Patty Murray

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I come to the floor this evening to talk about the emergency we are facing in the highway trust fund. The highway trust fund is the primary means of funding all of our highway construction and repair projects in every State in this Nation. Last Friday, President Bush's Transportation Secretary, Mary Peters, acknowledged finally what we on this side have been warning about for months: that the highway account of our highway trust fund is broke. We have been hearing denials of this crisis for some time, but the Bush administration has now finally taken a closer look at the real receipts that are coming in from the Federal gas tax and discovered their estimates have been off by some $3 billion just since May. Now they tell us they are preparing to default on their bills to our States. Let me make it very clear to everyone how serious the impact could be. If we do not pass the bill that is before the Senate this evening, my Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee is going to be forced to slash money for Federal highway investments in every State across the country, and it is going to cost each of our States tens of millions of dollars in the next month alone. Not only does this threaten the safety of our Nation's roads and bridges, it could also very easily mean tens of thousands of jobs lost, as the Federal Government defaults on the contracts in every State of our Union. Now, this nightmare is going to become a reality just as the unemployment rate has reached the highest it has been in nearly 5 years. Our country lost 84,000 jobs in August alone--84,000 jobs--which came on top of job losses in July and June and, in fact, every month of this year. We know people across this country are hurting. Many are wondering how they are going to be able to pay their bills as the weather now starts to get colder and they have to begin turning on their heat. If we do not shore up this trust fund, we are going to be forced to halt ongoing highway projects dead in their tracks. That means thousands upon thousands of people who go to work every day in the construction industry in our Nation to build our highways and bridges are going to be told to go home and do not come back to work the next morning. The urgency of this bill is very critical. We cannot delay it. I hope we can put aside the ideology and partisanship for the evening and everyone can work together for the good of the Nation on this critical issue because we literally cannot afford to wait any longer. I want to explain the situation so my colleagues understand where we stand this evening. This coming Thursday--that is tomorrow--may be the last time the Federal Government will be able to reimburse 100 percent of their expenses. The Department of Transportation has told my Transportation and Housing Appropriations Subcommittee that on Thursday, September 18--that is a week from tomorrow--reimbursements could drop to as little as 64 percent of the funds that States are due. They simply have to offer the States an IOU for the rest. In my home State of Washington, 21 percent of the transportation budget is supported by the Federal gas tax. Local agencies spend between $15 million and $30 million per month in Federal dollars. If the Federal Government has to cut back or cut off funds, Washington State will lose between $33 million and $54 million a month over the next 5 months. That is only one State, one example in this country. In other States, the Federal Government's share is a lot bigger than in Washington State. In fact, at a hearing this morning, the Oklahoma Transportation Director, Gary Ridley, testified to the Senate about the impact it will have in his State. In answer to questions, he said, in Oklahoma, 85 percent of the State's construction program--85 percent--is paid for with Federal funds. He said the kind of crisis we are talking about will have a ``dramatic effect'' on his State's ability to move forward on road construction. He told us that in Oklahoma they just opened bids on $80 million in highway work, including a $40 million project to replace a bridge in Oklahoma City that has been identified as having numerous safety vulnerabilities. But Mr. Ridley testified this morning he has had to ask his State highway commission to hold off on those contracts. In fact, he said he might even have to stop all right-of-way acquisition and construction projects until we here in Congress find a solution to this trust fund crisis. So this is a desperate situation in every State across the country. What is most disturbing to me is it is not as though we did not know this was coming. I have been sounding the alarm about the highway trust fund for almost 2 years. My Democratic colleagues and I have warned repeatedly that we face a looming disaster. We have proposed a solution that would enable these funds to stay solvent, so our States are whole, so our construction industry can continue during this construction season to move forward on these critical safety transportation projects. We have made it clear that without action this year, we would face a financial disaster, and that it was coming upon us very fast. Well, the situation is so serious that after months of blocking our legislative solution, this administration, the Bush administration, did a 180 and is now asking us--in fact, telling us--we have to get a bill on the President's desk by the end of this week. So I am very hopeful this evening we can finally move this bill and provide a solution to our States. What this bill does is replace $8 billion that was taken out of the highway trust fund back at the end of 1998. This is not a bailout from the general fund of the Treasury. That $8 billion was collected from our gas taxes for the purposes of being deposited into the highway trust fund. Now, at the time, the trust fund was flush with money and people did not think we needed it. Well, clearly, we need it now. We are proposing to restore that $8 billion that was paid in gas tax receipts to the trust fund, and we are not asking for a penny more. This is not new to anyone in this body. We have debated this proposal before. I and my ranking member on the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, Senator Bond, included this proposed transfer in our Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. So it has been a bipartisan effort in our Senate Transportation Subcommittee. In fact, Democrats also tried to pass this proposal back in June on the FAA bill. We included it in the tax extender package. We tried to pass it as part of the stimulus bill. Well, we are back this evening. We have another chance. We are working on a bipartisan basis to move this critical bill forward, and I urge my colleagues again to get this done this evening because, as I said, we are going to start seeing severe consequences to this crisis if we do not act and work together on this now. As I said, this Thursday--tomorrow--could be the last day that our States are fully reimbursed for construction work. So by this time next week, States may have to start doing without. The stakes could not be higher. Mr. President, 84,000 jobs were lost last month. We cannot afford to put another job at risk. But, importantly, these construction contracts are out there and we are in the middle of construction season. Our States need to know we stand by our word and this money is going to go out to them in a timely fashion. I thank my Democratic colleagues, as well as our Republican colleagues, who have been working with us this evening in a bipartisan way to finally move this bill forward and solve this crisis that is in front of us. Thank you, Mr. President.

