[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16611-16621]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         ADVANCING AMERICA'S PRIORITIES ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 3297, 
which the clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar 894, S. 3297, the Advancing 
     America's Priorities Act.

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the time 
until 4 p.m. shall be equally divided between the two leaders or their 
designees.

[[Page 16612]]


  Mr. REID. So we each have approximately 15 minutes?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator is correct.
  Mr. REID. I designate that Senator Durbin take 7\1/2\ minutes and 
Senator Boxer take 7\1/2\ minutes.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Who yields time?
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I wish to just ask a question.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from New Mexico.
  Mr. DOMENICI. While my leader, the Republican leader, is here on the 
floor, I had thought that I was going to speak for 5 minutes following 
you, but I understand that our side will only have 15 minutes.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I would say to my friend from New Mexico, I have 
spoken, so whatever time remains on this side----
  Mr. DOMENICI. You want him to have? That is fine with me. I will 
speak afterward.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, how much time remains on this side?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. There is 15\1/2\ minutes.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the time on our side will be used by 
the Senator from Oklahoma.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Who yields time?
  The Senator from California is recognized.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I understand the time is divided between 
myself and Senator Durbin. How much time do I have?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator has 7\1/2\ minutes.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that following 
Senator Boxer, we go to Senator Coburn and then to Senator Durbin.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. COBURN. Reserving the right to object, if the majority leader 
would agree, I wish us to have a back and forth debate. I would let 
Senator Durbin have the last word, if that is OK with the majority 
leader.
  Mr. REID. I don't understand that. We don't have that much time.
  Mr. COBURN. I suggest that the last 2 minutes of debate be controlled 
by Senator Durbin, and the rest be divided equally among us, as we have 
it divided now.
  Mr. REID. That is fine with me, Mr. President.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from California is 
recognized.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I wish to spend the 7 minutes talking 
about four bills that are in this package from the Environment and 
Public Words Committee, all of which have broad bipartisan support, and 
I want to correct the Record on some of the things Senator Coburn 
stated about one of the bills.
  The bills are the Captive Primate Safety Act, the Beach Protection 
Act, the Chesapeake Bay Gateway Act continuing authorization, and the 
Appalachian Regional Development Act amendment. These bills are all 
bipartisan and they represent a diverse background of support in the 
country and in the Senate.
  The Appalachian Regional Development Act amendment reauthorizes and 
improves the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965. The ARDA is 
a Federal-State partnership that works with the people of Appalachia 
toward self-sustaining economic development and to improve the quality 
of life in all, or portions, of 13 States--Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, 
Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, 
South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The 
commission's primary function is to support economic development in the 
Appalachian area, critical infrastructure to provide a climate for 
business, growth, and industry that will create jobs in the regions 
that need that help. The bill strengthens existing law and provides 
better assistance to counties in the region that are most at risk of 
becoming economically distressed. The bipartisan support for this bill 
is very strong. It includes Senators Voinovich, Alexander, Brown, Burr, 
Byrd, Cardin, Clinton, Cochran, Dole, Graham, McConnell, Mikulski, 
Rockefeller, Schumer, Sessions, Shelby, Specter, and Warner. We 
certainly hope this package passes because this area of the Nation 
requires this commission to continue its work.
  Next, the Beach Protection Act. We spent a lot of time talking about 
offshore oil drilling. Let the Record show that everyone in the Senate 
supports offshore oil drilling. The difference between Democrats and 
Republicans is that they want to open pristine areas off the coast, 
where we protect a $70 billion coastal economy, while the oil companies 
hold leases to 68 million acres and they are not drilling. So we all 
say drill now to these oil companies. But as far as opening our 
pristine coast and jeopardizing the coastal economy, that doesn't make 
much sense. What will happen is you will give the oil companies more 
assets on their balance sheet, and they are still not drilling the 
acres they have, the 68 million acres, plus they have access to another 
28 million acres in the Alaska Naval Reserve. I believe they have 
developed 3 million of those acres. It has about three times as much 
oil as ANWR. This is so much bluster and there is nothing to it--except 
the oil companies' power to be shown on the floor of the Senate by my 
friends, the Republicans.
  Regardless of those differences, we want to protect our beaches. We 
don't want to have our kids swimming in polluted water. They want to 
enjoy the clean, safe, healthy, pristine beaches. The Beach Act will do 
that. Essentially, there are improvements that are greatly needed so 
that the waters are tested and people know it is safe to swim. The 
bipartisan support for this bill includes Senators Lautenberg, 
Voinovich, Warner, Brown, Cardin, Clinton, Durbin, Kerry, Klobuchar, 
Menendez, Schumer, and Stabenow.
  The Chesapeake Bay Gateway Act will help to connect the public with 
the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers to 150 exceptional parks, wildlife 
refuges, and historic trails. It is one of America's and the world's 
most important estuaries. The American people put a great amount of 
resources into protecting and restoring this great water body, and now 
this bill will help the public understand, visit, and enjoy this 
spectacular bay. I applaud the bipartisan work that went into this 
bill. The work was done by Senators Specter, Biden, Carper, and Casey, 
and the lead on this was taken by the Senators from Maryland and the 
Senators from Virginia.
  The last one I will talk about is Captive Primate Safety Act, and why 
this bill will help address a serious issue. More than 132 people, 
including 29 children, have been injured by nonhuman primates, and the 
fact is they should not be pets. One of the statements I read that 
Senator Coburn made is that this is going to stop the ability of 
scientists to use these nonhuman primates in science. That is false. 
That is exempted from this. He also made reference to the fact that we 
ought to ban them from coming into the country. The fact is that, since 
1975, they have been banned from coming into the country. But they are 
in the country and the fact is there is interstate trade here. It is a 
real problem.
  The CDC has said they have serious concerns about the transmission of 
communicable diseases here, and they stated:

       These animal species have been linked to transmission of 
     certain diseases to humans, and individuals involved in 
     transporting animals are especially at risk for infection.

