Harry Reid

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of and the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 583.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read three times and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 588, submitted earlier today.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at 3:00 p.m. today, the Senate proceed to executive session and vote on cloture on Executive Calendar Nos. 928, 930, 1032, 1033, 1034; further, that if cloture is invoked on any of those nominations, that on Thursday, November 20, at 2:00 p.m., all postcloture time be expired and the Senate proceed to vote on confirmation of the nominations in the order above.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I further ask unanimous consent that--we had some nominations on which cloture was filed last night--there be 2 minutes for debate prior to each vote and that all rollcall votes after the first vote in each sequence be 10 minutes in length; further, with respect to the nominations in this agreement, that if any nomination is confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. REID. I now ask unanimous consent that following the cloture vote on Executive Calendar No. 1034, the Senate consider Executive Calendar Nos. 596, 699, 957, 1044, 1045, and 1056; that there be 2 minutes for debate equally divided between the two leaders or their designees prior to each vote; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on the nominations in the order listed; that any rollcall votes following the first in the series be 10 minutes in length; that if any nomination is confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to the nomination; that any statements related to the nomination be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, we expect these nominations I just listed to be confirmed by voice vote.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, the Senate will be in a period of morning business, with Senators allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each. The time from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. will be under the control of the Republicans, and the majority will control from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. As a reminder, there will be an all-Senators briefing on ISIS at 4:30 p.m. this afternoon in the regular location.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I am glad that for a few minutes the President pro tem is here in this body and presiding over the Senate. For years I have heard from Senate Republicans that they simply wanted to do some legislating; they were tired of being shut out of the legislative process; they were not able to debate legislation and amendments. They have assured the American people they want to be wholly dedicated to open and robust debate on legislation on the Senate floor. Yesterday a bill that was bipartisan in nature and came out under the auspices of the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, after actually years of consternation, debate, and work by so many different people, came to the floor. That was blocked yesterday, blocked from even having a hearing here on the Senate floor. That is wrong. This is a very important piece of legislation. It protects Americans' rights to privacy without sacrificing the U.S. intelligence community's ability to gather information. I also say through the Chair to my friend the President pro tem of the Senate that it does not matter if you agree with the statement I just made. Maybe some people disagree with this legislation. Certainly there are people who disagree with it. But shouldn't we at least be able to debate the issue here on the floor? Doesn't legislation of this magnitude merit the Senate's consideration? Yet yesterday we were shut down once again--this has been going on for years--before we even got started. They would not even let the Senate debate this very important piece of legislation. We were ready to legislate in good faith. We have been ready to legislate for the last 4 years. We have been prevented numerous times from doing that. The Republican leader and his caucus will have to do more than just pay lipservice to an open, bipartisan legislative process. At some point they must practice what they preach. Maybe that will be the case come January. Last night, just after the vote on Keystone, I heard the Republican leader say he will bring this same legislation to the Senate floor early next year. So we look forward to coming to the floor early next year. I would hope we can have an open amendment process and ample debate on that legislation that the Republican leader for months on record has wholeheartedly endorsed. I feel very bad that the chairman of our Judiciary Committee has worked so hard during the time--when we were in recess, we talked several times about the importance of this legislation and how we were going to try to move it forward. We determined yesterday we are not going to move forward even without a debate or a vote on anything. That is really too bad.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, the reason I feel--and I have made my remarks regarding the Senator from Vermont. There has been no one in modern history who has done more to protect the civil liberties of people than the senior Senator from Vermont. This legislation was drafted toward that effect, to make sure we were able to do the necessary work for this country as it relates to what was in this bill but also to protect the liberties of Americans. I have such admiration for my friend from Vermont, for his work on landmines. At the time he started the conversation on landmines, he was it, but of course there are now people all over the world who are following his lead on the maiming, people who have been killed, thousands of people. Thousands of people, as we speak, are still being killed by landmines from wars past. So the fact that we were not able to get to this legislation does not in any way take away from the legacy of this good man who has done so much to protect the individual liberties of the people in Vermont and across the country.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I know the block of time for the majority leader starts at 2 o'clock, but I wanted to say while Senator Enzi and the senior Senator from Tennessee are on the floor how much I appreciate and admire their advocacy for marketplace fairness. It is so unfair. I go home to Nevada and I see in those little strip malls ``For Lease.'' One reason they are for lease and they are not operating is because people who can go online don't want to pay the taxes that support the people of the State of Nevada. It is so wrong, what is going on, and I can't imagine why we can't move this legislation forward. This has taken years and years. It is so unfair. Many businesses have gone bankrupt, out of business as a result of not having a level playing field. It is very unfortunate we are having problems getting this done. I do not understand the House--why they feel the way they do. I don't understand it, but they do, and I think it is unfair. I don't think we are getting the support we should from retail people. They have to talk to their Members when we go home and talk to Senators. Of course, there are people in town who make a lot of money representing these shopping centers and retail merchants. They get paid a lot of money to represent them in Congress. I think they are not doing a very good job if they can't convince Members of the Senate and the House that this legislation should have passed a long time ago. Madam President, the hour of 2 o'clock is almost here. Please explain to me and the people who are watching what happens at 2 o'clock.