[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 51 (Friday, March 23, 2007)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D391-D395]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                             Friday, March 23, 2007

[[Page D391]]

                              Daily Digest

HIGHLIGHTS

      Senate agreed to S. Con. Res. 21, Congressional Budget 
      Resolution.
      The House passed H.R. 1591, making emergency supplemental 
      appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2007.


                                 Senate


Chamber Action
Routine Proceedings, pages S3659-S3725
Measures Introduced: Eight bills and three resolutions were introduced, 
as follows: S. 975-982, S. Res. 121-122, and S. Con. Res. 24. 
                                                             Page S3706
Measures Passed:
  Congressional Budget Resolution: By 52 yeas and 47 nays (Vote No. 
114), Senate agreed to S. Con. Res. 21, setting forth the congressional 
budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2008 and 
including the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2007 and 
2009 through 2012, after taking action on the following amendments 
proposed thereto:
  Pages S3659-S3702
Adopted:
  Gregg Amendment No. 622, point of order against using reconciliation 
to create new mandatory programs and 20% limitation on spending 
reconciliation.
Page S3662
  Pryor/Nelson (FL) Amendment No. 601, to establish a reserve fund to 
provide additional training for physicians and attract more physicians 
in States that face a shortage of physicians in training.
Page S3663
  Brownback Amendment No. 581, to provide funds for a Commission on 
Budgetary Accountability and Review of Federal Agencies.
Page S3663
  Conrad Amendment No. 623, to clarify the treatment of certain 
provisions in conference reports.
Pages S3663-64
  Bunning Amendment No. 621, to provide for a deficit-neutral reserve 
fund for a repeal of the 1993 increase in the income tax on Social 
Security Benefits.
Page S3665
  Dole Amendment No. 553, to extend financial relief for our reservists 
and national guard deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq by allowing them to 
make penalty-free withdrawals of their retirement funds through the 
year 2012.
Page S3665
  Feinstein/Boxer Amendment No. 574, to provide an additional 
$543,000,000 for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program. 
                                                             Page S3666
  By 59 yeas and 40 nays (Vote No. 105), Smith Modified Amendment No. 
510, to provide for the consideration of an increase in the tobacco 
products user fee rate, but only to the extent that such rate increase 
does not result in an increase of more than 61 cents per pack of 
cigarettes, with all revenue generated by such increase dedicated to 
the reauthorization and expansion of the State Children's Health 
Insurance Program.
Pages S3672-73
  Conrad (for Lieberman/Collins) Amendment No. 519, to increase funding 
for vital first responder homeland security programs, including 
$400,000,000 to establish a dedicated interoperability grant program 
and $331,000,000 for Emergency Management Performance Grants. 
                                                             Page S3673
  Conrad (for Burr) Amendment No. 499, to develop biodefense medical 
countermeasures by fully funding the Biomedical Advanced Research and 
Development Authority (BARDA) in a fiscally responsible manner. 
                                                             Page S3673
  Conrad (for Biden) Amendment No. 528, to increase funding by $100 
million for the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) programs administered 
by the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human 
Services, with an offset of an unallocated reduction to non-defense 
discretionary spending and/or reduction to administrative expenses. 
                                                             Page S3673
  Conrad (for Thune) Amendment No. 546, to provide for a total of 
$99,000,000 in COPS Hot Spots funding, as authorized in the Combat Meth 
Act.
Page S3673

[[Page D392]]


