Ken Salazar

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. I thank the Chair. (The remarks of Mr. Salazar and Mr. Allard pertaining to the introduction of S. 194 are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')

Mr. SALAZAR

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, first let me congratulate the Presiding Officer for having assumed that position today for the first time. This Senator has a long-time admiration for the Senator from Illinois, for the great work he has done, and for his contributions to this body. Let me also say that I come here today to congratulate both our majority leader, Senator Reid, for his leadership, and Senator McConnell for his leadership as the minority leader, and for them having brought the Members of this body together to start a new beginning, which is based on a sense that we as America will do better by working together, and that the politics of division of the past are politics that we will be able to transcend and move forward with a positive and strong agenda that will make our country and the world a stronger and safer place. I also congratulate Senator Reid and the leadership for the 10 bills introduced here today. I believe those bills create a good framework for issues that urgently need to be addressed by the Congress and by this President. I am hopeful that in the days and weeks and months ahead we will, in fact, be the kind of Senate and Congress that gets results on these important initiatives. I don't want to comment on all 10 pieces of legislation today, but I will make reference to a couple of them. First, with respect to energy, I think all of us in this body recognize that it is time for us to embrace a true ethic of energy independence. For a long time, we have given rhetoric to the issue of energy and our overdependence on oil from the Middle East and other places. I think today Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and progressives, have come together to say we know what the answer is to this. It is not as difficult as other areas we have to deal with, such as health care. The national renewable energy lab in my home State will tell us all if we put our minds together, we can produce 30 to 40 percent of our energy from renewable energy sources. We can use the new technologies that are out there to get to energy independence. The only thing lacking, really, has been the will of the leadership of America to move forward to get us to that energy independence. In my view, it is important that we do so, first, because our national security is dependent upon our being energy independent. We ought not to be in a position where the national sovereignty and security of this Nation is held hostage to the whims of the Middle East and those who happen to have oil wealth under their sands. Secondly, it is important for the economic security of our country that we move forward with energy independence. As we move forward, we will find economic opportunity, including economic opportunity for rural America, to help us grow our way to energy independence. Finally, we will be able to deal with the environmental security issues that are very much at stake in this energy debate. I want to comment on the importance of education and the College Affordability Act, which has been presented today by Senator Reid. For many of us who know the promise of America, we know that promise of America has come about through the educational opportunities we receive. For many of us in this Chamber, including Senator Murray, who spoke a few minutes ago--she talked about the promise of America delivered through the educational opportunities which she had. Even though she was one of seven children and had a father who had multiple sclerosis, she achieved the highest level of the American dream because that educational opportunity was given to her. I and others have gone through similar circumstances. In my own case, in Colorado, my father and mother never had an opportunity to get a college degree. We were poor, raised in a place that didn't have electricity and a telephone. Yet the promise of America and the promise of education was something that was constantly talked about to us by our parents. I often remember my father going around the table at our ranch and making sure all eight of his children were doing their homework because he knew that education would allow them to seek horizons and get to places he had not been able to reach. Over time, all eight of his children became first-generation college graduates. Today, I stand here as a Senator from that family, born in that place. Without education, I would not be here, and those in my family would not have had the opportunities they have had. It has been the leaders in the Senate, including people such as former Senator Claiborne Pell from Rhode Island, who stood for the proposition that that educational opportunity should be afforded to all Americans, no matter what your background, no matter your economic condition; that you should be allowed to have an educational opportunity in America, because there was a recognition that with educational opportunity, anything is possible for a child in America. So that piece of legislation Senator Reid introduced today is something I hope we can embrace electively as a Senate moving forward in a comprehensive way. Finally, let me make a quick remark on the issue of immigration reform. We spent a lot of time on immigration here in the Senate. A few months ago, we were successful in passing a bipartisan compromise to move forward. I am hopeful that as we look at the months ahead, we will be able to work with President Bush and our Democratic and Republican colleagues to fashion a comprehensive immigration reform package that will deliver an effective immigration law for our country. In my view, that immigration reform package has to have three principles at its center. First, we have to secure our borders. I believe the legislation introduced today will, in fact, help us make sure our borders are secure. We as a sovereign Nation have to make sure we are securing our borders. Secondly, we need to enforce our laws within our country. For far too long we have looked the other way and the laws of immigration in our country simply have not been enforced. The measure we passed last year put together the pieces to allow us to enforce our immigration laws. Finally, from both a human and a moral and economic perspective, we need to find ways of bringing the 12 million people who now live in the shadows of America out into the sunlight of America. Those people are here working today, as they have been for many years. Their reality has in fact been recognized but somehow ignored. We need to find a way to make sure that we bring those people from the shadows into the sunlight, and the only way we will be able to do that is with a comprehensive immigration reform package that we pushed forward last year and, hopefully, we will have another opportunity to push forward in the manner of the bill introduced today by Senator Reid. I very much look forward to working with my colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, in this body as we address the major issues facing our Nation and our world. I yield the floor.