Mrs. MURRAY

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

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business for 3 minutes.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, the Senator from California and I have been on the Senate floor this morning talking about the dire straits we are in in terms of the construction trust fund, the highway trust fund, that provides the money across the country for construction projects and the fact that within a few short days our States are not going to be getting the checks they need to pay for those construction projects, resulting in layoffs across this country and construction projects literally coming to a halt very quickly. We are going to offer a unanimous consent request to bring up that bill again and pass it and get it to the President, as he requested. We understand, unfortunately, now there is an objection on the Republican side, and we will not be able to do this request at this time. I respect our Republicans' request to be able to discuss this issue at their weekly meeting they are going to be having shortly to determine how to move forward. But I want everyone on notice this is a critical issue, it is not going to go away, and we are going to be asking again this afternoon to move this legislation forward because we believe we have a responsibility as leaders in this country to get this trust fund emergency problem fixed and moving. We hope our Republican colleagues, upon reflection, will join us and we can quietly pass this legislation this afternoon and move on to other major issues of the day. But to me this is the most important critical issue facing us right now in the Senate, and I hope we can move it this afternoon.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from California for coming and talking about an absolutely critical issue this Congress should be focused on like a laser beam, and that is the issue of our highway funding for construction projects across this country and the highway trust fund. I and my Democratic colleagues have been telling the Bush administration repeatedly that we face a looming disaster across this Nation. We have proposed a solution that would enable this trust fund to stay solvent. We have warned that without action this year, we are going to face a financial disaster. We warned that it was coming very fast. But, as we have seen with a lot of problems in this country this year, President Bush and our Republican colleagues have, unfortunately, chosen to hide their heads in the sand and just avoid the problem. They told us earlier this year that the trust fund would have more than $3 billion in the bank at the end of this month. They have worked to block our proposed solution. I rise today because last Friday, President Bush's Transportation Secretary, Mary Peters, finally acknowledged what we have been warning about for months now, and that is that the highway account of our highway trust fund is broke. The administration has taken a closer look at the real receipts they are getting in from the Federal gas tax and discovered that their estimates have been off by some $3 billion just since May. The Bush administration is now preparing to default on its bills to every one of our States. Right now, instead of reimbursing our States twice a day, as the Federal Government has always done, Secretary Peters has told the States that they are only going to get paid now once a week. That is happening right now in every State in this country. This coming Thursday, 2 days from now, may be the last time the Federal Government will be able to reimburse 100 percent of their expenses. The Department of Transportation has told my Transportation and Housing Appropriations Subcommittee that on Thursday, September 18--just 9 days from now--reimbursements could drop to as little as 64 percent of the funds that our States are due. They will have to offer our States an IOU for the rest of that money. The result of the administration's failure to act on this is that we are now faced, in this country, across every single State, with an emergency situation. If we do not pass a solution very fast right here in the Senate, our States, every one of them, are going to be forced to cancel critical highway construction and repair projects that are ongoing right now that ensure our roads and our bridges are safe and secure. Not only does this threaten the safety of our transportation infrastructure, it could bring about massive layoffs in the construction sector in this country. That is an area of our economy that has suffered one of the biggest hits in recent months, and this is going to have a huge impact across the country. As we all know, this news is coming just as the unemployment rate has now reached the highest it has been in nearly 5 years. We are talking about a scenario in which ongoing highway projects could be stopped dead in their tracks if we do not take action in the next day or two. Across the country, thousands upon thousands of workers are going to be told to go home and not to come to work the next morning. These are critical safety and congestion relief projects that are ongoing right now across the country, and they could be halted--by the way, right in the heart of the construction season. Fortunately, we do have a solution. It is ready to go, if only the Republicans would put their partisan ideology aside just for this event and work with us to get this passed. Earlier this year, we proposed returning, as the Senator from California talked about, $8 billion that was taken out of the highway trust fund back in 1998. Contrary to what some people have said about our proposal, it is not a bailout from the general fund of the Treasury. That $8 billion was collected from gas taxes for the purpose of being deposited into the highway trust fund. At the end of 1998, that money was taken from the trust fund because at the time the fund was flush and we didn't think we needed it. We definitely need it now, so we have proposed restoring to the trust fund the $8 billion that was borrowed and not a penny more. All the money that was borrowed, we propose putting it back into the highway trust fund. This situation is extremely serious. After months of blocking our legislative solution, the Bush administration did a 180 and is now asking all of us please to get this bill on the President's desk by the end of this week. You would think that would be enough for his Republican allies. You would think they would finally see how dire this problem is and work with us to avoid the thousands of layoffs that are coming across the country if we do not act. Instead, last night, as we saw, they blocked our efforts to bring this bill to the floor and get it to the President. Senator Bond and I--he is my ranking member on the Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee--included this proposed transfer in our Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill this year. Democrats tried to press this proposal in June, in fact, as part of the FAA bill. Democrats included it in the tax extender package. We were blocked. We tried to pass it as part of the stimulus bill. We were blocked. We have seen this blocked by Republicans at every turn as this crisis has gotten larger and larger. Now it is on us. The final effort we needed was just 60 votes. Do you know how many we got? We got 51. Only 5 Republicans voted to move that bill forward, while 42 Republican Senators voted against it. Now we are here in a crisis mode. But we have another chance, a final chance. The House has passed a similar bill by a 10-to-1 margin. It is not partisan over there. They know the emergency. That bill is here in the Senate. We could pass it by unanimous consent today. But, as we saw last night, Republicans are blocking it. We literally cannot afford to tread water like this. I came to the floor yesterday to urge my Republican colleagues to see how important this legislation is. We are here again today making the case. I hope our colleagues across the aisle will listen and work with us. The obstruction and failure to take action has now gotten our country into a crisis, and we do not need another one. We have a housing and mortgage crisis. We have an economic crisis. We cannot afford, in this country right now, to have a transportation construction crisis in every one of our cities and communities across the country. Within just a few days--take note--we are going to be seeing consequences across the country. This Thursday, as I said, could be the last day our States will be fully reimbursed by the Federal Government for the construction work that is ongoing. By this time next week, States are going to have to start doing without. The stakes could not be higher. Mr. President, 84,000 jobs in this country were lost last month alone. We cannot put another American job at risk, and we cannot afford to play Russian roulette with our country's highway construction effort. That is what is happening right now. We have to act. We need to act now. I plead with our Republican colleagues, put your partisanship aside. When it comes to our country's safety, infrastructure, construction jobs, economy--all at risk--can we take care of that today, please? Can we move forward and fix this emergency that is upon us?

