Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until 9:45 a.m. on Friday, March 3. I further ask consent that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved, and the Senate then resume consideration of S. 2320, the LIHEAP funding bill.

Mr. President, today the Senate overwhelmingly, finally adopted the PATRIOT Act conference report with a vote of 89 to 10. We spent a great deal of time considering this bill, and I am pleased and relieved that we reached a final conclusion on this important legislation. It has a very careful balance of civil liberties and at the same time guarantees elimination of that barrier between law enforcement and our intelligence community to make sure that men and women and children and families are protected here in our homeland. It has been tough to get to this point with a lot of negotiation and a lot of delay and postponement, but finally we have completed that important bill.

We are now considering the LIHEAP bill, and we hope to complete action on that bill early next week. Also, next week we will begin work on the lobbying reform measure. We made progress on the whole effort of lobbying reform both in the Government Affairs Committee today, as well as in the Rules Committee earlier in the week.

Next week we will be busy with votes each day as we work through initially LIHEAP and then the lobbying bill. Tomorrow I will have more to say on both the sequencing and timing of the lobbying bill and LIHEAP. The next votes will occur on Monday at 5:30 in the evening on the confirmation of three district judges.

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

Mr. President, this morning, following the time for the two leaders, we will have a brief period for closing remarks related to S. 2271, the PATRIOT Act amendments legislation. The vote on passage of that bill is scheduled for 10 a.m. this morning. Immediately following that vote we will recess in order for the Senate to proceed to the House of Representatives for the joint meeting. The purpose of that 11 a.m. joint meeting is to hear an address by the Prime Minister of Italy. We will return to business following that address at 12 noon to continue work on the PATRIOT Act. We will have a cloture vote on the underlying conference report to accompany the PATRIOT Act legislation.

There are two additional procedural votes that may be requested from the other side of the aisle. We should not need those. I hope we do not have to proceed with those votes so we can expeditiously proceed to the cloture vote. If all of these votes are necessary, we could have three consecutive votes around noon today.

Once cloture is invoked, we wish to work out a time for the adoption of the PATRIOT Act conference report with no further delay.

In addition to the PATRIOT Act, we are working on a process to consider the LIHEAP bill introduced by the senior Senator from Maine. Yesterday I filed a cloture motion on the motion to proceed to that bill. I hope that will not be necessary, but I will continue to consult with Senators about a process that allows the Senate to vote on the underlying LIHEAP issue. In the meantime, this cloture vote would occur tomorrow unless some other agreement is worked out.

Again, I remind our colleagues to be prompt for this morning's vote so we can recess on time and proceed to the joint meeting.

Mr. President, could I ask, through the Chair to the Democratic leader, to express an opinion first, and that is we absolutely have to proceed with this pensions legislation. I know my distinguished colleague has come to the floor and said certain things about why we are not proceeding to conference, but it does come down to the fact that in November we passed this bill and the House passed it about a month later. At that point in time I said the conferees would be seven and five. As the Democratic leader knows, that is, after consultation--with consultation to the Democratic leader--the prerogative of the majority leader. I have been consistent with that.

We have waited a couple of months for a response and the Democratic leader has given us a response, but the response is that it is unacceptable, we need more people--because of things going on within their caucus.

I think it is time to stop--both. Everybody stop playing games and let's get to conference. It is an important issue. We had this April 15 deadline. We finished work on the floor now 3 months ago, and yet we had this bickering about the number of conferees. I know it is tough. We have been in conversation about what those numbers should be. It is going to be 7 to 5. And it is tough. The tax reconciliation bill we just did was 2 to 1. It is always tough, telling our fellow Senators that, no, you can't be on this conference report because we want a reasonable number of people.

I would make another plea that we proceed, that the other side of the aisle

appoint their five. We are ready to appoint our seven. We could go to conference this afternoon. We could address the issue. It is alleged either that there are other sort of motivations on our side or that we are not interested in this pension bill. It is gamesmanship and partisanship and it is wrong. It is time to get to the bill itself. We care about it. It is important to the American people. We have done the work on the Senate floor. We have the number of conferees. My seven are ready to go and I make another plea to the Democratic leader to step up and do what the American people expect, appoint conferees and go to conference.

