Floor Statements

I thank the pages who are here. I think we have almost 50 pages who are here for a part of the summer. The pages, I am talking to them most of the time in here on both sides of the aisle. I talked to them about an hour ago and had the chance to welcome each of them and to thank them for their tremendous service in making this place click. When we hand these papers up and they are taken over to the Chair or the Parliamentarian, it is by those pages. They are here before we start every day, and they are here until after we leave every day. So I wanted to thank them, which I had the opportunity to do earlier as well.

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 we are proceeding directly to H.R. 9, the voting rights reauthorization bill. We have a unanimous consent order that provides for up to 8 hours of debate today, although I do not expect all that time will be necessary. We will proceed to a vote on passage of H.R. 9 whenever that time is used or yielded back, and therefore that vote will occur sometime this afternoon, and I expect passage of that voting rights reauthorization bill.

There are several circuit and district court judges that will require some debate and votes today. We will have a unanimous consent agreement on those debate times shortly, and we will likely consider those judicial nominations following the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

We have been working on an agreement on the child predator legislation for a short debate and vote, which will occur today, and we hope to have that agreement as well.

Finally, we have an order to proceed to the child custody protection bill today, and we have Senators who would like to speak on this issue later today as well.

Having said that, the schedule will require votes over the course of the day--possibly into the evening--in order to finish. Although there is a lot to do and people have requested time

to be set aside, I think a lot of that time can be yielded back over the course of the day and we will be able to complete the schedule as I have laid out.

In a few moments, after the chairman makes his opening statements on the Voting Rights Act reauthorization, I will return with an opening statement as well. It has been a process we have expedited in many ways because the importance and significance of this legislation is very clear. So I am delighted that we are moving to it this morning and that we will be passing it later this afternoon.

I will be making some comments, as I mentioned earlier, after the distinguished ranking member.

Mr. President, it was about 3 weeks ago that I joined President Bush on a trip to Memphis, TN, where we were joined by a close personal friend of mine, a man who is legendary in Tennessee and, indeed, throughout the country, the Rev. Dr. Ben Hooks.

Dr. Hooks is a widely recognized, widely acknowledged champion of civil

rights. He presided with great courage and bold vision over the NAACP for 15 years as its executive director. He is in town this week for the NAACP meeting which is going on as I speak.

He guided President Bush and myself, my wife Karyn, and the First Lady through the remarkable and inspiring National Civil Rights Museum which has been constructed at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, which was the actual site of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination. It was an inspiring visit, those moments as we walked through the exhibits, room to room, in that wonderful museum.

In many ways, it shook my own conscience. To hear Dr. Hooks speak, to hear him recount the events surrounding that time, was to have history come alive. It was an ugly moment in our collective history, and certainly not America's finest hour.

As we wandered through those rooms, listening to those words of Dr. Hooks, what struck my conscience most was how we as a Nation pushed through that time, how we as a Nation persevered to correct injustice just as we have at other points in American history.

It reminded me of our ability to change, that when our laws become destructive to our unalienable rights--life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness--it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.

It reminded me of the importance, the absolute necessity, of ensuring the permanence of the changes we make, the permanence of our corrections to injustice.

About 2 years ago, in the spring of 2004, Senator McConnell and I came to the Senate and offered an amendment to extend the expiring provisions of the Voting Rights Act permanently. However, at the insistence of a number of my colleagues we withdrew our amendment, while making clear that we were absolutely committed to renewing this important piece of legislation. Indeed, that day has come.

A few months ago, I stood with Speaker Hastert, Chairman Specter, and Chairman Sensenbrenner on the steps of the Capitol where we reaffirmed at that time our commitment to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act. Thus, I am pleased this Congress will act to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act and, indeed, today, right now, the United States is doing just that.

We expedited it through committee under the leadership of Chairman Specter so we could bring it to the Senate as quickly as possible. We will complete that action in a few hours today.

Today the Senate is standing together to protect the right to vote for all Americans. We stand together, putting aside partisan differences, to ensure discrimination at the voting booth remains a relic of the past. We are working for a day when equality is more than a principle upon which our laws are founded, a day when equality is a reality by which our society is defined. We are working for the day when our equality, our oneness, is reflected not only in our laws but in the hearts and minds of every American.

I hope and pray the day will come when racism and discrimination are only a part of our past and not our present.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 enshrined fair voting practices for all Americans. The act reaffirmed the 15th amendment to the Constitution, which says that:

. . . the right of citizens of the United States to vote

shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by

any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of

servitude.

