Floor Statements

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 Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations on today's Executive Calendar: Calendar Nos. 605 through 612, and all nominations on the Secretary's desk. I further ask unanimous consent that the nominations be confirmed, en bloc, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then return to legislative session.

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 ask unanimous consent that first-degree amendments to the supplemental be filed at the desk in accordance with rule XXII no later than 2:30 p.m. on Monday.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee be discharged from further consideration and that the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 412

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 the Senate proceed to the en bloc consideration of S. Res. 451, S. Res. 452, S. Res. 453, and S. Res. 454, which are at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, all en bloc.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 455, which was submitted earlier today.

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, this Senate resolution we just agreed to thanks Terrance Gainer, former Chief of the U.S. Capitol Police. Although I don't have a formal statement, I have had an opportunity to work with Chief Gainer very closely over the last several years. Although many of those interactions were in routine business, what we regard as routine business, at every moment he stood ready with the Capitol Police for any unexpected event. And those unexpected, tragic events that I was able to work with him on, led me--seeing the way he addressed these issues, with dignity, with discipline, with a real understanding of what was at stake--to have a great deal of respect for him, his approach, his character, his integrity and his professionalism.

It wasn't too long ago that many people were stranded inside of the Russell Building parking garage for an alarm that went off. I was able to go and talk to Chief Gainer about that, as they were determining what the etiology of that alarm was, and I got to see the full force of that integrity and that discipline and that level of sophistication.

I wish him the best of luck and good fortune as he leaves behind his tremendous service here at the Capitol.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until 2 p.m. on Monday, May 1. 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 H.R. 4939, the Supplemental Appropriations bill.

Mr. President, we have made some progress on the Iraq supplemental bill this week. I thank Chairman Cochran for his leadership, for his patience, and for his hard work.

The Senate will not be in session tomorrow, as I indicated earlier.

We have a lot to do before we complete action on this crucial funding bill. In order to make sure that we can get the bill finished in a timely manner, I filed cloture a few moments ago. That cloture vote will occur on Tuesday morning.

Senators should expect full days with multiple votes next week.

I expect cloture will be invoked.

As we all know, there will be a number of other amendments that will be dealt with.

We will also be voting on Monday at approximately 5:30. Several district judges have been reported by the Judiciary Committee, and we anticipate voting on at least one of those on Monday.

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.

Mr. President, we will begin today's session with 30 minutes allocated for morning business. At the conclusion of morning business, we will return to the pending supplemental appropriations bill. The order provides for debate to run equally in relation to Senator Gregg's border security amendment, along with Senator Reid's amendment on border security. We will vote on both of those amendments beginning at 12 noon today. I encourage Senators to come forward with their amendments. If Senators are considering amendments, please notify the managers as soon as possible. They will then be able to line up an orderly process.

It is my intent to have votes throughout the day on amendments, and I hope Senators agree to reasonable time agreements to allow us to work through as many of these issues as we can during today's session.

Mr. President, yesterday the President made clear that he will veto any supplemental spending bill that exceeds the administration's request. I thank and applaud the administration and recognize their determination to stick to true emergency spending. I will support the veto, if necessary, to keep Federal spending under control. Families live within their means; so should Washington.

The President has taken a strong stance on a necessary, must-pass piece of legislation that we know will bolster our national security, support hurricane recovery, and border security efforts as well. We need to work swiftly and in good faith to meet the President's request, but we need to focus on the necessary spending.

The President submitted his request for $92.2 billion in emergency spending in late February. The House passed the supplemental in March. This legislation needs to be on the President's desk before Memorial Day. We intend to do just that.

We need to support our troops who are currently in the field fighting to protect us, and we need to support our fellow citizens who are working hard to rebuild and recover their homes and communities on the gulf coast. Both are extraordinary responsibilities. We should not in any way, with either of these issues, play politics in succeeding on these critical efforts. Nor can we afford to encumber this must-pass legislation with unnecessary amendments. It is always tempting for people to come forward and get their own projects or interests attached to these must-pass spending bills. On this bill, we encourage people not to do that.

