Roland Burris

Mr. BURRIS

Mr. BURRIS. Mr. President, many of my colleagues and citizens across the country recognize this Saturday as National Train Day, a celebration of 140 years of coast-to-coast rail travel in the Unite States. I rise to commemorate the proud history of America's railways, but also to mark this as a time for more than celebration. We must see this occasion as an opportunity to look ahead, to reinvest in our nation's infrastructure and begin a fresh chapter of high-speed rail service. In May of 1869, the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads were joined in the remote Utah desert, connecting the east and west coasts of the United States and completing the very first transcontinental railroad in our Nation's history. For almost a century and a half since, trains have transformed the way goods are transported and intercity passengers reach their destinations. From the moment of their birth, America's railroads have represented our efforts to meet the challenges and opportunities of living in a Nation that spans a continent. The rails that connected Atlantic to Pacific became the backbone upon which we built American commerce and ingenuity. In many ways they defined the fabric of our culture, laying the foundation that allowed our civilization to push the American frontier ever westward. Every year, Amtrak transports 28 million Americans between 500 communities in 46 States. Intercity passenger rail is 18 percent more energy efficient than air travel and 25 percent more efficient than automobiles, making the modern locomotive one of the most refined and environmentally friendly technologies in American history. I have seen this firsthand. My early life was shaped in part by the great American railway. I was raised in Centralia, IL, a small town that was very much centered around the railroad. We lived along a major line originating in Chicago, a national transportation hub that ships goods, passengers and economic opportunity to every community it touches as the trains set out across the American heartland. Like many in our town, my father, grandfather and four great uncles worked many years for the Illinois Central Railroad. I am proud to be a part of the legacy that he and many others helped to create in Illinois and across the country, a legacy that continues to shape us even today. But now the aging infrastructure that gave definition to this country is badly in need of repair. The time has come once again to invest in rail travel. Throughout my career, I have supported high-speed rail technology, which will curb pollution and ease crowding on our roads and in the skies. Now, under President Obama's leadership, we have the chance to make this dream a reality. By making a substantial investment in clean, safe high-speed rail, we can renew the deep connections that bind our cities and states to one another and to our shared national identity. We can create jobs, revitalize our economy, protect our environment, and continue the proud tradition of our national railways. I ask my colleagues to join with me in reaffirming this commitment to modern rail service. I am glad that so many recognize the importance of railroads in shaping the past we share. But this year, on National Train Day, we should celebrate our past by looking to the future. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BURRIS

Mr. BURRIS. Mr. President, as I address this Chamber today, more Americans find themselves face to face with the grim reality of home foreclosure than ever before. The magnitude of this problem is hard to overstate, and the human cost of forced evictions and shuttered windows is heartbreaking. In the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis, neighborhoods across the country are battered by month after month of record foreclosures, and there does not seem to be an end in sight. We must therefore move with urgency to put an end to this crisis and help keep hardworking Americans in their homes. With this increasingly dire situation in mind, I urge my colleagues to pass the Durbin amendment to the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act. As it stands, 8.1 million homes are expected to be lost to foreclosure before we emerge from this crisis. The Durbin amendment would preserve more than $300 billion in equity for responsible homeowners and prevent 1.7 million of those mortgages from falling into foreclosure. Together with President Obama's Housing and Stability Plan, this measure would create strong incentives to modify mortgages outside of bankruptcy. Under this plan, a few troubled borrowers would receive controlled assistance in the court system. This empowers homeowners and also protects lenders to ensure that everyone is getting a fair deal. Some elements of the powerful banking industry oppose what I see as a commonsense solution. They seek to misrepresent our efforts to help Americans remain in their homes, despite the fact that this legislation safeguards their assets too, and even provides lenders with a ``veto'' over which of their borrowers can go into bankruptcy. Please do not fall victim to the myths that some have tried to spread about this bill. Let me be clear: this measure is not a stopgap, it is not a bailout, and it will not cost taxpayers one more penny. It is a pragmatic and effective solution to a set of problems that have been wreaking havoc on the American families for far too long. I applaud my colleague, Senator Durbin, for his leadership on this issue. Where others have pointed fingers and played partisan games, Senator Durbin has acted swiftly to provide a clear vision and a strong voice on behalf of troubled homeowners in our home state and across the country. I thank him for his hard work in creating this important legislation, and I am proud to support it. Now is the time to focus on solutions. Now is the time to take swift action to save 1.7 million homes otherwise expected to fall into foreclosure. The day will come when it is appropriate to assign blame, to call those responsible to task for the recklessness that led us here. But first we must act boldly to aid the victims of the mortgage crisis and stop the relentless march of foreclosures across America's heartland. I call upon my colleagues to pass the Durbin amendment without delay.