The Voting Rights Act ensured that no American citizen and no election law of any State could deny access to the ballot box because of race, ethnicity, or language minority status. It took much courage and sacrifice to make that original Voting Rights Act into law, the courage and sacrifice of leaders such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., Congressman John Lewis, to name a few.

They paved the way to end discrimination and open the voting booths for millions of African Americans and other minorities who were previously denied the right to vote.

In the 41 years--yes, it has been 41 years--since then, we have made tremendous progress. Thousands upon thousands of minorities have registered to vote. Minorities have been elected to hold office at the local level, at the State level, and the Federal level in increasing numbers.

In short, the Voting Rights Act has worked. It has achieved its intended purpose. We need to build upon that progress by extending expiring provisions of the Voting Rights Act today.

We owe it to the memories of those who fought before us, to those people who, right now, are reflected in those words of Dr. Hooks that we heard as we traveled through that Civil Rights Museum, and we owe it to our future--a future where equality is a reality, a reality in our hearts and in our minds, not just the law--to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act.

I hope my colleagues will join me in voting for this critical legislation. I look forward to the President signing it into law.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, briefly, I want to propound a unanimous consent request which has been agreed to by the leadership on the other side. And then people will know the scheduling for today and tonight.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote on the pending bill, H.R. 9, occur at 4:30 today, with Senator Reid recognized from 4 to 4:15 and Senator Frist in control of the time from 4:15 to 4:30; provided further that the remaining time be under the control of the minority.

I ask unanimous consent that following the vote on passage of H.R. 9, the Voting Rights Act, the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 379, H.R. 4472. I further ask consent that the Hatch amendment at the desk be agreed to, and there then be 2 hours of debate equally divided between the leaders or their designees, and that following the use or yielding back of time, the bill, as amended, be read a third time, and the bill be temporarily set aside with the vote on passage occurring after consideration of the judges in executive session. I further ask unanimous consent that following passage of the bill, the title amendment be agreed to; provided further that following the debate on H.R. 4472, the Senate proceed to executive session for consideration of the following executive calendar numbers en bloc, under the designated times: Calendar No. 762, Neil Gorsuch, 5 minutes each for Senators Specter, Leahy, Allard, and Salazar; Calendar No. 763, Bobby Shepherd, 5 minutes each for Senators Specter and Leahy, and 10 minutes each for Senators Pryor and Lincoln; Calendar No. 765, Daniel Jordan III, 5 minutes each for Senators Specter, Leahy, Cochran, and Lott; Calendar No. 766, Gustavo Gelpi, 5 minutes each for Senators Specter and Leahy.

I further ask unanimous consent that following the use or yielding back of the debate times above, the Senate proceed to a vote on passage of H.R. 4472, to be followed by consecutive votes on the confirmation of the above-listed nominations in the order specified, without intervening action or debate, and that following those votes, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. President, again, very briefly, what that means is that we will be voting at approximately 4:30. We will then move to the John Walsh child predator bill, have debate on that, and have debate on the judges, and then we will have stacked rollcall votes beginning at approximately 7:15 or 7:30 tonight.

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

Mr. President, 41 years--that is how long it has been since the Voting Rights Act was first enacted in 1965, and we have come a long way in those 41 years. That much was made clear to me on a recent visit to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN, just about 3 weeks ago with President Bush and Dr. Ben Hooks, a renowned civil rights leader, a former executive director of the NAACP for 14 or 15 years a personal friend of myself and my distinguished colleague from Tennessee who is with me on the floor, Lamar Alexander.

Together we visited the site of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., at the Lorraine Motel, which over the past several decades has developed into a wonderful, inspiring civil rights museum. As we walked through that museum with Dr. Hooks, in his voice could one capture that sensitivity, that inspiration, some sadness as we walked through, and he recounted the events surrounding that time, but history came alive.

It was an ugly moment in our collective history and certainly not America's finest hour, but the museum reinforced the impressions I had. It strikes your conscience. It reminds you of the lessons learned, lessons I saw once again on a pilgrimage I took with Congressman John Lewis and about 10 of our colleagues a little over 2 years ago when we visited the civil rights sites in Tennessee and Alabama, and together we crossed Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge where, over four decades ago now, Congressman Lewis led those peaceful marchers in the name of voting rights for all.

What struck me most during that pilgrimage a couple of years ago and then 3 weeks ago during that museum visit with Dr. Hooks is how we as a nation pushed through that time, as we persevered to correct injustice, just as we have at other points in American history. It reminded me of our ability to change; that when our laws become destructive to our unalienable rights, such as liberty and pursuit of happiness, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish them. And it reminded me of the importance, the absolute necessity of ensuring the permanence of

the changes we made, the permanence of correction to injustice.

