Harry Reid

Mr. REID

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Foreign Relations Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1905, the Iran Threat Reduction Act, and that the Senate proceed to its consideration; that the Johnson of South Dakota-Shelby substitute amendment, which is at the desk and is the text of Calendar No. 320, S. 2101, the Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Human Rights Act, as reported by the Banking Committee, be considered; that a Johnson of South Dakota-Shelby amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to; that the substitute amendment, as amended, be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be read a third time and the Senate proceed to a vote on passage of the bill, as amended.

Mr. REID. Madam President, before we leave here this evening, I must mention the good work done by the Banking Committee. Senator Johnson of South Dakota has been stalwart in this issue. He and Senator Shelby worked together. It has been very heartwarming. I appreciate Senator Menendez, who has been a loud voice in making sure we do something on this legislation about which he feels so strongly. The most important thing for me is Iranians need to know we mean business, particularly with the next round of international negotiations taking place the day after tomorrow. I am glad we resolved our differences and everyone realizes how important it is to advance these measures to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. They should be aware that there is still more we can do. I am very happy with what we have done at this time.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 400, S. 3187, the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act, be vitiated; that at 2:15 tomorrow, Tuesday, May 22, the motion to proceed be agreed to; that the Harkin-Enzi substitute amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to, and the bill, as amended by the Harkin-Enzi substitute, be considered original text for the purposes of further amendment, and that the majority leader be recognized at that time.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, based on this, we will have a vote that should start in 5 minutes, which will be the only vote of the day. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, I rise today to recognize the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's Hispanic American Resource Team's (H.A.R.T.) 10th Academy for their efforts to combat crimes against Hispanic-Americans, while building good will and trust between the city's police department and the Hispanic community. For more than a decade, H.A.R.T. has fulfilled and exceeded its mission, ``to build and maintain positive relationships between the Hispanic community and the police through compassion and innovative thinking.'' At its core, the H.A.R.T. program trains and places talented officers who are fluent in English and Spanish to work directly with Spanish-dominant community members. It is through language ability, cultural competence, and dedication that H.A.R.T maintains public safety for the broader community regardless of language capability or immigration status. A centerpiece of the educational services H.A.R.T. provides is the Hispanic Citizens Academy which offers an intensive 12-week training program in Spanish to non-English speaking community members to impart knowledge on how to navigate through routine law enforcement protocols, including knowing their legal rights and how to contact the police in case of an emergency. The Hispanic Citizens Academy helps strengthen the partnership between the Hispanic immigrant community and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. In fact, the National League of Cities recognized Las Vegas and the H.A.R.T. program as one of the top 17 U.S. police departments for good practices in a June 2011 report. H.A.R.T.'s work serves as a model for other police departments across the Nation to ensure public safety in immigrant communities by keeping them informed and engaged. On May 23, 2012, H.A.R.T. will be celebrating the graduation of individuals serving in the 10th Hispanic Citizens Academy, a stage shared by more than 500 alumni of the program. I am a proud supporter of the H.A.R.T. program, and I applaud the leadership and dedication law enforcement officers have demonstrated to the growing Hispanic population of my home State of Nevada. I ask my colleagues to please join me in congratulating the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and its H.A.RT initiative as they celebrate the 10th Hispanic Citizens Academy. I wish H.A.R.T. continued success in their future endeavors.

Mr. REID

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

Mr. REID. Madam President, what is the pending business?

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

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

Mr. REID. Madam President, I have spoken before about the importance of the FDA bill. It is something we have to get done. Literally, people's lives depend upon it. It addresses so many things with the FDA to make it a better organization. We have to get this done. As I said before, if my Republican colleagues don't like the bill, offer an amendment--offer an amendment. Take that out. Put something in if you don't like it. But I hope we don't have to go through voting on cloture on this Monday night. We should be legislating on this on Monday. So I am stunned that once again, on a motion to proceed, when there has been an agreement that we would proceed to this with relevant amendments-- everybody says that is what they want to do. It is not germane amendments, which is very narrow, it is relevant amendments. It gives people a lot of opportunity to change this legislation in many different ways. So I hope we do not have to have that cloture vote Monday night. Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 1905

Mr. REID. Madam President, I now ask unanimous consent that the Foreign Relations Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1905, the Iran Threat Reduction Act, and that the Senate proceed to its consideration; that the Reid-Johnson(SD)-Shelby substitute amendment, which is at the desk and is the text of Calendar No. 320, the Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Human Rights Act, as reported by the Banking Committee, be considered; that a Reid-Johnson(SD)-Shelby amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to; that the substitute amendment, as amended, be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed; that the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table; that there be no intervening action or debate; and that any statements related to this matter be printed in the Record at the appropriate place.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, is there an objection by either Senator Kyl or Senator Blunt?