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I share with my colleague from California a real sense of frustration. The people across the country know we are in political season. They understand politics. They understand all of that. But this is beyond politics. This is about severe consequences. I do not understand putting partisan politics, more filibusters, an effort to not let anything happen, on the backs of every single community across this country. These are specific dollars that go to keeping our construction projects moving along. Now, I get frustrated like everyone in the summer when you come across a project in progress and you have to wait. But I want that construction process done because I know that highway needs to be repaired. We saw a bridge collapse not that long ago. Not that long ago deaths occurred. A huge community in Minnesota was impacted. That can happen across the country. We are attempting to fix those construction projects and they are going to be halted if we do not fix this trust fund problem. This has dire consequences. This is not about politics. It is not about a Presidential election. It is not about who is going to stop what. This is about real consequences in our community, jobs lost in the construction sector to families who will not have a paycheck next month in the middle of an economy that is already struggling. In some of our States, as we know well, the construction season is short; it ends in a few short months. And those projects, if they are halted now, will not begin again until next March or April. The long- term consequences are real. Our Governors had better wake up and start calling all of our Republican colleagues. Our community leaders who want these projects completed had better start calling our Republican colleagues. We have a solution in hand. It is easy to do. We can do it today. The President now has turned around, finally, and asked for this solution. I do not understand why it is being blocked. It makes no sense to me. I can tell you, to those families who wake up 2 weeks from now without a job, and to those families who are trying to drive to get to work and all of a sudden they see a critical construction project stopped in their State, they are going to be asking all of us: What are you doing back there? I heard Senator McCain say recently: Watch what happens in Congress over the next several weeks. Well, I hope the American people are watching. What we see is obstruction and filibusters with dire consequences. It is going to be felt in every one of our communities if we do not put this aside for once and at least get this highway trust fund fixed.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Would the majority leader yield for a question? I would say to the majority leader, since I am chairman of transportation appropriations, I have been warning of this to come for some time. It is my understanding that the amendment you are asking unanimous consent for takes $8 billion out of the general fund and puts it back in the trust fund, which is exactly what happened back in 1998, in reverse. Taxpayers pay their gas tax into the trust fund, expect it to go for transportation projects. In 1998, we took $8 billion of that money that they expected to go into transportation funding and put it in the general fund. What you are asking to do tonight is simply to take that $8 billion back and put it exactly where taxpayers expected it to go originally, which was to transportation funds; is that not correct?

