Floor Statements

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

Mr. President, 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 understand there is a bill at the desk due for a second reading.

Mr. President, in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to further proceedings.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 579, submitted earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed, to the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, and any statements be printed in the Record.

I ask unanimous consent the Senate now proceed to consideration of S. Res. 580, which was submitted earlier today.

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

I ask unanimous consent the HELP Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 180, and the Senate now proceed to its consideration.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Agriculture Committee be discharged from further consideration, and the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 539.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent 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 the HELP Committee be discharged from further consideration, and the Senate now proceed to S. Con. Res. 116.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent 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 the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 539, S. 2562.

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

Mr. President, in a few moments we will be closing. I will have a brief closing statement about what the plans will be over the next several days.

While we have a moment, I will refer to what happened about an hour or an hour and a half ago on a very important piece of legislation we have been working on for about 2 months, almost 3 months now. It is legislation which results from what we all know now as the Hamdan decision that the Supreme Court presented to us specifically several months ago. As a result of that decision, it became incumbent to pass legislation in this Senate to clarify the results of that decision but, most importantly, to address the issues surrounding the military tribunals, the terrorist tribunals, the military commissions. Those are, in essence, the court system, the commissions, the way we deal with enemy combatants or terrorists.

The issue before the Senate is legislation that we must pass this coming week just as soon as possible for a number of reasons, but primarily we have detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who cannot be tried. Among these terrorists are people such as the lead Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind, or alleged mastermind, behind the events of September 11.

In addition, what we all now understand is the Hamdan decision made it again incumbent upon the Senate to act in order to be able to continue a very important program of interrogation so we can get information so our Government will be equipped with the tools we need to obtain information from terrorists that can be lifesaving, that can prevent another attack, a terrorist attack.

What has been challenging over the last several months is coming to an agreement which we reached today among colleagues who had devoted a lot of time in this Senate on this issue, an issue which is tough from a legal standpoint, but an agreement within this Senate, working hand in hand with the administration. I was pleased to join my colleagues, along with the National Security Adviser, Steve Hadley, along with a Member from the House of Representatives, as well as Mitch McConnell, our whip, as well as John Warner, chairman of the Committee on Armed Services, Senator John McCain, and Senator Graham, to announce an agreement that meets the key test of our conference.

The first priority, as I have spoken again and again over the last several days, was the importance of meeting these goals. And they were met.

No. 1, protect America by ensuring our highly valuable CIA program will be preserved, a program of interrogation which has delivered information that has allowed the United States to stop terrorist activity. That will be preserved.

The second goal, a criterion that I have set out and the President has set out as well, is whatever we develop in this Senate must guarantee that classified sources and methods, classified information-- all sources and methods will not be disclosed to the terrorist detainees. It seems obvious to the American people, obvious to me, that we do not want to be giving classified information to a terrorist or his attorney, who will turn around and share that with the larger terrorist world that is out there.

A third criteria or a third result of the fact that this legislation has been addressed in the way it has is an agreement that has the impact of ensuring that the military will be able to begin to try the terrorists, the enemy combatants, the detainees in our custody today.

So it protects a program which we know is important, No. 1. No. 2, it prevents classified information from being given to terrorists. No. 3, it ensures that the military can begin to try these terrorists once this legislation is signed by the President.

I congratulate my colleagues. We have a long way to go, though, because

that is the first major step of a product of about 2 months of work. With that work and the time they have spent, the dedication and focus, it means that once that information can be shared with Democrats and Republicans throughout the Senate and they take a look at it, the fact that it has been so carefully vetted, we should be able to address it in the course of next week.

I had a brief conversation with the Democratic leader, who has begun to look at that legislation. He, too, is confident we can address this issue next week. The House of Representatives has to address it, as well, go to conference--if we don't pass the same bill--and then get it to the President as soon as we possibly can. So it is very good news. That agreement was reached today.

There are a number of other items that have to be addressed, but there were three major items that were the real gist, the substance of that agreement.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 3127 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the Lugar substitute at the desk be agreed to, the bill as amended be read the third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements related to the measure be printed in the appropriate place in the Record as if read.

Mr. President, I have several other issues to deal with, but that particular issue on Sudan and sanctions surrounding Sudan leads me to comment on the great tragedy that is occurring in the Darfur region in western Sudan.

I have had the opportunity to be in that region in a number of the refugee camps along that western border of Sudan and Chad, the country just west of Sudan, a country to which many of these refugees are fleeing.

Things are getting worse in Darfur. We have heard a lot about it in the last 2\1/2\ years. On this floor, a little over 2 years ago, we called it a genocide. Shortly thereafter, the administration also agreed it is genocide. And that is exactly what it is. We do not know exactly how many people have been killed, but around 200,000 people have been killed in this genocide and probably 2 million people displaced from their homes. Things are getting worse. It deserves the attention of this body. We focused on it at a very early time. We continue to focus on it, but again, I think we are going to have to focus on it more and more.

An envoy was appointed by the President maybe yesterday or the day before. I think that is a very positive move in that regard.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 574.

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 Friday, September 22. 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 further that notwithstanding the adjournment of the Senate it be in order for Senators to introduce bills on Friday until 11 a.m.; provided further that a bill to be introduced by Senator Frist or his designee be considered as read a first time and that there be an objection to its second reading. I further ask consent that following the pledge, the Senate then stand in adjournment until the hour of 2 p.m. on Monday, September 25. 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 begin a period of morning business, with Senators to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, tomorrow we will be in session for a very brief period of time, but we will not have any votes to accommodate those Senators who wish to celebrate Rosh Hashanah. Senators are reminded that we have 1 more week of session and we have a lot of work to do, a lot of important legislative and executive items to wrap up. Senators should be forewarned that there are going to be very busy days throughout the week, and they should plan their schedules accordingly. Thus, our next vote will be at 5:30 on Monday, and that vote will be on the confirmation of a U.S. district judge.

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.