Mark Warner

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on May 18, 2011, at 9:45 a.m.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 18, 2011, at 2:20 p.m.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on May 18, 2011, at 2:30 p.m., to hold a European Affairs subcommittee hearing entitled, ``Administration Priorities for Europe in the 112th Congress.''

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Again, Mr. President, as you see me on this floor--and I know you share this commitment to those Federal employees who work in the great State of Minnesota--too often, when we have our political dialogs here, we get closed and sometimes cavalier attitudes toward shutting down our Nation's government and the economic consequences it would have on our overall economy and the private sector and also the immediate consequences it would have on the literally hundreds of thousands of great Americans who serve us as Federal employees. Today we take a moment to celebrate Mr. Harris's service, particularly in the area of human rights. I think it is a record of service of which we can all be proud. We sometimes come down here and have tendencies to trash the Federal Government. I sometimes believe we do that at the expense of these people who work oftentimes for less pay, longer hours, and without a lot of recognition. This is some small way we are trying to recognize Mr. Harris and countless others who serve our Nation day in and day out. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. WARNER. Madam President, I rise, as I try to do on a regular basis, to honor another one of our great Federal employees. I know in the great Empire State of New York there are literally thousands of folks who oftentimes work anonymously to make sure, day in and day out, our Federal Government functions. This is a recognition I took over from our colleague, Senator Ted Kaufman, after he served in the Senate, and I am proud to continue this tradition where, on a regular basis, we come forward and honor one of those Federal employees who contributes to making our Nation safer, making our Nation more efficient, allowing many of us in America to enjoy the benefits of our country, oftentimes, again, without a lot of recognition. The individual I am recognizing is Robert Harris, who is the Deputy Legal Advisor at the U.S. State Department. Mr. Harris has played a critical role in advancing American foreign policy around the world. He has served as the lead negotiator on several important bilateral and multilateral agreements on antiterrorism, extradition, and global environmental protection. He also provides advice on issues ranging from treaties to law enforcement and intelligence. But it is Mr. Harris's work to advance human rights around the world that sets him apart. In recent years, the United States had fallen out of compliance with five global human rights treaties, making it difficult for our Nation's diplomats to press other nations to fulfill their human rights obligations--something I know the Acting President pro tempore has a particular interest in. Mr. Harris oversaw five major reports documenting U.S. human rights activities and got our country back on track with the rest of the world. Mr. Harris is also leading the U.S. delegation in the U.S.-China Legal Experts Dialogue, which provides an opportunity for both countries to exchange expertise and discuss reforms on a variety of issues. Mr. Harris has successfully engaged the Chinese to implement an existing law--an existing Chinese law--that reduces prison terms and to more frequently grant parole to individuals serving for nonviolent offenses--again, advancing human rights in China. Michael Kozak, a senior aide at the State Department, commented that Mr. Harris's negotiations have ``done more for concrete advancement of Chinese human rights than any previous human rights dialogue that I've ever seen.'' Mr. Harris also supervised the legal team that supported the President's signature on the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2009 and guided the administration's legal approach to handling a U.N. conference on racism. More recently, he led U.S. and international efforts at the United Nations to prosecute pirates engaged off the coast of Somalia. As a 25-year veteran of the State Department, Robert Harris's contributions have gone a long way to advance American foreign policy and preserve our Nation's record as a leader in human rights. I hope my colleagues will join me in thanking him for his service. (Mr. FRANKEN assumed the chair.)

