[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 91 (Thursday, July 13, 2006)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D765-D769]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                            Thursday, July 13, 2006

[[Page D765]]


                              Daily Digest


HIGHLIGHTS

      Senate passed H.R. 5441, Department of Homeland Security 
      Appropriations.
      The House passed H.R. 9--Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and 
      Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and 
      Amendments Act of 2006.


                                 Senate


Chamber Action
Routine Proceedings, pages S7451-S7544
Measures Introduced: Eleven bills and three resolutions were 
introduced, as follows: S. 3651-3661, S. Res. 528-529, and S. Con. Res. 
109.
  Page S7511
Measures Reported:
  H.R. 5672, making appropriations for Science, the Departments of 
State, Justice, and Commerce, and related agencies for the fiscal year 
ending September 30, 2007, with an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute. (S. Rept. No. 109-280)
  S. 3660, making appropriations for the government of the District of 
Columbia and other activities chargeable in whole or in part against 
the revenues of said District for the fiscal year ending September 30, 
2007. (S. Rept. No. 109-281)
  S. 418, to protect members of the Armed Forces from unscrupulous 
practices regarding sales of insurance, financial, and investment 
products, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. (S. Rept. 
No. 109-282)
  H.R. 1036, To amend title 17, United States Code, to make technical 
corrections relating to Copyright Royalty Judges, with an amendment. 
                                                             Page S7511
Measures Passed:
  Homeland Security Appropriations: By a unanimous vote of 100 yeas 
(Vote No. 203), Senate passed H.R. 5441, making appropriations for the 
Department of Homeland Security for the fiscal year ending September 
30, 2007, after taking action on the following amendments proposed 
thereto:
  Pages S7455-S7504
Adopted:
  Gregg (for Allard) Amendment No. 4633, to require the Assistant 
Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the Department of 
Homeland Security to submit a report on the costs and need for 
establishing a sub-office in Greeley, Colorado.
Pages S7470-72
  Gregg (for Murray) Amendment No. 4640, to direct funds to construct 
radiological laboratories at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
                                                         Pages S7470-72
  Gregg (for Landrieu) Amendment No. 4648, to require a report on the 
location of Coast Guard facilities and assets in the Federal City 
Project in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Pages S7470-72
  Gregg (for Murray) Amendment No. 4639, to provide that funds 
appropriated for United States Coast Guard Acquisition, Construction, 
and Improvement may be used to acquire law enforcement patrol boats. 
                                                         Pages S7470-72
  Gregg (for Levin) Amendment No. 4617, to ensure that methodologies 
and technologies used by the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection to 
screen for and detect the presence of chemical, nuclear, biological, 
and radiological weapons in municipal solid waste are as effective as 
the methodologies and technologies used by the Bureau to screen for 
those materials in other items of commerce entering the United States 
through commercial motor vehicle transport.
Pages S7470-72
  Gregg (for Voinovich) Modified Amendment No. 4594, to increase 
appropriations for emergency management performance grants. 
                                                         Pages S7470-72
  Gregg (for Lott) Modified Amendment No. 4570, to require the 
Secretary of Homeland Security Inspector General to investigate the 
conduct of insurers

[[Page D766]]

