[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 200 (Wednesday, December 19, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7838-S7841]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             FIRST STEP ACT

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, today is a good day for representative 
government, it is a good day for the taxpayers, and it is a good day 
for safe streets and strong families. It is also a good day to 
emphasize that many times Congress acts in a bipartisan way, and 
probably not enough so we get credit for it. But last night, one of 
these bipartisan pieces of legislation passed by a vote of 87 to 12. 
That happened when the Senate adopted the FIRST STEP Act.
  Today, the House is expected to send it to the President, who is 
waiting with a pen in hand to enact once-in-a-generation criminal 
justice reform. I am confident that the President is ready to do that 
because I attended the news conference about 5 weeks ago when he 
endorsed this legislation.
  The FIRST STEP Act will help keep our streets safe, and it offers a 
fresh start to those who put in the work when they were in prison to 
get right with the law while paying their debt to society. It also 
addresses unfairness in prison sentencing and revises policies that 
have led to overcrowded prisons and, of course, ballooning taxpayer 
expenses.
  Several decades ago, Congress passed well-intentioned laws imposing 
harsh mandatory sentences to stop the flow of drugs into our 
communities, and it happened that I voted for those laws, but they have 
also had some unintended consequences. Our prison population has 
exploded, and the taxpayers' burden to house inmates has followed suit. 
Today, taxpayers pay more than $7 billion a year on our Federal prison 
population; however, despite that high cost, nearly half the inmates 
released today are rearrested.
  As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee for the last 38 years, 
I consider myself--then and now--a law-and-order Republican. I am also 
a taxpayer watchdog, and I believe in the redemptive power of 
rehabilitation. So in 2015, I began to take a closer look at our prison 
and sentencing laws. We needed to make the system work better for the 
taxpayers, help law enforcement fight crime, and put a stopper in the 
revolving prison door. I was led to that effort by the efforts of 
Senator Lee and Senator Durbin, who had been working on similar 
legislation for probably 3 to 4 years before my entry into this debate.
  Several States across the country have developed these education, 
treatment, and training programs. The result has been a significant 
decline in recidivism. This means fewer crimes, fewer victims, and 
fewer tax dollars spent housing inmates.
  The FIRST STEP Act is carefully crafted to provide opportunities at 
redemption for low-risk inmates, while ensuring that dangerous and 
career criminals stay behind bars. It does this through a multilayer 
system that filters out dangerous criminals and those likely to commit 
new crimes.
  The bill rewards those who take personal responsibility for their 
mistakes and want to put in the time and will put in the time and 
effort to turn their lives around.
  It improves fairness in sentencing while preserving important law 
enforcement tools.
  It reduces some mandatory minimum sentences, but it also expands 
their application to include violent felons.
  It grants judges additional discretion to sentence low-level, 
nonviolent offenders to less lengthy sentences as long as they fully 
cooperate with law enforcement. Finally, it eliminates the disparity in 
sentences for crack and powder cocaine offenses, which 
disproportionately impacts communities of color.

