Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business.

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

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 President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.

Mr. President, I was sorry to hear the supercommittee is in trouble, that they might not be able to agree. Then this morning's Washington Post front page headline was ``Debt Panel Failure Won't Cause Catastrophe.''

Every day we do not find a solution, every day we spend is a catastrophe. We have maxed out our credit cards. Here is one way that came to my attention. I was traveling in Wyoming and I checked into the hotel for the night. The person checking me in, very embarrassed, said: I am sorry, but it will not take your credit card. It was a Federal credit card.

I said: Goodness, we are in more trouble than I thought. I gave them my personal credit card and that went right through so I am not sure where we are. But I know we have maxed out our credit cards and not just that but also the symbolic credit cards that we have. We have as much debt as we probably can sustain and as debt comes due across the world for other countries, it is going to be tougher and tougher to be able to sell more debt.

We are kind of in the same situation as Greece and Italy, except for two things. No. 1 is we are a big, flexible country that has pulled itself out of terrible situations time and time again, and we will do it this time too. We also own our own money supply. That helps.

When constituents ask what can they expect, I always start the conversation by saying you should expect to get no more than what the 2008 level was. We increased things considerably after that with the stimulus bill and that increased some bases. We have to get back down to 2008, just as a beginning.

I have to say the President has had a chance to change direction. I have to congratulate the President for naming a deficit commission. I even like the people he named to it, with Senator Simpson from Wyoming and Erskine Bowles heading up that committee. I think they did some tremendous work. I think we should pay more attention to what they had to say.

I had a little disappointment when the President did his State of the Union speech following their report. He had an opportunity to repaint the same bleak picture that committee painted and America would have understood better. Although from traveling across our country, and particularly in Wyoming, I know the people there understand it better than Congress does. But he could have changed it by repainting that picture and then he could have followed it up with a solution which would have been his budget. Instead, his budget was another stimulus plan. It has been voted on by Congress. It was not voted for by Congress, it was voted on by Congress, and it was voted 97 to nothing-- it was defeated. I think the deficit commission report would have done much better.

Congress has also had the chance to change direction--and in some cases we have. We have kind of eliminated earmarks. There are still some of them that are slipped in, but we kind of eliminated them. We have a couple new problems. Now we add demonstration projects. We have always had demonstration projects, but now we do it as a substitute for earmarks and that is where we allow maybe five States to have an opportunity to do a particular program to see if it works. So we fund it in a minimal amount--that still is millions. The difficulty is that at the end of the period of time for that demonstration project, they all work. They are all spectacular. They all would save America if we just put it in every single State and funded it from the Federal Government.

It can't happen. We are out of money. There are lots of good ideas out there, lots of good ideas that would help. When those ideas are proved--the idea with the demonstration is that it would demonstrate well enough how good it is that somewhere at the local level that project would be picked up and done or forgotten. But, no, we do make them a national program and we do fund them forever in chunks of time.

Another thing we are doing is that we propose a project and, because we like the word ``pay-for,'' because we should pay for whatever we are doing, we put up a project, we put a 2-year limit on the project, and then we pick a pay-for by showing some program that, if it were eliminated for 10 years, might bring in that amount of revenue. We cannot pay for a 2-year program with 10 years' worth of revenue because somebody is going to spend the rest of that anyway and it may never be collected. A Congress can change its mind all the time. We have to quit using gimmicks and we have to quit adding new programs. What part of maxed out credit cards don't we understand? We have to quit buying votes with dollars we do not have.

We do have to address mandatory spending. Social Security and Medicare have been a problem for a long time. I remember when I first came to Congress, President Clinton was the President and he called for a special conference on Social Security. We had 1 day where we got to be initiated into what all the problems were--fantastic speakers. We had a second day where Members of the House and Congress met in smaller committees to work on pieces of the Social Security problem. We came up with a plan and President Clinton looked at the plan and met with us as a group and said: If all of you are willing to put your fingerprint on this, we will do it. We can only do it if everybody puts their fingerprint on it so both parties are responsible for it, and everybody in the room agreed to do that.

Unfortunately, we were distracted a little bit by something called Monica Lewinsky, and that bill never came up anywhere.

The situation we are in right now is passing bills to fail. Each side has a tendency to put up a bill that has something good in it, packaged with something they like but the other side doesn't like. It is going to get defeated on the basis of what each side doesn't like and the good part is left out. That is not going to get anything done for us.

We have tried the stimulus bill. We got negligible effects on jobs. It did escalate the basis for budgets and it was the use of one-time money. That has created some problems for it. We hear that 30,000 teachers and firefighters are going to be laid off. That comes from safety money and education money that went to the States. It was one- time money. They cannot use one-time money for a continuing contract. If a State did, yes, they are having to lay off people because the stimulus is not being repeated each and every year.

Are there solutions? Yes, there are solutions. I am optimistic about the solutions. I do recognize everything has to be on the table and we should all reread the deficit commission report. We have to ask constituents to suggest their own programs to reduce.

In the spring, we will be inundated by a whole lot of people who will be ready to have us support the program that makes a difference in their life and the life of the community. I always ask them how we are going to pay for it? They always suggest somebody else's program to cancel. There are never any suggestions of how to consolidate within their own program and do it. They have to do it and each of us in Congress needs to evaluate our own programs. Not all of them can be sacred cows. I wish to congratulate Senator Rubio and Senator Coons for a jobs creation bill they have put together. They have taken the diverse bills from both sides of the aisle and several others and looked to see if there was any common thread. All they did was pick out the common thread from each of those and put them into a bill. If both sides and others in Congress like it, why would that not pass and pass quickly?

I congratulate our Congresswoman Lummis, from Wyoming. She is on the Appropriations Committee. I think that is the first time we have ever had anybody on the Appropriations Committee. She gets into the details of the budget. In fact, she has gotten into details of the budget down to very small

amounts, so much that she has been told she is not going to be invited on any trips with any of the rest of them. That is probably what we need right now, and I congratulate her on her attention to detail.

Another thing we have to do is make sure the bills go to committee. I have been a committee chairman. I have been a ranking member. I know when a bill goes to committee, that is where we can get into the details of the bill, and we can do nuances. When a bill comes to the floor of the Senate, and it came from the President to the leader and then to us, the amendments we put in are not very workable as far as reaching agreement from both sides. They are kind of an up-or-down vote. They are very political, and that kind of stymies what we are trying to do.

We have to quit doing comprehensive bills. We can do them in stages. We can do parts of them. They can be very major parts, but they can be done in parts.

