Mark Kirk

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. President, I urge this Chamber to reject the motion to table my amendment, which put forward reforms to the Export-Import Bank. I would say to Members that this is going to be a key scored vote by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers; that, without my amendment, we would not have the reforms to make sure Ex-Im works at least 25 percent of its portfolio with small businesses. I urge Members to vote no on the motion to table my amendment by Mr. Shelby that I understand is coming up. This is a key test vote, Export- Import Bank. With a good bipartisan vote, I would think we would have people supporting the Kirk-Heitkamp-Blunt-Graham reform legislation for Ex-Im. I yield the floor.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. President, I rise to speak on amendment No. 273. It stands for the principle that freedom on the Internet is not the freedom to enslave others. I want to make sure this country stands for the principles under the 13th Amendment that we enshrined with Lincoln's victory in the Civil War, and I urge all Members to adopt this amendment by a strong, substantial vote to pass the SAVE Act to make sure that providers of human traffic services do not have freedom to advertise on the Internet. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield back.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. President, the coming amendment is the Kirk-Brown amendment which is the key Iran vote of this session of Congress. If my colleagues are upset about the intel-sharing arrangement with the State of Israel, if my colleagues feel we should rebalance our policy with regard to the United States potentially voting against Israel in the U.N., this is the time to rebalance our policy with regard to our allies in the State of Israel. I urge the body to support this Brown-Kirk bipartisan amendment which has been worked out with the other side. I just talked to the senior Senator from California, Mrs. Boxer, who assured me she supports this amendment. So does the senior Senator from New Jersey, Mr. Menendez, with whom I have built such a long, bipartisan partnership on the Iran issue. I urge adoption of this amendment. I yield back my time.

Mr. KIRK. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. KIRK. I would like to get the yeas and nays.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. President, I would like to speak on my amendment, No. 545, which is an amendment that stands for the principle of building on the work of the bipartisan Menendez-Kirk legislation to call for consequences should Iran cheat on its obligations of the agreement with the United States.

Mr. KIRK. Mr. President, we should stand for the principle remembering the 290 Americans who have died at the hands of Iranian terror, including 13 Americans from Illinois. Let me read their names: James Lewis from Illinois, William Sheil from Illinois, Alvin Belmer, David Gay from Illinois, Joseph Livingston from Illinois, John A. Phillips, Jr., who went to church with me, Eric Pullman, and Gary R. Scott--all killed at the hands of Iranian terror. In the memory of these Americans, we want to make sure we carry out a sense of the Senate that expresses our views that if Iran cheats on this agreement, there should be sanctions. I call on all Members to make sure they back the old bipartisan coalition of Menendez-Kirk. I yield back my time.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Under the HERO Act, we have ICE hiring veterans to get on the Internet to find some of the slave dealers online. We should thread the needle very carefully when it comes to matters such as backpage.com. Under the Communications Decency Act, freedom in America does not mean you have the freedom to enslave others. With the victory in the Civil War--and I apologize to the Senator from Texas for mentioning it--we have established the real principle of the ever expanding rule of freedom here in the United States and that does not include human slavery empowered by the Internet.

Mr. KIRK. I believe a recent statement by my colleague referred to it as the recent unpleasantness.

Mr. KIRK. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Texas for moving this legislation, especially including the text of the HERO Act, S. 575, which is bipartisan, thanks to the help of Senator Blumenthal, that would also have us find wounded warriors to search on the Internet to find these exploiters. With the amendment I was trying to offer earlier this week on the SAVE Act, I intended to go after backpage.com, which is the largest provider of slavery-related services in the country. They make about $30 million a year off of slavery. We really ought to be able to charge them to clean up the mess they have created.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Madam President, I ask the Senator from Vermont if he opposes the amendment that was also cosponsored by Senator Feinstein.

Mr. KIRK. Madam President, I would say that this amendment is directed at backpage.com, probably the largest provider of online slavery services in the United States. I would hope the Senator is not defending Lacey and Larkin, who make $30 million a year off of slavery.