Mr. REID. This is such an interesting conversation here on the floor this afternoon. I did not have the papers. Now, I do not blame my friend from Arizona for not having the documents. I do not blame my friend from Missouri for only having a half hour to look at this. This was given to the Republican leader yesterday, midday. The language they are objecting to was in the base bill, so unless they did not read the base bill, they have a problem here. Now, they said they want to get it done--strange way of showing they want to get it done. This has been a classic example of rope-a-dope. I try to be a patient man. I have been very patient with my staff working with Senator Kirk's staff, the minority leader's staff. I have tried to be as patient as I can be.

Mr. REID. No, not right now. This is absolutely untoward, what is happening here. We have tried to get this done every day. Oh, it is just we have to do a little bit more. We have this agreement that was agreed to by all of the parties, but, of course, now there is no agreement. I am deeply disappointed that my Republican colleagues are preventing the Senate from passing additional critical sanctions against Iran. If they want to embarrass the President, this is a strange way to do it. Two months ago I came to the Senate floor and said we needed to pass these sanctions immediately. The fastest way forward was to pass the bipartisan bill sponsored by Senators Johnson and Shelby, which passed out of the Banking Committee unanimously. But Republicans then said no, as they are saying today. Republicans said they wanted to include ideas from Senator Kirk, Senator Paul, and wished to move forward with S. Res. 380 on containment. We heard their objections. We have tried mightily to address them, with the goal of getting this bill passed and protecting our own national security and that of our ally Israel. This deal includes a bipartisan managers' package sponsored by Senators Shelby and Johnson, with items of importance to Senators Menendez, Kirk, Paul, and Johnson. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has expressed strong support for this package to Senator McConnell and to me. In a letter today, AIPAC urged us to move forward with this package as quickly as possible. I ask unanimous consent that letter be printed in the Record.

Mr. REID. The matter about which we talk, the Iranian sanctions legislation, came from the Banking Committee. It was reported unanimously from the committee, right?

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, I now move to proceed to consider Calendar No. 552, the nomination of Paul J. Watford, of California, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit.