  So even though we have had these concerns and we passed legislation 
banning their importation, the CDC is still greatly concerned that 
there is a nonhuman primate pet trade in this country. So, clearly, the 
statements that have been made on this have been incorrect. Trade or 
transportation of these animals for zoos is exempt. Scientific research 
facilities are exempt and certain other regulated entities. Groups like 
Helping Hands, which provides highly trained and carefully controlled 
nonhuman primates as helping animals to severely disabled people
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The time of the Senator has 
expired.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for 30 seconds.

[[Page 16613]]


  Mr. DURBIN. I yield 30 more seconds.
  Mrs. BOXER. Last week, I received a letter from the Humane Society 
highlighting the need for this legislation, and another letter of 
support from over 25 groups, including Defenders of Wildlife.
  I will close with this. When Senator Vitter comes together with me, 
that is unusual. But we came together on this bill. Senator Lieberman 
is on board, as are Senators Lautenberg, Menendez, and Ensign. So you 
are looking at a bill that has been carefully thought out. I urge 
strong support for this package.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Oklahoma is 
recognized.
  Mr. COBURN. Will the Chair advise me when I have used 7 minutes?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Yes, the Chair will do so.
  Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, I listened to the majority leader and the 
distinguished colleague from California. I anticipate what I will hear 
from the Senator from Illinois.
  One of the first observations I had is that we have shut down debate 
on the Senate today because we came in at 3 o'clock. We have 30 minutes 
to debate whether on a motion to proceed, we will proceed to spend $11 
billion. We can dispute, if we are going to authorize it, whether we 
intend to spend it. That is what your press release says, Senator 
Durbin; that is what Senator Boxer's says. You intend to spend it. If 
you don't intend to spend it, then offset it and the authorizations 
won't make any difference. It is $10 billion-plus in new spending. It 
creates 36 new Federal programs, some of which I am for. It puts a ban 
on the sale of nonhuman primates across State lines. That is probably 
not a big deal.
  We could be spending time on true American energy independence, which 
has to do with national security. We could spend time on lowering gas 
prices. We could spend time on eliminating wasteful Washington 
spending. The statement by the minority leader was that he will offer 
us a chance to come back to this, but we are going to spend 60 hours on 
this, 30 hours postcloture and 30 hours on the other, so we won't ever 
get back to energy, and he knows that. We will not get back to energy 
if we take up this bill.
  So the question that is before us is--today, the President announced, 
with our help--and the President cannot spend any money without 
Congress's help--we will have the highest budget deficit on record in 
this country--highest ever. It is $2,900 per man, woman, and child in 
this country--money we are going to spend that we don't have and that 
we are charging to your children and grandchildren.
  This is a debate about priorities. Nine of the bills in this package 
I have no objection to. They could have gone through. The majority 
leader knows that. There are about five of the bills I adamantly 
oppose. We have 46,800 dog bites a year. That is not business we should 
be working on now. That is local. So is subhuman primates. If you count 
the money we are going to steal from Social Security, that is another 
$100 billion. We are going to take it and put an IOU in for Social 
Security.
  What is this bill about? This bill is about trying to bust the 
process here, where we start thinking about the future. We are going to 
say it doesn't spend any money, that it doesn't have any effect on the 
budget. We are going to say there is no real cost until it gets 
appropriated. But the fact is if we authorize another $10 billion in 
spending--and I note also in the letter that the majority leader asked 
to be submitted into the Record, if authorized and appropriated, it 
would spend $11 billion.
  Well, it is unconscionable to me that someone would support a bill 
that did not work hard to make sure it is appropriated. If you are not 
going to do that, then you are not true to the very people you are 
saying you want this bill to take action for. The people supporting 
this bill have every intention of having the money spent. Let's not kid 
ourselves. So if the intention is to spend the money, the money is 
going to get spent. That is how we got to a national debt--that is how 
we have an $85 trillion unfunded liability in front of us. It is not 
wrong to want to try to fix that. It is not wrong to try to address 
issues. The ALS Registry is something the CDC can already do. As a 
matter of fact, their own quote on it was that they spend only $29 
million a year on ALS. We are going to spend $75 million on a registry 
that doesn't cure anybody. Why don't we spend $75 million additional on 
research for ALS? Why don't we spend this $10 billion at NIH so we 
cover all of the diseases, where we can make a major impact? No, we 
want to respond to interest groups and lobbyists, and we want to go 
home and say we have done something, when we have not done anything 
except raise costs.
  There is $300 billion worth of waste, without a doubt, every year 
that occurs--waste, fraud, or duplication in this country. This body 
doesn't want to offset it.
  The majority leader, as well as many of the Members and authors of 
these other bills, have been offered commonsense offsets to pay for 
their bills. Just like every family does, when you have something new 
you want to do and you have a limited budget, what do you do? You make 
a choice, you decide a priority, and then you decide what you would not 
do so you can do what you want to do. We don't do that in the Senate. 
We conveniently charge it to our grandkids. What nobody realizes is 
this past Saturday, the Senate and the House increased the debt limit 
by $800 billion. Most Americans didn't even know that. It was tucked 
very neatly into the housing bill. We increased the debt limit $800 
billion--$800 billion more we are going to borrow.
  People will say: Senator Coburn, you are for the war, you supported 
the war. But I did not vote for the appropriations bills for the war, 
and there is a reason for it. Because we should be paying for it. We 
should be making the hard choices instead of charging the war to our 
kids.
  This is a debate I am glad we are finally having. Part of me says I 
would love to get on it, but the most important thing we need to do and 
the most important thing the Senate needs to be doing is working on 
energy.
  I reserve the remainder of my time.
  Mr. WEBB. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the Advancing 
America's Priorities Act, S. 3297, which contains a provision that 
would provide much needed funding for the Washington Metropolitan 
Transit Authority, WMATA.
  This provision mirrors the National Capital Transportation Amendments 
Act of 2007, S. 1446, which I proudly cosponsored with Senators Cardin, 
Mikulski, and Warner.
  In short, the Metro funding provision would authorize $1.5 billion 
over 10 years for Metro to finance capital and preventive maintenance 
projects for the Metrorail system. The Federal funding would share the 
funding burden with the States because the money would be contingent on 
the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia jointly matching the 
Federal contribution towards Washington Metro's capital projects.
  Appropriate funding for the Metro system is critically important to 
our federal workforce, millions of tourists who visit our Nation's 
Capital area, as well as the millions of people who live around 
Washington, DC. I have worked diligently with my Senate and House 
colleagues for the past 2 years to pass this legislation, and I ask my 
colleagues to help secure passage of this provision this week.
  Metrorail and Metrobus ridership continue to grow as more than 1 
million riders on average per weekday choose Metro as their preferred 
mode of transit for traveling around the National Capital Region. As 
the price of gasoline has soared, more people are turning to Metro as 
their primary mode of transportation. I would note that in fiscal year 
2008, 215 million customers rode Metrorail. That is 7 million more 
customers than in 2007. In fact, 22 out of 25 of Metrorail top 
ridership days have occurred since April of this year. And 133 million 
customers rode Metrobus in fiscal year 08, which is the highest yearly 
total ever, an increase of 1.4 million relative to 2007.

