Harry Reid

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there be 4 minutes of debate equally divided prior to the vote, and that the time be controlled by Senator Stabenow and Senator Paul.

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

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I now call up amendment No. 2407, a second- degree amendment, which is at the desk.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move to table amendment No. 2393. I ask for the yeas and nays on that motion to table.

Mr. REID. MR. President, I now ask unanimous consent the pending motion to recommit be withdrawn; that amendment No. 2390 be withdrawn; that the Stabenow-Roberts amendment, No. 2389, be agreed to; the bill, as amended, be considered original text for the purpose of further amendment; that the following four amendments be the first amendments in order to the bill with no other first-degree amendments in order until these amendments are disposed of: Coburn, No. 2353; Hagan, No. 2366; DeMint, No. 2385; McCaskill, No. 2222; that there be up to 60 minutes of debate equally divided between the two leaders or their designees on each of these amendments; that upon the use or yielding back of this time on all four amendments the Senate proceed to votes in relation to the amendments in the order listed; that there be no amendments or motions in order to the amendments prior to the votes other than on motions to waive points of order and motions to table; that upon disposition of these amendments, I be recognized.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I wish my friend was near as exercised over the year, 18 months, on getting on a bill. It takes us a week to get on a bill because we have to file motions to invoke cloture every time we proceed to a bill. We could save a lot of time if we could get on a bill. One reason there used to be so much, as he said, tradition-- tradition has been spilled into the spillways--is that it was a rare occasion you had to do anything to invoke cloture on a motion to proceed. Now it is what we do every time because the Republicans demand that. In direct answer to the question, I have worked with Senator Roberts and Senator Stabenow. We are trying to get some amendments up. They may be low priority on his part, my friend from Oklahoma, but some people think these are important amendments. The two we just finished, no one can consider those low priority amendments, dealing with foodstamps and with sugar. These are always big deals on this farm bill. So I say to my friend, Senator Roberts and Senator Stabenow are trying to come up with a list. The Republicans are having some kind of a steering meeting or whatever it is now. Maybe the Senator can go and visit with them and try to help us get a list. I am not going to talk out here about a number, but as we did on the highway bill, we have done it on the FDA bill, come up with some amendments. There is plenty of dead time around here, and we don't have to spend a lot of time on the amendments themselves. Once we agree to them, we keep on talking about them forever. To answer the Senator's question, yes, I would be happy if we could get, as we have been trying to get for a long time, an agreed-upon group of amendments. I want to finish the farm bill. I think it is extremely important to our country. So, I say to my friend, I hope we can work something out. I have told my friend, the junior Senator from Michigan and the chairman of this committee, I would like something so we can enter into an agreement today and start voting on some of these amendments tomorrow.

Mr. REID. Yes.

Mr. REID. In response to my friend's question, the reason we had these two votes this morning is while we are working on coming up with a finite list of amendments, why sit around and twiddle our thumbs? At least through this process, we have gotten two major amendments out of the way. They are gone. If my friend continues his objection, I am going to set up some more votes this way. Listen, this is not my preference for doing these bills. But I say to my friend, I would hope with the concern the Senator has for the finances of this country and how he cares about our country, care a little bit about these motions to proceed which are such a waste of our time.

Mr. REID. Before my friend leaves the floor, I also look back at the days, as is recounted in Caro's book and as we have heard here, to the days when the majority leader truly did some things. During the days of Lyndon Johnson, we couldn't even have a vote on anything unless he gave the nod. I don't have that power anymore. That has changed over the years, but I would love to be able to have a bill brought to the floor. If we were able to get rid of these senseless motions to proceed that I have to file cloture on, we could spend a lot of time debating and amending these bills, and that is what we need to get to.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 2406 to the instructions, which is at the desk.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I move to proceed to Calendar No. 250, S. 1940.