Mr. BURRIS

Mr. BURRIS. I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.

Mr. BURRIS. I thank the Chair.

Mr. BURRIS

Mr. BURRIS. Mr. President, many of my colleagues and countless Americans across the country recognize today as Equal Pay Day, a solemn reminder of the enduring wage gap that separates women from men. We mark this inequity on a day in late April because it has taken many women from January 2008 until now to earn what their male counterparts brought home in 2008 alone. This is simply not acceptable. At a time of widespread economic uncertainty, the disparity is more troubling than ever. We can and must do better. In 1963, this body passed the Equal Pay Act which was signed into law and represented a triumph for America's workforce. That legislation laid the groundwork for significant progress. It established a set of principles that declared the United States of America as a nation that does not discriminate based on gender. It was an important first step. Nearly 50 years have passed since that day. It is clear that we have more work to do. The Paycheck Fairness Act, which I am proud to cosponsor, would update the original Equal Pay Act and bring the law in line with our Nation's other important civil rights laws. The Bureau of Labor Statistics tells us that in 2007, women with full-time employment earned roughly 78 cents for every dollar men earned. This represents modest progress compared to 2006, when the ratio stood at slightly less than 77 cents on the dollar. Sadly, women of color earn significantly less, even when they have the same qualifications as men they work alongside. Over the course of a 40-year career, women can lose as much as $1 million to the gender age gap. Nationwide that means roughly $200 billion of lost income every single year. With families across America tightening their belts and working harder than ever to make ends meet, it would be a serious failure on the part of this Congress to ignore this call to action. With this in mind, we must move swiftly to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. This comprehensive bill would encourage employers to follow the law by creating substantial incentives and strengthening penalties for equal pay violations, aligning it more closely with civil rights legislation. It would close loopholes. It would prohibit employer retaliation, improve Federal outreach, and strengthen enforcement efforts. The bill would also draw on a measure already enacted in the great State of Illinois to fix the established requirement clarifying reasonable points of comparison between employees to determine their fair wages. All of this, together with increased training, education, and research, means the Paycheck Fairness Act would invigorate the landmark equal pay legislation of the 1960s and provide much needed updates for the 21st century. In all of my years of public life, I have had the privilege of witnessing firsthand the progress our Nation has made over the past half century. The stubborn barriers of race and gender known to my parents' generation have been shattered. Even in my own lifetime, I have seen changes few could have imagined. But for all the progress we have made, there is still a very long way to go. It is this slow, steady march toward our highest aspirations--the active progress of perfecting our Union--that defines the shared destiny of all Americans: Black and White, male and female, from all walks of life, and every corner of the globe. The Paycheck Fairness Act represents a concrete step in closing the gender wage gap and another powerful stride in the march to equality. It is a measure that stands for common sense, good governance, and equal opportunity. I am proud to cosponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act, and I urge my colleagues to join with me in supporting women in the workforce. It is my hope we will soon commemorate Equal Pay Day not as a grim reminder of the gender pay gap but as a day we took decisive action to stop discrimination in its tracks. I ask my colleagues to join me in this effort and to adopt the Paycheck Fairness Act without delay. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. BURRIS