[[Page 16614]]

New funding authorized in this legislation would provide the necessary 
resources to increase bus and rail capacity and meet forecasted 
ridership demands, before the system and region become totally mired in 
congestion.
  The federal role in supporting Metro is clear, with a long track 
record to draw upon. Washington Metro began building the rail system in 
1969 with Federal funding authorized under the National Capital 
Transportation Act of 1969. On two separate occasions, Congress has 
authorized additional funding for Metro construction and capital 
improvements. According to a 2006 Government Accountability Office 
report:

       WMATA provides transportation to and from work for a 
     substantial portion of the federal workforce, and federal 
     employees' use of WMATA's services is encouraged by General 
     Services Administration guidelines that instruct federal 
     agencies to locate their facilities near mass transit stops 
     whenever possible. WMATA also accommodated increased 
     passenger loads and extends its operating hours during events 
     related to the federal government's presence in Washington, 
     DC, such as presidential inaugurations and funerals, and 
     celebrations and demonstrations on the National Mall.

  In fact, during rush hour, Federal employees account for over 40 
percent of Metro ridership. The Metro system was also critical to the 
evacuation of Washington, DC, following the 2001 terrorist attacks. 
Metro was deemed a ``national security asset'' in a Federal security 
assessment conducted after 9/11. In short, the operation of the Federal 
Government would be nearly impossible without the Metro system and the 
Federal Government's emergency evacuation and recovery plans rely 
heavily on Metro.
  The future of Metro and its continued success relies upon consistent 
support from the Federal Government and the regional localities it 
serves. Now is the time for the Federal Government to commit itself to 
providing more long-term Federal funding for the Washington Metro 
system. Together, along with our jurisdictional partners, we must 
continue to invest in the transit system that has brought so many 
benefits not only to the region, but also to the Federal Government and 
the entire nation. I urge my colleagues to support passage of this 
bill.
  Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following 
letters be printed in the Record relating to S. 3297, the Advancing 
America's Priorities Act.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                    July 28, 2008.
     Hon. Harry Reid,
     Senate Majority Leader, U.S. Capitol,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Mitch McConnell,
     Senate Minority Leader, U.S. Capitol,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Majority Leader Reid and Minority Leader McConnell: 
     The undersigned members of the ocean and coastal research, 
     education, and conservation community would like to thank you 
     for your strong support of ocean and coastal science and 
     conservation in the U.S. Senate. We strongly support S. 3297 
     because it includes a number of important ocean and coastal 
     related bills--Hydrographic Services, Ocean Exploration and 
     Mapping, Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System, 
     Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act, and the Sea 
     Grant Reauthorization. Because of the inclusion of these 
     bills, we collectively urge the Senate to pass this important 
     legislation at the earliest available opportunity.
       These bills will increase our understanding of coastal, 
     ocean and Great Lake ecosystems and promote both conservation 
     and sustainable use. All of the bills have passed the House 
     of Representatives and have been reported out of the Senate 
     Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee with 
     bipartisan support.
       With more than 50 percent of the U.S. population living in 
     coastal counties, these regions are vital contributors to our 
     economy, quality of life and national security. With an ever-
     changing climate, increasing natural hazards, and declining 
     fisheries, we need the tools to protect and manage our ocean 
     assets and better understand how ocean and coastal ecosystems 
     respond to natural and human-related hazards.
       We hope you will demonstrate your continued commitment to 
     strengthening our Nation's understanding and conservation of 
     the oceans through Senate consideration of these measures.
       Sincerely,
         National Association of Marine Laboratories, Sea Grant 
           Association, National Federation of Regional 
           Associations for Coastal and Ocean Observing, 
           Reinsurance Association of America, Campaign for 
           Environmental Literacy, League of Conservation Voters, 
           Association of Zoos and Aquariums, University 
           Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Woods Hole 
           Oceanographic Institution, Coastal States Organization, 
           National Association of State Universities and Land 
           Grant Colleges, Maryland Sea Grant.
         University of Southern Mississippi, MK & CO, University 
           of Washington, Ocean Initiative, Natural Resources 
           Defense Council, Oceana, Marine Conservation Biology 
           Institute, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, 
           Stony Brook University, North Carolina Sea Grant 
           Program, Florida Sea Grant College Program, USC Sea 
           Grant, New York Sea Grant.
         Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, Georgia, Savannah 
           State University, Delaware Sea Grant, Baruch Institute, 
           University of South Carolina, Chesapeake Biological 
           Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for 
           Environmental Science, New Hampshire Sea Grant, 
           University of New Hampshire Marine Program, Annis Water 
           Resources Institute, Grand Valley State University, 
           Michigan, Alaska SeaLife Center, Center for Coastal 
           Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Harte 
           Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas, Maine Sea 
           Grant.
         Pennsylvania Sea Grant, National Institute for Undersea 
           Science and Technology, University of Mississippi, 
           Hawaii Sea Grant, Romberg Tiburon Center, San Francisco 
           State University, Michigan Sea Grant, Louisiana Sea 
           Grant, Rhode Island Sea Grant, Woods Hole Sea Grant, 
           Center for Marine and Coastal Sciences, California 
           Polytechnic State University, University of Wisconsin 
           Sea Grant Institute and Water Resources Institute, 
           South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium.
                                  ____

         National Federation of Regional Associations for Coastal 
           and Ocean Observing,
                                                    July 28, 2008.
     Hon. Harry Reid,
     Senate Majority Leader, Hart Senate Office Building, 
         Washington, DC.
     Hon. Mitch McConnell,
     Senate Minority Leader, Russell Senate Office Building, 
         Washington, DC.
     Hon. Daniel Inouye,
     Chair, Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, 
         Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC.
       Dear Senators Reid, McConnell and Inouye: We write to 
     express our strong support for S. 3297, ``Advancing America's 
     Priorities Act'' and urge its quick adoption. The bill 
     contains several ocean and coastal provisions that are needed 
     to provide the nation with the understanding and tools 
     necessary to address issues now facing our oceans and Great 
     Lakes. These include:
       Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act of 
     2008, Hydrographic Services Improvement Act of 2008, NOAA 
     Undersea Research Program Act of 2008, Ocean and Coastal 
     Mapping Integration Act, National Sea Grant College Program 
     Amendments of 2008, and Federal Ocean Acidification Research 
     and Monitoring Act of 2008.
       Together, these legislative acts create a foundation for 
     improving our understanding of our nation's oceans and coasts 
     and how they will respond to changing conditions and for 
     providing information to the variety of citizens who depend 
     on them. As evidenced by the impacts of El Nino events, our 
     oceans affect all citizens. The oceans are inextricably 
     linked to weather and climate and in order to respond to 
     current and future climate change impacts, we must increase 
     our knowledge in this realm.
       The National Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) is a 
     vital tool for tracking, predicting, managing, and adapting 
     to changes in our nation's waters. The Senate has passed IOOS 
     legislation twice since 2002 in recognition of the nation's 
     need to provide predictions and forecasts necessary for safe 
     maritime operations, minimize losses from extreme storms, 
     optimize ocean resources and sustain healthy ecosystems.
       We thank you for your continued support of ocean and Great 
     Lakes issues and for passage of this important bill.
           Sincerely,
     Molly McCammon,
       Chair, National Federation of Regional Associations for 
     Coastal and Ocean Observing, Alaska Ocean Observing System.
                                  ____

                                                     July 28, 2008
      Hon. Harry Reid,
      Senate Majority Leader
     U.S. Capitol, Washington, DC.
     Hon. Mitch McConnell,
     Senate Minority Leader,
      U.S. Capitol, Washington, DC.
        Dear Majority Leader Reid and Minority Leader McConnell: 
     On behalf of the 95

[[Page 16615]]

