Harry Reid

Mr. REID

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

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, it is hard for me, when I come here every day, to be patient and listen to my friend the Republican leader talk because he is talking about something that is not real. He is not talking about reality. He wants to get back to the bipartisan way we used to do things. I certainly agree with him, but having looked at some 600 filibusters during the last few years conducted by my Republican friends, I think that speaks volumes. To have the Republican leader come to the floor and criticize Obama about what is going on in the Middle East--that takes a lot of gall. We all know what happened in the Middle East a number of years ago that created all these problems. It was the worst foreign policy mistake in the history of our country--invading Iraq. For what? Look what we have now in Iraq. Look what we have in the entire Middle East. So it takes a lot of rearranging facts for the Republican leader to come to the floor every day--most days I just sit here, listen, and go on about my business, but I can't do that. It is just unfair. Everyone knows we need to look no further than President Bush's invasion of Iraq to find out what the real problem is in the Middle East. He talks about the Defense authorization bill. If it is such a great piece of legislative action, why does all of our military think it is a bad deal? This would be as if you decided one day you are going to make your house payment and your car payment with money that doesn't exist. That is what they have done. That is what the Republicans have done. They have $39 billion in the Defense authorization bill that doesn't exist. It is just on paper. It is a gimmick for short-term funding. And to have the audacity to come here and talk about--look at all the threats we are having with cyber security, cyber threats. We have a cyber bill we have tried to get on this floor. The Republicans blocked it when they were in the minority. Now when they are in the majority, they won't do a bill, period. We have an order that is before this body now that allows us to go forward on cyber security. We already have a list of amendments to agree on. But the Republican leader won't bring it to the floor. To have him come to this floor and complain of Obama not doing anything about cyber--I would suggest my friend, every morning when he gets up, walk into the bathroom, put a little water on his face, wake up, and look in the mirror. I will talk about this a little more in a minute, but I want to start what I have to say right now by reading a direct quote from the current House majority leader, and we are told he is going to be the next Speaker of the House of Representatives. Listen to this one, speaking about the Benghazi committee. This is what Congressman McCarthy told FOX News: Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi select committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. I might add, the person doing the interviewing--good job. But there you have it. According to the odds-on favorite future Speaker of the House, the Benghazi select committee was put together to hurt Hillary Clinton politically, to make her poll numbers drop. We have been saying this all along, but we have now had a gaffe. But it wasn't a slipup; he just told the truth. This is evidence of what we have been saying. The Benghazi committee is a political stunt meant to influence Presidential elections that will be coming up in about a year. It is no surprise that Congressman McCarthy's own colleagues are now backpedaling on his comments as fast as they possibly can. Their elections will be in 1 week. They better take a look at whom they are going to put in as Speaker. The Republicans have taken a national tragedy--four Americans were killed--and turned it into the cheapest political farce imaginable. This is a shame. The very notion that an official House committee was used as a political tool is appalling. Even more disgraceful is the fact that they spent almost $5 million on this select committee--dollars spent on this rightwing political hatchet job. That is not all. In addition to this select committee, they have had six other committees investigating this. There are untold millions of dollars spent on this. Whose money are they spending? They are spending taxpayer dollars. We hear my friend make references to how bad it is that we are concerned about nondefense stuff. Yes, we are. We are concerned about nondefense stuff. We think the nondefense part of this budget should also get some recognition. We are concerned about the FBI and the Federal court system. We are concerned about the Drug Enforcement Administration and all the immigration officials who need help. We are concerned about our forests that are burning down. We are concerned about the situation we have where we don't have enough money to build our highways or to repair our highways. Yes, we are concerned about that and rightfully so. To have a secure nation is more than having a lot of bombs and bullets and airplanes and tanks and ships. It is also having a population that is educated. We sent a letter to Speaker Boehner asking that the Benghazi Select Committee be disbanded. Get rid of it. It is a disgrace. Do the right thing; get rid of this. Senate Republicans are stuck in a deep rut. They have dug this hole. They are in it, and they don't know how to get out of it. The Republican leader continues bringing bills to the Senate floor that have no chance of passing. We have things out there we could be doing. Four months ago we said to the Republican leader: Why don't we sit down and try to work something out on this budget for the long term. We have been ignored. They have ignored the need for a consensus budget framework and instead are trying to move a flawed appropriations bill based on the Republicans' partisan budget. The Senate spoke and, of course, the bill didn't advance. The Republican leader tried to move the same measure again last week, even though the Senate already rejected it. And to no one's surprise, it failed. How about this one? This year--this year--we have already had eight votes on the health of American women--eight votes. Everyone knows how those votes are going to turn out, but you can't satisfy this voracious appetite the Republicans have to bash women. Yet the Republican leader continues to schedule votes on legislation that can't pass the Senate. I think C-SPAN will have to have a disclaimer each time that flips up there that says: This is not a rerun. This is the Republican Senate doing it again. We have already done it seven times. Once more won't matter that much. Today the Republican leader wants to rerun the same show again, this time with another bill--military construction. This appropriations bill is still based on the Republican's faulty budget. The senior Senator from Montana, the ranking member of that subcommittee, said yesterday this bill ``is shackled to an unwise and unrealistic budget that locks in destructive sequestration cuts and vastly underfunds programs vital to this nation's security and prosperity.'' That is what Senator Tester said yesterday. It has no chance of getting 60 votes--none. I know that, and my friend the Republican leader knows that. So why are we wasting time on another vote that is destined to fail? Because they do not want to bring real legislation to the floor. Why aren't we spending our time coming to a real bipartisan solution that helps our veterans and helps the nondefense part of our country, which is so important? The time to sit down and to begin real budget negotiations was a long time ago, but we will take it now. I am happy to learn the Republican leader said he wants negotiations--he said this a couple days ago--he wants negotiations to begin very soon. Well, isn't that nice. Democrats have been waiting for 4 months. So let's get to it. Just imagine what we could have accomplished if the Republican leader had taken us up on our offer 4 months ago. The U.S. Government wouldn't have come within hours of a shutdown, hundreds of government agencies would not have had to spend time and effort preparing for a shutdown, diverting them from their main jobs. If you want to see how close we were to a government shutdown take a look at what took place in the House of Representatives yesterday. We passed over here in the Senate a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government until December 11. It went to the House, and they voted on it yesterday. Three-fifths of House Republicans--151--voted for a shutdown. They voted against the continuing resolution. That says it all. I have reminded people before, and I will do it again. The government was shut down here a couple of years ago for 17 days. We finally got it open. We passed something over here, and it went to the House. Two- thirds of the House of Representatives--Republicans in the House--voted to keep the government closed. There are so many programs that are just not being taken care of. I will talk about a couple of them right now. There is something I have worked on since I came here--the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The Presiding Officer is from Nevada. He has represented the northern part of the State for many years in different elective jobs. He understands and knows Lake Tahoe very well. It is a beautiful lake that we share with California. Well, the Land and Water Conservation Fund helps us greatly because we were able to take some money out of that program and purchase land that was going to be used for subdivision that would have allowed more filth to go into Lake Tahoe. We were able to stop that with money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The money hasn't been coming in as we have wanted in the past, so we beefed it up and were able to do a lot of things. Now, for the first time in 50 years, this program has been allowed to expire. It is gone. This program has been supported by Democrats and Republicans and by rural and urban communities. But on the Republicans' watch, one of the most important programs and one of the best programs for our Nation's parks--and one of the most broadly supported programs in the country--has been allowed to lapse. It is gone. The program is funded by a portion of fees collected by offshore oil and gas drilling. Every day that it is not authorized, we lose out on collecting $2.4 million of offshore oil and gas so it can be used for our beautiful natural resources that are in a state of disrepair. This Land and Water Conservation Fund has supported projects in every State, from protecting the rim of the Grand Canyon to securing access to the Appalachian Trail, and from Lake Tahoe to building neighborhood playgrounds in urban areas across the country. In a last-ditch effort to sway their own leadership, several Republicans came to the floor yesterday and tried to pass a stand-alone extension of the program that would be dead on arrival in the House. The Republican leaders refused to extend the program in the continuing resolution, despite many Democrats and Republicans asking for it to be included. One other program. The good Senator from Illinois--the senior Senator from Illinois, the assistant Democratic leader, served in the House of Representatives, as I did, with a man named Claude Perkins. He was