So I am very pleased that in just a few minutes, we will act as a body to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act. We owe it to the memories of those who fought before us--and we owe it to our future, a future when equality is a reality in our hearts and minds and not just the law--to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act.

I hope my colleagues will join me in voting for this critical legislation because in the 41 years since it became law, we have seen tremendous progress, and now it is time to ensure that the progress continues, that we protect the civil liberties of each and every American.

Mr. President, I yield back all our time.

I move to reconsider the vote.

For the information of our colleagues, the Democratic leader and I have been in discussion. Let me briefly outline what the plans for tonight will be and tomorrow. Most importantly for my colleagues, there will be no more rollcall votes tonight or tomorrow. We will probably see a lot of Members leave the room.

We will turn within a couple of minutes to the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, a very important bill that we will spend approximately 2 hours on tonight. Following that, we will have debate on two circuit judges and two district judges. We will be voting on the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act tonight by voice vote and all four of those judges by voice tonight.

We will be in tomorrow. We will have no rollcall votes tomorrow. I will have an announcement later tonight or possibly tomorrow on what the schedule will be on Monday in terms of votes on Monday, if we will have a vote or not. Debate tomorrow will be, in all likelihood, on the Child Custody Protection Act, plus we will have a period of morning business for other matters.

With that, we will be able to turn to the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act which we will be passing in about 2 hours.

Mr. President, 25 years ago this month, Reve Walsh took her 6-year-old son Adam shopping with her. They were looking for lamps at a local department store--a short mile from their home--when Adam was abducted. Sixteen days later, Adam's body was positively identified. To date, no one has been indicted for this horrific crime.

As parents, John and Reve Walsh's worst nightmare had become a reality. As a father of three sons, I cannot imagine what pain this caused the Walsh family.

Through their tears and grief, John and Reve Walsh transformed the tragedy of Adam's death into a lifelong commitment--a commitment to protect children from abduction, abuse, and exploitation.

John and Reve have been on the forefront of most major child protection legislation passed by this Congress over the last 25 years: the Missing Children's Act of 1982; the Missing Children's Assistance Act of 1984, which founded the fantastic National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; the Protect Act of 2003, which established a nationwide Amber Alert network to coordinate rapid emergency responses to missing child alerts--and, most recently, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, which is before us today.

This important legislation establishes a national sex offender registry, publicly available and searchable by ZIP Code; creates a national abuse registry; toughens penalties for crimes against children; and cracks down on the growing crisis of Internet predators and child pornography.

John's and Reve's tireless dedication is an inspiration to parents of child victims and millions of American families. I am proud to have worked with John and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on this legislation. I am confident that the legislation will save the lives of thousands of children.

I thank John Walsh, Ernie Allen, president of the National Center, and Carolyn Atwell-Davis, along with the rest of the dedicated staff at the National Center, for the truly amazing work they do, on a daily basis, to protect our Nation's children.

In March, John came by my office to talk about the importance of a national sex offender registry. He told me that this was the most important piece of legislation he had seen in over two decades of advocating for children's issues.

I promised John then that I would make passing this critical piece of legislation a priority. And I am proud to tell John--to tell our Nation's children, parents, and law enforcement--that the U.S. Senate has not only heard your concerns, but we are acting tonight to address them.

The Adam Walsh bill--so named to honor the upcoming 25th anniversary of his death and the memory of other child victims and their families-- has many components designed to protect our Nation's children.

First, the bill establishes a national sex offender registry. Currently, there are more than 550,000 registered sex offenders in the United States, and at least 100,000 of them are missing.

Loopholes in the current system allow some sexual predators to evade law enforcement, placing our children at risk. While many States, including my own home State of Tennessee, have registries, this information is not always shared with other States. By creating a national registry, we are closing the loopholes that allow offenders to slip through the cracks. And we are encouraging law enforcement at all levels--local, State, and Federal--to collaborate and to share information.

The registry will make it easier for law enforcement to act on a tip, to identify and intercept offenders before they can strike again, before they can repeat their crimes and victimize more children.

The national registry will be publicly accessible via the Internet and searchable by ZIP Code. This empowers parents. It gives them the tools they need to learn whether a neighbor down the street has a history of sexual violence so they can protect their children from harm.

Further, the bill increases the penalty for failure to register from a misdemeanor to a felony. It enhances registration requirements, by mandating that offenders register more often and in person, rather than by mail.

By strengthening these requirements, we are sending a message loudly and clearly to sex offenders: If you don't register, we will find you, and you will go to jail.

The bill also toughens penalties for violent crimes against children, including sex trafficking of children, coercion

or enticement of child prostitution, and sexual abuse.

