Carl Levin

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I know of no further debate on the Gillibrand amendment.

Mr. LEVIN. I know of no further debate on the Gillibrand amendment.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. LEVIN. I understand under the unanimous consent agreement the Senator from Maryland is to be recognized for 5 minutes as in morning business.

Mr. LEVIN. I note the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I thank my friend from Arizona, Senator Kyl, for his willingness to sit down and try to work this out in a way which is satisfactory to him and the Foreign Relations Committee. We very much appreciate that. We know what he is after and we believe there should be consultation. So we are trying to make that happen. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LEVIN. Madam President, in a moment I am going to ask unanimous consent that we proceed to a debate, to Senator Feinstein, who will speak on an amendment that she intends to offer but not offer it at this time. I will then ask she be followed by Senator Paul, who will speak on that same amendment. It is our intention then to move to a vote on the Leahy amendment to improve the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program. This falls within the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Committee, but the chairman, whose amendment it is, and the ranking member, Senator Grassley, have both approved this amendment, and I would simply alert other Senators that if they wish to speak on this amendment, for or against, that it is our intention to proceed to a vote on the Leahy amendment following the speaking of Senator Paul and Senator Feinstein. So I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed in that way.

Mr. LEVIN. I thank the Presiding Officer.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, somewhere on this desk I have a unanimous consent request. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LEVIN. It would be my hope that after this vote, we would be able to clear amendments, perhaps----

Mr. LEVIN. And to have the Senators debate amendments. I know Senator Coburn will be here between now and 6 o'clock to debate the Leahy amendment. We don't need to protect him further since the time is equally divided, and he can have part of the half hour of time. But it is my hope that people who want to dispose of amendments will come after the 6 o'clock vote and bring these amendments to our attention, see if our staffs can make progress, clear amendments, and maybe package some votes for tomorrow morning. We can make progress after this vote if our colleagues will cooperate with us.

Mr. LEVIN. I object.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, two things. No. 1, we are going to proceed to the rollcall vote in a moment, and with Senator McCain's support and consent, I would like to let our colleagues know we will be here after this vote. That doesn't mean there will be any additional votes tonight. That is not up to us to decide; that is the leadership call. But we will be here to try to clear amendments for either voice votes or for votes tomorrow if there are no rollcall votes today or for debate. Senator McCain and I are prepared to stay here to receive the amendments people want to discuss and to see if we can't get some of them cleared and perhaps voice-voted tonight.

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

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

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

Mr. LEVIN. I have been talking now with Senator McCain. This is what our plan is for tonight and for the morning. In the morning, we would hope we would be able--we would first hope to address the Kyl amendment. We would hope to take up and dispose of the Kyl amendment first thing in the morning. We would then expect to move to Senator Ayotte's amendment, to which there may or may not be a second-degree or a side-by-side amendment offered. After that matter is disposed of, we would expect then to move to a Hagan amendment. And, in between, it is our intent to offer cleared amendments. I will let Senator McCain join me on this. But these are amendments which have been cleared. People will have a chance overnight to look at them and see if there is any reason that they want rollcall votes or voice votes on these. If there are, we expect they are going to have to come down, object, and vote on those matters. But our staff works hard. We work with the committees of jurisdiction, we work with people we believe have any interest in these amendments. We have perhaps 50 or 100 amendments which we are looking at. We want to accommodate Senators. We also want to accommodate potential opponents. We have done our best to do both, sponsors and opponents. But that is our plan for tonight and for tomorrow morning. We expect we would then ask Senator Hagan to be recognized tonight to speak on an amendment, not to call it up but to speak on an amendment that she would be offering tomorrow in the queue which I just described.

Mr. LEVIN. There will be no more votes tonight. After Senator Hagan's remarks are completed, I ask unanimous consent that there be a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 28, 2012, at 2 p.m., to hold a nominations hearing.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 28, 2012, at 10 a.m., to hold an International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs and International Environmental Protection subcommittee hearing entitled, ``Evaluating Current U.S. Global Food Security Efforts and Determining Future U.S. Leadership Opportunities.''