Mr. President, it is apparent where we are. What I do not want to see happen is that this escalates into comments from the other side accusing us of not caring about this bill. We have led on this bill. We finished it in November. The House finished it in December. Right after that I said the ratio will be 7 to 5. It is an internal problem within their caucus that we have to address and that is what leadership is all about--in terms of picking five people and picking seven people and then proceeding to conference.

It is almost as petty that it plays into this pattern of obstruction. It is what is going on. I went through my whole opening there--we have been on this PATRIOT Act now for weeks and weeks with procedural move after procedural move after procedural move on a bill we know is going to pass overwhelmingly.

When you see what happens there, and then you see this postponement and obstruction on a pensions bill we care passionately about, that the American people care about, that hundreds of thousands of people's futures depend on, that is disturbing. We have to step above it. That is what the American people expect us to be doing.

I am concerned. The Senate Democrats are refusing to go to conference with 7 to 5. They have had 2 months to address this within their caucus. I proposed if you can't appoint five and you can't convince five people to represent you, then we will go to six and then we are going to go to nine. That will be a counterproposal. If that is unacceptable, go back to 7 to 5.

By precedent, it is the majority leader who can set the numbers, and the numbers do vary all over the place. We set it at 7 to 5 from day one and it is 7 to 5 again today. I understand there may be a legitimate dispute on the other side of the aisle. You have too many people who want to be on this conference and decide who gets to serve. But I am beginning to think--I think it is becoming apparent to outside people who are interested in this bill--that this is fitting into a pattern of more postponement, more delay, more obstruction. What I think is unfair and wrong is to try to turn that and say it is because we don't care about pension legislation.

Anyway, we could go on and on forever. We will talk more about the details of this. Let's get on with it. The American people deserve more. This is petty politics and it is time to rise above it.

Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that following the passage vote, the Senate vote on the motion to proceed to the motion to reconsider the vote by which cloture was not invoked on the conference report to accompany H.R. 3199; I further ask consent that if the motion to proceed is agreed to, the Senate vote immediately on the motion to reconsider and, if agreed to, then the Senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the conference report.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule XXII, the vote on adoption of the conference report to accompany H.R. 3199, the PATRIOT Act, occur at 3 p.m. tomorrow, with no further intervening action or debate. I further ask that the time until 2:30 be equally divided, with 1 hour of the time controlled by the minority to be under the control of Senator Feingold and that the time between 2:30 and 3 p.m. be equally divided between the majority leader and the Democratic leader or their designees.

Mr. President, I wish to take a brief moment to acknowledge an important feat of one of our Members. At approximately 5 o'clock today, the distinguished Senator from Oklahoma, Mr. Coburn, reached his 100th hour of presiding. Senator Coburn will be the second Senator in the 109th Congress to receive the Golden Gavel Award.

Most Members will agree that the best way to learn about Senate procedure is to preside over the Senate Chamber. Senator Coburn has done so with distinction. He has done so with honor and with a firm but fair gavel. In addition to his regular presiding time, Senator Coburn has volunteered to preside and fill in on those late nights and weekends when we are in dire need of help in the Chair. We all thank him for that.

The Senate owes a debt of gratitude to the Senator from Oklahoma. We thank him for his service and congratulate him on this outstanding achievement.

Mr. President, each year roughly 24,000 children in the United States are born with an autism spectrum disorder. Over my short lifetime in medicine, the last 30 years, it has been remarkable to see the increase in autism spectrum disorder, a disorder which we don't understand today. We have made progress, but we don't understand it. The symptoms are tragic in many ways. They can be severe, or they have the spectrum from mild to severe. Autistic infants display abnormal reactions to various sensory stimuli, whether it is light or touch or smells, where touches can be experienced as being very painful, smells can be experienced as being very unpleasant. Loud noises and bright lights may cause reactions that involve a range of emotions, including weeping.

