Harry Reid

Mr. REID

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 Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that following disposition of the Levy nomination, the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 711, that there be 2 minutes for debate, equally divided between the two leaders or their designees, prior to a vote on confirmation of that nomination; further, that notwithstanding rule XXII, on Thursday, May 1, 2014, at 11 a.m., the Senate proceed to executive session and vote on the cloture motions for Calendar Nos. 591, 592, and 575; further, that if cloture is invoked on any of these nominations, all postcloture time be expired and at 1:45 p.m., the Senate proceed to vote on confirmation of Calendar Nos. 591, 592, 730, and 701; further, that on Monday, May 5, at 5:30 p.m., the Senate proceed to executive session and vote on confirmation of Calendar Nos. 575 and 703; further, that there be 2 minutes for debate prior to each vote, equally divided in the usual form, that any rollcall votes following the first in each series be 10 minutes in length and, if confirmed, 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 to the nominations; that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. REID. With this agreement, we will have up to seven rollcall votes this afternoon and as many as three rollcall votes beginning at 11 a.m. tomorrow, and as many as four rollcall votes tomorrow afternoon beginning at about a quarter of 2. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that even though we are a minute or so short, we start the votes.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, I have not had the opportunity--and it is my fault--to speak to the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, but hoping he will not be upset, I ask unanimous consent that the 2 minutes prior to this first vote be yielded back, and then I will talk to Senator Leahy to see how he feels about the others.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, the last rollcall vote will occur in a matter of a few seconds, and after that there will be a voice vote. The first series of votes tomorrow will be at 11:15 a.m. Starting at 1:45 p.m. tomorrow afternoon, we will have up to four votes. If we are fortunate, there will only be two or three votes. This is the last vote tonight. We start at 11:15 a.m. tomorrow morning, and then at 1:45 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that 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 ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to S. Res. 430, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 431, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business tonight, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow morning, May 1; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate be in a period of morning business until 11:15 a.m., with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees; that at 11:15 a.m. the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar Nos. 591, 592, and 575, with all other provisions of the previous order remaining in effect.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, there will be a series of votes at 11:15 a.m. tomorrow and another series at 1:45 p.m.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 354.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 11 o'clock this morning, with the majority controlling the first half and the Republicans controlling the final half. At 11 a.m. there will be six cloture votes on six U.S. district court nominations. Following the votes, the Senate will recess until 2:15 to allow for our weekly caucus meetings. Measure Placed on the Calendar--S. 2262 I am told that S. 2262 is due for its second reading.

Mr. REID. I object to any further proceedings with respect to this bill.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, this week the Senate will begin consideration of an increase in the Federal minimum wage. Over the next few days Members of this body will come to the floor and make their case for or against increasing the minimum wage. Most of the statements we will hear today will be in favor of it because the Republicans are not anxious to come here and speak against raising the minimum wage. They will be very silent most of the time, and they will not talk much about an increase in the minimum wage, which is so vitally important to our country. The American people will be inundated with figures and facts regarding the economic impact of an increase to $10.10. Why was that number chosen? It was chosen because at that number--$10.10 for 40 hours--a person is no longer in poverty. As supporters of this legislation, Senate Democrats have ample evidence to back our position that an increase in the Federal minimum wage is good for America. A recent study from the Economic Policy Institute indicates that increasing the minimum wage and tying it to inflation would raise wages for 28 million American workers. That is about 10 percent of the American people. Contrary to what Republicans would have us believe, these 28 million Americans aren't just high school kids looking to make a few bucks after school. That same analysis reported that the median age of minimum wage workers is 35 years old, proving that these employees are grown men and women, most of them with families. If we needed any more reason to pass this important legislation, the most recent polling data reveals that about 75 percent of Americans back an increase in the minimum wage. So the evidence supporting an increase in the minimum wage is ample, and it is there for all of us to see. However, the real issue transcends political polls and studies. The heart of the minimum wage debate is not found in statistics but, rather, in a question we should ask ourselves: What kind of a country do we aspire to be? This Nation is home to the greatest economy on Earth. Even as we continue to recover from the great recession, there is no question that we are the richest country on the planet. Can anyone in this Chamber doubt that our economy has the capability of providing livable wages to American workers? The fact that in America there are full-time working mothers and fathers who must juggle two to three jobs just to provide food and shelter for their children is unconscionable. Before any sulking billionaire comes forward as upset and pens an op- ed in some newspaper calling me a collectivist, as they have done, let me be clear: This is a question of fairness. Do we believe it is fair that fellow Americans who work full time be paid less than a livable wage? I hope not. Or do we value all American workers and reward them with, at the very least, a baseline wage that enables them to provide for their families? There was a recent story in Nevada about a young man named Dalven who works at McDonald's. He works hard, but his wages are so low he is forced to get another job. Working two jobs, what is this young man going to do? Is he going to go to college? Of course not. Is he going to go to trade school? Of course not. He is too busy working. What is going to happen to him to better his life? Just a few months ago an incredibly successful businessman visited Capitol Hill. He said he put himself through college attending Harvard, and he did that being paid $2 an hour, which was the minimum wage at the time. He now is an elderly, very successful businessman. He worked full-time over the course of the year and was able to pay Harvard's tuition. The tuition at that time was $2,400 a year--which was a lot-- at one of America's premier schools. Jim even claims he had money left over after paying his college fees. Jim's daughter is now preparing to enroll at Harvard. If she were to be employed at today's minimum wage, she would need to work full time for 4 years to afford even one year of tuition and room and board at Harvard. The young man at McDonald's I just talked about, Dalven, could never dream of putting himself through Harvard or UNLV or any other place because he is working two jobs and cannot do it. Simply put, it is not fair that working families are being stripped of the American dream. That is what Dalven has, as does everybody else, and as did the Presiding Officer and as did I--the dream to better oneself, to maybe even be better than what their family was able to be. So, again, put simply, is it fair that working men and women are being stripped of the American dream because we refuse to pay them a livable wage? They are working hard. That is why this legislation before us is so critical. An increase in the minimum wage obviously won't make a millionaire of anyone, but it will ensure that each full time working American receives a wage they can live on and that will give them a fighting chance to get ahead in the economy. Every hard-working American should have the opportunity to put a roof over their head and that of their family, and every full-time employee should have a fair shot at the American dream. So I invite my Republican colleagues to consider what is fair for their constituents and to work with us to increase the Federal minimum wage, as 75 percent of the American people think we should do. They should join in giving every American a fair shot to provide for their families. Recognition of the Minority Leader

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. We have five more votes. At the end of 10 minutes, with the 5-minute kicker on each of these votes, we should close the vote no matter who is not here. We have a lot to do today. We have two caucuses that should start at 12:30, and so we will have to rush through these as quickly as we can.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I yield back all time.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. This will be the last vote this morning.

Mr. REID

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

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I now move to proceed to legislative session.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call under rule XXII be waived.