a wonderful House Member. When we came to the House in 1982, he was a very senior person. He was responsible for something called the Federal Perkins Loan Program. It wasn't reauthorized in the continuing resolution. What does that mean? As a result of that, the Nation's oldest student aid program has expired, leaving up to 150,000 students who are coming into college in the lurch. The Perkins Loan Program offers low-interest, federally subsidized student loans for students with exceptional financial needs and also offers a variety of forgiveness options for those who choose to pursue public service professions. Last year, more than $1.2 billion in new Perkins loans were made to about 540,000 new and returning college students around the country, including 500 low-income students from Nevada. It is hard to believe the tea party-dominated House--and obviously the Republican Caucus here is heavily influenced by the tea party--has turned a blind eye to this. It is hard to believe the tea party- dominated House of Representatives passed an extension of Perkins unanimously, but Senate Republicans would not agree to do the same. Yesterday, Senate Republicans even blocked a bid to extend the program. These are just two of the programs that expired at midnight last night. There are many more. It is a shame because they wouldn't have expired at all if we had sat down and negotiated a few months ago. So I say to my friend the Republican leader: Let's not waste another minute on politically motivated votes that are doomed to fail. Instead, let's focus the Senate's energy and attention on bipartisan negotiations to get our country on the right track. Mr. President, would the Chair announce the business of the day.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, my friend the Republican leader is reciting facts that are not real. Everyone knows what has happened in this body and in the House of Representatives the last few years--gridlock. Republicans in the House cannot agree with Republicans in the Senate, and it appears Republicans in the Senate cannot agree among themselves. So for my friend to talk about how great things are going is not reality. We need to start working together, not apart. And, working with Republicans, we find it is very difficult to develop any kind of partnerships, as we always did in the past until Republican leaders took over the Congress. I would hope my friends the Republicans would understand we have to start doing things to help the country. We are in the situation we are in. It is September 30. The country will be out of money in just a few hours. Why do we wait until the last minute and then only provide enough money to get us to the first part of December? We have received word that the House Speaker is going to resign. Why? He is resigning because everyone knows he cannot deal with the people he has to deal with in the House. He has tried very hard, and it hasn't worked. I would hope my friend the Republican leader would start talking reality, not come in and boast about how great the country is doing under Republican leadership. We have gotten nothing done under the Republican leadership. I am reminded of what Albert Einstein said when he defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. That is what we have been doing here. We have votes on everything, everyone knowing what the results are going to be. The latest episode was--what a waste of our time--we had a vote here to defund Planned Parenthood. It didn't even get a majority of the Republicans--well, it got a majority of the Republicans; it certainly didn't get a majority of the Senate. It didn't get a majority of the Senate and certainly didn't get 60 votes, which they were trying to do--revoting on things, always knowing the results are going to be the same. It appears that Albert Einstein had a few organizations in mind when he gave this definition of ``insanity,'' and one of them, as he looked forward, would be this Republican Senate we have.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have never been a sentimental person--I have never tried to be one--but today I can't help but think back to a time when keeping the government open and funded wasn't a last-minute exercise. Looking at the clock now, we are almost 14 hours away from what could have been another Republican shutdown of the Federal Government. This kind of brinkmanship is totally unnecessary. Although we will likely avert a shutdown tonight, Republicans brought us dangerously close to a shutdown. This continuing resolution only funds our government through December 11, as I said earlier. That means that within the coming weeks, we need to negotiate with Republicans to keep our government open. Yesterday Senator McConnell finally took Democrats up on our call to begin budget negotiations. I welcome that, and I welcome Senator McConnell to the table. We should have started this process months ago, but better late than never, so I am pleased he has come around. Lifting the sequester has been one of my top priorities for years, and I am hopeful that we can finally achieve this key Democratic goal. Just take what it has done in the past--just take one entity. The National Institutes of Health lost almost $2 billion and they have never gotten it back. It has been devastating to the most prestigious, important medical research facility in the world. That is what sequestration did. This time around, we have to do better than just keeping the Federal Government operating by a continuing resolution. We have to stop devastating sequester cuts from hitting our military and our middle class. Even the Republican leader agrees, it appears, because a week or 10 days ago he said: ``We are inevitably going to end up in negotiations that will crack the Budget Control Act once again.'' And I say hallelujah. Here we are, ready to negotiate months before the December 11 deadline. After all, that was the original intent of sequestration--to force Democrats and Republicans to the negotiating table. That should be easy to do. We hate sequestration, and I know there are a significant number of Republicans who don't like it. I have heard Senator Graham, and I have heard Senator McCain give speeches in committees and publicly about how terrible it is. So let's get rid of it for the good of the country. This is a so-called no-brainer. Let's work together--not in December--to repeal the sequester caps, but let's work now to repeal the caps and build a long-term, bipartisan funding bill. Then we can turn our attention to the other matters that deserve our immediate attention, such as the debt ceiling. We can't put off the debt ceiling much longer. I don't know the exact date when we are going to run out of money, but I am sure it is going to be sometime before Thanksgiving. We all know that in a matter of weeks, unless we act, the United States will lose its ability to pay its bills. And if you think shutting the government down is bad, which I do, that pales in comparison to the government of the United States defaulting on all of our debts. The consequences would be dire and the fallout would be felt around the world. We also need to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank. It is closed. Republicans made a terrible mistake by allowing the Bank's charter to expire, jeopardizing hundreds of thousands of American jobs. Congress must also craft a long-term highway bill to ensure the highway trust fund will be solvent for years to come. We have a lot to do in the coming weeks and months, and we certainly don't have time for any more manufactured crises. So I sincerely hope the Republican leadership will instead choose to do what is right to meet our country's obligations. Would the Chair tell us what we are going to do the rest of the day.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, in the original Hall of Representatives, which is now called National Statuary Hall, there is a beautiful clock that stands over the Chamber's doorway. The clock and its adjoining sculpture depict Clio, the Greek muse of history, watching over the House of Representatives. The meaning of the clock and statue are clear: History will bear witness to all we do in Congress. For the last 28 years--almost three decades--James Billington has served as the Librarian of Congress. He has been our Clio, ensuring that the annals of American history are complete and available to everyone. Dr. Billington came to the Library of Congress in 1987. What a remarkable resume--valedictorian at Princeton University, a Rhodes Scholar, and he earned his doctorate from Oxford College. Following his graduation from Oxford, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. After his service in the Army, he taught history--first at Harvard and then at Princeton--for 16 years. During that time Dr. Billington became one of the foremost scholars of Russia. I had the good fortune of being able to travel with Dr. Billington to the Soviet Union. It was like having an encyclopedia with you. It was wonderful to travel to this country with which we had been involved in a Cold War for so many years and to have a scholar with us to give us insight everyplace we went and on everybody we talked to. He has written a number of important scholarly works on Russian history, culture, and politics. In 1973 James Billington came to Washington, DC, to lead the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a prestigious organization. As director, he founded the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies. He served as their director for 14 years before coming over here to become the director of the Library of Congress. Dr. Billington has done extraordinary work during his tenure at the Library of Congress. He has brought the Library into the 21st century. Dr. Billington doubled the size of the Library's analog collections from 85 million to 160 million. He oversaw the creation of the Library of Congress's online portal, making hundreds of millions of documents, books, and material available to the American public. Using his relationship with Russian scholars, Dr. Billington founded the Open World Leadership Forum. This important forum creates dialogue and cultural exchanges between U.S. and Russian leaders. James Billington has accompanied 10 congressional delegations to Russia. I was fortunate to be on one of them, as I just said. In June 1988, he accompanied the President and Mrs. Reagan to the Soviet summit in Moscow, and I am confident President Reagan and his staff depended on James Billington's outstanding mind. Dr. Billington helped establish the congressionally mandated Veterans History Project, which collects and preserves first-person accounts from U.S. veterans dating back to World War I. Dr. Billington helped create the National Book Festival, which brings thousands of authors and readers to the National Mall every year. In every way imaginable, Dr. James Billington has made the Library of Congress and, by extension, the United States better--a better library, a better country. As he embarks on a well-deserved retirement after 28 years of exemplary service, I wish him the very best. I have no doubt Dr. Billington will enjoy time with his wife Marjorie--a lovely woman I have come to know and admire greatly--and their 4 children and 12 grandchildren. James Billington, thank you for a job well done. We will all miss you.