Mrs. MURRAY. I did not talk to the Secretary of Transportation. I did see their press release that they now want this money to come out. It is my understanding that if we do not take this action, as the House has done, that beginning this Thursday, and shortly thereafter, States will not get their transportation dollars and will therefore have to begin to lay off workers at construction projects and essentially halt many of the construction projects in the country, correct?

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I share the concern of the majority leader. I am deeply concerned that several members of the Republican Party have said no to this. At a time when our economy is in real trouble, when construction projects are not only providing critical dollars but completing important transportation work across the country, that we would allow those projects to be halted and workers to be laid off, adding to the economic woes of the country at this time, is simply not a smart move. I hope we see that decision reconsidered on the other side in the next 24 hours.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I did object, and I renew my original request.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, no one in this country should have to choose between heating their homes and putting food on the table. But with oil prices rising through the roof, more and more of our low- income families and our seniors today need extra help to stay warm and healthy. The cost of heating oil has risen 162 percent over the last 8 years, and by this winter it will have risen another 41 percent in the last year alone. As these oil prices have skyrocketed, some regions of the country, including some counties in my home State of Washington, have had to cut back on the amount of heating assistance they can provide to the people who live there. The Seattle Times, our hometown paper in Seattle, is today reporting almost 100,000 people in Washington State alone will pay hundreds of dollars more to heat their homes this winter. Many people are already planning on how they are going to get by without heat because they can't afford it. Last week, we had a chance in the Senate to double the funding available to help our low-income families and seniors to afford to heat their homes this winter. The Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer Act, which is S. 3186, would have ensured our local governments were able to cover these additional costs and help those who need it most. We were all extremely disappointed that despite the fact that 13 Republican Senators were cosponsors of this legislation, they chose last week to say no, once again, on behalf of big oil. As we debate the refinements of how we are going to solve the short- term crisis, it seems logical to me that we not leave behind the people who are hurting the most. For seniors, low-income Americans, people who are truly worried, can't we come together on this one issue and solve it as we try to take care of the large energy crisis before us? Mr. President, I come to the floor today to ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 835, S. 3186, the Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer Act; that the bill be read three times, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; that any statements relating thereto be printed in the Record.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I object to that, and I say to our colleagues that, as we continue to debate in this country, in a very clear manner, the different root causes and what we can do, it seems to me, without encumbering this in the larger debate, we ought to be able to at least deal with an oil heating crisis that is going to affect many Americans, and therefore I renew my unanimous consent request as I read it.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative Act. This bill will reauthorize the Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative, which promotes the protection and restoration of the marine waters, habitats, and species of the Northwest Straits region of Puget Sound in Washington State in order to achieve ecosystem health and sustainable resource use. The Northwest Straits region makes up 60 percent of the Puget Sound's shoreline and includes the marine waters, nearshore areas, and shorelines of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and of Puget Sound from the Canadian border to the southern end of Snohomish County. This region represents a unique resource of enormous environmental and economic value to the people of the United States and, in particular, of the region surrounding the Northwest Straits. However, in the last several decades, habitat health, water quality, and populations of commercially and culturally valuable species found in the Northwest Straits have sharply declined. During the 20th century, extensive development, a legacy of lost or abandoned fishing gear, land conversion, loss of native sea grass, and invasive species have destroyed once intact native habitats in its ecosystem. In 1997, I partnered with former Congressman Jack Metcalf and brought opposing stakeholders together to create an advisory commission to address regional and local issues in the marine environment. Many were skeptical of our efforts, but our work created an innovate model for restoring and protecting marine habitats. As a result, the Northwest Straits Initiative was created to provide funding to help citizens design and carry out marine conservation projects driven by local priorities and informed by science and the Initiative's goals and benchmarks. The Northwest Straits Initiative is composed of volunteer-based marine resources committees in 7 counties, as well as over 100 members representing residents, tribes, businesses, fishermen, boaters, and scientists. It has logged thousands of volunteer hours and completed hundreds of projects, demonstrating that citizen involvement in marine resource conservation and restoration is powerful, effective, and necessary. And the program has accomplished a lot: thousands of derelict crab pots and fishing nets have been removed, miles of forage fish spawning habitat have been surveyed, hundreds of thousands of native Olympia oysters have been planted, marine stewardship areas have been designated, nearly 1,000 tons of creosote wood has been removed, and dozens of stewardship and public outreach programs have been completed. The authorization of the Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative will ensure the continuation of this successful and innovative regional approach to marine resource restoration and protection.