I remember reading a book about the compromise of 1850. Henry Clay put himself in the hospital trying to pass this huge compromise. When he did, some of his friends took the bill, broke it into parts, four parts, and got all the parts passed. Now, there were only four people in all of the Senate at that time who voted for all the parts, but all the parts passed. There should be a lesson in there for us. I do follow an 80-percent rule; I found we can agree on 80 percent of the issues. If we stick to that 80 percent, we can pick any one issue and we can solve 80 percent of that problem. We can solve 100 percent if we can get everybody to think of an alternative way to do that, one sticky part that we have polarized for years.

Another thing we need to do is eliminate duplication. Senator Coburn and I took a look at the primary department that comes under the jurisdiction of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. We found $9 billion in duplication. Because it is duplication, we cannot eliminate $9 billion because there are some who would stay and do the same thing the other group was doing. It stimulated Dr. Coburn enough that he looked at all the programs. In all of the programs he found $900 billion worth of duplication.

Duplication is not like fraud, waste, and abuse. Fraud, waste, and abuse, we don't know how much is out there. We catch a piece at a time, and we speculate on how much there is. But duplication is specific because it is already in the budget.

We can look at what they are paid right now, and if we eliminate that, it is a specific amount. When he talks about $900 billion worth of duplication, it is $900 billion worth of duplication. We ought to be able to get rid of at least $450 billion of that. Half of it could be duplication. It is twice as much of what we effectively need.

Why did we find $9 billion in one agency and $900 billion by looking at all of them? When we go outside the jurisdiction, we find--this one always kind of interests me--financial literacy programs in virtually every department and agency in this Federal Government. If we really have financial literacy, would we be in the position we are in now? I don't think so. So that is a whole lot of duplication. It is duplicating each and every agency. If we have only one jurisdiction over one agency, that is the only place we can eliminate it.

When I got here there were 119 preschool programs. I took a look at them, and there were quite a few of them that were failing according to their own evaluation--not my evaluation, their own evaluation. We were able to get that down to 69 programs. There are 69 preschool programs at the present time. Here is the interesting part of that: Only eight of those are under the Department of Education. Sixty-one of them are in other departments. It seems like we could have consolidation and maybe some elimination of duplication.

Also, we have the States and the local governments coming to us and saying: We are out of money. We need money, and we don't have any money. We cannot afford to help them that way.

I have put in a bill to help them collect the sales tax already due them, and this is the marketplace fairness bill that would take care of their infrastructure and their jobs. So I hope everyone will take a look at that.

Finally, another solution would be the Buy Back America Bonds that I spoke about just a little while ago. If everybody bought some bonds, that could reduce the amount of debt held by foreign countries; that would help us and then that would reduce the amount of spending by an equal amount. There are solutions out there. It is time we got busy on them.

I thank the supercommittee for their work and ask everybody to pay attention to whatever they come up with.

I yield the floor.

I rise today to introduce my Buy Back America Bonds bill, S. 1909. This bill will not only help raise awareness of our Nation's debt crisis, but it will also give every American the chance to be a part of the solution to fix our country's fiscal dilemma. My bill will allow Americans to invest in this incredible country and bring foreign- held U.S. debt back to American hands while at the same time reducing Federal Government spending. But before I talk about where my bill is going, I want to explain where I am coming from.

In World War II, war bonds were sold to help pay for our Nation's national defense and reduce the amount of debt incurred. People from all kinds of backgrounds saved toward purchasing war bonds, often with nickels, dimes, and quarters. On the job, people deducted the cost of war bonds from their meager paychecks. Families invested in war bonds and saved for the future. During World War II, President Roosevelt even asked the Boy Scouts of America to sell war bonds, and they did. Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts worked with their packs and troops to sell bonds to their neighbors and communities. In other words, all across the country, folks of all walks and types were working together for one collective goal--to do their part for the country's war effort. Men, women, and children were selling and purchasing these war bonds, all in the name of lending a hand to our fellow countrymen and to pay for the costs of war.

I was born during World War II. When I was born, my parents bought me a war bond. I still have that $20 bond today. Not cashing it was my first gift to my country, and it is also a keepsake to me.

In 1941, when savings bonds were retitled as ``war bonds'' in the terrible and devastating aftermath of Pearl Harbor, the United States rallied as a collective nation in support of the war and war bond effort. At the time, though, the average American only earned about $2,000 a year. Despite these hardships and tough times, 134 million Americans were called on to be part of the war bond effort, and more than half of the U.S. population--85 million people--responded to the patriotic call to participate.

The Scouts raised money and personally donated their own funds 10 cents at a time in the form of stamps that could be pasted into a war bond booklet. When war bond books were complete, they could be taken to the local bank, and sometimes even the local post office, to purchase bonds. One innovative group even created a promotional cardboard with slots for 75 quarters that had to be filled before it could be redeemed for a bond.

Showing his leadership and dedication to the effort, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt purchased the very first war bond issued. In part of President Roosevelt's April 30, 1941, radio address to the American people, he said:

One thought is uppermost in my mind as I make grateful

acknowledgment of this dual honor. It is that in reserving

the first Defense Savings Bond and the first Defense Postal

Savings Stamps in the name of the President, the Secretary of

the Treasury and the Postmaster General have given emphasis

to the national character of this defense savings campaign.

This character of the campaign is national in the best sense

of the word, for it is going to reach down, we hope, to the

individual and the family in every community and on every

farm, in every State and every possession of the United

States.

The President goes on to say:

It is national and it is homey at the same time. For

example, I am buying not one stamp but ten stamps each to go

into a little book for each of my ten grandchildren. And the

first savings bond is being made out in the name of Mrs.

Roosevelt as beneficiary.

It is fitting that the President in his purchases should be

a sort of a symbol of the determination of all the people to

save and sacrifice in defense of democracy. In a larger

sense, this first defense bond and these first defense stamps

sold to the President constitute tangible evidence of a

partnership--a partnership between all of the people and

their Government--entered into to safeguard and perpetuate

all of those precious freedoms which Government guarantees.

In this time of national peril, what we all must realize is

that the United States Government is you and I and all other

families next door all the way across the country and back

again. It is one great partnership.

That ends the quote from President Roosevelt.

The President concluded his address by asking his fellow Americans to demonstrate their faith in America by investing in the new defense bonds and stamps.

I remember as a child bringing dimes to school so that I could purchase a stamp for my savings bond book--one stamp at a time, saving toward the price of a full savings bond. I remember vividly that the bond was a lofty $18.75. When I got my book filled, we could go down to the bank so that I could finally trade for my bond--that piece of paper showing that I had done my small part to help in the effort and make this country better. Kids of my generation learned the value of saving and helping their country through the savings bond program.