Mr. KIRK. I thank the Senator. Madam President, this is an amendment that is directed at attacking backpage.com, which stands on the principle that was well established in the Civil War--that we Americans have freedom and we should not be free to enslave other Americans. I think, as the largest provider of online slavery services, Lacey and Larkin should be put out of business. I think it is incumbent on us, in the underlying legislation--I would remind the Senator from Vermont that we would live up to the full spirit of this legislation to make sure that just because the Internet was invented, slavery should not be empowered by the Internet.

Mr. KIRK. Yes, I will yield.

Mr. KIRK. Amendment No. 273 would include the SAVE Act, which has already substantially passed with huge bipartisan support of the party of the Senator from Vermont in the House of Representatives. If we look, we will find that backpage.com is active in every State, providing online services to the public.

Mr. KIRK. As a Senator from Illinois, our true gift to the people of this country has been individual freedom and dignity, epitomized by the Lincoln candidacy for the Senate, and by the victory in the Civil War. We should not allow the freedom of the Internet to allow freedom to enslave others. These two men have made tens of millions of dollars. I yield back to the distinguished majority whip.

Mr. KIRK. The critical issue is how to restrict the ability of Americans to enslave each other. I don't think we should have that freedom. We want to make sure we thread the needle very carefully here, to make sure the freedom and commerce available on the Internet is not going to help people such as Lacey and Larkin to enslave others. We want to make sure that there is an ever-widening sphere of freedom inside the United States that is not inhibited by the Internet.

Mr. KIRK. Very much so. The way we thread the needle here is to make online providers of slavery services liable for the costs that local governments incur in cleaning up the mess they create. In the case of Cook County, IL, we have had our crusading sheriff, who I would note is also a Democratic sheriff, establish a great effort to recover the young, underage girls involved and to make sure the costs incurred in helping out these young women--these citizens of the United States--to make sure they can charge it against the online provider, which makes eminent sense. I would say that our freedoms are protected because Tom Dart was elected by the people of Cook County. As an elected official, he is trying to simply carry out his goal there. This makes eminent sense to do this.

Mr. KIRK. I yield the floor.

