Floor Statements

Mr. President. I would like to draw the Senate's attention to a dedication ceremony occurring on September 28, 2007, in Little Rock, AR. The Richard Sheppard Arnold U.S. Courthouse, located at 500 West Capitol Avenue, is named after one of Arkansas's rarest of men. Judge Arnold intertwined great skill in law with unmatched integrity and character.

The late Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., once described his former law clerk as ``one of the most gifted members of the federal judiciary.'' Other colleagues point to Judge Arnold as a lifetime teacher, master of the written word, and a model of humility. In his obituary, which he wrote, Judge Arnold said that he thought if he left a mark on the world at all, it would be in his written opinions. However, he concluded that his administrative assignments were his most significant achievements. His legal career began at Yale College, where he earned a bachelor's degree summa cum laude in 1957 followed by graduation magna

cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1960.

Immediately out of law school, he served as a law clerk to Justice Brennan before joining the Washington, DC, office of Covington & Burling, also serving as a part-time instructor at the University of Virginia Law School. In 1964, he returned to Texarkana, AR, as a partner at Arnold & Arnold. During this time, he also began working as a legislative secretary to Governor Dale Bumpers and later moved to Washington, DC, when Bumpers was elected U.S. Senator.

Judge Arnold's reputation for judicial brilliance and impeccable civility advanced while he served as the U.S. District Judge for the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas. He was confirmed again in 1980 when President Carter nominated him to a new seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Judge Arnold served as chief judge from 1992 to 1998.

In addition to his work on the bench, Judge Arnold's service and leadership extended into countless civic, political, and educational projects. He was the recipient of numerous awards, most notably the 1996 Environmental Law Institute Award, Award for Service to Women in the Law from the St. Louis Women Lawyers Association in 1998, the Edward J. Devitt Distinguished Service to Justice Award in 1999, and the Meador-Rosenberg Award for the Standing Committee on Federal Judicial Improvements of the American Bar Association in 1999. He also received honorary doctor of law degrees from the University of Arkansas, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and the University of Richmond. He is also the author of many legal articles in many of the Nation's most respected law reviews and journals.

The American Law Institute cites Judge Arnold's accomplishments as ``remarkable by any measure'' and then adds ``they neither capture nor define the quality and spirit of the man who achieved them.'' The same is true for this courthouse. It cannot fully honor Judge Arnold for his contributions to society, but it does serve as a standing and strong reminder of an extraordinary Judge and the justice he pursued in and out of the courtroom.

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

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Lincoln.) Without objection, it is so ordered.

Madam President, the names Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Minnijean Brown Trickey, Terrence Roberts, Jefferson Thomas, Thelma Mothershed Wair, Melba Pattillo Beals are part of Arkansas history and part of America's history.

When I talked to the so-called Little Rock Nine about the fact that we were able to secure funding for the visitors center, Minnijean Brown Trickey said it was an affirmation of a very beautiful and tragic story.

I think she captured it. The story of Little Rock Central High School in 1957 is a story of courage, of hardship, of justice, faith, tradition, power, opportunity, and leadership. I think that is why the story is so powerful, because it connects so many of those things all in one event or one series of events.

It has all of those elements, but there is also more to the story. The ``more to the story'' part is what I wanted to talk about today. We are here to talk about the events in 1957, to talk about the very painful but ultimately successful integration of a large public high school in a Southern city.

I need to thank my colleagues, Senator Lincoln from Arkansas; my colleague in the House, Congressman Vic Snyder; and also a colleague who is no longer with us in the Senate, Conrad Burns, because we all worked together to get the money for the Little Rock Central High Visitors Center, which will open this coming Monday.

But that is not all who worked in this effort. The National Park Service, the city of Little Rock, the 50th Anniversary Commemoration Committee, the Little Rock Nine Foundation, and countless others worked to have this special grand opening Monday; to have a visitors center, for a place that has a

place in our Nation's history on the civil rights struggle that has gone on in this country.

Also, I wish to say that Congressman Vic Snyder was able to get a commemorative coin for Little Rock Central and the Little Rock Nine. I certainly helped him do that, along with Senator Lincoln. We all worked hard on that, but Congressman Snyder took the lead role.

This Friday night at Little Rock Central High School in Quigley Stadium, the Little Rock Central High Tigers will play the Pine Bluff Zebras. Once again, we find Little Rock Central is ranked in the top 10 in the Arkansas top 10 football rankings. But that stadium played a role in the Central High crisis. It is a role that is often forgotten because we focus on the Little Rock Nine, and certainly we should.