Today, I rise to speak about a different sort of fight, and yet, at the same time, this fight is one that is no less serious than the one I remember as a child. Today, our Nation is struggling to fight a growing spending problem and a debt crisis. Debt is our problem now.

It is time to get all of America involved, not with a promise of wealth but with a sense of investing in our country, of buying America back, pulling us back from the brink of bankruptcy to other countries. The national debt stands at $15 trillion, which breaks down to nearly $48,000 for every person in our entire country. These figures are a frightening reminder that we cannot continue to put off the tough choices and that we must restore the fiscal discipline to the Federal Government.

This is a tough fight that has to be tackled on all fronts. Today I am proposing a step in the right direction and calling upon Americans for support of this effort. I am proposing that we bring American debt back to American hands. I am introducing the Buy Back America Bonds, S. 1909. My bill would buy back American bonds to American citizens in affordable $25 increments so every American can afford to invest and do their part. The Treasury would then use the funds from these bonds to begin paying down the $4.4 trillion in foreign-held U.S. debt. Investing in Buy Back America Bonds would allow Americans to show their patriotism and faith in this great Nation.

Unlike the war bonds of my childhood, Buy Back America Bonds would create a new series of savings bonds which are indexed for inflation as well as earning a fixed interest rate. By tying Buy Back America Bonds to inflation, we ensure the buying power of consumers' investments remains the same while also earning them additional interest. These could be called Gold Standard Bonds.

Those are two ways the Buy Back America Bonds would earn and keep their value for investors in addition to their patriotic and symbolic investment. These are not going to be barn-burner investments, but they will help our Nation not only pay down our debt but pay down the amount of debt owed to foreign nations.

What makes this bill particularly special is that for every bond purchased, citizens are also helping the Federal Government to reduce spending. Every year after the first year the amount of Buy Back America Bonds sold would be tallied and that exact amount would then be cut from Federal spending the following year.

I stand before you to explain not only where I am coming from with my Buy Back America Bonds but also why our Nation needs a collective effort to rally around to make steps toward a more responsible Federal budget and getting our national debt under control. Investing in America and bringing foreign-held debt back to American hands is where I propose to start. I ask my colleagues and the American people to help me be an integral part of the debt crisis solution.

Not only am I a father, I am a grandfather, and I want to be the first to purchase Buy Back America Bonds for my four grandchildren. I want my grandchildren and yours to have every opportunity for a great quality of life, to know the meaning of faith and investment in a prosperous United States. I am doing everything I can to ensure that happens. That means proposing solutions to problems and working to get my colleagues on board.

So I rise and ask for the support of my colleagues for this great effort and support for S. 1909, my Buy Back America Bonds bill. What President Roosevelt said then is equally true now:

In this time of national peril we must realize the U.S.

Government is you and I, and all other families next door all

the way across the country and back again. It is one great

partnership.

Working together we can solve all of this. We need to solve all of this. We need to start solving it right now and this is one way to do it.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

I rise today to introduce my Buy Back America Bonds bill, S. 1909. This bill will not only help raise awareness of our Nation's debt crisis, but it will also give every American the chance to be a part of the solution to fix our country's fiscal dilemma. My bill will allow Americans to invest in this incredible country and bring foreign- held U.S. debt back to American hands while at the same time reducing Federal Government spending. But before I talk about where my bill is going, I want to explain where I am coming from.

In World War II, war bonds were sold to help pay for our Nation's national defense and reduce the amount of debt incurred. People from all kinds of backgrounds saved toward purchasing war bonds, often with nickels, dimes, and quarters. On the job, people deducted the cost of war bonds from their meager paychecks. Families invested in war bonds and saved for the future. During World War II, President Roosevelt even asked the Boy Scouts of America to sell war bonds, and they did. Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts worked with their packs and troops to sell bonds to their neighbors and communities. In other words, all across the country, folks of all walks and types were working together for one collective goal--to do their part for the country's war effort. Men, women, and children were selling and purchasing these war bonds, all in the name of lending a hand to our fellow countrymen and to pay for the costs of war.

I was born during World War II. When I was born, my parents bought me a war bond. I still have that $20 bond today. Not cashing it was my first gift to my country, and it is also a keepsake to me.

In 1941, when savings bonds were retitled as ``war bonds'' in the terrible and devastating aftermath of Pearl Harbor, the United States rallied as a collective nation in support of the war and war bond effort. At the time, though, the average American only earned about $2,000 a year. Despite these hardships and tough times, 134 million Americans were called on to be part of the war bond effort, and more than half of the U.S. population--85 million people--responded to the patriotic call to participate.

The Scouts raised money and personally donated their own funds 10 cents at a time in the form of stamps that could be pasted into a war bond booklet. When war bond books were complete, they could be taken to the local bank, and sometimes even the local post office, to purchase bonds. One innovative group even created a promotional cardboard with slots for 75 quarters that had to be filled before it could be redeemed for a bond.

Showing his leadership and dedication to the effort, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt purchased the very first war bond issued. In part of President Roosevelt's April 30, 1941, radio address to the American people, he said:

One thought is uppermost in my mind as I make grateful

acknowledgment of this dual honor. It is that in reserving

the first Defense Savings Bond and the first Defense Postal

Savings Stamps in the name of the President, the Secretary of

the Treasury and the Postmaster General have given emphasis

to the national character of this defense savings campaign.

This character of the campaign is national in the best sense

of the word, for it is going to reach down, we hope, to the

individual and the family in every community and on every

farm, in every State and every possession of the United

States.

The President goes on to say:

It is national and it is homey at the same time. For

example, I am buying not one stamp but ten stamps each to go

into a little book for each of my ten grandchildren. And the

first savings bond is being made out in the name of Mrs.

Roosevelt as beneficiary.

It is fitting that the President in his purchases should be

a sort of a symbol of the determination of all the people to

save and sacrifice in defense of democracy. In a larger

sense, this first defense bond and these first defense stamps

sold to the President constitute tangible evidence of a

partnership--a partnership between all of the people and

their Government--entered into to safeguard and perpetuate

all of those precious freedoms which Government guarantees.

In this time of national peril, what we all must realize is

that the United States Government is you and I and all other

families next door all the way across the country and back

again. It is one great partnership.

That ends the quote from President Roosevelt.

The President concluded his address by asking his fellow Americans to demonstrate their faith in America by investing in the new defense bonds and stamps.