      members of the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, the Joint 
     Ocean Commission Initiative, the 125 members of the National 
     Association of Marine Laboratories and the 31 states that 
     make up the Sea Grant Association, we would like to thank you 
     for your strong support of ocean science and conservation in 
     the U.S. Senate and urge prompt passage of S 3297--Advancing 
     America's Priorities Act. Title V, Subpart B--Oceans of S 
     3297 contains six vital ocean research, conservation, and 
     education bills:
        Part I--Hydrographic Services Improvement Act Amendments 
     of 2008.
        Part II--Ocean Exploration.
        Part III--Ocean and Coastal Mapping Integration Act.
        Part IV--National Sea Grant College Program Amendments Act 
     of 2008.
        Part V--Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System 
     Act of 2008.
        Part VI--Federal Ocean Acidification Research and 
     Monitoring Act of 2008.
       These bills are consistent with the extensive analyses and 
     recommendations of the Pew Oceans Commission, the U.S. 
     Commission on Ocean Policy, the President's Ocean Action 
     Plan, and the Administration's Ocean Research Priorities 
     Plan. Collectively these bills will significantly advance our 
     understanding of coastal, ocean and Great Lake ecosystems, 
     climate change, and promote both conservation and sustainable 
     use of our ocean resources. All of the bills have passed the 
     Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee and the House 
     of Representatives with bipartisan support.
       With more than 50 percent of the U.S. population living in 
     coastal counties, these regions are essential contributors to 
     our economy, quality of life, maritime safety, national 
     competitiveness, and national security. With an ever-changing 
     climate, increasing natural hazards, and declining fisheries 
     and reduced water quality, we need the tools to conserve and 
     manage our ocean assets and better understand how ocean and 
     coastal ecosystems respond to natural and human-related 
     hazards.
       These provisions would: (1) fuel exploration and inspire 
     future generations of ocean explorers, scientists, marine, 
     and industry leaders; (2) foster the development and 
     integration of ocean observational systems to protect public 
     health through the identification of marine toxins and 
     pollutants in coastal areas; (3) improve prediction of and 
     warnings of tsunamis, hurricanes, El Nino events and other 
     natural hazards; (4) enhance homeland security, support 
     maritime operations and collect important information needed 
     to address global warming, improve ocean health and provide 
     for the protection, sustainable use and enjoyment of ocean 
     resources.
       We hope you will demonstrate your continued commitment to 
     strengthening our Nation's understanding and conservation of 
     the oceans through quick passage of S 3297.
       Sincerely,
     Robert B. Gagosian,
       President, Consortium for Ocean Leadership.
     James D. Watkins,
       Admiral, U.S. Navy (Retired), Chairman, U.S. Commission on 
     Ocean Policy, Co-Chair, Joint Ocean Commission Initiative.
     James Sanders,
       President, National Association of Marine Laboratories.
     Leon E. Panetta,
       Chair, Pew Oceans Commission, Co-Chair, Joint Ocean 
     Commission Initiative.
     Paul Anderson,
       President, Sea Grant Association.
                                  ____



                                       The Nature Conservancy,

                                     Arlington, VA, July 28, 2008.
     Hon. Harry Reid,
     Senate Majority Leader,
     U.S. Capitol, Washington, DC.
     Hon. Mitch McConnell,
     Senate Minority Leader,
     U.S. Capitol, Washington, DC.
       Dear Majority Leader Reid and Minority Leader McConnell: I 
     write to thank you for including the Oceans subtitle in S. 
     3297, the Advancing America's Priorities Act. The Nature 
     Conservancy supports the six pieces of oceans legislation 
     included in the Oceans subtitle--Hydrographic Services 
     Improvement Act Amendments of 2008, Ocean Exploration, Ocean 
     and Coastal Mapping Integration Act, Integrated Coastal and 
     Ocean Observation System Act of 2008, National Sea Grant 
     College Program Amendments Act of 2008, and Federal Ocean 
     Acidification Research and Monitoring Act of 2008.
       These bills will increase our understanding of and ability 
     to effectively conserve and manage ocean and coastal 
     ecosystems. All have passed the House of Representatives and 
     have been reported out of the Senate Commerce, Science, and 
     Transportation Committee with bipartisan support.
       Covering more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface, 
     oceans are some of the most productive yet threatened natural 
     systems in the world. Once considered a limitless and 
     inexhaustible resource, the demands of a growing population 
     are damaging marine ecosystems and depleting ocean and 
     coastal resources. New and innovative approaches are needed 
     to maintain and restore these systems in order to sustain the 
     communities that depend upon them. The bills in the Oceans 
     subtitle of S. 3297 would provide valuable science and 
     information to enable these efforts.
       I commend the work of the Senate and the Commerce, Science, 
     and Transportation Committee to pass legislation to improve 
     ocean and coastal science and data. The Nature Conservancy 
     looks forward to continuing to work with the Senate to pass 
     three additional pieces of important ocean and coastal 
     conservation legislation before the end of this session--the 
     Coral Reef Conservation Amendments Act of 2007, the Coastal 
     and Estuarine Land Protection Act, and the Ballast Water 
     Treatment Act of 2007.
       I urge you to continue to support ocean and coastal science 
     and conservation and thank you for your consideration of this 
     important legislation.
           Sincerely,
                                               Lynne Zeitlin Hale,
                                     Director, Global Marine Team.

