Floor Statements

Mr. President, I thank my long-time friend and colleague in the Senate, the Senator from Texas. For so many reasons she is a real leader on our team, on the team of leadership.

But how many times, if I might ask the Senator from Texas, have you taken this bill to the floor of the Senate on behalf of Amtrak, rail safety, Metro? Would you mind telling us how many times?

Mr. President, I recognize that great contribution, but I wanted it a part of the Record.

I say to my long-time friend, Mr. Lautenberg, the distinguished senior Senator from New Jersey, I hope in your remarks you will recite how many times you have gone to the floor on behalf of people seeking the needs of not only Amtrak but the rail safety and the Metro funds which are in this bill this time.

These two Senators have been the engine on this very important piece of legislation. The distinguished Acting President pro tempore and I are proud to represent Virginia, one of the beneficiaries of this system. But I have also tried through my many years in the Senate to have a voice for the District of Columbia.

This Amtrak as well as the Metro funds in here are the pulse beat, the arteries which feed the Nation's Capital. Some 40 to 50 of the various Government agencies serving our Nation are accessed with Amtrak. I say to my colleagues in the Senate, all 100 Senators--all 100 Senators--have staff members and the families of staff, and ourselves, who very often utilize the Metro system and indeed access part of the Amtrak system. This is a 10-year funding for the Metro for capital improvement and operating.

Yes.

Mr. President, I wish to add that this system, the Metro system, is a feeder to the Amtrak. It was started in 1960 under President Eisenhower. Each year, the Congress has been a supporter of this system. But key to this--and I compliment my colleagues in the House, Congressmen Moran and Davis--are the matching funds from each State, so the portion of authorization we seek for Metro in this would be matched by the several States and the District of Columbia.

Mr. President, I intend to cast a ``yea'' vote on cloture on the motion to concur with the House amendment to the Railway Safety-Amtrak bill. I believe this legislative package is critical for so many reasons.

Of highest importance to me, though, is a much-needed authorization of $1.5 billion over 10 years for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, WMATA, the Metro system that probably brought a majority of our staffers to work this morning.

WMATA has been one of the Washington, DC, metro area's most successful partnerships with the Federal Government.

In 1960, President Eisenhower signed legislation to provide for the development of a regional rail system for the Nation's Capital and to support the Federal Government. Since 1960, Congress has continually reaffirmed the Federal Government's commitment to Metro by passing periodic reauthorizing bills.

Over half of Metro's riders at peak times are Federal employees and contractors, and a large percentage of these riders are Virginia residents.

Based on Metro's 2007 Rail Ridership Survey, approximately 40 percent of respondents identified themselves as Federal workers who ride Metrorail to work. 39 percent of that group identified themselves as Virginia residents.

We are talking about thousands of cars taken off the major roadways each day because of our area's Metro system.

Metro's record riderships have occurred during historic events where people from all over the country flock to the Nation's Capital to honor their Federal Government: President Reagan's funeral, Fourth of July celebrations, Presidential inaugurations. In addition, the Metro system proved indispensable to the Federal Government and the Nation's Capital generally in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Over 50 Federal agencies in the National Capital Region are located adjacent to Metro stations. Federal agencies rely on WMATA to get their employees to and from the workplace year-round, in all types of weather.

As I mentioned, the Railway Safety-Amtrak bill includes $1.5 billion in Federal Transit Authority funding over 10 years for capital and preventative maintenance projects for WMATA. This language was added by voice vote to the Amtrak bill by my delegation mate, Congressman Tom Davis, as a floor amendment during the House's Amtrak debate over the summer.

These dollars will be matched by the Commonwealth of Virginia, Washington, DC, and the State of Maryland.

This critical investment will help provide for much-needed improvements to this stressed transit system. Projects such as station and facility rehabilitation and tunnel repairs will be undertaken.

These funds will also allow WMATA to add new rail cars and buses to help congestion during peak hours.

This critical legislation, which would authorize much-needed Federal funding, contingent on State and local dedicated matches, recognizes how vital Metro is to the region and the Federal Government.

Such legislation is integral to the well-being of the area's transportation system, as we struggle to address traffic congestion, skyrocketing gas prices, global climate change, and the local quality- of-life concerns.

From its inception, the Federal Government has played a significant role in funding the construction and operation of the Metrorail system. I hope this Congress will continue to show that support.

I ask my colleagues to join me in voting ``yes'' for WMATA today.

Mr. President, if the Senator would yield, I would just express my appreciation and thanks to the Senator from New Jersey. After 30 years in the Senate, much of that time has been spent working with him on a wide range of issues, many of them international issues of great importance. But I am always happy to come back to the fundamentals of what makes this institution work, and that is our staff and employees and others who are dependent upon this system. I thank the Senator.