I remember as a child bringing dimes to school so that I could purchase a stamp for my savings bond book--one stamp at a time, saving toward the price of a full savings bond. I remember vividly that the bond was a lofty $18.75. When I got my book filled, we could go down to the bank so that I could finally trade for my bond--that piece of paper showing that I had done my small part to help in the effort and make this country better. Kids of my generation learned the value of saving and helping their country through the savings bond program.

Today, I rise to speak about a different sort of fight, and yet, at the same time, this fight is one that is no less serious than the one I remember as a child. Today, our Nation is struggling to fight a growing spending problem and a debt crisis. Debt is our problem now.

It is time to get all of America involved, not with a promise of wealth but with a sense of investing in our country, of buying America back, pulling us back from the brink of bankruptcy to other countries. The national debt stands at $15 trillion, which breaks down to nearly $48,000 for every person in our entire country. These figures are a frightening reminder that we cannot continue to put off the tough choices and that we must restore the fiscal discipline to the Federal Government.

This is a tough fight that has to be tackled on all fronts. Today I am proposing a step in the right direction and calling upon Americans for support of this effort. I am proposing that we bring American debt back to American hands. I am introducing the Buy Back America Bonds, S. 1909. My bill would buy back American bonds to American citizens in affordable $25 increments so every American can afford to invest and do their part. The Treasury would then use the funds from these bonds to begin paying down the $4.4 trillion in foreign-held U.S. debt. Investing in Buy Back America Bonds would allow Americans to show their patriotism and faith in this great Nation.

Unlike the war bonds of my childhood, Buy Back America Bonds would create a new series of savings bonds which are indexed for inflation as well as earning a fixed interest rate. By tying Buy Back America Bonds to inflation, we ensure the buying power of consumers' investments remains the same while also earning them additional interest. These could be called Gold Standard Bonds.

Those are two ways the Buy Back America Bonds would earn and keep their value for investors in addition to their patriotic and symbolic investment. These are not going to be barn-burner investments, but they will help our Nation not only pay down our debt but pay down the amount of debt owed to foreign nations.

What makes this bill particularly special is that for every bond purchased, citizens are also helping the Federal Government to reduce spending. Every year after the first year the amount of Buy Back America Bonds sold would be tallied and that exact amount would then be cut from Federal spending the following year.

I stand before you to explain not only where I am coming from with my Buy Back America Bonds but also why our Nation needs a collective effort to rally around to make steps toward a more responsible Federal budget and getting our national debt under control. Investing in America and bringing foreign-held debt back to American hands is where I propose to start. I ask my colleagues and the American people to help me be an integral part of the debt crisis solution.

Not only am I a father, I am a grandfather, and I want to be the first to purchase Buy Back America Bonds for my four grandchildren. I want my grandchildren and yours to have every opportunity for a great quality of life, to know the meaning of faith and investment in a prosperous United States. I am doing everything I can to ensure that happens. That means proposing solutions to problems and working to get my colleagues on board.

So I rise and ask for the support of my colleagues for this great effort and support for S. 1909, my Buy Back America Bonds bill. What President Roosevelt said then is equally true now:

In this time of national peril we must realize the U.S.

Government is you and I, and all other families next door all

the way across the country and back again. It is one great

partnership.

Working together we can solve all of this. We need to solve all of this. We need to start solving it right now and this is one way to do it.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

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

I also ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Illinois and the Senator from Tennessee be allowed to enter into a colloquy with me for the time that we have allotted.

Mr. President, I am going to talk about a problem I have tried to solve for 14 years. Today, I think we have a new solution and ``the'' solution--The Marketplace Fairness Act. Our solution has to do with sales taxes that are not being collected at the present time. It is a loophole in the tax law.

I used to be a retailer. I never thought it was fair that I had to collect the sales taxes but the people from out of State did not have to collect the same sales tax. I used to be a mayor, and this bill is a jobs bill and an infrastructure bill. A lot of people do not realize that sales taxes help pay for schools, police and firemen. They may not realize it pays for infrastructure, such as streets and sewers. I always tell people it is a little tough to flush the toilet over the Internet.

The Marketplace Fairness Act would allow States--not require States-- to be able to have the out-of-State online sellers, providing they sell more than $500,000 in a year, to collect the State sales tax. I have also been a State legislator, and I can tell you we never intended to pass a law to tax the people on Main Street who buy the yearbooks and participate in community activities to be the ones to collect the tax, and anyone from out of State to not have to do it. This bill cleans up that problem at the same time. Does it make much of a difference? Yes.

We are being asked as a Congress to give money to the States for their teachers, their firemen, and their infrastructure. It is because there is a decreasing amount of revenue going to them through sales taxes that are owed, but are not currently being collected. People may not realize it, but when they buy something online, if the tax is not collected by the seller, they still owe it. This is not a new tax; it is a tax that is already on the books. No legislator ever intended for it to just be for Main Street retailers. If States so choose, sales taxes should be collected by all retailers. In our attempts to fix this problem, we have received a number of support letters for this new bill. I hope everybody will take a look at them. They can view them online. I ask unanimous consent these letters be printed in the Record.

Some of the groups include: One is from the National Conference of State Legislatures, one from the National Association of Counties, the National League of Cities, the Federation of Tax Administrators, The National Retail Federation, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, the International Council of Shopping Centers, and the Governing Board of the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement.

I want to read one from Amazon.com because they are one of the world's largest online sellers. In the past, they have opposed previous versions of the bill, but they think we have this one right.

The letter states:

Thank you very much for your legislation on interstate

sales tax collection.

Amazon strongly supports enactment of your bill and will

work with you, your colleagues in Congress, retailers, and

the states to get this bipartisan legislation passed. It's a

win-win resolution--and as analysts have noted, Amazon offers

customers the best prices with or without sales tax.

If enacted, your bill will allow states to require out of

state retailers to collect sales tax at the time of purchase

and remit those taxes on behalf of customers, and it will

facilitate collection on behalf of third party sellers. Thus,

your bill will allow states to obtain additional revenue

without new taxes or federal spending and will make it easy

for consumers and small retailers to comply with state sales

tax laws.

Amazon is grateful for your hard work on the issue, and we

look forward to working with you and your colleagues in

Congress to pass this legislation.

We have a number of other supporters in addition to the others I just mentioned. We are appreciative of their support and look forward to working with them to get this bill enacted.

The Marketplace Fairness Act is a bipartisan bill. The original cosponsors on it are five Republicans--Senators Alexander, Boozman, Blunt, Corker, and me and five Democrats--Senators Durbin, Tim Johnson, Reed, Whitehouse, and Pryor. A key person in this debate has been the Senator from Illinois, Mr. Durbin, who introduced a previous version of the bill. We encourage our colleagues to take a look at Senator Durbin's previously introduced

bill and the Marketplace Fairness Act to see the differences--I think our bipartisan bill is a very passable bill.

