[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 23338-23340]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            PAST AND PRESENT CHALLENGES AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, August was a time for us to leave Washington 
for a while, spend time listening to and reconnecting with our friends, 
neighbors, and constituents back home. Someone this morning on the 
telephone asked me what I remember most about the August recess, and I 
said I think it is

[[Page 23339]]

best represented in an extended conversation I had with someone on the 
telephone at my home in Searchlight. You can look out my windows and 
see for miles. There is a range of mountains called Timber Mountains. 
They do not match the Rockies or the Sierras, but to me they are 
important. During the summertime, there are storms there all the time. 
They do not last very long, but they are beautiful to see. I was 
telling my friend that is what I remember most, talking on the 
telephone and trying to explain to my friend what I saw out there. We 
call them cloudbursts. It rains so hard you can't see the mountains, 
and the lightning is coming frequently. It is beautiful to watch. It is 
what nature is all about, and that is what I remember most about my 
trip home this August.
  But it certainly was a chance for me, and for all of us, to ignore 
the pundits and hear from the people of the State we represent. I 
traveled this past month to many places in Nevada, and the message I 
heard was very clear: Nevadans want us to do something about the high 
cost of energy and start reversing the damage that nonrenewable fuels 
are causing our environment. They want us to help them find affordable 
health care solutions so low-income kids can get regular checkups, so 
senior citizens can pay for their medicine, and everyone, rich or poor, 
can afford health insurance. We are pushing 50 million people with no 
health insurance. They want us to fight the skyrocketing cost of a 
college education.
  Above all, Nevadans want us to finally bring the war in Iraq to a 
responsible end. They want us to take our brave troops out of another 
country's intractable civil war so we can rebuild and refocus our 
military on the grave and growing challenges we face throughout the 
world. These concerns are, of course, not unique to Nevada. I know my 
colleagues are hearing the same warnings in every corner of our 
country, the same concerns I have heard and more. I want to share with 
my friends in Nevada and all Americans that we hear you. We share your 
concerns and your sense of urgency, and we are working every day to 
reach these goals.
  When this new Congress began in January, we knew the challenges ahead 
of us, but the expectations were even greater than the challenges. We 
started the year with an ambitious agenda for introducing 10 bills on 
the first day. Now, as we begin our busy fall calendar, we have made 
progress on almost every one of those. Coming into the previous work 
period, we have already sent to the President the first raise in the 
Federal minimum wage in more than 10 years; the recommendations of the 
9/11 Commission, after having been pushed aside for years; the toughest 
ethics and lobbying reform in history, which today is on its way to the 
President. We passed a bill to give the hope of stem cell research to 
millions of Americans who suffer, and we will soon attempt once again 
to override the President's veto. We believe we are only one vote short 
of being able to override that veto.
  We passed disaster relief for the gulf coast, western wildfires, and 
farmers who have suffered drought and other disasters. We provided 
funds for our troops and National Guard with the equipment they need, 
for example, the Mine Resistant Combat Vehicles, to do their jobs more 
safely. We passed a bill to finally hold the administration accountable 
on Iraq with real benchmarks for progress.
  We have been able to do a number of important things dealing with 
Iraq, even with Senator Johnson ill. We were sometimes in a minority. 
One of our colleagues, who is one of the most loyal Democrats we have 
and have ever had, our nominee for Vice President, the distinguished 