Would the Senator yield?

I was simply going to rise to say that the portion of the legislation we voted upon relating to the Metro is derivative of your regulation which you, and I was privileged to be a cosponsor, Senator Webb was a cosponsor, Senator Mikulski, the four of us put in. So although it may not be the exact bill number, it is, in fact, building on the foundation you laid.

I thank you very much for that, as do all our colleagues, every one of whom have people who utilize this system, the whole Federal Government.

But the important thing is, the District of Columbia can look to the Senators from Maryland, Virginia, and indeed the Members of the Congress and the House of Representatives, from time to time, to serve its interests. This is one which is very important, if not vital, to our Nation's Capital. I compliment the Senator for his leadership. As I leave the Senate, whatever modest mantle I have in this area, I convey to you and to Senator Webb and Senator Mikulski.

Thank you. I have been a lucky man.

Mr. President, I thank my good friend and colleague from Delaware. You mentioned naval aviation. It requires an extraordinary person to go into that program to fly those aircraft. I believe yours was a P-2; was it not?

I remember that airplane. It flew many missions. Your primary mission was watching the Soviets, I repeat the Soviet Navy, and its submarines operating off the shore and was vital to our security, to track and know where those submarines were because they had missile armaments which could inflict great harm on this country.

So I commend you, sir, for your service and I humbly thank you for your remarks.

Mr. President, I am very deeply moved by this moment. As a matter of fact, now--this is just a month or so short of 30 years--I can't think of another opportunity or moment in the Senate when I have been so moved and so grateful to a fellow Senator. I have served with five individuals, you being the fifth now, in the Senate to come from Virginia, to form the team we have all had, some different in different ways, but generally speaking, Virginia's two Senators have worked together on behalf of not only the Commonwealth but what is best for the United States.

I remember one time so vividly we stood together here at the desk on a rather complex issue, and there were clear political reasons for us to vote in a certain way. But you turned to me and you asked what I was going to do, and I replied, and you said: That is what I will do because that is in the best interest of the country though it may not be politically to our benefit, or possibly to our State. But that is this fine man whom I finished my career in the Senate with as my full partner and, most importantly, my deep and respected friend. Our relationship, as you so stated, started many years ago--over 30--when we worked with the Navy Secretary together.

You mentioned Vietnam. To this day, I think about that chapter in my life. I remember John Chafee, whom I am sure you recall very well. He and I one time were asked to go down to the Mall. The Secretary of Defense sent us down there, and we put on old clothes and went down, and there were a million young men and women--over a million-- expressing their concerns about the loss of life, the war in Vietnam, and how the leadership of this country had not given, I believe, the fullest of support to those such as yourself, Senator, and Senator Hagel, who fought so valiantly and courageously in that war.

In the years I have been privileged since that time to serve here in the Senate--I might add a footnote that Senator Chafee or then- Secretary of the Navy Chafee, and I was Under Secretary--went back directly to the Secretary of Defense and sat in his office, and that was sort of the beginning of the concept of ``Vietnamization'' when we tried to lay those plans to bring our forces home.

But anyway, in the years that passed, I remember so well working with Senator Mathias on the original legislation to establish the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I felt strongly that it would be some tribute fitting to the men and women who served, as you did, so valiantly during that period. I think time has proven that while there was enormous controversy about that memorial, it has in a very significant measure helped those families and others who bore the brunt of that conflict, you being among them.

I thank the Senator from Virginia for working together this short period we have been here. As I leave, I leave with a sense of knowing that for our Virginia, but perhaps even more importantly, for the United States of America, there is one man in Senator Webb who will always do what is right for his country and will fear absolutely no one in trying to carry out that mission. Whether it be a vote or a piece of legislation, or whatever it may be, he will persevere. He showed that on the GI bill legislation.

I was privileged, as I might say, just to be a corporal in your squad on that, but you led that squad with the same courage that you fought with in Vietnam and that you will fight with today and tomorrow and so long as you are a Member of the Senate. I hope perhaps maybe you might exceed my career of 30 years in the Senate, and that wonderful family of yours will give you the support my family--my lovely wife today and my children--has given me so that I could serve here in the Senate.

America will always look down on you as a proud son. I don't know what the future may be, but I know there are further steps of greatness that you will achieve, Senator. I wish you the best of luck from the depths of my heart. I thank you for these words today, similar to words we have shared, both of us, in speaking of our working partnership here in the Senate. I thank you, sir. I salute you.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

I thank you.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that T.J. Kim, a fellow of the Environment and Public Works Committee, be granted floor privileges.