in settling certain claims resulting from Hurricane Katrina. 
                                                         Pages S7470-72
  Feinstein Amendment No. 4556, to amend chapter 27 of title 18, United 
States Code, to prohibit the unauthorized construction, financing, or, 
with reckless disregard, permitting the construction or use on one's 
land, of a tunnel or subterranean passageway between the United States 
and another country and to direct the United States Sentencing 
Commission to modify the sentencing guidelines to account for such 
prohibition.
Pages S7455, S7470-72
  Gregg (for Stabenow) Amendment No. 4657, to provide collections and 
expenditures for the Customs User Fee Account.
Pages S7475-78
  Gregg (for Obama) Modified Amendment No. 4573, to assist individuals 
displaced by a major disaster in locating family members. 
                                                         Pages S7475-78
  Gregg (for Dodd/DeWine) Modified Amendment No. 4626, to increase 
appropriations for firefighter assistance grants.
Pages S7475-78
  Gregg (for Cantwell) Amendment No. 4636, to provide for interoperable 
communications systems planning in connection with the 2010 Olympics. 
                                                         Pages S7475-78
  Gregg (for Lautenberg/Menendez) Amendment No. 4653, to require the 
Secretary of Homeland Security to submit a classified report to 
Congress on the security vulnerabilities of the bridges and tunnels 
connecting New Jersey to New York City.
Pages S7475-78
  Reed Amendment No. 4613, to limit the reduction in operations within 
the Civil Engineering Program of the Coast Guard.
Page S7488
  Dayton Amendment No. 4663, to increase the amount appropriated for 
United States Customs and Border Protection salaries and expenses by 
$44,000,000 to place an additional 236 border patrol agents along the 
Northern Border and to fully offset that amount with corresponding 
reductions in the appropriations for administrative travel and 
printing.
Pages S7488-89
  Gregg (for Dayton) Amendment No. 4618, to prohibit the use of 
appropriated funds to take an action that would violate Executive Order 
13149 (relating to greening the government through Federal fleet and 
transportation efficiency).
Pages S7494-96
  Gregg (for Durbin) Amendment No. 4616, to provide funding for mass 
evacuation exercises.
Pages S7494-96
  Gregg (for Warner) Amendment No. 4578, to increase funding for the 
Office of National Capital Region Coordination.
Pages S7494-96
  Gregg (for Feingold) Amendment No. 4592, to require the Under 
Secretary of Transportation for Transportation Security to assist in 
the coordination of the voluntary provision of emergency services 
during commercial flights.
Pages S7494-96
  Gregg (for Boxer) Modified Amendment No. 4638, to direct the Director 
of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in conjunction with the 
Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to 
submit a record outlining Federal earthquake response plans for high 
risk earthquake regions in the United States.
Pages S7494-96
  Gregg (for Pryor) Modified Amendment No. 4642, to increase funding 
for technical assistance.
Pages S7494-96
  Gregg (for Durbin) Modified Amendment No. 4619, to require the 
Secretary of Homeland Security to establish procedures for 
expeditiously clearing individuals whose names have been mistakenly 
placed on the Transportation Security Administration Watch List. 
                                                         Pages S7494-96
  Gregg (for Carper) Modified Amendment No. 4635, to provide airlines 
with technical assistance for coordinating reservations and ticketing 
with the Transportation Security Administration Watch List. 
                                                         Pages S7494-96
  Gregg (for Specter/Mikulski) Modified Amendment No. 4550, to address 
funding for high-threat nonprofit organizations.
Pages S7494-96
  Gregg (for Obama/Coburn) Modified Amendment No. 4624, to provide that 
none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available for expenses 
in carrying out the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act may be used to enter into non-competitive contracts 
based upon the unusual and compelling urgency exception under Federal 
contracting law unless the contract is limited in time, scope, and 
value as necessary to respond to the immediate emergency. 
                                                         Pages S7494-96
  Gregg (for Lautenberg) Modified Amendment No. 4661, to provide, with 
an offset, an additional $5,000,000 for Operating Expenses for the 
Coast Guard for the National Capital Region Air Defense mission of the 
Coast Guard.
Pages S7494-96
  Gregg (for Baucus) Amendment No. 4669, to express the sense of the 
Senate that Customs and Border Protection should continue to focus on 
reporting and analysis of trade flows to prevent the spread of 
methamphetamine.
Pages S7496-97
  Gregg (for Kyl) Amendment No. 4670, to increase the total number of 
Department of Homeland Security additional detention bed spaces by 
1,700 beds in fiscal year 2007.
Pages S7496-97
  Gregg (for Schumer) Amendment No. 4671, to require the Secretary of 
Homeland Security to submit a report to Congress addressing its 
compliance with the recommendations from the July 6, 2006 Inspector 
General Report ``Progress in Developing the National Asset Database''. 
                                                         Pages S7496-97

[[Page D767]]


