[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 194 (Tuesday, December 18, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15830-S15834]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Chair lay 
before the Senate the message from the House on H.R. 2764.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Chair lays 
before the Senate a message from the House.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       Resolved, That the House agree to the amendment of the 
     Senate to the bill (H.R. 2764) entitled ``An Act making 
     appropriations for the Department of State, foreign 
     operations, and related programs for the fiscal year ending 
     September 30, 2008, and for other purposes,'' with 
     amendments.


                             Cloture Motion

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move to concur in the amendments of the 
House. I have a cloture motion.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The cloture motion, having been presented 
under rule XXII, the Chair directs the clerk to read the motion.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

                             Cloture Motion

       We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to 
     concur in the House amendments to

[[Page S15831]]

     H.R. 2764, State, Foreign Operations Appropriations, 2008.
         Harry Reid, Jeff Bingaman, Barbara A. Mikulski, Byron L. 
           Dorgan, Daniel K. Inouye, Patrick Leahy, Max Baucus, 
           Mark Pryor, Debbie Stabenow, Kent Conrad, Patty Murray, 
           Bill Nelson, Jack Reed, Ken Salazar, Blanche L. 
           Lincoln, Tom Carper, Herb Kohl, Ben Nelson, Dick 
           Durbin.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the manager of this bill is going to be the 
chair of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee. Senator Byrd has 
designated Senator Leahy to manage this bill. During the hour that is 
prior to this cloture vote, we have a few people who want to speak; 
maybe not all the time will be used. I hope during the evening people 
will be considerate of talking when they have to. These issues are 
fairly well pronounced now. We know what they are. We have a domestic 
spending bill that has been worked out through the House and the 
Senate, Democrats and Republicans. We have the White House which has 
been involved in that. That part should be fairly easy. It may not be 
everything we want, it may be more than what some want, but it should 
not take a lot of time.
  We have three amendments relating to the debate on the war funding. 
One is the McConnell amendment which will try to increase war funding 
up to $70 billion out of the $196 billion the President has asked for. 
We also are going to have an amendment offered by Senator Feingold that 
will deal with a matter we brought before the Senate on other occasions 
which calls for our troops to be back by the middle of May of this next 
year, leaving troops to take care of counterterrorism, force 
protection, and training the Iraqis to a limited extent. Then we have 
an amendment which will be offered by Senators Levin and Reed that will 
call for additional funding for Iraq, but in addition to that, it will 
have some accountability that is now not in existence.
  Mr. President, as the majority leader, I designate Senator Leahy as 
the controller of our time during the debate on this matter.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will be 1 hour 
for debate equally divided between the two leaders or their designees 
prior to the vote on the motion to invoke cloture.
  The Senator from Vermont is recognized.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I will hopefully not even need the full 
hour, and we will be able to go ahead and have the cloture vote. I 
believe Senator Gregg is going to be managing on the Republican side 
once he gets here. Hopefully, it will be possible to just yield back 
all of our time before the end of the hour and go to a vote. I will 
yield in just about 3 minutes to Senator Murray from Washington State 
for 10 minutes.
  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, will the Senator consider yielding to me 
for no more than 5 minutes on a separate issue before we get heavily 
into the debate?
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, the time has been equally divided, and I 
ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Idaho, when recognized, be 
able to take 5 minutes from the time set aside on the Republican side.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am pleased that the Congress will send 
the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act--the 
``OPEN Government Act--S. 2488, to the President for signature before 
the end of this year. With House passage of this bill today, and the 