At this point, I would ask Senator Durbin if he has any comments he would like to share as he has been an integral part of making the bill a strong bipartisan product and realizing the plight the retailers and the state and local governments are in.

Mr. President, we yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to make some brief remarks about a judge who is coming up for a vote, and I ask that both myself and the other Senator from Wyoming be allowed to speak consecutively.

Mr. President, I wish to thank Senator Leahy and Senator Grassley and their staffs for moving this nomination. Because of their efforts, I have this opportunity to express my support for Judge Scott Skavdahl's nomination to serve on the bench of the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming.

Although Scott grew up in Harrison, NE, it wasn't long before he made his way to my home State and enrolled at the University of Wyoming. The university must have felt like a whole new world to him because he had just graduated from a high school that had less than 50 students. Still, while others might have been intimidated, Scott saw it as another of life's challenges to be faced and overcome, so he worked hard to complete the requirements for his undergraduate degree. In between his classes, Scott managed to find the time to pursue another interest of his, as he joined and played on the university's football team for 4 years.

After graduation, Scott made a decision that was to start him on a path that would set the tone and the direction of his life when he applied to and was accepted by the University of Wyoming Law School. His classes were difficult and demanding, but Scott knew what he wanted to do with his life, and, as was true for him in so many things, he just wouldn't quit until he had accomplished what he set out to do. That attitude of confidence and commitment to setting goals and achieving them is one of the reasons Scott has been able to establish a reputation for himself throughout his career as a serious and thoughtful litigator and as a judge. Whenever someone speaks of him, they always seem to use the same words to describe him. They say he is incredibly smart, a hard-working attorney, and a highly competent and capable judge. They also say: Although he wasn't born in Wyoming, we are very glad to have him.

Looking back over each step along the way that led him to this nomination, it is clear that Scott has used his time and his talents wisely and well. Because of his background and his experience on a daily basis, Scott has come to know in detail the issues that face the people of Wyoming and how the people feel about him. That is why it was no surprise that I have heard nothing but good things about Scott, his approach to the law, and his demeanor as a judge. Simply put, Scott knows all about the administrative ins and outs of the District of Wyoming, and he has used his courtroom as a classroom to help us all be informed and aware of the issues that come before him and the reasons for his decisions on all of them.

At times such as these, it is always interesting to take a moment to look back at someone's life and connect the dots that brought him or her to this important moment in time. For Scott, a childhood in Nebraska led him to Wyoming, where he obtained the knowledge and skills he needed to pursue a career in something that really interested him-- the law. He then used those credentials he earned in the classroom and his life to move step by step through our legal and judicial system.

His talents and abilities soon caught the attention of former Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal and President Obama. The President has now nominated him to serve in this very important post, and he has been unanimously voted out of committee. In and of itself, that recognition is a powerful endorsement of Scott's background, his ability to interpret and apply the law, and his experience both in the courtroom and in his community. It also expresses our confidence that Scott will continue to serve as an integral part of the court system of Wyoming, the West, and our Nation for many years to come.

I urge my colleagues to support this nomination, and I look forward to the Senate's approval of the nomination of Judge Scott Skavdahl.

I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor for my fellow Senator.

Madam President, I wish to ask for your wholehearted support for Judge Skavdahl of Wyoming. He was nominated by our Democratic Governor. He was appointed by the President, and he has the wholehearted support of our delegation. We have spoken for him in committee and are doing that again on the floor. We have a full statement we submitted. So I would thank you for your vote on this nomination. He came up through the courts in Wyoming and now will be a Federal judge, with your help.

I thank the Chair.

Madam President, I rise today to speak on final passage of the implementing language for the South Korea, Colombia and Panama free trade agreements. I support passing these three agreements. I supported them as they made the long and arduous journey from the negotiating table,

through the Senate Finance Committee and now to the Senate floor. As has been stated by my colleagues, these agreements are far overdue. Our government and industries have long shared with Congress the positive job impact these trade deals would have on the American economy. In the case of both Korea and Colombia, other nations have not hesitated to adopt similar agreements and I just hope that inaction by the White House has not resulted in U.S. manufacturers and agricultural producers losing market share that can be difficult, if not impossible, to regain.

I can say that Wyoming will benefit directly from these agreements. Disodium carbonate, also known as soda ash, is Wyoming's largest export to South Korea. This agreement would immediately remove, upon ratification, the 4 percent tariff on U.S. soda ash exports to that country. This will not only increase U.S. exports of soda ash to Korea by millions of dollars annually but will also increase job opportunities in and around Green River, WY where natural soda ash is found.

Wyoming's agricultural producers also stand to gain with the passage of these agreements. In the case of Korea, we know that a strong market for beef will be opened which will help Wyoming ranchers increase the value of their cattle heading to the sale barn. The standards in the Korea agreement will also set the stage for future negotiations in gaining market share for U.S. beef in other Asian markets. Consumer tastes are changing all over the world and our trading partners in Asia offer the largest potential market for American produced meat products. Colombia will do the same for Wyoming's wheat growers by reducing trade barriers and helping that country meet its growing demand for grain products.

I stand today in support of these important free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama. Not only are these nations our economic allies but strategic allies as well. These agreements solidify our relations with these countries and help promote U.S. job growth through our export markets. It is finally time Congress pass these agreements and fulfill the commitments we have made to our trading partners.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, if I had the time, I would contest a few things my colleague from Illinois said, but I am not going to make a political speech; I am going to speak on the bill that is currently before the Senate which is the China currency bill.

So I rise to speak on the China currency bill. China's undervaluation of its currency is a serious problem. It is an issue I studied when I was a member of the Senate Banking Committee and now as a member of the Finance Committee. Earlier this year, I also had an opportunity to visit China with a number of my colleagues and learn more about this issue as we met with their government officials.

It is clear the efforts of the Chinese Government to peg its currency against the dollar give unfair benefits to the Chinese exporters at the expense of U.S. manufacturers. The United States should take additional action to pressure their government to reevaluate Chinese currency.

However, this is not a new problem. China currency has been a priority for both President George W. Bush and President Obama. Through a number of venues, including the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade talks, our officials at all levels have raised this issue with little response. This experience shows that action by the United States alone is not enough. We know other major global trading powers have the same concern, but we continue to act individually. Just this summer, the German Government made a renewed attempt to gain more flexibility in China's currency. The full European Union has followed suit, but they, too, have had little gain. But the United States and the European Union are not the only ones concerned about China currency. A number of emerging economies, including both India and Brazil, have also made the same plea. So the question I ask now is why are we considering a bill that puts the United States in a position of going it alone?