Mr. REID. The Senate will continue to debate the farm bill today. We have a couple of votes lined up. We expect to have those this morning. Not to Compromise Last week, in a moment of candor, House Republicans, led by Representative Cantor, admitted they have given up legislating until after the election. Although there is far more work to be done, they have said they are going to have a timeout. I repeat, there is so much to be done--especially building on 27 straight months of private sector job growth--Republicans in the House are lurching from one recess to the next long recess. They don't take short ones, they take long ones. Last week's unscripted moment was a window into today's Republican Party--a party that obviously cares more about winning elections than creating jobs. Then a couple of days ago we had another frank assessment of the Republican agenda. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush said Monday that his father, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan would not fit into today's Republican Party. He went on to elaborate about some of the issues in which they are simply headed in the wrong direction. Governor Bush said today's GOP is defined by ``an orthodoxy that doesn't allow for disagreement.'' He is right. The Republican Party no longer has room for moderates or anyone unwilling to march in lockstep with the radical tea party. That is apparent every day on Capitol Hill--more so in the House than in the Senate, but it has now infected the Senate. It was obvious from the first weeks of this Congress that the House was taken over by extremists with no desire to work for the sake of the economy and no concept of the meaning of compromise--and legislation is the art of compromise. But over the last year and a half it has become clear that Republicans in the Senate are also in thrall to the tea party. We see the extremism in this Chamber--I have just mentioned that--where Republicans have blocked or stalled most every jobs creation measure we have brought to the floor. We see it on the campaign trail, where Mitt Romney told a crowd he opposes hiring anymore teachers, firefighters, and police officers. Putting more teachers in the classroom used to be a goal Democrats and Republicans could agree on. But all over the country, things are happening just as happened in Nevada a couple of days ago, where the school district--let's see, it must be about the third or fourth largest school district now in the country, the Clark County school district, with well more than 300,000 students--indicated they were going to lay off 1,000 teachers. But as a result of not filling some positions because of retirements, they were able to have to only lay off about 400-some-odd people. It is happening all over the country. Sending more cops out on patrol used to be something that--I can remember when Joe Biden was down here fighting for his COPS Program. Police departments in Nevada loved the opportunity to get more people on the street. That is the way it was all over the country. We used to fight to get more cops on the street. Now we are doing everything we can to stop the layoffs, and we can't do enough because we can't get a bill passed over here to help. Hiring more brave men and women to fight fires and save lives used to be a goal Democrats and Republicans could agree on. Not now. Because of global warming, there are fires raging all over the West. I spoke to Senator Bingaman from New Mexico yesterday. That fire in New Mexico is 400,000 acres and, he said, we have another fire that has broken out of only 40,000 acres. On the news this morning out of Colorado, one person has been killed, scores of buildings and homes burned to the ground. The tankers they are using to fight these fires are old. One of them crashed in Nevada last week, killing the pilots. But today's radical Republicans have another agenda--not hiring more cops and not doing something to stop the teacher layoffs, but their goal is to drag down the economy because it is good for their politics. They believe the more horrible the economy is, the better off they are going to be in November. They love bad news. We still have the fact that even though there were more than 8 million jobs lost during the Bush administration, we have been fortunate to bring back 4.3 million of those jobs. But we could have done so much more with the jobs measures we have brought before this body that were lost on procedural grounds over here. Yesterday Governor Bush said his father and President Reagan--neither of whom could win a Republican primary today--both ``sacrificed political points for good public policy.'' I believe that. I was not a pal of Ronald Reagan's. I met him and worked with him. But Paul Laxalt--who retired, and I ran for his spot-- was his pal, his friend. Ronald Reagan would not put up with what is going on here today, because there is no question that with Ronald Reagan the country came first, not elections. I have great admiration for the first President Bush. I have in my private possessions a couple of handwritten notes he wrote to me. He would not put up with what is going on today. He was a pragmatist. He wanted to get things done for our country. He wasn't an ideologue. He was conservative. Certainly no one is better qualified to be President than the first Bush. He was a Congressman, head of the CIA, head of the Republican National Committee, the Vice President, Ambassador to China. He was interested in his country, not elections. He was a Republican, but we could work with him. Today's Republicans aren't interested in good policy and, obviously, they aren't interested in creating jobs. They are too obsessed with defeating President Obama. That is their No. 1 goal. But don't take my word for it. The minority leader said so himself. This is what he said: The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term President. That is a quote. America is battling its way back from the greatest recession since the Great Depression. And although we have created 4.3 million private sector jobs, there is so much more to be done. I just left a meeting with people interested in infrastructure. We have 70,000 bridges in America that need repair and replacement. Not 700, not 7,000 but 70,000. The highway bill is hung up over in the House someplace. They aren't focused on jobs because they are too busy checking the political scoreboard. Will the Chair announce the business of the day. Reservation of Leader Time

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

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 250, S. 1940.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I rise today to acknowledge a dedicated public servant who will be retiring this month after 37 years of service to the General Services Administration. Marcia Herzog started her career with GSA in 1973, working for the Federal Supply Service. From 1982 to 1987, she moved to GSA headquarters to work with the Office of the Comptroller, then on to the Public Buildings Service and then to work for the Executive Secretariat. In 1987, Marcia joined the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs. In 1997, she assumed the role of national director for the Congressional Support Program, which she continues to hold. For these last 16 years, Marcia has worked in unison with the Senate Sergeant at Arms, the Committee on House Administration, and the House Chief Administrative Officer to oversee and ensure that district offices of both Senate and House Members are located and equipped to each Member's specification and desire. Her poise, professionalism, wisdom, and support have successfully guided the congressional service representatives of GSA, who operate in each of the 10 GSA regions of the United States, to provide the highest level of customer service when responding to congressional office needs in Member home State offices across the country. We congratulate Marcia on her diligent service to this body and offer her our heartfelt well wishes as she transitions to her next endeavor.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I will take my time now and talk about a number of things.

Mr. REID

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

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

Mr. REID. Madam President, I have a motion to recommit the bill with instructions at the desk.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I will in one second.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, shortly, we are going to move to confirm the judge whose nomination we voted to move forward to last night. If everyone will be at ease for just a moment. Let me ask Senator Coburn how long he wishes to speak.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. The Senate is considering the nomination of Andrew Hurwitz of Arizona to be a United States circuit judge for the ninth circuit postcloture. There is every expectation that time will be yielded back and the confirmation will take place soon. The Senate will recess from 12:30 to 2:15 to allow for our weekly caucus meetings. Senator Stabenow and Senator Roberts are working on an agreement for amendments on the farm bill and we will notify Senators if an agreement is reached.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, H.R. 436 is at the desk and due for a second reading.

Mr. REID. I now object to proceeding further on this matter at this time.

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