  Passing these reforms has been a team effort years in the making. It 
couldn't have been done without the stalwart commitment by a somewhat 
unlikely cadre of colleagues and advocates. We have had to compromise 
to make this possible, to seek to understand the other's points of 
view. In so doing, I think we made the bill better, and we accomplished 
something of historic significance that will reduce crime, make our 
system more just, and improve lives for generations to come.
  Senators Durbin and Lee, as I previously stated, were instrumental in 
this effort. Their interest in criminal justice reform dates back 
beyond my getting involved in it in 2014. The exact date, I don't know, 
but probably after Senators Lee and Durbin joined hands, probably soon 
after Senator Lee came to the Senate. Their efforts inspired the Senate 
to take a fresh look at our sentencing and prison laws.
  Senator Graham, the incoming chairman of the Judiciary Committee, 
Senator Cornyn, and Senator Whitehouse have also been with us since the 
very beginning of this effort.
  Senators Booker and Scott both share a passion for criminal justice 
reform and have been vocal advocates, shining a light on the 
shortcomings and societal impact of our current system.
  Credit is also due to our House colleagues--Chairman Goodlatte, 
Ranking Member Nadler, and Congressmen Collins and Jeffries, who 
introduced the FIRST STEP Act in the House. And thanks to Speaker Ryan 
for his support and pledge to bring this to the House floor so quickly.
  At every step along the way, we have stuck together. We pitched this 
bill to our colleagues and made changes based on their suggestions. We 
also relied on input and expertise from a variety of groups from across 
the political spectrum. In the end, this campaign earned the support of 
several top law enforcement and tough-on-crime champions, such as 
President Trump.
  I think it is important to acknowledge the President's leadership on 
this issue. When he got involved, he closed the deal, and we got this 
done. He was helped in that effort by Jared Kushner. Early in President 
Trump's administration, I happened to be in the Oval Office of the new 
President. Jared Kushner was there, and we discussed taking up criminal 
justice reform. I just asked him if he was interested in it. I wanted 
to give him a phone call, so we had that phone call. He took the issue 
and ran with it and helped find a way forward to accomplish something 
previous administrations had tried and failed to do. Brooke Rollins and 
Ja'Ron Smith at the White House were also instrumental in this effort, 
working with Jared Kushner.
  I would also like to thank the majority leader for staying true to 
his word and bringing this bill to the floor when we demonstrated the 
support for our effort that he demanded. In the end, I appreciated his 
vote for this bill.
  Thanks also is due to the Senate floor staff on both sides of the 
aisle

[[Page S7839]]

who helped us successfully navigate the bill to final passage.
  I want to thank my Senate staff, who helped make this possible. 
Bipartisan compromise is not for the faint of heart, and they have 
stayed true to the commitment that Senator Durbin and I made to each 
other to move forward step-by-step in complete agreement about the path 
we should take and the path we had to take.
  I would like to thank my Judiciary Committee staff director, Kolan 
Davis. Kolan's steady hand and sound judgment improves everything he is 
involved in. I value his counsel today, just as I have for the last 33 
years.
  By my side today is Aaron Cummings, my chief Constitution counsel and 
crime counsel. He led the effort to negotiate this bipartisan deal in 
my office and worked hard to see it through and to organize a vast 
coalition of support. Of course, he also worked closely with other 
committee staff members in that direction.
  I would also like to thank Brian Simonsen for his diligent work on 
this important bill.
  Our Department of Justice detailees to the Judiciary Committee, Tom 
Sullivan and Erin Creegan, provided very good technical advice.
  My sincere thanks also goes to my talented communications team--
Taylor Foy, Judiciary Committee communications director, and George 
Hartmann, Judiciary Committee press secretary, as well as Michael 
Zona--for their dedication to this effort and their successful campaign 
to educate and persuade so many to support this bill.
  I am also thankful for my personal office staff, led by my chief of 
staff, Jill Kozeny. Jill has been my trusted adviser for over 30 years. 
She is leaving my staff, and I will be sad to see her go. She has been 
an exceptional leader, solving problems that I didn't even know I had, 
and she has done it all with matchless grace and what I like to call 
Iowa nice.
  I am also grateful to Jennifer Heins, who keeps me on track and 
provides sound strategic advice.
  Their contributions and those of every staffer who was part of this 
effort have been invaluable.
  I would like to thank Senator Durbin's staff, particularly his chief 
counsel, Joe Zogby, and his counsel, Rachel Rossi. Working with my 
staff, the White House, and others, they must have helped us close the 
deal more than a dozen times. That is an example--maybe it is 10 times; 
maybe it is 20 times. But closing deals many times is what it takes to 
get to the bipartisanship that it took to get 87 votes on this bill. Of 
course, in the end, their dedication--and that includes creativity and 
every effort they could put forth--got the job done.
  I want to give particular thanks to the law enforcement groups whose 
support and input were key to the bill's success, including the 
Fraternal Order of Police, the International Association of Chiefs of 
Police, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, 
the National District Attorneys Association, the Association of 
Prosecuting Attorneys, and Law Enforcement Leaders.
  I am getting to the end. I would also like to thank the groups that 
made this effort possible. A diverse group and broad coalition of other 
groups, from the ACLU to the American Conservative Union, supported 
this bill. I can't list all the groups that offered their key support, 
but they include FreedomWorks, Justice Action Network, Americans for 
Tax Reform, Heritage Action, the Due Process Institute, Faith & Freedom 
Coalition, R Street, Right on Crime, Texas Public Policy Foundation, 
Prison Fellowship, and members of the Interfaith Criminal Justice 
Coalition.
  To treat everybody fairly, I ask unanimous consent that a complete 
list of support be printed for the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

