[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 21]
[Senate]
[Pages 29174-29175]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, today the Senate will be in a period of 
morning business until 3 p.m. Senators are allowed to speak for up to 
10 minutes each. Then, at 3 p.m. today, the Senate will proceed to the 
farm bill. Once the managers offer the substitute amendment, the bill 
will be up for debate only for the remainder of today's session. That 
is the previous order that was entered by the Chair. As I previously 
announced, there will be no rollcall votes today as a result of what we 
were able to accomplish last week.
  On Tuesday, the House is expected to vote on overriding the 
President's veto of the water resources bill, which is a very 
bipartisan bill which passed overwhelmingly both in the House and the 
Senate. I anticipate the Senate will debate that veto message sometime 
this week, and a vote on overriding could be as early as Wednesday.
  I would remind Members that the President of France will address a 
joint meeting of Congress Wednesday morning at 11 a.m.
  Also this week, the Senate has a lot of other work to do. I have had 
a lengthy conversation, just a few minutes ago, with the Republican 
leader. He is aware of the many obligations we have, and it is going to 
be difficult to get our work done this week. We can get it done, but 
the reason I mention this, I know Veterans Day is coming and people 
have a very busy schedule Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I know I do, 
and I am sure, like everyone else, they also are obligated. But there 
are certain things we have to finish. We are going to be out of here 
for the Thanksgiving recess to go back to our States, to our families, 
but there is work that obligates us to stay until we finish, and we 
only have this week and next week to do that.


                             appropriations

  This week, we will receive the conference report for the Veterans and 
Labor, Health, and Education appropriations bill. This legislation was 
again supported on a bipartisan basis. It provides the greatest funding 
increase ever to care for our troops and veterans, who have sacrificed 
so much for our country. It repairs the woeful conditions we have seen 
at Walter Reed and at other medical centers. It helps reduce the logjam 
that is keeping thousands of veterans from receiving health care 
because the VA has been underfunded during the Bush years.
  This bill makes critical investments in America's children and 
substantially increases the Federal financial commitment to medical 
research for a multitude of diseases, which the Bush budget goes 
backward on rather than increasing.
  This legislation passed the Senate overwhelmingly because they are 
good priorities for America. Unfortunately, the President has said he 
is going to veto this bill. That is unfortunate because this is the 
same President who has underfunded and shortchanged our troops, our 
veterans, and other domestic priorities here at home. He argues this 
bill costs too much. Yet, in the same breath, he reported last week 
that there is $100 billion being spent in Iraq on infrastructure. And 
only this much of it is still standing. Most of the money has been 
wasted. What was attempted to be constructed has been destroyed or 
construction has been so faulty it simply is not usable. The President 
is wrong.
  It appears the Republicans will attempt to separate the VA portion of 
the bill. I think that is unfortunate. The minority supported the VA 
bill and the Labor bill overwhelmingly, and it would be a shame to put 
up roadblocks to their passage. So I urge all my colleagues to reject 
that effort so we can pass and send this crucial legislation to the 
President as soon as possible.


                             The Farm Bill

  The farm bill. Chairman Harkin, Senator Baucus, and Ranking Members 
Chambliss and Grassley deserve a lot of credit for working among their 
caucuses to write the bill we are debating this week. In the 24 years I 
have been in the Congress, first in the House and now in the Senate--
actually, 25 years--no farm bill has embodied as much reform as this 
one. There are some who say this bill doesn't go far enough in the 
direction of reform. To those critics, it should be clear there will be 
an opportunity for Senators to offer amendments during debate. Would I 
personally like more reform? Of course I would. But I would like to 
focus on the positive and forward-looking elements that lie at the 
heart of this bill.
  This bill saves billions of dollars by reforming existing programs, 
which allows new investment to expand food and nutrition programs for 
families, the elderly, and the disabled, as well as an expansion of the 
fresh fruits and vegetables programs to all 50 States to improve the 
health and wellness of America's children. It invests more than $4 
billion in conservation programs to protect wetlands, grasslands, and 
working farms. More than 60 percent of this bill is simply nutrition 
programs.
  This bill takes us a step closer to the vital goal of energy 
independence, with

