[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 39 (Wednesday, March 7, 2007)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D275-D278]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                           Wednesday, March 7, 2007

[[Page D275]]

                              Daily Digest


                                 Senate


Chamber Action
Routine Proceedings, pages S2743-S2852
Measures Introduced: Twenty bills and two resolutions were introduced, 
as follows: S. 787-806, and S. Res. 99-100.
  Pages S2795-96
Measures Passed:
  National Safe Place Week: Senate agreed to S. Res. 100, designating 
the week beginning March 12, 2007, as ``National Safe Place Week''. 
                                                         Pages S2849-50
  Improving America's Security by Implementing Unfinished 
Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act: Senate continued 
consideration of S. 4, to make the United States more secure by 
implementing unfinished recommendations of the 9/11 Commission to fight 
the war on terror more effectively, to improve homeland security, 
withdrawing the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute, 
taking action on the following amendments proposed thereto: 
                                                         Pages S2744-88
Adopted:
  By 51 yeas to 48 nays (Vote No. 64), McCaskill Modified Amendment No. 
316 (to Amendment No. 275), to provide appeal rights and employee 
engagement mechanisms for passenger and property screeners. 
                                     Pages S2744-45, S2746-49, S2757-59
Rejected:
  By 47 yeas to 52 nays (Vote No. 65), Collins Amendment No. 342 (to 
Amendment No. 275), to provide certain employment rights and an 
employee engagement mechanism for passenger and property screeners. 
                                                  Pages S2745, S2757-60
  Coburn Amendment No. 345 (to Amendment No. 275), to authorize funding 
for the Emergency Communications and Interoperability Grants program, 
to require the Secretary to examine the possibility of allowing 
commercial entities to develop public safety communications networks. 
(By 71 yeas to 25 nays (Vote No. 66), Senate tabled the amendment). 
                                           Pages S2744, S2779-83, S2786
Withdrawn:
  Lieberman Amendment No. 315 (to Amendment No. 275), to provide appeal 
rights and employee engagement mechanisms for passenger and property 
screeners.
Page S2744
Pending:
  Reid Amendment No. 275, in the nature of a substitute.
Page S2744
  Sununu Amendment No. 291 (to Amendment No. 275), to ensure that the 
emergency communications and interoperability communications grant 
program does not exclude Internet Protocol-based interoperable 
solutions.
Page S2744
  Salazar/Lieberman Modified Amendment No. 290 (to Amendment No. 275), 
to require a quadrennial homeland security review.
Page S2744
  Dorgan/Conrad Amendment No. 313 (to Amendment No. 275), to require a 
report to Congress on the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, 
and the leadership of al Qaeda.
Page S2744
  Landrieu Amendment No. 321 (to Amendment No. 275), to require the 
Secretary of Homeland Security to include levees in the list of 
critical infrastructure sectors.
Page S2744
  Landrieu Amendment No. 296 (to Amendment No. 275), to permit the 
cancellation of certain loans under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.
Page S2744
  Landrieu Modified Amendment No. 295 (to Amendment No. 275), to 
provide adequate funding for local governments harmed by Hurricane 
Katrina of 2005 or Hurricane Rita of 2005. 
                                           Pages S2744, S2783-84, S2785
  Allard Amendment No. 272 (to Amendment No. 275), to prevent the 
fraudulent use of social security account numbers by allowing the 
sharing of social security data among agencies of the United States for 
identity theft prevention and immigration enforcement purposes. 
                                                  Pages S2744, S2763-64
  McConnell (for Sessions) Amendment No. 305 (to Amendment No. 275), to 
clarify the voluntary inherent authority of States to assist in the 
enforcement of the immigration laws of the United States and to require 
the Secretary of Homeland Security to provide information related to 
aliens found to have violated certain immigration laws to the National 
Crime Information Center.
Page S2744
  McConnell (for Cornyn) Amendment No. 310 (to Amendment No. 275), to 
strengthen the Federal Government's ability to detain dangerous 
criminal

