Harry Reid

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Mr. REID. I have a cloture motion at the desk.

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum for both cloture motions required under rule XXII be waived.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we proceed to a period of morning business with Senators allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 309.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Thursday, February 27, during the Senate's consideration of S. 1982, but no later than 2 p.m., Senator Sessions, or his designee, be recognized to raise a budget point of order against the bill; that if such a point of order is raised, it be in order for Senator Murray, or her designee, to move to waive; that if a motion to waive is made, the vote on the motion to waive occur at 2 p.m. tomorrow; that if the motion to waive is successful, the Senate proceed to the vote on the motion to invoke cloture on amendment No. 2747; that if cloture is invoked on the amendment, all postcloture time be yielded back, amendment No. 2766 be withdrawn, and the Senate proceed to the vote on amendment No. 2747; that upon disposition of the amendment, the Senate proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on S. 1982, as amended, if amended; that if cloture is invoked on the bill, all postcloture time be yielded back and the Senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill, as amended, if amended; if the motion to waive is not successful, then the cloture motions be withdrawn; finally, the filing deadline for first-degree amendments to S. 1982 be at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday and the filing deadline for second-degree amendments to amendment No. 2747 and S. 1982 be 1:30 p.m. tomorrow.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader, with the concurrence of Senator McConnell, the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 251, S. 1752; that if a cloture motion is filed on the bill, there be 2 hours of debate on S. 1752 and S. 1917, equally divided between the two leaders or their designees; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate immediately proceed to the vote on the motion to invoke cloture; that if cloture is invoked, all postcloture time be yielded back and the Senate immediately proceed to vote on passage of the bill; that no amendments, points of order or motions be in order to the bill prior to the vote on passage; that if the motion to invoke cloture on S. 1752 is not agreed to, the bill be returned to the calendar; that upon the conclusion of the consideration of S. 1752, the Senate immediately proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 293, S. 1917; that if a cloture motion is filed on the bill, the Senate immediately proceed to a vote on the motion to invoke cloture; that if cloture is invoked, all postcloture time be yielded back and the Senate immediately proceed to vote on passage of the bill; that no amendments, points of order or motions be in order to the bill prior to the vote on passage; that if the motion to invoke cloture on S. 1917 is not agreed to, the bill be returned to the calendar.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 363.

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, there will be a series of rollcall votes tomorrow starting at 2 p.m. We also expect to consider the nomination of Michael Connor to be Deputy Secretary of Interior tomorrow.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, 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. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 27, 2014; 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 for 1 hour, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the majority controlling the first half and the Republicans controlling the final half; and that following morning business, the Senate resume consideration of S. 1982, the veterans benefits bill, with the time until 2 p.m. equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with Senator Sessions controlling 30 minutes of the Republican time and Senator Graham or his designee recognized at 1:45 p.m.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 301.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 11:05 a.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each, with the majority controlling the first half and the Republicans controlling the final half. At 11:05 a.m. the Senate will resume executive session to consider the nomination of James Moody to be a U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas. At 11:15 a.m. there will be five rollcall votes in order to confirm a number of district court nominations. Order of Procedure I ask unanimous consent that there be 2 minutes of debate equally divided between the two leaders or their designees between the votes in this series.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I would also note, these are 10-minute votes after the first one, and we are going to cut them off when the time is up. So if people are late, they are at their peril. We have a lot to do today, and we are going to move along. It is not fair to Members to keep them waiting around while someone else is finishing a phone call. Following the disposition of the nomination of Beth Freeman to be a U.S. district judge for the Northern District of California, the Senate will recess until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings. Order of Procedure I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate reconvenes at 2:15 p.m., there be an hour of debate equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees prior to a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to S. 1982, the veterans' benefits bill.