Mr. BURRIS. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BURRIS. Mr. President, I stand today to discuss a matter of great importance and great sadness to every community across this country. From our biggest cities to our smallest towns, gun violence is stealing the lives of innocent victims. It is tearing apart families, communities, and our own sense of security. Gun violence in our communities must end, and it must end now. In just the last 2 weeks we have had too many grim reminders of what can happen when there are too many weapons on the street. From Chicago and Maryville, IL, to Samson, AL, we have seen gun violence mix with devastating results. Friday was a tragic day in Chicago. Last Friday night, 14-year-old Gregory Robinson was gunned down in a car while driving with his family through Chicago's far south side. This young man's funeral is today. Instead of reaching his dream to become a basketball star at Simeon Career Academy in Chicago, this high school freshman became the 28th Chicago public school student to be killed just this year. Twenty-eight students, Mr. President. I repeat, 28 young lives are now snuffed out. Last Tuesday was an equally tragic day in the city. On Tuesday, young Franco Avilla, a tenth grader at Roosevelt High School on Chicago's west side, was shot to death. Instead of being the exception, shooting deaths of our school children have now become the rule. Last school year, 26 Chicago public school students were shot during the full 9- month school year. Well, this year, Chicago public schools have already surpassed this sad milestone, and it is only March. When Franco left his house last Tuesday afternoon, his last words to his father were: ``Dad, I'll be back.'' He never came home. Gun violence took his life. We must take action now to get these weapons off our streets and end the senseless slaughter of our young people. Guns played an equally devastating role in the life of Juan Pitts. Mr. Pitts' son, Kendrick, was a 17-year-old student at Bowen High School when he was shot down last month alongside two other Chicago public school students--15-year-old Raheem Washington and 13-year-old Johnny Edwards. The deaths of these young men are atrocious. Yet the pain and tragedy of the Pitts family has only doubled since then. Two weeks ago, Kendrick's brother, Carnell, who graduated from Bowen High School last year, was shot to death at a gathering on Chicago's south side. Gangs and gun violence go hand-in-hand. Our youth should be carrying school books instead of firearms. Yet in so many instances, our failure to invest in the education of our youth on the front end is at the root of the violence and imprisonment, as a result, on the back end. Our failure to enact serious, sensible gun control measures make it much more likely these tragedies are going to occur again and again. We tend to think of gun violence as a problem of large urban areas--a symptom of America's big cities. Well, the truth is, no community is immune to such senseless behavior. I am from a small town. I was born and raised in Centralia, IL, which is about 100 miles south of our State capital of Springfield. I know how close-knit these small-town families and small towns are. I know how safe these towns seem to be. Sadly, two recent events proved otherwise. A recent shooting in Maryville, IL, which is about an hour-and-a-half drive from my hometown of Centralia, reminds us that the dangers associated with guns affect us all, no matter where we live, work, pray or go to school. Two weeks ago, on a quiet Sunday morning, a 27-year-old gunman walked straight down the aisle of Maryville's First Baptist Church and shot and killed Pastor Winters during the normal weekly service. Just days later, in Samson, AL, we saw the all-too-familiar word flash across our TV screens again--``massacre.'' A 28-year-old gunman killed a total of 10 individuals and injured many more before he finally took his own life during an hour-long rampage. The 10 individuals who died, whose lives ended on that tragic Tuesday afternoon, were going about their daily routine without the slightest thought that their lives would end that very day. The many more who were wounded by those gunshots surely never thought they, too, would be victims--survivors, nonetheless--of gun violence. The stark truth is, everybody is a victim of gun violence. Every Senator in this body has constituents who have been touched by this issue, and it is our responsibility as lawmakers and leaders of this great Nation to ensure assault and semiautomatic weapons do not take the lives of so many innocent victims. We must take action to stop the senseless killing on our Nation's streets, in our communities, at our schools, and in our places of worship. We must take action to increase our gun control measures and decrease our gun violence. Ultimately, by doing so, we will be taking action to ensure our children, our families, and our communities live in a safer place in America. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. BURRIS. I ask unanimous consent the time of the quorum call be equally divided.

Mr. BURRIS

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

Mr. BURRIS

Mr. BURRIS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.

