Tom Daschle

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. I will be happy to add the Senator's name.

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, we now have two cloture motions before the Senate. The first one ripens this afternoon at 5:15. That is on the amendment offered by Senator Byrd to the Interior appropriations bill. We cannot get to the rest of the business before us unless that cloture motion is agreed to. There can be no excuse, there can be no reason, after all this debate, after all the meetings, that we cannot at least bring closure to that amendment. Senators still have a right to offer amendments to the bill, but we have to move on. I cannot imagine that there would be a Senator who would want to extend debate beyond the 3 weeks we have now debated Interior and the Byrd amendment. The same could be said of homeland security. If we want to respond to the President, who again today said the time for the Senate to act is now, let's respond on a bipartisan basis and let's vote for cloture on the Lieberman substitute and let's move this legislation along. I yield the floor.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, there can be no doubt. If we are serious about moving this legislation forward and providing this assistance, we take care of this amendment and move on to other issues. We have been on this bill now for 3 weeks. We will be on it for another couple weeks, the way it looks. There comes a time when we just have to move on and when we have to recognize that, under Senate rules, we either have to accommodate the rules, or reach some compromise, or drop the amendment. We have those three options. We cannot accommodate the rules today because neither side has 60 votes. Let's recognize it for what it is. This is a delay. Until we get over this delay, we cannot provide the kind of assistance to firefighters and farmers and ranchers that is absolutely critical across the country. And the very speeches we made last week are just as real and important and urgent today. I yield the floor.

Mr. DASCHLE. I enter a motion to reconsider the vote by which cloture was not invoked on amendment No. 4480.

Mr. DASCHLE. If I could just restate: We will dispose of the Lieberman and Thompson amendments. It is my understanding, once that has occurred, Senator Byrd will offer his amendment. It is my understanding that debate will take place tonight, and of course tomorrow. With that understanding, there will be no more rollcall votes this evening. I yield the floor.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry be allowed to conduct a hearing during the session of the Senate at 10:00 a.m., on Tuesday, September 17, 2002. The purpose of this hearing will be to discuss implementation of the 2002 farm bill.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, September 17, 2002, at 9:30 a.m., in closed session to receive testimony on Iraq. THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. committee on banking, housing, and urban affairs

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, September 17, 2002, at 10:30 a.m., to conduct an oversight hearing on ``The Tennessee Valley Authority and Financial Disclosure.''

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to hold a Hearing during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, September 17, 2002, at 9:30 a.m. in SD-106. The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, ``Remedying Under Discrimination through Open Access Transmission Service and Standard Electricity Market Design,'' issued July 31.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Subcommittee on Public Health, be authorized to meet for a hearing on Losing Momentum: Are Childhood Vaccine Supplies Adequate? during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, September 17, 2002, at 2:30 p..m. in SD-430.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet on Tuesday, September 17, 2002, at 10:00 a.m. in Room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a hearing on S. 1392, a bill to establish procedures for the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior with respect to tribal recognition, and on S. 1393, a bill to provide grants to ensure full and fair participation in certain decision-making process at the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, September 17, 2002 at 2:30 p.m. to hold a closed hearing on intelligence matters.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Aviation be authorized to meet on Tuesday, September 17, 2002, at 10:30 a.m. on Aviation Cargo Security. This will be a closed hearing.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space be authorized to meet on Tuesday, September 17, 2002, at 2:30 p.m. on Nanotechnology.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I yield such time as the Senator from Pennsylvania may require to make a brief statement.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I call for regular order with respect to the amendment numbered 4480, and I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I am happy to yield to the Senator from Idaho.

