Harry Reid

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Thursday, August 1, upon disposition of the Chen nomination and the resumption of legislative session, the Senate proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on S. 1243, the THUD appropriations bill; further, that following the cloture vote, the Senate recess until 2 p.m. for the bipartisan caucus meeting we are having tomorrow.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that two fellows from Senator Brown's staff, Andrew Steigerwald and Katherine LaBeau, be granted floor privileges for tomorrow.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, following the remarks of Senator McConnell and me, the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 223, the nomination of Kent Yoshiho Hirozawa, of New York, to be a member of the National Labor Relations Board and immediately have a cloture vote on that nomination.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I am told H.R. 2218 is at the desk and is due for a second reading.

Mr. REID. I now object to any further proceedings at this time.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, for the first time in 3 years the Senate is poised to confirm members of the National Labor Relations Board. Although too few Americans are aware of the important job this Board does, the NLRB looks out for rights of millions of U.S. workers every day and remedies unfair practices by private companies. This Board is an important safeguard for workers in America, regardless of whether the employees are union or nonunion. Without the work of the NLRB, employees who have been cheated and treated unfairly would have no entity to address the wrongs. Union elections would be meaningless to employers and employees. Labor abuses and unfair employment practices could go unchallenged. I am glad the Senate is moving forward as agreed under this process, set forth at the beginning of this Congress, to confirm five nominees to the NLRB, two Republicans and three Democrats. The Senate will consider three Democratic nominees and two Republican nominees for the NLRB today. Once they are confirmed, the NLRB will have five Senate-confirmed members for the first time in a decade. The five nominees are all eminently qualified. For example, Mark Pearce has served on the National Labor Relations Board for 3 years, since 2010. He has served as chairman since 2011. Mr. Pearce was a founding partner of a Buffalo, NY law firm, where he practiced employment law. He previously worked in the Buffalo, NY regional office of the NLRB. Mr. Pearce received his Bachelor's degree from Cornell University and his law degree from SUNY Buffalo. Kent Hirozawa, whose nomination we will also consider today, is currently chief counsel for the National Labor Relations Board. Before joining the NLRB staff in 2010, Mr. Hirozawa was a partner at a New York law firm, where he worked on Federal and State and labor and employment law. Mr. Hirozawa also served as a field attorney for the NLRB from for 3 years prior to entering private practice. He received a Bachelor's degree from Yale and his law degree from NYU. Nancy Schiffer, the third Democratic NLRB nominee we will consider today, served as associate general counsel for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. She has also worked for the United Auto Workers and served as a staff attorney in the NLRB's Detroit regional office. Ms. Schiffer received her Bachelor's from Michigan State University and her law degree from the University of Michigan. Once we vote on the 3 Democratic nominees, I expect we will consider the 2 Republican nominees by consent. The first Republican nominee, Harry Johnson, is a partner at a Los Angeles law firm and practices labor and employment law. Mr. Johnson received his Bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins University and his law degree from Harvard. The other Republican nominee, Philip Miscimarra, is a partner in a Chicago law firm, where he also practices labor and employment law. Mr. Miscimarra received his Bachelor's degree from Duquesne University, and his M.B.A and J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. These nominees will be responsible for ensuring fair compensation and working conditions for American workers. Look at the resumes of these people. They are pretty impressive. They are experienced and dedicated public servants, and I have no doubt that they will perform their duties on this crucial board with distinction.