  Gregg (for Grassley/Nelson (FL)) Amendment No. 4672, to require the 
Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security to review each 
Secure Border Initiative contract valued at more than $20,000,000 and 
to report the findings of such reviews to the Secretary of Homeland 
Security and to Congress.
                                                         Pages S7496-97
  Gregg (for Levin/Stabenow) Amendment No. 4673, to provide that, of 
the amount appropriated by title VI for Customs and Border Protection 
for air and marine interdiction, operations, maintenance, and 
procurement, such funds as are necessary may be available for the final 
Northern border air wing site in Michigan.
                                                         Pages S7496-97
  By 84 yeas to 16 nays (Vote No. 202), Vitter Modified Amendment No. 
4615, to prohibit the confiscation of a firearm during an emergency or 
major disaster if the possession of such firearm is not prohibited 
under Federal or State law.
                                    Pages S7455, S7458, S7489-94, S7497
  Gregg (for Biden/Carper) Amendment No. 4608, to require passenger and 
baggage screeners at New Castle Airport in Wilmington, Delaware as long 
as commercial air service is provided at that airport.
                                                         Pages S7497-98
  Gregg (for Coleman/Schumer) Modified Amendment No. 4574, to provide 
funding for an integrated scanning system for ports.
                                                         Pages S7497-98
  Boxer Amendment No. 4674, to prohibit the use of certain funds for 
travel by officers or employees of the Department of Homeland Security 
until the Under Secretary for Preparedness has implemented the 
recommendations in the report by the Inspector General of the 
Department of Homeland Security titled ``Progress in Developing the 
National Asset Database'', dated June 2006.
                                                             Page S7498
  Gregg (for Domenici) Modified Amendment No. 4598, to expand the 
responsibilities of the National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis 
Center in the Department of Homeland Security.
                                                             Page S7498
  Gregg (for Chambliss) Modified Amendment No. 4649, to require the 
Secretary of Homeland Security and Measurements (NCRP) in preparing 
guidance and recommendations for protecting emergency responders, 
recovery networks, and the general public from radiological terrorism, 
threats, and events.
                                                         Pages S7498-99
  Clinton Modified Amendment No. 4582, to prohibit the Assistant 
Secretary of Homeland Security (Transportation Security Administration) 
from removing any item from the current list of items prohibited from 
being carried aboard a passenger aircraft.
                                              Pages S7474, S7475, S7499
                                                              Rejected:
  By 36 yeas to 64 nays (Vote No. 198), Menendez Modified Amendment No. 
4634, to provide that appropriations under this Act may not be used for 
the purpose of providing certain grants, unless all such grants meet 
certain conditions for allocation. 
                Pages S7455, S7464-70, S7472, S7484-85, S7485-86, S7487
  By 29 yeas to 71 nays (Vote No. 200), Sessions/Ensign Modified 
Amendment No. 4659, to appropriate an additional $1,829,400,000 to 
construct double-layered fencing and vehicle barriers along the 
southwest border and to offset such increase by reducing all other 
discretionary amounts on a pro-rata basis. 
                                           Pages S7478, S7478-83, S7485
  By 34 yeas to 66 nays (Vote No. 201), Sessions/Ensign Modified 
Amendment No. 4660, to appropriate an additional $85,670,000 to enable 
the Secretary of Homeland Security to hire 800 additional full time 
active duty investigators to investigate immigration laws violations 
and to offset such increase on a pro-rata basis. 
                             Pages S7478, S7483, S7484, S7485, S7487-88
                                                             Withdrawn:
  Thune/Talent Amendment No. 4610, to establish a program to use 
amounts collected from violations of the corporate average fuel economy 
program to expand infrastructure necessary to increase the availability 
of alternative fuels.
                                                  Pages S7455, S7483-84
  During consideration of this measure today, the Senate also took the 
following action:
  By 38 yeas to 62 nays (Vote No. 197), three-fifths of those Senators 
duly chosen and sworn, not having voted in the affirmative, Senate 
rejected the motion to waive section 302(f) of the Congressional Budget 
Act of 1974, as made effective by Section 7035(a) of P.L. 109-234, with 
respect to Dodd/Stabenow Amendment No. 4641, to fund urgent priorities 
for our Nation's firefighters, law enforcement personnel, emergency 
medical personnel, and all Americans by reducing the tax breaks for 
individuals with annual incomes in excess of $1,000,000. Subsequently, 
the point of order that the amendment would provide spending in excess 
of the subcommittee's 302(b) allocation was sustained, and the 
amendment thus fell.
                                                         Pages S7458-62
  Chair sustained a point of order against Kyl Amendment No. 4643, to 
increase the number of Department of Homeland Security detention bed 
spaces by 6,700 beds in FY 2007, as being in violation of rule XVI of 
the Standing Rules of the Senate which prohibits legislation on 
appropriations matters, and the amendment thus fell. 
                                                  Pages S7456-58, S7463
  Chair sustained a point of order against Santorum/Kyl Amendment No. 
4575, to increase the number of border patrol agents to 2,500 agents, 
and offset by increasing the availability of reverse mortgages for 
seniors, as being in violation of rule XVI of the

[[Page D768]]