Mr. WARNER

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

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, yesterday this Chamber came together to unanimously confirm Ms. Arenda Wright Allen to serve as a district judge in Virginia. I thank my colleagues from both sides of the aisle for their vote. I am confident that we will give the same support to another excellent nominee from Virginia under consideration today. I rise to speak in support Judge Michael Urbanski to serve as the next U.S. district judge for the Western District of Virginia. Judge Urbanski would be appointed to a court that is known for its rigor and quality. It is a court that requires a highly effective judge that is sensitive to the details of each case. I think Judge Urbanski is perfect for this job. He graduated from the College of William and Mary and the University of Virginia Law School. He also served as a law clerk for the Honorable James Turk, a district judge in the Eastern District of Virginia. Following his clerkship, he worked in the private sector where he built experience in antitrust litigation, counseling and investigations, contract and business tort litigation and intellectual property litigation. Since 2004, he has served as a magistrate judge in Roanoke, VA, where he has built strong connections to the community and a reputation as a fair and impartial judge. I would be remiss not to mention the overwhelming support his candidacy received from the legal community in which he will serve. In addition, the Virginia State Bar, the Virginia Women Attorneys Association and the Salem/Roanoke County Bar Association ranked Judge Urbanski as ``highly qualified'' or ``most highly qualified.'' I again would like to thank Chairman Leahy and Ranking Member Grassley for moving Judge Urbanski's nomination through the Judiciary Committee so that we could consider him today. As I testified at the hearing, I look forward to casting my vote in support of Judge Urbanski's nomination and encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to do the same. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time used in quorum calls during the debate on the Urbanski nomination be charged equally to both sides.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Yes, I will be happy to withdraw my request.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of the nomination of Arenda Wright Allen to serve as the next U.S. district court judge for the Eastern District of Virginia. I am very pleased to see that our leadership came together to move this nomination forward. I want to recognize Chairman Leahy and Ranking Member Grassley for holding the nomination hearing and reporting this nomination by unanimous consent. Senator Webb and I had the privilege of interviewing several candidates to fill this vacancy on the bench. Ms. Wright Allen stood out for her exceptional qualifications and impressive record in the Norfolk community. She has spent her entire legal career in public service, beginning with her service as a JAG officer in the Navy. She also has the unique perspective of having served as both a prosecutor and a public defender. She spent 14 years serving as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and 1 year in the Western District of Virginia. Today, Ms. Wright Allen is a Federal public defender in Norfolk. Without a doubt, her extensive trial experience will go a long way on the bench. While I was considering Ms. Wright Allen's record, I read several letters of support for her nomination. In addition, the Virginia State Bar ranked Ms. Wright Allen as ``highly qualified,'' and she came ``highly recommended'' by the Virginia Bar Association and the Virginia Women Attorneys Association. I would also be remiss not to mention the historic nature of this nomination. Ms. Wright Allen would be the first African-American woman to serve as a Federal district court judge in Virginia. I know she will serve with distinction and make all Virginians proud. Mr. President, President Obama nominated Ms. Wright Allen in January of this year. The time is now to confirm her nomination so that she can begin to serve the people in the Eastern District of Virginia. I look forward to casting my vote in support of Ms. Wright Allen's nomination and encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to do the same. I hope the Presiding Officer, who has spent extensive time as a great attorney general, lawyer, and attorney of great repute and respect, will be able to join us in this effort. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. WARNER

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

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise today to once again touch on a subject that is important to me. I know it is very important to the Presiding Officer because the Commonwealth of Virginia and the great State of Maryland have a large number of Federal employees. As the Presiding Officer knows, this week we celebrate Public Service Recognition Week to honor public servants at all levels of government for their admirable patriotism and contributions to our country. I wish to begin by commending our military intelligence professionals for the coordinated and painstaking work that was responsible for tracking down Osama bin Laden. There are a number of nameless, faceless Federal workers who have been investigating his whereabouts for more than a decade. I was proud to be in this Chamber with the Presiding Officer and colleagues from both sides of the aisle when, on Tuesday afternoon, this body recognized their work. Our military and intelligence professionals are not the only ones on the front lines of keeping our country safe. Today, I rise to honor a resident of Reston, VA, Carl Pike, the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Special Operations Division at the Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA. This is a photo of Carl and his whole team. We have all seen reports in recent years detailing the violent and inhumane acts of the Mexican drug cartels that terrorize cities and control a significant percentage of the narcotics flowing into the United States. Mr. Pike is the head of a complex multiagency task force set up to catch many of these violent criminals and disrupt the flow of drugs. Last year, he and his team led the largest strike ever against La Familia, one of the most ruthless Mexican drug cartels and a major trafficker of methamphetamine in the United States. The strike, dubbed ``Project Coronado,'' was an operation that spanned 20 States, 50 cities, 2 countries, and multiple Federal agencies. Attorney General Eric Holder said the ``unprecedented, coordinated U.S. law enforcement action'' was a ``significant blow to La Familia's supply chain of illegal drugs, weapons and cash flowing between Mexico and the United States.'' The strike would not have been possible without Mr. Pike, as so many of his colleagues attest. One DEA Special Assistant Agent in Charge said: He oversaw the broad interests of the law enforcement community, displayed phenomenal negotiating and planning skills, and facilitated collaboration between agencies and international partners that often had competing interests. In the end, Project Coronado led to the arrest of 1,200 associates of La Familia and the seizure of 1\1/2\ tons of methamphetamine, $32 million in cash, and 400 weapons. It truly was a significant achievement. Carl Pike and his team should be recognized for removing dangerous drugs and criminals off our streets--something for which we can all be grateful. I hope my colleagues will join me in honoring Mr. Pike and his team as well as all those at the DEA for their excellence and service to our Nation. I was also proud to be part of a group earlier today recognizing a number of Federal employees--nine from the Commonwealth of Virginia and many from the State of Maryland--who were part of a national competition that recognizes quality work of government workers. As we see this week in broad display those military intelligence professionals in this most dramatic action against Osama bin Laden, as we see Mr. Pike and his team taking on drug cartels, and as we see the hundreds of thousands of other Federal workers who day-in and day-out, often without recognition, do the job of keeping our government operating and in many ways keeping our country safe, I hope my colleagues will join in saluting those efforts and recognize that this week, Public Service Recognition Week, is to honor all of our public servants. With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. WARNER