Mr. DASCHLE. Let me respond to the Senator from Idaho. I would be more than happy to entertain a consent agreement to vitiate the cloture vote on Tuesday if we arrive at a consensus about this over the weekend. We laid this bill down on September 4. It is now September 13, and I am told we have not spent this much time on any appropriations bill to date. So I attempted to be as patient as I could be with regard to the ongoing discussions. We have offered procedural arrangements to deal with this. They have not been acceptable to some. We have offered as many different iterations of compromise as I think our imaginations allow. But if there is a productive and successful effort over the weekend, we will certainly revisit the question. However, we have to move on, this is not only a fire amendment but it is a drought amendment, now, as a result of the overwhelming action taken by the Senate just last week. This is a very important piece of legislation, and we have to move along. There is too much work to be done in too short a time. So we will look at where we are on Monday and come to some conclusion. But if we are unsuccessful, we will have to move on with the cloture vote on Tuesday. I yield the floor and I thank my colleague.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Pennsylvania, Mr. Specter, be recognized for a period not to exceed 5 minutes, and that following the remarks of the distinguished Senator from Pennsylvania, the Senate stand in recess subject to the call of the Chair to accommodate Senators who wish to watch the President's speech.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I begin by complimenting the distinguished Republican leader on his eloquence and his message this morning. It was 1 year ago today that many of us turned on our television and saw what we could only imagine at the time was a horrible, horrible accident. Soon we realized that it was no accident. Instead, it was the worst terrorist attack on American soil. Later this morning the wing of the Pentagon that was destroyed is being rededicated. That field in Shanksville is once again green. The debris from the site of the World Trade Center has been removed. The heavy equipment and the workers are now engaged in the act of building--not removing. Through the physical scars of that day, we see a nation beginning to be healed. The emotional ones are still raw with our memory. Thousands of families are approaching their second Thanksgiving without a loved one. Children are approaching their second holiday season without a mother--or a father. Empty locker in firehouses still bear witness to the brave men who are no longer there. And so, the Pentagon can be restored. New grass can cover the churned earth of a rural field. New towers can begin to rise where others fell. Seasons and years can pass. Through it all, we will never forget. This day will forever be a part of our national memory. Nine/eleven will forever be our national shorthand for all that we witnessed, all that we have experienced--on that day and the days following. That is what we remember all across America today. In my home State of South Dakota, there will be a number of small services, including a memorial ceremony at Mount Rushmore. In Seattle, WA, citizens will march to a downtown fountain that became the city's unofficial memorial after September 11. Thousands of flowers had been left there. Those flowers were gathered by the city and composted. Each marcher will receive a bulb, in mulch generated by the original memorial flowers, to plant. Birmingham, AL, is dedicating a new memorial walk. San Francisco is unfurling a 5-mile long banner along the city's coastline. From Portland, ME, to Portland, OR, people are pausing, and paying tribute. All tolled, more than 200 communities are holding events of some kind. In one way or another, all Americans have the opportunity to commemorate our Nation's loss. And, of course, some people will simply go about their business--and that in itself is a powerful testimonial to our ability to go on. Today is also a day to remember that our national tragedy is the combination of thousands of individual tragedies. I think that sentiment was best stated by Janny Scott, a reporter on the Metro desk of the New York Times, who was responsible for assembling a number of the ``Portraits of Grief'' that sought to capture the essence of each of the victims. She wrote about ``the individual humanity swallowed up by the dehumanizing vastness of the toll,'' and what she called ``the preciousness of each life's path.'' This morning, in New York, former Mayor Giuliani began the process of reading the names of everyone who perished on that day. If one name is read every 5 seconds, it will take over 4 hours to list every loss. We also remember the individual acts of heroism: Firefighters who rushed up to help others get down; the passengers and flight attendants on flight 93, who showed us that we don't ever have to surrender to evil. Seeing their selflessness inspired something similar in all of us. In South Dakota, one ranch couple--themselves struggling--sold $40,000 worth of cattle and donated the proceeds to the victims. Similar acts of selflessness took place all over the country. Millions of hands reached out to those who had lost so much, until, by the act of reaching out and grieving, and remembering, we all came shoulder to shoulder as we understood the extraordinary nature of the loss. The terrorists who brought down the World Trade Center thought they could shake the foundation of this country. They didn't understand that the foundation isn't concrete and steel; it is our people, it is our commitment--our commitment--to freedom and democracy, and to each other. So today, we remember those we lost, and we rededicate ourselves to preserving the memory of their lives, and to defeating the terror that took them. Our military men and women in Afghanistan and those fighting terror around the globe carry with them our pride, and our hopes. In the most fateful struggles in human history, freedom has triumphed over the worst forms of tyranny, and we will defeat the tyranny of terror as well. On March 11, 6 months after the attack, Valerie Webb, a 12-year-old who had lost her only living parent in the World Trade Center, flipped a switch, sending two towers of light rising into the darkness over Lower Manhattan. Someone compared that memorial to a national votive candle. Others compared it to the lives that were lost: beautiful, powerful, and fleeting. On April 14, as planned, that temporary memorial was extinguished. At sunset tonight, in Battery Park, New York's mayor will light a flame to commemorate the victims of that day. Unlike the towers of light, that flame will not be extinguished--it will be eternal. That flame will burn within sight of another eternal flame--the symbolic flame from the torch held by the Statue of Liberty. Those two eternal flames carry with them two eternal promises. The torch held by the Statue of Liberty is our Nation's promise that we will never yield in our determination to be a light to all those who seek freedom. And the flame that will be lit tonight is our promise that though we may be slowly, steadily walking the path from remembrance to recovery-- we will never forget.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I know a lot of Senators wish to be heard. While I won't ask unanimous consent that this be done, I would urge that the Chair recognize members of both parties in alternating fashion to accommodate both sides equally. That might be the best way to accommodate everybody. That way we can get through the afternoon in the most appropriate way. I urge and ask the Chair to recognize Senators on either side.

Mr. DASCHLE

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

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, what we saw happen to our country 1 year ago today will be forever etched in our memories. Several of our colleagues have taken time here on the floor today to reflect on that horrible day. Though our Nation was wounded deeply that day, we learned a great deal about ourselves--and that has made our country stronger. The courage of the first responders, the valor of the passengers on flight 93, the strength of the families of the victims, the character of our armed forces, and the generosity of Americans from each and every State in the Union have shown to terrorists, and to the world, that America is strong and will not bow to terror. H. Con. Res. 464 is a small tribute to each of these heroes. It spells out, in broad bipartisan fashion, Congress's memory for lost loved ones, our deep admiration for the families of these innocent victims, our respect for the work of our first responders and armed forces, and our resolve to find and bring to justice those responsible for the attacks. That resolve was made clear on September 14, 2001, when we overwhelmingly passed S.J. Res. 23. In that resolution, we granted the President the authority to pursue the nations, people or organizations who perpetrated the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, people, or organizations. With today's resolution, we look back at the horror and the hope we saw on a day we will never forget. There may come a day when we must again look ahead to threats to our Nation that lie on or beyond the horizon. I am confident that when that time comes, Congress will again act in a bipartisan fashion to take the steps needed to keep America strong, and Americans safe. But today, as we walk the path from remembrance to recovery, this resolution says what we all know in our hearts: We will never forget.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. I thank my colleague for her kind remarks, and would be happy to engage in a colloquy with the Senators from New York State.

Mr. DASCHLE. I appreciate the remarks of the Senators of New York, and assure them that we intend for specialty crop producers, including producers of the crops mentioned by my colleague from New York, to receive disaster assistance under this amendment.