[[Page D276]]

aliens, including murderers, rapists, and child molesters, until they 
can be removed from the United States.
Page S2744
  McConnell (for Cornyn) Amendment No. 311 (to Amendment No. 275), to 
provide for immigration injunction reform.
Page S2744
  McConnell (for Cornyn) Modified Amendment No. 312 (to Amendment No. 
275), to prohibit the recruitment of persons to participate in 
terrorism, to clarify that the revocation of an alien's visa or other 
documentation is not subject to judicial review, to strengthen the 
Federal Government's ability to detain dangerous criminal aliens, 
including murderers, rapists, and child molesters, until they can be 
removed from the United States, to prohibit the rewarding of suicide 
bombings and allow adequate punishments for terrorist murders, 
kidnappings, and sexual assaults.
Pages S2744, S2774-79
  McConnell (for Kyl) Modified Amendment No. 317 (to Amendment No. 
275), to prohibit the rewarding of suicide bombings and allow adequate 
punishments for terrorist murders, kidnappings, and sexual assaults. 
                                                             Page S2744
  McConnell (for Kyl) Amendment No. 318 (to Amendment No. 275), to 
protect classified information.
Page S2744
  McConnell (for Kyl) Amendment No. 319 (to Amendment No. 275), to 
provide for relief from (a)(3)(B) immigration bars from the Hmong and 
other groups who do not pose a threat to the United States, to 
designate the Taliban as a terrorist organization for immigration 
purposes.
Page S2744
  McConnell (for Kyl) Amendment No. 320 (to Amendment No. 275), to 
improve the Classified Information Procedures Act.
Page S2744
  McConnell (for Grassley) Amendment No. 300 (to Amendment No. 275), to 
clarify the revocation of an alien's visa or other documentation is not 
subject to judicial review.
Page S2744
  McConnell (for Grassley) Amendment No. 309 (to Amendment No. 275), to 
improve the prohibitions on money laundering.
Page S2744
  Thune Amendment No. 308 (to Amendment No. 275), to expand and improve 
the Proliferation Security Initiative while protecting the national 
security interests of the United States.
Page S2744
  Cardin Amendment No. 326 (to Amendment No. 275), to provide for a 
study of modification of area of jurisdiction of Office of National 
Capital Region Coordination.
Page S2744
  Cardin Amendment No. 327 (to Amendment No. 275), to reform mutual aid 
agreements for the National Capital Region.
Page S2744
  Cardin Modified Amendment No. 328 (to Amendment No. 275), to require 
Amtrak contracts and leases involving the State of Maryland to be 
governed by the laws of the District of Columbia.
Page S2744
  Schumer/Clinton Amendment No. 336 (to Amendment No. 275), to prohibit 
the use of the peer review process in determining the allocation of 
funds among metropolitan areas applying for grants under the Urban Area 
Security Initiative.
Page S2744
  Schumer/Clinton Amendment No. 337 (to Amendment No. 275), to provide 
for the use of funds in any grant under the Homeland Security Grant 
Program for personnel costs.
Page S2744
  Coburn Amendment No. 325 (to Amendment No. 275), to ensure the fiscal 
integrity of grants awarded by the Department of Homeland Security. 
                                                             Page S2744
  Sessions Amendment No. 347 (to Amendment No. 275), to express the 
sense of the Congress regarding the funding of Senate approved 
construction of fencing and vehicle barriers along the southwest border 
of the United States.
Page S2744
  Coburn Amendment No. 301 (to Amendment No. 275), to prohibit grant 
recipients under grant programs administered by the Department from 
expending funds until the Secretary has reported to Congress that risk 
assessments of all programs and activities have been performed and 
completed, improper payments have been estimated, and corrective action 
plans have been developed and reported as required under the Improper 
Payments Act of 2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note).
Page S2744
  Coburn Amendment No. 294 (to Amendment No. 275), to provide that the 
provisions of the Act shall cease to have any force or effect on and 
after December 31, 2012, to ensure congressional review and oversight 
of the Act.
Page S2744
  Lieberman (for Menendez) Amendment No. 354 (to Amendment No. 275), to 
improve the security of cargo containers destined for the United 
States.
Page S2744
  Specter Amendment No. 286 (to Amendment No. 275), to restore habeas 
corpus for those detained by the United States. 
                                        Pages S2744, S2749-54, S2766-74
  Kyl Modified Amendment No. 357 (to Amendment No. 275), to amend the 
data-mining technology reporting requirement to avoid revealing 
existing patents, trade secrets, and confidential business processes, 
and to adopt a narrower definition of data-mining in order to exclude 
routine computer searches.
Page S2744
  Ensign Amendment No. 363 (to Amendment No. 275), to establish a Law 
Enforcement Assistance Force in the Department of Homeland Security to 
facilitate the contributions of retired law enforcement officers during 
major disasters.
Page S2744

[[Page D277]]

