Arlen Specter

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent we turn to the Durbin amendment, with 20 minutes equally divided, with no second- degree amendments.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished Senator from Texas.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, how much time remains?

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I yield 2 minutes to Senator Cornyn.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, how much time remains?

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I yield 3 minutes to the Senator from Georgia to speak on the Kennedy amendment No. 4106.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, with respect to the Kennedy amendment No. 4106, my record is plain that I believe in strict enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act, strict enforcement of OSHA, and strengthening enforcement against unfair labor practices. But this amendment represents a sweeping change to the Fair Labor Standards Act and to OSHA. In particular, it increases certain penalties five- and tenfold. It increases civil fines under OSHA and criminal penalties under OSHA without any record as to whether such increases are necessary. There have been no hearings on this bill. It would increase an OSHA criminal penalty from 6 months to 10 years and in another place strike a 1-year penalty and insert a 10-year penalty on a first conviction. Those are very significant changes. As much as I favor strict enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act and OSHA and strict enforcement against unfair labor practices, there has been no hearing on this amendment, and, therefore, I reluctantly oppose it.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, Senator Kyl was unnecessarily detained and did not have his time on Grassley No. 4177. I ask unanimous consent for 1 minute for Senator Kyl.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, we are now ready to vote on four amendments. I ask unanimous consent that there be 2 minutes of debate equally divided before each amendment is called.

Mr. SPECTER. I further ask unanimous consent that the first rollcall vote on Leahy No. 4117 be the regular 15 minutes and that each succeeding of the stacked votes be 10 minutes.

Mr. SPECTER. I want to put my colleagues on notice that we will strictly enforce this time because we have four votes, and it is going to take quite some time. There is more business to be conducted after the votes are concluded. I further ask unanimous consent that when the Senate resumes consideration of the bill at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow morning, Senator McConnell be recognized to offer his amendment No. 4085; provided further that the time until 9:30 be equally divided between Senator McConnell and Senator Reid or his designee; provided further that at 9:30, the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to the McConnell amendment with no second degree in order prior to the vote; I ask consent that following that vote, the Senate proceed to a vote on invoking cloture; further that there be 2 minutes for debate equally divided between the stacked votes after the first vote and the time from 9:20 to 9:30 on Wednesday be equally divided between Senators Dodd and McConnell. The order of the votes will be Leahy No. 4117, Grassley No. 4177, Kennedy No. 4106, and Durbin No. 4142.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I have opposed the Leahy amendment because it redefines what constitutes material support for a terrorist. It redefines and narrows the definition of what is a terrorist organization. Those are complex subjects. There could have been hearings in the Judiciary Committee where the Senator from Vermont is the ranking member. I was wrong about Hamas when I made that representation. But as to the Kurdish terrorists, we did not identify PKK but other Kurdish terrorists in Turkey. I did not refer to the Basque ETA but to other Basque terrorists in Spain. When you have these far-reaching changes, there should have been hearings. There is adequate recourse under existing law for the Secretary of State to grant waivers for those providing material support to terrorist organizations, as she did recently for 9,300 ethnic Karen refugees to come out of Thailand. I move to table the Leahy amendment and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I remind my colleagues this is a 10- minute vote. Time will be strictly enforced; 10 plus 5. I ask my colleagues to stay on the floor for these last 2 votes. I yield the remaining time to the Senator from Georgia.

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

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I think we have had a fast-moving day. I have been authorized by the leader to say there will be no further rollcall votes tonight after this vote. We start tomorrow morning at 8:30 with the McConnell amendment. We will vote at 9:30 on the McConnell amendment. Of course, we have a cloture vote at 10 o'clock. I thank my colleagues for their cooperation. I yield 1 minute to the Senator from Texas, Mr. Cornyn. Amendment No. 4142

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate resumes the bill tomorrow morning, there be 60 minutes for the Feinstein amendment, with Senator Feinstein in control of 30 minutes, 20 minutes to the chairman, and 10 minutes for the ranking member; provided further that on the expiration of that debate, the Senate proceed to a vote on the Feinstein amendment No. 4087, with no intervening action or debate or second-degree amendments. We will vote on the Feinstein amendment at 10:45 a.m. tomorrow, since the Senate will be coming in at 9:45 a.m.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, my sense is we will be able to reach it tomorrow. We are juggling a great many considerations. I had discussed the issue with the Senator from New Hampshire earlier. We talked about 1 hour equally divided.

Mr. SPECTER. That would be my proposal when we come to it. I know the Senator from New Hampshire is waiting, and he is entitled to have his amendment heard. We will try to get to it tomorrow, and we will try to work out a time agreement of 1 hour equally divided.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I do not expect vote-arama on this bill. This is not the budget resolution. The Senator from New Hampshire is familiar with budget resolutions.