Senate's passage of it last Friday, this historic, bipartisan, 
bicameral legislation becomes the first major reform to the Freedom of 
Information Act, FOIA, in more than a decade. The American people will 
have a new law honoring the public's right to know under the tree this 
holiday season.
  I commend House Government Reform and Oversight Committee Chairman 
Henry Waxman for moving quickly to enact this bill, and for his 
leadership of the successful effort to pass FOIA reform legislation in 
the House of Representatives. I thank him and his staff, including Anna 
Latin, Michelle Ash and Phil Schiliro, for all of their hard work on 
this legislation. I also commend Representative William ``Lacy'' Clay, 
Jr., for sponsoring this legislation in the House.
  I also thank the members of my staff who worked on this bill--Lydia 
Griggsby, Lauren Brackett, Erica Chabot, Bruce Cohen and Leila George-
Wheeler--for all of their hard work on this bill.
  I also commend the bill's chief Republican cosponsor in the Senate, 
Senator John Cornyn, for his commitment and dedication to passing FOIA 
reform legislation this year.
  I am also appreciative of the efforts of Senator Jon Kyl for 
cosponsoring this bill and helping us to reach a compromise on this 
legislation this year. I also thank the more than 115 business, news 
media and public interest organizations that have endorsed this 
legislation.
  As the first major reform to FOIA in more than a decade, the OPEN 
Government Act will help to reverse the troubling trends of excessive 
delays and lax FOIA compliance in our government and help to restore 
the public's trust in their government.
  This legislation will also improve transparency in the Federal 
Government's FOIA process by: restoring meaningful deadlines for agency 
action under FOIA; imposing real consequences on Federal agencies for 
missing FOIA's 20-day statutory deadline; clarifying that FOIA applies 
to government records held by outside private contractors; establishing 
a FOIA hotline service for all Federal agencies; and creating a FOIA 
Ombudsman to provide FOIA requestors and Federal agencies with a 
meaningful alternative to costly litigation.
  The OPEN Government Act will protect the public's right to know, by 
ensuring that anyone who gathers information to inform the public, 
including freelance journalists and bloggers, may seek a fee waiver 
when they request information under FOIA.
  The bill ensures that Federal agencies will not automatically exclude 
Internet blogs and other Web-based forms of media when deciding whether 
to waive FOIA fees. In addition, the bill also clarifies that the 
definition of news media, for purposes of FOIA fee waivers, includes 
free newspapers and individuals performing a media function who do not 
necessarily have a prior history of publication.
  The bill also restores meaningful deadlines for agency action, by 
ensuring that the 20-day statutory clock under FOIA starts when a 
request is received by the appropriate component of the agency and 
requiring that agency FOIA offices get FOIA requests to the appropriate 
agency component within 10 days of the receipt of such requests.
  The bill also clarifies that the Supreme Court's decision in 
Buckhannon Board and Care Home, Inc. v. West Virginia Dep't of Health 
and Human Resources, which eliminated the ``catalyst theory'' for 
attorneys' fees recovery under certain Federal civil rights laws, does 
not apply to FOIA cases.
  Furthermore, to address concerns about the growing costs of FOIA 
litigation, the bill also creates an Office of Government Information 
Services in the National Archives and creates an ombudsman to mediate 
agency-level FOIA disputes.
  In addition, the bill ensures that each Federal agency appoints a 
Chief FOIA Officer to monitor the agency's compliance with FOIA 
requests, and a FOIA Public Liaison who will be available to resolve 
FOIA related disputes. And, the bill creates a better tracking system 
for FOIA requests to assist members of the public and clarifies that 
FOIA applies to agency records that are held by outside private 
contractors, no matter where these records are located.
  Finally, this bill contains a number of key improvements championed 
by Chairman Waxman. The bill includes ``pay/go'' language that will 
ensure that attorneys' fees that are awarded in FOIA litigation are 
paid for with annually appropriated agency funds.
  The bill also eliminates a provision on citations to FOIA (b)(3) 
exemptions contained in the earlier Senate bill. In addition, the bill 
includes a new provision that requires Federal agencies to disclose the 
FOIA exemptions that they rely upon when redacting information from 
documents released under FOIA.
  And the bill adds FOIA duplication fees for non-commercial 
requestors, including the media, to the fee waiver penalty that will be 
imposed when an