Mr. REID

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

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, even though I disagree with my three friends, I appreciate their sincerity, their advocacy. They are all three very intelligent men, good Senators. But I am going to move on to another subject. I ask unanimous consent that following Senator Coburn's remarks, which are 15 minutes as I understand it, that all postcloture time on Calendar No. 223 be yielded back, and the Senate proceed to vote on confirmation of the nomination with no intervening action or debate; further that following disposition of Calendar No. 223, the Senate proceed to consider the following nominations en bloc: 224, 104, 102, and 103; further that there be 2 minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form prior to cloture votes on Calendar Nos. 224 and 104; that if cloture is invoked on the nominations, all postcloture time be yielded back and the Senate proceed to vote on confirmation of the nomination with no intervening action or debate; further that if Calendar Nos. 223, 224, and 104 are confirmed, the Senate proceed to vote with no intervening action or debate on Calendar No. 102 and 103, in that order; that if cloture is not invoked on Calendar Nos. 224 or 104, Calendar Nos. 102 and 103 be returned to the calendar; further, that if a nomination is confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate and no further motions be in order; that any related statements be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action; further, that upon confirmation of Calendar No. 103, the Senate resume legislative session and that all after the first vote be 10 minutes in duration.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, finally one last unanimous consent. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate resumes its consideration of S. 1243 on Wednesday, July 31, the pending amendments be set aside and Senator Paul be recognized to offer amendment No. 1739; that there be 60 minutes of debate equally divided between the proponents and opponents; that upon the use or yielding back of that time, the Senate proceed to vote in relation to the Paul amendment; further, that no points of order or second-degree amendments be in order to the Paul amendment prior to the vote.

Mr. REID. If we are not able to get it done today, we will do it in wrap-up tonight.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate recess until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings and that the time during the recess be counted postcloture, with the time charged equally to both sides.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, we have three 10-minute votes. We have a 5-minute penalty time, and we need to start wrapping up these votes. The first vote took 30 minutes, so let's try to stick to what we said we would do. There are Senators who wait around here, so it is not fair to them. As soon as we get enough votes, we will move on. We are moving on whether everyone is here or not.

Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. REID

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

Mr. REID. Madam President, S. 1243 is now pending?

Mr. REID. I have a cloture motion which is at the desk. With the Chair's permission, I ask that it be reported.

Mr. REID. Madam President, before I go further, I want the Senator from Washington and the Senator from Maine to hear what I am saying; that is, I wish to process amendments. We are going to do one in the morning, which has held up things for some time. There are other amendments pending. We are going to be voting on those. I have no problem with that. This is a piece of legislation we should pass. I heard the ranking member speak on the floor yesterday, but I was so impressed because she said what is true. This is what we are, legislators. When we pass this, everyone knows what the number is if we pass it. We go to conference. What happens in conference? The numbers change. This is the way things should happen around here. I would hope we don't have these lines drawn in the sand and we can start being appropriators again. When I came here many years ago, I was so fortunate, only two freshmen were on the Appropriations Committee. I was on it and also Senator Mikulski. I loved that committee all these years. It was so much fun. It hasn't been much fun lately because we haven't had an Appropriations Committee that has been functioning decently. Senator Mikulski and Senator Shelby are legislators. They wish to do legislation as the two managers of this bill do. I would hope we could move forward. I have no problem with the Coburn amendments and Paul amendment. Let's vote on them and move on. The time has come when we have to try to get it passed. The week is coming to a close. We have other nominations. We have to move to things when we get back. We know all the problems we have when we get back. I wish to do some more work on appropriations bills when we get back. I ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum required under rule XXII be waived.