We focus on the turbulence in trying to integrate the school, and certainly we should. But also there were many other happenings at Little Rock Central that year. One of them was Little Rock Central High School just so happened to have what Sports Illustrated and other sports magazines and publications have called one of the alltime greatest high school football teams. That week Central High won its 23rd game in a row, against a team from Louisiana. The week before they beat a team from Texas. That same week, when the 101st Airborne showed up to restore order and keep the peace around the campus of Little Rock High School, the 101st Airborne set up their equipment on the Tigers' practice field.

Well, that was a huge no-no in the mind of Coach Wilson Matthews. He went out there and he barked orders to the 101st Airborne like they were his own football team. They hopped to and they got off the practice field. That Friday night, when the stands were full and the Tigers took the field, they looked up and there was the 101st Airborne cheering for the Central High School Tigers.

That story is captured in a great story in Sports Illustrated from this past year's April 9 publication. It captures the humanity and the impact that crisis had on people, not just that day or that year but for a lifetime.

The Little Rock Central High School story is complicated in some ways. It is about the best and the worst in American history. In some ways, it is about a city that is struggling to try, in postwar America, to work through many racial issues. It is a story that is not always successful. It is not always easy. But it is a story that in the end is a great story and is one that needs to be told.

Let me talk for a couple more minutes about the events of that day and why Little Rock Central is so important to the history of this country. First, we focus on the Little Rock Nine, and understandably these nine young black children had to pay a huge price; it took a lot of courage to do what they did. But it is more than them.

We had a Southern city that, by most standards, was considered to be a moderate Southern city when it came to race. The Little Rock School Board took the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision literally, and they believed they needed to integrate the Little Rock School System with all deliberate speed, as the Supreme Court said.

The quickest they could figure out to do it was in the fall of 1957. Of course, when that happened, they entered into this vortex of emotions, this vortex where you see a nation being torn apart by race and by many policies, not just in the South. We talk about the South, but certainly there is racism all over this country, and this country was in a struggle for civil rights.

In fact, it goes back to the founding documents of our democracy and our Declaration of Independence. It says all men are created equal. That is what the desegregation, the integration movement was about in this country: Are all men created equal or are there going to be two sets of everything for people in this country?

The Supreme Court did what it did. The local school board did what it did. The Governor in our State, to his everlasting shame, did not support what the school board did and actually energized people to oppose what the school board had done. The President had to call in the 101st Airborne to try to stop what was going on at Little Rock Central. Here is a photo of the famous Little Rock Nine. They are going to be honored all week in Little Rock. Again, they showed tremendous courage as they went through this process. Here we see a photo of Little Rock Central High with the 101st Airborne escorting students into the building. It is hard to imagine today; we have made such progress. I will be the first to say we are not there yet when it comes to race, but we have made so much progress.

Little Rock Central High School was a turning point. It didn't mean the struggle was over. In a lot of ways, it meant the struggle was beginning. But we have made a lot of progress. We have a lot to be proud of. Not everything that happened in 1957 is something Arkansas is proud of. But nonetheless, it was a huge turning point in making this country better.

I close talking about Little Rock Central High School today. Here is a photo of it today. The school looks identical to the way it looked in 1957. The architects of this country have called it one of the most beautiful high schools in America. It is now also one of the most successful high schools in America.

I pulled something off a history Web site. It says:

Central offers students an international studies magnet

program and an extensive curriculum including more than 30

Advanced Placement . . . courses. Central consistently has

more National Merit Semifinalists than any other school in

the state (19 in 2006-07 alone), claims a large percentage of

the state's National Achievement Semifinalists (approximately

20% of Arkansas' total between 1994 and 2004) and has

produced 15 Presidential Scholars since the program's

inception in 1964.

Part of the story of Little Rock Central must include what has happened since September 25, 1957. Part of the story of Little Rock Central is a story about rebuilding, about integrating, about coming back, and about success.

I was very honored to have an opportunity to go to Little Rock Central High School, as did the husband of the senior Senator from the State of Arkansas. It has produced many strong leaders in the State. One of those was a dear friend of mine, Roosevelt Thompson, who passed away tragically when he was in college. But the story of Little Rock Central is a story that touches all of us. It is a very important part of our State's history and our national history.

We are honored that all nine of the Little Rock Nine are still living today and will be in Little Rock this week to commemorate some very difficult but very important events for this country.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I rise today with great pleasure to commend an exceptional group of my constituents and acknowledge September 12, 2007, as the National Day of Encouragement. The concept behind the National Day of Encouragement was developed in June 2007 as part of the National Leadership Forum at Harding University in Searcy,

Mr. President, I would like to engage the chairman of the Senate Appropriations State, Foreign Operations Subcommittee in a brief colloquy regarding the situation at the State Department's Passport Services Offices. Like many Members on both sides of the Hill, my office in recent months has been deluged by constituents who have had tremendous difficulties getting passports in time for trips they have planned, often many months in advance. I appreciate the fact that the subcommittee has responded to this situation by providing additional resources to the Department to address the passport backlog.

