Floor Statements

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 27, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, this resolution concerns a request for testimony in a criminal case under way in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. In this case, a former CIA officer has been charged with unlawfully disclosing classified information. In 2010, the Senate agreed to S. Res. 600, in the 111th Congress, which authorized the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to provide evidence in the investigation that preceded this indictment.

In addition to Senate Intelligence Committee staff, testimony as a fact witness has been requested from a former employee of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The chairman and ranking minority member of the Judiciary Committee would like to cooperate with the request for testimony in this case.

Accordingly, this resolution would authorize the former Judiciary Committee employee to testify at trial with representation by the Senate Legal Counsel.

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 with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I understand there is a bill at the desk, and I ask for its first reading.

I now ask for a second reading and, in order to place

the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to my own request.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Presiding Officer of the Senate be authorized to appoint a committee on the part of the Senate to join with a like committee on the part of the House of Representatives to escort the President of the United States into the House Chamber for the joint session to be held at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, January 20, 2015.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. on Tuesday, January 20, 2015; 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; I further ask that the Senate then proceed to a period of morning business for 1 hour, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, with the Democrats controlling the first half and the Republicans controlling the final half; that following morning business, the Senate then resume consideration of S. 1; further, that the Senate recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly conference lunches.

Senators should anticipate votes on pending amendments to the bill starting shortly after lunch on Tuesday. Senators Murkowski and Cantwell are working with Members on both sides of the aisle to debate and offer amendments to the bill. Now that we have overcome the Democratic filibuster on the motion to proceed to this bill, Senators are free to come to offer their amendments. The tree has not been filled and Chairman Murkowski is managing an orderly process to alternate amendments between the two sides.

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, this morning the Senate will continue to debate the motion to proceed to the Keystone XL Pipeline bill, with the time equally divided until 12:30 p.m.

Some of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle continue to filibuster the motion to proceed to the bill. All Senators should know that we will get on this bill today and begin the amendment process. We can do it the easy way or we can do it the hard way. Either we will get on it this afternoon by consent or shortly after midnight without consent. But we will get on it today.

It is surprising to me that some Democratic Senators are choosing to exercise their procedural rights in order to block their own colleagues from offering amendments to the bill, although at this point the only Senators who have filed amendments at the desk are Republican Senators.

I want to make it clear to everybody that we are committed to an open amendment process but not an open-ended one. So we are hopeful--I have read that Democrats have a number of amendments--that we will be given a chance to get on the bill and begin to offer amendments so the Senate can work its will.

Mr. President, Democrats and Republicans cooperated last night to bring the Keystone Pipeline another step closer to construction. Thanks to that bipartisan cloture vote, the Senate can finally begin an open floor debate on this committee-vetted and approved legislation.

It is a debate many of us have actually been looking forward to--and not just because of the substance of what we are considering. But we have also been waiting a long time to have a debate where individual Senators actually matter again, which is why earlier I suggested that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle allow us to get on the bill and let us offer amendments. This is going to be an open process, but as I indicated, not an open-ended process.

This is a debate where Senators can offer amendments and have them considered by the Senators. It is a debate where Senators can make the voices of their constituents heard. That is just the kind of serious legislating many of us have been waiting a long time for, and the fact that we are finally seeing it today is a direct consequence of our constituents' calls for a functioning Congress. It is the latest example of the new Republican majority putting Congress back to work.

Getting Congress back to work means working to pass legislation that is good for jobs and for the middle class, and that is why we are focused on getting measures such as the bipartisan infrastructure bill over to the President's desk.

Even though he may not sign it--and we all know that he may not sign everything we pass--we are getting the Congress out of the business of protecting the President from good ideas. That is our commitment to the American people.

When it comes to the bipartisan Keystone bill, it is hard to see a serious reason why President Obama would

veto these jobs anyway. The Nebraska Supreme Court just cleared away the last pretense many of us could imagine. So we hope President Obama will listen to the American people, and we hope in the end, after due consideration, he will decide to sign it. But, no matter, we will not be dissuaded from our path of working for the middle class. The new Republican Congress is not going to stop working for more jobs and more opportunity.

Let's get the debate started. Let's see what Members of both parties can accomplish by actually working together, and let's continue trying to pass as many good ideas as we can, starting with this bipartisan jobs and infrastructure bill.

I yield the floor.

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

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.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H. Con. Res. 7, which was received from the House.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I understand there is a bill at the desk and I ask for its first reading.

I now ask for a second reading and, in order to place the bill on the calendar under rule XIV, I object to my own request.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill S. 32 be discharged from the Committee on Finance and that it be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.