[[Page S15832]]

agency fails to meet the 20-day statutory clock under FOIA.
  The enactment of FOIA reform legislation this year is an important 
milestone in the effort to restore openness and transparency to our 
government. By sending this meaningful FOIA reform bill to the 
President this year, the Congress also sends a powerful message to the 
American people that the era of excessive government secrecy has come 
to an end.
  While I am pleased that the reforms contained in the OPEN Government 
Act will ensure that FOIA is reinvigorated for future generations, my 
work to strengthen FOIA will not end with the enactment of this 
legislation.
  There is much more work to be done to ensure that we have a 
government that is open and accountable to all Americans. And I will 
continue to work with Senator Cornyn, Chairman Waxman and others to 
further strengthen this vital open government law.
  I urge the President to promptly sign this open government 
legislation into law at the earliest opportunity.
  So again, I am pleased today that the Congress is going to send the 
Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act--also 
known as the OPEN Government Act--and for those who follow this issue, 
FOIA. They are going to send it to the President before the end of this 
year. With passage of this bill today in the House and the Senate's 
passage of it last Friday, this historic, bipartisan, bicameral 
legislation becomes the first major reform of the Freedom of 
Information Act in more than a decade. The American people are going to 
have a new law honoring the public's right to know, and they will have 
it during this holiday season.
  I commend the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee 
chairman, Henry Waxman, for moving quickly to enact this bill and for 
his leadership. I wish to thank him and his staff, including Anna 
Latin, Michelle Ash, and Phil Schiliro, for all of their hard work on 
the legislation.
  I commend also the chief Republican cosponsors in the Senate, Senator 
John Cornyn and Senator Jon Kyl, for joining me in this effort.
  The reason this legislation is so important is that throughout my 
whole career in the Senate, I have always supported the idea of the 
Freedom of Information Act. We all know no matter who is in the 
administration, whether it is a Democratic or a Republican 
administration, that when they do things they want us to know about, 
the press releases flow. When they make a mistake--and all 
administrations do--they would just as soon we not know about it, 
whether money has been wasted or whether a policy has not been 
followed. The Freedom of Information Act allows the American public--
and after all, the Government serves them--to find out, through 
individual private citizens, and through the press, what is happening 
in their government. It has saved billions of dollars over the years 
because of what they found out, but more importantly, it has kept our 
Government honest. I wrote the Electronic Freedom of Information Act 
which allowed us to use the Internet and electronic files for that 
purpose.
  But this month, the Open Government Act--the first major reform in 
more than a decade--is going to help reverse the troubling trends of 
excessive delays, the lax compliance with FOIA and will help restore 
public trust in our Government. It will improve transparency and 
restore meaningful deadlines for agency action under FOIA. It will also 
impose real consequences on Federal agencies who miss the 20-day 
statutory deadline. It will clarify that FOIA applies to Government 
records that are held by outside private contractors. The Open 
Government Act will establish a FOIA hotline service for all Federal 
agencies, and create a FOIA Ombudsman, which will provide a meaningful 
alternative to costly litigation.
  Chairman Waxman wanted pay-go language to ensure that attorney's fees 
that are awarded in FOIA litigation are paid for with annually 
appropriated agency funds, and that has been included in this bill.
  This is an important milestone. The Open Government Act contains 
reforms that ensure FOIA is reinvigorated for future generations. I 
don't intend to give up after this effort, of course. We will continue 
to work with our oversight. We will continue to pursue efforts on FOIA. 
But what we have said is that no matter who is the next President, they 
will have to run a Government that is more open than it has been in the 
past, and all 300 million Americans will have a better chance to know 
what happens in their Government.
  This is a great step forward for the access of a free press, and for 
an honest and open Government in this country.
  Mr. President, I yield such time as the Senator from Washington State 
may need of the time I have. I yield 10 minutes to the Senator from 
Washington State.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, as chairman of the Transportation, 
Housing, and Urban Development Subcommittee, I have mixed feelings as I 
rise to talk about the transportation and housing division of this 
Omnibus appropriations bill.
  This bill is the result of a lot of hard work, and there is a lot to 
be proud of. At the same time, I regret that over the last month, we 
have had to strip some $2.1 billion in resources from it. As all of us 
know, the Omnibus bill before us has a total cost that is slightly 
higher than the levels requested by President Bush, and much of the 
press coverage surrounding this bill has highlighted the fact that we 
have shrunk this bill down to the levels that were requested by the 
President. But when it comes to the transportation and housing division 
of this bill, I wish to make it clear to my colleagues that the budget 
reflected in this bill is not the President's budget. Instead, this 
bill makes great strides in rejecting President Bush's hardest and 
harshest cuts in transportation and housing, and it includes critical 
initiatives that are new that will make important improvements to 
transportation safety.
  I am proud of what this bill accomplishes. It provides funding to 
hire and train new air traffic controllers, and it rejects the 
President's efforts to cut funding to modernize the air traffic control 
system. It responds to our need to address crumbling infrastructure, 
especially our Nation's highway bridges, and it responds to the 
worsening congestion our families experience on our highways and our 
runways.
  This bill rejects the efforts by the administration to slash funding 
that would ease congestion at our airports. It rejects his efforts to 
push Amtrak into bankruptcy and leave millions of Americans stranded on 
the platform. And it rejects his attempt to walk away from the needs of 
millions of Americans who depend on the Federal Government to keep a 
roof over their heads, including our elderly and our disabled.
  Finally, this bill reaches a helping hand to the millions of families 
who are worried at this holiday season about whether they will be able 
to keep their homes in the coming year. Millions of people are facing 
foreclosure on their homes in the coming months as mortgage payments 
are rising out of control. There are communities in this country where 
every third home or even every other home is being abandoned by 
homeowners who cannot make their payments.
  This bill addresses that crisis by targeting almost a quarter of a 
billion dollars to ensure that our families get the counseling they 
need. This kind of housing counseling can make all the difference for 
homeowners who are struggling to make payments and to keep their homes. 
The amount this bill provides for housing counseling is more than 4\1/
2\ times the level that was asked for by President Bush.
  Earlier this year, my very able partner Senator Bond and I held 
numerous hearings on the most important transportation and housing 
challenges that face this Nation. Together we negotiated every line of 
a very complicated spending bill with each other and then with our 
colleagues in the House. We were able to put together an appropriations 
bill that was reported, in fact, unanimously by our committee and 
passed the Senate with 88 votes. We then negotiated a conference 
agreement that earned the signature of every single conferee on both 
sides of the aisle on both sides of the Capitol. So we produced a truly 
bicameral, bipartisan bill.
  Unfortunately, even though House Democrats, House Republicans, Senate

