Mr. President, I have a short statement to make, and then I will reframe what I expect to happen over the course of this week and in the near future. Similar to many of my colleagues, I spent the month traveling the country. I began in…
Mr. President, I have a short statement to make, and then I will reframe what I expect to happen over the course of this week and in the near future.
Similar to many of my colleagues, I spent the month traveling the country. I began in Tennessee and ended in Tennessee. I visited a number of States, from the west coast to the east coast, from Washington State to Florida. At each stop, I spent a lot of time doing what I hope, and I am sure, all of my colleagues did, listening, listening very carefully to what the American people are thinking and what they are feeling.
As I summarize and step away from the messages that were sent to me, it is pretty clear how we need to spend the next 4 weeks in the Senate before taking a break before the elections themselves. I will recite a few of the items and point out the direction that will lead us into the next several weeks.
I listened carefully, and again and again people confirmed what I already knew: The Republican-led policies that we put into place are, indeed, working. To begin with, although despite derision from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, the economy continues to grow. As we saw yet again last week, month after month we consistently have added new jobs. Productivity, the driving impetus that raises the standards of living, continues to accelerate, continues to go up. We have faced down many adverse developments, many adverse events in the past few years, including the 2001 recession, the terrorist attacks of September 11, corporate governance scandals, and more recently, the devastating hurricanes and substantial increases in the cost of energy.
People do feel the rising cost of energy at the pump each day. They feel the rising cost of health care.
As Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke pointed out last week, despite all of these obstacles, our economy continues to advance and continues to grow. I am convinced, as are the constituents I met with during each stop across the country, the economic security we enjoy is due in large part to the Republican-led policies of tax relief and fiscal restraint we have implemented.
What is forefront in the minds of the American people is the economy; even more so is security--yes, economic security but security in general.
From Georgia to California, and each stop in between, the people I met want reassurance. They want to know when their family boards a plane, for example, on vacation or going to Disneyland, that plane will be safe.
They want to know, when they hop on the subway or the Metro to go to work, that train will be safe. They want to know, when they fill up their gas tank, the money in their wallet is not going to end up in the hands of some terrorist overseas.
I share these same concerns. That is why we have set a very aggressive agenda for the remainder of this session that does focus on fighting and winning this war on terror.
Last week, one of my colleagues said that 99 percent of Democrats want to fight a strong war on terror. This week we will hold this Senate to that as we continue to debate Defense appropriations.
Our troops provide us an invaluable service. They fight daily on behalf of those enduring principles of freedom and liberty. For their invaluable service, we owe them the very best of resources.
The Defense appropriations bill is crucial to fighting a strong war on terror and to winning it. The bill provides our soldiers with the resources, the training, the technology, the equipment, the authorities they need to win the war on terror.
I encourage each of my colleagues to demonstrate their commitment to fighting and winning a strong war on terror by engaging in a productive debate, a debate that is on point and focused on how we can keep our troops strong to win this war.
At the end of the debate, I hope each and every one of my colleagues will join me in demonstrating our commitment to our troops, our commitment to strengthening and maintaining and enhancing our security at home and their commitment to winning the war on terror by voting to pass the Defense appropriations bill.
But there is more we in the Senate can and will do to help alleviate the concerns and fears the American people have about security and winning the war on terror. We need to strengthen port security. After months of negotiations on this critical issue, it is time to act. We need to pass the Homeland Security appropriations conference report. We need to confirm critical security nominees such as John Bolton, U.S. ambassador to the U.N.; Alice Fisher, DOJ's Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division; Kenneth Wainstein, first Assistant Attorney General for DOJ's new National Security Division.
We need to address the Supreme Court Hamdan decision, authorizing military commissions for terrorist combatants.
We need to send an energy package to the President so we can reduce that dangerous dependence on foreign sources of oil. Let's face it, we have a serious threat to our national security when nearly 60 percent of the oil we consume comes from foreign countries.
We need to strengthen the Terrorist Surveillance Program by modernizing the important Intelligence Surveillance Act definition of ``electronic surveillance'' and ``communication'' and by enhancing congressional oversight. We need to consider legislation that builds on the progress we made last year with the bioterror bill, by further refining and enhancing our defenses against nontraditional terrorist attacks. We need to secure America's prosperity by bringing budget process reform to the Senate and by finalizing a very exciting bipartisan competitiveness agenda package.
We need to continue securing America's health by bringing health information technology legislation to conference. We must continue to secure America's values by promoting sound Government that begins with fulfilling our constitutional duty of advice and consent by bringing more judicial nominations to the Senate for confirmation.
And it continues with addressing Internet gambling. As it is now, this industry threatens to undermine the quality of life of millions of Americans by bringing an addictive behavior right into our living rooms.
As you can see, we have a lot on our plate. Bipartisan support on each of these issues is absolutely necessary. It is election time. The tendency is to make everything political. For the American people, we need to rise above this. We need to come together. We need to work together on these important issues that so dramatically impact the security of the American people, the security of our homeland.
As we learned last year with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, on September 11, almost 5 years ago, complacency and passiveness have no place in the Senate. We must work together to ensure that we anticipate and address the problems facing everyday Americans. We must work together to keep America moving forward. We must work together to fight and, yes, win the war on terror.
Mr. President, let me take a final minute and update our colleagues on the specific schedule for today.
Under the order, we are to immediately return to the consideration of the Defense appropriations bill. We began this important funding measure prior to our adjournment. We were unable to finish it prior to that recess. Although we do not have a unanimous consent agreement on the bill, the Democratic leader agreed prior to the recess that we would finish the bill no later than Wednesday of this week, although discussions prior to our beginning today's session indicate it may be Thursday.
Chairman Stevens is here today occupying the chair and is ready to consider amendments and make progress during today's session. I understand no one is ready, at this point, to offer an amendment.
Order of Procedure
Therefore, I ask consent there be a period of morning business until 2:30 today, with the time equally divided in the usual form; and further, that at the conclusion of that period, we resume consideration of the Defense appropriations bill.
Mr. President, as an additional reminder to Senators, this afternoon at 4:30 we will proceed to executive session for the consideration of Kimberly Ann Moore to be a U.S. circuit court judge. A vote will occur at 5:30 on the confirmation of this judicial nomination.
Having said that, I expect a productive week as we wrap up our business on the Defense appropriations bill.
Recognition of the Minority Leader