As the child grows older, they sometimes avoid cuddling or touching even close family members--again, this is a broad spectrum--many times preferring to stay alone, to play by themselves. By adolescence, these symptoms can become unbearably acute. You can imagine the impact this has on parents who become bewildered. Some lose hope. It is more common than childhood cancer today.

A lot of people don't realize that the incidence and prevalence of this has increased to the point that it surpasses childhood cancer. It can tear apart families--even the strongest families. The reason I bring it to the floor today is, I spent a good part of today talking to various people whose families have been affected. My own family has been affected by it. And as a physician, a doctor, as somebody who has devoted the majority of his adult life not to politics but to healing, I do believe that that combination of physician and legislator gives me certain responsibilities but also certain opportunities to push the frontiers of health, especially when we don't know the cause, the etiology.

That is why 6 years ago I sponsored the Children's Health Act of 2000. That was the first bill that looked at a whole spectrum of childhood diseases, one of which was autism. The legislation directed the National Institutes of Health to expand, to intensify, and to coordinate research into autism--this very complex, very poorly understood disorder. Progress has been made, but now the time has come to reauthorize that legislation.

Under the Children's Health Act, the NIH established the interagency coordinating committee to coordinate all autism-related activities at the Health

and Human Services Agency. The committee represents a broad range of interests, including parents, doctors, and researchers engaged with this disease. The NIH also created eight Centers of Excellence in autism research across the country to conduct basic clinical research into the cause, diagnosis, early detection, prevention, control, and treatment of autism. These eight centers have shown and demonstrated true success.

In 2001, NIH spent about $56 million on autism-related research. Three years later, that number went up to $100 million. What is especially remarkable is what the private sector, through philanthropy and organizations, has done in complementing and supplementing those funds. Unfortunately, we still don't know what causes autism, but we know that we must find a cure. It is time for us to reauthorize the autism provisions in the Children's Health Act. I look forward to working with my colleagues to do that. Children are our Nation's most precious resource. We must continue to push for a sustained investment and commitment to curing this heartbreaking disorder.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there be 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. 386, which was submitted earlier today.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 2. I further ask that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved, and the Senate then proceed to a period of morning business for up to 30 minutes, with the first 15 minutes under the control of the Democratic leader or his designee, the final 15 minutes under the control of the majority leader or his designee, and the Senate then resume consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 3199, the PATRIOT Act; I further ask that the debate until the final passage vote be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees.

Mr. President, today the Senate passed the PATRIOT Act amendments bill, and we are now considering the PATRIOT Act conference report. Early today, by a vote of 84 to 15, the Senate overwhelmingly invoked cloture on the conference report. Under an agreement just reached, we will be voting on the PATRIOT Act conference report tomorrow at 3 p.m. Following that vote, we will have a cloture vote with respect to the LIHEAP bill. The remaining schedule for tomorrow will depend on the outcome of that vote, and we will alert Members of the schedule following that cloture vote.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order following the remarks of Senator Durbin for up to 15 minutes.

Mr. President, today we will begin with a period for morning business for up to 60 minutes. Following that time, the Senate will resume debate on S. 2271, the PATRIOT Act amendments legislation. The debate will be equally divided until the hour of 12:30, and at 12:30 the Senate will recess until 2:15 p.m. for the weekly policy meetings. When we reconvene at 2:15, there will be 15 minutes for closing remarks prior to the cloture vote, which is scheduled for 2:30. That cloture vote on the PATRIOT Act amendments bill will be the first vote of the day. We fully expect cloture to be invoked, and therefore we have an agreement that the vote on passage of the bill will occur at 10 a.m. tomorrow, on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, in addition to the PATRIOT Act amendments bill, we will return to the conference report on the underlying PATRIOT Act. That conference report will require an additional cloture vote and we will have that vote on Wednesday afternoon.

I remind my colleagues that on Wednesday we will have a joint meeting with the House of Representatives in order to hear an address by the Prime Minister of Italy. That address will begin at 11 o'clock tomorrow morning, and therefore Senators are asked to gather in the Senate Chamber at 10:30 so we can proceed together at 10:40 to the Hall of the House of Representatives. I will have more to say about the remaining schedule for this week and the next at the close of business today.