Mr. BURRIS. Mr. President, I rise to express my outrage that at a time of economic crisis in our Nation and around the world, at a time when so many Americans are losing jobs, defaulting on homes, and falling behind in their own payments, they are paying into a system doling out multimillion-dollar bonuses to employees at AIG. Many of the same employees receiving these lavish payouts are the same ones who brought their company to the edge of collapse and the economy into the depths of recession. We cannot let their actions be rewarded--excessively rewarded--with the multimillion-dollar bonuses paid by the taxpayers. Time and again, we have gone back to our constituents and asked them to sacrifice to make ends meet. Now we demand the corporate executives do the same. As American families struggle to balance their own checkbooks at kitchen tables all across America, the employees of AIG walk out of their offices with $165 million in bonuses so far and are on track to take home an estimated $450 million by the end of this year--free money that they did not earn and certainly do not deserve. It is now time for those executives who, through their reckless greed and irresponsible actions, have jeopardized our economic security to share the burden in rebuilding this economy. If this company and others like it fail to recognize the outrage and the frivolous nature of these taxpayer-funded bonuses, Congress will intervene and act on their behalf. Yesterday, I joined my Democratic colleagues in sending a letter to the CEO of AIG, Edward Liddy. We asked that Mr. Liddy take a reasonable look at these excessive bonuses and requested that he act to renegotiate them. We also warned that if he chooses not to act immediately, we will take action to recoup the American taxpayers' money through punitive legislation. Chairman Baucus has signaled he is poised to move forward with legislation that he and Senators Grassley, Wyden, and Snowe are drafting to allow the Government to recoup this money for taxpayers by subjecting the bonuses to severe tax penalties. At the same time we are correcting the payouts of the past, we have been working with the current administration to put in place new standards of accountability for the future. As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act we passed last month, we asked the Treasury Department to establish new guidelines regarding executive pay and luxuries. Just last week, we reiterated the urgency in a second letter to the Treasury Department asking that they swiftly complete this project and announce these new standards. In addition to these steps, let us resolve to work in partnership with the Obama administration and the Senate Banking Committee to take up a strong Wall Street accountability bill as soon as possible. Our responsibilities lie with the citizens we represent. If we are successful in taming the greed of Wall Street, we will have gone a long way to safeguarding the economic interests of those we represent and those for whom we work--the people of the United States of America. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BURRIS

Mr. BURRIS. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BURRIS

Mr. BURRIS. Madam President, as we contemplate this 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act before us this week, I wish to look ahead to President Obama's proposed 2010 budget. As a proud member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, I am particularly pleased by the significant increase in funding that the administration is seeking for the Department of Veterans Affairs, led by its Secretary, GEN Eric Shinseki. In the proposed 2010 budget, the Department of Veterans Affairs will see a $25 billion increase over the next 5 years. This additional funding will be directed toward a major expansion of benefits for those who serve our Nation in uniform. The 2010 budget will directly assist veterans by expanding access to high-quality care for approximately 5\1/2\ million veteran patients and ensuring that care is delivered in a timely manner. More remarkable, this funding establishes VA Centers of Excellence to provide veteran- oriented care in specialized areas, such as prosthetics, vision, spinal cord injury, aging, and women's health. The President's budget also reaches out to veterans with moderate incomes, bringing an additional half million veterans into the VA system by 2013, while maintaining or expanding existing care for low- income and disabled veterans. At the same time, the new budget enhances services related to mental health care and broadens access and treatment areas throughout rural America. America's veterans have earned through their service the very best care we can offer, and the 2010 VA budget is a promising start. During a recent tour through Illinois, I had the remarkable opportunity to visit with both veterans of past service, as well as meeting the young recruits training to wear the American uniform in the years ahead. During that trip, I visited the 1082nd Airlift Wing of the Illinois Air National Guard located in Peoria, IL, and spoke with many fine airmen from this wing, including MSG Warren McCray. Master Sergeant McCray is an air guardsman who trained as a joint terminal attack controller. He deploys with Army troops on the ground ensuring that airpower can be employed against enemy positions when needed. This courageous young man has recently returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan and was awarded a Bronze Star with Valor. While speaking with Master Sergeant McCray, he told me of the multiple tours he had served as an air guardsman mobilized in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. I was deeply impressed by his professionalism and dedicated service to this country. Even more so by his dedication to his fellow service men and women of the 1082nd Airlift Wing. As we consider our mission abroad and weigh the cost in terms of troops and treasure, it is our duty to also consider the capacity at which these young men and women are serving us. It doesn't matter whether they are a soldier, sailor, airman, marine or Coast Guard, or whether they are Active Duty, Guard, or Reserve. We must never forget the personal toll and sacrifice of these brave Americans and the effects made on their lives, their future, their spouses, and their children. We must ensure that our veterans receive superior accessible care in return for their service and sacrifice, and we have an obligation to honor our veterans by serving them in the same way they have served us so selflessly. The administration's 2010 budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs recognizes this. And in addition to expanding health benefits and high quality of care, the budget provides for comprehensive educational benefits, particularly the post-9/11 GI bill so that following their service, veterans can have access to unprecedented levels of educational support to complete their schooling. In the same week, I visited the Naval Station Great Lakes and the North Chicago VA Medical Center. During my visit to these sites, I learned about plans for the Naval Health Clinic Great Lakes, the North Chicago VA Medical Center to merge and expand over the next couple of years. This merger will be extensive and costly, but also essential for sailors and veterans of Illinois, many of whom spend much of their lives at these facilities. At the North Chicago VA Medical Center, I met with veterans of all ages and backgrounds. I heard their stories, their hopes, and their needs. At the Recruiting Training Command, I met with both naval officers and naval recruits and was given a tour of the barracks by LT Ellen McElligott. I was particularly impressed with Lieutenant McElligott, a Chicago native, who serves as the ship's officer for the USS Arizona. Her professionalism, discipline, and enthusiasm for her work are qualities she shares with countless young service men and women across this great country of ours. While touring the facility with Lieutenant McElligott, I saw the faces of hundreds of young sailors training so that they may one day serve this country. It is so very important that LT Ellen McElligott and the young men and women like her receive adequate care and compensation while on Active Duty, Guard, or Reserve, and, most importantly, that they receive the care and resources they deserve when they return from serving their country. As a nation, we have a moral obligation to serve and care for those brave individuals as they work so hard to serve us.