  Conrad (for Kennedy) Amendment No. 602, increase funding for drug 
safety oversight at the Food and Drug Administration by $40,000,000 in 
fiscal year 2008.
Page S3673
  Conrad (for Chambliss) Amendment No. 619, to provide Edward Byrne 
Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program funding, as authorized in the 
Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 
2005.
Page S3673
  Conrad (for Reid/Sanders) Modified Amendment No. 490, to provide 
funding to eliminate the offset between military retirement pay and 
disability compensation for America's veterans.
Pages S3673, S3678
  Conrad (for Kerry/Snowe) Amendment No. 616, to increase funding for 
small business programs at the Small Business Administration such as 
microloans, Women's Business Centers, and Small Business Development 
Centers.
Pages S3673, S3675-77
  Conrad (for Warner) Amendment No. 620, to provide funding for NASA 
aeronautics at the fiscal year 2007 levels.
  Conrad (for Kerry/Rockefeller) Amendment No. 615, to include in the 
veterans' reserve fund services for low-vision and blinded veterans. 
                                                             Page S3674
  Conrad (for Graham) Amendment No. 614, to increase the budgetary 
totals for the Department of Commerce to provide additional trade 
enforcement capability and to provide an offset.
Pages S3674-75
  Specter Modified Amendment No. 613, to create a deficit-neutral 
reserve for asbestos reform legislation.
Pages S3677-79
  Gregg (for Thune) Amendment No. 465, to provide for a budget point of 
order against legislation that increases income tax rates on small 
businesses, family farms, or family ranches.
Page S3679
  By 65 yeas and 33 nays (Vote No. 110), Biden Amendment No. 529, to 
increase funding for the COPS Program to $1.15 billion for FY 2008 to 
provide state and local law enforcement with critical resources 
necessary to prevent and respond to violent crime and acts of terrorism 
and is offset by an unallocated reduction to non-defense discretionary 
spending and/or reduction to administrative expenses.
Pages S3682-83
  DeMint Amendment No. 530, to save Social Security first, not 
discretionary spending.
Page S3683
  DeMint Amendment No. 534, to prevent the adding of earmarks for 
spinach producers to an emergency war supplemental appropriations bill.
                                                             Page S3683
  Coleman Amendment No. 522, to extend a provision allowing veterans to 
qualify for low interest mortgage programs.
Page S3685
  Conrad (for Gregg/Conrad) Amendment No. 638, to create a point of 
order against increasing mandatory spending in appropriation bills. 
                                                         Pages S3686-87
  Conrad (for Smith) Amendment No. 518, to fund the State Department, 
USAID, and other foreign affairs agencies and their programs at the 
level requested by the President.
Pages S3687-98
  Conrad (for Obama) Amendment No. 599, to add $200 million for 
Function 270 (Energy) for the demonstration and monitoring of carbon 
capture and sequestration technology by the Department of Energy. 
                                                             Page S3698
  Conrad (for Nelson (FL)) Amendment No. 580, to make funds available 
to ensure that Survivor Benefit Plan annuities are not reduced by the 
amount of veterans' dependency and indemnity compensation received by 
military families.
Page S3698
  Conrad (for Levin) Amendment No. 632, to provide for a deficit-
neutral reserve fund for manufacturing initiatives.
Page S3698
  Conrad (for Casey) Amendment No. 617, to establish a deficit-neutral 
reserve fund for extending preschool opportunities to children. 
                                                         Pages S3698-99
  Conrad (for Carper/Coburn) Amendment No. 540, to reduce the deficit 
through the use of recovery audits.
Pages S3698, S3699
  Conrad (for Pryor) Modified Amendment No. 611, to increase the 
budgeting totals for the National Nanotechnology Initiative for 
environmental, health, and safety research and development for fiscal 
years 2008 through 2012.
Pages S3698, S3699
  Conrad (for Dorgan) Amendment No. 544, to provide for the use of the 
deficit-neutral reserve fund for tax relief for enhancing charitable 
giving from individual retirement accounts.
Pages S3698, S3699
  Conrad (for Obama) Amendment No. 524, to provide $100 million for the 
Summer Term Education Program supporting summer learning opportunities 
for low-income students in the early grades to lessen summer learning 
losses that contribute to the achievement gaps separating low-income 
students from their middle-class peers.
Pages S3698, S3699
  Conrad (for Reed) Amendment No. 596, to increase LIHEAP spending by 
$703 million in FY2008 for a total LIHEAP level of $3.2 billion, 
divided between the regular and contingency grant funds at FY2006 
levels.
Pages S3698, S3699, S3701
  Conrad (for Bingaman) Amendment No. 600, to establish a deficit-
neutral reserve fund to provide for a delay in the implementation of a 
proposed rule relating to the Federal-State financial partnerships 
under Medicaid and SCHIP.
Pages S3698, S3699
  Conrad (for Webb) Amendment No. 537, to include in the veterans' 
reserve fund a provision for GI educational benefits. 
                                                     Pages S3698, S3699
  Conrad (for Pryor/Klobuchar) Amendment No. 627, to provide additional 
funding for the Consumer Product Safety Commission to enhance its 
mission of

[[Page D393]]

protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or 
death from consumer products.
Pages S3698, S3699
  Conrad (for Baucus) Amendment No. 639, to establish a reserve fund to 
improve the health care system.
Pages S3698, S3699-S3700
  Conrad (for Dorgan/Snowe) Amendment No. 589, to establish a reserve 
fund for the safe importation of FDA-approved prescription drugs. 
                                                     Pages S3698, S3700
  Conrad (for Voinovich) Modified Amendment No. 470, to require 
disclosure of the interest costs of legislation.
Pages S3698, S3700
  Conrad (for Coleman) Amendment No. 572, to increase funds for the 
implementation of the forest management plans developed for the States 
of Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin, with an offset. 
                                                     Pages S3698, S3700
  Conrad (for Murkowski/Stevens) Modified Amendment No. 551, to 
increase funding for geothermal, ocean (wave, current, tidal) and small 
hydroelectric energy assistance.
Pages S3698, S3700
  Conrad (for Snowe/Rockefeller) Modified Amendment No. 629, to provide 
the use of the deficit-neutral reserve fund for tax relief for 
reauthorizing the new markets tax credit for an additional 5 years. 
                                                     Pages S3698, S3700
  Conrad (for Grassley) Amendment No. 636, to establish a reserve fund 
to improve payment accuracy for hospitals under the Medicare program. 
                                                     Pages S3698, S3700
  Conrad (for Dole) Amendment No. 633, to provide the Secretary of 
Agriculture with the necessary funding to effectively address the 
critical water and waste water needs of rural communities in the United 
States.
Pages S3698, S3700
  Conrad (for Enzi) Amendment No. 635, to provide for a deficit-neutral 
reserve fund to improve health insurance. 
                                           Pages S3698, S3700, S3701-02
  Conrad (for Specter) Amendment No. 506, to increase funding for the 
National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention, and the health professions.
Pages S3698, S3700
  Conrad (for Grassley) Amendment No. 548, to ensure that Medicare 
payments to physicians include incentives to improve the quality and 
efficiency of care furnished to Medicare beneficiaries. 
                                                     Pages S3698, S3700
  Conrad (for Dole) Amendment No. 640 , to provide the Secretary of 
Agriculture with the necessary funding to implement a pilot program 
authorized by the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to study 
the elimination of the reduced-price category for school lunches. 
                                                  Pages S3698, S3700-01
Rejected:
  By 38 yeas and 61 nays (Vote No. 99), DeMint Amendment No. 513, to 
provide for true deficit reduction in appropriations bills. 
                                                         Pages S3664-66
  By 46 yeas and 53 nays (Vote No.100), Sessions/DeMint Amendment No. 
473, to save families from the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) first by 
permitting a deduction for personal exemptions for purposes of 
computing the AMT.
Pages S3666-67
  By 25 yeas and 74 nays (Vote No. 101), Nelson (NE) Amendment No. 626, 
to reform the estate tax to avoid subjecting thousands of families, 
family businesses, and family farms and ranches to the estate tax, and 
to promote continued economic growth and job creation.
Pages S3667-68
  By 48 yeas and 51 nays (Vote No. 102), Kyl/Thune Amendment No. 583, 
to reform the death tax by setting the exemption at $5 million per 
estate, indexed for inflation, and the top death tax rate at no more 
than 35% beginning in 2010, to avoid subjecting an estimated 119,200 
families, family businesses, and family farms to the death tax each and 
every year, to promote continued economic growth and job creation, and 
to make the enhanced teacher deduction permanent.
Pages S3668-69
  By 49 yeas and 50 nays (Vote No. 103), Hatch Amendment No. 508, to 
establish a reserve fund for protecting coverage choices, additional 
benefits, and lower cost-sharing for Medicare beneficiaries. 
                                                         Pages S3670-71
  By 39 yeas and 59 nays (Vote No. 106), Thomas Amendment No. 515, to 
prevent the adding of extraneous earmarks to an emergency war 
supplemental.
Page S3677
  By 46 yeas and 52 nays (Vote No. 107), Graham Amendment No. 478, to 
extend the 35, 33, 28, and 25 percent income tax rate structure and 
protect nearly 28,000,000 families and individuals, including small 
business owners, from having their tax rates increase to 39.6, 36, 31, 
or 28 percent.
Page S3678
  By 44 yeas and 53 nays (Vote No.108), Grassley Amendment No. 471, to 
amend the budget resolution for fiscal year 2008 in order to 
accommodate the full repeal of the Alternative Minimum Tax preventing 
23 million families and individuals from being subject to the AMT in 
2007, and millions of families and individuals in subsequent years. 
                                                         Pages S3679-80
  By 44 yeas and 55 nays (Vote No. 109), DeMint/Kyl Amendment No. 578, 
to repeal the death tax.
Pages S3681-82
  By 44 yeas and 55 nays (Vote No. 111), Bunning Modified Amendment No. 
594, to provide a deficit-neutral reserve fund for protecting State 
flexibility in Medicaid.
Pages S3683-84

[[Page D394]]