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I have sought recognition to comment on a funeral service that was held earlier today for Judge Edward R. Becker. Judge Becker was one of the greatest citizens in the history of the city of Philadelphia and one of the greatest Federal judges in the history of the United States. When the contemporary history is written of the past 50 years, I believe Judge Becker will rank with Benjamin Franklin among the greatest of Philadelphia citizens, and with Judge Learned Hand, who is among the greatest Federal judges. I first met Judge Becker in 1950 when we rode public transportation from northeast Philadelphia to the University of Pennsylvania, an hour ride each way, where we attended that school. He was 17 at the time; I was 20. He was a freshman, and I was a senior. He had an extraordinary academic record, Phi Beta Kappa from Penn, Yale Law School, a distinguished record in the practice of law, and he became a Federal judge at the age of 37. He served on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for 15 years, until he was elevated to the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. During 35\1/2\ years, he had an extraordinary record as a Federal judge. On several occasions, Judge Becker's opinions were followed by the Supreme Court of the United States on cutting edge questions. In one case, Judge Becker wrote the opinion for the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which was in disagreement with the conclusions of seven other courts of appeals. When the issue got to the Supreme Court of the United States, the Supreme Court followed Judge Becker. He was a man of great charm and great versatility. One of his opinions was written in rhyme. He was an extraordinary pianist and was called upon by the Supreme Court not only for his legal erudition but for playing the piano at the so-called Supreme Court sing-a-longs. He was the recipient of the Devitt Award, which is given to the outstanding Federal jurist on the basis of scholarship, achievement, and community service. Even as chief judge of the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, he rode the elevated public transportation to work every day. Among his many attributes were intelligence--really brilliance--integrity, independence, loyalty, and a sense of humor. But his greatest attribute was his modesty and his humility. He lived in the same house he came to as a child of 3 or 4 years of age and was always a friend equally to the janitors in the Federal courthouse as he was to Supreme Court Justices. Regrettably, Judge Becker contracted prostate cancer and fought a valiant fight but succumbed last Friday to the ravages of the cancer and, today, as I say, we celebrated a great life and an outstanding life. One of the real regrets I have is that we have not yet found a cure for cancer, which could have saved Judge Becker's life. In 1970, the President of the United States declared war on cancer and had that war been pursued with the same diligence and resources that we pursue other wars, Judge Becker would not have died from prostate cancer. Two years ago, my chief of staff, Carey Lackman, a beautiful young woman of 48, died of breast cancer. A year and a half ago, a good friend, Paula Kline, wife of Tom Kline, my former law partner, died of breast cancer. It is something that we hear about every day. The reality is that the United States of America, with a gross national product of $11 trillion and a Federal budget of $2.8 trillion, could conquer cancer and the other maladies if we approached it with sufficient resources and a sufficient sense of urgency. We have a budget for the subcommittee of appropriations that I chair which has to fund the Departments of Health, Education and Labor, workman safety, which has had cuts of $15.7 billion in the last two fiscal years, factoring in inflation. We have a budget resolution that passed, which would add $7 billion--insufficient but at least a start in making up some of that deficiency which would allocate $2 billion to the National Institutes of Health. The Federal Government is precluded from financing embryonic stem cell research, which ought to be reversed by this body. Judge Becker is well known to the Senate. Shortly after he achieved senior status, when he turned 70 in May of 2003, I asked him to participate in our legislative efforts to have asbestos reform. In August of 2003, for 2 days, he convened the so-called stakeholders--the manufacturers, the trial lawyers, the AFL-CIO representing labor, and the insurance industry in his chambers. And for the intervening almost 3 years he has presided at about 50 meetings where large groups assembled in my conference room on Capitol Hill, working for a resolution of the asbestos litigation crisis, where thousands of people suffering from mesothelioma are unable to get compensation because their companies are bankrupt. Seventy-seven companies have gone under bankruptcy. Judge Becker, well known to this body, is really befitting of the title of the 101st Senator. I think his passing from prostate cancer will make a deep indentation and mark on this body and will serve as a signal for action to attack cancer, attack prostate cancer, to find a cure for cancer. His passing leaves a very deep mark on his family, three children, his widow, four grandchildren, and many friends, many of whom are in this body. His record is truly that of an extraordinary jurist and a great American. I yield the floor to my distinguished colleague from Alabama.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, if the Senator will yield, I thank him for those very generous comments. I kept Judge Becker fully informed as to our work on the asbestos legislation. The leader has stated his interest in bringing the legislation back to the floor. I continue to lobby our colleagues one by one. I gave Judge Becker a report a few days before his passing, and he said: Let's pass one for the Gipper.

Mr. SPECTER

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

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I further ask consent that following the sequencing already discussed, we take up an amendment from the Senator from New York, Mrs. Clinton.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, if Senator Cornyn would like to begin the debate, I yield 10 minutes to him.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, that is correct.