Mr. BURRIS

Mr. BURRIS. Mr. President, I rise to support the District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act. For too long politics has trumped basic fairness. This is not a bill for statehood but one that ensures the simple and long overdue right of American citizens to have a voice in their Government. It is the duty of any democracy to have every citizen represented. America is a model for democracy around the world. Right here at home in our own Capital City almost 600,000 Americans live without a full vote in their Government. Passage of this bill is a matter of fundamental rights. Citizens of Washington, DC, pay taxes like everyone else, but they have no voice in how their taxes are spent. The phrase ``no taxation without representation'' used by the original Thirteen Colonies is every bit as relevant today. The residents of our Capital City pay one of the highest tax rates in the Nation, but they do not have a single voting representative in either House of Congress. Unlike every other city in America, Washington, DC, is forced to remain dependent upon Congress for even the most basic functions. Congress has control over DC's local budget. Congress can review and overturn laws that DC residents pass. Even more important to consider is the brave service and sacrifice Washington's men and women in uniform make in serving our Nation in the Armed Forces. These great patriots deserve full participation in Congress. The foundation of our system of government is that all citizens are represented in the Federal Government. Today we must make good on the promise and grant full and fair representation to the people of Washington, DC. This issue has been around a long time. Finally, in this bill, we have a balanced and sensible approach, one seat for the District of Columbia and one additional seat for the State of Utah. I urge passage of this bill to give full, equal voice to the residents of this District and allow those 600,000 citizens to finally become full members of our Republic. I yield the floor. Amendment No. 575

Mr. BURRIS

Mr. BURRIS. Mr. President, it is my great honor to stand here today and commemorate Abraham Lincoln on the bicentennial of his birth. Abraham Lincoln's leadership during one of our darkest periods forever changed the face of our Nation. Because of his bold vision and undivided faith in the future of our great Nation, freedom and justice for all was realized. Without doubt, as this resolution affirms, President Lincoln ``redefined what it means to be an American.'' Today, I wish to take a moment to recognize another part of his legacy. In this resolution, it states that ``despite less than a year of formal schooling, he developed an avid love for reading and learning.'' Lincoln's stepmother, Sarah Bush Johnston, encouraged Lincoln to read, write, and think freely, even as she and Lincoln's father could not afford to send him to school. And herein lies the brilliance of Lincoln's rise. From the backcountry in Illinois to the White House in Washington, DC, Abraham Lincoln rose to the highest office in the land by educating himself. In his first political address in 1832, seeking a seat in the Illinois General Assembly, he said: I desire to see the time when education . . . shall become much more general than at present, and I should be gratified to have it in my power to contribute something to its advancement. As President Lincoln showed us, education is the foundation of our future success. In this period of economic stress and uncertainty, we draw on Lincoln's legacy and move forward because of his strength.