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I rise today to speak on behalf of legislation I am introducing today, which has the support and co- sponsorship of several of my colleagues including Senators Reid, Leahy, Feinstein, Boxer and Menendez. This is a simple, straight forward measure to include the name of Cesar E. Chavez, a truly remarkable civil rights leader and American, into the title of the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act passed last year. With my bill, the title of this Act would be referred to as the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, and Cesar E. Chavez Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006. I am proud to have been part of a unanimous Senate that reauthorized this landmark piece of civil rights legislation. Reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act extended the open door for every American to exercise their right to participate in the representative democracy founded by our Constitution, and cherished by our people. In that spirit, it is fitting that Cesar Chavez's name be included with the other names honored in this bill--as pioneers who helped pave the way to ensure that all Americans have a voice in electing their Government at the voting booth. Cesar Chavez is an American hero. Like the venerable American leaders who are now associated with this effort, he sacrificed his life to empower the most vulnerable in America. For this reason, he continues to be an important part of our country's journey on the path to a more inclusive America. Cesar Chavez believed strongly in our American democracy and saw the right to vote as a fundamental cornerstone of our freedom. I believe it is fitting that his name be a part of the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act. President Lyndon Johnson once stated: ``The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.'' With his simple but powerful slogan ``Si Se Puede'' or yes, it can be done, Cesar Chavez reminded us of this truth. Still, throughout our history and even today, many Americans have been shut out of our most fundamental right, the right to vote. When President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law, he restored the faith of millions of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, and others who had historically been kept from voting. As our Nation moved forward in the next chapter of civic equality and inclusion with the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act last year, we demonstrated to millions of Hispanic Americans this body's continued commitment to safeguarding their right to vote. To include Cesar E. Chavez's name to that commitment today is an important change because of the message it sends Hispanic Americans. It serves as a signal of Congress' commitment to an inclusive America that brings all Americans into our democratic process. This past November, more than 86 million Americans voted all across the country. Fifty years ago, before the enactment of the Voting Rights Act, many would not have been able to do so. It is important and fitting that we honor those civil rights leaders whose contributions and courage helped pave the way for today's more inclusive democracy, and it is fitting that the name of Cesar E. Chavez be included with them in the title of last year's Voting Rights Act reauthorization. I look forward to working with my colleagues on this small change, and am hopeful that they will approve my proposal to revise the official title of this landmark reauthorization as the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, and Cesar E. Chavez Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I rise today to speak on behalf of legislation I am introducing today, which has the support and co- sponsorship of several of my colleagues including Senators Reid, Leahy, Feinstein, Boxer and Menendez. This is a simple, straight forward measure to include the name of Cesar E. Chavez, a truly remarkable civil rights leader and American, into the title of the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act passed last year. With my bill, the title of this Act would be referred to as the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, and Cesar E. Chavez Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006. I am proud to have been part of a unanimous Senate that reauthorized this landmark piece of civil rights legislation. Reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act extended the open door for every American to exercise their right to participate in the representative democracy founded by our Constitution, and cherished by our people. In that spirit, it is fitting that Cesar Chavez's name be included with the other names honored in this bill--as pioneers who helped pave the way to ensure that all Americans have a voice in electing their Government at the voting booth. Cesar Chavez is an American hero. Like the venerable American leaders who are now associated with this effort, he sacrificed his life to empower the most vulnerable in America. For this reason, he continues to be an important part of our country's journey on the path to a more inclusive America. Cesar Chavez believed strongly in our American democracy and saw the right to vote as a fundamental cornerstone of our freedom. I believe it is fitting that his name be a part of the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act. President Lyndon Johnson once stated: ``The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.'' With his simple but powerful slogan ``Si Se Puede'' or yes, it can be done, Cesar Chavez reminded us of this truth. Still, throughout our history and even today, many Americans have been shut out of our most fundamental right, the right to vote. When President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law, he restored the faith of millions of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, and others who had historically been kept from voting. As our Nation moved forward in the next chapter of civic equality and inclusion with the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act last year, we demonstrated to millions of Hispanic Americans this body's continued commitment to safeguarding their right to vote. To include Cesar E. Chavez's name to that commitment today is an important change because of the message it sends Hispanic Americans. It serves as a signal of Congress' commitment to an inclusive America that brings all Americans into our democratic process. This past November, more than 86 million Americans voted all across the country. Fifty years ago, before the enactment of the Voting Rights Act, many would not have been able