Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 529, submitted earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent that 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 without any intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate now proceed to the consideration S. Con. Res. 109 submitted earlier today.

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. 470, S. 3525.

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, we have one matter of business that we are working on now. That is Water Resources Development. There has been objection to the unanimous consent that I propounded earlier by the Democratic leader. We are working very hard to work out that objection. With that, I will take a few more minutes, and hopefully we will be able to address this issue. I will go back to work and do just that.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, this morning, we will start with 1 hour of morning business. At approximately 10:40 a.m., we will resume work on the Homeland Security appropriations measure. Yesterday, we disposed of seven amendments, and there are two amendments currently pending. Today we should have another full day on the bill with votes occurring throughout the day.

As I have said previously, we will finish the bill this week, and, therefore, we will stay as late as necessary over the next couple of days in order to complete our work on this Homeland Security bill. I thank Senators for their cooperation in working with the managers of the Homeland Security measure. We are making good progress, and we want to complete the bill shortly. I look forward to finishing the appropriations bill, in all likelihood, on Thursday.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, yesterday a series of eight explosions struck the heart of Mumbai, India, during the evening rush-hour commute. At least 180 innocent civilians were killed and more than 700 were injured in the blast.

On behalf of this Senate and the American people, I express my heartfelt condolences to the victims, to their families, and to the Indian people. We share in your grief and in your determination to hunt down the criminals who carried out this despicable act. We will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Indian people and the Indian Government in order to bring the perpetrators of these attacks to justice.

Yesterday's bombings came less than a week after the 1-year anniversary of the London bombing attacks and less than a month after a thwarted terrorist plot against the New York City subway system was revealed. These cowardly acts remind us again and again of our responsibility to protect and secure the American homeland.

As we learned on 9/11, terrorists need to get it right just once. They exploit whatever weaknesses they can find, deliberately targeting hard-working men and women on their way to work or back from work, schoolchildren on the way to their daily school activities, vacationers on the way to the beach. In the face of such threats, we must be ever vigilant. Our pursuit must be determined. It must be tireless--breaking up terrorist cells, destroying their financing, chasing down the money trail, and bringing each and every collaborator to justice. We have to strengthen our weaknesses and we have to root out whatever vulnerabilities we have.

That is why the bill that is on the floor today, the Homeland Security bill, is so important. The Homeland Security spending bill provides over $32 billion to strengthen our ports, America's ports, our borders, our transit systems. It provides financial support for 100 new rail inspectors and canine teams, enhancing our Nation's railway security and ensuring that bombings such as those that happened in Mumbai and London aren't repeated here.

It adds 1,000 more Border Patrol agents, investigators, and those detention officers whom we know are so important in carrying out those responsibilities of securing our borders. Coupled with the spring supplemental, we will have added over 2,000 new agents in 1 year. That brings the total to over 14,300 Border Patrol agents.

The bill also expands much needed detention space--places to put people who illegally cross the border while justice is being administered--with 1,000 new beds so that we can be sure people caught entering this country illegally are not released before their cases are properly prosecuted. Taken with the spring supplemental, we will have added over 5,000 beds along the border in 1 year, bringing the total number to over 25,300 beds.

The bill provides nearly $8.2 billion to the Coast Guard to protect the 95,000 miles of shoreline border and to inspect both foreign and domestic ports. It funds grants so that high-threat, high-density urban areas can strengthen their infrastructures against threat vulnerabilities. It supports our first responders so that our firefighters, police officers, and paramedics have the training they need should disaster strike. It provides more than $818 million to combat weapons of mass destruction through appropriate research for biological and chemical countermeasures as well as for the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office to expand nuclear research and radiological detection.

We have to use every single tool available to prevent further attacks on American soil. That is why this bill is so important, the Homeland Security spending bill. It ensures that vital programs critical to our national security have the funding they need to be an effective defense.

Yesterday's bombings in Mumbai were part of a well-coordinated attack. We must pass the Homeland Security spending bill swiftly to ensure that similar attacks are not repeated and especially are not repeated on American soil.