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

Mr. WARNER

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

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise, once again, to continue the tradition started in the last Congress by my friend and colleague, the Senator from Delaware, Senator Kaufman, to recognize another great Federal employee. I think this particular recognition is critically important, since last week this Congress came to the brink, unfortunately, of shutting down the Federal Government, which would have had a dramatic effect upon literally 800,000 Federal employees, many of whom toil tirelessly, oftentimes in the proverbial vineyards, trying to serve the American people. It is my hope that later today the House, and we in the Senate, will pass what perhaps is an imperfect compromise--and every compromise is a bit imperfect--that will continue the operations of this Federal Government through the balance of the fiscal year. It is appropriate that today we continue this tradition, where we single out for recognition on the floor of this Senate one of the Federal employees who continues to provide service to Americans. The exemplary Federal worker I am referring to this week is Keith Prewitt, the Deputy Director and 27-year veteran of the U.S. Secret Service. Mr. Prewitt is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Secret Service, including its 6,700 employees, with a budget of about $1.5 billion. Mr. Prewitt also oversees protection of the President and the Vice President of the United States, as well as visiting heads of State. He has an impressive resume that includes handling security during three Presidential campaigns, two White House details, and overseeing trips protecting American officials in more than 110 countries. Mr. Prewitt was first drawn to a life of public service when he was in high school in the 1960s in Memphis, TN. He met a local Memphis police officer who had encouraged him to obey the city curfew, stay safe and out of trouble. Mr. Prewitt said this police officer inspired him to enter public service. Coincidentally, he went on to become a Memphis police officer following his graduation from college. In 1983, the Secret Service recruited Mr. Prewitt to serve as a special agent in the Memphis field office. Over the years, he rose through the ranks of the Service. He has served both on the frontlines and in supervisory positions, which have led him to his leadership role today. Mr. Prewitt is regarded by his peers as one of the best in the field. He has been described as a man of high value and honor who views each day as a training day and is extremely dedicated to his work and loyal to the people who work with him. One of his peers at the National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers stated that Mr. Prewitt ``identifies challenges for the organization and seeks to change the status quo to make things better.'' His tireless efforts to improve the performance of the Secret Service have made him a true asset to the agency, the President, the Vice President, and to our country. I hope my colleagues will join me in honoring Keith Prewitt, a truly great civil servant, and all those in the U.S. Secret Service for their hard work and dedication to our Nation. It is also my hope that we can conclude the budget for the balance of this fiscal year so we can give Mr. Prewitt, countless other Federal employees, and literally millions of Americans who depend upon the ongoing workings of the Federal Government, the confidence and respect they need by passing the balance of the continuing resolution for this year before we break for the Passover-Easter recess. With that, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, this is a critically important issue, and I think a lot of us all want to speak. I just want to make sure--I have been presiding and waiting for some time as well. I hope we do not start rearranging all the rules here so we all get a fair chance to speak.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I wish I could say I was rising today to just debate some of the normal issues we talk about. Like most of my colleagues, probably, I rise today a bit embarrassed--not a bit but really embarrassed that we are here under these circumstances. People across Virginia cannot understand why we can't get this done. I had the honor of serving as the Governor of Virginia. I am a Democrat, and I had a two-to-one Republican legislature. We got things done. We compromised. We found that common ground that now seems to be viewed as a bad place to be. Mr. President, I agree with the Senator from Indiana that whatever number we agree on today, that doesn't take us very far when you have a $1.6 trillion deficit and a $14 trillion debt. If this debate is showing anything, it is that there is not going to be a way to get there unless we can frame this in a bipartisan way. I agree with the Senator from Indiana that we ought to take the framework of the Simpson-Bowles plan and put it forward. There are a group of Democrats and Republicans who are trying to do that, and a lot of other Members would like to be part of that as well. We ought to take one lesson from this debate--that we are not going to solve the bigger problem unless we can start on a bipartisan basis. We have heard this morning back-and-forth about what is holding this up. I am not in the negotiating room. I wish I were. I don't know what is holding it up. I know, as somebody who has followed this debate pretty closely, that for the weeks of this discussion, it seems to have been focused on, can we at