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative Act. This bill will reauthorize the Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative, which promotes the protection and restoration of the marine waters, habitats, and species of the Northwest Straits region of Puget Sound in Washington State in order to achieve ecosystem health and sustainable resource use. The Northwest Straits region makes up 60 percent of the Puget Sound's shoreline and includes the marine waters, nearshore areas, and shorelines of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and of Puget Sound from the Canadian border to the southern end of Snohomish County. This region represents a unique resource of enormous environmental and economic value to the people of the United States and, in particular, of the region surrounding the Northwest Straits. However, in the last several decades, habitat health, water quality, and populations of commercially and culturally valuable species found in the Northwest Straits have sharply declined. During the 20th century, extensive development, a legacy of lost or abandoned fishing gear, land conversion, loss of native sea grass, and invasive species have destroyed once intact native habitats in its ecosystem. In 1997, I partnered with former Congressman Jack Metcalf and brought opposing stakeholders together to create an advisory commission to address regional and local issues in the marine environment. Many were skeptical of our efforts, but our work created an innovate model for restoring and protecting marine habitats. As a result, the Northwest Straits Initiative was created to provide funding to help citizens design and carry out marine conservation projects driven by local priorities and informed by science and the Initiative's goals and benchmarks. The Northwest Straits Initiative is composed of volunteer-based marine resources committees in 7 counties, as well as over 100 members representing residents, tribes, businesses, fishermen, boaters, and scientists. It has logged thousands of volunteer hours and completed hundreds of projects, demonstrating that citizen involvement in marine resource conservation and restoration is powerful, effective, and necessary. And the program has accomplished a lot: thousands of derelict crab pots and fishing nets have been removed, miles of forage fish spawning habitat have been surveyed, hundreds of thousands of native Olympia oysters have been planted, marine stewardship areas have been designated, nearly 1,000 tons of creosote wood has been removed, and dozens of stewardship and public outreach programs have been completed. The authorization of the Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative will ensure the continuation of this successful and innovative regional approach to marine resource restoration and protection.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. I come to the floor this afternoon to join my colleague from Washington State and thank her for her comments and attention on this enormously important issue to our State and to our entire country. As she outlined earlier this month, the Department of Defense took a rare step involving a major procurement contract. Defense Secretary Gates decided the competition to replace the next generation of aerial refueling tanker was so flawed that it should be rebid. He elevated that competition from the Air Force to his office, and he promised to address all of the findings raised last month in a Government Accountability Office ruling which determined that the contest was skewed in favor of the European company Airbus and against Boeing. I was glad to hear the Defense Secretary had decided to take new bids and start over. But I come to the floor today to join with my colleague from Washington State because I too have very serious concerns about the Pentagon's plans for that new competition. Some Pentagon officials are already indicating to us they are considering using this opportunity to amend the request for proposals to give greater weight to a bigger plane. As a result of those comments, defense experts and analysts are now beginning to predict that as a result of that, the contract will simply go back to Airbus. I brought this up in a meeting this week with Acting Air Force Secretary Donley, in which we discussed the history of this tanker contract, and we talked about the needs of the Air Force, the criticisms that have been lodged against the latest competition, and our concerns about the amendment to that RFP that would tip the scales to favor one bidder. I am not saying the Pentagon cannot change the requests for proposals. However, I strongly believe that all those changes have to be rooted in the original requirements that were set out by the Air Force when it began the process of replacing the military's midsized tanker, the KC-135. I recognize the Pentagon's procurement team is very serious about getting this competition right. They want to get the right tanker for our warfighters. They want to do it quickly. But I also want to make it clear