In order to keep within our spending limits, we are encouraging Senators who may have legitimate emergency spending requests to find offsets for those amendments in order not to drive the overall top line of this bill higher and higher.

For example, the amendment I cosponsored with Senator Judd Gregg increases emergency spending for border security, but it is offset within the bill, and I think that is how we should approach issues as much as possible.

Time is limited. We must finish this legislation, I hope within the week, so we can quickly get on to a conference with the House and get it to the President for signature. These are emergency funds and the troops need these funds overseas. By pulling together, I am confident we can move this legislation forward and get the critical work of the American people done.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, in a few moments we will begin the votes on these two amendments. I wish to say right up front that I applaud and congratulate Senator Judd Gregg, chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, for having as the very first amendment on the supplemental request an amendment that focuses on border security, on national security, on tightening the borders that we all know are too porous. It shows good leadership. It shows priorities in this being the first amendment to tighten the borders and strong border enforcement.

Actually, the first step was taken last year by Senator Gregg, when we were on this floor, under his leadership, and funded an additional 1,400 border guards, as well as 1,800 detention beds, a strong statement recognizing the importance of addressing border security. This is step two today in addressing more the capital expenditures, the equipment, the infrastructure which we know those border guards require to guard that border.

A key element of our security, of our global war on terrorism, indeed, is securing our Nation's borders, and this amendment takes that next major step in that direction by providing $1.9 billion for improving that border infrastructure.

The Democratic leader just mentioned he had been on the southern border. I have been on the southern border. It doesn't take long to witness for every one person detained and stopped, there are two or three people who sneak around that border, and that is as many as 2 to 3 million people a year who come to this country. We don't know who they are, why they are here, or what their intentions are. For this particular amendment, there are a number of things we have talked about over the course of the morning. It will provide needed funds to upgrade an outdated P-3 aircraft fleet that is used for surveillance along our borders. When you are there and you look at that 1,900 mile border, you know how important it is to have those surveillance aircraft to be able to look down and identify along that long expanse people coming across illegally. It will provide needed funding for a number of unmanned aerial vehicles operating along our southwest border. As we talked about already today, it is amazing that we only have one UAV, unmanned aerial vehicle, which has worked very effectively, but--I said we have--we had, because literally that aircraft crashed yesterday morning while serving along that Arizona border.

The amendment will provide additional resources for continued construction of the border fence--the fence itself, the physical structure--near San Diego.

This first amendment also sets what is a very important standard framework, a fiscal spending framework as we begin debate on this emergency funding bill. The initiative included in the amendment put forward by our side of the aisle--we initiated this amendment for the tightening of border security--is paid for in the bill itself, and that is a very important framework which I hope we can continue to use for absolutely necessary emergency spending as we look at the rest of this bill.

Securing our borders is the first step for any action we need to take in terms of more comprehensive reform of immigration, an issue we debated for 2 weeks on the floor beginning about a month ago and an issue we will come back to. But border security is first, it is foremost. I feel strongly that we need to look at workplace enforcement and interior enforcement and a temporary worker program as well, and we will come back to that later. But now is the time for us to say forcefully that we are serious about tightening that border, and we will provide the resources, the personnel, and capital infrastructure to do just that.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that it now be in order to ask for the yeas and nays on both amendments.

Madam President, I now ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, today, we will start with a 1-hour period of morning business, and following that we will go into executive session to consider the nomination of Gray Miller to be a U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Texas. We have 10 minutes allocated for debate on that nomination, with the vote occurring after that time.

Senators can expect the first vote today at approximately 11 o'clock this morning. We have a group of Senators going to the White House. Therefore, we want to start that vote no later than 11 o'clock. I hope Members will be able to keep their remarks brief so we can get to that vote.

After the vote, we will resume consideration of the supplemental appropriations bill. There is an opportunity for Senators to give opening statements this morning prior to the policy lunch. The Senate will recess for each party's policy meeting between 12:30 and 2:15. Later this afternoon, I expect amendments to be offered to the supplemental, and I hope we will be voting on those amendments during today's session.

