Floor Statements

Madam President, I understand that H.R. 976 is at the desk and is due for a second reading.

Madam President, I ask that any further proceedings at this time not proceed. In fact, I object.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 10 a.m., Tuesday, February 27; that on Tuesday, following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate then be in a period of morning business until 12:30 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each, with the first 30 minutes under the control of the Republican leader or his designee and the second 30 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designees; that at 12:30 p.m. the Senate stand in recess until 2:15 p.m. in order to accommodate a meeting of the respective caucuses; further, that at 2:15 p.m. the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 184 and the time until 2:30 p.m. be equally divided and controlled between the majority and Republican leaders or their designees; that the live quorum required under rule XXII with respect to this cloture motion be waived.

Tomorrow, the Senate will conduct a period of morning business until the time when the Senate recesses for the conference work periods.

Madam President, we had a vote scheduled for 9:30 on cloture of the Commerce aspect of the homeland security work we are going to be doing in the next couple weeks. Because of various clerical problems and just the way the Senate works, the bulk of the homeland security work we are going to be doing--probably 65 percent of it--deals with the Homeland Security Subcommittee, chaired by Senator Lieberman. The ranking member is Senator Collins. About 15 percent of what we are going to be doing deals with Banking and about 20 percent or thereabouts--these are all rough estimates--deals with the Commerce Committee.

We are going to invoke cloture on the Commerce aspect--an effort to move it forward by 1 day--because with the first amendment, after we got on this legislation, we would move to put the homeland security legislation in, which basically has it all in it anyway.

I have spoken at some length with the distinguished Republican leader, and it was felt by both of us it would be better if we could speak to our two caucuses tomorrow during the lunch hour to see how we should proceed tomorrow afternoon. That is why we changed the time for voting from in the morning until 2:30 tomorrow afternoon.

Order of Procedure

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture vote occur tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.

Tomorrow, the Senate will conduct a period of morning business until the time when the Senate recesses for the conference work periods. I will continue to discuss the schedule with the Republican leader with respect to the 9/11 Commission legislation, as I indicated. So for scheduling purposes, Members should be here at 2:30 for the cloture vote. If we are able to vitiate that vote, Members will be notified in a timely fashion.

If there is no further business to come before the Senate today and if the Republican leader has no further business, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand adjourned under the previous order.

Madam President, this afternoon we will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 574, with the time until 1:45 p.m. equally divided between the two leaders or their designees; further, the Republican leader will control the time between 1:25 and 1:35, and the majority leader will control the time between 1:35 and 1:45 p.m. At 1:45 p.m, the Senate will proceed to the rollcall vote on cloture on the motion to proceed. Senators should be aware there is a possibility of additional rollcall votes this afternoon, and they would occur shortly after the cloture vote if cloture is not invoked.

Order of Procedure

Madam President, I would also ask that on our side, the allotted time of the Senators be limited to 5 minutes each.

Madam President, we all know it is rare for the Senate to hold a Saturday vote, but the issue before us is too important to wait. There are challenges facing America today, but there is no greater challenge facing America today than finding a new direction in Iraq.

Every Senator in this Chamber has a responsibility and an obligation to say whether they support or oppose the President's plan to escalate the war. Yesterday the House of Representatives acted, 246 to 180, no escalation. Now it is the turn of this body, the Senate, to give advice to the President that he is wrong in sending tens of thousands more American soldiers to a civil war in far away Iraq.

In a few moments, a vote will occur on a straightforward resolution which simply states that we support our troops and oppose escalation of the intractable Iraq war. My colleagues on the other side of this Senate Chamber, colleagues who blocked an Iraq debate last week, have a choice to make. Do they intend to join the American people in opposing more of the same in Iraq or do they intend to continue to give the President a green light to escalate the war? Let the debate proceed. Let the Senate express its views on the issue of our time.

This month, the Iraq war has cost the lives of three American soldiers every day, putting us on pace for the bloodiest February since the war began. It is threatening our Nation's strategic interests and risking our Nation's security. Today, America has lost 3,133 soldiers in the streets and highways of a place called Iraq.

We have seen tens of thousands more wounded. The war has strained our military and depleted our Treasury of almost $500 billion.

The Iraqis are dying at a rate of 100 a day in a vicious sectarian civil war. Two million Iraqis have left their own country.

By every measure, the administration's failures have put us into a deep hole in Iraq. Yet the President's new old plan--escalation, more of the same--won't get us out of the hole. It will only dig the hole deeper.

Our generals, the Iraq Study Group, and the Iraqis themselves have told us that escalation will only make Iraq worse, intensify our costs, and require even greater sacrifices from the American troops, many of whom are being sent to Baghdad today without the proper armor and proper equipment and the training they need.

On this issue--escalation, more of the same--the Senate must speak. The Senate, on behalf of the American people, must make it clear to the Commander in Chief that he no longer has a rubberstamp. We must show the American people that the Senate heard their message last November 7, and we, as Senators, are fighting for a new direction for the 134,000 troops already in Iraq and the 48,000 additional troops the President would send.

The Senate owes as much to these soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines. We must proceed with this debate and change the course of a war that has raged going into 5 years now.

I know some would like to cloud the debate. I know some would like to delay the debate. I know some would like to have a different debate. I know some would like to have no debate. Most of the Republican minority wishes to protect President Bush from an embarrassing vote. They are trying to divert attention from the issue at hand. They would like to turn the Senate into a procedural quagmire. They want to hide behind weak and misleading arguments about the Senate's rules or a Senator's right to offer amendments. These arguments are diversions.

