Harry Reid

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, following leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of H.R. 1, which is the legislative vehicle for the supplemental appropriations bill involving the terrible storm that struck New England. The filing deadline for the first-degree amendments is 1 p.m. today. We will work on an agreement for amendments in order to complete action on the bill. We are also hopeful that we can complete the extremely important Defense authorization bill today, and we are moving forward on FISA today. We are moving forward one way or the other. I hope we can get an agreement to move forward. If not, we will move forward without an agreement. We will need everyone to pay attention as they always do but maybe more so today. There are a lot of things going on here, and people need to understand that we have things to do if we want to be able to get home for a few days for Christmas, even though we will be back on the Thursday after Christmas.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I wish to take a few minutes today to honor my colleague, the senior Senator from New Mexico, Jeff Bingaman, as he retires from a long career of service to our country. For 30 years Senator Bingaman has been a dedicated representative of the people of New Mexico, but for 26 of those years he was the junior Senator from New Mexico. The only person I know of who was a junior Senator longer than Senator Bingaman was Fritz Hollings. He was a junior Senator for many decades to Strom Thurmond. But 26 years as a junior Senator still makes you a fairly senior Senator. Jeff served alongside Senator Pete Domenici, the longest serving Senator in New Mexico's history. Until 2009 he was the most senior junior Senator. Jeff Bingaman has never been one to get hung up on titles and credits. If there was ever a conscience of this body, it is Jeff Bingaman, a man who has been called by others, including Byron Dorgan, a workhorse. That is really true. For three decades he has quietly but diligently fought for the people of New Mexico and this country. American industrialist Henry Kaiser once gave this bit of advice: ``When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt.'' And that is Jeff Bingaman. That could have been written for Jeff Bingaman by Henry Kaiser. That has been Jeff Bingaman's motto for years. He is not one for flashy press conferences. Most of the time he is too busy. Jeff learned humility in the small town of Silver City, NM, where he grew up. His father was a professor and his mom a teacher, and they instilled in him a love and appreciation for education--and that is an understatement. He got his bachelor's degree from Harvard and his law degree from Stanford. Those are two of the finest educational institutions in the world, and he has a degree from both of them, Harvard and Stanford. At Stanford, where he was going to law school, he met his wonderful wife Anne. I have such warmth for this woman. We have traveled together. I can remember trips we took on Senate codels; she was always the life of the party. She is a great match for Jeff--Jeff being quiet, subdued; Anne, not always so. I love them both. Anne is a political powerhouse in her own right. She served 3 years as head of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice under President Bill Clinton. After they finished their law degrees, Jeff and Anne returned to New Mexico, and they both entered the private practice of law. There, Jeff spent 6 years in the Army Reserve, and at that time he and Anne had their son John. Senator Bingaman served a year as assistant attorney general before being elected attorney general of New Mexico in 1978. Four years later he was elected to the U.S. Senate. As time evolves here, you see it in the face of our children. I can remember that when I first came to this body, Jeff had already been here 4 years. We had our Senate retreats, and there was little John, and I watched him grow as we did the retreats. I saw him just a short time ago, this handsome young man, now working on his own in New York in a very important job. In addition to being a committed advocate for the people of New Mexico, Jeff has been a distinguished chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. As chairman, he has pushed for solutions to perhaps the greatest crisis of our time: global climate change. He has run into brick walls many times. As the Presiding Officer knows, it has been difficult to get much done. But it is not because Jeff Bingaman hasn't tried. I am so disappointed that Jeff is leaving that committee with so much unfinished work. Certain Senators have held up hundreds of bills in that committee. What a shame. But that is what has happened. The Energy Policy Act of 2005--passed thanks to Senator Bingaman's leadership--changed the Federal Government's role in energy policy. It created energy efficiency and renewable tax credits that have grown the crucial green energy industry. He led that charge. Two years later Jeff guided Congress to raise vehicle fuel efficiency standards for the first time in 32 years. Senator Bingaman also serves on the Finance Committee. He is tireless there, whether working on ObamaCare--and he was instrumental in the progress of that, working with Senator Baucus, Senator Conrad, and others. He has also served on the Joint Economic Committee. He has been a valued Democratic Member of this body. In the