       The Heritage Foundation; American Enterprise Institute; 
     Right on Crime; Americans for Tax Reform; FreedomWorks; 
     Independent Women's Forum; ALEC Action; Bridges to Life; 
     Calvert Institute for Policy Research; American Conservative 
     Union; Commonwealth Foundation; Faith and Freedom Coalition; 
     The James Madison Institute; Florida Tax Watch; Pelican 
     Institute; R Street Institute; Rio Grande Foundation; Texas 
     Public Policy Foundation; Fraternal Order of Police.
       International Association of Chiefs of Police; 
     International Union of Police Association AFL-CIO; National 
     District Attorney's Association; Sixty Sheriff's Letter--Led 
     by Sheriff Hodgson of Bristol County, Maryland; National 
     Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives; Law 
     Enforcement Leaders to Reduce Crime & Incarceration; Jackson 
     County Sheriff's Department, Kansas; Rockingham County 
     Sheriff's Department, North Carolina; Families Against 
     Mandatory Minimums; Center for American Progress; Prison 
     Fellowship; #cut50; Latinos for Tennessee; Bernice King; 2000 
     Faith Leaders Letter of Support; Brother Franklin Graham.
       Pastor Paula White; Pastor Jentezen Franklin; Pastor Jack 
     Graham; Alveda King; Pastor Darrell Scott; Rabbinical 
     Alliance of America; Skvere Community; Young Israel; Satmar 
     Community; Catholic Charities USA; The Kairos Group; Move the 
     Earth Ministries; Aleph Institute; Christian Community 
     Development Association; City Gate Network.
       Council for Christian Colleges & Universities; National 
     Association of Evangelicals; National Hispanic Christian 
     Leadership Conference; Kingdom Mission Society; National 
     Latino Evangelical Coalition; Louisiana Family Forum; 
     Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission; 
     American Bus Association; American Clergy Network; American 
     Correctional Association; American Jail Association; 
     Association of Prosecuting Attorneys; Association of State 
     Corrections Administrators; Baltimore Ravens; Bread for the 
     World.
       CAN-DO Foundation; Circle of Protection; Citygate Network; 
     Douglass Leadership Institute; Due Process Institute; 
     Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Flikshop; Friends 
     Committee on National Legislation; Institute for Prison 
     Ministries; International Community of Corrections 
     Associations; Fairness, Dignity & Respect for Crime Victims & 
     Survivors; Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice; Just 
     Detention; Justice and Serious Mental Illness; Lifted from 
     the Rut.
       National Conference of State Legislatures; National 
     Criminal Justice Association; National Governors Association; 
     National Incarceration Association; Progressive National 
     Baptist Convention; Returning Home; Samuel DeWitt Proctor 
     Conference; Society of St. Vincent de Paul; Sojourners; The 
     Episcopal Church; The Sentencing Project; U.S. Conference of 
     Mayors; U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Valor Village 
     Foundation; Wesleyan Church.
        US Chamber of Commerce; Business Roundtable; National 
     Retail Federation; The Associated General Contractors of 
     America; Associated Builders & Contractors; National 
     Association of Homebuilders; National Electrical Contractors 
     Association; Job Creators Network; National Restaurant 
     Association; Asian American Hotel Owners Association; Small 
     Business & Entrepreneurship Council; National Association of 
     Broadcasters; Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors 
     Association; National Grocers Association; International 
     Franchise Association; U.S. Black Chamber of Commerce.
        Justice Action Network; (Alliance of Automobile 
     Manufacturers; National Association of Home Builders; U.S. 
     Chamber of Commerce; Arizona Free Enterprise Club; Connie 
     Wilhelm, CEO, Home Builders Association of Central Arizona; 
     Don Finkel, CEO, American OEM; Gene Barr, President & CEO, 
     Pennsylvania Chamber of Business & Industry; Guy Ciarrocchi, 
     President, Chester County Chamber; Kalamazoo Probation 
     Enhancement Program; Kansas Chamber of Commerce; Kevin 
     Schmidt, Executive Director, Ohio Cast Metals Association; 
     Lincoln Trail Home Builders; Louisiana Association of 
     Business and Industry; Matt Smith, President, Greater 
     Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce; Michigan Association for 
     Community Corrections Advancement; Saginaw County Chamber of 
     Commerce); National Football League; FOX; US Travel 
     Association; Realtors; The GEO Group, Inc.; National 
     Association of Manufacturers.