Mr. President, I welcome my colleagues back from the Easter/Passover recess. It was a 2-week recess, where many had the opportunity to spend time with our families and with our constituents back at home. I hope everybody had a rejuvenating and productive period of time because we have a lot to do.

We have before us a 5-week block of time, during which I intend to keep the Senate focused on the big challenges facing America and on delivering meaningful solutions to the problems Americans are seeing out there every day, some of which are very apparent and some of which are not very apparent in their everyday lives.

As we set out from the very start, the goal of this Republican-led Senate is to make America safer, stronger, more productive, and healthier. That applies across the board, from the war on terror abroad--and we will have a lot of discussion on that on the supplemental--to the family budget right here at home, and people are feeling the pinch of gasoline prices and skyrocketing health care costs every day.

Time is of the essence. We have serious issues to tackle in 5 short weeks. That means working together, pulling the very best out of both sides of the aisle, and recognizing that obstruction is not in order as we proceed along this upward path of producing for the American people.

It is an election year. That always makes it challenging for everything we do every step along the way. But the American people expect us to legislate, to govern, and not to get mired down in partisan obstruction and partisan politics. It is our obligation and responsibility to deliver to them. We have the challenges out there. We have to act and we need to act with solutions. That is what the American people expect--challenge, action, solutions. That is what they deserve.

We need to support our troops who are fighting in the field for our freedom and safety. We need to address the skyrocketing health care costs and make

health care more affordable, more accessible to every American, no matter where they live. We need to put judges on the bench who interpret and not make the law. We need to keep our economy strong and growing. We need to tackle that rising cost of gasoline. Right now it is up, teetering at the $3 level. That is too much to be paying per gallon.

Over the next 5 weeks, we are going to tackle each of these items. I call upon my colleagues on both sides to work together to get this done for the sake of our fellow citizens who have sent us here to work for them, to represent them.

Unfortunately, before the Easter recess, obstruction from the other side got in the way of comprehensive border security and immigration reform. But as I have announced over the last couple of days, I intend to bring this issue back and to continue driving forward on this important issue to the American people. We need real border security. That includes a fence along certain parts of the border, surveillance along other parts of the border. But we have to get this border under control. We took very positive steps last year in increasing the number of border agents and the number of detention facilities, and both are very important in this supplemental bill over the next several days. We will once again address border security.

We also need employer enforcement in a system that addresses the fact that we have 12 million to 20 million individuals who right now are kept in the shadows. Building on last year's efforts, spearheaded by the Senate, I will support an effort to put funds into the supplemental bill to make our next downpayment on securing the border.

Hiring more Border Patrol agents and giving them the tools they need to get the job done doesn't need to wait until we finish the overall immigration bill. We can take important steps now and indeed we will. It is part of the challenge, the action, and the solutions the American people want; they want serious reform.

Keeping America strong also means keeping America healthy. Insurance premiums have risen--health insurance premiums--73 percent over the last 5 years. It hits small businesses and their employees in particular. Of the 20 million Americans who are working and are uninsured, don't have health insurance, 49 percent are self-employed or work in firms with fewer than 25 employees. According to the Institutes of Medicine, nearly 18,000 Americans die prematurely each year due to lack of insurance. It is a fact. It has been proven again and again.

If you have health insurance--even if you do not have comprehensive health insurance, but you have any health insurance, you do better in terms of health outcomes. Last month, the HELP Committee reported out a bill to allow small businesses to band together all over a community to reach out and gain that purchasing clout which we know in the marketplace can drive prices down. It can make those insurance policies less expensive and thus more accessible.

The Enzi legislation, when fully phased in, would reduce employer premiums by 12 percent and the number of uninsured workers by at least a million. Voters are close to unanimous in their support for allowing self-employed workers and small business employees to band together to negotiate lower insurance costs as spelled out in that Enzi bill.

Again, challenge, action, solutions. It is time to get it done.

We have also known for some time that the medical malpractice system is broken. It is driving up costs, driving my doctor colleagues out of their professions, from practicing medicine and delivering care. Nearly half of America's counties today lack an obstetrician/gynecologist, and that is due in large part to excessive, skyrocketing medical malpractice premiums. Three out of four neurosurgeons will no longer operate on children. When you ask why, it is because of medical liability. And 79 percent of doctors practice defensive medicine for fear of getting sued. That means when somebody comes in and they have a headache, you get a whole barrage of unnecessary tests to protect yourself in the event there is a lawsuit. Health care costs have risen between $70 billion and $126 billion in defensive medicine costs.

