.

Nevada is one of the many States that has greatly benefited from the increased environmental awareness that former Senator Nelson helped to cultivate. Nevada's dramatic landscapes from the high alpine lakes of the Ruby Mountains to the stark open spaces of the Black Rock Desert to the incredible Joshua tree forests in the Piute Valley have provided inspiration to generations of Nevadans. Protecting Nevada's wild lands ensured that those who follow us will have the same opportunity to find and experience these incredible places as we had.

The Wilderness Act of 1964, which was cosponsored by former Senator Nelson, has done tremendous things in Nevada. I have been proud to help designate nearly 2 million acres of wilderness across Nevada, in addition to creating the Sloan Canyon, Red Rock Canyon, and Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon National Conservation Areas and Great Basin National Park.

Protecting and serving our environment has always been one of my passions, and I have twice had the privilege to chair the Environment and

Public Works Committee. During that time, I had the chance to write the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996, to revise the Clean Air Act, and to improve the Endangered Species Act, Superfund, and the Clean Water Act. In each case, I advocated for laws that not only protect the environment but that are flexible, take advantage of market mechanisms, and reflect the unique needs and circumstances of the West.

I was always pleased that I was able to work in a bipartisan manner with my colleagues on the Environment and Public Works Committee. Republicans, Democrats, and Independents all understood that protecting the environment did not have to be a partisan issue, and I was glad that various presidents joined in our efforts. That is why it is so distressing today to see the current administration's policies pursued in such a manner because environmental issues could and should be bipartisan.

Each year, our understanding grows about how important it is to conserve and protect our land and its rich resources. While the current administration's environmental rollbacks are far too numerous to count, it started with attempts to loosen arsenic standards for drinking water and centers today around their total unwillingness to work together on a plan that will first stabilize and then reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Global warming and climate change is the single greatest environmental challenge that will confront current and future generations. We have a moral obligation to address this issue and choosing to ignore this problem is madness and a luxury we do not have the time for. I once again urge my colleagues not to fall for the temptation of the administration's voluntary ''technology-only'' strategy. That strategy has only increased emissions and the risks associated with global warming.

The negative impacts that have been linked to global warming and climate change are also far too numerous to mention, but I am continually concerned about the impacts that climate change will have on water in Nevada. Most recently, the National Resources Conservation Service recorded that snowpack throughout the Sierra Nevada Mountains is only at 40 to 50 percent or normal. In eastern Nevada, due to decreases in the snowpack, the stream flow for the Humboldt River is expected to only be at 34 percent and the lower Colorado River at 19 percent of its average. A recent study published in Science said all but one of the 19 major climate models project that the Southwest is at the beginning of a deepening drought largely due to greenhouse gas concentration increases and global warming.

The challenge of eliminating our Nation's overdependence on oil and other greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuels will be a great test for our country and for the world. I believe that America can lead the way in developing new technologies to meet and pass this test. We can and must become more energy independent through the rapid development and diversification of clean, alternative, and renewable sources of energy. They will provide a steady, reliable energy supply, bolster our national security, protect the environment, and create new jobs and whole new industries. We must tap into our Nation's spirit of innovation and bring a new environmental ethic to our energy policy.

Every day, not just on Earth Day, we have to work together to protect our environment from threats so our children and our grandchildren and so on can drink clean water, breath clean air, and enjoy the vast open spaces and the natural beauty of Nevada, America, and the world. That much is for certain, and I look forward to bringing that commitment to everything that I and this Senate undertake.

Mr. President, this morning the Senate will be in a period of morning business for 60 minutes, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. The first half of morning business is controlled by the Republican leader or his designee or designees and the last portion controlled by the majority. Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of S. 372, the Intelligence authorization bill.

Yesterday, it was unfortunate that the Senate did not invoke cloture on the intelligence legislation. However, I did enter a motion to reconsider the failed cloture vote. We will have that vote again at some time.

Also today, at 12:30 p.m., the Senate will recess for the party conferences. We have no votes scheduled today because of the inability to move forward on the very important intelligence authorization as a result of the Republicans in unison voting against our ability to go forward. If there is no change in that, we made a couple of proposals yesterday which were all objected to, as to being able to move forward on germane amendments, relevant amendments.

We will have a cloture vote on another issue that it appears at this time the Republicans are going to block; that is, the ability for Medicare to negotiate for lower priced prescription drugs.

We are going to continue to move forward on our desire to allow the intelligence community, the 16 agencies that work for the Federal Government, working in espionage and other such important issues, to allow them to have legislation that brings us up to date. For the last 2 years, there has been no legislation in that regard because the Republicans did not move forward. We are going to continue to try to move forward even though the Vice President does not want this legislation.

We also are going to continue to speak for the American people in allowing Medicare--one of the most important programs ever developed by this country has been Medicare. I can remember my first elected job on the board of trustees of then Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital, the largest hospital district in the State of Nevada at the time. When I took that job, 45 percent of those people who were senior citizens who came to that hospital had no insurance, and children, spouses, friends, and neighbors had to agree to pay their hospital bill or they would not be taken care of.

The situation now is that virtually every senior citizen, as a result of Medicare having passed--that passed during my term of office on the board of trustees--virtually every senior citizen now has the ability to be taken care of, except Medicare cannot now negotiate for lower priced prescription drugs. The insurance industry can, the Veterans' Administration can, HMOs can, but not Medicare.