  By 44 yeas and 55 nays (Vote No. 112), Chambliss/Isakson Amendment 
No. 536, to provide a deficit-neutral reserve fund for the 
reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program 
(SCHIP) that eliminates enhanced Federal matching payments for coverage 
of nonpregnant adults and permits States to offer supplemental dental 
and mental health benefits for children enrolled in SCHIP. 
                                                         Pages S3684-85
  By 49 yeas and 50 nays (Vote No. 113), Lott Amendment No. 606, to 
repeal section 13202 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 
by restoring the Alternative Minimum Tax rates that had been in effect 
prior thereto.
Pages S3685-86
Withdrawn:
  Bingaman Amendment No. 587, to prohibit the scoring of any amount 
realized from the sale or lease of land or interests in land that are 
part of the National Park System, the National Forest System, or the 
National Wildlife Refuge System.
Pages S3680-81
  DeMint Amendment No. 576, to prevent the adding of earmarks for 
farmland damaged by freezing temperatures to an emergency war 
supplemental appropriations bill.
  During consideration of this measure today, the Senate also took the 
following action:
  By 39 yeas to 60 nays (Vote No. 104), three-fifths of those Senators 
duly chosen and sworn, not having voted in the affirmative, Senate 
rejected the motion to waive pursuant to section 904 of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974, with respect to Allard/Gregg 
Amendment No. 521, to improve the economy, efficiency, and 
effectiveness of Federal programs and reduce the Federal debt by 
eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse. Subsequently, the point of order 
that the amendment was in violation of section 305(b)(2) of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974, was sustained, and the amendment thus 
fell.
Pages S3671-72
  Honoring George C. Springer, Sr.: Senate agreed to S. Res. 47, 
honoring the life and achievements of George C. Springer, Sr., the 
Northeast regional director and a former vice president of the American 
Federation of Teachers.
  Pages S3722-23
  50th Anniversary of Alaska's Statehood: Senate agreed to S. Res. 49, 
recognizing and celebrating the 50th anniversary of the entry of Alaska 
into the Union as the 49th State.
  Page S3723
  National Autism Awareness Month: Senate agreed to S. Res. 78, 
designating April 2007 as ``National Autism Awareness Month'' and 
supporting efforts to increase funding for research into the causes and 
treatment of autism and to improve training and support for individuals 
with autism and those who care for individuals with autism. 
                                                             Page S3723
  Abolition of British Slave Trade Anniversary: Senate agreed to S. 
Res. 84, observing February 23, 2007, as the 200th anniversary of the 
abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire, honoring the 
distinguished life and legacy of William Wilberforce, and encouraging 
the people of the United States to follow the example of William 
Wilberforce by selflessly pursuing respect for human rights around the 
world.
  Pages S3723-24
  NAACP 98th Anniversary: Senate agreed to H. Con. Res. 44, honoring 
and praising the National Association for the Advancement of Colored 
People on the occasion of its 98th anniversary.
  Page S3724
  Senate Legal Counsel: Senate agreed to S. Res. 121, to direct the 
Senate Legal Counsel to appear as amicus curiae in the name of the 
Senate in support of the appellee in Office of Senator Mark Dayton v. 
Brad Hanson.
  Page S3724
  Vietnam Veterans Memorial 25th Anniversary: Senate agreed to S. Res. 
122, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the construction and 
dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
  Pages S3724-25
Emergency Supplemental Appropriations--Agreement: A unanimous-consent 
agreement was reached providing that at 3 p.m., on Monday, March 26, 
2007, Senate begin consideration of H.R. 1591, making emergency 
supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 
2007.
  Page S3725
Appointments:
  United States Capitol Preservation Commission: The Chair, on behalf 
of the President pro tempore, pursuant to Public Law 100-696, appointed 
the following Senators as members of the United States Capitol 
Preservation Commission: Senators Durbin and Landrieu.
  Page S3722
  United States Capitol Preservation Commission: The Chair, on behalf 
of the Republican Leader, pursuant to Public Law 100-696, announced the 
appointment of Senator Allard as a member of the United States Capitol 
Preservation Commission.
  Page S3722
Messages From the House:
  Page S3705
Measures Referred:
  Page S3705
Measures Placed on the Calendar:
  Page S3705
Measures Read the First Time:
  Page S3705
Petitions and Memorials:
  Pages S3705-06
Executive Communications:
  Page S3705

[[Page D395]]

Additional Cosponsors:
  Pages S3706-08
Statements on Introduced Bills/Resolutions:
  Pages S3708-18
Additional Statements:
  Pages S3704-05
Amendments Submitted:
  Pages S3719-22
Notices of Hearings/Meetings:
  Page S3722
Record Votes: Sixteen record votes were taken today. (Total--114) 
   Pages S3664-65, S3667, S3668, S3669, S3671, S3672, S3672-73, S3677, 
              S3678, S3680, S3682, S3682-83, S3684, S3685, S3686, S3702
Adjournment: Senate convened at 9 a.m., and adjourned at 4:25 p.m., 
until 2:30 p.m. on Monday, March 26, 2007. (For Senate's program, see 
the remarks of the Majority Leader in today's Record on page S3725.)