Freedom and ease of travel to foreign destinations is extremely important to the competitiveness of American business as well as for individual recreational and family needs. Many American businesses, including a significant part of the American travel industry, depend on passport services companies to obtain necessary travel documents for their employees and customers in an expedited fashion so they can travel not just when they want to but when they need to. Passport services firms also assist individual citizens when they are not located near one of the regional passport offices, have physical disabilities, or simply cannot get off work to make a personal visit to the passport office.

The number of passport issuances nationally has grown by more than 130 percent in recent years. At the same time, the demand of U.S. citizens and corporations for the expedited services of passport services companies has never been greater. However, in recent years regional Passport Services Offices have limited the number of ``slots,'' or applications, that individual passport services companies can submit on a daily basis. The reductions at all the regional offices collectively have reduced nationally the number of applications individual companies can submit by over 40 percent. It is now clear that the recent problems with passport delays faced by the traveling public as a whole are related to the problems faced by passport services companies in the last few years: lack of resources and improper allocation of resources by the Department.

Instead of creating more work, passport services companies assist passport services' adjudicators by using barcode computer technology, ensuring application forms and supporting documents are filled out accurately and completely, and improving efficiency and decreasing confusion at passport acceptance facilities nationwide by thoroughly preparing applicants before acceptance agents.

Leading travel industry representatives have formally expressed strong support for efforts to allow passport services companies to submit more applications. The American Society of Travel Agents, Cruise Lines International Association, the National Business Travel Association, the Travel Business Roundtable, and the Travel Industry Association of America have all written the Department of State expressing unqualified support for the industry's request for more slots for individual companies.

I would like to ask the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee, is it true that the committee has provided the Department $40 million over the President's budget request to enhance passport operations?

Increasing the number of daily applications individual passport service companies can submit is an essential component of meeting the personal and business travel needs of American citizens who require special assistance. Because these companies submit applications to the exact specifications of Passport Services, allowing individual firms to submit more applications daily would enable Passport Services to adjudicate a greater number of applications more efficiently.

As the chairman may know, Arkansas is now home to a passport processing facility that is working on all cylinders helping to eliminate the backlog. The Washington Regional Agency of Passport Services already has staff dedicated exclusively to processing applications submitted by passport services companies. Does the chairman/ranking member of the subcommittee agree that we should encourage the consideration of a similar approach in all regional offices to facilitate the daily increase in applications for passport services firms and recommend Passport Services expand one of its regional offices to provide significantly expanded dedicated services to passport service companies?

I thank the chairman of the subcommittee for his attention to this issue.

Extrajudicial Killings in the Philippines

Mr. President, I would like to join my colleagues in congratulating Senator Alexander of Tennessee for his hard work and his great legislative success on this piece of legislation which passed the Senate tonight. I will just remark, if I may, that once again he has proven himself to be an effective leader and a thoughtful legislator. He is really the kind of Senators who is putting America first and trying to get great things done. And, obviously, you can tell by his speech that he is sharing credit with anybody and everybody.

We all know that it was Senator Lamar Alexander's hard work and dedication that made that legislation a reality.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed en bloc to the consideration of the following Senate resolutions which were submitted earlier today: S. Res. 294, S. Res. 295, S. Res. 296, S. Res. 297, and S. Res. 298.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, en bloc.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the HELP Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 87, and that the Senate then proceed to its consideration.

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 in the Record as if read.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 1983, introduced earlier today by Senators Harkin and Chambliss.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read three times and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 2952, which was received from the House and is at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read three times, passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 2863, which was received from the House.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 319, S. 775.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment that is at the desk be considered and agreed to, the substitute amendment, as amended, be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, en bloc, the bill, as amended, be read three times, passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record, without intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I understand there are two bills at the desk due for a second reading.

Mr. President, I object to any further proceedings with respect to these bills en bloc.

Mr. President, I understand that S. 1974, introduced earlier today by Senator Kennedy and others, is at the desk, and I ask for its first reading.

Mr. President, I now ask for its second reading, and I object to my own request.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 9:30 a.m., Friday, August 3; that on Friday, following the prayer and the pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, and the time of the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that the Senate then proceed to executive session, as under the previous order.

Mr. President, I wish everyone a good night, and if there is no further business today, I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand adjourned under the previous order.