Standing Rules of the Senate which prohibits legislation on 
appropriations matters, and the amendment thus fell.
                                                         Pages S7455-56
  By 46 yeas to 54 nays (Vote No. 199), three-fifths of those Senators 
duly chosen and sworn, not having voted in the affirmative, Senate 
rejected the motion to waive section 402 of H. Con. Res. 95, 
Congressional Budget Resolution for Fiscal Year 2006, with respect to 
the emergency designation provision in Schumer Amendment No. 4600, to 
increase appropriations for disaster relief. Subsequently, a point of 
order that the emergency designation provision would violate section 
402 of H. Con. Res. 95 was sustained and the provision was stricken. 
Also, the Chair sustained a point of order that the amendment would 
exceed the subcommittee's 302(b) allocation, as made effective by 
section 7035(a) of P.L. 109-234, and the amendment thus fell. 
                                     Pages S7472-74, S7474-75, S7486-87
  Senate insisted on its amendment, requested a conference with the 
House thereon, and the Chair was authorized to appoint the following 
conferees on the part of the Senate: Senators Gregg, Cochran, Stevens, 
Specter, Domenici, Shelby, Craig, Bennett, Allard, Byrd, Inouye, Leahy, 
Mikulski, Kohl, Murray, Reid, and Feinstein.
                                                             Page S7504
  Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Senate agreed to S. 
Res. 528, designating the week beginning on September 10, 2006, as 
``National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week''. 
                                                         Pages S7538-39
  National Summer Learning Day: Senate agreed to S. Res. 529, 
designating July 13, 2006, as ``National Summer Learning Day''. 
                                                             Page S7539
  Commending Canada: Senate agreed to S. Con. Res. 109, commending the 
Government of Canada for its renewed commitment to Afghanistan. 
                                                         Pages S7539-40
  Improving Outcomes for Children Affected by Meth Act: Senate passed 
S. 3525, to amend subpart 2 of part B of title IV of the Social 
Security Act to improve outcomes for children in families affected by 
methamphetamine abuse and addiction, to reauthorize the promoting safe 
and stable families program, after agreeing to the following amendment 
proposed thereto:
  Pages S7540-43
  Frist (for Grassley/Baucus) Amendment No. 4675, to make certain 
revisions to the bill.
                                                          Page S7540-43
Public Health Service Act Amendment--House Message: Senate concurred in 
the amendment of the House of Representatives to S. 655, to amend the 
Public Health Service Act with respect to the National Foundation for 
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, clearing the measure 
for the President.
  Page S7531
Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act--House 
Message: Senate disagreed to the House amendments to S. 250, to amend 
the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998 to 
improve the Act, agreed to the House request for a conference, and the 
Chair was authorized to appoint the following conferees on the part of 
the Senate: Senators Enzi, Gregg, Frist, Alexander, Burr, Isakson, 
DeWine, Ensign, Hatch, Sessions, Roberts, Kennedy, Dodd, Harkin, 
Mikulski, Jeffords, Bingaman, Murray, Reed, and Clinton. 
                                                         Pages S7531-38
Stem Cell Research Legislation--Agreement: A unanimous-consent-time 
agreement was reached providing that at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, July 17, 
2006, Senate begin consideration of S. 3504, to amend the Public Health 
Service Act to prohibit the solicitation or acceptance of tissue from 
fetuses gestated for research purposes, S. 2754, to derive human 
pluripotent stem cell lines using techniques that do not knowingly harm 
embryos, and H.R. 810, to amend the Public Health Service Act to 
provide for human embryonic stem cell research; that the time until 
8:30 p.m. rotate every half hour between the majority and minority; 
provided further, that on Tuesday, July 18, 2006, Senate continue 
consideration of the bills at 10 a.m. until 3:45 p.m., when the Senate 
will proceed to three consecutive votes as provided under the order of 
June 29, 2006.
  Page S7531
Nominations Received: Senate received the following nominations:
  Christopher A. Padilla, of the District of Columbia, to be an 
Assistant Secretary of Commerce.
  Calvin L. Scovel, of Virginia, to be Inspector General, Department of 
Transportation.
  Richard W. Graber, of Wisconsin, to be Ambassador to the Czech 
Republic.
  Cindy Lou Courville, of Virginia, to be Representative of the United 
States of America to the African Union, with the rank of Ambassador.
  Sara Elizabeth Lioi, of Ohio, to be United States District Judge for 
the Northern District of Ohio.
  Nora Barry Fischer, of Pennsylvania, to be United States District 
Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
                                                         Pages S7543-44
Messages From the House:
  Page S7509
Measures Referred:
  Page S7509
Measures Placed on Calendar:
  Page S7509
Executive Communications:
  Pages S7509-11
Executive Reports of Committees:
  Page S7511

[[Page D769]]

Additional Cosponsors:
  Pages S7512-13
Statements on Introduced Bills/Resolutions:
  Pages S7513-25
Additional Statements:
  Pages S7507-09
Amendments Submitted:
  Pages S7525-30
Notices of Hearings/Meetings:
  Page S7530
Authorities for Committees to Meet:
  Pages S7530-31
Privileges of the Floor:
  Page S7531
Record Votes: Seven record votes were taken today. (Total--203) 
                      Pages S7462, S7486, S7487, S7487-88, S7497, S7504
Adjournment: Senate convened at 9 a.m., and adjourned at 7:51 p.m., 
until 9:45 a.m., on Friday, July 14, 2006. (For Senate's program, see 
the remarks of the Acting Majority Leader in today's Record on page 
S7543.)