caucus, he has been terrific. He has been someone I can call upon to ask for advice. Over the years we have served together, he didn't come and visit with me often, but when Jeff Bingaman wanted to see me, I knew immediately that he had thought through and knew what he wanted to talk about and knew what he wanted me to help him with. I think so much of him, I admire him, and I appreciate him. I will always remember this good man and the work he has done. I am sorry to see this brilliant, hard-working leader depart this body. When Jeff announced his retirement a couple years ago, this is what he said: It is not easy to get elected to the Senate, and it is not easy to decide to leave the Senate. There is important work that remains to be done. That is true today, and it will be the case at the end of this Congress. It will be true at the end of every future Congress as well. Again, he hit the mark: There is plenty of important work left to be done. I am only sorry he won't be here to help us do that work. I congratulate Senator Bingaman and his wife Anne on their long, productive careers. I wish them the very best in the years to come.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the Republican leader, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations: Calendar Nos. 834, 835, and 877; that there be 30 minutes for debate equally divided in the usual form; that following the use or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on Calendar Nos. 834, 835, and 877, in that order; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order; that any related statements be printed in the Record; that President Obama be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the Republican leader, the Senate proceed to the consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 4310, the Department of Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013; and that there be up to 1 hour of debate equally divided between the two leaders or their designees prior to a vote on adoption of the conference report.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, following leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business for 1 hour; the Republicans will control the first half, the majority the second half. Following morning business, we will resume consideration of the supplemental appropriations bill. I mentioned last night we are going to have to move forward on this bill. I have been told the Republicans want to have a substitute, and we look forward to whatever that might be. We can set up a series of votes to satisfy those people who want to change this bill in some manner. I would note that in the Northeast--other States but principally New York and New Jersey--there are about 700,000 people who have lost their homes. Tens of thousands of those homes have been destroyed, and other people are still living in very difficult situations. When we had the devastation in the Gulf, we got the aid to those States very quickly. The population of those States--Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama--is very sparse compared to New York and New Jersey. We have to make a decision on this very important legislation before we leave this week, and we are going to do that. I hope everyone would cooperate, but we have to do this. It is very unfair to the millions of people who are suffering as a result of this devastation. We have had some devastating wildfires in the West. They are terribly damaging to the environment and on occasion there is lost life and often there are property losses. But relatively speaking, compared to the millions of people involved in this storm, we have to get our priorities right. It is unfair to those people who are suffering. It is not only individual people, but it is also businesses. I hope we can finalize this matter in the next day or two.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, it is often said a man is only as good as his word. In this new world we live in, the same applies to women. This is a world we live in where men and women, as much as we can, are treated equally. A good man is somebody who has his word that is good. A good woman is a person who has their word that is good. I believe that is true. If that fact is true, then Mr. Kent Conrad, the Senior Senator from North Dakota, is a good man, indeed. When he was running for the Senate the first time, he promised the people of North Dakota he would not run for reelection if the Nation's budget deficit was higher at the end of his term than at the beginning of it. We came to the Senate together. I can remember 27 years ago in the LBJ Room where I first met Kent Conrad--we were running for the Senate--this studious man, very intense. I can still remember that. We have been friends now for all those many years. But think what he did. He could have been reelected so easily and he probably could have figured out some way around it: It was my intention to reduce the debt, but we weren't able to do it. But he didn't follow that path. He said: I am not running for reelection, and he didn't. It is amazing what he did. He takes the national debt personally. He takes it very seriously. Kent announced he wouldn't seek reelection. I was stunned. Kent, how could you do that? He said: I gave my word. But fate, as we know--and we are feeling it today with these flowers here behind me--fate is rarely anticipated. After his first term was set to expire