[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 13, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2833-S2834]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Amtrak Train Derailment

  Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, just a quick comment, if I may, about this 
tragedy that is now up to 7 deaths and about 150 people who were 
injured in this Amtrak derailment. There was a report out of the Wall 
Street Journal just a few minutes ago that apparently the train was 
going 100 miles per hour going into a curve and that the curve speed 
should have been 50 miles per hour. If that is the case, that would 
indicate the conductor would not have been aware of what was happening 
or was negligent in what was happening. But there is something we can 
do about that, and it is called positive train control. Indeed, this is 
an issue which is facing all of the railroads. The infrastructure is 
very expensive, and the question is, How much should it be delayed in 
the future because it is not ready to go?
  Positive train control would--in places where there is potential 
danger or the potential of two trains colliding, there is automatic 
monitoring, and electronically it would change the speed of the train.
  Interestingly, Amtrak in the Northeast corridor already has some of 
this positive train control on the tracks, but apparently it did not at 
this particular location, in which case, that begs the question, What 
do we need to do if this is ultimately, by the NTSB investigation, 
determined to be the cause?
  One of the things this Senator would suggest is that we certainly do 
not want to cut Amtrak's budget. To the contrary, I would think we 
would want to increase Amtrak's budget. I am rounding numbers here, but 
Amtrak basically has about $3 billion in revenues, but they have about 
$4 billion in expenses. The difference is made up by the Federal 
Government. In the past, that difference has been about $1.4 billion. 
The House is considering legislation that would cut that down to $1.1 
billion, when, in fact, Amtrak is asking for $2 billion.
  Is the funding the only question? I do not think we will know until 
we get the NTSB investigation report. However, we should know this: 
Railroads and roads and bridges and other infrastructure are in 
desperate need of repair and enhancement and expansion, and that is 
going to take revenue.
  Is this country going to allow itself to be considered a third-rate 
country in infrastructure? By the way, that is not even to speak about 
what infrastructure does when you build it, the number of jobs. If you 
talk to road builders, they will tell you that for every billion 
dollars, thousands of new jobs are created.
  Confronting the safety issue is what we are focused on here with this 
terrible accident. Our heart goes out to the victims. But at the same 
time, we have to look to the future, and we have to get our heads out--
our collective heads--of the sand and start producing the funding for 
infrastructure investment.
  I think back to the time in the depths of the recession--as the 
Senator from Vermont will recognize--that we were going to do an 
economic stimulus bill. We tried to get increased infrastructure 
spending, and we were voted down in the stimulus bill. Here we are 
years later, out of the recession, the economy is returning, the jobs 
are increasing, but our infrastructure is still crumbling.
  I speak about this as the ranking member of the commerce committee, 
and fortunately we have a chairman who feels the same way. Senator 
Thune and I are going to be working on this as well as things I 
suggested a moment ago about positive train control to improve the 
safety of our traveling public.
  Mr. President, I have one more thing I would like to say.
  Mr. LEAHY. Is it on the pending business?
  Mr. NELSON. It is not. Does the Senator want me to stop so he can 
talk about the Assistant Attorney General?
  Mr. LEAHY. If we could.
  Mr. NELSON. Of course.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. LEAHY. I thank the senior Senator from Florida.
  Mr. President, earlier I spoke praising Sally Yates. In my words on 
the floor, I also spoke about the senior Senator from Georgia, about 
all the help he has given on this. I want to make sure I also include 
the distinguished Presiding Officer, Senator Perdue, who, under our 
rules, cannot speak from the chair, but I would note for the other 
Senators how his testimony was so supportive of Sally Yates, and also, 
in the committee on which he and I serve, he voted for Sally Yates. 
Thus, both he and his colleague, Senator Isakson, were extremely 
valuable in this. I do not want anybody to think I was not aware of 
their support. I would say to both Senators from Georgia that I am 
deeply appreciative.
  I yield to the senior Senator from Georgia.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. ISAKSON. I thank the distinguished ranking member of the 
Judiciary Committee and my dear friend Senator Leahy for all his help 
and for his kind remarks. Sally Quillian Yates would not be before us 
if it were not for the Senator from Vermont. He has been great in the 
process.
  I think it is fortuitous and it is a good omen that the junior 
Senator from Georgia is the Presiding Officer at a time when we will 
elect the Deputy Attorney General, Sally Quillian Yates, to her 
position.
  Sally Quillian Yates is a human being I have known for almost 40 
years. For 25 years, she has been the lead prosecutor in the Northern 
District of Georgia. She has been an equal opportunity prosecutor--she 
has prosecuted Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Olympic Park 
bombers, anybody who violated the public trust. Any abuse of power, 
Sally Yates has gone after them, and she has won. She is fair. She is 
smart. She is intelligent.
  As a Georgia Bulldog--I realize the junior Senator is from Georgia 
Tech, so I am going to throw this in--as a Georgia Bulldog, she is what 
we call a double dog. She has her bachelor's degree and law degree from 
the University of Georgia and graduated magna cum laude from the 
University of Georgia Law School.
  Sally Quillian Yates is a great Georgian who will become a great 
Deputy Attorney General of the United States of America. I commend her 
to each of our colleagues and ask the Senators to vote and send a 
unanimous vote for Sally Quillian Yates to be Deputy Attorney General.
  The distinguished chairman of the committee is coming to the floor. 
Let me end my remarks by saying that Senator Grassley has been of 
immeasurable help in ensuring that Sally Quillian Yates gets to this 
position. I thank the Senator for his support. Unless he has something 
to say, I yield back the remainder of our time.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. No.
  Mr. ISAKSON. I yield back my time and the remainder of the majority 
time.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, if we have nobody here seeking recognition, 
we have a few minutes left, and I am perfectly willing to yield back 
that time also.
  I do yield it back.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time is yielded back.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination 
of Sally Quillian Yates, of Georgia, to be Deputy Attorney General?
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Florida (Mr. Rubio) and the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. 
Toomey).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Casey) 
and the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) are necessarily absent.

[[Page S2834]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 84, nays 12, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 177 Ex.]

                                YEAS--84

     Alexander
     Ayotte
     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Boxer
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Cassidy
     Coats
     Cochran
     Collins
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Cruz
     Daines
     Donnelly
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Flake
     Franken
     Gardner
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hatch
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Heller
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kaine
     King
     Kirk
     Klobuchar
     Leahy
     Lee
     Manchin
     Markey
     McCain
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Paul
     Perdue
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rounds
     Sasse
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Scott
     Shaheen
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Udall
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden

                                NAYS--12

     Blunt
     Boozman
     Cotton
     Crapo
     Inhofe
     Lankford
     Moran
     Risch
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Sullivan
     Vitter

                             NOT VOTING--4

     Casey
     Rubio
     Sanders
     Toomey
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to 
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table, and the 
President will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

                          ____________________