Mr. REID

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

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize the distinguished career of Richard Evans, who has served as a Transportation Security Administration, TSA, aviation compliance inspector, passenger service manager, and county sheriff. Richard Evans has always been a man of sound judgement and conviction. He began his law enforcement career at the Orange County Sheriff's Department in 1964 at the age of 21. As would become recurrent in his career, Richard rose through the ranks for 20 years and retired from the sheriff's department as an investigator. During Richard's exemplary career, he participated in numerous high-level, dangerous undercover cases. The department called upon Richard to participate in many joint Federal, State, and local task forces. He always answered the call and was willing to go above and beyond. Following his service with the Orange County Sheriff's Department, Richard spent 17 years rising through the ranks of the world's largest airline fleet, American Airlines. Richard worked at the John Wayne Airport in Orange County, the Ontario International Airport, and the Los Angeles International Airport. He completed his career with American Airlines at McCarran Airport in 2001. In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, Richard answered the call to service yet again and joined the TSA. He was quickly assigned to the law enforcement liaison section, where he built upon his 20 year law enforcement career and his 17 years with American Airlines. For nearly two decades, Richard has been the point of contact for all dignitary movements and specialized screening at McCarran Airport. In conjunction with Federal, State, and local law enforcement officials, Richard seamlessly ensured the safe and security of dignitaries in one of the Nation's busiest airports. Official records note thousands of successful escorts, which include escorts for the President of the United States, the Vice-President of the United States, and former Presidents. Richard has personally coordinated the movements of Kings, Queens, Prime Ministers, Princes, Princesses, Ambassadors, and senior officials from more than 57 different countries. Nearly every Governor in the United States, a vast majority of Executive Branch Cabinet Secretaries, multiple Supreme Court Justices, and countless Members of Congress have experienced Richard's unrivaled expertise and without fail everyone agrees: Richard is the standard for exceptional service. Richard Evans is a wonderful man and one of the finest public servants I have had the pleasure of meeting during my career. His trustworthy, problem-solving nature was always apparent when crises or challenges presented themselves. Dignitaries in the United States and around the world were fortunate to have been in his capable care. I commend Richard for his service to this Nation, and I wish him the best in his retirement and future endeavors.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, would the Chair announce the business of the day.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, a path to avert yet another Republican- manufactured shutdown is before us now. This evening the Senate will vote to invoke cloture on a clean continuing resolution that keeps the Federal Government open and funded. We believe debate should continue on this issue, and that is why we are voting the way we are going to vote. Following that vote, the Senate will then proceed to final passage of a clean funding measure--sometime tomorrow or Wednesday. That will take a simple majority. I am pleased that we are on the verge of avoiding another Republican-sponsored shutdown of the Federal Government. We are fortunate cooler heads are prevailing. But I would be remiss if I didn't remind everyone--especially my Republican colleagues--that this last-minute scramble to do our most basic job is as unnecessary as it is reckless. We are 2 days from a shutdown--only 2 days. And why? Because Republicans made it their No. 1 priority to undermine women's health. Keeping the government open, funded, and serving the American people was a secondary concern for these extremists in the Republican Party. My friend the Republican leader, in talking about this choice a few days ago, the choice between--he said Planned Parenthood; I say the health of women-- understand, the Republicans couldn't even get a majority vote on this. They couldn't get a majority vote; they were down in the forties. So even the Republicans think what is going on now is foolish. Keeping government open and funded and serving the American people was a secondary concern for those extremists. That is too bad. So while I am pleased that we now have a path forward to avoid a shutdown, I am nonetheless concerned about the Republican modus operandi of always governing by crisis. Remember, this is the fifth time in 2 years the Republicans have manufactured an unnecessary shutdown crisis. Two years ago they actually shut down the government. For 17 days, Republicans shut down the government, and we were only able to get ourselves out of that morass because--for example, in the House of Representatives, two-thirds of the Republicans in the House voted to keep the government closed. That is unbelievable, but that is the way it was. Here it is now 2 years later, and we are on the verge of another shutdown. Remember this: This is the fifth time in 2 years that Republicans have manufactured an unnecessary showdown crisis--and it is a showdown. Too bad it is leading to a shutdown. Exactly 2 years ago, as I indicated, of course, they shut down the Federal Government because of health care. Seven months ago, Republicans almost shut down the Department of Homeland Security. Why? Over an immigration issue. The Department of Homeland Security--they were going to shut it down. It was saved in the last minute. These are the agencies within this Department that protect us. They protect us from terrorists, and they protect us from those many things that happen in our country that we need protection from. This past spring, it shut down key national security programs that were part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Why? They were fighting among themselves. The Republican leader wanted a bill for a certain length of time. People within his caucus wanted one for another length of time. There was a fight among them, not among us, but they came close to wreaking havoc. They did wreak some havoc because the program was shut down for a while. More recently, Republicans shut down the Export-Import Bank, endangering the hundreds of thousands of jobs this program supports. It is still closed. Now we are just days from another shutdown--another kind of shutdown but a big one. And although it appears we will sidestep a Republican- manufactured crisis this week, the disaster is looming. We still have a long, difficult road ahead. The continuing resolution will pass this week, but it is for a short term, and it funds our government through December 11. The measure is very shortsighted--December 11. That means within the coming weeks, we will again be negotiating with Republicans to avoid another shutdown. We will also have to find a way to pay our bills to avoid a catastrophic default on our debt. Republicans tried that once. We came within minutes of doing that. The Federal Government--this great country of ours--wouldn't be able to pay its bills. But we see the press. We see all these stories about the Speaker, who is going to step down in 5 weeks, and we hear the Republicans over there. They are joyous. One Republican running for President announced this, and there was cheering. And the person running for President--who serves in the Senate--was part of the cheer. Another Republican Presidential candidate came to the same meeting, and the same thing happened. It is hard to comprehend that people are cheering for this government to be closed. That is what they are doing. We shouldn't pay our debt? The Republican House is in a sad state. Last week the far right showed that it can depose a Speaker and has emerged more powerful than ever, more outspoken than ever. Members of the House will hold their leadership elections in the coming days, and I hope they elect some sensible leaders. I am deeply concerned. I came to the floor on Friday and spoke as honestly as I could of my respect for John Boehner. I think it is unfair that people are piling on. Did I always agree with him? No. But he never misled me and always told me the way it was. I am deeply concerned that even those Republican leaders previously inclined toward compromise have already lost the courage to stand up to the far right when it matters the most, and they have said so in the press. That is too bad. Come November 1, we have no way of knowing what House Republicans will do--this is after their elections to replace Congressman Boehner. We have no idea what they are going to do, whether they will try to again steer our government off a cliff, as numerous House Members have said in the last few days. Do they want to go off that cliff or do they want to recklessly hammer the global economy? Maybe both. We need to get to work immediately to avoid being right back here on December 11 facing another Republican shutdown because if one thing is clear, it is that Republicans see impending catastrophe as a political tool that they need to exploit. The American people don't want another 15 months of Republican brinkmanship. Our constituents don't want every simple legislative task to turn into a doomsday clock. So I invite my Republican colleagues to quit governing by crisis. Let's put the threat of government shutdown to bed now, and then let's turn our attention to something that both sides agree on--getting rid of the dangerous sequester cuts. I have heard speeches given by the senior Senator from Arizona-- someone who knows a little bit about the military--and he says sequester cuts are terrible. I agree with him. These devastating cuts were never supposed to happen. They were meant to drive bipartisan budget negotiations. Getting rid of sequestration has wide bipartisan support in both Chambers, I hope. We should start working right now on a bipartisan budget fix that helps the military, helps the middle class, and puts our country on a more sound economic footing. And let's do it without the threat of a government shutdown. We can do it, but only if Republicans don't divert us to yet another catastrophe.