that if the Pentagon moves forward with this effort, officials must take the GAO's findings seriously and ensure that this competition is as fair and transparent as it can be. Last month the GAO upheld eight points of protest that were raised by Boeing, including that the Air Force changed directions midstream in the process about which criteria were more important. It did not give Boeing credit for providing a more capable plane, according to the Air Force's description of what it wanted. Yet it gave Airbus extra credit for offering amenities the Air Force did not even ask for. The GAO report said the Air Force deliberately and unreasonably increased Boeing's engineering costs. When that mistake was corrected, it was discovered that the Airbus tanker actually cost tens of millions of dollars more than Boeing. The GAO found that the Air Force accepted Airbus's proposal even though Airbus could not meet two of their key contract requirements. They could not meet the contract requirement, Airbus could not, and refused to commit to providing long-term maintenance as was specified directly in the RFP, even after the Air Force repeatedly asked them for it. Secondly, the Air Force could not prove that Airbus could refuel all of the military's aircraft according to procedure. This goes to show how there were major flaws that occurred throughout that process. So as it continues with this competition now, the Department of Defense must make sure there is no reason to question its motives. If they truly plan to make this a fair contest, Secretary Gates has to ensure that before the selection team reopens this competition, it goes back and addresses each one of those GAO findings. It has to ensure that both companies are on the same footing and it has to prove the competition is as transparent as possible. Our refueling tankers are the backbone of our global military strength. They are stationed around the world today and they service planes from every branch of our Armed Forces. This is a contract that is ultimately worth more than $100 billion. We are going to have these planes for decades. We cannot afford to make mistakes. As I said at the beginning of my remarks, I recognize that Secretary Gates is very serious about getting this competition right. At the end of the day, this is about getting the right equipment for our airmen and airwomen who are put in harm's way for our security every day. Our servicemembers deserve a plane that will enable them to do their job and return home safely. Our taxpayers deserve to have confidence that the errors are going to be fixed in this contract as the GAO outlined. So I come to the floor today to say, as the Pentagon moves forward with this effort over the next several weeks, I strongly urge our officials to take those GAO findings seriously and ensure this competition is as fair and transparent as it can be. Samuel Snow While I am on the floor this afternoon, I want to take a moment to say a few words about a different topic; that is, about a gentleman who sacrificed very dearly for our country. My colleague from Florida, Senator Nelson, was on the floor earlier today talking about a veteran named Samuel Snow who traveled from Florida all the way to my home State of Washington, all the way across the country this past week, to finally receive the honorable discharge from the Army that he deserved to get more than 60 years ago. This man traveled from Florida to Washington to finally get an honorable discharge 60 years later. Samuel Snow was one of 28 African- American soldiers who were wrongly prosecuted in a court martial for a crime that occurred in Seattle at Fort Lawton in 1944. Last weekend, 64 years later, the Army finally publicly acknowledged that Mr. Snow and 27 others were unjustly convicted and issued a formal apology. As my colleague from Florida talked about this morning, Mr. Snow came all the way from Florida to Seattle and participated in the dinner there with sons and daughters of some of the men he served with in prison. But later that evening in Seattle, Mr. Snow checked himself into a hospital, and he missed the next day's ceremony. His son Ray Snow went to the ceremony and accepted the honorable discharge on his father's behalf, that honorable discharged he had waited decades to receive, and took it from that ceremony, went to his father's hospital bed and was able to hand it to him personally and see the smile in his dad's eyes for the first time. Sadly, very sadly, his father, Mr. Snow, passed away shortly after he was handed that honorable discharge. Samuel Snow was a hero for our country who suffered unjustly. He deserves the thanks of our entire country for his service and his sacrifice. My thoughts now are with the Snow family during this difficult time. I am so glad he was able to finally receive that honorable discharge he waited for so many years and to receive it before he died. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, what is the pending business?

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the motion to proceed.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the motion to proceed to the motion to reconsider the vote by which cloture was not invoked on the motion to proceed to H.R. 6049 be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be agreed to, and the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to H.R. 6049 occur at 3 p.m., with the time until then equally divided and controlled by the leaders or their designees.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the quorum call time be equally divided between the majority and minority between now and 3.

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

Mrs. MURRAY. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that morning business be closed.

Mrs. MURRAY

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