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. Presient, last week, I joined the majority leader in 
introducing S. 3297, the Advancing America's Priorities Act. The 
majority leader selected three dozen legislative items from the 
jurisdiction of seven Senate committees, including eight Judiciary 
Committee bills, for this effort. These are all measures with 
bipartisan support and, we believe, the support of a strong bipartisan 
majority of the Senate. I have moved several such bills through the 
Judiciary Committee only to be stymied by objection once on the Senate 
calendar. All of the Judiciary bills have already passed the House with 
overwhelming support. Each of these bills has the support of all 
Democratic Senators. Each has been stalled on the Senate floor by 
Republican objection. I hope that all Senators will now join us to 
support this important effort and finally pass legislation helpful to 
the American people that should have passed long ago by unanimous 
consent.
  After more than 7 years of failed policies from the Bush 
administration, the American people are suffering. Americans are 
feeling the effects of a very real recession which has left them with 
fewer jobs and record high prices. People are rightly worried about 
keeping their communities and their children safe from crime as well as 
terrorism.
  Americans are looking to us in Congress to work to solve these vexing 
problems. We had an opportunity in this Congress to come together 
across party lines to do the work of the American people. Instead, 
regrettably some have chosen to obstruct our progress and stand in the 
way of legislation designed to help hard working Americans.
  The Judiciary Committee has worked throughout this Congress to 
advance the priorities of Americans. We have reported legislation to 
support local law enforcement to make our cities and towns safe from 
crime that has now gone back up after consistent declines, to protect 
our children from exploitation and poverty, to ensure the civil rights 
and voting rights of Americans, to combat fraud and corruption, and to 
keep us secure without sacrificing our values.
  Many pieces of legislation with broad bipartisan support that we have 
managed to move through the Judiciary Committee have then stalled on 
the Senate floor due to obstruction. The majority leader has been 
forced to resort to extraordinary measures to try to pass these bills, 
which should have sailed through without opposition. Some of these 
bills, including several important pieces of legislation that have been 
reported from the Judiciary Committee this Congress, have been 
incorporated by the majority leader into the Advancing America's 
Priorities Act. Congress should promptly pass this important 
legislation, which will help the American people.
  One key bill in this package is the reauthorization of the Runaway 
and Homeless Youth Act. It is astonishing that in the richest country 
in the world, millions of our young people face homelessness and the 
many dangers of life on the streets.
  When the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on this issue in 
April, we heard from Mark Redmond

[[Page 16616]]

and Michael Hutchins of Spectrum Youth and Family Services in 
Burlington, VT. They told us how much the act is needed to help young 
people in Vermont and around the country. Mr. Hutchins had been 
homeless himself as a young person and saw first hand how the programs 
this act funds can help children turn their lives around and give back 
to their communities.
  I also held a hearing in Rutland, VT, this winter on crime in small 
cities and towns, which emphasized the need for programs to help young 
people in difficult circumstances. The Runaway and Homeless Youth Act 
reauthorization will double the funding states like Vermont are 
guaranteed to receive for programs to benefit runaway and homeless 
young people. This bill will help our young people, and we should pass 
it right away.
  Another important piece of legislation included in this package is 
the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, which I have been 
working with Senator Dodd, Congressman Lewis, and others to pass for 
years. In 1955, the brutal murder of a 14-year-old African-American 
teenager named Emmett Till stirred the conscience of our country. 
Unfortunately, no one has ever been punished for this tragic and brutal 
murder. Last week, I met Simeon Wright, Emmett Till's cousin, who was 
with Mr. Till on the horrible night he was kidnapped. We must share Mr. 
Wright's commitment to fighting for justice after so many years.
  The Till bill would help law enforcement to finally track down those 
whose violent acts during a period of national turmoil remain 
unpunished. Fifty-three years after Emmett Till's murder, his family 
and the families of hundreds of other Americans who lost their lives in 
the fight for equal rights still await justice.
  This legislation provides necessary tools for our Federal Government, 
in cooperation with state and local officials, to vigorously 
investigate and prosecute these cases. By passing this legislation, we 
honor Emmett Till and all those who sacrificed their lives advancing 
civil rights. It is disgraceful that it has taken us so long to take 
this basic step to honor their memories and pursue justice too long 
delayed. It is incredible that some continue to obstruct these efforts.
  The Advancing America's Priorities Act also includes legislation to 
help law enforcement cope with mentally ill offenders, and to protect 
our children from the scourges of drugs, child pornography, and child 
exploitation.
  It seems particularly perverse that legislation meant to protect our 
children and grandchildren from the dangers of the modern world has 