I was in Texas the other day. Texas is fascinating to me as a physician. They recently adopted liability reform measures. The largest malpractice insurer in the State immediately began lowering premiums, and premiums in that State are now down by 22 percent. Indeed, there is an influx of doctors from all over the country moving to Texas because of this very effective, proven to be effective, malpractice reform. An overwhelming majority of Americans support a Federal law to limit jury awards to compensate for pain and suffering in medical malpractice suits. Challenge, action, solutions. It is time to get this done.

Keeping America strong means keeping our economy thriving. That is why we passed the Tax Relief Act of 2005. We know that tax cuts work. We know they grow the economy and help create jobs. In 2001, we passed $1.4 trillion in tax relief; 2 years later, another $350 billion. That is $1.7 trillion that goes into the pockets of everyday, hard-working Americans for them to save, to spend, to invest. We cut taxes on income and marriage. We doubled the child tax credit and slashed taxes on capital gains and dividends. Because we did, our economy has grown.

Right now, each month we are creating about 200,000 new jobs. Over the last 32 months, we have created 5.1 million new jobs. Home ownership is up. Minority home ownership is up at all-time highs.

Tax relief has led to 3 years of record economic growth. But we have a lot more to do. In the next 5 weeks, I intend to bring legislation to the floor to eliminate the death tax once and for all. The death tax is unfair, it is inefficient, and it taxes people for dying. It is double and triple taxation. The death tax drives hard-working people to spend billions of dollars on complicated tax structures for the sole purpose of avoiding death taxes on income that has already been taxed.

Because of Katrina, we could not move forward on repealing the death tax last fall, but now is the time to bury that death tax once and for all. Keeping America strong, protecting the democratic process means protecting the separation of powers. We need judges who interpret the law and who don't make law from the bench.

We have made substantial progress on judicial nominations. We put one Chief Justice, one Associate Justice, six previously filibustered circuit court nominees, 20 other circuit nominees, and 104 district court nominees on the bench since 2003. But we cannot rest on that progress.

Terry Boyle is one example of a nominee who deserves our consideration. He was nominated for a circuit court judgeship back in 1991 and then again in 2001. He has been waiting 15 years for a fair up-or-down vote.

Another is Brett Kavanaugh, first nominated in July 2003. He has been waiting ever since that date. He, too, deserves a fair up-or-down vote.

We need to keep up the momentum and keep driving forward so that each and every nominee gets a fair up-or-down vote on the floor of the Senate.

The weather is warming up and we are approaching the summer driving season, and American families are being squeezed tighter and tighter by these skyrocketing gas prices. We need to help them find relief. We know there is no single magic bullet. We know it is an issue of supply and demand.

As a first step, Speaker Hastert and I have asked the President to direct the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice to investigate if price gouging or speculation in the oil markets is contributing to the current high prices.

We need to get to the bottom of it, and if we do so, we may have legislative action required on the floor of the Senate, or we may not, but only an investigation, only an examination by the FTC and DOJ can give us that answer.

We need to find short-term solutions. In the long term, however, the answer is to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil. The fact that we are 60-percent dependent today on foreign sources of oil is simply inexcusable.

During our majority over the last 12 years, Democratic obstruction and delay has stopped measures to enhance domestic production, and domestic production must be a part of any long-term solution for our energy supply.

The President laid out a number of initiatives in his State of the Union

Address, and I hope we can pursue them in committees and then bring them to the floor quickly. Again, challenge, action, solutions.

Those are some of the things we need to be doing over the next 5 weeks. There is a lot to do in a very short period of time, but I am convinced that with determination and focus and by leading on principle, we can and we must govern with meaningful solutions on the issues that matter, and they can be delivered to the American people. We can make America stronger, we can make America safer, and we can make it more secure. We must keep America moving forward.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.