Richard Shelby

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 238, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. We have a second-degree amendment which has been agreed to on both sides. Therefore, on behalf of Senator DeWine, I send the second-degree amendment to the desk.

Mr. SHELBY. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 1652, Withdrawn

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the managers' amendments, which I now send to the desk, be considered and agreed to en bloc. These noncontroversial amendments have been cleared on both sides of the aisle.

Mr. SHELBY. I call for the regular order with respect to the Coburn amendment No. 1648.

Mr. SHELBY. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I take a minute and commend the Senator from Arkansas, Senator Pryor, for his leadership and for reaching out to the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Senator Domenici, and Senator Mikulski and Senator Talent, and so many others. This is a bipartisan approach. Senator Pryor is the leader. Nobody likes gouging. Gasoline is too high. We want the markets to work. If market forces work, there won't be gouging. It will be an orderly movement of supply and demand--if the demand is too high, the prices will go up, but not like that, not like I have seen it at the pump, as we have seen coast to coast. The American people fear there is gouging going on. Senator Pryor should be commended for pursuing this issue. We hope the Federal Trade Commission will do its work. I support the amendment.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I oppose this amendment. This amendment would terminate funding for the Advanced Technology Program, what we call ATP. ATP is unique among Federal research programs. Most Federal research is focused on advancing scientific knowledge. However, there is a very long road from scientific discovery in a university lab to the commercialization of that product. According to the National Science Foundation, less than 1.5 percent of venture capital funding in the private sector is available as seed funding for proof-of-concept. ATP seeks to fill that gap in funding. The program was founded to ensure that not only do we win the Nobel Prizes with our excellent venture research but that we also commercialize our discoveries ahead of our foreign partners and thereby create jobs for our own people. Some have said the idea that we are in a global technology race is outdated. Nothing could be further from the truth. Whether it is semiconductors in China and Taiwan or nanotechnology in Europe, our global competitors are investing heavily in programs to beat us to the marketplace. Surely we can afford the $140 million investment included in this bill to stay competitive. The Advanced Technology Program projects have succeeded in a wide range of fields. They are already delivering cheaper, better bone marrow transplants, mammograms, and cartilage repair. They are enabling companies to make biodegradable plastic from corn, improving manufacturing, and powering longer lasting lightweight fuel cells. Moreover, this program has helped small businesses. More than 75 percent of all ATP projects include a small business. Sixty-six percent of ATP projects are led by or involve only a small business. Of the single-applicant awards, 78 percent have gone to small businesses and 11 percent have gone to medium-sized businesses and nonprofits. By contrast, only 11 percent of solo awards have gone to large businesses. In a more extensive and comprehensive review, the National Academy of Sciences found ATP to be an effective Federal partnership that they said ``could use more funding effectively and efficiently.'' Measurement and evaluation have been part of the ATP program since its inception. The most recent ATP annual report showed the program has generated $17 billion in economic benefits from 41 of its 736 completed projects. In short, this program works. After all, the Council on Competitiveness's National Innovation Initiative report noted that ``innovation will be the single most important factor in determining America's success through the 21st Century.'' If we adopt the amendment offered by my friend from Oklahoma, Senator Coburn, we would cut off a program which has as its sole purpose investing in American innovation. This program has the support of the Senate. On March 17 of this year, the Senate voted 53 to 46 in favor of a sense-of-the-Senate amendment to the budget resolution stating: It is the sense of the Senate that the Senate Committee on Appropriations should make every effort to provide funding for the Advanced Technology Program in fiscal year 2006. That is exactly what we are doing. This bill funds technology initiatives which fuel our economy. The program works. In this austere budget environment, there is no room for programs that do not work. We do not have that luxury. I oppose the termination of the Advanced Technology Program. I move to table the Coburn amendment and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I ask for the regular order with respect to amendment 1670.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I further ask unanimous consent that the vote on the motion to suspend the rules occur at 12:30 today and that no amendments be in order to the amendment prior to the vote.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I raise a point of order that the amendment violates rule XVI.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I ask for the regular order with respect to the Clinton amendment No. 1660.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, it is my understanding that Senator Grassley has been in some negotiations regarding the amendment. Trade is under the jurisdiction of the Finance Committee. I don't know where he is now. I do not know if he voted, but we have been working with him. I know the Senator wants to bring up his amendment as soon as he can. But I want to make sure Senator Grassley is ready and on the floor. We will try to locate him.

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

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. I ask unanimous consent that there now be a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 221 and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements relating to this measure be printed in the Record.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I appreciate the importance of ensuring that the gulf region has all of the resources necessary to fully recover. My home State of Alabama was directly affected by Hurricane Katrina, perhaps not to the extent of a lot of areas in Mississippi and Louisiana, but still affected. So I can safely say I have more than a passing interest in ensuring that all response and recovery missions are fully funded here in the Senate. In the last few weeks, I have spent considerable time viewing the damage in the region, in Alabama and Mississippi. I plan to go to Louisiana this weekend. While I believe it is critical the Congress act swiftly to ensure emergency funding is available for hurricane-related recovery efforts, I do not believe the Commerce-Justice-Science bill, which is before the Senate now, is the appropriate place to do that. I believe it will be some time before we have a true understanding of the actual damages and recovery needs in the region. We have already acted, and we will continue to act in the Senate on both sides of the aisle to make sure the victims have everything they need to be made whole, to be back on their feet, make no mistake about it. But I believe it is important we maintain our current track and allow the recovery effort to continue, step by step, which it is doing. The funding we approved last week will allow the effort to move forward. I believe we must monitor that effort closely to ensure we have the necessary resources we keep talking about. At the same time, I believe we must allow the damage assessments to move forward to truly address the needs of those in the gulf region, including my people in Alabama, the people in Mississippi, and the people in Louisiana. Adding emergency funding to a regular spending bill, such as this CJS bill, frankly, is not the way I believe we should do business. We need to approach the hurricane funding needs in a coordinated manner--I believe we have been doing a lot of this--not in an ad hoc way, throwing add-ons on a bill that is not even the main disaster recovery bill. I am going to be standing on the floor making sure, the best I can, we pass the necessary funding for these victims, including, as I said, the people of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, you can be sure of that, but not on this bill today.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, the spending in this amendment would cause the underlying bill to exceed the subcommittee's section 302(b) allocation. Therefore, I raise a point of order against the amendment pursuant to section 302(f) of the Budget Act.

Mr. SHELBY. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be dispensed with.