[[Page 29175]]

more than $1 billion for programs that are environmentally responsible 
while growing the farming economy. We import about 70 percent of our 
oil. We don't import 70 percent of our food. One reason we don't is 
because we have farm programs that work. Could they be made better? Of 
course they could be. But this bill does do some extremely important 
things.
  It responds to the urgent need for permanent disaster assistance, 
which will help farmers respond and recover from future unavoidable 
disasters. It invests about $2 billion in specialty crops. What are 
specialty crops? Strawberries, apples, and those programs that are so 
important to our country, so that it stops us from having to import as 
much as we would have to if we didn't have these programs. But with 
weather changes, some of these farmers have had tremendous losses from 
which they have not been able to recover. It offers a reasonable 
compromise on country-of-origin labeling, and it improves competition 
in the livestock industry.
  There will be a number of amendments offered during the floor debate. 
Senators Dorgan and Grassley will offer an amendment on payment limits. 
Senators Lautenberg and Lugar will offer an alternative farm bill 
amendment. Senator McConnell and I understand these amendments are 
important to Members on both sides of the aisle, and we will work 
together to ensure ample time is given for consideration.
  I am confident and hopeful that this process will result in a truly 
bipartisan bill which will support our agricultural communities, 
promote a cleaner environment, and grow our economy. But I do say and 
alert everybody to this fact: We have had a really good legislative 
session. Once we get to a bill, we have basically offered amendments on 
most every bill. I think this bill is going to have trouble with that. 
We have to complete our work by next Friday, so we will make sure the 
amendments correctly relate to this bill and everybody will have an 
opportunity to offer those. We will do our very best to see that is the 
case. But this bill is a tax bill, and there could be a lot of 
mischievous amendments offered if it were an open amendment process. I 
think, with it being late in this year's session of Congress, everyone 
understands we can't do that. We have work we must complete.
  The farm bill is a very bipartisan bill. I think we could seek 
cloture on the bill right now and probably do a pretty good job because 
it is really a bipartisan bill. I don't want to have to do it now, but 
I do want everyone to know we are not going to have an open amendment 
process, and I have explained that to the Republican leader.


                                Pakistan

  Mr. President, this weekend we have seen a crisis unfold in Pakistan. 
It is an ongoing crisis which has become much more difficult. A leader 
whom the administration considered a partner in the fight against 
terrorism and extremism has taken steps away from the path of 
democracy, and he has suspended fundamental human rights in the 
process. I have had great hope for Pakistan. Senator Daschle and I took 
a trip to that part of the world right after Musharraf took power, and 
we were impressed with him. We came back to the United States, and the 
State Department had told President Clinton he shouldn't go to 
Pakistan. He was already headed for India. We prevailed upon him to go 
to Pakistan, and I am glad the President did go to Pakistan. But things 
haven't worked out the way I would have hoped.
  This unfolding crisis must be watched carefully, and we must be 
prepared to respond to protect our security and our national interests. 
I hope all sides will show restraint. Musharraf must keep the promise 
he made when Senator Daschle and I met with him and when he took power 
almost 8 years ago--to put Pakistan back on a path toward democracy.
  I call upon General Musharraf to return to the constitutional rule of 
law, release the lawyers and other peaceful protestors he has 
imprisoned, and restore the path to free and fair elections as soon as 
possible.
  This situation is also a reminder of why we must change the course in 
Iraq. We have been so focused on Iraq that we have had this situation 
develop in Israel with the Palestinians. I was stunned this morning to 
hear the Secretary of State on the news say this is our first meeting, 
the one that is going to take place in Annapolis. That isn't anything 
she should boast about.
  For 7 years, this administration basically ignored the crisis we have 
had in the Middle East. We have a bad situation in Iran that we have 
ignored--no diplomacy, only threats of war. We have this intractable 
civil war in Iraq which is ongoing and now made more complicated as a 
result of what is going on in northern Iraq with the Kurds. We have not 
focused on our diplomacy. Look what has happened in Pakistan because we 
placed all our emphasis on a person rather than on a country. By 
staying so bogged down in the Iraq civil war, President Bush has made 
it harder to respond to the Pakistani problem and other challenges 
throughout the world.
  The Iraq war leaves Secretary Rice and other officials responsible 
for the Middle East and South Asia with no strategic reserve to respond 
to humanitarian and other crisis situations. We are reminded that, 
while the administration has been focused on Iraq, it has failed to 
craft an effective strategy for eliminating what a recent National 
Intelligence Estimate described as an al-Qaida safe haven in the 
Afghanistan-Pakistan border regions, and it has failed to catch Osama 
bin Laden or his No. 2--Zawahiri.
  So today I also call upon President Bush to conduct an expedited end-
to-end review of his national security strategy as it relates to the 
war on terror and Pakistan, including a review of U.S. aid to Pakistan 
and how we are going to get our troops out of Iraq. I hope President 
Bush will take a good look at the costs and missed opportunities caused 
by his stay-the-course approach in Iraq and take steps to craft a more 
effective strategy for addressing the threats and challenges America 
faces across the globe.


                           Order of Procedure

  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that time for morning business 
be a full hour.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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