  Mr. GRASSLEY. This was a combined effort, one on a scale not often 
seen in Washington these days. I am grateful for everyone's work to 
bring about these historic reforms. Together, we have taken steps to 
reduce crime and recidivism, to strengthen faith and fairness in the 
criminal justice system, and to signal to those willing to make amends 
that redemption is within their reach. Together, we have taken an 
important step to live up to the commitment we make every time we 
pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States: to provide liberty 
and justice for all.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Hyde-Smith). The assistant Democratic 
leader.
  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, let me first say how grateful I am to 
Senator Grassley for his friendship, No. 1., and his leadership, No. 2. 
It has been one of the highlights of my Senate experience to work with 
him on this bill. We trust one another. It reached a point where he 
said: I am not going to make a big decision unless you tell me it is 
all right, and I hope you will feel the same way when it comes to 
decisions affecting me. And I did, and it

[[Page S7840]]

paid off because we came to trust one another. We worked together to 
reach a point last night where we passed a bill which I think will be 
judged in a positive way in the history of our country.
  I might add that Senator Mike Lee of Utah was an early ally in this 
effort, but our team wasn't putting together a winning record until 
Chuck Grassley joined the squad--not only joined it but led it. Then we 
brought in Cory Booker, who was a valuable spokesperson and ally when 
it came to bringing groups together on the left and in the center to 
achieve this bill. Last night, the four of us celebrated a victory. But 
the victory was not ours; it was a victory for the American people and 
for those who want to make sure we have a just system when it comes to 
criminal law and prison terms that follow from those convicted.
  For those three Senators who joined me, I can't thank you enough. I 
really hope we can get the band back together sometime for another 
issue. Maybe it is the second step. Whatever it is, I would like to 
continue to work with this group and expand it to those who would like 
to be part of our effort.
  I think we showed something last night that most American people 
wouldn't believe: that a bipartisan group of Senators from across the 
political spectrum could tackle one of the toughest political issues of 
our day; assemble an array of support--left, right, and center--from 
Members of the Senate, as well as organizations devoted to law 
enforcement and civil rights; and at the end of it, have something we 
all felt was a fair product to send over to the House, which I hope 
will act on this very quickly.
  I will say a few words about how we reached that point in a moment, 
but I want to take time now, as Senator Grassley has, to honor the 
staff of my office, who have done such an exceptional job to bring us 
to this moment.
  Joe Zogby. Joe has been my chief counsel for several years now. For 6 
years, he has worked tirelessly to get this legislation through the 
Senate--and I mean tirelessly. He fielded calls to negotiate the 
provisions of this bill at the same time he was coaching his sons in 
baseball and trying to take care of his family responsibility. Joe was 
available every hour of the day and night.
  A special word of thanks to his wife, Lamece Baligh, and their sons, 
James, Elias, and Luke. I want to apologize to them for taking their 
dad away so many times for lengthy conversations, but we would never 
have reached success last night without that input from their father 
and husband.
  This win would not have happened without the dogged determination of 
Joe Zogby. He is a rabid Phillies fan, so he is always looking forward 
to the next season and the next victory. Last night, finally, we won 
the World Series and passed this bill on the floor of the Senate.
  No matter what assignment I give to Joe Zogby, whether it is the most 
technical, difficult, and challenging immigration issues or coming up 
with a new system of criminal justice or improvements to our system 
criminal justice, he always rises to the occasion. I am truly blessed 
to have him as my chief counsel. I may get the headlines, but, believe 
me, Joe Zogby deserves the credit.