[[Page S15833]]

Democrats, and Senate Republicans were agreed on a balanced package 
that did address our transportation and housing needs, the one person 
who did not agree with us was President Bush. Because of that, we are 
blocked from sending our Transportation bipartisan bill to his desk for 
a veto.
  Since that time, we have had a couple of very difficult negotiations 
and, as a result, we have had to strip almost $2.1 billion of funding 
out of our part of the bill. There are real consequences to those 
additional cuts on which the President insisted. Transit riders across 
the country are going to ride in outdated buses because there is not 
enough money to replace them. Construction of new light rail systems in 
some of our most congested cities is going to be slow. Discretionary 
highway programs have been stripped of the dollars that would have been 
available for national competitions.
  Because of the President's demands, we were required to cut matching 
funds that we were sending to the States to support expanded passenger 
rail service. We reduced the initial commitment made by our conferees 
to expand the number of family unification vouchers. That is a 
program that provides the necessary housing assistance so foster 
children and their struggling parents can be reunited in a stable 
household.

  We were required to slow the release of a satellite navigation 
throughout our national aerospace.
  As I said, I have mixed feelings about this bill. We were dealt a 
very difficult hand by the President's budget demands, and in order to 
live within those constraints and move forward, we had to make some 
difficult cuts, and those cuts mean we have had to put off important 
investments in transit, in highways, and in community development, 
among many other areas.
  Still, I appreciate the work of my colleagues to ensure that this 
bill rejects the President's worst transportation and housing cuts. 
Instead, this bill responds to the most critical needs in 
transportation and housing and makes sure our broken bridges and 
highways get repaired, that our crowded airports are safe, Amtrak is 
protected from bankruptcy, and we are protecting our most vulnerable 
citizens from homelessness.
  Finally, I do want to spend a couple minutes on a related subject. In 
the last few days, the Appropriations and Finance Committees were able 
to reach an agreement on the way FAA funding will be made available in 
the future. I am letting my colleagues know, this past fiscal year was 
supposed to be the year Congress finished important legislation to 
reauthorize our Federal aviation programs. That included the core 
authorizations for the operations of the FAA, as well as the agency's 
procurement budget, research budget, and Federal grant program that are 
used to improve and expand our Nation's airports.
  I regret Congress was not able to make more progress on the 
legislation this year, but thankfully this appropriations bill now 
includes a number of important authorities and funding that will keep 
the FAA functioning and keep the airport and airway trust fund solvent.
  This conference agreement extends the current aviation excise taxes 
until the end of February, and it includes provisions to extend the 
existing war insurance risk program, as well as third-party liability 
protections.
  The bill also includes funding that rejects the President's proposed 
cuts to essential air service which guarantees air service to a lot of 
our rural communities, something about which many of us care. And it 
rejects the President's proposed cuts to our effort to modernize the 
air traffic control system and invest in airport infrastructure.
  Congress has not been able to finish the FAA reauthorization process 
in part because of the disagreements among the Senate committees about 
what their role is in overseeing and funding FAA programs. There are 
also disagreements about what type and mix of taxes and fees are 
supposed to be used to fund the FAA. But I am pleased to report that we 
have now successfully worked through one of those disagreements. Over 
the last 2 days, the two committees have come to an understanding about 
how funding for FAA programs will be moving forward.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the exchange of 
letters between the leadership of the two committees.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                      U.S. Senate,


