[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 195 (Wednesday, December 19, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S15992]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     COURT SECURITY IMPROVEMENT ACT

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, earlier this week, the Senate passed a 
compromise version of the Court Security Improvement Act of 2007. It 
took several months to negotiate the minor differences between the 
House and the Senate bills, simply because we were not allowed to go to 
conference. Then we had to work for over a month to remove a hold 
placed on the legislation. When it finally passed the Senate on Monday 
night, we expected that the House of Representatives would pass it 
without delay. Unfortunately, one of the compromise provisions 
triggered a problem that would have prevented passage in the House.
  We corrected that problem late last night with an enrolling 
resolution that strikes the provision of section 502 that caused a 
budgetary problem. Fortunately, we were able to maintain the important 
provision of life insurance benefits for our dedicated magistrate 
judges.
  I appreciate the work of Senators Specter and Kyl to make sure that 
we were able to pass this resolution late last night and I look forward 
to the House of Representatives passing both the resolution and the 
Court Security Improvement Act without further delay.
  I urge the President to sign this vital legislation, introduced 11 
months ago, without delay so that we can protect the dedicated judges, 
and other personnel who serve as part of our Nation's justice system. 
The security of our Federal judges and our courthouses around the 
Nation is at stake.

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