and he had announced he wasn't running for reelection, Quentin Burdick, with whom I had the pleasure of serving, died, and so he ran for his seat and was elected. So he has held both Senate seats in North Dakota. He ran in that special election to replace Senator Burdick and won. The Senate, the people of North Dakota, and every American who cares about controlling the Federal debt have benefited from his faithful service. Every time we have done something dealing with the debt in the last 26 years, Kent Conrad has been at the forefront. ObamaCare, he was on top of that. He was one of the Gang of 6, it was called at the time, and took months and months. He came up, of course, with the magnificent idea, he and Judd Gregg--two people who know the finances of this country as well as any other two men in the world--they were going to do something about it, and they introduced legislation. It was patterned after the base closing commissions. They would do their work--the Commission--come back to the Senate, no filibusters, no amendments. That was Kent Conrad and Judd Gregg's idea. As we know, the problem was the Republicans who supported the legislation, cosponsored it, wouldn't let us get it on the floor; six or seven of them voted against that. The Bowles-Simpson Commission; the Obama-Boehner talks, two rounds of those; Biden-Cantor, he was involved in every one of those; the Gang of 6, the Gang of 8. Even though he wasn't personally one of the three people on the supercommittee, Chairperson Murray was leaning on him all the time for information. He has been terrific. As chairman of the Budget Committee, no one could do more than he did. I can remember he managed the bills we had on getting budgets. He was here, my seat was there, and he wanted me to help him. Why? Because he didn't have time to deal with procedure. He was dealing with substance. I still joke with him about this. He was so intense; we could see that mind of his working. So he was happy I was here working with him to get the budgets through. He has been a powerful voice against runaway deficits but always being totally reasonable, recognizing that we are in a time of economic slowdown and we have to do something about the debt. But he also believes that during any of these periods of time, we need stimulation of the economy; they go together. As I have indicated, no one cares more about addressing the national debt than Senator Conrad. But he also understands the balance between fiscal responsibility and funding our national priorities. Kent Conrad has been bipartisan. Sometimes some criticize him for being so bipartisan. He has never been afraid to reach across the aisle to keep our country on a responsible path. He is a person who is not an ideologue. I could be wrong, but I think he was the first person to endorse Obama. Obama was a Senator who gave indication he wanted to run for President. I think Senator Conrad was the first to endorse him. We know Senator Obama didn't sell very well in North Dakota, but that didn't stop Kent Conrad. He thought he was the best person to be President of the United States. The proposal I mentioned with Senators Conrad and Gregg was a blueprint for what the Bowles-Simpson Commission then came up with. As I have indicated, every bipartisan deficit reduction since then--and some partisan efforts--anytime there was involvement with the debt, he was there. Although we have yet to reach a solution or a conclusion to the very serious fiscal challenges this country faces, I credit Kent Conrad for the progress we have made to this point. He will continue to be a voice for reason and moderation even in his retirement. See, Kent has always had a brilliant mind for numbers. He is a step above an accountant's mind. I truly like accountants. My daughter-in-law is an accountant, but he is a step above that. He is of the mathematician's caliber; he is so very smart. After graduating from college, he worked for the North Dakota State Tax Commission. The person who ran that tax commission was Byron Dorgan, who later joined him in the Senate. In 1980, Kent succeeded Byron as the commissioner of taxes in North Dakota. They are the best of friends. He served as tax commissioner for 6 years. He is a fifth-generation North Dakotan, born in Bismarck. Kent Conrad was raised by his grandparents. When he was 5 years old, his parents were killed by a drunk driver and so he was raised by his wonderful grandparents and he has told me so many times about how good they were to him. He was always interested in politics. At his retirement party, he talked about coming to Washington, DC, and he went back to his room or wherever he went that evening and wrote on a piece of paper that he was going to be a Senator. He was just a boy, a little kid. He was a teenager, but at least in my view of a 16-year-old today he was still a little kid. He said he wanted to be a Senator to himself. ``It so inspired me that I thought someday I'd like to be down on that floor and I'd like to debate the great issues of the day.'' He has done it. He has done it for 24 years. Today Kent doesn't just debate the great issues of the day, he also is famous for making sure people understand what he is talking about. He has visual aids--we call them charts--that explain all his numbers and make them understandable. In 2001, the Rules Committee gave him his own printer since he was producing more charts than all the rest of the