[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 154 (Thursday, November 8, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S11594]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--S. 739

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I see Senator Mikulski here; I assume 
Senator Bond will be here. I will just take but a moment.
  For the fifth or sixth time in the last 2 weeks, I ask unanimous 
consent the Senate proceed to Calendar No. 191, S. 739, the Homeless 
Veterans Program Improvement Act; that the committee-reported 
substitute amendment be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be read 
three times, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the 
table, with no intervening action or debate.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I know how 
committed the Senator is to this issue, and much of that issue I agree 
with. I hope sometime in the future we can deal with it. It is 
important, certainly to those who meet the standards and the 
qualifications which the Senator has proposed.
  At this time I believe it necessary to object, and I do object.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Minnesota.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I have spoken about this before. The 
Senator from Idaho was objecting on behalf of someone else. He said: I 
hope this legislation passes soon because we all support this, or 
because it is important, something to that effect.
  This legislation passed the veterans committee on a 21-0 vote. It is 
the kind of legislation you massage--Lane Evans has done this in the 
House--so you get everybody agreeing. It is really important. I have 
gone through all the details before.
  It is there in terms of making sure you have the job training, the 
services for people, and the health care for people struggling with 
addiction or struggling with posttraumatic stress syndrome, transition 
to other housing. It is really important to do.
  Veterans Day is coming in just a few days.
  My last point is that even though my colleague from Idaho says we all 
think it is a good thing to do, for 2 weeks I have come out here and I 
have asked: Who is the Senator who has an anonymous hold on this bill? 
If he or she opposes it, come out and debate it. This is no way to 
proceed. As a result, I have put a hold on every bill introduced by my 
colleagues from the other side, all of them that are unanimous consent 
and have a great deal of merit. I am not giving up any of my leverage.
  It is unconscionable that this piece of legislation has been blocked 
through an anonymous hold. It is no way to say thanks to veterans. The 
veterans in the military say: We don't leave our wounded behind. We 
have a lot of wounded left behind on the streets of our country who are 
homeless.
  If I got started on this issue, I could spend about 10 hours 
expressing my indignation at what has happened. Out of deference to 
Senator Mikulski, I will not.
  Again, there aren't going to be any bills beyond appropriations and 
judicial appointments that are going to go through until this bill goes 
through. This should be a priority.
  I make a plea to my colleagues from the other side of the aisle, find 
out who it is, the Senator who is blocking this consideration. No one 
has ever even given me the slightest hint why. Let's get this work 
done.

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