Mr. BURRIS

Mr. BURRIS. Madam President, with humility for an honor neither sought nor expected, I rise for the first time as a U.S. Senator. At a time of great consequence for our country's long march toward justice--and the moral compass we call the Constitution that guides our path--I rise to strongly support President Barack Obama's nominee for the office of U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder. As we look toward the future, I begin with a few words about the past. Back in the 1950s, there was a place in my hometown of Centralia, IL, called the pig wobble, and it wasn't hard to figure out why: Pig wobble was the place where the horses, the cows, and, yes, the pigs, from all nearby farms came to drink water. It was also the place where African-American children came to swim in the summertime. My friends and I swam in the pig wobble until the summer of my 16th birthday, in 1953, when, after previous efforts to integrate the park swimming pool where only white children swam had failed. My dad finally had enough of his children swimming with the farm animals while the White children went off to the nice clean neighborhood pool. My dad and his minister, who ran the local chapter of the NAACP, determined that the time had come for Black children to swim in the community pool. They decided they would need an attorney to represent us. There were no Black lawyers in Centralia, so my father traveled to Chicago seeking legal assistance, but no lawyer was interested in representing us. He returned home, and the following day went to East St. Louis, IL, and retained a Black attorney to represent us. When the pool opened on Memorial Day, my brother and I, along with three brothers from another family, swam and integrated the pool without incident. Later, we were home celebrating our accomplishments, but when my dad returned home he was very upset. We questioned why, and he explained that the lawyer he had hired did not show up. My father then said these words: If we as a race of people are going to get anywhere in our society, we need lawyers and elected officials who are responsible and responsive. From that conversation with my father when I was 16, I set a goal for myself that I would try in my life and career to be responsible and responsive to the cause of justice. When President Obama nominated Eric Holder to be Attorney General of the United States, my father's words came to mind. Eric Holder is the embodiment of what my father envisioned on that day. Mr. Holder has been responsible and responsive his entire career. He has been a leader in the long march toward justice, not just for African Americans but for all Americans who treasure our Nation's founding principles of freedom, equality, and personal liberty. Once confirmed, he will open the gates of justice once again to the public interest, not the special interests, and to those who are concerned not with the expansion of power but with the use of power for the common good. The mission of the Department of Justice is to enforce the law, to ensure the public safety, to prevent crime, and to seek fair, impartial justice for all Americans. Sadly, for the past 8 years, the Department has not lived up to the promise of that sacred mission. Americans, particularly those of us in the legal community, have seen the Justice Department sink further into corruption, cronyism, and gross mismanagement. I have watched with particular despair as the Federal initiatives to fight violent crimes against women, a program similar to the one I enacted as Attorney General in my State of Illinois, was underfunded, politicized, and largely abandoned. We have the chance today to turn the page by confirming Eric Holder. At a time when the Department of Justice has lost dozens of competent, effective career attorneys, it is long past time for an Attorney General to put competence first. At a time when the Civil Rights Division, long known as the crown jewel of the Justice Department, has seen its mission undermined and misdirected, it is time for an Attorney General who will keep justice blind and put our Constitution first. At a time when our moral authority in the world is threatened by the immoral acts that were sanctioned from the top, we need an Attorney General who will put civil liberties first. At a time when the threat of terrorism continues to haunt us, we need an Attorney General who will put public safety first. At a time when the crimes of a Wall Street few have spoiled an economy for the Main Street many, we need an Attorney General who will put people first. We can be certain that Eric Holder will do these things because he has spent his entire career building and broadening a deep well of public trust. After graduating from Columbia Law School, Eric came to the Justice Department in 1976 to serve in the Attorney General's Honors Program, where his focus was prosecuting corrupt officials at the local, State, and Federal levels. In 1988, he was appointed by President Reagan as an associate judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, where he presided over countless trials of homicides and other violent crimes. In 1993, President Clinton nominated Eric to become the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, the first African American to hold that post. In that role, he created a domestic violence unit, went after perpetrators of crime with an unmatched intensity, and worked hand in hand with the community to give the people a voice in law enforcement. In 1997, President Clinton promoted Eric Holder to the position of Deputy Attorney General, where he went after crimes against children and cracked down on white-collar crimes. At every step along the way, Eric Holder has proven there is no conflict between fighting crime and upholding civil liberties; that making America safe and more just must go hand in hand. That is exactly what he will do as U.S. Attorney General. It is the honor of a lifetime to rise from the desk that previously belonged to our President Barack Obama, and before that to another legend from the land of Lincoln, Senator Paul Simon. As long as this desk is in my care, I will try to honor those who served before me and work to brighten the lives of every citizen of Illinois. If you look back further through the years, this desk belonged to Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who as U.S. Attorney General breathed life into the flames of justice. I know Eric Holder will do the same in our time. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this outstanding nominee. I thank the Presiding Officer and my colleagues for the opportunity to share my thoughts in supporting the nomination of Eric Holder for Attorney General of the United States of America.