  By his side was Rachel Rossi. Rachel is a detailee to our office. She 
comes from the public defender's office. She told me this morning that 
they had warned her ahead of time this was probably going to be a 
pretty lackluster and boring experience, and nothing serious was going 
to be considered or passed during the time she was a detailee. Well, 
quite the opposite was true. She was here to be an integral part of the 
construction of this legislation and its passage. She is leaving as 
detailee at the end of the year, and I am going to miss her. While she 
will be missed, she is leaving our office on the highest possible note.
  Rachel, I wish you the best. You were an important part of the 
legislation that passed last night.
  Stephanie Trifone is our office counsel. She is involved in every 
issue that goes through the Senate Judiciary Committee. She played a 
supporting role to ensure that the bill was properly written and 
fielded countless calls and emails to keep our Senate staff and other 
staff well informed. She has been a steady hand, and we needed her 
every step of the way.
  The rest of my team has its own assignments. Some of them worked 
tangentially on this bill, but I really couldn't function without Dan 
Swanson. He takes another agenda in the Senate Judiciary Committee, 
primarily on the civil side, and there is none better. There are times 
when people who were so-called experts would visit my office and say: 
Where does this Swanson learn all of these issues in such detail?
  Well, he is a pretty bright guy, and I am lucky to have him. His day 
in the hot seat will soon come when we face another issue.
  Debu Gandhi is an associate counsel. He is relatively new compared to 
the others, but I like his style and his determination. I have never 
asked anything of him that he hasn't produced the very best quality 
project in a timely way.
  Manpreet Kaur Teji is the legislative correspondent who has to field 
all of the mail when I get up and give speeches that either make people 
happy or angry. I thank her for her commitment to our office.
  I want to say a word about my floor staff. Reema Dodin has been with 
me since she was an intern in my office in Chicago. She went on to 
graduate law school and came to join my staff and eventually became my 
floor director. I didn't realize how much she was studying Senate 
procedure, but she has really become a valuable asset, not just to my 
office but to the Senate when we consider the options under the Senate 
rules.
  Having been parliamentarian in the Illinois State Senate for 10 or 12 
years, I can tell you that those who work in the parliamentarian's 
office, as well as those in support staff who are interested in Senate 
procedure, are absolutely essential to the successful consideration of 
important bills. Reema is in a unique position of helping to maneuver 
and whip the bill on both the Democratic and Republican sides of the 
aisle. She certainly did her job last night with 87 votes in favor of 
our legislation.
  MJ Kenny is by her side. He is the deputy floor director. He was 
always in the cloakroom and always on the floor to ensure the FIRST 
STEP Act had a fair shot of consideration and passage. MJ and Reema are 
an incredible floor team. I am lucky to have them, and I thank them 
both.
  Corey Tellez is my legislative director. She ensured that all of the 
staff worked together to finalize the bill. She kept our office and 
other offices well informed every step of the way.
  Emily Hampsten, my communications director, has been sending out 
messages from my office on a bipartisan basis from the beginning. She 
is always there with a smile and does professional work, and I thank 
her so much for her work.
  Claire Reuschel is my director of scheduling. She controls my life 
more than anyone other than my wife. She sends me places when she 
thinks it is right, and she usually has good judgment in those 
decisions. She has navigated thousands of meetings and phone calls on 
this legislation and so many other things. To say that she is an 
important part of this process is a gross understatement.
  Finally, Pat Souders is my chief of staff. He has been with me from 
the beginning. He started off in the House and now has assembled, I 
think, the best team on Capitol Hill. I thank him for not only finding 
these talented people but making sure that they get along with one 
another and that in their cooperation we can serve the people of 
Illinois first and the Nation in the most effective way. I couldn't do 
it without Pat Souders.
  Let me say that this moment in history arrived because we had an idea 
that was due; it is an idea whose time was due. It was due for a number 
of reasons.
  Thirty years ago, in the war on drugs, we were so frightened by crack 
cocaine that as a House Member, I ended up casting what I considered 
one of the worst votes in my career. I voted for the 100-to-1 crack to 
powder disparity in sentencing. It meant what it said: You would get 
100 times the penalty for the same amount of crack cocaine as you would 
have in powder cocaine--the same narcotic, different form, dramatically 
different results.