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I rise to recognize the 50th anniversary of the Southern Nevada Group of the Sierra Club. The Southern Nevada Group of the Sierra Club was established in 1965 and encompasses Clark, Lincoln, Nye, Esmerelda, and White Pine Counties. During that time, its membership has helped shape Nevada's future by honoring the pristine beauty of Nevada. Today, Nevadans and visitors from around the country travel to southern Nevada to see the life, history, and culture of the Silver State. The Southern Nevada Group of the Sierra Club has worked tirelessly to protect places, such as the Great Basin National Park, the Spring Mountain National Recreation Area, the Sloan Canyon and Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Areas, and the recently designated Tule Springs Fossil Beds and Basin and Range National Monuments. These special places have inspired tens of millions of people and will continue to inspire our children and grandchildren. The Sierra Club has also been key to the protection of millions of acres of pristine landscapes as wilderness in southern and eastern Nevada. Today, the Sierra Club's dedication to Nevada continues in its efforts to protect treasured sites that highlight Nevada's unique geological and cultural history, including Gold Butte. These wonderful parts of Nevada are owned by everyone, and their protection has helped solidify Nevada's status as a world class destination. The progress the Southern Nevada Group has made to protect these wonderful parts of Nevada continues through its work to fully realize Nevada's clean energy potential. These efforts notably began with opposition to the construction of new coal plants in White Pine County. More recently, the Southern Nevada Group teamed with the Moapa Band of Paiutes and others to support meaningful legislation that resulted in the closure of the Reid-Gardner coal plant and its replacement with clean energy. I have been gratified to work with the Southern Nevada Group on so many of these efforts and was honored earlier this year to receive the Sierra Club's Edgar Wayburn Award. I commend the Southern Nevada Group of the Sierra Club on their 50 years of success and wish the organization continued success in the years to come.

Mr. REID

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

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I, like most of America, was stunned this morning to learn that John Boehner is going to resign in the next few weeks. I have had a relationship with John Boehner for a long time. His becoming Speaker, of course, made those relations much more close. I have not always agreed, and I wasn't always happy with what John told me, but he never ever misled me. He never told me something that wasn't true, and I accepted that. I got to where I understood John Boehner very well. His word was always good. John and I had a lot of dealings--so-called back-channel meetings. Everyone knows that a lot of things we do are not in the public eye. And certainly some things we worked on together perhaps wouldn't have worked out very well in the public eye, but there were things we had to do to get things done. I had a very good relationship with John Boehner. My staff got along with his. He has had two chiefs of staff and they have both been terrific to work with. My staff has reached out to them on so many occasions in very difficult times, and they had a good relationship. I have no doubt that everything John Boehner has done has been done with the fact in mind that he was doing his best for the people of his district in Ohio and for our country. He had a very difficult job. I know the Presiding Officer served under John Boehner and so he knows what a tough job he had. He had this faction, that faction, another faction, and a couple more. But ousting a man like John Boehner--a good man like John Boehner. John Boehner is a conservative Republican, but his problem is that John Boehner has been pragmatic. He has realized there comes a time when you have to make a deal. I say to the Presiding Officer and everyone within the sound of my voice, although I didn't know General Eisenhower, President Eisenhower--never met him, never saw him--but I was here when Ronald Reagan was President and he had conservative credentials. Ronald Reagan was somebody who understood the art of compromise. Who else could have worked out something with the Soviet Union? I am not sure there is anybody, but Ronald Reagan was able to do that. I am so concerned. I am seeing the Republican Party--not the party of Dwight Eisenhower, as I have studied him, or the man Ronald Reagan as I knew him. I just think it is very, very sad the Tea Party Caucus the Republican leaders have embraced to win in 2010, I guess, now have taken over control of the party. To say I will miss John Boehner is a tremendous understatement. I looked out for him in ways I could, and he looked out for me in the ways he could. I will always consider John Boehner my friend, and I look forward to working with him until he leaves. I understand it is going to be in late October, but I will continue to work with him, as I have in the past, to do what I think is the right thing for the country, as I am confident he will. Hopefully, we will continue someplace in the middle to get things done. I have gotten things done with John Boehner that I wasn't happy with, and he wasn't happy with what we had to come up with, but sometimes you do the best you can. I wish John Boehner the very best in the future. Whatever I can do to make his life more pleasant, I will be happy to do that. Whether it is setting up a golf game for him in Las Vegas or helping in some government matter, I will do whatever I can because John Boehner, as far as I am concerned, is a good man, and it is a gross underestimate to say I will miss him. I will. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, today Members of Congress from both Houses were honored to attend a joint meeting of Congress and receive an address from His Holiness Pope Francis, the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church. The Holy Father's visit to address a joint meeting was made possible by the foresight and efforts of Speaker John Boehner, as well as the hard work and dedication of the House and the Senate Sergeant at Arms and the entire congressional community. Everything worked out just fine. Pope Francis captured the heart and consciousness of the world with his message of love, compassion, respect, and good will to all. Sitting and listening to the speaker of the day, His Holiness Pope Francis, I am told this is the longest he has ever spoken at one time in English. He spoke slowly, and we had to listen very closely. So I went back and got a copy of the speech so I could read in my own slow way what he had said. A few things he said were really stunning. ``You are called''--he is talking to us--``to defend and preserve the dignity of your fellow citizens in the tireless and demanding pursuit of the common good, for this is the chief aim of all politics.'' Gee, that is good. He said that he wanted to enter into a dialogue with the many ``elderly persons who are a storehouse of wisdom forged by experience.'' He said: A delicate balance is required to combat violence perpetrated in the name of religion, an ideology or an economic system, while also safeguarding religious freedom, intellectual freedom and individual freedoms. . . . We know that in the attempt to be freed of the enemy without, we can be tempted to feed the enemy within. These are visionary words. He said that ``the voice of faith'' needs to ``continue to be heard, for it is a voice of fraternity and love,'' which brings out the best in each society. We need more people speaking out just as he did about the importance of faith. He said: If politics must truly be at the service of the human person, it follows that it cannot be a slave to the economy and finance. . . . We, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us were once foreigners. Now, I am not taking this line by line. I am just skipping through some things that stuck out in my mind. If we want security, let us give security; if we want life, let us give life; if we want opportunities, let us provide opportunities. . . . Why are deadly weapons being sold to those who plan to inflict untold suffering on individuals and society. He said, ``Fundamental relationships are being called into question, as is the very basis of . . . the family.'' I was so impressed with the intent of his remarks. I thought he did an extremely good job, and I am very happy that I had the opportunity to be there and listen. I admire the conviction and heart of His Holiness because it brings every effort of what we do, I think, to the forefront of what we try to do, to live up to what he suggests we should do. He inspired me, I hope all of us, with his commitment to compassion and consideration for the less fortunate. I am certain this should come as a shock to no one, given his humble beginnings. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to immigrant parents. Pope Francis worked as a janitor, a bouncer, a lab assistant for a chemist before he started his seminary education. Since the beginning of his papacy, Pope Francis has committed to addressing the needs of the poor, extending mercy to those in need, and restoring joy to the world. Pope Francis was once asked about his view of the church. He said that he viewed the church as ``a field hospital after battle.'' His unique approach to leading the world's 1.2 billion Catholics has captured the attention of billions, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, inspiring us all to live up to our highest values. I was forced to remember today my mentor from my high school days to my time in Congress, who became the Governor of Nevada. We ran independent of one another. We wound up being Governor and Lieutenant Governor. He was a devout Catholic. The values he instilled in me stemmed from his faith. He was the most honest man I ever met. He was a devout Catholic, as I indicated. He went to mass virtually every day. He died--every place he went, it was early. He got to morning mass, 7 o'clock mass, early. It had not started. The priest had not come out yet. He put his head on his shoulder and died. He was such a good man. Those of us who knew him--and so many people knew him--know that he would have enjoyed living in a time where His Holiness is known not just for his influence, knowledge, and righteousness but for his good deeds and kindness to those in need. My friend Mike O'Callaghan had a lot of those same traits.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, in just 6 days, the government will shut down unless we figure out some way to fund it. We know how it should be funded. But instead of voting today on a bipartisan way forward, we will still have another failed vote, even though the Senate has already spoken on this issue. Instead of using the Senate's precious time to avoid a shutdown, Republicans are causing us to move forward on another squandered vote. Republicans should abandon their commitment to fruitless votes and pass a clean funding bill to keep the government open. As reported in the press, there is a conversation going on now with the White House and with the House and Senate leaders to have funding until the end of the year, not for a few weeks, not for a few months. I think we have done our part over on this side of the aisle. We communicated our priorities and tried to sit down at the negotiating table, ready to keep the government open. Inserting into this debate a meaningless, losing attack on women is just a waste of time, but they have decided--they the Republicans have decided--once again to place partisan, ideological agendas over the well-being of the Nation. To drag this partisan attack on any further when we are facing a government shutdown is not responsible. The Republicans should change their tactics. When Republicans gained control of the Senate, we were told that there would be no government shutdowns. But do we need the fear of a government shutdown? Shutting down is bad, the threat of a shutdown is not good, but here we stand, days before funding for the government expires, wasting time on publicity stunts. Every moment Republicans squander on pointless votes brings us closer to an unfunded Federal Government. Wasting time also leads to a void for shutdown advocates. Just last night, all over the news, it was reported that the junior Senator from Texas is going to extreme lengths to undermine the complete funding of our government. He is circulating a letter seeking support for a failed strategy that can only have one outcome: a government shutdown. I would hope my Republican colleagues will not join in that, not for a minute, not for any period of time. I say to my friends from the other side of the aisle: Stop this brinksmanship. Instead, work with Democrats to ensure we have an open, funded government serving the American people. I see there are Senators on the floor. Would the Presiding Officer be good enough to announce the business of the day.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, will my friend allow me to speak prior to that?

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I served in the House of Representatives. It was standard over there for Members at committee hearings and on the floor to always say: I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. That was standard practice in the House. We don't do that here. But certainly in the House it would have been totally inappropriate to say: I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend the remarks of my friend from California or wherever they might be from, but that is basically what my friend, the Republican leader, has done. He has no right to make up what I said this morning. What I said this morning is in the Record. The fact is that he can't rewrite what I said. Here is what I said earlier today: We have made it clear that we will not proceed to appropriations bills under the Republicans' partisan budget. That is what I said verbatim this morning. We seek a budget agreement that fairly prevents mindless sequester cuts to defense and the middle class alike. We want negotiations to start, and I said I am gratified our votes on this measure have caused the Republican leader to acknowledge that we need to negotiate, and that is true. I am happy to see that, and I have publicly commended the Republican leader for the statements he has made in recent days about how we need a clean CR. I also said this morning, as far as the upcoming vote, that there is no reason for Senators to change their votes from how they voted earlier, and that was on the Defense appropriations revote. This is yet another case of the Republican leader just wasting time before we address the real deal. We read in this morning's papers that the Republican leader plans to bring a clean continuing resolution before the Senate later this week. That is not a day too soon. That is what I said, and that is what I say again. This vote on Planned Parenthood this Thursday is another rerun vote. I do not in any way take away from people who feel strongly about their position on abortion, Planned Parenthood, and the 20-week abortion. I understand how strongly people feel on both sides of that issue, but this is yet another rerun vote. The Republicans--in the 9 months they have been running the Senate-- have had more revotes than any other majority party in the history of our country. They are No. 1 in revotes. We have revoted and revoted and revoted. We voted on Planned Parenthood earlier this year in August, and we voted on abortion today. How many times will the Republican leader need to return to this same show vote? We are going to prevent a government shutdown with a clean continuing resolution. That is what he said, and I agree with him. When will we avoid a default by addressing the debt limit? When will we address cyber security and the highway trust fund? All of these things are important to do, and I am anxious to get them done. We have a lot of problems out there in our great country. We have so many things to do. We haven't addressed the energy problems that face this Nation. We have fires that are ravaging the great Western part of the United States. The government entities that are fighting these fires don't have the money to fight them. The two worst fires in the history of the State of California are just being tamped down, but they are still not completed. Hundreds of homes have burned. We have a country that is burning up. The Governor of Nevada is a good man. He is a Republican Governor, and I have great admiration for him. I suggested his name to the President of the United States to become a Federal judge, and he accepted my recommendation. He then resigned that position to run for Governor. He is now conducting a 3-day event in Nevada--bringing people in from all over the West and all over the country--to talk about what is happening to Nevada. We are having so many problems in Nevada. Lake Mead is drying up, and Lake Tahoe is having tremendous problems. We have a snowpack that basically doesn't exist. We don't have many rivers in Nevada, but those little rivers that we have, including the mighty Colorado, are in deep trouble. We have snowpack in upper Colorado that evaporates before it gets into the river. I am willing to do whatever is necessary to move forward in funding this government, but to blame us for not funding the government is really carrying things to extremes. I have completed my statement, Mr. President.