to do so. It is important and fitting that we honor those civil rights leaders whose contributions and courage helped pave the way for today's more inclusive democracy, and it is fitting that the name of Cesar E. Chavez be included with them in the title of last year's Voting Rights Act reauthorization. I look forward to working with my colleagues on this small change, and am hopeful that they will approve my proposal to revise the official title of this landmark reauthorization as the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, and Cesar E. Chavez Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I rise to share my serious concern about the implementation of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, EEOICPA. Because of the gravity of my concerns, I have placed a hold on a nomination currently pending before this body--the nomination of Leon R. Sequeira to be Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Labor. I harbor no ill will toward Mr. Sequeira. But I am furious with the foot-dragging, the obstruction, and the neglect that have characterized the administration's approach toward American citizens who took real risks for our country during the cold war, who are suffering now, and who need and deserve help. It is my understanding that Mr. Sequeira's role will be to advise the Department of Labor Secretary Elaine Chao on policy development and program implementation. It is my hope that I can work through my numerous concerns with the Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services. The EEOICPA Program is supposed to compensate the thousands of cold war veterans who worked for our country's nuclear weapons programs. Together, these Federal agencies are responsible for administering the EEOICPA Program. Both agencies also play significant roles in the special exposure cohort SEC petition process. As Congressman John Hostettler pointed out earlier this week, the SEC petition process was designed to provide a mechanism for workers to be given relief from government that ``frequently misled them about the hazards they were facing and failed to properly monitor their exposure.'' Among the workers who face just such a situation were the Americans who worked at Rocky Flats in my State of Colorado. Many of these individuals, who knowingly risked their own safety to protect our democracy, have suffered from painful and debilitating diseases, including cancer, and many have died as a result of their brave service. Like Department of Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, I would hope that their Government could provide some measure of justice to these patriots. She has stated that, ``My concern is that we take care of men and women who were harmed as a result of loyal service to their country. It is my hope that this program will repay them in some small way for all they've lost.'' Unfortunately, this program is repaying them with bureaucratic delays and a deck stacked against them. I believe our Government is failing to fulfill the promise and intent of the EEOICPA Program. In Colorado, many people who worked at Rocky Flats were exposed to beryllium, radiation, and other hazards that have led to cancer and death. They filed a special exposure cohort petition over 17 months ago to receive compensation. Their petition has been delayed and obstructed at various levels and by several agencies. We have been waiting for the administration to take action to ensure that the composition of the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health is adjusted so that it will more fairly examine workers' claims, but the administration has failed to act. Sadly, I fear that, to a great extent, these actions are the result of conscious decisions by certain agency officials. Since the Department of Labor's mission is to foster and promote the welfare of American workers, I hoped to work with the Department to ensure that the quiet heroes of the Rocky Flats petition were compensated. However, I have struggled to find common ground, and for some of these workers, time is running out. Moreover, hearings held by the House Judiciary Committee have left me with serious questions regarding their efforts to undermine the Rocky Flats and other SEC petitions in the name of cost containment and other shameful actions. I hope to discuss these questions with Mr. Sequeira and other administration officials and to get some firm commitments about cleaning up this process, moving forward fairly, and getting the Rocky Flats petition approved. Until then, I cannot in good faith allow this nomination to proceed.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I rise today to bid farewell to several of my friends here in Washington. Too often we get caught up here in the back-and-forth of politics and lose sight of the contributions of those with whom we work every day. It is only at moments such as, at the end of a cycle, that we have a moment to reflect on the contributions of our colleagues. And while we may not always see eye- to-eye, this Senate is losing several admirable contributors who have made many sacrifices to serve our democracy. Mr. President, we are losing one of the great deans of the Senate in my friend Senator Paul Sarbanes of Maryland. As many have already noted, Senator Sarbanes helped bring the greatest disinfectant-- sunshine--into the corporate boardrooms of America after the fall of Enron, to help investors cull out the few bad apples from the American economy. In his three decades in the Senate, Senator Sarbanes has worked with five Presidents, seen the end of the Cold War, the boom of the information age, and even a balanced budget a few years back. Any regular C-SPAN viewer would agree that he is one of the most incisive and skilled questioners in the Senate, and his work has elicited important testimony, bringing valuable information to the public sphere, strengthening our democracy. Through it all, his focus has always been the people of Maryland, and his wisdom and experience will be missed. I also want to say farewell to my friend from Vermont, Senator Jim Jeffords--a true Yankee independent and a real treasure. When I joined the Veterans' Affairs Committee with Senator Jeffords, I learned early on that he was an ally in standing up for America's veterans. I was always impressed with his willingness to listen to all sides of an issue, and when he spoke, I was always listening. I have admired his stewardship of the Environment and Public Works Committee, and I know that the Senate, the people of Vermont, and people across our country will miss his leadership and his experience--more than three decades of service. Then there is my colleague on the Agriculture Committee, Senator Mark Dayton of Minnesota. For much of his life, Senator Dayton has dedicated himself to public service, both in Minnesota and in Washington--as a leader on economic development for his home State and later as State auditor