least take some small step toward attacking that deficit and cutting spending. It seems to me from every bit of the press reports I have read--I would like to say I have an insider's view, and many of the Senators are trying to figure out what is going on, but from all the press reports, it seems that, until the last day or two, this has been about cuts, and there has actually been agreement on the number and size of this first step of cuts. But now we have these other issues. I think, as some of my colleagues have said, there will be time to debate those issues, but why in the heck would we roll the dice with not just 800,000 Federal employees but millions of Americans who rely on some level of continuity to have these extra social issue divisions right now? I heard some of my colleagues say earlier that, well, we have to shut it down for a weekend, and that won't be too much of a problem. Well, you don't have to worry about the Federal employees. Lord knows, anybody who puts a red herring--I appreciate Senators Hutchison and Casey making sure our troops are going to get paid. I am proud of that. Regardless, I think Senators and Congressmen should not be paid, either, if we shut down, and I promise not to take any salary if we are shut down. But just even for a weekend, what do you tell the motel owners, the restaurant workers, the private sector folks who are relying this weekend on people coming to Washington to see the cherry blossoms? You may say that is small ball, but that is people's lives-- not Federal workers but the private sector workers. What about the defense contractor who says that if we shut this down, he is going to lay off 70 folks starting next week? What about the shipbuilder in Norfolk who is living paycheck to paycheck and says they don't know whether they are going to see private sector dollars from their private sector employment, whether they are going to get paid or not? What do you say to our soldiers who are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan to try to spread democratic government if the greatest democracy in the world is going to shut down not over trillions of dollars' worth of differences but over some issue that may or may not have been introduced at the eleventh hour? I don't get it. The notion somehow that this will send a good signal of fiscal discipline--I am proud, as my friend the Senator from Tennessee said, that we have spent more time in business careers than we have in our political lives. But what business hates the most is uncertainty. The markets hate uncertainty the most. Portugal, yesterday or the day before, said they need a bailout from the European Central Bank. The notion that we are out of the woods in terms of a macrofinancial crisis is not true. The situation in Europe is very uncertain. The situation in the Middle East is obviously very uncertain. It would be the height of irresponsibility if we were to kind of once again rock the bond markets with the fact that the American Government would shut down over some extraneous issue. I don't get it. The economists whom we have talked to have said that you can see up to a .2 percent decline in economic growth if we even shut down for a few hours. Frankly, it would end up costing us more than we save because shutting down operations and starting up operations, as any business leader or any government person who actually runs something knows, costs more money. People may say two-tenths of 1 percent, and we struggle for half a percent of growth here and there with all of these policies we try to promote--that is billions and hundreds of billions of dollars to our economy. Just as we started to see a little bit of good news with the job numbers last month, just as we started to see the beginnings of an economic recovery, are we going to show that we can't even continue to operate the government for the next 6 months, and are we going to shut it down, at least based on press reports, on extraneous issues that don't have to do with deficit reduction? If we can't get through this challenge, what happens when we move from the small-ball issues to the issues Senator Coats and my colleagues and friends, Senators Carper and Corker, all want to be part of--and the Presiding Officer--and how will we take on that $14 trillion debt, to which we add $4 billion every day that we fail to act, if we can't solve this problem in a way that focuses on making the cuts and letting the government continue to operate, not simply for the sake of 800,000 Federal workers but for countless millions in the private sector who depend upon that certainty, and move on to the question of how we find, I believe, the bipartisan solution that I hope and pray is at least around the framework of the Simpson-Bowles approach, which puts everything on the table--revenues and cuts--and recognize that we need to put the country back on the path of economic prosperity. I hope the negotiators realize this is bigger than the small issues-- bigger than 73, 78, or whatever number they finally determine. We will send a signal by our actions today whether we are willing to then move forward to take on the much bigger issue, which is where we have to start. I will close with this. If there is anything we have learned from this effort, it is that if we start with guns ablazing at each other, we are not going to be able to take on the real issue that confronts us--the national security crisis that Chairman Mullen has said is the single biggest threat to our long-term economic stability based upon the rising debt. I yield the floor and hope and pray we will come to a solution.