I ask unanimous consent that Kory Sylvester, a member of Senator Domenici's appropriations staff, have floor privileges today.

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

Mr. President, what a privilege it has been for myself and many of my colleagues to sit here in the presence this afternoon to not hear a goodbye to the Senate, because the Senate, Senator Domenici, will always look up to you. You will be the model which young men and women coming to the Senate will wish to follow.

I don't know whether anyone can do what you have done throughout the Senate with greater feeling and sincerity. Mr. President, when Senator Domenici greets and visits with you, he always finishes that with ``I love you, brother'' or ``I love you, sister.''

God bless you and your family.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I am deeply humbled like my dear friend, Pete Domenici. I don't know if I am going to measure the courage to say goodbye to the Senate, but that will wait until next week.

But I remember going back to a day when the Republican leader, then Bob Dole, came to me. I adored him, as I do to this day. He said to me: You need to do something for the Senate.

I said: What is that?

He said: I want you to give up your seat on the Rules Committee because the Senate has been joined by a young man who I believe can best serve the Senate--because of the complexities of the rules of the Senate, because of the problems that face the Senate--if he were to serve on this committee. Senator Dole said: I will assure you if you wish to return you may do so without loss of seniority or otherwise.

So I said: Who is this man?

And he described him.

I said: Well, if that is for the best interests of the Senate, I will step down.

I did, and you, Mitch McConnell, joined the Rules Committee. Not long after that, Dole again expressed his appreciation to me, and he said: You

know, I predict that someday that man will become the Republican leader of the Senate.

I was a bit taken aback. I hadn't been here that long, but that is quite a prediction for someone to make.

Well, it has come true. It is almost as if the hand of Providence has directed it because here, in these final hours, these final days that my dear friend, Senator Domenici and I will serve in this institution, we will be a part of making a decision, a decision with regard to the future of America and our economy. It is a decision of a magnitude that I am not sure any other Senate has made in its 218-year history, save perhaps during the Civil War, a decision that this body will make affecting every single American--every single American.

I just say in concluding, the Senate, the country is fortunate to have you and others in the leadership role in this institution today, on both sides of the aisle, to guide us through to make that decision. That comes from my heart.

Good luck, God bless you, bless the leadership of the Senate and every Member of this institution as we assemble within the coming days, each of us in our seat, to cast this most important vote.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, these are one of the periods of our lives in the Senate we shall always remember. My good friend, the Senator from New Mexico, steps down and departs the floor. But you will be a Member of this decisionmaking body through the next few days, which will be critical when your vast experience will be brought to bear on this decision, as it will.

Mr. President, I was present today in our group of Senators. When you spoke, you inspired them. We have got to rebuild the confidence in America. That is what underlies this decision. I also wish to say a few words about our dear friend from Colorado. I cannot altogether make these remarks without divulging I have a bias. I have visited that beautiful State many times. But my daughter makes her home there, together with my grandson, and the Senator from Colorado allowed my grandson to be an intern in his office. He served as an intern briefly in my office, both without pay to the taxpayers, I hasten to say, when I make these remarks.

But he has been a great friend. We have worked together on many things. He has dignity. But above all it is his enthusiasm and love for this institution. There is not a day when he walks on this floor, either to say to other Senators or to say it quietly to himself: How fortunate I am to be a Senator, to come here to represent the people of Colorado, to represent the people, as each Senator does, of the whole of the United States.

So as I step down, and others, we do so with a sense of confidence, behind us remain individuals like yourself and indeed the distinguished Presiding Officer who for 30 years, he and I have

served together on the Armed Services Committee. He will remain on. The Senate will be in good hands with you and our other colleagues to carry on and solve the problems for this great Nation and indeed much of the world.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I am very pleased to say there is no objection on this side.

Mr. President, I am overjoyed this has been done.

Mr. President, I thank the distinguished leader. I say to him, as you referred to: Two Senators who worked on this, coincidentally, it is the Presiding Officer, the Senator from Michigan, Mr. Levin, who is in the chair to whom you were referring. We both thank you, and we thank Senator McConnell and all Members of the Senate for their support in passing this key piece of legislation.

Sometimes people are concerned that this institution does not quite work in a manner in which is easily comprehensible. But this is an effort that has been one that you and I and all the members of our committee and the distinguished staff whom we have on the committee have worked on throughout this year.

I say to the Presiding Officer, you are the chairman. I am now the senior serving Republican on it, the former chairman, having served with you. Senator McCain is the ranking member. By reason of necessity, he is absent; otherwise, he would be standing here today in terms of the bill.

