Harry Reid

Mr. REID

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

Mr. REID. Mr. President, we hope shortly after the caucuses are ended today that we will have a vote on final passage of the Defense authorization bill. The managers have a few more amendments they are going to try to clear, but I think very quickly after the caucus we will have a vote. ``Very quickly'' around here is kind of a relative term, but we hope to do it as soon as we can.

Mr. REID. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Would the Chair announce the business for the day.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I now move to proceed to calendar No. 552, H.R. 6156, which is the Russia-Moldova trade agreement.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, if I could say a word, I was looking for an opportunity to express my appreciation to the two managers of this bill. This has been hard, but they have done an excellent job. There is nothing more important we do here than make sure that our fighting men and women have the resources to do what they need to do for our country, and there are no two better managers that we could have on this bill than these two fine Senators. I appreciate very much their hard work.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I took no risk, because Senator Levin from Michigan and Senator McCain from Arizona said, We will finish the bill in 3 days. So I had no risk because I knew that is what they would do. We may have spilled over a few hours, but basically they held to their agreement.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on December 4, 2012, at 2:30 p.m. in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Following leader remarks, if any, the Senate will resume consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act. The filing deadline for second-degree amendments is 4 o'clock today. At 5 p.m., the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of Paul William Grimm to be United States District Judge for the District of Maryland. At 5:30 p.m., there will be two rollcall votes: first on confirmation of the Grimm nomination, and then on the motion to invoke cloture on S. 3254, the Defense bill I just spoke about. Mr. President, significant progress has been made on this legislation. The two managers of the bill, as I indicated, know how this place works, and they worked extremely hard to clear a lot of amendments. We soon will be approaching 100 amendments that have been dealt with in this legislation. In fact, for all I know, they could have already done it since this morning, so I think we have made great progress. I know there is more progress that can be made by their continuing to work on this.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, before I came to Congress I was a lawyer. I tried lots of cases, more than 100 cases to juries. My greatest victories, though, weren't the cases that we spent in a courtroom and worked on in a courtroom. My greatest victories were the cases that never saw the inside of a courtroom. As English poet George Herbert said, ``A lean compromise is better than a fat lawsuit,'' and that is true. It is always better to settle than to fight. I have done my fair share over the years of negotiating, both as a lawyer and as a Senator and as a Member of the House. I have a bit of negotiating advice for Republican leaders: You are doing it wrong. Generally during a negotiation, each side brings an offer or demand to the table. That is how it has always worked. Then the two sides sit down and find middle ground. It is not always easy and it is rarely fun. True compromise means no one gets everything they want, but unless both sides come to the negotiating table with an offer, you can't even begin the negotiation. In fact, unless both sides come to the table with an offer, there is no negotiation. Over the last week, Republican leaders from both Chambers have complained that Democrats put forward a proposal for resolving the fiscal cliff that reflected our priorities--our priorities. What did they expect? Our proposal is simple. We want to end unnecessary tax breaks for the richest of the rich and provide security for everyone making less than $250,000 a year. No one should be surprised at President Obama's offer. It is exactly what he has said he supports time and time again. For months now, it is what I have said I support. I have said it time and time again. It is what Democratic Senators campaigned on across the country this election cycle. This plan would protect 98 percent of American families and 97 percent of small businesses from tax increases. It also passed the Senate 4 months ago, and it has the support of the American people. The vast majority of Americans--Independents, Democrats, and even more than 40 percent of Republicans--supports this. I wish I could share with you the details of the Republicans' answering proposal, but there hasn't been one. They haven't produced a single proposal. We are not doing their homework for them. It is the Republicans' responsibility to respond with a counteroffer--not a hint dropped during, perhaps, an interview with the Washington Post, the New York Times or even the Wall Street Journal or a Sunday talk show but a real modified offer. President Obama has told Republicans and the world where he stands. The sooner the Republicans make a legitimate offer, the sooner we can all start working to find middle ground. So let me remind my Republican colleagues that as we work toward a final agreement, millions of middle-class families are nervously watching and waiting. For 4 months Republicans have held them hostage to protect the richest 2 percent of taxpayers. Reasonable rank-and-file Republicans are urging their leadership to stop delaying Senate-passed legislation that would give millions of middle-class families making less than $250,000 the certainty that their taxes won't go up by about $2,200 on January 1. It will be hard for Speaker Boehner to pass our bill--no, it wouldn't be hard at all; it would be so easy. Every Democrat in the House will vote for it--every Democrat in the House. To reach 218 votes, which is half plus 1 in the House, it takes only 26 reasonable Republicans willing to put the needs of the middle-class demands ahead of Grover Norquist. That is so simple. So when my friend, the Speaker, says he can't pass it, that is simply without foundation or fact, and it is not true. As my friend and colleague, the senior Senator from Missouri, Claire McCaskill, said on a Sunday talk show yesterday, John Boehner has a decision to make. This is what she said: ``He's got to decide, is his speakership more important or is the country more important.'' That is a pretty easy question to answer for everyone. It should be an easy question to answer for Speaker Boehner. As we continue to hope for a balanced agreement that will safeguard the economy, I hope Speaker Boehner ends the suspense for millions of American families and does it soon.