Mr. WARNER. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. WARNER. I ask unanimous consent to be added as a cosponsor as well.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise to urge adoption of the Coburn amendment. I believe the Coburn amendment actually adds teeth. We have a study here of duplicative programs from GAO. We have got to make sure we are, as we debate closing down the Federal Government, attacking real programs. We ought to be able to save $5 billion of administrative duplication within the 82 programs that were given in this guideline in the GAO report. I would urge adoption of the Coburn amendment after the Inouye amendment.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise to speak in favor of the Coburn- Warner amendment. Refreshing everyone on the point I made just a couple moments ago, the GAO created a study that gives us a guidepost of where we can start eliminating some of the duplication and replication in Federal programs. This does not go to the heart of service delivery. It does go to anybody who has been a Governor or mayor in this body, who knows you can find, in moments of tough times, savings at the administrative level. This is a guideline. If we cannot find $5 billion in administrative savings from this guidepost, then this study will go, along with many others, to sit on a shelf. So I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the Coburn-Warner amendment.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I come to the floor again today to once more honor another great Federal employee. I know the Presiding Officer and I, as well as some of our colleagues, recognize that in the State of New Mexico and the Commonwealth of Virginia and here in Washington, there are countless Federal employees who do great things in terms of public service and don't often get the recognition they deserve. As we debate the balance of this year's budget and think about the incredible issues in front of us in terms of our debt and deficit-- issues that have to be confronted--we also sometimes have to remember that our actions or our failure to act has enormous consequences on the people who defend our country, protect our homeland, or make sure the basic operations of government work. It could be making sure our Federal parks are open or making sure the folks here in Washington who are Federal police are on the job. Sometimes our failure to agree or our failure to come together on particularly the predictability of the balance of this fiscal year has an effect on their lives. That is not the subject of my purpose of rising today, but I do think it is important to bear that in mind as I continue the tradition that was started by Senator Kaufman last year of coming to the floor on a regular basis to honor Federal employees. Time and again, I have seen how the skills and dedication of Federal workers have yielded groundbreaking benefits for our country. Today, I wish to highlight a Federal worker who is at the forefront of modern technology. Joshua Bienfang is a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He created a new method of transmitting encrypted messages in a 100-percent secure way by using quantum physics. I know the Presiding Officer is an expert in quantum physics. I, unfortunately, am not. But since there are so many business operations in the great State of New Mexico, I know he is very familiar with these subjects, but I still have a great deal to learn. My understanding is that in practical terms, this means that message interceptors will be unable to capture sensitive information--critically important to protecting the homeland. Prior to Mr. Bienfang's breakthrough, quantum cryptography was thought to be a largely experimental means of transmission. But he was able to both secure messages and speed up their delivery. In fact, this technology has set world speed records in the quantum cryptographic field. I know the Presiding Officer probably knows what those speed records are. I don't know. His background in quantum physics makes him understand that, but I think it is a very remarkable achievement. Without a doubt, Mr. Bienfang's discovery will be greatly important to our national security as well as commerce and equally important to the privacy of medical records. His work also demonstrates the diversity of our Federal workforce. While we may have our fair share of bureaucrats, there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of scientists and researchers doing cutting-edge work within the Federal Government and applying their intellect to benefit the American people. I hope my colleagues will join me in congratulating Joshua Bienfang as well as those at the National Institute of Standard and Technology on their success, which will no doubt aid Americans in the years to come. Mr. President, I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.

Mr. WARNER. I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the period of the quorum calls between now and 2 p.m. be equally divided between both sides.

Mr. WARNER

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