[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 13569]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            FEC NOMINATIONS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, with regard to the Federal Election 
Commission, let me first say that my good friend the majority leader is 
correct that I was not inclined to reconstitute the FEC with a three-
to-two Democratic majority, and that would have been, of course, the 
case had we gone forward on some but not all of the FEC nominations 
back before Memorial Day. So it is a fact that, in addition to 
objecting to Republican nominees of the FEC, which has become something 
of a tradition around here, there was an additional attempt to gain a 
majority on the FEC by acting prematurely, before we could confirm a 
full complement.
  Now we have the opportunity to confirm a full complement, and there 
have been various efforts, it appears, to delay in order to give the 
DNC an opportunity to file a lawsuit today. Maybe I will be proven 
wrong today. Maybe they won't file that lawsuit, and then I will feel 
comforted that the effort to delay confirming all six--or the four 
additional FEC members whom we are confirming--was not somehow related 
to litigation being proposed by the DNC. So I hope they will not file 
that lawsuit, and I guess that will be the best evidence of whether 
there was an effort underway here to delay it.
  I am encouraged by the fact that the majority leader indicates we can 
confirm these nominees today, and I have given him advance notice that 
I would like to propound a unanimous consent agreement that we do just 
that.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed, at 
some point today mutually agreeable to the majority leader and the 
Republican leader, to executive session for the consideration of the 
following Federal Election Commission nominations: Calendar No. 306, 
Steven T. Walther; Calendar No. 624, Cynthia L. Bauerly; Calendar No. 
625, Caroline C. Hunter; and Calendar No. 626, Donald F. McGahn; and 
the nomination of Matthew S. Petersen, which is to be discharged from 
the Rules Committee.
  I would further ask unanimous consent that the nominations be 
confirmed en bloc, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, 
the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and 
finally, the Senate return to legislative session.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I hope in a 
matter of hours that we can agree to the consent request proposed by my 
friend, the distinguished Republican leader. I don't know what time the 
last meeting is that Senator Feingold has with the last individual, but 
as soon as I get word on that, I will immediately come to the floor and 
accept the offer of the distinguished Republican leader. So I object.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I appreciate the comments of my good 
friend the majority leader, and I hope we will be able to confirm these 
nominees today. Also, hopefully the lawsuit by the DNC will not be 
filed today, further raising the suspicion that the delays of the 
majority were related to facilitating that legal action.
  Mr. President, let me say with regard to this week that this is a 
week when the Senate, hopefully, can make significant progress. There 
are three very significant pieces of legislation we hope to deal with 
this week, as the majority leader indicated.
  After a failed attempt to address the housing crisis without 
Republican input, Democrats finally agreed last week to allow our 
input. As a result, we now have a bipartisan housing bill that 
addresses many of our concerns. I think it could be made even better 
with some further amendments, which I am hopeful we will have an 
opportunity to offer, even if cloture is invoked, because as much as I 
would like to see this bill move forward, there are some housing-
related amendments that have been shut out of the process so far, and I 
am hoping the majority leader and I can discuss how we might be able to 
dispose of those expeditiously before we clear that bill here in the 
Senate this week.
  We must also complete two important and long overdue national 
security measures--the supplemental troop funding bill that the 
President first requested more than 500 days ago and an updated 
terrorist surveillance bill that the Senate first approved last August 
but which expired more than 4 months ago, after House Democratic 
inaction. It is worth noting that on both national security measures, 
Democrats will be approving something Republicans have supported all 
along.
  Regarding the supplemental, Republicans have argued for the past year 
and a half that Congress has a solemn duty to fund our troops while 
they are on the field of battle. Regarding FISA, Republicans have 
argued for more than a year that the intelligence community should have 
the tools it needs to listen in on conversations between terrorists 
overseas and that companies that may have allowed them to do so should 
not be punished for helping.
  I remain hopeful the Senate will be able to get these important 
issues accomplished this week, and maybe a bipartisan Medicare 
agreement as well, and other matters that can be dealt with. It is 
interesting how quickly the Senate can move when there is a broad 
bipartisan consensus behind measures. It may have taken a while for our 
friends on the other side to come around to our view and the view of 
most Americans on these issues, but for the sake of our troops, our 
families, and our security, we are glad they finally did. I hope the 
majority leader and I, working together, can figure a way through this 
massive amount of legislation in a very few days that allows us to 
reach a successful conclusion on many legislative fronts that will give 
both sides an opportunity to leave here at the end of the week 
believing this was a week of significant accomplishment for the Senate 
and for the American people.

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