  Biden Amendment No. 383 (to Amendment No. 275), to require the 
Secretary of Homeland Security to develop regulations regarding the 
transportation of high hazard materials.
Pages S2754-55
  Biden Amendment No. 384 (to Amendment No. 275), to establish a 
Homeland Security and Neighborhood Safety Trust Fund and refocus 
Federal priorities toward securing the Homeland.
Pages S2755-57
  Bunning Amendment No. 334 (to Amendment No. 275), to amend title 49, 
United States Code, to modify the authorities relating to Federal 
flight deck officers.
Pages S2761-62
  Schumer Modified Amendment No. 367 (to Amendment No. 275), to require 
the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration to 
establish and implement a program to provide additional safety measures 
for vehicles that carry high hazardous materials.
Page S2762
  Schumer Amendment No. 366 (to Amendment No. 275), to restrict the 
authority of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to issue a license 
authorizing the export to a recipient country of highly enriched 
uranium for medical isotope production.
Pages S2762-63
  Wyden Amendment No. 348 (to Amendment No. 275), to require that a 
redacted version of the Executive Summary of the Office of Inspector 
General Report on Central Intelligence Agency Accountability Regarding 
Findings and Conclusions of the Joint Inquiry into Intelligence 
Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of 
September 11, 2001 is made available to the public.
Pages S2764-66
  Bond/Rockefeller Amendment No. 389 (to Amendment No. 275), to provide 
the sense of the Senate that the Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the 
Senate should submit a report on the recommendations of the 9/11 
Commission with respect to intelligence reform and congressional 
intelligence oversight reform.
Pages S2765-66
  Stevens Amendment No. 299 (to Amendment No. 275), to authorize NTIA 
to borrow against anticipated receipts of the Digital Television 
Transition and Public Safety Fund to initiate migration to a national 
IP-enabled emergency network capable of receiving and responding to all 
citizen activated emergency communications.
Pages S2784-85
  A motion was entered to close further debate on McConnell (for 
Cornyn) Modified Amendment No. 312 (to Amendment No. 275) (listed 
above), and, in accordance with the provisions of Rule XXII of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, a vote on cloture will occur on Friday, 
March 9, 2007.
Page S2777
  A unanimous-consent request was granted permitting Senator Coburn to 
change his yea vote to a nay vote on Vote No. 62 changing the outcome 
of the vote to 58 yeas to 41 nays relative to motion to table Obama 
Amendment No. 338 (tabled on March 6, 2007).
Page S2779
  A motion was entered to close further debate on Reid Amendment No. 
275 (listed above), and, in accordance with the provisions of Rule XXII 
of the Standing Rules of the Senate, a vote on cloture will occur on 
Friday, March 9, 2007.
Page S2777
  A motion was entered to close further debate on the bill, and, in 
accordance with the provisions of Rule XXII of the Standing Rules of 
the Senate, a vote on cloture will occur on Friday, March 9, 2007. 
                                                             Page S2777
  A unanimous-consent agreement was reached providing for further 
consideration of the bill at approximately 10:30 a.m., on Thursday, 
March 8, 2007.
Page S2850
Nominations Confirmed: Senate confirmed the following nominations:
  Stanley Davis Phillips, of North Carolina, to be Ambassador to the 
Republic of Estonia.
  William B. Wood, of New York, to be Ambassador to the Islamic 
Republic of Afghanistan.
Pages S2849, S2852
Nominations Received: Senate received the following nominations:
  Joseph Timothy Kelliher, of the District of Columbia, to be a Member 
of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the term expiring June 
30, 2012.
  Kerri Layne Briggs, of Virginia, to be Assistant Secretary for 
Elementary and Secondary Education, Department of Education.
  Douglas G. Myers, of California, to be a Member of the National 
Museum and Library Services Board for a term expiring December 6, 2011.
  Jeffrey Patchen, of Indiana, to be a Member of the National Museum 
and Library Services Board for a term expiring December 6, 2011.
  Lotsee Patterson, of Oklahoma, to be a Member of the National Museum 
and Library Services Board for a term expiring December 6, 2011.
  A routine list in the Foreign Service.
Pages S2851-52
Messages from the House:
  Page S2794
Messages Referred: 
  Page S2794
Executive Communications:
  Pages S2794-95
Additional Cosponsors:
  Pages S2796-97
Statements on Introduced Bills/Resolutions:
  Pages S2797-S2824
Additional Statements:
  Pages S2793-94
Amendments Submitted:
  Pages S2824-48

[[Page D278]]

Authorities for Committees to Meet:
  Pages S2848-49
Record Votes: Three record votes were taken today. (Total--66) 
                                              Pages S2759, S2760, S2786
Adjournment: Senate convened at 9:30 a.m., and adjourned at 7:43 p.m., 
until 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 8, 2007. (For Senate's program, see 
the remarks of the Majority Leader in today's Record on pages S2850-
51.)