become the subject of partisan obstructionism. This legislative package 
includes the PROTECT Our Children Act, which Senator Biden has 
championed and which would streamline the government's efforts to 
investigate and prevent the exploitation of children. It also includes 
two separate measures that strengthen the laws against the despicable 
practice of child pornography. I have worked hard with many of my 
colleagues to pass these and other child protection bills, and we 
should delay no longer passing them into law. The Effective Child 
Pornography Prosecution Act passed the House 409-0 last November. The 
Enhancing the Effective Prosecution of Child Pornography provision 
passed the House 416-0 last November. The PROTECT Our Children Act 
passed the House 415-2 last November. The Drug Endangered Children Act 
passed the House last September 389-4. All of these bills have been 
cleared by all Democratic Senators, and all are included in the bill 
being brought before the Senate by the majority leader.
  Senator Coburn has now introduced a new bill, S. 3344, which combines 
several of the pieces of child protection legislation contained in the 
Advancing America's Priorities Act package and other preexisting 
legislation. Senator Coburn has prevented many of these same bills from 
passing for many months. He has chosen not to work with the majority 
leader on the Advancing America's Priorities Act to secure passage of 
the many important bills contained within it. He has also chosen not to 
work with the sponsors, Democratic and Republican, House and Senate, of 
the child protection bills he has co-opted, and he did not bother to 
attend a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing which squarely addressed 
one of those bills.
  Instead, he has taken these bills, drafted and introduced by other 
Senators and House members, and without their input or permission, 
combined them and introduced them as his own legislation. Moreover, he 
has combined them in a way that appears calculated to attract 
opposition, and he has included provisions that have not been carefully 
vetted or considered. Where the majority leader has worked with many 
others in the Senate and House to collect important bills with 
bipartisan, bicameral support that can pass into law and increase 
protection for our children, Senator Coburn instead has appropriated 
the work of others in Congress in a way that is unfair and bound to 
fail. That is not legislating. It is more showboating and obstruction. 
We have had too much of those tactics already.
  Sadly, obstruction through Republican holds is just one example of 
the ways some have chosen to hamper progress on so many issues in this 
Congress. They have also boycotted meetings to consider legislation, 
used Senate rules to prevent hearings or cut them short, and 
filibustered more than 80 times.
  Republicans boycotted the most recent business meeting of the 
Judiciary Committee thereby blocking the committee from obtaining a 
quorum and considering important legislation. At that meeting, the 
committee was to consider a bipartisan juvenile justice bill, which 
reauthorized key programs aimed at making our communities safer and 
keeping our children out of the criminal justice system; bipartisan 
legislation to reauthorize the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims 
Protection Act, which would strengthen our efforts to stop the 
abhorrent practice of human trafficking around the world; and other 
matters.
  They have threatened to boycott again this week. That would prevent 
action on the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission, a resolution to 
honor national historically Black colleges and universities, and other 
important bipartisan measures.
  We have seen all manners of obstructionism since the beginning of 
this Congress, with a minority of Republican members using filibuster 
after filibuster to thwart the will of the majority of the Senate from 
doing the business of the American people. Republican filibusters 
prevented Senate majorities from passing the climate change bill; the 
Employee Free Choice Act; the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act; the DC 
Voting Rights Act; the Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy 
Efficiency Act of 2007; the Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act of 
2008; the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008; 
the Consumer-First Energy Act; and the Warm in Winter and Cool in 
Summer Act, to bring much needed relief to poor families who struggle 
to heat and cool their homes in a time of soaring gas prices.
  These are critical pieces of legislation to address urgent priorities 
like the energy crisis, the environment, voting rights, health care, 
and fair wages for working men and women. All of them had a support of 
the majority of the Senate. And all were blocked by a minority of 
Republican Senators bent on preventing us from making progress. 
Republicans have now filibustered more than 80 pieces of legislation in 
this Congress. More than 80. We can only imagine what we could have 
accomplished in this Congress with cooperation rather than obstruction.
  The list goes on. Republican objection has blocked legislation to 
ensure that law enforcement officers can obtain bulletproof vests, to 
strengthen efforts to investigate and prosecute public corruption, to 
give much needed resources to state and local law enforcement, to break 
the grip of a cartel on oil prices, to prohibit war profiteering, to 
train prosecutors, and to teach children to use the internet safely, 
just to name some of the examples. And those are just examples of 
legislation reported by the Judiciary Committee