                                  Committee on Appropriations,

                               Washington, DC, September 20, 2007.
     Hon. Max Baucus,
     Chairman, Committee on Finance,
     U.S. Senate, Washington DC.
     Hon. Charles Grassley,
     Ranking Member, Committee on Finance,
     U.S. Senate, Washington DC.
       Dear Chairman Baucus and Ranking Member Grassley: We 
     understand that your Committee will convene this afternoon to 
     mark-up the ``American Infrastructure Investment And 
     Improvement Act.'' We write to express our great concern 
     regarding provisions of your draft legislation that would 
     create a new mandatory funding mechanism for the 
     modernization of the FAA's air traffic control system. 
     According to documents distributed by your Committee, your 
     proposal would exempt certain modernization funds from the 
     annual appropriations process and the oversight of our 
     Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and 
     Urban Development, and Related Agencies. In our view, such an 
     action would be inappropriate and detrimental to the 
     Congress's ability to review and control FAA spending.
       The Committee on Appropriations shares your goal for the 
     modernization of our air traffic control infrastructure with 
     a next-generation system. Indeed, this year, as in past 
     years, our Committee has directed resources to the 
     development of this next generation system beyond the levels 
     sought in the FAA's own budget request. At the same time, 
     however, our Committee has gone to great lengths to highlight 
     and control wasteful programs where the FAA has encountered 
     dramatic cost overruns for systems that are delivering fewer 
     improvements than were originally promised to our Committee 
     and the taxpayer. Unfortunately, such instances are not a 
     rare occurrence at the FAA.
       As is discussed in our Committee report accompanying the 
     Transportation Appropriations Act for 2008, fully 25 percent 
     of the FAA's 37 major procurement projects have encountered 
     schedule delays or substantial cost overruns since their 
     initial contracts were signed. Since 2001, the accumulated 
     schedule delays for these programs now exceed 296 months 
     and the associated costs to the taxpayers have grown by 
     almost $1.7 billion. When you compare the performance of 
     these programs to the FAA's estimates at each program's 
     inception, accumulated delays now approach 400 months and 
     cost growth exceeds $5 billion. Innumerable audits by the 
     DOT Inspector General and Government Accountability Office 
     make clear that, while improvements are being made in the 
     FAA's procurement processes, the agency still has a very 
     long way to go before the Congress and the taxpayer can be 
     assured that funding for a next generation system will be 
     spent wisely.
       Our Committee is committed to providing that funding but is 
     equally committed to overseeing the agency's efforts to 
     ensure that such funding isn't wasted. Given the FAA's 
     record, we do not see any merit in putting any part of the 
     FAA modernization budget on ``automatic pilot'' and 
     substituting our Committee's oversight role with that of an 
     un-elected ``Modernization Board'' that is not answerable to 
     the taxpayers that are bearing the agency's costs. We believe 
     that efforts to exempt any part of the FAA's funding from 
     annual Appropriations Committee oversight is particularly 
     unwise and potentially wasteful. We strongly oppose such 
     efforts and ask that you revise these provisions before the 
     bill is brought before the Full Senate for debate.
       We look forward to working with you this year and in the 
     years ahead to launch a modernized air traffic control system 
     in a manner that is both accountable and affordable.
           Sincerely,
     Robert C. Byrd,
       Chairman.
     Patty Murray,
       Chairman, Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban 
     Development, and Related Agencies.
     Thad Cochran,
       Ranking Member.
     Christopher S. Bond,
       Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and 
     Urban Development, and Related Agencies.
                                  ____

