Floor Statements

Mr. President, I move to proceed to H.R. 240.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, let me say first that I want to welcome back our colleague, the minority leader. He has had a challenging month. We are happy to see him back here in the Senate. We wish him well in his recovery, which looks as if it is coming along nicely.

Welcome back, I say on behalf of all of our colleagues to the Democratic leader.

Mr. President, in his State of the Union Address, President Obama promised to deliver a budget filled with ``ideas that are practical, not partisan.'' I know many Americans were glad to hear him say that. The American people elected a right-of-center Congress focused on jobs and reform, so it makes sense that a President would want to send commonsense ideas that could pass the Congress that the people actually elected last November.

He could have proposed a budget that was balanced. He could have challenged us with serious, innovative reforms aimed at getting spending under control or effective ideas to create jobs and opportunity. There are so many positive things he could have done instead of phoning in another tired tax-and-spend manifesto. We basically see the same thing every year. It focuses on growing the bureaucracy instead of opportunity. It does not balance ever. Because it isn't designed to pass Congress, of course it doesn't pass Congress.

The budget is just one symptom of a wider disconnect. Rhetorically, at least, we hear the White House echo Republican calls for policies aimed at helping the middle class, but then we see the White House push more of the same stale, top-down policies favored by political bosses over on the left. As Americans who have lost health plans or who are seeing health costs skyrocket could tell you, the left's priorities often hurt the very people they purport to help.

This is the wrong approach. We need fresh ideas. Republicans want the President to join us in fighting for the middle class, so we think he should take opportunities such as the budget

to actually rally Members of both parties behind serious ideas that can actually pass. We think the country could really benefit from his positive leadership.

His next test will come soon as the new Congress works to develop the kind of budget the American people deserve. We are going to focus on growing the economy from the ground up, with more future-oriented reform, more jobs, more opportunity. We are going to pursue ideas that make government leaner, more efficient, and more effective. We are going to honor the hard-working men and women who count on us to spend their dollars wisely, not offload Washington's problems onto them with higher taxes. That is what the American people expect. It is the kind of practical agenda you pursue if you are serious about helping the middle class. It is what I hope the President will now encourage Members of both parties to work toward.

The truth is, there is a lot we can achieve with constructive, bipartisan cooperation. The bill we will vote on tomorrow is a great example of that. Members in both parties agree it is time to pursue positive reform for veterans who are hurting. The Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act aims to reduce the tragedy that befalls too many of our heroes and the heartbreak that befalls too many of their families. We lose thousands of veterans every year to suicide. Now is the time for practical, bipartisan action to do something about it.

The legislation we will vote on tomorrow will provide more of the suicide prevention and mental health support our veterans deserve. It will help veterans transition from Active-Duty service. It will take steps to improve the effectiveness of programs to help heroes in need.

This bill has already passed the House unanimously. I hope we can achieve a similar result in the Senate and send this bipartisan legislation to the White House for signature.

Before I finish, I would like to thank both the senior Senator from Georgia, Mr. Isakson, and the senior Senator from Arizona, Mr. McCain, for their tireless work on this bill. These Senators care deeply about the men and women who give everything--literally everything--to protect us. Veterans are lucky to have such strong champions on their side.

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

Madam President, I move to proceed to H.R. 240.

Madam President, I sent a cloture motion to the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule XXII, the mandatory quorum be waived and that the vote on the motion to invoke cloture occur at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 3. I further ask that if the motion to invoke cloture is agreed to, all postcloture time be yielded back and the Senate proceed to a vote on the motion to proceed to the bill.

Madam President, the Senate's passage of the Keystone jobs bill is great news for the American people. The Senate will soon turn its attention to a few different matters.

First, we will be voting on a bipartisan measure that has been championed by the Chairs of the Veterans' Affairs and Armed Services Committees.

We lose thousands of our heroes every year to suicide. It is a tragic situation. Senators McCain and Isakson are leading efforts to do something about it. Their legislation would provide more of the mental health and suicide prevention support our Veterans deserve. The measure already passed unanimously through the House of Representatives. Now we hope for a bipartisan outcome on the Senate floor.

The same should also be said of a second piece of legislation we will consider. It is a debate that will challenge our colleagues on the other side with a simple proposition. Do they think Presidents of either party should have the power to simply ignore laws they don't like? Will our Democratic colleagues work with us to defend key democratic ideals such as the separation of powers and the rule of law or will they stand tall with the idea that partisan exercises of raw power are good things?

The House-passed bill we will consider would do two things. It would fund the Department of Homeland Security and rein in Executive overreach.

That is it. It is simple, and there is no reason for Democrats to block it.

Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 8, S. Res. 35.

I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute be agreed to, the resolution, as amended, be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 59, 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 considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 60, submitted earlier today.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 4 p.m. on Monday, February 2; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and that the Senate then be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each until 4:30 p.m., equally divided in the usual form. I further ask that the Senate then proceed to consideration of H.R. 203, the Clay Hunt SAV Act, under the previous order.

On Monday the Senate will vote on the bipartisan House-passed bill on veterans suicide prevention. Chairman Isakson and Senator Blumenthal reported out that bill from the Veterans' Affairs Committee last week, and we are moving quickly to send it to the President for his signature. That should be the only vote on Monday night.

If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, today we will have two stacks of votes culminating in passage of S. 1, the Keystone bill. Senators should be expected to stay close to the floor as these will be 10-minute votes. We will have five or six votes at 11 a.m. and four or five votes kicking off at 2:30 p.m.

The Senate will be in session tomorrow morning but no votes are expected. The first vote of next week will be at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.

Mr. President, in the past few weeks we had a whirlwind, but the Keystone jobs debate has been important for the Senate and for our country. We took about one dozen more rollcall votes on amendments yesterday. That means the Senate has now taken more than twice as many of these amendment votes on this bill alone than were offered or allowed all of last year.

We obviously had a busy afternoon yesterday, and we will continue it again today. It has been an instructive exercise, too, because we learned about more than just the lesser prairie-chicken. We also discovered something about this body. We learned that open floor debates and open amendment processes require hard work, they require dedicated Members, and they require constructive cooperation from across the aisle.

I thanked Senators Hoeven and Murkowski for their work before. I thank them again now. I note the efforts, once again, of colleagues such as Senator Cantwell.

The debate over these American jobs has shown that with bipartisan cooperation, it is possible to get Washington functioning again. This debate is also proving the new Congress is ready to work and work hard for the middle class, even in the teeth of opposition from powerful special interests.

Let's notch one more win for the middle class by passing this important infrastructure project. Constructing Keystone would pump literally billions into our economy. It would support thousands of good American jobs. As the President's own State Department has indicated, it would do this with minimal environmental impact.

The Keystone infrastructure project has been studied endlessly-- endlessly--from almost every possible angle. The same general conclusion keeps becoming clear, build it. We need to build it.

Let's make some progress for the American people by voting to pass the Keystone jobs and infrastructure bill.

If the Senator would yield.

I thank the Senator from Illinois for his comments. I agree, this has been good for the Senate, good for both parties, and good for America. We are getting back to normal, and I thank the Senator for his comments and for his cooperation.