[[Page S7841]]

  We tried this in an effort to scare America straight, to let them 
know we were serious. We would get tough and use all of the political 
muscle we could find to stop the spread of crack cocaine. It was cheap. 
It was easily produced. It was deadly, especially to the fetus being 
carried by the addicted mother, and it scared us. I voted for that bill 
and have regretted it ever since.
  I know what happened; it didn't work. You couldn't scare people 
straight. We ended up with more people addicted. The price of drugs on 
the street went down, and we started filling our prisons, primarily 
with African-American and Latinos inmates who were convicted under 
these crimes. We knew in our heart of hearts that like so many other 
laws, it was unfair. The majority--majority--of users of narcotics and 
dealers of narcotics are White. Seventy-five percent of those who are 
convicted and sent to prison for crimes related to drug dealing and use 
are African American and Latino.
  This disparity on its face tells us that our system was fundamentally 
unfair and ineffective. I believe that is the reason we decided last 
night to stop trying to muscle our way through the drug war and start 
using our brains: What is it that will work, that will make certain 
those who are truly guilty pay a price and those who can be 
rehabilitated get that chance? It is as basic as that.
  There is a second thing that has happened in America in recent years, 
and it is heartbreaking when you see the results. We are facing the 
worst drug epidemic in our history. For the first time in decades--
maybe in modern memory--we are being told that life expectancy in the 
United States is going down. It is because of the opioid drug epidemic. 
Thousands of people are dying because of overdoses of opioids, heroin, 
and fentanyl.

  The opioid epidemic has opened our eyes to something else. Narcotics 
and their problems are not confined to the inner city. They are not 
confined to people of color, and they are not confined to the poor. 
This opioid epidemic has touched every corner of America in every 
State. There is no suburb too wealthy, no town so small that it can 
avoid this opioid epidemic. What it has done, sadly, is educate all of 
us in what happens with addiction and what we need to do to fight it.
  We now look at drug addiction not as a moral curse but, rather, as a 
disease that needs to be treated. That doesn't mean we should give up 
on prosecuting kingpins and doing everything we can to stop the flow of 
narcotics, but we have come to realize that just sticking someone in 
jail, if they lived long enough to reach that point in their lives, is 
no guarantee they are going to come out of jail without that addiction. 
We have to be thoughtful.
  We also have to have rehabilitation that is available for people 
across the board, whether they are rich or poor. That is something our 
opioid legislation of several weeks ago moves toward solving.
  The other thing we have come to understand is, the cost of the 
current system is unsustainable. We cannot continue to fill our prisons 
at great expense and not put money into things that count in terms of 
protecting our communities. Arresting someone after the crime is, of 
course, part of a just society, but it doesn't stop that original crime 
from happening. We have to think about the crime prevention that makes 
our homes and neighborhoods and towns and cities safe all across 
America, and that was part of the calculation last night in this 
embarkation on a new approach.
  Finally, I want to say that virtually every major issue that passes 
on the floor of the U.S. Senate--virtually every single one of them--
has someone backing it, pushing for it with a personal passion on the 
issue. I feel--not personally but having visited so many prisons and 
worked with so many people who have served time in those prisons--that 
we need to have a more just system, a more effective system.
  I want to give credit where it is due. Jared Kushner, President 
Trump's son-in-law, spoke to me about his feelings on prison reform the 
first time we ever met. I know it is personal to him, and I know it 
means a lot to him and his family. Because he cared and because he 
mobilized the conservative side of the political equation, we had an 
amazing vote last night with 87 Members of the Senate supporting the 
bill. All of the Democrats and then, on top of that, 39 of the 
Republicans were also supportive of the bill. I might add, Senator 
Lindsey Graham was absent. Now that he is back from Afghanistan, he 
told us he would have made it 88 if he were here.
  I will close by saying thank you again to Senator Grassley. Thanks to 
Aaron Cummings. I thanked him personally last night. He worked so 
closely with Joe Zogby and with Rachel Rossi during the course of this; 
they really became a team. I think it was one of the reasons we closed 
this deal and sent it to the House. It is, however, the first step. We 
have to start thinking about the second step, and we need the help of 
all of our colleagues.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I thank Senator Durbin for his kind 
remarks--more importantly, for 3 years of working together on this 
legislation, and it is great that it paid off.

                          ____________________