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

Mr. KIRK. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment to consider my amendment No. 273.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. President, today I wish to celebrate the 206th birthday of the 16th President of the United States, as well as the penny that honors his name. Hailing from the Land of Lincoln, I have long celebrated the life and legacy of President Abraham Lincoln. For more than 100 years, Abraham Lincoln has been the face of the penny. Lincoln was the first person to appear on an American coin, and the Lincoln penny is the longest used design of any American coin. For generations of Americans, the penny has served as a memorial to the first President assassinated in office. It is a reminder of the liberation of the African slaves and of the brutal Civil War that threatened to end the American experiment. Different versions of the penny have been produced throughout the years. In 1959, the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's birth, a representation of the Lincoln Memorial was put on the reverse side of the coin. To honor Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday, four new penny designs were released. One reflects a log cabin, similar to the one in Kentucky where Lincoln was born. The second features Lincoln reading a book with an axe by his foot, showing his formative years and self- education in Indiana. The third penny shows Lincoln speaking in front of the State capitol in Springfield, representing his professional life as legislator from Illinois. Finally, the fourth design features a half-finished Capitol dome during the Civil War to represent his Presidency. The newest reverse design depicts a Union shield with a scroll and carries the words ``Preservation of the Union'' marking what is seen as Lincoln's greatest achievement. The Lincoln penny is the most common and most highly circulated coin in the United States. The penny significantly contributes to the U.S. economy, especially in charitable contributions. Tens of millions of pennies have been donated to charities over the past decade. It may be the lowest coin denomination, but the penny carries a lot of weight in terms of our Illinois and American history, culture, and society. It is an intrinsic part of the American experience and represents the opportunity that many believe is inherent in the American dream.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. President, Illinois lost its longest-serving Member of the House of Representatives and this country lost one of the great leaders of the conservative movement last week when Philip Crane passed away at the age of 84. For 35 years Phil Crane represented Chicago's northwest suburbs, a region I know well. He was first elected to Congress in 1969, winning a special election, and ultimately became the longest-serving House Republican when he was finally defeated in 2004. While I served with Congressman Phil Crane in the House of only 4 years, our districts were adjacent to each other and together we fought for many issues important to suburban Chicago and Illinois. Before conservative principles were fashionable, Phil was leading the way for conservatism, working for Barry Goldwater in 1964 in Illinois. When some said Phil's politics of small government and low taxes were backward looking, he responded with gusto, arguing in support of free markets and trade, prudent economics policies, a strong national defense, and traditional values. Phil was courageous and had foresight. In 1976 he was the first sitting Congressman to publicly support Reagan in his effort to defeat President Gerald Ford. He also founded the Republican Study Committee, which still exists today in the House of Representatives. He also was deeply involved in the early days of two of the most influential conservative think tanks, the Heritage Foundation and the American Conservative Union. In 1980 Phil took a run for President, ultimately falling to Ronald Reagan. As a young House staffer, I noted that numerous Congressmen respected Phil for his early advocacy of conservative principles and his ties to the early days of the modern conservative movement. If you want to get a feel of Phil, then read his 1976 book ``The Sum of Good Government.'' Phil Crane fought tirelessly as a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee for his conservative principles, including for lower taxes and increasing trade. One of his greatest legislative achievements was the North American Free Trade Agreement, which created the world's largest free trade zone, linking up billions of dollars annually. With the passing of Phil Crane, Illinois and Washington have lost one of its greats. Thank you, Phil Crane, for your service to the State of Illinois and to our country.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. President, I wish to recognize Chicago's very own Jackie Robinson West Little League team, who are the reigning 2014 Little League World Series U.S. Champions. Jackie Robinson West is the first team from Chicago to reach the Little League World Series in more than 40 years. They have brought immense pride to our city, and I commend them on their incredible achievement. From Chicago's South Side, the Jackie Robinson West team consists of 13 players aged 11-13 years old. The last Little League team from Chicago to make it nearly this far was in 1967, and we were long overdue for another run at the championship. These 13 players worked together for countless hours to bring their A-game to the field. During their season, they outscored their opponents by a score of 212 to 28! Their teamwork, dedication to their teammates and coaches, and perseverance to become champions is nothing short of an inspiration to myself and our entire country. Jackie Robinson West showed us all what true dedication, tireless effort and teamwork can achieve. They represented our Nation with great pride and sportsmanship on and off the field, and I am proud of each and every one of these young men for what they have achieved and for the sense of pride and accomplishment that they have brought to our city. They are an inspiration to young men and women across Chicago and throughout the Nation. I want to personally congratulate DJ Butler, Lawrence Noble, Jaheim Benton, Ed Howard, Cameron Bufford, Brandon Green, Darion Radcliff, Marquis Jackson, Joshua Houston, Eddie King, Prentiss Luster, Pierce Jones, Trey Hondras, their coach Darold Butler, director Bill Haley, and assistant coaches Jerry Houston and Jason Little on their historic win. I am exceedingly proud of their accomplishments and wish them best of luck in this upcoming school year.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. President, I haven't spoken that much in this Chamber since I suffered that stroke. I so strongly believe in this legislation to make it happen. Behind me is a representation of the world's tallest buildings, the 10 tallest buildings in the world. Only one is in the U.S.A. Look over at that tallest one. That still distresses me, the Burj Khalifa, which is right now the tallest building in the world. I believe as the Senator representing Chicagoland, the city that invented the skyscraper, that Chicagoland citizens have a right to grow up in the shadow of the world's tallest buildings. Unless we quantify the risk for building one of these buildings through the TRIA legislation, we will not return skyscrapers to the country that invented skyscrapers. With that I yield back the remainder of my time. Thank you.