That is one reason I am a cosponsor of the Hatch amendment No. 680. This substitute amendment retains the designations included in the underlying bill that define a ``fundamentally misaligned currency'' while giving direction to the administration to pursue action through multilateral channels. The amendment also thinks forward by making the issue of currency misalignment a priority issue in both our current trade negotiations and in future trade agreements. It is important that the United States not act by itself when it comes to pressuring China on this issue. I have found in my experience that when it comes to economic policy in our globalized world, the multilateral approach is the most successful. That is one reason I do not support imposing unilateral economic sanctions on any nations. I am hopeful the Senate will have an opportunity to vote on and include the Hatch amendment in this bill.

I also wish to speak about an amendment I am working on with my colleague from Oregon, Senator Merkley. Given that this bill is about enforcement of trade obligations, we filed an amendment that would encourage our officials to counternotify those nations that have failed to report on the government subsidies that are provided to industries engaged in international trade and in competition with us. The World Trade Organization agreement on subsidies and countervailing measures establishes base rules for when

members can provide subsidies. An important element of that agreement for compliance is a measure that requires each country to disclose annually information about their subsidies. China agreed to these obligations in 2001. However, since joining the WTO 10 years ago, China has only made its required notification once. That was in 2006, and it was largely incomplete. The amendment we have offered requires the U.S. Trade Representative to use its authority under the WTO subsidies agreement to counternotify a nation that has failed to meet this obligation 2 years in a row. I am told the U.S. Trade Representative plans to act this afternoon by submitting information to the WTO that identifies China's failure to comply with this requirement. I am hopeful this will lead to accurate and consistent reporting by those governments that continue to disregard their trade obligations.

This problem with reporting subsidies points to the larger issue we have with China aside from currency misalignment. There are other significant Chinese policies that put the United States at an economic disadvantage and deserve our attention. One such policy I wish to highlight is China's policy of giving value-added tax--VAT--rebates to artificially promote exports.

On April 1, 2009, China reinstated a 9-percent rebate of its 17 percent VAT on soda ash exports, another instance of China manipulating commercial outcomes through a government industrial policy. In 2009, during the depths of the global economic crisis, China's soda ash exports increased 9 percent, while global demand for soda ash was in free fall. That same year, U.S. exports of soda ash fell 19 percent. This is just one of the countless examples where China's producers pay little attention to market conditions and instead are being driven by artificial incentives to export.

Continuation of such a policy puts U.S. jobs and the soda ash industry at risk, which is why I have led an effort to have our government press China for the elimination of the VAT rebate on soda ash.

The U.S. natural soda ash industry employs over 3,000 workers in Wyoming and California, another 100 dock workers in Portland, OR, as well as railroad workers who help transport soda ash. Half of all workers employed in the soda ash industry are dependent on exports for their jobs.

The U.S. soda ash industry is an export success story. For the first time in 2010, the U.S. soda ash industry shipped more product to overseas markets than it did to domestic customers, and exports continue to grow in 2011. Domestic demand for soda ash is flat, so growth in the U.S. soda ash industry is entirely dependent on maintaining and expanding its exports.

The United States is the most competitive soda ash producer in the world, but it will continue to be confronted by China's trade- distorting policies that put it at a competitive disadvantage. Specifically, China's VAT rebate on exports reduces China's production costs. It undermines U.S. soda ash exports in other markets. Moreover, Chinese soda ash is produced through synthetic processes that are both extremely harmful to the environment and are energy intensive.

China's manipulation of its VAT rebate has been raised multiple times by Members of this Chamber, as well as our House colleagues. On May 31, 2011, we asked Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk to keep this issue on its agenda with the Chinese and fight for its elimination.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the text of the letter to Secretary Locke and Ambassador Kirk.

For over 2 years, China has provided its domestic manufacturers with an artificial incentive to export through the 9- percent VAT rebate on soda ash. When this incentive is removed, a truly competitive market can be restored for global exports of soda ash. I look forward to a lively discussion on this issue when the United States and China meet for the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade ministerials this fall.

I do not want to underestimate the importance of the China currency issue. However, this debate cannot overlook the significant trade imbalances caused by other Chinese Government policies that disadvantage U.S. industries. If you ask our officials, they will not hesitate to say that the currency issue is just the tip of the iceberg. There are countless tariffs, subsidies, and nontariff barriers that keep the United States out of China at the cost of U.S. jobs. That is why I am disappointed my colleague, the majority leader, has not yet allowed Members to offer the amendments on trade and jobs they wish to offer.

Our economic policies with China extend far beyond the currency issue, and this bill should be the forum to raise and debate those concerns. This bill has been sold as a jobs bill and a trade bill and, therefore, should be open to amendments about jobs and trade. Allowing amendments now is especially important since this is yet another bill brought directly to the floor without the benefit of committee consideration.

Our companies and exporters are among the best in the world, but it is tough for them to succeed when other nations allow competitors to ignore the rules they have agreed to follow. Without a doubt, something needs to be done about currency misalignment in China. However, for it to be successful, we have to take a holistic approach. I am hopeful the Senate will consider these ideas, including the Hatch amendment. If the United States continues to go it alone, we will continue to have the same problems. We must consider legislation that not only authorizes U.S. action but encourages

the administration to pursue the currency issue with other nations that may have the same concern.

Madam President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I wish to thank the Senators who have spoken for all of their efforts and thought. A lot of times people think that what is being discussed on the floor is the only thing that is happening in the Congress. There are things happening in the background that are probably achieving more than the debates that happen here. A lot of times what people get to see here is the blood on the floor that results in nothing. But everyone recognizes the importance of education and recognizes that there has been a significant effort made since 1965 with K-12 education. It has been renewed several times. In every single instance, it has been renewed in a very bipartisan way. We want that to continue to happen. The value of the Senate and the House is to have a lot of different opinions on how something can be done and then to bring those together to form something usable in whatever area we are working on.

I cannot thank Senators Alexander, Isakson, Burr, and Kirk enough for the work they have done in this area. It does help us to focus, and I am working with Senator Harkin to try to come up with a bipartisan bill. I think we have been making good progress. I have used the nine core components of these bills that Senator Alexander mentioned as reasons for stepping back and taking a look at what we are doing to make sure the States can have as much of a role as possible, but the local people have an even greater role in what is happening in education. That is where we are trying to keep the focus, and this has been very helpful in my discussions with Senator Harkin, to make sure we stay on track with those things.