Another aspect of this bill is the creation of a child abuse registry. I want to thank Senators Kyl and Enzi for their hard work in helping to get this provision included in the bill.

This legislation was recommended by Childhelp, a children's advocacy organization with whom my wife Karyn and many of our Senate spouses are proud to be associated.

Every day, four children die as a result of child abuse, and every day Childhelp is on the frontlines working to prevent child abuse and treat victims of such abuse. They explained to me that while many States have child abuse registries, this information is not shared with other States.

This is especially problematic with child abusers. They often relocate when questions are raised by a teacher, a neighbor, or a doctor about whether a child is being abused.

By creating a national child abuse registry, we will tear down the information barrier and enable Child Protective Services professionals in different States to share information critical to child abuse investigations.

The final component of this bill addresses the sexual exploitation of children over the Internet--and the growing crisis of child pornography, an estimated $20 billion a year industry.

The Internet has become the anonymous gateway for child predators to make contact with children, to win their confidence, and to victimize them.

Current data show that of the 24 million child Internet users, 1 in 5 has received unwanted sexual solicitations online--1 in 5. And as a recent ``Dateline NBC'' series called ``To Catch A Predator'' vividly demonstrated, many of these cyber-stalkers are more than eager to trap their young online victims in a real-world nightmare.

The bill provides additional resources to combat this growing problem by adding 200 new Federal prosecutors to prosecute crimes involving the sexual exploitation of minors; by creating 10 new Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces, which bring local, State, and Federal law enforcement together to collaborate in solving these crimes; by adding 45 new forensics examiners to accelerate processing of online evidence of child exploitation; and by providing grants for programs to educate children and parents on Internet safety.

We must continue to do more to protect our children. American families should not have to live in fear of child predators lurking in the shadows of our neighborhoods or enticing our children online.

I want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their efforts, for giving life to this critical piece of legislation. This is clearly a bipartisan, bicameral bill that has overwhelming support. I am pleased we were able to unite, Democrats and Republicans, in this body and, indeed, House with Senate.

In the Senate, I especially want to recognize my colleague, Senator Hatch, for his tireless efforts on this bill--the champion, the leader, the one with the bold vision, without whom simply this would not have happened.

I want to thank Chairman Specter and Senators Santorum, Kyl, and DeWine, for all their hard work on bringing this legislation to fruition.

Also, I want to thank Speaker Hastert and Majority Leader Boehner and Chairman Sensenbrenner and Congressman Foley for their commitment to this issue.

I urge my colleagues to join me in voting for this Adam Walsh bill, and look forward to a future that is safer for our children.

Mr. President, I do not believe there are any further speakers on the bill; therefore, I yield back all time and ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to third reading and a vote on H.R. 4472, with all of the provisions of the agreement remaining in place. I ask unanimous consent, after passage, that the title amendment be read and agreed to.

I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

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

Mr. President, I yield back all time on the judge nominations.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 535 and the Senate then proceed to its consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the resolution be printed in the Record, without further intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Con. Res. 112 which was submitted earlier today, that the resolution 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 the following bills: Calendar No. 481, Calendar No. 483 through Calendar No. 494, all postal naming bills, en bloc.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bills be read a third time and passed and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc.

Mr. President, today has been a busy and productive day in the Senate--quite a historic day in many ways. We passed the Voting Rights Act, significant legislation on which we had very good debate and discussion over the course of the day. It is a bill that has been passed by the House of Representatives last week and was passed through our Judiciary Committee yesterday, came to the floor today, and passed a few moments ago.

We confirmed four of the President's judicial nominations and about an hour ago we passed the Adam Walsh bill, a bill that establishes a national sex offender registry that toughens penalties for crimes against children that directly, and in a tough fashion, combats Internet predators and child pornography and child exploitation, that prevents abuse. I mentioned in my remarks a few moments ago, four children die as a result of child abuse every day, and although a lot of States do have registries, this information is not shared with other States.

I am delighted we were able to create this national child abuse registry which, indeed, will make such a difference in people's lives.

As I mentioned earlier, also, we will not have any votes during tomorrow's session. We are working on some further agreements for tomorrow's session, and on Friday I will have an update as to the schedule for Monday and Tuesday.

Mr. President, I understand there is a bill at the desk. 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, that particular bill is a bill that I hope we can address in the near future, a bill that will make available, once we address and pass it, a billion barrels of oil and over five trillion cubic feet of natural gas that this country does not see. It is a very important bill we will be addressing in the very near future.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Homeland and Government Affairs Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 4101 and that the Senate proceed to its consideration.

I ask unanimous consent the bill be read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be laid on 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, July 21. 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 proceed to S. 403, the Child Custody Protection Act.

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