We are going to continue to try to move forward on that issue even though the Republicans obviously are being led down the wrong path by the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance industry and HMOs. We are going

to continue to try to do the business of the American people even though sometimes it is difficult.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I don't need to remind my colleagues that our country is at war. We face tremendous challenges in keeping America safe. On the other side of the aisle, in the last couple of days we have heard some talk about the Intelligence authorization bill which the Republican majority failed to pass in 2 separate years, the first time in 27 years this bill has not been passed, but it wasn't passed the last 2 years.

This year I thought it would be good if we passed an Intelligence authorization bill. We have 16 agencies that deal with the espionage, the security, the intelligence of our Nation. A bipartisan bill came out of the Intelligence Committee, the committee agreeing that something should be done. But it gets over here and word comes from the White House: Don't let that bill go. Like lemmings off a cliff, the Republicans do not allow this bill to go forward. The excuses, a fourth grade student could see through, maybe a second grade student.

They say: Democrats wouldn't allow us to offer amendments. That is absolutely false, untrue. From the very beginning, when they refused to let us proceed to the bill initially and we had to file cloture, cloture was invoked because it gave them 30 hours to stall doing nothing. I said that during that 30-hour period amendments could be offered. Not a single amendment was proffered.

So then we come to cloture on the bill itself. Even the vice chairman of the committee did not vote to go forward with this legislation. Again, I said: OK, cloture wasn't invoked. Let's go ahead and offer some amendments. They did. Guess what the first amendment was to show how serious they are about the intelligence operations of this country. An amendment was offered by a Republican 34 pages long dealing with immigration which shows how they want to solve the immigration problems of this country and the intelligence problems. This is no place for immigration. We are going to debate immigration the last 2 weeks of this work period.

It is beyond my ability to comprehend how Senators on this side of the aisle, looking over there, could vote this way, people whom I have always believed to be patriots. Why would they not vote on this? I will tell you why they didn't. Vice President Cheney wants to be the czar of intelligence of this country, as he has been for 6 years. He can rest well tonight because he is going to be able to continue, without this bill setting certain standards for interrogation with our intelligence agencies and other things that on a bipartisan basis were said to be important to improve the intelligence apparatus of our country.

The amendments offered this afternoon were not in good faith. A 34- page immigration amendment on an Intelligence authorization bill? They were nothing more than an effort to make the White House happy. It is no secret. Senators have told Senators on this side that is why they voted against cloture: they were told to do so by the White House.

Maybe my friends on the other side of the aisle think it is not important, that they can pull this one off and get away with it. We have a war on terror going on, and we have intelligence agencies--16 in number--that are working every day trying to keep ahead of the bad guys. The bipartisan bill that has been before the Senate for the last several days was drafted based upon what the intelligence agencies thought they needed to improve their ability to collect information. I don't think it is going to work. The credibility of the Vice President is not very high in this country. For reasons like this, it is apparent why that is.

The White House talks about the war on terror; let's work together to do

something about it. Step back a minute. Is it political posturing to think that the intelligence agencies of this country that should have legislation that should be passed every year not be passed for 3 years?

I am very disappointed. I say this not in a mean or argumentative way. I am terribly disappointed. If the Presiding Officer, other Senators on this floor, if I ever as the leader came to one of you and said: We are not going to let the intelligence bill go forward this year, I think my caucus would tell me what to do with my suggestion. But apparently the White House has more sway than the American people to this group across the aisle. That is really too bad.

Mr. President, I rise today to honor the memory of a great Nevada educator and coach, Felix William Rivera. Felix, a physical and health education teacher in the Clark County School District in Las Vegas, NV, was involved in a fatal car accident on February 8, 2007.

Felix proudly lived in the Las Vegas metropolitan area all of his life. He graduated from Basic High School in 1991 and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1996 with degrees in secondary education and sports medicine and certification in athletic training. As a student teacher, Felix was selected as a Distinguished Student Teacher of the Year Award. He began his teaching career at Swainston Middle School in 1997, and thereafter served as a Physical Education Coach and Athletic Trainer at Western High School and Health Teacher and Athletic Trainer at Desert Pines High School.

Felix went above and beyond his job responsibilities in order to provide students with the opportunity to learn and succeed. He spent countless hours treating students who had limited access to health care. Oftentimes, he would arrive early to school in order to provide treatments, limited therapy, or counseling to students who simply needed a listening ear. Felix had outstanding listening skills and frequently utilized his networking base to connect students with the proper resources. As one of his former students noted, ``Not only did Mr. Rivera teach health, he also taught us about life and steps we needed to take in order to become successful.'' A fellow teacher at Desert Pines High School described him as a ``role model for students who took great pride in every lesson that he taught.'' A teacher and friend further commented on his congenial personality, ``He was the kind of person who had an innate ability to get right to the point, an ear-to-ear smile that was contagious and a well-known sense of humor.''

It is clear that Felix was a dedicated educator, a role model, and a mentor who left a lasting impression on his students. On April 18, 2007, family, friends, students, and colleagues will honor his legacy by dedicating a mural with the words ``hard as steel with a heart of gold'' in the training room at Desert Pines High School, where he spent much of his time counseling students. I join in honoring Felix and extend my deepest sympathies to his family and friends, especially his wife and high school sweetheart, Alice ``Cookie'' Masterson and children, Anthony and Felicia. He is deeply missed and his service and dedication to the students of Clark County will always be greatly appreciated.