This bill is not about us, though. It is about the men and women of the Armed Forces and their families and their loved ones and their friends. The Constitution provides very explicitly that the President is the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. To the legislative branch--the Congress of the United States--is entrusted the care and welfare and safety and, indeed, protection of the men and women of the Armed Forces.

Now, I commend the distinguished Presiding Officer, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, with whom I have worked these 30 years, side by side, on this committee. This is a good bill. There were times when I think we could have made it stronger. But given the rules of the Senate, which I respect, as does the Presiding Officer, and all other Senators, we were not able to quite achieve those goals. But that is the nature of the Senate. The minority has a very respected and powerful voice in this Senate, and it is right and just that it be heard.

So despite the fact this bill may not have all the features and important provisions I and the Senator from Michigan and other members of our committee and other Senators might have had incorporated in this bill, it is still a very fine bill. It adequately--most adequately-- cares for the men and women of the Armed Forces.

Again, I commend the distinguished chairman, the Senator from Michigan, my friend of these 30 years.

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Landrieu. The Senator from Michigan.

Madam President, I thank my dear friend. If I could take a moment. I wish to join the Senator in thanking our respective leaders, Senator Reid, Senator McConnell and the members of the committee and the staff, once again, and indeed the members of the leadership staff and the floor staff who made possible this bill.

But I wish to tell a short personal story since this is my last bill.

I just walked through Senator Reid's office. He asked me to come in and visit with him privately a minute. As I passed by, I looked up on the wall, and there was a portrait of Harry Truman. I had the privilege of serving in the Navy in World War II--the closing year of World War II--as a young 17-year-old, 18-year-old sailor, and never dreaming I would ever be a Senator--that was the furthest thing from my mind--a 17-year-old, 18-year-old sailor.

It was one of the darkest hours of the United States. Roosevelt was then President. Truman was Vice President. It was the winter of 1945. I, similar to so many young men at that time--and those women who joined the military also--signed up and volunteered. We wanted to be a part of this. The war had gone unexpectedly the wrong way in Europe for a while when Hitler trapped our divisions and Allied divisions in the Battle of the Bulge. Iwo Jima was underway. Okinawa, a terrific battle, was on the horizon.

America was all together, and we were determined to establish our freedom in the world. But I remember my first night--I had been on a steam train for about 2 days, working its way up to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station. It would stop at the station, and 17-, 18-year- old guys would get on the train, and they would be in those old cars, cold, shivering, with no food that I can remember to speak of. We arrived at the Great Lakes at about 4 o'clock in the morning. We all were herded off the train into a great big gymnasium. A fellow, a chief petty officer--he was as big around as he was tall; I remember a very big fellow--got up, and he had a bullhorn, and shouted at us. I remember the words--here it was 65 years ago, 66 years ago--as if it were this minute. He said: All you guys who can't read and write, raise your hand.

Well, I had been in a wonderful home. My father provided well as a medical doctor, with the best of schools, even though I left school to join the Navy. I did not know people who did not know how to read and write. Some of the other guys' hands were raised, and the fellow said, through the bullhorn: All right, you smart guys, fill out the forms for the others. So I and others went over to help those people fill out their forms--put their X on it. The next day, we were in the training camps side by side, all training.

Those men went on to different tasks in the military but important tasks. There were many jobs in our military that did not require an education, but they were as important a part of the force as those of us, I guess, who felt we were a little smarter.

But why do I tell that story? I later served in the Marines. So I look back over these 60 years. I have spent a great deal of my life associated with the men and women of the Armed Forces. My Active service is of no great consequence.

But the thing I have always remembered is that you and I, as a team, I say to the Senator--all these years we have been working here, we have been working to improve and make possible that the current generation of young men going into the uniform, and women, have the same advantages my generation had: The GI bill--working with Senator Webb recently to get that through.

I always feel I am a Senator today because of all the military men and women whom I have served with, who

have trained me, who have disciplined me, who have inspired me. They performed the same duty I did that cold night in 1945. They have helped me fill out the forms. I have learned from them, have had the wisdom to work with you and others to put together these legislative measures for their benefit.

So I close my last words thanking all those in uniform who have so generously given to me their wisdom, their friendship, their inspiration, and their courage to do what little I have been able to do as a Senator to help me fill out the forms and put my X on this my last bill.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I rise today in support of an outstanding Virginian, Anthony J. Trenga, who has been nominated by the President to serve as an article III judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

I am pleased to note that Mr. Trenga also enjoys the strong support of my colleague, Senator Webb. Senator Webb and I have worked closely together to provide the White House with recommendations of outstanding nominees to serve the Eastern District of Virginia. After interviewing more than a dozen candidates out of a very strong field of applicants, Senator Webb and I

were honored to recommend Anthony Trenga for the Federal bench in the Eastern District of Virginia. He is an exceptionally skilled attorney and, in my view, he will make an outstanding Federal judge.