Mr. REID

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

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the previous order with respect to treaty document 112-7, the vote on ratification will occur at 2:15 Tuesday, tomorrow, December 4, with all the provisions of the previous orders remaining in effect. What this does is rather than having the vote at noon on the disability treaty, we would have it after our caucus.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, following leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of the Defense Authorization Act. There will be four rollcall votes at 9:30 a.m. Order of Procedure I ask unanimous consent that all votes after the first vote be 10 minutes in duration.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, this week something rare occurred here in the Senate: We debated a bill under regular order. No filibusters were mounted, no cloture motions were filed on the motion to proceed. That is certainly a rare occasion. For that reason we have had ample time to debate and consider amendments. This is how the process should work. Typically, over the last few years we have spent weeks running out the clock on endless procedural motions rather than debating important legislation. It is no wonder the Senate rarely accomplishes anything when it takes more than a week to have a vote even to begin a bill; that is, whether we even take up a bill, start debate on a bill. I would note, however, that even in this case, and this is an important piece of legislation, the Defense authorization bill--I did not have to file cloture to get to the bill, but we spent weeks going back and forth to get this bill to the floor. Even though the bill managers are working mightily to make regular order work, a number of Senators have advanced nonrelevant amendments, threatening to derail the process. More than 360 amendments have been filed to this bill, many of them nonrelevant. I understand there is a lot of pent-up feelings about: Why have I not been able to offer amendments the last couple of years? Well, because we have not gotten on bills, and when we do, nothing much happens because of the problems that have developed. A number of my colleagues, especially this past week, both Democrats and Republicans, have come to me asking for a better path forward in this body, this legislative body we so love. They want the Senate to function again in the manner the Founders envisioned. They want to see us debate legislation, consider relevant amendments, and then vote up or down on the matters before this body. Senators want to see us conclude legislation, pass or fail. Let's decide what we are going to do, not avoid doing something. They do not want to see more good bills filibustered to death without ever even getting a real vote. If a bill is worth bringing to the floor of this body, the Senate, it should get to the floor so we can start the debate. One reason we have been able to work with 50, 60 amendments on this bill--actually that are disposed of--is because we did not have to waste time for more than a week on a motion to proceed to get to it. So I repeat, if a bill is worth bringing to the floor of this body, it should get to the floor quickly. It deserves an up-or-down vote once we go on it.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I would be happy to yield.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, we are fortunate to have two of the most seasoned veterans managing this bill. They understand the legislation. They have worked together for a quarter of a century on this. No one knows this subject matter better than these two managers. Having said that, they are now going to put their experience to a test because they are going to come up with a finite list. People have wanted to start legislating the way we have legislated. That is what we are doing here. As I mentioned this morning, we have almost 400 amendments that have been filed on this bill, but that is not unusual. People have a pent-up desire to offer amendments and we all understand that. But from that list, these two managers are going to cull a number of amendments to come up with a finite list; that is, a list of amendments that should be disposed of. They are going to do that by unanimous consent, and I hope everyone will cooperate. They will be as fair as they can to Democrats and Republicans. People should look at the list. If they don't like it, then they should talk to one of the managers, but that is the way it is. There will be no more votes after the next one, but by noon today there will be a determination as to whether there will be further activity on this legislation. We have a vote that is now going to be announced by the Chair in a minute. I hope everybody understands we have made great progress on this bill. This legislation has passed 51 consecutive years. This will be the 52nd year we have passed this bill. It would be untoward and not good for our fighting men and women not to pass this legislation. Once we pass it, we can't spend a lot more time on it. This is a massive bill. It has to go to conference with the House. The two managers and the conferees have to work something out so we will have a final product before the end of the year.

Mr. REID. Finally, I ask all Senators to know that word ``cloture'' did not purse my lips.

Mr. REID. The work done has been exemplary by the two managers. I appreciate it very much. We have disposed of 75 amendments. We have another batch we are going to approve very quickly. We have had rollcall votes. There has been significant progress made. We are not going to be able to lock in a finite list of amendments. That is always hard to do. But I am confident we are going to be able to get this done. Senators McCain and Levin and their staffs will be available over the weekend, and staff will be available more than the two Senators, who have spent many hours on the Senate floor. We need to make sure people who have problems with the proposal made by the two managers, that they let them know because we need to lock this in as quickly as possible. I am going to file cloture in just a minute. I encourage people to work with the managers. We are going to go out. Senators Levin and McCain are going to clear a few amendments, and then we are going to go out for the weekend. This has been a very productive week. Cloture Motion

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

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

Mr. REID. Senator Levin will announce to the Senate at a later time-- but just to give an idea of what to expect--there will be a Maryland judge's vote on Monday evening. Then that will be followed by a cloture vote on the matter that I just sent the motion on to the desk. We would hope that there will be the ability at that time--while the 30 hours are running--to clear a bunch of amendments.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous consent there be no amendments in order to the treaty or the resolution of ratification; that following leader remarks on Tuesday, December 4, the time until 12 noon be divided in the usual form; that at 12 noon the Senate proceed to vote on the Resolution of Advice and Consent to Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; that if the resolution is adopted, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table; that the President be then immediately notified of the Senate's action; further, that if the resolution is not adopted, the treaty be returned to the calendar, there be no motions or points of order in order other than a motion to reconsider.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, following leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business for 1 hour, with Republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the second half. Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of the Defense authorization bill. We will continue to work through the amendments to the bill during today's session. Rollcall votes are expected all throughout today. I would now yield to my friend, the senior Senator from the State of Wisconsin. I will have more of an opportunity at a later time to say things about Senator Kohl, but I have had a wonderful experience in getting to know this quiet, very productive man. I have enjoyed his innate skills. He is one of the best businesspeople we have in America today, one of the best Senators we have in America today.