before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000. The Twin Cities may be cold this time of year, but we all know that Minnesota DFLers will welcome him home warmly after his service in the Senate. A number of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will be departing in January, as well. There is our colleague from Virginia, Senator Allen, who wears, in my opinion, the second best pair of boots in the Senate. There is Senator Santorum of Pennsylvania, whose passion is admirable and whose energy is always enviable. Also leaving us is my colleague in the centrist Gang of 14 that helped bring this Senate back from the abyss; Senator DeWine of Ohio, who will head back to the Buckeye State with my respect and admiration; and my friend Senator Talent from Missouri, with whom I spent many hours in the Agriculture Committee working to level the playing field for America's farmers and ranchers. We will miss Senator Chafee of Rhode Island's independence and his clear voice for fiscal discipline in Washington. And we will miss Senator Burns of Montana, who shares my passion for rural America and who is headed home to Big Sky Country, back to the Rockies that I know we both miss so much. Finally, I wish to thank the majority leader, Senator Frist, for his service to this body and this Nation. He is a man of remarkable skill and dedication, and he will now return to serving his constituents in the way he knew first--as a healer. I am sure each of his future patients is already grateful for his skill and wisdom returning to touch their lives directly. America, when held to its finest ideals, is more than a place on the globe or a work in progress. It is the inspiration to those around the world and here at home to seek out excellence within themselves and their beliefs. It has been a pleasure to work alongside each of these gentlemen, who have helped me as I have found my way, sometimes literally, through the halls of the Senate, in the pursuit of these greater ideals that we all share: security, prosperity and an America that we leave better than when we arrived. These ideals will resonate here long after we all are gone and another generation stands in our place making the decisions of its day. Mark Dayton

Mr. SALAZAR

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

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I rise to speak on behalf of the confirmation of Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense. When I looked at the testimony that was offered by Robert Gates yesterday in front of the Armed Services Committee, I was impressed by the qualities that he was proposing to bring to the job. I want to speak to some of those qualities this afternoon before we get to a confirmation vote on his nomination to be the next Secretary of Defense. First, I was impressed with his candor. I think his sense of what is happening in Iraq and his grasp of the facts, being straightforward with the committee and straightforward with the Senate in terms of how he views the picture of Iraq, is refreshing. I think what it tells all of us is that Dr. Gates will bring in the fresh eyes we need to have on the problem in Iraq so we can hopefully develop a new direction that is one that will work for our country. So I appreciate the candor with which he spoke yesterday in the Senate Armed Services Committee. Second, I was also impressed with Dr. Gates and his openness with regard to considering all options in respect to questions that were asked of him by members of the committee. What he said, in effect, was that all options are on the table. He did not simply say that he had a specific course of action or that we were going to stay the course, but he said that everything needed to be examined. I think that is a refreshing attitude about this major problem in the Middle East that we have and we share as Americans today. Third, I was impressed also by the quality of collaboration he talked about. I think in his statement to the committee, as he talked about working with all agencies and working with the Members of Congress, he was saying that this is an issue in Iraq that really is a problem that belongs to all of America. How we move forward with the issue of Iraq is something that is going to require all of us working together to be successful in Iraq. In so doing, I think he was making a statement that this is not just a Republican issue; it is not a Democratic issue; it is an American issue and we need to find a strategy and a direction for us to be successful. I believe when you look at what has happened in the last 4, 5, or 6 weeks in America, what we see is a growing momentum for a new direction in Iraq. I think that new direction is set forth with a lot of things that are happening, developing a method that will hopefully bring this country together as we look for solutions. But let me say the Iraq Study Group in its own study, which I know is being heralded around the country today, starts out with a very candid assessment of what is happening in Iraq today and is set forth in the first paragraph of the Iraq Study Group Report. It says: The situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating. There is no path that can guarantee success but the prospects can be improved. When this study group says that the situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating, there is a sense of candor with respect to what is happening on the ground in Iraq. I had the honor and privilege of visiting Iraq with my friend from Virginia, Senator Warner, for whom I have tremendous respect, and Senator Levin from Michigan for whom I also have tremendous respect, and that was in March of this last year. I remember my conversations with my good friend from Virginia when he talked about how things changed in Iraq from the first time he had visited Baghdad to the time we were there in March. The fact is things have gotten worse with respect to the violence we saw on the ground. How we move forward is a very important challenge that we face in America. I strongly believe we need to move forward in a bipartisan manner in developing new directions for our country with respect to Iraq. I believe we need to succeed in Iraq. I believe that getting the regional interests involved in helping us formulate a solution is very important and we need to continue to send a message to the Iraqi people and the Iraqi Government that they first and foremost have the responsibility to bring about the security that will allow their Government to function and the people of Iraq to have peace and stability, which is something that is very essential. I believe we have the people and the leadership here in this body of the Senate to be able to chart that future bipartisan direction for the United States of America, not only in Iraq but in the Middle East. As was appropriately pointed out by the Iraq study commission, this is an issue that goes beyond Iraq. It is an issue that involves the entire Middle East and how we deal with this issue. I will quote again another wonderful friend of mine, former President Bill Clinton, when he says, ``The eggs have been broken and now we have to make an omelet out of it.'' Or Secretary Colin Powell, who made the comment at one point in time that, ``We broke it, we bought it.'' We have a problem in Iraq and in the Middle East. In order for us to meet the challenges that face us, it is going to take tremendous bipartisanship leadership from all of us here in this body. I look forward to working with my colleagues as we move forward on this agenda. I yield the floor.