Floor Statements

I wish to talk about amendment No. 740, which is an amendment I am offering with the Senator from Missouri, Mr. Blunt. We understand there will be an objection to this. I will not ask unanimous consent to call it up at this moment. Hopefully, one of our colleagues will arrive in a minute to do that.

Let me say first that I am for the Marketplace Fairness Act. I am a cosponsor. I believe it is the right thing to do. It is an issue I have been working on since my time more than 10 years ago in the attorney general's office in the State of Arkansas when we were trying to set up a multistate compact about how to collect sales tax on the Internet. This is taxes on Internet sales on the Internet.

What I am talking about today, the Pryor-Blunt amendment, is different. We are talking about amendment No. 740, which is sometimes confused with it, but basically amendment No. 740 deals with the Internet Tax Freedom Act--sometimes called ITFA, of all things--but nonetheless, basically it does just a few things.

First, it makes it clear that online retailers will not begin to have to pay

additional tax just for doing business online. So the way this works is that right now States and cities, counties, et cetera, are prohibited from taxing Internet service. We are not talking about sales tax, we are talking about Internet service, the Internet service itself. This is a moratorium that has been around for a long time. Amendment No. 740 is the amendment that would extend this for 10 years.

This is a clean extension. Basically, there are some States that have been grandfathered under the current moratorium. They will continue to be grandfathered. We do not cover things such as voice, audio, video. That is a separate issue. We are talking about just the Internet itself.

This also does not have any negative impact on the Universal Service Fund, 9-1-1, e911, and other fees like those. Those are separate. We have crafted this very carefully to do just a straight and clean 10- year extension.

We understand there will be an objection to this. Before we hear that objection, I yield the floor for my colleague from Missouri.

Be glad to, Madam President.

No, there is no tax in this amendment. Amendment 740, in fact, extends the moratorium on taxing the Internet.

That is correct.

That is correct.

I am not familiar with the history of that. Would the Senator from Illinois know that?

I see my colleague from Oregon is here, and he has a long history with this legislation and other legislation similar to it. Let me make one final point before I try to set aside the current amendment and bring up 740 to make it pending.

My final point is this: The Internet has been an amazing success story. It is unbelievable how successful it has been, how diverse, and how robust. But we think of it as ubiquitous. The truth is, it is not. In the United States, 80 percent of American households have access to the Internet, but only 65 percent take it. So only 65 percent of people in this country actually utilize the Internet and take Internet service.

I am afraid if we do add a tax, if the State and local governments add a tax, it will make it less affordable. A lot of people do not take Internet service because they cannot afford it. So I am afraid if we allow State and local governments to tax access to the Internet--tax the service itself--then we will see that effort hurt even more.

I ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment and call up amendment No. 740 to make it pending.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that on Monday, April 8, 2013, at 5 o'clock p.m., the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination: Calendar No. 14; that there be 30 minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on the nomination; the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order; that any related statements be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations: Calendar Nos. 18, 19, and 20; that the Senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on the nominations in the order listed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to the nominations; that any related statements be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to consider the following nominations: Calendar Nos. 55, 56, 57, and 58, and all nominations placed on the Secretary's desk in the Air Force, Army, and Marine Corps; that the nominations be confirmed en bloc; the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to any of the nominations; that any related statements be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the Commerce Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 37 and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I further ask that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to S. Con. Res. 11, submitted earlier today.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the concurrent resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the Senate's recess, committees be authorized to report legislative and executive matters on Friday, April 5, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that during the adjournment or recess of the Senate, Senators Reed of Rhode Island, Levin, and Rockefeller be authorized to sign duly enrolled bills or joint resolutions.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the upcoming recess or adjournment of the Senate, the President of the Senate, the President 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.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn and convene for pro forma sessions only, with no business conducted, on the following dates and times and that following each pro forma session the Senate adjourn until the next pro forma session: Tuesday, March 26, at 4:30 p.m.; Friday, March 29, at 10:30 a.m.; Tuesday, April 2, at 10:45 a.m.; and Friday, April 5, at 3 p.m.; and that the Senate adjourn on Friday, April 5 until 2 p.m. on Monday, April 8, 2013, unless the Senate receives a message from the House that it has adopted S. Con. Res. 11, the adjournment resolution; and that if the Senate receives such a message, the Senate adjourn until 2 p.m. on Monday, April 8, 2013; that on Monday, following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; and that following any leader remarks, the Senate be in a period of morning business until 5 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each; further, that the Senate then proceed to executive session under the previous order.

Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume executive session to consider Calendar Nos. 18, 19, and 20 under the previous order.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to resume legislative session.

Madam President, the next rollcall vote will be at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, April 8.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order.