[[Page 16617]]

that has been obstructed. Last week I made statements delineating a 
dozen and a half bills in addition to those included by the majority 
leader in S.3297, the Advancing America's Priorities Act. Other 
committees have similar lists.
  This long list of priorities unaddressed is even longer if we include 
the many important bills President Bush has vetoed since the beginning 
of this Congress. This list includes legislation to fund stem cell 
research to fight debilitating and deadly diseases, to extend and 
expand the successful State Children's Health Insurance Program that 
would have provided health insurance to more of the millions of 
American children without it, to set a timetable for bringing American 
troops home from the disastrous war in Iraq, and to ban waterboarding 
and help restore America as a beacon for the rule of law.
  This is not about partisan posturing. The American people are 
suffering, and it is time for Congress to start working to make their 
lives better. Time is running short in this Congress. It is past time 
to end the partisan gamesmanship and idiosyncratic objections and make 
progress on behalf of the American people. It is time for us to get to 
work and do what we can to improve the lives of Americans. That is what 
I have been trying to do throughout this Congress. The majority leader, 
with the Advancing America's Priorities Act, has given us a chance to 
take a small but significant step in the right direction. I hope, after 
18 months of unnecessary obstruction, all Senators are finally ready to 
join us in doing the work of the American people.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, while I do not believe that the provisions 
of title VI, subtitle A of S. 3297, corresponding to the National 
Capital Transportation Amendments Act, constitute a congressionally 
directed spending item, I certify, out of caution, that neither I nor 
my immediate family has a pecuniary interest in the aforementioned 
provisions, consistent with the requirements of paragraph 9 of rule 
XLIV of the Standing Rules of the Senate.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, how much time remains on the Democratic 
side?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. There is 6\1/2\ minutes remaining.
  Mr. DURBIN. How much remains on the Republican side?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. There is 7 minutes 54 seconds 
remaining.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, it is time for this debate. No, this 
debate is overdue. It is about time the American people understand the 
choices we are making on the floor of the Senate. Every month this 
President asks us for $12 billion to $15 billion to wage the war. Is it 
paid for? No. It is added to the deficit. We are told we have to do it; 
we have to do it, not just for the troops--no one wants to see the 
troops go without--but because it is our moral responsibility, 
according to the Bush administration, to rebuild Iraq. We liberated 
them. We removed their dictator. We have lost over 4,000 of our best 
and bravest lives and thousands injured. But month after month, the 
administration tells us we need to spend $10 billion to $15 billion on 
the war in Iraq. The protests from the other side of the aisle are few, 
if any, to this President's plan to spend $12 billion to $15 billion a 
month in Iraq.
  Now comes this bill. This bill suggests spending money in America. 
What do we hear? A chorus of complaints from the other side of the 
aisle that it is wasteful--wasteful--to be spending money in America, 
projects that are new Federal programs, questioning whether there is 
wisdom behind them, whether taxpayers' dollars should be spent.
  The American people should be the judge. Should we be spending 
American taxpayers' dollars to establish a national registry for those 
suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease in the hopes we might learn 
something that leads to a cure? Obviously, the House of Representatives 
felt it was. That rollcall was 411 to 3. But there is objection on the 
Republican side of the aisle: a new program.
  Then there is the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act, calling 
on the National Institutes of Health for paralysis research and rehab 
activities, a new program, I will admit it. But if it was a member of 
my family stuck in a wheelchair, quadriplegic, you can bet I would be 
begging for this bill. How did it do in the House of Representatives? 
It passed unanimously, but it is held up on the Republican side of the 
aisle because it is money spent in America for a new program.
  Here is another. Stroke Treatment and Ongoing Prevention Act, a 
bipartisan bill. Senator Kennedy, fighting brain cancer in 
Massachusetts, cannot be here to stand and speak for it. I will speak 
for it. He and Senator Cochran, a Republican from Mississippi, believe 
this is money well spent on stroke treatment in America. It is another 
new program, and it is here for America. It is opposed by the 
Republican side of the aisle.
  Why? Why do they want to stop these programs that help us here at 
home? The list goes on and on. Postpartum depression. I joined 
Congressman Bobby Rush in pushing this one when a lady, a few days 
after giving birth in Chicago, dove out a hospital window, killing 