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I today reiterate my support for the permanent protection of one of our Nation's most spectacular sections of canyon country. Browns Canyon, CO, along the Arkansas River, is a beloved stretch of wilderness that is deserving of permanent protection under the 1964 Wilderness Act. The 20,000 acres of wilderness in Browns Canyon are pristine, dramatic, and worthy of wilderness designation. My colleague from Colorado, Representative Joel Hefley, has done heroic work over the last several years to craft a wilderness bill that protects these lands and meets the needs of the local communities. Thanks to his diligent work, they are eager to see Congress pass the Browns Canyon Wilderness Act as soon as possible. Over the last several months, I have been working hard to pass this bill. I have worked with Representative Hefley to adjust the bill's water rights language and, should we take the Senate version of this bill up, I will work to include language that will bring it in line with an updated House version, which includes the agreed-to water rights language. With only a few days left in this session, it is high time we act on this bill. The Browns Canyon Wilderness Act is a great example of Representative Hefley's sensible, pragmatic work, and we should make this wilderness designation a part of his legacy. Mr. President, for the sake of our retiring colleague and for the benefit of Colorado's wild places, I hope we can get this bill to the President's desk as soon as possible.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I want to bring to the Senate's attention the loss of a young man of great promise from my home State of Colorado: Marine LCpl Kyle Wesley Powell. A member of Unit C Co, 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Pendleton, Lance Corporal Powell was killed earlier this month in Fallujah, Iraq. Kyle Powell was a native of Colorado Springs. He was an Eagle Scout who graduated from Cheyenne Mountain High School, and joined the Marine Corps in September 2003. Lance Corporal Powell was on his third tour as a marine in Iraq. During his second tour, he received the Navy Achievement Medal after a bunker which he had designed and constructed absorbed an attack of several enemy rocket-propelled grenades, protecting the marines within it. In fact, just a few days before his passing, Lance Corporal Powell had saved the life of another fellow marine, applying a tourniquet and firing his weapon at the enemy until they could be rescued. What jumps out about Lance Corporal Powell is that when people speak of him, one word keeps coming up: leader. ``He was always, always ready to go and lead from the front,'' said LTC Wayne Sinclair, commander of the 1st CEB. In fact, at the time of his untimely loss, Lance Corporal Powell was leading a convoy moving to help extract a group of fellow marines from hostile territory. He was conducting a mine sweep when he was killed, likely saving the lives of five other marines who were behind him in a humvee. I noted before that Lance Corporal Powell was on his third tour in Iraq. But it should be noted that he went on this third tour by choice: in August, he chose to lead by example. He volunteered to go to Iraq because his unit was short of others to send overseas. At a time when so many of our young men and women are preoccupied with the coming course schedules at colleges and universities, Kyle Powell was focused on helping the people of Iraq. Kyle's parents, Nancy and David are former Army officers, and they know firsthand the dangers their son faced. They know the same pride he felt in doing the work that by all accounts he truly loved. Nancy and David, our Nation mourns the loss of your son with you. We celebrate his service to our Nation, his willingness to always selflessly step to the front and lead so that others, be they in his unit or half a world away in his hometown, would be safer. Our Nation is humbled by his heroism, and we hope your grief is soothed by knowing that his sacrifice is forever appreciated by every American.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to the Bighorn Center for Public Policy and to recognize the work of a great Coloradan, the Bighorn Center's CEO and founder, Rutt Bridges. The Bighorn Center for Public Policy was created in 1999 in an effort to provide Colorado with a truly nonpartisan organization that identifies, develops, and advocates public policies to enrich the quality of life in the State of Colorado. Over the past 7 years, the Bighorn Center has brought together leaders from both sides of the aisle to find real solutions to Colorado's ever-changing public policy needs. Rutt Bridges is a close friend and colleague. He is a man who understands the value of hard work and authentic leadership, and it has been my pleasure to work with him over the years to improve Colorado. More than 25 years ago, Mr. Bridges and his wife moved to Colorado and founded a small software company that used emerging computer technology to search for oil. With his ambition and intelligence, Mr. Bridges revolutionized the oil exploration business. His small software company quickly grew from 3 employees to over 70. When he sold his company in 1994, he committed himself to doing good for Colorado, and he has maintained that commitment to this day. The Bighorn Center's list of accomplishments is impressive. As Colorado attorney general, I worked with the Bighorn Center to develop the Colorado Anti-Bully Project. The Bighorn Center and Mr. Bridges are most well-known, however, for Colorado's telemarketing no-call list, passed in 2001 by Colorado's General Assembly. I am most proud of working with Rutt and the Center to help develop this landmark consumer protection law. Taking on special interests and supplying grassroots political pressure, the Bighorn Center was the driving force in making it easy for Coloradans to choose to block intrusive and unwanted telemarketing calls. Mr. Bridges and the Bighorn Center did not stop there and have often worked behind the scenes to encourage more campaign finance disclosure, convene meetings to discuss Colorado's budget issues, and create a DNA fingerprinting database for all criminals. The Bighorn Center also created the Bighorn Leadership Development Program, directed by another distinguished Coloradan, Brenda Morrison. This bipartisan program has effectively recruited and trained over 200 young leaders to work for a better Colorado. I am proud of the accomplishments of the Bighorn Center for Public Policy, and I applaud Mr. Bridges, Ms. Morrison, and other staff at the Bighorn Center for their dedication to making Colorado a better place to live. While the Bighorn Center is closing its doors, its legacy and the work of these civic-minded Coloradans will continue.