Senator from Connecticut, Senator Lieberman, votes with the President 
on the Iraq matters most every time, even though he votes with us on 
everything else. We were many times in the hole 49 to 50. So what we 
were able to do was certainly very good. I applaud the few Republicans 
who helped us. We were able to pass a bill to send to the President 
that he had to veto.
  We also passed a balanced budget which restores fiscal discipline and 
cuts taxes for working people. Of course, we wish we could have done 
more in Iraq, but we did the best we could, with a pay raise and better 
health care for our troops, who are being asked to shoulder a larger 
burden than ever before.
  This past work period we added to that list other accomplishments: 
passing the Energy bill, which included, among other things, raising 
CAFE standards, fuel efficiency, for the first time in 25 years. We 
haven't sent that to the President yet because we need to work out our 
differences with the House.
  We reauthorized the Higher Education Act to give Americans the 
largest expansion of student financial aid since the GI bill. As I 
indicated in my opening statement, we are going to finish that this 
week and send it on to the House.
  Beginning debate on the Defense authorization bill on September 17, 
we will make critical investments to address troop readiness problems 
in the military caused by what we believe is mismanagement of our Armed 
Forces.
  These legislative accomplishments will make a real difference for 
working families, students, senior citizens, and those who protect us 
at home and abroad. Our progress makes one thing clear: when you put 
partisanship aside, we can do great things for the American people. But 
when partisanship divides us, our work suffers.
  For all our success so far this year, we have done more than people 
ever expected. Now, we could have done a lot more than that, but 
Republicans have sought to block our progress, it seems sometimes at 
all costs. We could have reduced the cost of prescription drugs, but 
Republicans filibustered that. We could have passed comprehensive 
immigration reform, but we only got 12 Republican votes. We could have 
ensured our troops received sufficient rest and time home between 
deployments--that was the Webb amendment--but once again we were 
blocked by most of the Republicans.
  The minority has forced 42 cloture votes already this year, many on 
legislation that wasn't even controversial. I hope the delay and 
stalling is in the past, and that the minority has proven they can make 
us go to cloture but it hasn't accomplished anything. I hope we can 
move forward in a less burdensome manner.
  Our progress has been in spite of those efforts. When we have worked 
together across the aisle, the record speaks for itself. We know it can 
be done because we have done it already. Today, I reach out to my 
Republican colleagues on every piece of legislation. I hope and expect 
the minority will reciprocate so we can move beyond hyperpartisanship 
and obstruction to keep making the kind of progress the American people 
deserve. We must do this because the issues we now confront deserve 
nothing less.
  The Senate Appropriations Committee has reported 11 of the 12 annual 
appropriations bills. We plan to devote considerable time this work 
period to these bills. I have indicated we are going to do three before 
we take our break for the Jewish holidays. We have already done 
Homeland Security appropriations. If we do that, we would wind up doing 
a third of all the bills we need to do, which is progress.
  So in the next 2 weeks, it is my hope we can complete the bills I 
have talked about. Each of these bills was reported out of the 
committee unanimously, or nearly unanimously, and I hope bipartisan 
cooperation continues on the floor.
  We must move forward on a number of other issues. The Children's 
Health Insurance Program is a bill that received wide bipartisan 
support in the Senate. I hope we can complete that. It is important 
that we do that. I know just a few people can cause a lot of trouble 
here. Both the distinguished Republican leader and I realize that.