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

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bills be read a third time and passed en bloc, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc, with no intervening action or debate, and any related statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of the following postal naming bills en bloc: Calendar No. 401, H.R. 2415; Calendar No. 402, H.R. 3220; and Calendar No. 403, H.R. 3413.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 2 p.m. on Monday, May 21, 2012; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed to have expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and that the majority leader be recognized; further, that at 4:30 p.m. the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 552, Paul J. Watford, of California, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit, with 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled in the usual form; that upon the use or yielding back of the time, the Senate proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination; and that if cloture is not invoked, the Senate resume legislative session and proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to S. 3187, the FDA user fees legislation.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 400.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, we are now on the motion to proceed to FDA user-fees legislation. I ask unanimous consent that following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, the time until 10:30 a.m. be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the Republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the final half.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, at 10:30 a.m. today the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider the Stein and Powell nominations, both nominees to the Board of Governors at the Federal Reserve system. At noon, there will be two votes on the confirmation of their nominations. At this stage, there likely will be no more votes after that, but we will keep everyone advised as to what is going to happen. Mr. President, when someone we love gets sick, the only thing on your mind is how to help them get well, how to get them the care they need. But before every miracle drug or innovative new device comes to market, there is a rigorous approval process to make sure that device or that medicine is going to be safe. To get lifesaving drugs and devices to the patients who need them as quickly and efficiently as possible, Congress must give the Food and Drug Administration the tools it needs to review and approve these products. Today the Senate will begin consideration of legislation which gives FDA the resources to ensure medical devices, drugs, and treatments are safe and effective. I applaud the work of my colleagues Senator Harkin and Senator Enzi to bring this legislation to the floor. These two fine Senators have different political philosophies on things generally, but they work well on this committee and I am very proud of each of them. I consider them both friends. And bringing this bill to the floor in the manner they did is indicative of the work that needs to be done around here more often. So I hope to see the strong bipartisan effort these two Senators began continue as the Senate considers this important legislation. The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act authorizes the FDA to charge manufacturers of new medical devices user fees. These fees are used to ensure their products are reviewed quickly and thoroughly before they are approved. But this legislation does more than maintain the status quo; it also enacts crucial reforms that will prevent drug shortages and bring the lifesaving medicines to market more quickly, it will save high-tech jobs in the medical field, make new treatments available to patients quickly, and preserve America's role as a global leader in biomedical innovation. The legislation will expedite the processes of approving new drugs and medical devices--including many designed for children--while ensuring these products are safe for consumers. It will help spur the innovations that bring the next groundbreaking cancer or Parkinson's drug to market. The bill will hold foreign manufacturers who sell drugs in the United States to the same high standards met by American companies. This is extremely important because of all the misleading attempts by these manufacturers to sell them on the Internet. It will help prevent drug shortages by opening the lines of communication between manufacturers and the FDA. The Senator from Minnesota, Senator Klobuchar, and the junior Senator from Pennsylvania, Senator Casey, have been leaders in this drug shortage issue, and I applaud them. They are doing this to safeguard Americans' health. Every day hospitals across the country experience shortages of lifesaving FDA-approved drugs and treatments. As most Senators know, my wife has been ill with cancer and she had 20 weeks of chemotherapy. Every week, we were worried that the drugs wouldn't be there on that Monday morning at noon when she got those treatments. Fortunately for us, they were. But that isn't the way it is with everyone around the country. People who need these lifesaving medications have found those medicines not available, and we have to do everything we can to stop that. These shortages threaten public health and prevent patients from getting the care they need. The shortage of one drug used to treat a rare form of childhood leukemia--a drug that is an effective cure in 90 percent of those cases--has literally put young lives at risk by not having those drugs. And when I say a 90-percent cure rate, it is amazing. One of my high school buddies had a son who was playing Little League baseball. Running around the bases, he couldn't do it. This was a macho family with all these tough boys in the family, and they were concerned that he was not being as aggressive as he should be. He had leukemia, and this boy died. There was nothing they could do for him. He died. Now 90 percent of these cases are cured. I have spoken on the floor before--others have--there is one form of leukemia that has been almost stopped in its tracks by the scientists discovering a bush called periwinkle, and they use the products from that little weed to cure cancer. We need to do everything we can to make sure these lifesaving drugs are available. No mother or father should have to watch a child suffer as he waits for a lifesaving medicine. But as the number of drug shortages increases each year, more parents wait and worry; more husbands and wives and daughters and sons wait and worry. In 2005, the FDA reported shortages of 55 medications. Last year, the number jumped to 231, including the leukemia drug I mentioned and some chemotherapy medicines. These shortages are caused by a variety of factors: problems with factories, limited manufacturing capacity, or lack of raw materials. Another thing we have learned is the manufacturers of these products want to be able to sell everything. They don't want to waste valuable money on storing medicines. One of the big businesses that used to be in America is warehouses storing things. In Reno, NV, we were a big warehouse storage area because we had no tax on storage. But anymore, there is not as much being stored because manufacturers determined that is a waste of money. That is one of the things that happened with these pharmaceuticals. Some, though, are caused by a lack of financial incentive--or profit motive is what it is. There is nothing wrong with that, but companies simply don't manufacture enough because they don't make enough money. Public awareness and pressure have prompted drugmakers to voluntarily notify the FDA of any impending shortages, preventing almost 200 more shortages last year than I just talked about. But Congress can, and must, do more to improve communication with drugmakers, the FDA, and hospitals providing this crucial care. Passing this legislation without delay will be a leap forward in that process. That is why last night I said--and I say today--I hope we don't have to file cloture on a motion to proceed to this lifesaving legislation. Let's get on this legislation. If we have to vote on cloture on this Monday, then we can't get on this until Wednesday and start legislating. How foolish. We will have amendments. I have had a number of Republican Senators come to me and say, We want to be able to offer amendments, relevant amendments. Good. Let's do it. If someone has a problem with this bill, don't stop us from going to it; offer an amendment. If it is a worthy cause, we will vote with him or her and get rid of what is in that legislation. But don't hold up the legislation. I would hope my Republican colleagues talk to one of the Senators who is holding us up and say, Don't do that; it is making us, the Republicans, look bad. And it does. I hope we can get on this legislation and work to make the health care delivery system in America more effective and efficient. Would the Chair announce the business of the day.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume legislative session.