Mr. REID

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

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture motion be withdrawn and that at a time to be determined by the majority leader, notwithstanding rule XXII, in consultation with Senator McConnell, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination: Calendar No. 220; that there be 2 hours for debate equally divided between the proponents and opponents; that following the use or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to vote, with no intervening action or debate on the nomination; that the motion 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; and that President Obama be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, following leader remarks there will be a period of morning business until 4:15 today. Following that morning business the Senate will resume consideration of S. 1243, the Transportation bill. At 4:30 the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of James Comey to be Director of the FBI. I am sorry to report there will be a cloture vote on him at 5:30 today. Our chief law enforcement officer and we had to file cloture.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Every respectable economist has said that the shortsighted arbitrary cuts known as sequester will cost American jobs. Medical researchers say these painful cuts will set medical research in this country back decades, potentially costing the world a cure for cancer, flu, AIDS, and many other diseases against which we are on the cusp of making great headway. The sequester we know will cost us investments in education that give children a shot at success and keep American workers competitive. We also know the sequester will slash the safety net that keeps millions of senior citizens, children and veterans and low-income families from descending into poverty. I know the sequester is as bad for national security as it is for the economy. These cuts have grounded one-third of U.S. combat aircraft, slashed troop training budgets, and kept an aircraft carrier that should have been headed to the Persian Gulf and other places stranded in port instead. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of civilian employees of the Department of Defense, employees who support military missions carried out by servicemembers overseas, have been furloughed. It is not too late to reverse these hard-hearted cuts, cuts that were never supposed to take effect in the first place. The sequester was designed to be so painful it would force Democrats and Republicans to compromise and find a smart, responsible way to reduce the deficit. There was compromise on one side with the Democrats and, of course, none, as usual, with Republicans on the other side. But we have not given up on reversing these cuts and choosing that responsible path. We have cut the deficit in half over the last 3 years, by more than $2.6 trillion. While there is more work to be done, we should be making targeted cuts while investing in that which makes America grow. It is clear we have reduced the debt by $2.6 trillion and the yearly deficit has been cut in half over the last 3 years. The way to pursue this type of sound fiscal policy is through regular order--regular order of the budget process. While there is more work to be done in the cuts I have talked about, we should be making targeted cuts while investing in what makes America grow. The American economy is poised to grow. It is growing now--not strong enough, not fast enough, but it is growing. All we have to do is get out of the way. According to a report released last week by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, reversing the sequester would create an additional 900,000 jobs. It would increase gross domestic product by one percentage point. That is 1 million jobs right there. The United States just dug its way out of the great recession. We have seen 40 straight months of job growth, with private sector employers adding more than 7.2 million jobs. But we cannot afford to reject almost 1 million new jobs. Congress must reverse the sequester and stop manufacturing crises. If Republicans force us to the brink of another shutdown for ideological reasons, the economy will suffer. I suggest to any of my Republican colleagues who have this idea, give a call to Newt Gingrich. He will return your phone calls. Ask him how it worked. It was disastrous for Newt Gingrich, the Republicans, and the country. It didn't work then and it will not work now. If Republicans threaten catastrophic default on the Nation's bills, the economy will suffer, and that is an understatement. If Republicans refuse to work with Democrats to negotiate a reasonable budget to reverse these deep cuts, the economy will suffer. It is time to remove the stumbling blocks that are preventing the American economy from recovering and expanding. It has been 129 days since the Senate passed its reasonable, progrowth budget. Remember, the Republicans said: We want regular order. We want a budget. We passed the budget. Now they will not follow regular order. They will not let us even go to conference. We have asked consent to go to conference with the House 17 different times. As long as Senate Republicans refuse to allow Budget Committee chairwoman Patty Murray to negotiate a budget compromise with her House Republican counterparts, the economy is at risk. It is time to set aside partisan differences and work to find common ground. Passing the Senate Transportation appropriations bill that is on the floor now would be a good step toward restoring regular order. This measure, the Transportation bill, would create jobs rebuilding America's deficient infrastructure and renew the Nation's commitment to make affordable housing available to low-income families. I commend the appropriations committee, led by Barbara Mikulski. The subcommittee, whose work is now before the Senate, is led by Patty Murray. They have done wonderful work. I believe some of my Republican colleagues are as eager to return to regular order, passing an appropriations bill, as I am. I do believe that. They have to break away from the pack. I hope these reasonable Republicans will continue to work with us to advance this important bipartisan measure.

Mr. REID

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

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Will the Chair announce the business of the day.

Mr. REID

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

Mr. REID. Mr. President, before I proceed, I would just note it is coincidental that the Senator from Minnesota is on the floor. I have heard her often speak about what a wonderful job this man has done as U.S. attorney in the State of Minnesota, in addition to his other duties. I am glad she is on the Senate floor to understand we are moving forward on this nomination. Mr. President, there is another matter to be reported.