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, as we consider legislation to fund the Department of Veterans Affairs for fiscal year 2007, I want to briefly discuss the importance of providing adequate funding for blinded veterans' services. Visual impairment or blindness is an increasingly frequent injury among our fighting men and women. In my visits to military hospitals, I have seen firsthand the impact that these severe eye injuries can have on the lives of our young men and women in uniform. While none of them ever complains, the sacrifice they have made for their country is starkly evident, and we owe it to them to ensure they are taken care of when they return home. The good news is that VA's Blind Rehabilitative Service is a global leader in providing comprehensive blind rehabilitation to America's blinded veterans, and the care available from the Nation's 10 Blind Rehabilitation Centers is dependable and effective. The bad news is that, while these 10 rehabilitation centers provide inpatient care effectively and efficiently, that is not always the case at other VA medical centers across the country. The VA Medical Center in Denver, CO, treats approximately 900 blinded veterans, many of whom require rehabilitative services that the Denver facility cannot provide. Instead, those men and women must travel to Tucson, AZ, or even farther to the American Lake Blind Center in Washington State to receive the care they have earned. The problem is not limited to my State of Colorado; VA's own analysis in April 2005 found that 78 VA medical centers currently do not have any basic existing outpatient blind rehabilitative services. I am glad that, in its budget request for fiscal year 2007, the VA provided an increase in its line item for blind services of $5.4 million over last year. However, I am concerned that with growing medical costs and the rising numbers of service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with severe eye injuries, such an increase is not enough. Walter Reed Army Medical Center recently reported to the Veterans Health Administration that, between March 2003 and April 2006, 16 percent of all service members evacuated from the war in Iraq had eye injuries, and of the 1,800 service members wounded with traumatic brain jury, 19 percent experienced post trauma visual Syndrome, PTVS, with neurological visual impairments requiring long-term specialized care. It is clear from these figures that the VA workload with respect to low-vision and blinded veterans is going to increase in coming years, on top of the already aging population of veterans with blindness. The strong report language contained in this legislation, which directs the VA to begin implementing a plan to expand more outpatient blind rehabilitation services and training and directs the VA to report back to Congress on the status of these efforts, is a good start. I am grateful to Chairwoman Hutchison and Ranking Member Feinstein and their staffs for their work in this area and hope we can work together to build on these efforts to ensure adequate funding for blinded veterans' services in years to come.

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, again, I thank the chair and the ranking member for their leadership on this legislation and look forward to working closely with both of them on behalf of our Nation's blinded veterans.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I thank both the majority leader and minority leader for their comments this afternoon and for setting forth the tone of moving forward in a spirit of bipartisanship on behalf of our country. I want to quickly make four points. It is going to be very important for us in the weeks ahead, and in the new Congress, that we do find the seeds of bipartisanship which we have found in the past in many of the efforts that have gone on in this body. For me, during my first 2 years as a Senator, one of the things I will always remember as one of the best times of the Senate is when we came together with the Gang of 14, with 7 Republicans and 7 Democrats, to make sure that this Senate was able to get beyond the very difficult issue that it faced. I hope we find more and more of those opportunities as we move forward on the great issues of our time, including Iraq, energy, health care, and the rest of the issues with which we must deal as a country. I will say this as well. In the days ahead, we will hear many things about some of our colleagues, some of whom are newcomers to our institution, the U.S. Senate, and some of them who are leaving. For me, it is a sad day that Senator Chafee and Senator DeWine, who were members of the Gang of 14, will not be around to be a part of that future bipartisan coalition that we are going to have to have in the Senate. But I hope, on the side of both the Democrats and the Republicans, that there is a great number of Members of the Senate on both sides of the aisle who will come together to address those significant issues that face us as a country. As I spent my time in Colorado for most of the last month and traveled around the State, most of the people in my State were making one statement to us as a Congress and that was to get about the people's business. They want us to do the work that they so fervently want to be accomplished for this country. I believe in my State--which I believe is reflective of what is happening around the country--they want us to set a new direction and to be successful in our undertaking in Iraq. I join the minority leader, Senator Reid, in his comments about how we ought to move forward in trying to create a bipartisan approach to achieving success in Iraq. As I traveled around my State, and as I traveled around the country as well, I think the issue of energy independence has become an issue on which people very much want us to get beyond the rhetoric they have heard for the last 30 years. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 was one of the few bipartisan efforts that ultimately succeeded in this Congress. I hope, as we move ahead on the issue of energy, we will find ways of embracing conservation, embracing renewable energy, embracing the new technologies of today so we can in fact get our hands on energy independence, which is so critical. It is critical for our Nation from the point of view of the national security of the United States of America and the world. It is critical for our Nation in terms of our economic security, and it is critical for our Nation in terms of the environmental security which is also at stake on the issue of energy. Finally, it is critical to our country as to how we provide new opportunities for rural America as we grow our way to energy independence in this country. Finally, I would like to make a comment on an issue which I believe continues to break the backs of the American people and bankrupt American businesses today and that is the issue of health care and the costs of health care, which have risen astronomically. We have left almost 50 million people of our country without health insurance, 77,000 in my State of Colorado alone. I hope this institution, the Senate, working with the House of Representatives, can deliver real results for the people of the United States of America in the weeks and years ahead. Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. SALAZAR

