Floor Statements

Mr. President, tomorrow, we will be in session at 8:45 in the morning, and we expect to proceed to a vote on the Kavanaugh nomination, to be followed by a vote on the Hayden nomination, and a cloture vote on the Kempthorne nomination. Thus, Senators can expect three votes very early tomorrow morning. Those votes should begin shortly after we convene at 8:45 a.m. I thank my colleagues for their work on the immigration bill that we passed earlier today.

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 Obama for 10 minutes, Senator Levin for 30 minutes, and then Senator Schumer.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that following the cloture vote, the Senate stand in recess until 12 noon to accommodate the joint meeting with the Prime Minister of Israel and that the time count postcloture.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I now be recognized to use my leader time and following my comments the Senate recess under the previous order.

Mr. President, for the information of our colleagues, we will be having the joint session shortly, after which, with cloture successfully invoked, we will begin the 30 hours of debate on the immigration bill. I am pleased with the outcome of the vote that we just took. We are on a glidepath to complete the immigration bill, a comprehensive bill. Still, we will have the opportunity to have a number of amendments. In fact, there are a lot of amendments to be considered over the course of the day.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that following the sequence of votes, the Senate begin a period of morning business; provided further that when the Senate resumes the bill on Thursday, we proceed to the following first degree amendments in the order listed below; further, that these be the only remaining amendments in order other than the managers' amendment: Cornyn No. 4097, 60 minutes equally divided; Bingaman No. 4131, 40 minutes equally divided; Sessions No. 4108, 1 hour equally divided; Feingold No. 4083, 1 hour equally divided; Ensign No. 4136, 30 minutes equally divided; provided further that there be no second-degree amendments in order to the above amendments.

Finally, I ask unanimous consent that all time while in morning business and during the adjournment of the Senate count against the time limit under rule XXII.

We will be coming in at 9:15 in the morning.

Mr. President, that means we are, most importantly, on a final glidepath. Those are the amendments which will be considered with those times, and then we will be able to vote on final passage on the bill.

Senator Warner's 10,000th Vote

Mr. President, I would like to pay special tribute to the senior Senator from Virginia, Mr. John Warner. Tonight he just cast his 10,000th vote.

(Applause, Members rising.)

This year, Senator Warner became the second longest serving U.S. Senator from Virginia in the 218-year history of the Senate. Since arriving in the Senate 27 years ago, he has forged a long and distinguished record, especially on issues concerning the Armed Forces. He has addressed some of the most fundamental security issues facing this Nation, including the revitalization of the Armed Forces under President Reagan, the restructuring of the military following our success in the Cold War, and the countering of emerging threats from foreign nations and terrorist groups.

It is my pleasure to call Senator Warner a colleague and a friend. He is a Senator's Senator, representing the best in this august institution. We all congratulate him on his lifetime commitment to serving this country with honor and distinction.

(Applause, Members rising.)

I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 630, Dirk Kempthorne, to be Secretary of the Interior.

Mr. President, I believe there is an objection on the other side of the aisle to setting a time certain for a vote on this Cabinet nomination. Given that objection, I now send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the live quorum be waived.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now return to legislative session.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 5037, which was just received from the House.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment 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 that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, the bill we just passed was the Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act. I would like to comment briefly, and I express my thanks to my colleagues for allowing me to proceed with this legislation and interrupt their debate.

I would like to read briefly from a news report that appeared in the Chicago Tribune this past April. And I quote:

Army Private First Class Amy Duerksen was 19 when she died

last month in a U.S. military surgical hospital in Baghdad, 3

days after being shot in an accident. By all the accounts of

her family, friends and superiors, she had been a model

soldier, an impassioned patriot and a deeply devout

Christian.

But none of that mattered to the six members of the

Westboro Baptist Church who drove all night from their

headquarters in Topeka, KS to show up outside Duerksen's

March 17th funeral waving hateful placards.

I will not sully this institution or the memory of Amy Duerksen by repeating this group's detestable message. But I will tell you that today the Senate unanimously passed the Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act, originally introduced by Congressman Mike Rogers of Michigan and passed in the House with near unanimous support.

Here in the Senate, we agreed, as one, that families like the Duerksens should never have to be harassed by protesters of any stripe as they bury their fallen warriors.

The Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act will protect the sanctity of all 122 of our national cemeteries as shrines to our gallant dead.

It will ban demonstrations that occur within 500 feet of the cemetery without prior approval from an hour before a funeral until an hour after it. Violators will be fined up to $100,000 and spend a year in jail.

It's a sad but necessary measure to protect what should be recognized by all reasonable people as a solemn, private, and deeply sacred occasion.

The bill has been carefully crafted to meet constitutional muster. As even the ACLU acknowledges, ``The right of free expression is not an absolute right to express ourselves at any time, in any place, in any manner.''

And as the courts have identified, our national cemeteries are places deserving of the respect and honor of those interred or memorialized.

I thank Congressman Rogers for bringing this issue to our attention. And I conclude with a passage from the Bible:

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Matthew 5:4.

We may never understand what compels a small group of small minded and mean hearted people to harass a family in mourning. But that is not our responsibility here. Our duty is to protect the solemn right of our military families to grieve the loss of America's fallen heroes in private, with the respect and dignity that is their due.

I look forward to this bill reaching the President's desk and being signed into law.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 419, S. 1773.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee- reported amendments 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, I ask unanimous consent that the HELP Committee be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to H. Con. Res. 357.

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.

I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until 9:15 a.m. on Thursday, May 25. 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 resume consideration of S. 2611, as under the previous order.

Mr. President, in the morning we will work toward passage of the immigration bill. We have our final amendment list lined up. We will likely debate the amendments and stack them together very early in the afternoon. I do anticipate passage of the bill by early afternoon following those votes.

Following passage of this comprehensive immigration bill, we will proceed to the cloture vote on the Kavanaugh nomination. I filed cloture the night before last. We are attempting to reach a time agreement on the Hayden nomination. I feel strongly we need to complete action on the Hayden nomination before we leave. It is an important position, General Hayden being the right man for this position at a very important time in our history. We also have the Portman nomination for OMB and the Schwab nomination at the USTR to clear this week, as well. It is my goal to reach an agreement with the other side of the aisle as to when we might be able to bring him to the Senate.

Finally, I mention that I filed a cloture motion on the nomination of our former colleague, Dirk Kempthorne, to be Secretary of the Interior. I have tried over the course of the day, to no avail, to be able to bring that to a vote and was unable to do so with an objection on the other side of the aisle. I have filed cloture tonight. This vote will occur on Friday.

We end Wednesday, at a late hour, having had a very productive day today, very productive day yesterday, really, this whole week. I appreciate the collegial approach our colleagues have taken in allowing amendments to come forward, to be debated, thoroughly debated, discussed and voted upon. We set out on this immigration bill well over a month ago. We had a hiatus over the recess, came back and in a very bipartisan spirit had an agreement to proceed to consider votes with these amendments and have the votes taken.

We have had huge progress. The debate has been very good. Everyone has participated in that debate. Everyone has had the opportunity to submit amendments and have them debated.

With that, we have progressed in our understanding of both the importance of this bill but also the importance of having a comprehensive solution to the challenges we face, with 12 million people here illegally, the need, absolute necessity of having a strong temporary worker program in this country for economic reasons and employment reasons and then, first and foremost, sealing our borders, locking down our borders in the sense we can have legal immigration and not illegal immigration coming across at ports of entry.

I have been very pleased with the debate. It has been very tough, very challenging, for a number of our Members. There is no consensus in the sense that everyone has gotten exactly what they wanted, but I will be absolutely satisfied with this bill as a reflection of the will of 100 Senators, the will of this Senate after this very long time in the Senate but very good and productive time where so many amendments have been considered.

We will complete the bill tomorrow. I expect the bill to pass tomorrow. I can't predict what the final outcome will be, but I think it will reflect this very open, free, deliberate process we have seen over the last several weeks.

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

Mr. President, there will be no objection. We are making real progress and have begun discussing how we will handle the rest of the day and tomorrow as well. There is no objection.

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 that the Chair lay before the Senate the House message to accompany S. 2349 to provide greater transparency in the legislative process.

The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate the following message from the House of Representatives:

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate disagree with the House amendments, request a conference with the House, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees at a ratio of 3 to 2.