Senator Alexander mentioned the nine things. Secretary Duncan traveled through most of the United States holding listening sessions to find out what kind of problems people had. He agreed that the nine things we had on this list were the problems with No Child Left Behind that needed to be fixed. Senator Harkin looked at that list and agreed in the same way.

We have come up with some solutions, and those need to be put in a bill, and that bill needs to be passed this year. Next year we get into Presidential elections. I cannot see where that is going to make things more bipartisan or help education. There are a number of things that No Child Left Behind did. One is the disaggregation, which did show some problems across the country, where kids were being left behind. A lot of times when we focus on education, we focus on the State and on the school district. Once in a while we focus on the school. But what we have been trying to do is get the focus on the kid to make sure our children are learning what they need to know to be able to survive. That is one of the places we will be able to greatly improve as we move on in this effort.

One of the surprises to everybody will probably be to find out that the Federal Government only requires one Federal test. You always hear about all the testing the kids have to take across the Nation. A lot of that is locally imposed, but they are tests they think are necessary. But the Federal Government says you need to have one at the end of the year, and that is what we have concentrated on with the disaggregation.

There have been a lot of surprises for people as they actually take a look at

what that rather voluminous bill has in it. I think we are moving to a point where we should be able to get something done and get something done relatively quickly. Again, it will be because of the work of these people who have put together some bills to bring attention to some very specific parts that need improvement. I thank them for doing that.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each, with an exception for myself and the other Senator from Wyoming, concerning a tribute to Malcolm Wallop, who passed away yesterday, and that we might have such time as needed.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 268, which was submitted earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. President, it was with a mixture of sadness for his loss and gratitude for having known him that I received the news that Malcolm Wallop had passed away yesterday. He was a man of strong principles who served over the years with some truly remarkable people, such as Dick Cheney and Al Simpson, to make up some of the most influential and strongly united State delegations I have ever seen.

Those of us who served with him will remember him with a great deal of fondness as one of the greatest warriors from Wyoming and the West who have ever served in the Senate. Whether a person agreed with him or not, he earned the respect of those he served with because it was clear he spoke from the heart with words that reflected his commitment to his home State of Wyoming and our Western way of life.

Malcolm was born in New York and later attended and graduated from Yale University. He immediately felt the call to serve his country, and he joined the Army. Then, when his days in the military were over, he returned to his life as a rancher in Wyoming. It was a vocation he took up with great passion as it reflected his love of the land and his enjoyment of the great outdoors. I think those long hours spent on his ranch gave him the time he needed to think about that which really mattered to him and to his future. It must have been there that he began to get his thoughts together and speak his mind on a long list of issues that mattered to him and to all of those who shared his political philosophy. It led him on a path over the years that would see him writing a long list of prestigious and popular publications that got him noticed and quoted throughout his long and productive career.

Malcolm found his home on his ranch, but he really found his true calling when he ran for and won a seat in the State legislature, first in the house and later on in the Senate. It was in the State legislature that he developed a well-earned reputation for being a thoughtful legislator who became the voice of his constituents as he worked to ensure their concerns were heard and heard clearly on a number of issues that affected them and their daily lives.

Encouraged by what he had been able to do, Malcolm ran for Governor, but God needed a legislator, so he lost the primary. Malcolm then set his sites on serving in the U.S. Senate. He ran against a three-term incumbent. He knew running for the Senate would not be easy, but he was always one willing to do whatever was needed to ensure he achieved his objectives. The Senate race proved to be no exception.

OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, had come into being and drafted its first regulations. Malcolm noted the requirements for extensive port-a-potties and built an ad that made the point. Of course, we can't show videos on the floor, but I have to describe this ad because it is still considered one of the classics of running for office.

The camera first shows a cowboy in a blue work shirt and a tattered straw hat saddling and mounting his horse while the announcer says:

Everywhere you look these days, the Federal Government is

there, telling you what they think, telling you what they

think you ought to think, telling you how you ought to do

things, setting up rules you can't follow. I think the

Federal Government is going too far. Now they say if you

don't take that portable facility on a roundup, you can't go.

At that point, you see the cowboy shake his head in disgust, and then cut back to a donkey tied behind the cowboy's horse, and strapped on the donkey's back is a portable toilet. The cowboy rides off.

That ad got him noticed and elected, along with his great ability to explain things.

After a spirited campaign, Malcolm proudly took his oath of office and prepared for the challenges that would lie ahead as Wyoming's newest Senator. Some may have thought it wise to start slowly and eventually gain momentum but not Malcolm. He got here and started right to work on what he came here to do. Over the years, he served on a long list of committees, and he had an impact on each and every one of them. They included the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Finance Committee, the Small Business Committee, the Armed Services Committee, and the Select Committee on Intelligence. He will also be remembered as the first nonlawyer to serve on the Judiciary Committee.

Malcolm served for 18 years in the Senate, and the record reflects that he used his time wisely and well. Although it would be impossible to list everything he was able to accomplish during his service, quite a few milestones stand out that had a great impact not only on his constituents but on people across the whole country.

His legislation to cut inheritance and gift taxes was passed by Congress, an achievement that was hailed as one of the major legislative accomplishments at that time on tax reform. He also fought to stop the Federal Government's effort to control Wyoming's water resources and the taking of private property.

Although Malcolm's career had begun right in his own backyard, it wasn't long before he had expanded his sights and soon began to work on energy and foreign trade issues which took him to conferences and meetings all over the world. He had a great deal of success in those efforts as he worked to strengthen our relationships with our foreign trade partners. Because of his concern about our national defense, Malcolm was heavily involved in the work that was being done internationally on arms control. He was an active participant in a number of those talks. Ultimately, the human rights issues and Western pressure on them helped to bring about deliberations on the Baltics and Eastern Europe.

Still, no matter where he was or what he was doing, he never lost his focus on his constituents back home and how they were being affected by what the Federal Government was doing or proposing. That is why so many in Wyoming will always remember him as a warrior who fought with all his might to put an end to the battle that was going on back then to increase Federal regulations and reduce State and local control over many facets of life in Wyoming and the West. He knew it had to be stopped, and he did not rest until he made it happen.

Malcolm was a true conservative, and the principles and values that meant so much to him helped to set his inner compass and guide and direct him in everything he did. His commitment to conservative values was so strong that it led him to create the Republican steering committee, which now includes just about all the Republicans in the Senate. He knew how important it was to create a working group that would serve as a sounding board that would provide guidance and direction for the ideas and proposals he and other conservatives wanted to offer to control spending, to limit the growth of government, and to ensure freedoms we have all come to cherish as Americans, to see that they would forever be protected and preserved.