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, it is said you cannot make the same mistake twice because the second time it is a choice, it is not a mistake. I repeat: It is said you cannot make the same mistake twice because the second time you make it, it is a choice. On every issue, Republicans are choosing to employ the same failed strategy they have tried time and time again. They are making choices. Over and over again, they drag Congress and the American people through votes that are nothing more than publicity stunts, solely designed to boost their conservative records. Today we stand in the midst of yet another show vote designed to honor the political wish lists of extremists. Once again, Republicans have decided to place a woman's health at the center of their ideological campaign. We have seen this tactic before. It does not work. Americans are tired of the Republican attacks on the health of women. Earlier this year, Republicans manipulated a bill. The bill was to help victims of human trafficking. They turned it into a political football by attaching ideological abortion riders. They have tried to repeatedly cut off funds for Planned Parenthood, a critical safety net provider for women. Now today, in the face of a government shutdown, they decide to waste the Senate's time on a 20-week abortion ban. Every Senator in this body knows this bill is going nowhere. This attack is a waste of time. The bill on its merits is no good. It will accomplish nothing. By holding today's vote, the Republican leader is pandering to the rightwing extremists in his party who are willing to take our government hostage, trying to score nothing more than political points. The time for partisan politics is over. The Senate, our government, cannot afford to be subjected to meaningless attacks on the health of women. We will be in session for only 2 more days this week. The House will not convene today or tomorrow. On October 1 the government will run out of money. With or without the stamp of approval Republicans are so desperately seeking, on October 1 the government will be out of money. Republicans should end their partisan attack on women and join Democrats in carrying out one of our primary responsibilities as elected officials, as Members of Congress, and that is to keep the government doors open. Actions speak louder than words. These partisan attacks on the health of women, led by Republicans and the leader specifically today, will not only push Congress to the brink of another government shutdown--we are there. It would show once again that Republicans would rather attack women's health than keep their obligation to the American people. On Thursday we are going to be in a very difficult time squeeze. We are going to have another vote, abortion related, on Planned Parenthood, and then we are going to have to try to figure out a way to fund the government. This responsibility is on the Republicans. They control the House and the Senate. It is not our responsibility. We will help in any way we can. We have not held up anything procedurally. We do not intend to do that. We want to move forward and get the government funded. But we are at a crossroads here. I am not sure we can make it with the time set because of all of these unnecessary votes that have been scheduled by the Republican leader these last couple of weeks. I hope we can make it and not have to see the government shut down again. But, you know, we have seen that before. The American people have been to that rodeo before. Who has suffered? The American people. I would hope the Republican leader has a plan to help us get out of this morass they have created. We will do everything we can within reason to make sure the American people are treated fairly in the upcoming spending bills, but we have to get there by October 1. Will the Chair announce the business of the day.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, we have voted on this before. It seems that is what we have been doing the last few weeks--revoting. Vote once and vote again. The results are going to be the same. We have made it clear we are not going to proceed to appropriations bills under the Republicans' partisan budget. We have 12 appropriations bills, not 1. We have 12. We seek a budget agreement that fairly prevents mindless sequester cuts to defense and to the middle class. I am gratified that our votes on this measure have caused the Republican leader to acknowledge publicly that we need to negotiate an end to this fiscal crisis that has been created by the Republicans. As for this upcoming vote, there is no reason for Senators to change their votes from how they voted earlier this year. This is yet another case of the Republicans just wasting time rather than addressing the real deal. Another revote. We read in this morning's papers that the Republican leader intends to bring a clean continuing resolution before the Senate later this week. Congratulations. We appreciate that very much. But bringing it to a conclusion now is certainly very important because we are running out of time. The end of the fiscal year is now. On September 30, we need more money or the government will shut down. It is not as though we are making up something. They have done it before. And who has been hurt? The American middle class more than anyone else. I hope we will just move on to the business at hand. The business at hand is to make sure the government does not close. We have cooperated every way we can. We are not asking for revotes on tearing down the tree numerous times. We have agreed to that. We are not trying in any way to procedurally stop us from moving to important funding measures. So I hope we can move on past this as quickly as possible.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I know my friend, the distinguished Senator from Vermont, has been waiting, and so I will be very quick with the statement that I am going to give. Remembering Jim Santini Mr. President, today Nevada lost a historic figure. This morning former U.S. Congressman Jim Santini of Nevada passed away. He was a remarkably good person--a tremendous person who understood Nevada so well. He was a native Nevadan, born in Reno. He came from a real heritage that caused him to love his State of Nevada. His grandfather, Walter E. Clark, was the longest serving president at the University of Nevada. His uncle is a famous writer--a really celebrated author--Walter Van Tillburg Clark. It has been a long time, but what a great writer. His most famous work was ``The Ox-Bow Incident.'' I read it again a few years ago. It was made into a movie, which I watched again. It was considered by most to be the most--actually, the first modern Western novel. So Jim Santini breathed what Nevada was all about. He knew the State extremely well. He graduated from the University of Nevada--the same school where his grandfather was the president. He became close friends with former Senator Richard Bryan of Nevada, a two-term Governor and a striking figure in his own right. They were inseparable friends. They were in college together. They went to the same law school--Hastings Law School in San Francisco. Jim graduated from law school in 1962. He immediately decided he would serve his country, and for 3 years he served in the U.S. Army. His service to his State and country spans many decades. His good friend Richard Bryan convinced him that he should move from Reno. The growth in the State was in the southern part of the State, the Las Vegas area. Jim--in some respects reluctantly--moved from his roots to southern Nevada, where he excelled. He worked as a deputy district attorney. After the first public defender in the State of Nevada decided to run for public office, he was replaced--that is Richard Bryan, the first public defender in Clark County--he was replaced with his good friend Jim Santini, who became a public defender. It was a short time thereafter that he was elected justice of the peace of Las Vegas. During this period of time, the role of the justice of the peace changed. It became more of a judicial officer rather than someone who became fabulously wealthy by marrying hundreds and hundreds of people. That is the way it used to be. He did a very good job as justice of the peace. He was so impressive that the Governor of the State of Nevada, Mike O'Callaghan, appointed him to serve as a Nevada district court judge representing Clark County. In 1972 Jim ran for Nevada's at-large congressional seat. From 1864, when Nevada became a State, until 1982, Nevada only had one Congressman, one Member of Congress, and it was an at-large seat. And when Jim ran for that in 1972, he ran against Republican incumbent David Towell, who just 2 years before was in a race with Congressman Walter S. Baring, who served in Congress for some 22 years representing Nevada's at-large congressional seat and who was defeated in the primary. But David Towell came from nowhere and beat the Democrat in that case. Santini came right back, and David Towell was a one-term Congressman. Jim represented the State of Nevada in Congress very honorably for four terms. He was well respected, well regarded, and very popular in the State of Nevada. However, in 1982 Jim decided to run for the Senate, and he was not successful. In 1986 he ran for the Senate again. I was his opponent. It was a relatively close race, but when that race was over, it was over. I knew Jim before he and I became opponents. We worked together on many different projects. We never had a cross word. To this day we never had a cross word. Jim became a counsel--a lawyer--and a lobbyist for America's tourism and travel industry. He worked to bring tourists to the United States and to the State of Nevada, and he did it very admirably and very well. Jim Santini had a wonderful wife, Ann Santini. She has quite a career in her own right. She is the director of international affairs for the LDS Church here in Washington, DC. They have four children: Lisa, Lori, Mark, and J.D. They have 11 grandchildren. Before leaving Jim Santini, we have to speak about his uniqueness. Here is a man who had--there may be someone who has a better arrowhead collection than Jim Santini; I just don't know who it would be. He spent many decades--a lot of the time in Nevada but around the country--collecting arrowheads. He had a great collection of arrowheads. He also collected Indian baskets, and in Nevada we had probably the most famous basket weaver in the history of the country, a woman by the name of Dat So La Lee. She is really a very famous woman. Many of her baskets are worth over $1 million. She made baskets this big--woven, of course, by hand--and baskets this large. Jim collected baskets. I don't know how many he wound up having of Dat So La Lee's, but I am sure he had some. It is with a great deal of sadness that I report to my friends in Nevada and the friends Jim had here in Washington that Jim passed away this morning. I said that earlier. I will miss him. He and I exchanged letters right after the first of the year, right after I got hurt, injured my eye. He always was a kind, gracious man, and I will miss him very much, as will everyone in Nevada and his friends here in Washington.