I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, today we have the first 30 minutes of the session set aside for a period of morning business. Following that time, we will return to the consideration of the Homeland Security appropriations bill. As I announced yesterday, we will finish that bill this week. Therefore, if Senators have amendments, they should come to the floor and offer them. The two managers were here yesterday and will be on the Senate floor shortly and ready for business. Therefore, Senators can expect some votes today relative to the Homeland Security appropriations bill, and we will alert everyone when we lock in a time certain. The Senate will also recess today from 12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. for our weekly policy meetings.

Mr. President, I wish to take a few moments to comment on some very good news the administration is releasing right now as I speak.

As required by law, the administration today releases its updated estimates for this year's Federal budget. Compared to their estimate last winter that the Federal deficit would top $423 billion, today's news that the deficit will decline to $296 billion is a testament to a dynamic and growing U.S. economy. That is 30 percent less than what had been forecast in just February.

It is an economy that exceeds $13 trillion today, the largest of any country in the world. It is an economy with an annual growth rate that has consistently exceeded that of the other advanced economies around the world--England, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, and, indeed, the entire Euro area. It is an economy that has grown $3.2 trillion since the end of 2000. It is an economy battered by corporate scandals, the terrible devastation wrought by September 11, and the worst natural disaster in centuries to visit our shores. It is an economy that has grown despite the more than tripling of oil prices in less than 5 years.

All this while fighting an ongoing battle to defeat global terrorism.

It is an economy that has grown steadily for the last 4 years and 8 months. It is an economy that has experienced job growth every month for the last 34 consecutive months and added over 5.4 million jobs since September 2003. It is an economy that provided 151 million Americans jobs just last month--the largest ever in history. It is an economy with a 4.6 percent unemployment rate last month

which was below the average of the 1960s, below the average of the 1970s, below the average of the 1980s, and below the average of the 1990s.

In short, it is an economy that has grown because of the grit and spine of the American worker, whose productivity exceeds that of all others. It has also grown because of explicit policies designed to lower tax burdens on the American public, to reduce the burdens of unnecessary and costly Government regulations, to limit the growth of unnecessary Federal spending, and then to step back and let the American workers release their great entrepreneurial competitive spirit.

The result: For the first 9 months of this fiscal year, total Government receipts rose by nearly 13 percent compared to the same period last year. That increase represents the second highest rate of growth for that 9-month period in the past 25 years, surpassed only by last year's strong record. Corporate tax receipts have grown over 26 percent, and individual tax receipts have grown 14 percent the first 9 months of this year.

When this strong growth in tax receipts is laid alongside spending that has grown about half as fast, it is no wonder the estimates released today show the Federal deficit declining rapidly.

We are making progress to bring our spending and revenue into line. Despite the cost of the Global War on Terrorism, despite the drain to our Treasury from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and increasing costs of our health care system, we are making progress.

More needs to be done, and we cannot rest on the progress made to date. We must continue to limit the growth of unnecessary, parochial spending in the Federal budget. We must continue to find ways to lower the cost of providing health care to our seniors and to workers and their families. We must find new sources of energy for the future. We must invest the taxpayers' dollars wisely in those areas which will continue to increase our competitive advantage in a growing, competitive global economy. We must continue to lower tax burdens on families and businesses so they can plan, invest, and continue to contribute to a growing economy in the years ahead. We must do all this and more while continuing to strive to achieve fiscal balance. Today's figures confirm for me that we can and we will achieve these blessings for future generations.

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 the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 448, S. Res. 301.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee- reported amendments be agreed to; the resolution, as amended, be agreed to; the preamble, as amended, 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 en bloc to Calendar No. 471, S. 1509; Calendar No. 465, S. 2041; Calendar No. 497, S. 2430.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee- reported amendment be agreed to, the bills as amended, if amended, be read the third time and passed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bills be printed in the Record en bloc.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Rules and Administration be discharged from further consideration of S. 2918 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read the third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the measure be printed in the Record as if read.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H. Con. Res. 427, which was received from the House.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

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

Mr. President, I now ask for its 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 wish to take a moment to recognize the Presiding Officer, Senator John Thune, for tonight reaching 100 hours of presiding. Senator Thune should be commended for his perseverance. He often rushes to the floor to preside for only 10 minutes as we close our business for the day, making 100 hours seem almost unattainable. Congratulations to our Presiding Officer.