                  Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 976

  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate receives 
a message from the House on H.R. 976, the CHIP legislation, the Senate 
disagree to the House amendment, if appropriate, and insist on its 
amendment, request a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes 
of the two

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Houses, and that the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the 
part of the Senate.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
  Mr. McCONNELL. Reserving the right to object.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The minority leader.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the message has not yet been received; 
therefore, the request is a little premature. We would need to consult 
with our colleagues on this when they receive the request from the 
House; therefore, for the time being, I would object.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, above all, every day we must continue to 
fight for a sensible, responsible path out of Iraq in order to restore 
America's national security. Later this month, President Bush will 
issue a report on the state of the war that Congress required of him. 
We hope he will use this report as an opportunity to finally do the 
right thing and begin to change the core U.S. mission and begin 
reducing U.S. forces in Iraq. We will receive this report with an open 
mind. We will consider the White House findings carefully and 
thoughtfully, but we must remember the President's report comes after 
more than 4 years of war, with almost 3,800 dead American soldiers, 
sailors, marines, and airmen, tens of thousands more injured, and 
American taxpayers having to foot a bill of more than half a trillion 
dollars.
  President Bush will send General Petraeus to Capitol Hill to testify. 
There is not one Member of this body who does not respect General 
Petraeus. He is a good man and a good soldier. But Senator Biden said 
over the weekend that there are not 12 Senators out of 100 who support 
the war as it is now being conducted--not 12. He said that over and 
over again. I agree with Senator Biden.
  But the President cannot hide behind the generals. This is George 
Bush's war. He is responsible for the mistakes and missteps that leave 
our troops mired in a civil war with no end in sight.
  The mission has not been accomplished. When he said ``Bring 'em on,'' 
that was the wrong thing to say. According to the President when he set 
forth his escalation policy, the purpose of the troop increase was to 
give the Iraqis space and safety to forge political progress--to build 
a sustainable government and provide for their own security.
  None of this has happened. Take, for example, the LA Times today, the 
headline: ``Troop Buildup Fails to Reconcile Iraq,'' or today's GAO 
report, which tells us the President's strategy has failed to achieve 
15 of 18 key benchmarks. Sectarian strife is deepening and violence 
shifting. Last month was the deadliest for the Iraqi people in the 
history of the war. Contrary to the assertions of the President, Iraq's 
leaders have not honored the sacrifices of our troops by taking 
meaningful steps toward building a country that can stand on its own. 
That is not our troops' fault, nor is it a problem our troops can 
solve. It is an Iraqi political problem, not a U.S. military problem. 
We cannot continue to sacrifice American lives, deplete our Treasury, 
and weaken our national security in pursuit of a goal that the Iraqi 
people themselves show no interest in achieving.
  Meanwhile, al-Qaida is resurgent, and we all know Osama bin Laden 
remains at large. There are countless stories that highlight the human 
toll this war has taken. Let's look to Nevada for one.
  As I was flying back, I was stunned by reading in the Las Vegas Sun 
newspaper a heartbreaking story of Army PFC Travis Virgadamo, 19 years 
old, in his second tour of duty in Iraq. He loved his country. He loved 
serving in the military. That is what he always wanted to do. Yet after 
months of serving in Iraq, as he described it, ``being ordered into 
houses without knowing what was behind strangers' doors, walking along 
on roadsides fearing the next step could trigger lethal explosives''--
those were his words--he left. He tried to get help. He came back, told 
his parents he did not want to go back. He told his military superiors 
he didn't want to go back. He was given medicine. The newspaper 
reported it was Prozac. As I said, he sought therapy, mental health 
care while overseas, but last week the military informed his family he 
committed suicide. He was 19 years old.
  Last year, the Veterans Affairs Department reported that more than 
56,000 veterans of Iraq have been diagnosed with mental illness. We 
have heard countless examples of our troops receiving inadequate mental 
health care, and in many cases being sent back into battle, like this 
young man, PFC Travis Virgadamo.
  My heart goes out to his family. They are quoted in the paper, as to 
what he said when he was trying to stay here and not go back. They have 
suffered so much. We owe them a change of course.
  Many of my Republican friends have long held September is the month 
for a policy change in Iraq. Those who opposed our early efforts asked 
for time and patience to let the war continue. The calendar has not 
changed. It is September. We have reached this goal. It is time to make 
a decision. We can't continue the way we are. We cannot afford it 
militarily and financially.
  We will soon hear, as I have indicated, from the President and his 
generals what we know already, political progress has failed. Now it is 
time for our Republican colleagues--I so admire and appreciate those 
who have joined us in the past. For example, on the Webb amendment we 
got 57 votes. With Senator Johnson coming back we need two more 
Republican votes to do the right thing: When you go to Iraq for 15 
months, you stay home for 15 months. That is what Webb did. That is why 
we picked up Republican votes. We need two more Republican votes.
  It is time for our Republican colleagues to join with us, to stand 
for our troops and the American people to responsibly end this war; to 
do things that will change it.
  I began with words of tribute for two of our most distinguished 
colleagues, Senators Warner and Kennedy, one Democrat, one Republican, 
both firmly committed to progress, progress for our country. They 
recognize and they have shown it can only be accomplished by 
bipartisanship. All of us appreciate the Herculean efforts of Senator 
Kennedy, working with Democrats and Republicans alike on immigration, 
Leave No Child Behind, and Medicare. The work that Senator Warner has 
done for years, especially on the Defense authorization bill, on a 
bipartizan basis--I appreciate it; many of us do. The country 
appreciates it. The people of Virginia appreciate Senator Warner's 
courage to stand up to the President of his own party and reach across 
the aisle to reach a responsible end to this war. As we tackle the 
challenges ahead, the outstanding work of these two great Senators 
ought to be our compass.
  I am confident and hopeful all 100 of us will follow their lead and 
keep America moving forward.

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