Today's vote is about more than procedure. It is an opportunity to send a powerful message: The Senate will no longer sit on the sidelines while our troops police an ugly civil war in a nation far away. The issue before America today is escalation. The issue before the Senate today is escalation. That is why the Senate's responsibility must be to vote on escalation and whether the so-called surge is supported or opposed.

This is the choice: More war or less war. I applaud the courage of a few hardy Republicans who will vote cloture and allow this vote to occur.

As I said, most of the Republican minority wish to protect President Bush from this vote. They intend to vote for what is best for their political party. But as President John Fitzgerald Kennedy said, ``Sometimes party loyalty asks too much.''

Today in the Senate, Republican party loyalty asks too much. In the Senate this Saturday, this February 17, today is the time for Senators to vote for openness, for transparency, to show their constituents in all 50 States: Do our Senators support or oppose sending 48,000 more United States soldiers and marines into the darkness of Iraq?

During the week we heard speeches about supporting our troops. The best

way to support the troops is to ensure they have a strategy that will let them complete their mission so they can come home. We need a new direction in Iraq. Escalation is not the answer. More of the same is not the answer. The answer is to tell the President: Not more war but less war.

I urge my colleagues to vote cloture and thus vote to change course in this bloody war now raging 7,500 miles from this Senate Chamber and our beloved United States Capitol.

I yield the floor.

Cloture Motion

I withdraw the motion to proceed to S. 574.

Mr. President, the Republicans did not want to adjourn the other day because they wanted another chance to vote on Iraq. The majority of the Senate just voted on Iraq and the majority of the Senate is against the escalation in Iraq. We have had that other vote they have chosen, so now I ask the Senate to turn to the consideration of H. Con. Res. 67, the adjournment resolution, and that the Senate proceed to vote on passage of the resolution, with no intervening action or debate.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Tuesday, February 27, at 11:30 a.m., the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. 184, Calendar No. 26, a bill to provide improved rail and surface transportation security.

Mr. President, in response to my friend, he is absolutely right. We had every intention of moving to the Homeland Security bill, but it wasn't reported out of the committee. The matter I read, Calendar No. 26, is part of a big bill. I, frankly, understand why there is an objection. We are going to file a cloture motion. Hopefully, in the interim period of time, when people have a chance to look at this bill, we will get consent from the Republicans to move forward.

The reason I am moving to this bill now is I didn't want to waste Tuesday. Time is so precious around here that I wanted to get to this or some vehicle as soon as we can. We will do our best in the next few days to try to work this out.

The Republican leader already objected to my request?

Mr. President, I now move to proceed to S. 184 and send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order to discharge from the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee the following postal-naming bills and the Senate proceed en bloc to their consideration: S. 171, H.R. 49, H.R. 335, H.R. 521, H.R. 433, H.R. 514, and H.R. 577.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bills be read three times, passed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, en bloc; that the consideration of these items appear separately in the Record; and that any statements relating to the measures be printed in the Record, without intervening action or debate.

Finally, I ask unanimous consent that the Homeland Security Committee be discharged and the following be placed on the calendar: S. 194, S. 219, and S. 412.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 81 and the Senate then proceed to its consideration.

Mr. President, I know the time is late and a lot of people want to go a lot of different places, but I have to say that John Glenn is one of the most amazing people I have ever known, to think that I had the opportunity to serve with him in this body, a man who was an ace in World War II, knocking down enemy aircraft in his marine vehicle. He was an ace in the Korean war and, of course, America's most famous astronaut.

I will just say in passing, when I first came here as a Senator, at our Tuesday luncheon, Senator Glenn said: Does anybody want to go with me? I am going to go out on the USS Kennedy, which is an aircraft carrier. He said: I am going to watch some landings. I said: Well, gee, John Glenn, aircraft carrier, which I have never been on. I said: I will try that. And I did.

It was interesting. We flew out in an airplane. It was stopped very quickly because a hook grabbed the airplane. Then I watched these new pilots, who had never landed on an aircraft carrier, coming in, wings wobbling. They would wave some off: ``Dirty, dirty''--that is the word they used to get this thing out of there. Lots of them landed.

Then John Glenn got in one of those planes and was catapulted off the aircraft carrier and came in on a landing himself. He is an amazing man.

I have one final story about John Glenn. My office was in the Hart Building. Nevada had the champions in double Dutch jump-roping. They were out in the atrium of the Hart Building showing me what they could do. It is amazing--several people jumping at the same time. They asked me to do it. I made--I wouldn't say a fool of myself, but I couldn't do it. I didn't realize John Glenn was standing watching this. Here is a man, at the time had to be 70 years old, and he walked over and said: Can I try that? He was like one of the kids. An amazing man.

This is a resolution recognizing the 45th anniversary of his historic achievement. Becoming the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth is only one of the achievements this great man did--and he is still healthy and strong--with his wonderful wife Annie.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the measure be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 30, S. Res. 69.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating thereto be printed at the appropriate place in the Record as if read, without intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I understand that H.R. 976 has been received at the desk from the House, and I ask for its first reading.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding a recess/adjournment of the Senate, committees may report legislative and Executive Calendar business on Thursday, February 22, 2007, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.

I would say, Mr. President, that is when the bill the Senate Republican leader and I were talking about will be reported, the homeland security matter.

I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the recess or adjournment of the Senate, the President of the Senate, the President of the Senate pro tempore, and the majority and minority leaders be authorized to make appointments to commissions, committees, boards, conferences, or interparliamentary conferences authorized by law, by concurrent action of the two Houses, or by order of the Senate.