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, as the 112th Congress returns after the election, we should consider this important question: Have we done our share to help prevent gun violence? Statistics from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence give a clear answer--no. Almost 100,000 people die as the result of gun violence in America every single year. This statistic includes 12,000 people who are murdered, 18,000 who commit suicide, and 20,000 under the age of 20. On average, 270 people are shot in the United States every single day. Our society faces an epidemic of gun violence. Consider stories that have gone largely unreported in recent months: Near Chicago, a 16-year- old was shot twice in the head while riding in a car on her way home. A staff member on a prominent university's medical campus accidentally discharged his handgun at work and injured two people. And on election day, a parolee in California walked into the plant where he worked, methodically murdered two of his coworkers, and wounded another two before shooting himself. Stories like these flash across newspapers for a few days or weeks, and then the national spotlight moves on. But we cannot forget that while reporters may leave, the tragic effects of gun violence linger. They forever alter the lives of good, talented young people, like Ashley Moser, who lost her 6-year-old daughter in the horrific movie theater attack in Aurora, CO. She is partially paralyzed now and faces significant health problems and medical bills. But even after this nightmare, Congress did nothing to prevent guns from falling into the hands of would-be killers. Congress has the power to act to prevent more of these tragedies. We can take up and pass legislation like S.32, which would prohibit the purchase of the same types of high-capacity magazines that allowed the shooter in Aurora to hurt so many people, so quickly. We could enact S.35, the Gun Show Loophole Act of 2011, which would close the ``gun show loophole'' by requiring all gun sellers at gun shows to conduct a Brady criminal background check on prospective purchasers. We could take up and pass S.34, the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2011, which would close the ``terror gap'' by authorizing the Attorney General to deny the transfer of a firearm when an FBI background check reveals that the prospective purchaser is a known or suspected terrorist. These are commonsense measures that would protect the American people by reducing firearm violence in our society. Mr. President, it was over a month ago that a woman named Nina Gonzalez stood at the second Presidential debate and asked President Obama and Governor Romney a simple question: What would they do to keep assault weapons out of the hands of criminals? So, as the 112th Congress returns, we have some important unfinished business. There are few tasks before us more important than enacting measures that would help prevent tragedies like the ones occurring far too often around our Nation.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I want to thank Senator Udall for his work bringing attention to this important issue. To me, this issue is simple: Alternative energy, including wind power, is not only a vital component of our environmental protection efforts, but to growing our economy and creating jobs for the middle class. Michigan is the State that put the world on wheels. Through innovation and dedication, entrepreneurs, engineers, and Michigan workers combined their efforts not just to revolutionize transportation, but to create an explosion of manufacturing employment that helped create and sustain the American middle class. Today, a new generation of Michigan innovators is harnessing the power of wind, the promise of biofuels, the power of advanced batteries. Earlier this year, I visited a wind farm in Breckenridge, MI, that is a marvel of technology, as far removed from the farmstead windmills of days past as a jet fighter is from the Wright Brothers' plane. That wind farm is a textbook example of how the advance of technology is helping Michigan's economy, enabling us not just to recover from the setbacks of the past, but to lead us into a brighter economic future. Wind power is an important part of that advance. It is a rapidly growing sector of our State's electrical generating system. Wind- generating capacity more than doubled in 2011, and projects under construction or in the development pipeline could increase capacity tenfold or more. The more power we generate from wind, the more affordable, clean energy is available to our State and Nation. Michigan also has an important role in building advanced wind- generation equipment, not just for our State, but for the United States and the world. Roughly 40 Michigan facilities are engaged in this business, many of them businesses that have turned expertise developed in the automotive industry to this new and growing field. Already wind is responsible for hundreds of good manufacturing jobs, and the potential is nearly as limitless as the wind itself. That is why renewal of the production tax credit is so important. The PTC has been an important factor in helping this new industry grow. If it is allowed to expire at the end of the year, it would not only hamper efforts to generate more clean energy for Michigan homes and businesses, but also dampen the potential for new manufacturing jobs tied to wind power. That is not a good outcome for our environment, for Michigan families or for the American economy. So again I thank Senator Udall for his focus on this issue. I hope as we work to address the many pressing issues we must resolve before the end of the year, we can resolve this one as well, and maintain the momentum of clean energy to help our environment and our economy.

Mr. LEVIN

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

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I note the absence of a quorum.