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

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

Mr. REID. Mr. President, today the Senate will vote to advance bipartisan legislation that expands and improves the health care and job training available to our Nation's veterans. I thank the Senator from Vermont, Bernard Sanders, for his leadership on this issue and for his dedication to America's service men and women. The 19th century British statesman George Canning said: ``When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep?'' ``When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep?'' Although it is clear the world is still a very perilous place, the United States is finally winding down more than a decade of war in Afghanistan, and we are out of Iraq. Mr. President, our gratitude shall not sleep. It is time to demonstrate the depth and breadth of our appreciation to the men and women who have kept this country safe in spite of the risk to their lives and the sacrifices required of their families. I think of a young man from Hawthorne, NV, who enlisted right out of high school, who was 18 years old. He was in Afghanistan for a matter of days, and one of those explosive devices blew off his legs at the hips. I think of him and his parents. What a struggle. That is what this legislation is all about. This bill would not only improve veterans' access to health care, it would extend job training programs for servicemembers reentering the civilian workforce. It would bolster benefits for surviving spouses and children. And it would make the Veterans' Administration more transparent and more efficient. Senator Sanders' legislation would allow the Veterans' Administration to open 27 new clinics and medical facilities in 18 States and Puerto Rico. These clinics will improve the quality of care and reduce travel time for our retired heroes, particularly for veterans who live in rural areas--as the young man I just talked about is from a very rural part of Nevada in Hawthorne. This legislation would help the VA work to end the backlog of claims for benefits. Legislation contained in this package will also improve care and benefits for veterans who experienced sexual trauma while serving their country. This measure also expands educational opportunities for recently separated veterans by securing in-State tuition rates for post-9/11 veterans at all public colleges and universities. And this measure renews the VOW to Hire Heroes Act, which has helped spur hiring of out- of-work servicemembers and has given more than 70,000 veterans access to job training. Unfortunately, though, unemployment is still far too high among veterans transitioning back to the civilian workforce. Last year more than 700,000 men and women who served in the U.S. military were unemployed. This is simply unacceptable. No one who has fought for their country overseas should have to fight for a job here at home. Instead, we should be helping veterans--especially those who have endured more than a decade of war--to continue to serve their country as productive citizens. That is why this legislation extends for 2 years a program that helps former servicemembers get the skills they need to compete in a civilian workforce. This legislation has the support of virtually every veterans organization in this country--25 of them--including the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The bill is fully paid for with the savings from winding down the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that so strained our military and our financial resources for more than a decade. The Pentagon projects that war spending will go down as we continue to reduce the number of American troops in Afghanistan. This legislation will lock in those savings, establishing caps on overseas war spending for the very first time. It is only fair that we use a small portion of those savings to invest in our returning veterans, who have given so much over the past 13 years to ensure our safety. Even with the perils of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan past for so many of our servicemembers, our gratitude shall not sleep. We owe it to our veterans to make the transition to peace a very productive time. Recognition of the Minority Leader

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, may I direct a question through the Chair to the distinguished chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Does the chairman of the committee think we should have a recorded vote on this?

Mr. REID. No one is standing. I yield back the time.

Mr. REID. Madam President, Chairman Leahy has told me that he has no need for a rollcall vote. I would hope others would also agree.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote on the motion to invoke cloture and the motion to proceed to S. 1982 now occur at 3:30 p.m. this afternoon and the time from 2:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees.

Mr. REID. Madam President, I have also spoken to the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and he does not desire a rollcall vote on this next nomination.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, I have deep respect for my friend the senior Senator from Iowa. But he has been listening to himself talk too much and he is starting to believe it. Everyone knows we are in this situation because the Republicans are slow-walking every nomination-- every nomination. There is no reason, no reason whatsoever, that we are having votes on cloture on these judges, as Senator Leahy pointed out earlier, reported out unanimously. It is a waste of the taxpayers' time to go through the process we have been going through. We are going to continue working to move the backlog. We have scores of judges, district court judges, and we have a number of circuit court judges. We are going to, in the near future, file cloture on all of them. If that is what the Republicans want us to do, then that is what we will do. The American people will see the colossal waste of time we have been going through, not only on district court judges but circuit court judges and all nominations. I would suggest to my friend the senior Senator from Iowa he not believe his own words because they are simply not true.

Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin), the Senator from South Dakota (Mr. Johnson), the Senator from Florida (Mr. Nelson), and the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner) are necessarily absent.