Anthony Trenga has been practicing law before Federal courts in Virginia for more than 30 years. He has served as lead counsel in more than 50 cases before the Federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia on a wide range of subject areas. Since 1998, Mr. Trenga has worked at the law firm of Miller and Chevalier, where he specializes in litigation and trial practice. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and has served as a member of the faculty of the National Trial Advocacy College at the University of Virginia, sponsored by the Virginia CLE Committee of the Virginia Bar Foundation.

Mr. Trenga received his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and completed his undergraduate studies at Princeton University. Upon graduation, he was a law clerk to the Honorable Ted Dalton, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia from 1974 to 1975.

From 1982 to 1998, Mr. Trenga was a partner at Sachs, Greenbaum & Tayler in Washington, DC, and a managing partner at Hazel & Thomas based in Fairfax, VA.

Equally impressive to his legal career, though, is that despite the rigors of a busy legal practice, Mr. Trenga has always found time to be actively involved in community affairs. In addition to participating in his firm's pro bono program, Mr. Trenga serves as chairman and member of the Alexandria Human Rights Commission, the board of directors of the Northern Virginia Urban League, the board of trustees of the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, and the board of directors for the Bethesda Center of Excellence.

It is clear to me that Anthony Trenga is eminently qualified to sit as a jurist on this illustrious court. I note that the American Bar Association and the Virginia State Bar concur in this assessment, as both have given him their highest rating.

I thank the committee for favorably reporting this exemplary nominee to the full Senate, and I urge my colleagues to vote to confirm him.

Will the distinguished leader yield? I hope to have a meeting

in the Vice President's Office with my Republican colleagues to explain the status of that bill. I think the distinguished chairman has set up a similar meeting for his colleagues.

Madam President, reserving the right to object, and I shall object, but before doing so, finally, I would like to say to my colleague and Senators on both sides of the aisle, under the leadership of yourself, Mr. Chairman, and to some extent my participation as the acting ranking member and certainly the members of our committee and staff--we have all worked very diligently to achieve a bill. The particular request my distinguished colleague has put to the Senate, to which I shall object, really refers to those items we were unable to reconcile procedurally in the course of some several days of deliberation beginning, perhaps, as early as last Thursday. We were here Friday. We were here Monday and Tuesday. We were unable to achieve the reconciliation. There were objections, I say absolutely candidly and frankly and factually, on both sides. So it is not as if one side has weighed down the other, in my judgment. It has been the inability to reconcile differences between the Senators. I have been here 30 years. I have seen it happen before. It will happen many years after I leave.

At this time, I point out that the cloud seems dark, but the silver lining is that a group of us, 61 in number, voted for cloture. That enabled us to be here at this moment, and there will be a bill at some point in time. There will be an armed services bill by the Senate. I hope it will be favorably acted upon by a majority.

At this time, I object.

Madam President, I join in making that request. There is no objection on this side.

Madam President, if I might just add, I thank my distinguished colleague and friend for the 30 years we have been together. I am certain this institution will carry on just as well without me--and perhaps even a little bit better. But I have enjoyed our working together these many years. I stop to think, you and I having been here the same number of years, we have served with 273 different Senators in that period of time. I have enjoyed it. I don't know of any relationship, either professional or even simply friendship, that I have enjoyed and profited from more than working with you, Senator. I wish you well as you carry on with this committee.

Madam President, I do want to thank the staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee. I have here with me Michael Kostiw, William Caniano, David Morriss, David Collins, Sandy Luff of my personal staff, Marie Dickinson, Paul Hutton, Gergory Kiley, Lucian Niemeyer, Christopher Paul, Lynn Rusten, Robert Soofer, Diana Tabler, and Richard Walsh.

I know my staff would want me to say--and I say it--we have enjoyed working with the majority staff.

Reserving the right to object, and I will object, I wish to advise the Senator that the vote to take place right now is on final passage. It has been agreed to by unanimous consent. Prior thereto, the distinguished chairman raised the question of the package to which you refer.

I, personally, approved of putting in the amendment. It had been my hope, I say it is now no longer my hope, my disappointment, that that could not be achieved along with about 100 other amendments from both sides of the aisle.

So at this time I have to object and ask the Chair for regular order for the vote.