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

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, last Friday, November 10, we celebrated the centennial of the Order of the Theatine Fathers in Colorado. I want the date of this milestone, so important to my State's history and culture, to be noted in the Record. The Theatine Order serves parishes across Colorado, from the Sacred Heart Parish in Durango and St. Cajetan's Church in Denver to the Sangre de Cristo Parish in my native San Luis Valley. The Order has a noble history in my State and around the world, where its parishioners and pastors have worked to spread virtue and to improve the lives of our citizens. Saint Cajetan, Paolo Consiglieri, Bonifacio da Colle, and Pope Paul IV founded the Theatine order nearly 5 centuries ago in Italy, partly in response to the upheavals of the Reformation. In the generations that followed, the Theatines established missions in foreign lands, building churches and spreading their teachings to places like Peru, Borneo, Sumatra, Georgia, and Armenia. The Theatines arrived in Colorado at the end of the 19th century to a young State undergoing rapid changes. Thousands of new immigrants from Ireland, Italy, Mexico, and elsewhere rushed to Colorado's mines, farms, and ranches. These immigrants arrived in places like Durango, San Luis, and Antonito, and found a centuries-old Hispano culture and a deeply rooted Catholic faith. As these towns and settlements grew, so too did the demands on the parishes of Colorado. In 1906, the Bishop of Colorado, Nicolas Matz, seeing a need for more priests in southwestern Colorado, asked the Theatine Order to serve Sacred Heart Parish in Durango. The Reverend John Licciotti and the Reverend Francisco Maria Blasquez Gomez held their first masses in a former schoolhouse, but the structure, and the missions in the region, grew quickly. In 1920, the order established St. Cajetan's Church in Denver and began staffing the church in Antonito. Three years later, the order expanded to San Luis and its missions, and later to churches in Fort Collins and Colorado Springs. Today, the Theatine Order has 19 priests in Colorado, serving thousands of parishioners. In honoring the centennial of the Theatine Fathers, we recognize the contributions of the order to the parishes and parishioners of Colorado, but we also celebrate the contributions of the fathers to the culture, faith, and history of our great State. Their work has helped bind communities, build schools, and instill virtue, compassion and character in our citizenry. The Theatines are pillars in their communities, giants who serve the greater good. I am proud to honor the Order of the Theatine Fathers and to have this opportunity to thank them for their century of service. May the virtues that they teach in the towns and churches across the great State of Colorado continue to fill our hearts and guide our service for generations to come.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. I yield.

Mr. SALAZAR. Thank you, Mr. President. I rise tonight to speak to the so-called fence bill and ask my colleagues and urge them to oppose the construction of this fence in the way it has been proposed to the Senate. I oppose the construction of this fence because at the end of the day this is not going to fix our borders. It is not going to deal with the lawlessness that we currently are having to deal with with respect to immigration, and it is not in the long-term interests of the United States of America. For me, I may be the No. 100 U.S. Senator, but I have heroes on both sides of the aisle. I remember Ronald Reagan when he went to the Berlin Wall and he told Mr. Gorbachev that he should take down the Berlin Wall. He was about taking down walls and bringing communities together. I remember John Fitzgerald Kennedy, a person who inspired my whole life in politics and our country. I remember him working on creating the Alliance for Progress with the notion being that the Western Hemisphere would be a much more successful hemisphere if we were able to work with nations that were all a part of this hemisphere. That Alliance for Progress by President Kennedy is still celebrated throughout the United States and throughout Latin America because of his vision that we would bring communities together. Yet what we are doing today on this national security issue of immigration reform is abandoning principles and allowing politics to triumph. This body tonight, by voting for what I expect will be successful passage of this bill, has allowed politics to triumph over what is in the best long-term interests of this country and over the principles that we worked on together to try to bring about comprehensive immigration reform. I stood with a number of my colleagues on the Republican side putting together what was a comprehensive immigration reform package. We had leaders on the Democratic side who have inspired me for ages, such as Senator Kennedy, Senator Durbin, and Senator Reid standing with people such as Senator Craig and Senator McCain and Senator Graham and others to try to pull together comprehensive immigration reform. At the end of the day, we were able to get that comprehensive immigration reform. The President lauded it because it was a good bill. It was legislation that dealt with creating a system of law and order, that would have taken us out of the lawlessness we currently have in our country with respect to immigration and have created a comprehensive system to deal with this major issue of national security, economic security and moral values. Our legislation dealt with border security. Our legislation dealt with the enforcement of our immigration laws. Our legislation dealt in a realistic way with the penalties and the registration that would apply to the 12 million or so people who are here in this country undocumented today. It was legislation that was comprehensive in nature. Yes, we were proud we had Senators such as Graham, McCain, Specter, Reid, Kennedy and a whole lot of other Members who stood behind this comprehensive approach to immigration reform.

Mr. SALAZAR. No.

