Patty Murray

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. I suggest the absence of a quorum and ask unanimous consent that the time be equally divided.

Mrs. MURRAY. I move to reconsider.

Mrs. MURRAY. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mrs. MURRAY. As noble as it is to hire 800 full-time active duty investigators, this amendment cuts law enforcement grants, firefighter grants, emergency management grants, State Homeland Security grants, urban security initiative, FEMA, and, ironically, will cut money for the fence that is within the bill before the Senate. I urge a no vote.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, as I stated earlier on the floor, all of our colleagues need to understand that we have worked very hard to put together a balanced bill under the direction of the chairman and the ranking member on this side, Senator Byrd. This amendment will essentially cut Border Patrol agents, transportation security, Coast Guard operations, Secret Service, Office of Domestic Preparedness, FEMA disaster relief, and FEMA operations. I urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment in order to keep a balanced bill.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. change of vote

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I want to make a few remarks regarding the amendment that has been offered by the Senator from Alabama. I want my colleagues to know that this amendment which the Senator from Alabama is proposing provides over $1.8 billion for the construction of a fence along the southwest border of the United States. However, my colleagues should know that he pays for this amendment by an across-the-board cut to virtually every other discretionary program that is funded within this Homeland Security bill. That amendment amounts to a 5.7 percent decrease to critical programs such as the Coast Guard operations that are absolutely essential in both homeland security and with the number of domestic issues. His amendment would also cut FEMA and disaster relief funds at the height of the hurricane and western forest fire season, and it cuts funding from the Secret Service for the protection of the President. This amendment also cuts a lot of our critical border security programs. On a bipartisan basis earlier this week, the Senate increased funding for border security programs by $350 million. The bill that is before the Senate right now has $11 billion for Customs and border protection and immigration and Customs enforcement. The irony of the Senator's amendment is that it would cut funding for the hiring of 1,000 new Border Patrol agents to pay for the fence. His amendment cuts funding for 1,000 additional detention beds to pay for this fence. And his amendment cuts funding for unmanned aerial investigation and surveillance helicopters and Border Patrol helicopters to pay for this fence. The bill before the Senate is carefully constructed and balanced to provide funding for homeland security priorities within very limited resources. I know the chairman and the ranking member of this committee have worked long and hard to balance a lot of requests regarding homeland security. The amendment before us would unbalance that dramatically. I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. I yield the floor.

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

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, if I could clarify, which of the Sessions amendments will be offered at 1:15?

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, and I do not object to that, but I ask that following the Senator from Maine, the Senator from New Jersey, Mr. Menendez, have 20 minutes.

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I would let my colleagues know we have several Members who want to come to the floor to speak. We are checking with several of the relevant committees. I am hoping over the course of the next hour or so we can figure out the timing on the votes the chairman requests.

Mrs. MURRAY

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

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, what this letter simply does is make it clear that DOT is willing and ready to discuss this matter, but it also makes clear that there are other issues, especially in aviation, as the Senator from Alaska has said, that really have to be worked through as we move toward this, and I ask that we have those considerations. Again, I hope the language that Senator Stevens has proposed is something that can be worked out because I think that would be amenable to all of us.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, let me just add that I support the recommendation that Senator Stevens has just made, and if we are able to work that agreement out, I think that would be good. I do want to amplify something quickly that I stated earlier in the debate, and it was repeated by my colleague from Alaska, and that is that DHS came to this decision without adequate consultation with other impacted Federal agencies. If there is any confusion over that question, I would like to put in the Record and ask unanimous consent to insert a letter from the Honorable Jeff Shane, Under Secretary of Transportation, to the Honorable Stewart Baker, the Assistant Secretary of Policy at DHS.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask the Senator then, what he is saying to us is it could, indeed, put many people at risk because we do not know yet whether those systems are working in many of the geographic locations within his State?

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, the Senator from Alaska just made a point that I think is critical that we understand. During the debate prior to the Senator coming to the floor, the point was made by the Senator from Oklahoma that there are a number of other backup systems that are available to users of the system in the coastal waters off Alaska and other States. From what I just heard from the Senator from Alaska--and I want to clarify this--because of the mountainous regions, because of the inaccessibility and a lot of the difficult geographic locations that exist within his State, we are not positive that many of those backup systems work; is that correct?

Mrs. MURRAY. Has that amendment been agreed to or set aside?

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, can I clarify? It is very confusing. The Senator from Oklahoma called up the wrong amendment. Would the Chair explain exactly what is the pending amendment?

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I rise to oppose the amendment. Certainly, I understand the intent of the amendment, which is to terminate the LORAN program. This is a program that affects a lot of our small airplanes, maritime safety, their ability to communicate in the Pacific Northwest waters. I know Senator Stevens from Alaska has a deep concern about this as well. We know that at some point the LORAN system is going to be changed. The problem is that the Coast Guard alone, which I have tremendous respect for, made a decision to terminate the LORAN system without talking to the FAA, without talking to DOD, and without talking to many of the other users of the LORAN system. This bill makes sure that as we move toward a new structure within the waters in the area of the Pacific Northwest and up into Alaska and other places along the coast, we do it in a way that makes sure that all of the users of the system are not impacted in a way that makes them unsafe or their travels unsafe. It is unwise for us to terminate this program without the consent and the understanding of these other organizations. We had a debate about this in the Appropriations Committee. The committee agreed with us that as we move forward on the termination of the LORAN program, we need to make sure that the Department of Defense, the FAA, small maritime users, and everybody who relies on this for safety in the waters along coastal regions is on board and we move forward in a way that doesn't cause any harm to any of the users of the system. I respect the Senator in trying to eliminate funding and trying to make sure that we are making the best use of public resources. But it has to be done in a way that doesn't impact the safety of our many maritime and airline users. I will oppose the amendment. I know Senator Stevens from Alaska has been very involved in the debate. I believe he is on his way to the floor as well. I urge our colleagues to listen carefully to the safety and the use of many people in our coastal waters as we move forward on the matter of closure of the LORAN system.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, will the Senator from Alaska yield for a question?

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, may I clarify then that amendment No. 4585 is pending? From what I understand from the Chair, both amendments are pending. I ask unanimous consent that amendment No. 4589 be laid aside and that the pending amendment be amendment No. 4585.

Mrs. MURRAY. The Senator is asking us to agree to that amendment that was debated.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, simply to clarify, so we are all on the same page, the chairman of the committee is asking that we agree to the amendment that was just debated, that was called up, that the Senator had the wrong number; is that correct?

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. With no second degrees.

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