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, today marks the 510th day as so well represented on the poster the Senator from California had on display. That is how long it has been since we passed an immigration reform bill--comprehensive immigration reform. The House of Representatives simply has refused to address this issue. They have refused to address the fact that we have a broken immigration system that needs to be fixed. All the Speaker would have to do is bring this up for a vote and it would pass. The bill that passed here 510 days ago would pass the House overwhelmingly. But he refuses to bring it up. In this bill we passed 73 weeks ago, we were able to pass comprehensive immigration reform because Senate Democrats and Republicans recognized that our immigration laws are failing the American people. We sent that same bipartisan bill to the House 17 months ago. For the last 17 months, the House Republicans, led by a small, vocal, really radical group, has forced the Speaker, I assume, not to do anything. They have neglected to tackle the real issues affecting our immigration system. We have talked about 510 days, we have talked about 73 weeks, and we have talked about 17 months. That is enough time for them to consider the bill the Senate considered and passed in just a few weeks, but they still refuse to do anything, even as families across the country have been ripped apart. I have been present at meetings, meetings--I remember one of the last at the White House--where the Republican leaders of the House and Senate have said: Give us some time, give us some time. We have given them time--510 days, to be exact. And they are always saying: Let's do something. Well, something is not enough, they need to do comprehensive immigration reform, and they refuse to do that. So in light of the fact that families are being ripped apart--and there is no question they are. The first time I saw this, where I really felt it in my heart, Bill Richardson, with whom I served in the House--he was Secretary of Energy and Ambassador to the United Nations--he came to Las Vegas, and he said: Let's go out to the Rafael Rivera Center. It was, at the time, a new place, named after the first non-Indian to see the Las Vegas valley--Rafael Rivera. I have a painting in my office that reflects that. So we went to that center, and I can remember so clearly these mostly women crying over the fact that their husbands had lost their jobs, they were being deported, and they had little American boys and girls there with them. These were boys and girls who had been born in the United States. I thought, gee, that is terrible. I mean the suffering and the sadness. I have never forgotten that, and that is one of the main reasons I have worked so hard on immigration reform. In light of the Republicans' inaction, and our action and our advocacy of this issue, it seems to me what the President said at his State of the Union Address is really applicable here. Here is what he said: If the Republicans continue to do nothing, I am going to be forced as the President of the United States to do something by Executive order. And I am glad. I am glad he is going, in the next couple of days for sure, to use his constitutionally established authority to fix as much of our broken immigration system as is possible. He told everybody he was going to do it in his State of the Union and he has waited and waited and nothing has happened. Some Republicans are threatening to shut down the government. They have done it once before, so I guess we should take their threat seriously. They want to shut down the government because of what the President said he is going to do and what he is going to do. But this isn't about the Republicans and President Obama, this is about where the Republicans stand with the immigrant community. My father-in-law, my wife's dad, was an immigrant. He was born in Russia. He came to the United States to escape the oppression in Russia. So this whole issue is about how Republicans stand with the immigrant community. The immigrant community is what has made this country what it is. Those who will come forward under this Executive action the President is going to take are, with rare exception, hard-working immigrant dads and moms who are supporting their families. They came to America for the same reasons early immigrants came to America, just like my father- in-law, Earl Gould, did. By the way, he changed his name when he came to the United States. He came here as Israel Goldfarb, and he changed his name, as many immigrants have done. As my father-in-law did, the people who are going to come here under this Executive order can build a better life for themselves and their families. They have deep ties in America. They work hard. As I have indicated, they have spouses and children. Under our broken immigration system, there is no line for these people to get into, no process for them to sign up for, and no way to remedy this situation. They are in limbo. They are in the shadows. They are in darkness. President Obama, fortunately, is going to do something to give them just that, a line to come forward, a line that he recognizes must be done to get the system started. We can't give these people their green cards and put them on the path to citizenship immediately. Only Congress can and must finish the job in overhauling and rewriting these laws. I want to be clear that Executive action is important, but it is not a substitute for legislation, and the Speaker should understand that. Yes, we passed a bill. The President will be happy to sign such a bill. But because Republicans have refused to legislate, President Obama is taking what steps he can to keep these families together and enforce the laws. The President is acting within his legal authority to use his Executive power to improve the immigration system. Did he just dream this up one night meeting with his staff? Did someone suddenly come to him and say, I have a great idea. Why don't we try to do something different? He is going to do something that has been tried 39 times since Dwight Eisenhower was President. Virtually every President since Eisenhower was President has done Executive actions as relates to immigration. I would also say to my Republican friends who are always talking about, boy, we have to do something important financially for the good of this country, why not pass this bill? It would benefit our country to the tune of $1 trillion. I strongly support the steps the President is going to take. I support him, and I hope he does it as soon as possible, because his Executive action will help keep families together and focus law enforcement resources on real criminals. We have waited a long time for House Republicans. Since they won't act, the President will, and he should act.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, what is the business before the body?

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, we will have one more vote. As soon as that is turned in, we will go to recess subject to the call of the Chair for a briefing which everyone should go to, and we will come back and do some wrap-up. This is the last vote.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I yield back all time.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I yield back the time, with the Chair's permission.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that following the vote on confirmation of Executive Calendar No. 1034, the Senate consider Calendar Nos. 955, 1054, 639, 641, 999, 998, 1028, 953, 696, 540, and 962; that there be 2 minutes of debate equally divided between the two leaders or their designees, prior to each vote; that upon the use or yielding back of time the Senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on the nominations in the order listed; that any rollcall votes, following the first in the series, be 10 minutes in length; that if any nomination is confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to the nomination; that any statements related to the nomination be printed in the Record; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. REID. For the information of all Senators, we expect these votes to be such that we can confirm them by voice vote.

Mr. REID

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

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I express my appreciation to the Senator from Iowa for joining me.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, November 20, 2014; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate be in a period of morning business until 2 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. For the information of Senators, there will be up to five rollcall votes at 2 p.m. on confirmation of the Pepper, Sannes, Arleo, Beetlestone, and Bolden district judicial nominations. I would ask of my friend, the Senator from Iowa, how long he is going to speak.

Mr. REID. For up to 30 minutes.