                                             United States Senate,


                                         Committee on Finance,

                                Washington, DC, December 11, 2007.
     Senator Patty Murray,
     Russell Senate Office Building,
     Washington, DC.
     Senator Kit Bond,
     Russell Senate Office Building,
     Washington, DC.
     Senator Thad Cochran,
     Dirksen Senate Building,
     Washington, DC.
     Senator Robert C. Byrd,
     Hart Senate Office Building,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senators Byrd, Cochran, Murray, and Bond: We are in 
     receipt of your letter dated September 20th, 2007, in which 
     you cite

[[Page S15834]]

     your collective concern regarding provisions in the American 
     Infrastructure Investment and Improvement Act that relate to 
     the manner in which tax revenues authorized in the Act are 
     provided to the Federal Aviation Administration for its 
     procurement needs. We all share the same interest in 
     modernizing our air traffic control system as quickly and 
     efficiently as possible.
       We appreciate your concerns regarding the role of un-
     elected entities in developing Federal policy, and we believe 
     strongly that Congress should retain its constitutional 
     authority to raise revenue and appropriate funding.
       In your letter, you voice your concern that our bill, as 
     drafted, might result in the FAA receiving annual mandatory 
     funding outside of your Committee's control. You also voice 
     concern that provisions of our bill could result in an 
     external un-elected board, rather than Congress, having the 
     authority to make Federal funding allocations to specific FAA 
     procurements.
       In order to eliminate any ambiguity regarding these 
     matters, it will be our intention to immediately modify the 
     text of our bill when it either reaches the Senate Floor or 
     is incorporated into any other vehicle so as to ensure that 
     these concerns are addressed. Specifically, the bill will be 
     modified to ensure that no new mandatory funding will be 
     provided to the FAA and that the Committee on Appropriations 
     will continue to retain its current role of determining the 
     final funding level for all programs, projects, and 
     activities within the Federal Aviation Administration through 
     annual and supplemental appropriations acts.
       Our national aviation enterprise faces a great many 
     challenges in the years ahead as air traffic continues to 
     grow faster than available capacity. Our Committee is 
     committed to working as a partner with your Committee to 
     ensure that we establish and maintain the safe and efficient 
     state-of-the-art air traffic control system that the American 
     taxpayers want and deserve.
     Max Baucus.
     Chuck Grassley.

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, the final paragraph of the letter our 
Appropriations Committee received from Chairman Baucus and Ranking 
Member Grassley of the Finance Committee states that they look forward 
to working with our Appropriations Committee as partners in advancing 
the needs of our aviation system.
  As one member of the subcommittee that oversees aviation funding, I 
express my strong interest in working as a partner with both committees 
to come up with a bill that fully addresses the future needs of our 
national aviation system. I hope that important effort will be one of 
the Senate's first priorities when we reconvene next year.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.

                          ____________________