Mr. SALAZAR. I agree with my friend from Nevada that, indeed, Secretary Chertoff and others have said that a fence by itself will not deal with the problems we are facing in immigration. Secretary Chertoff's statement was, in his words: In fact, building a fence in the desert would have the somewhat ironic result of requiring us to put more bodies right up against the border because it would be a less efficient way to deal with it. So, yes, the Secretary of Homeland Security himself, along with the Attorney General of the United States, has taken a position that this is the wrong way to go. Mr. President, as we put together this legislation, I want to quickly review what it is we did as we went through the legislation. First of all, with respect to border security, we were tough on our border, but we were substance. We said we would add 12,000 new Border Patrol agents.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, parliamentary inquiry: Mr. President, would the Senator from Wyoming yield for a question?

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, just a parliamentary inquiry as to the order of speakers and where we are, based on the last unanimous consent order.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, before the unanimous consent request from my colleagues, I was talking about what we had done together in the bipartisan spirit of moving forward with a comprehensive immigration reform package that the President had requested us to work on together and on which there was a great deal of leadership on the part of the Members in this Chamber to accomplish a task which the Nation needed. That was a piece of legislation which was the law and order bill. It dealt with border security. It dealt with the enforcement of our immigration laws. It dealt with the system of penalties and registration that would have brought the 12 million people who now live within the shadows of America out of the shadows. It is an important piece of legislation. Yes, there was disagreement in the Senate as we debated that bill for almost a month. At the end of the day, Democrats and Republicans came together to pass a comprehensive immigration reform. I will quickly review a few of the components of that bill. First, with respect to border security, we said we would add 12,000 new Border Patrol agents. We would create additional border fences. We would provide new criminal penalties for the construction of border tunnels, the legislation pushed by my colleague, Senator Feinstein from California. We would add new checkpoints and points of entry so we could control our borders. And we would expand the exit-entry security systems at all land borders and airports. We took some significant steps forward in the legislation, including a 370-mile fence, which was an amendment. We took significant steps forward on legislation that was tough on border security. It included legislation that was an amendment proposed by the Senator from Alabama which would have constructed a 370-mile fence. That was a comprehensive piece of legislation. In addition, we said we would be a nation of laws and we would enforce our laws. We did that with a number of different provisions which included an additional 5,000 new investigators. It included 20 new detention facilities. It included provisions to reimburse the States their costs for detaining and imprisoning criminal aliens. The list goes on. It was a tough bill that said, we are going to enforce the immigration laws of our country. We did not stop there because we have the reality of an elephant in this room, in this country: the 12 million people who live here. Under the leadership of Senator McCain and Senator Kennedy, we came up with a program that would have brought these 12 million people out of the shadows through a system of penalties and registrations that would have applied to them. We would have required they pay a fine of $1,000 initially. It would require they register with the U.S. Government, that they pay an additional $1,000 fee. They go to the end of the line, the back of the line, they learn English, and a whole host of other steps. Our bill was a comprehensive bill. One of the finest moments of this Senate was that there were a number of Republicans and Democrats who came together to pass that legislation. Tonight, unfortunately, we are in a position where the politics of the day and the politics of the Senate have triumphed over the national security interests which we addressed in this legislation. The values that drove at least my participation in that debate, along with my colleagues including Senator Martinez from Florida, were simple values. They were the values that said we are a nation of laws. That means we have to have a law that is going to work, that is going to secure our borders, that is going to get rid of the lawlessness we currently face. The other value that drove me is something which Senator McCain, my friend from Arizona, often talked about when he talked about the hundreds of people who are dying in the deserts of his particular State. To me, those values are values that we should keep at the forefront, the value of us being a nation of laws and also the moral values we have to the rest of humanity. I do not believe that this political gimmick of a fence that is arbitrarily dictated by Washington to Arizona, California, and Texas is the right way to go. I don't need to go very far to find people would have agreed with me. The Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection under this administration says it doesn't make sense. It is not practical. That was on June 20 of this year. The Attorney General of the United States, Gonzales, said, ``I think that's contrary to our traditions.'' Secretary Chertoff said that, in fact, building a fence in the desert might be problematic and unrealistic. There are a number of people in the Bush administration who raised an objection to this particular proposal that we are considering tonight.

Mr. SALAZAR. May I keep going for a couple of minutes and I will be happy to yield for a question from my friend from Illinois. I say to my friends who are listening tonight, I do have some personal history on this issue because my family came here in 1598, long before Jamestown, some 12 generations ago. We have been around a long time. My own history is one where I know I am the first Mexican American to serve in this Senate in 30 years--the first Mexican American in 30 years and the only one, ever, elected to the Senate outside of the State of New Mexico. When I look at this issue of the border, I approach it from the point of view that we as a nation have a sovereign responsibility to protect our borders. We have a responsibility to make sure we have a systematic law in place that deals with the immigration issues of our country. But I also believe, just as Ronald Reagan asked Mr. Gorbachev to take the wall down between East Germany and West Germany in order to end the cold war, there will come a time when, hopefully, this Senate is part of taking down this wall between Mexico and the United States. Before I conclude, I yield to my friend from Illinois for a question.