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, at this great cemetery we call Arlington, there is a white headstone, which, like so many others, marks the final resting place of a courageous servicemember who gave his life in combat. The grave belongs to a man by the name of Kareem Khan. He was from New Jersey. He was only 20 years old. He was a Muslim. Kareem's rank was that of a specialist in the Stryker Brigade of the U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Division. By all accounts, this young man was a terrific soldier. He had a Purple Heart and was awarded the Bronze Star and a medal for good conduct. Remember, he was barely 20 years of age. His career in the Army would have been much more significant, but he gave the ultimate, his life. Here is what happened. This tragedy struck on August 6, 2007, as Kareem and three other soldiers were checking abandoned Iraqi houses for explosives. In one house they went into, there was a hidden bomb that exploded that killed all four of them. Like thousands of other soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, Kareem sacrificed everything for his country. He gave, as President Abraham Lincoln said, ``the last full measure of devotion'' for the United States. But yesterday I watched on ``Meet the Press'' as a Republican candidate for President of the United States denigrated Kareem Khan and all Muslim Americans. Ben Carson questioned Muslim Americans' devotion to the United States. He questioned their integrity, and then Ben Carson unilaterally disqualified every Muslim in America from becoming the President of the United States. Shame on Dr. Carson. Shame on any person that spews such hateful rhetoric. In America today, there are more than 3 million Muslims. They are part of the fabric of America. They teach in our schools, and they fight for our military. They serve in Congress. Congressmen Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Andre Carson of Indiana, both Muslim, represent their districts in States with distinction. I was proud to have both of these young men come and campaign for me throughout Nevada. Sadly, though, Dr. Carson's remarks are just another example of Republican candidates refusing to speak for 3 million Muslim Americans. We saw it last week with Donald Trump, as he refused to denounce bigotry at his own campaign rally. If these Republican candidates are incapable of going to bat for America's Muslim community, then they should not be running for President of the United States. I call upon every Republican to denounce Dr. Carson's disgusting remarks. That shameful intolerance and bigotry have no place in America today. Sadly, it seems to have a lasting place in the Republican Party. Republicans should open their eyes and take note of the contributions of our country's Muslim community. Until they do that, none of them will be worthy of leading this Nation. In a little more than a week, our government runs out of money. We have precious little time. The Senate will be in session for 3, possibly 4 days this week and another 3 days next week. The House of Representatives is not in session today, tomorrow or Wednesday. Yet it seems that the Republicans are simply ignoring or are in complete denial of any fiscal crisis that is coming at year's end. Instead of coming to grips with the reality of the situation and working with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown, the Republicans seem more interested in political theater. Keeping with this show-vote craze, the Republican leader and the Speaker--the Republican leader over here and the Speaker on the other side of the Capitol--are doing things that are really hard to comprehend. For example, over here there is going to be a forced vote tomorrow morning on cloture on a motion to proceed to a 20-week abortion ban. The 20-week bill is just a way for Senator McConnell to pander to extremists in his party who are once again holding government hostage so they can attack the health of women. This legislation is going nowhere. The Republican leader knows this. Every Senator here knows this. The bill is just another box to check for the Republican leader and his Senators. It is pretense to prove their extreme conservative credentials. It is all about political gamesmanship. It comes at the expense of America's women's health. Think about all the ways the Republicans have attacked women in this Congress. Republicans have manipulated a bill to help victims of human trafficking and turned it instead into a political football by attaching ideological abortion riders. Again, Republicans tried and are continuing to try to cut off funds for a critical safety net provider for women--Planned Parenthood. It is not the first time they have done it. Now they are wasting time as the government runs out of money in just a few days, wasting it on the 20- week abortion ban. Frankly, the American people are tired of Republican's obsession with attacking the health of women. They are tired of the never-ending wasteful votes orchestrated by the Republican leader instead of meaningful legislation. But more than anything, Americans are watching congressional Republicans' failure to govern. We are fast approaching the year since Republicans assumed control of both Houses of Congress. What do they have to show for it? Nothing. The few things that have passed were things that would have passed easily last Congress, except they were filibustered by the Republicans. If this 20-week abortion ban bill is any indication, nothing is all we can expect from the Republican leader and his party for the remaining 15 months of this Congress. Will the Chair announce the business of the day.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, today I recognize the 20th anniversary of the After-School All-Stars of Greater Las Vegas, NV. In 1995, Elaine Wynn established the Greater Las Vegas Inner-City Games to provide thousands of young Nevadans with a fun, safe, and positive place to go during after-school hours. In 2003, the program was expanded to include more services and the program was transformed into the After-School All-Stars. Over the past two decades, After-School All-Stars has provided more than 120,000 underprivileged Southern Nevadans with a free and comprehensive after-school program. Today, the After-School All-Stars program has reached 12 states, including the District of Columbia. After-School All-Stars takes pride in providing its students with the opportunity to participate in exciting and engaging activities, while also building self-esteem. This important program teaches its participants the value of saying no to drugs and yes to hope and offers students academic support, enrichment activities, and health and fitness awareness. Through its mission, After-School All-Stars is working to graduate students from high school, prepare them for college and future careers, and encourage them to give back to their communities. This organization has impacted the lives of Nevada students for 20 years, and I applaud the After-School All-Stars program of Greater Las Vegas for their dedication to improving the lives of at-risk students throughout Southern Nevada. I congratulate the program's board of directors, staff, and volunteers on decades of success and wish them the best in the years to come.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, the Senate has already spoken and made it absolutely clear that the agreement with Iran will stand. Remember, an agreement to stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon is what it is all about. The issue has been decided. Instead of focusing on the critical issue of funding our government, Senator McConnell has decided to waste an entire week on something that has already been decided, twice. First, we are voting on the McConnell amendment, which would keep the President from being able to suspend or waive sanctions on Iran unless Iran frees all Americans and formally recognizes the State of Israel. All Senators, Democrats and Republicans, want all the Americans held by Iran or who have disappeared in Iran to come back home to their families as quickly as possible. We believe that Iran should recognize the State of Israel. We believe the other countries in that area should join along. We are very happy with the arrangement between Egypt and Israel which has been going on for many, many years and has been very good for some degree of stability in the area. What Republican colleagues are doing now is very, very cynical. They are taking serious issues and turning them into pawns on a political chess board. Here is what Senator Stabenow said yesterday. Remember, she is the Senator from Michigan. She has a person from Michigan who has been held in Iran for some time now. Here is what she said yesterday: The Senate Republican leader is . . . playing politics with Amir's life. The imprisonment of this veteran--this American hero--is being used by the Senate majority leader in a transparent attempt to score some cheap political points . . . and it's appalling. No American should ever be used in this way. Elaborating, she told me that his family wants