Senators combined--and that is the truth. He is famous for his charts. He is renowned for his dog. He loves that little dog named Dakota. It is a fluffy white dog, a bijon frise. Everywhere Kent goes, Dakota is with him. They love that dog like only people can love animals. I often question how--I used to question; I don't anymore. I have a daughter. My oldest child is a daughter. She is allergic to cats. Her husband, trying to be nice to her, bought her a cat that had no hair. Frankly, it was kind of an ugly little animal, but my daughter loves that cat. They named the cat Olivia. The cat got out at night--they live in a suburb here--and a racoon attacked the cat so the cat was never the same after that. But my daughter spent lots of money on this cat. I finally said: Lana, why are you spending money on the cat? She said: Dad, I love that animal. So that was the beginning; I don't question it anymore. If my daughter feels that strongly about a cat, I am going to stop criticizing people who spend money on animals. I am reminded of my daughter every day I see him with Dakota because she loved Olivia like he loves Dakota. He and his lovely wife Lucy have spent lots of money on that little dog. They love that dog. He calls him Little Guy; that Little Guy. I am going to miss Kent a lot. He is my friend, my pal. I wish him and his family well. He has a lovely family. His wife Lucy was the long-time chief of staff for Byron Dorgan--two Senators, both representing the same State, one Senator's wife is the chief of staff for his colleague. She went out in the private sector fairly recently and has done a great job. She has been involved in Major League Baseball. She and Kent love baseball. Kent always talks about he talked to Pete Angelos, the owner of the Baltimore Orioles; that he is looking forward to his retirement because Angelos promised him a tryout. He is going to try to play professional baseball. He loves baseball. They go to spring training when they can. I hope they will still have a presence in Washington. I think so much of both of them. They are wonderful people. They have two children, a daughter who wrote a book about politics, and one grandson. Kent always boasts about how smart his daughter is. I went to the book signing. I am sure she is smart because she has such a brilliant father. I value both Kent's friendship and leadership. While he will be missed in the Senate, he should rest assured that his legacy will remain long after he leaves.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President. Our former colleague, now Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has written a letter in memory of our departed colleague Dan Inouye. I ask unanimous consent that the letter be printed in the Record.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I express my appreciation to the manager of this bill, Senator Leahy. He and I have worked together on the Appropriations Committee for more than a quarter of a century. Amendment No. 3395 (Purpose: In the nature of a substitute) Mr. President, I have a substitute amendment at the desk and I ask for its consideration.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have a first-degree amendment to the substitute which is at the desk.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk, and I ask for it to be reported.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have a cloture motion to the substitute at the desk.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have a first-degree amendment to the text of the language proposed to be stricken which is at the desk, and I ask it be reported.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment which is at the desk, and I ask for it to be reported.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move to commit the bill, H.R. 1, to the Appropriations Committee, with instructions that are at the desk.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on that motion.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have a first-degree amendment to the instructions at the desk, and I ask the Chair to have that reported.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk, and I ask for it to be reported.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have a cloture motion to the underlying bill at the desk.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I filed cloture on the substitute amendment and the bill itself. I have had a conversation with the Republican leader earlier this evening. I am hopeful we can get a list--a short list--of amendments and a path to complete work on this bill as soon as possible. The FISA bill is something we have to do before we leave. I have said that several times this week. I have had conversations with several interested Members. I am hopeful we can get an agreement to complete action on this matter tomorrow. The DOD authorization conference report, they have completed that work. It has been tedious and very hard. Senator McCain and Senator Levin have worked very hard. We are hopeful we can lock in an agreement to vote on that tomorrow. We also have to confirm three district court judges. We hope to be able to do that tomorrow. We have a lot of work to do. The House, as we speak--how to say this in a kind way. They are trying to come up with something. They have had to work all day to come up with something. We are waiting for their ``something.'' I suggest the absence of a quorum.