His love of outdoor sports led him to champion a tax on hunting and fishing equipment that could only be used for habitat and facilities. Supported by the sportsmen, that provision is still in place, and we protect its use, to be used for what it was intended.

These are just a few of the items you could find on a list of Malcolm's accomplishments in the Senate. There are many, many more that would be part of the legacy of his service. But there is one more at the top of the list which I know was closest to his heart and which I have to mention before I close.

Throughout his life, Malcolm was a strong believer in the importance of the volunteer spirit. That is why he proposed the Congressional Awards program. First of all, it did not cost anything, which he appreciated as a fiscal conservative. Secondly, it was best described as a challenge issued to young people all across the Nation to get up, get active, and get involved down the street, down the block, or across town. It helped young people to realize that no matter the problem, there was something they could do to help solve it.

Malcolm proposed the idea, and Congress soon passed it. No other award program is quite like it, and no other award like it is issued by Congress. It is not an easy award to earn. I am certain that is how Malcolm intended for

it to be. Any young American who has a dream they wish to pursue can earn one of these important awards. Whether it is a bronze, silver, or gold award, each participant sets his own goal and works with an adviser to get there, step by step. They set their own standards in four program areas: volunteer public service, personal development, physical fitness, and exploration. How well they do in each of these categories determines which award they will earn.

It may be because of Malcolm's status as the founder of the program that it always seems to me that when the gold award winners come to Washington, DC, for the presentation ceremony, there are more Wyoming winners than those from any other State. Just like Malcolm, I am very proud of the spirit of my State's young people and the way they answer this and every challenge--with enthusiasm and determination to do whatever it takes to succeed.

In the years to come, the Congressional Awards will continue to be one of the best parts of Malcolm Wallop's legacy of service to the Nation, and it will inspire and encourage countless more young people to do whatever they can to change the world around them, beginning like Malcolm did, right in their own backyard. It already has a great record of successes, and I cannot think of a better way to remember Malcolm Wallop. In fact, it is probably how he would most want to be remembered.

After Malcolm had served three terms in the State senate and given 18 more years of his life to the people of Wyoming, he took another long walk on his ranch, gave it some thought, and decided it was time for him not to retire--for someone like Malcolm never slowed down--he just felt it was time for him to change direction. So he announced he was stepping down from the Senate to give someone else a chance to continue the work that must be done to make Wyoming and our Nation a better place to live for us all.

It was not long after leaving the Senate that Malcolm founded an organization called the Frontiers of Freedom to enable him to continue his work to address the issues of personal freedom and the need to keep our government from growing too large and too powerful. I have always felt, like Will Rogers said so many years before him, that he opened his office just a short distance from Washington so he would be better able to keep an eye on us.

In the years he served at the helm of the Frontiers of Freedom, it was clear that it reflected the true north of Malcolm Wallop's inner compass. Just like he had done for so many years, the organization was completely focused on many of the issues he had worked on in the Senate, and, like him, it was a much valued and important presence in the ongoing conversation and debate about the direction in which our country was headed and whether that needed to change.

Now Malcolm is taken from us all too soon. He will be greatly missed, and he will never be forgotten. When I learned of his passing, my thoughts turned to those Wyoming Senators we have lost over the last few years: Craig Thomas, Cliff Hansen, and now Malcolm Wallop. They may be gone, but their memories will live on and serve to remind us that each and every one of us--Americans all across this country of ours-- has something to offer to make a difference in the world. If we do not do what God has sent us here to do, no one else will be able to do it for us.

Diana and I join in sending our heartfelt sympathy to Malcolm's family and to everyone who knew him personally or politically or who followed his public life. He was a remarkable individual who fulfilled his life's dream by working hard, always giving the best he had to offer, and constantly looking ahead to the problems that were looming on the horizon so they could be addressed before they became too difficult to handle.

At moments such as these, I have always believed there is no greater gift we can give to someone who is grieving the loss of a loved one than to keep them in our thoughts and hold them gently in our prayers. I have found that God has a way of hearing and healing us in our darkest hours. May His presence now be a source of peace and comfort to all those who mourn Malcolm's loss. The knowledge that there are so many who will never forget him may, in time, help to soften the pain his passing leaves behind for all who knew him, loved him, and called him their friend.

To heal the empty spot in our hearts, I encourage all who knew Malcolm to write down their memories and share them. I know with full confidence this will not be the last time Malcolm Wallop's name will be heard on the Senate floor. In the years to come, we will often think of him and the example he provided at so many times. But for now, let us say goodbye to our friend. He will be missed, but he will never be forgotten.

I yield the floor.

I would ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

It is with a great deal of sadness I have to tell you that Senator Malcolm Wallop, the 18th Senator for the State of Wyoming, passed away this afternoon. He had been ill for some time but had had a very active life and made a great deal of difference to this body. We were very fortunate to have Malcolm Wallop represent us in the Senate for 18 years. For all of his three terms he was a powerful and effective presence in the Congress, assuring the people of Wyoming they were heard and that their concerns were being addressed. Although there are many accomplishments I could mention--and tomorrow I will probably mention quite a few more--I want to mention two of them today, as they were very significant efforts.

The first was the establishment of the Republican Steering Committee. He and two other Senators considered themselves to be the conservatives of the Senate and formed a special caucus that today has grown to include almost all the Republicans. It was for a smaller government and constitutional principles and spending constraints, and he stuck to those principles throughout his entire Senate career.

His other accomplishment--and I can think of none that would make him more proud than the mention that he started the Congressional Awards Program. This is a program for young Americans where they can do service for their community and receive an award from Congress. Congress puts no dollars into this, which would be part of the philosophy of Malcolm Wallop. He helped to provide for a number of people through the years to be able to come to Washington and receive the Gold Award. It is set up so when you do 100 hours of community service, you can get a bronze medal. When you do another 100 hours of service, you can get a silver medal. When you do 200 or more hours of service, you get a gold medal.

He helped to promote the community spirit and his community service has made a huge difference to Wyoming and has spread across the Nation. Of course, we are always very proud in Wyoming that more kids from Wyoming have gotten the gold medal than from any other State. It partly has to with his founding of it and the time and effort he put into it, and that succeeding Senators have. Over the years it has served to inspire countless young Americans to believe in themselves and their ability to change the world beginning in their own backyard and to start some good habits. Thanks to his initiative, the young people of our Nation will continue to dare to do great service in their neighborhoods and communities, and I cannot think of a better way to have Senator Malcolm Wallop be remembered.

I yield the floor.