us to stay out of it, progress is being made. Please stay out of it. That is what his sister said. This cynical tactic is a waste of the Senate's time. We should be focused on preventing a government shutdown. Senator McConnell has decided that the Senate should vote not once, not twice, but a third time on the resolution of disapproval, which has already failed, as I mentioned before, on two separate occasions. The results will be the same today. Yet Senate Republicans appear to be stuck and unable to move forward even in the face of a looming government shutdown. There are just a few legislative days until the government runs out of funding. Democrats have seen this coming for months and Republicans should have seen it also. Maybe they did but just ignored it. That is why we have called for bipartisan budget negotiations. We are running out of time. That is an understatement. Last week, the Republican leader told this body: We only have so much floor time in the Senate. We are going to try to use it on serious proposals that have a chance of becoming law. I am sure he should read that to himself again today, yesterday, and maybe tomorrow. But after having made the statement, instead of voting on this key priority--that is, funding the government--we are spending time on cynical show votes even though everyone knows the result. Despite the fact that a shutdown looms in a matter of days, the Republican leader is turning the world's greatest deliberative body into the ``show-vote'' Senate. Ensuring that the government has the funds it needs to operate is the basic responsibility of the Senate. That Republicans have let this crisis build instead of joining Democrats at the bargaining table is an embarrassment to this institution. The Republican leader and I don't see eye to eye on all political issues, but we both support a clean bill to stop a government shutdown. That is what he wants. A clean bill is the only way to prevent a government shutdown, no riders, no tricky things in it at all. Just yesterday, the Republican Leader said, the sequester-level spending caps should be lifted. Thank goodness he said that. I agree with him. I agree with Senator McCain and Senator Lindsey Graham, who have talked about this on the Republican side. We all know how this ends. The Senate will pass a clean continuing resolution. I hope that is the ending we all see because that is what we should see. When I say a clean bill, I mean no policy riders, no procedural loopholes, just a clean funding bill devoid of tricks. So what are we waiting for? Why are we dragging the country to the brink of another shutdown when the solution is staring us in the face? There is nothing to gain from delaying the inevitable and much to lose. The reality of the Senate is that the longer we wait, the more difficult the path forward will be. In the past, Republicans' inability to govern responsibly has amplified the voice of government shutdown advocates like the junior Senator from Texas. Every moment the Republican leader wastes increases the likelihood that one Senator's objection can raise enough procedural problems to force the entire government to shut down. I am not making this up, it happened 2 years ago. Captains of chaos want nothing more than for the Republican leader to twiddle his thumbs. Every day we wait increases the leverage of those who want to shut down the government. We have seen this drama before. It happened 2 years ago. The Republican leader will need to file cloture at least twice if any single member of the caucus objects. So if the Republican leader wants to avoid a government shutdown, he should start the process of bringing a bill to the floor by Thursday at the absolute latest. Time really is running out. Next week, Pope Francis will address Congress. We expect half a million people to come for the Pope's visit to Capitol Hill. The President of China will make his visit the very next day to the Nation's capital. It will be his first visit. So there will be 3 or 4 days in session next week at the most. We are ready to move forward. There is no reason to wait any longer. It is time for Republicans to skip the manufactured drama, pass a clean funding bill today, and get something done around here for the American people. For months, Democrats have been clear about our priorities: First, any appropriations measure cannot be hijacked for ideological or special-interest riders. Second, any funding increase for the Pentagon must be matched by at least a dollar-for-dollar increase for domestic programs, including domestic anti-terror programs. These are commonsense principles that should form the basis of any budget agreement, but Republicans have refused to negotiate. They are now focused on scoring political points at the expense of the American people. We voted twice. Why waste this time again on another vote? There will only be a few days of session next week. When we return the following Monday, we will have just 3 days before the government funding expires. That is October 1. We should act now, pass a clean continuing resolution preventing a government shutdown, and then responsibly negotiate a compromise. It should be a short-term CR. Any other decision is a waste of precious time that we do not have.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, it is no surprise to me that Susan Collins is such a hard worker. She started as a young woman, digging potatoes for 30 cents a barrel at a neighbor's farm in Caribou, ME. I have learned a lot about her over these years. I have served with her now for almost two full decades. Hard work and diligence is her byword. We have worked on some things together that have been extremely important for the country. Some of the things I won't bring up because they might not sit well with some of my Republican friends, but she is a person who is truly an independent Senator. I admire the work she has done. She, of course, has a good education. I started out really thinking the world of her when she was first elected because I learned where she was trained. One of my favorite Senators whom I have served with here in the Senate has been Bill Cohen from Maine. He was a terrific Senator and a fine man. I am convinced that one of the reasons she is as good as she is is because of what she learned in Senator Cohen's office. I served under him. He was chairman of the Aging Committee. I served with him on other matters. He and I were both in the House of Representatives. We shared lockers, in that little room that they give us back there, for many years. I so admired him. I knew when she came here, her having worked there, that she would be good, and she has been really good. I am also impressed with her ability to work with our Independent Senator, Angus King. They have worked so well together. They don't always agree on issues, but they are always agreeable on every issue. I admire both of them, and I am so proud to join in lending my voice to congratulate this good woman, the senior Senator from the State of Maine. (Applause, Senators rising.)

Mr. REID. Madam President, today marks the last day of the 60-day Congressional review period that was established in the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, which the President signed into law. As has been noted numerous times, by supporting that legislation the Senate voted to consider three possible outcomes: no action at all, a resolution of approval, or a resolution of disapproval. Republicans brought a resolution of disapproval before the Senate and it failed. In fact, it failed on three separate occasions. Thus, the agreement will go into force. This issue has been decided. However, numerous Republicans have claimed on the Senate floor that because this historic international nuclear agreement with Iran is not a treaty, and because Congress did not expressly approve the agreement, the deal will not carry into the next presidential administration. That could not be further from the truth. Let's set the record straight: history has proven that international agreements are an essential element of diplomacy and have longevity far beyond a single administration. Examples of recent nonproliferation agreements in place through more than one administration include: the Helsinki Final Act, the Vienna Document, the Proliferation Security Initiative, and the Missile Technology Control Regime. It is absolutely clear that the Iran agreement can remain in force beyond the Obama administration, as have many other important executive agreements. The Senate has spoken on this issue and the Iran agreement will stand.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Finally, the number of Americans without health insurance dropped dramatically last year. All the press yesterday and this morning are reporting this, but this comes as no surprise. The good news happened as the Affordable Care Act's major coverage provisions took effect. This is further evidence the Affordable Care Act is working. The share of people without coverage dropped in every State in the Union in 2014. That is the first time in the history of the Census reports that every State has improved. States that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act did better than those that did not. States that adopted the new law's Medicaid expansion had a 3.5-percentage-point drop in their uninsured rate. That is about 1\1/2\ times the 2.3-percentage-point decline in States that did not expand the program. Overall, the national uninsured rate dropped by 2.9 percentage points. Now, all these numbers mean that the uninsured rate is now at the lowest in the history of our country--the lowest ever. Once again, the Affordable Care Act, ObamaCare, is working.