herself--suicide. We don't want that to happen. This bill tries to help 
mothers struggle through postpartum depression.
  Vision care for kids--more money to be spent in the United States. It 
is opposed by those who are putting a hold on these bills.
  All these bills overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives 
without any bipartisan rancor, until they got over here. Many of the 
same Senators who have voted for a blank check to send money to Iraq 
month after month do not want to spend money in America. I think a 
strong America begins at home. It begins with good health care. It 
begins when we care about our own people first.
  Then there are the Judiciary Committee bills. The Senator from 
Oklahoma is a member of the Judiciary Committee. Every one of these 
bills he had a chance to amend in the committee. Every one of these 
bills came out of committee by unanimous vote, which would include his 
vote. Now he is objecting to moving forward on the floor.
  He does not want us to pass the Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act to 
authorize an increase in authorization levels for runaway kids or the 
Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act to try to finally bring to 
justice those guilty of killing a lot of the great people in America 
who have been victims of civil rights crimes.
  The Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act. Mental 
illness is such an integral part of many criminal acts. We want to do 
something about it. It passed unanimously out of the committee, but it 
is money spent in America, and they object to it. They object to this 
money being spent. Why?
  Effective Child Pornography Prosecution Act. Who favors that? No one 
favors that. Why won't we spend a few dollars to stop it? You know what 
is going on in the Internet. How did that bill do? It passed the House 
of Representatives 409 to 0. There were no breakdowns. Democrats and 
Republicans all agreed we have to stop this scourge, until it came over 
here and was stopped by the Senator from Oklahoma. I don't understand 
his thinking on all this. Let me make one thing clear. These are 
authorization bills. They do not spend money. They authorize us to 
spend money, but that authorization has to be followed up with actual 
spending, and we are limited in the total amount we can spend. If we 
want to put money into these programs, it has to be taken from other 
programs.
  Many of the same Senators who vote month after month to send money to 
Iraq, many of the same Senators who voted for tax breaks for the 
wealthiest people in America in the midst of a war, are saying we 
cannot afford this money for medical research and money to make America 
safer. That is what this vote is all about.
  I reserve the remainder of my time.

[[Page 16618]]

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, I yield 1 minute to Senator DeMint, 
Senator Sessions, and Senator Burr, in that order.
  Mr. DeMINT. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Oklahoma. I wish 
to publicly thank him for taking the time to read so many bills and to 
look at spending and to see if we can do something to curb wasteful 
spending.
  I am disturbed that the Senator from Illinois thinks because we have 
to spend money in the battle against terror around the world that means 
we have to spend more at home without looking at real priorities, such 
as gas prices and dealing with those issues.
  I wish to ask the Senator from Oklahoma a question because he has 
already mentioned it. I saw today that under the Democratic leadership, 
even though in their last campaign they were going to be fiscally 
responsible, I saw in USA Today that we will have the largest deficit 
in our history next year, and that doesn't even include the $100 
billion we are borrowing from Social Security.
  Yet in the middle of this energy debate and how to get gas prices 
down, I was amazed we were coming back today on bills that were just 
gathered together----
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator's time has expired.
  Mr. DeMINT. Mr. President, I ask for 30 more seconds to finish the 
question--15 more seconds.
  I wish to ask the Senator from Oklahoma, is it not true that all 
these bills were attempted to pass without any debate and without any 
vote and that the Senator from Oklahoma was asking questions and asking 
for some kind of openness on the floor? Instead of giving the Senator 
that, they balled them all up together?
  Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, the answer to that question is everyone 
who has a bill in this, outside the nine that have never been hotlined 
or approved in the past, every one has been offered amendments to 
offset spending out of the duplication of waste that is already going 
on.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Alabama.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, in Senator Coburn, we have one of the 
smartest Members of this Senate and I believe the hardest working. 
There is no one more principled. It is perfectly all right in this body 
to object to a bill if it has some impact on your special interest in 
your State, but when a Senator such as Senator Coburn stands and 
objects to a piece of legislation because it is bad policy or impacts 
our national debt, that is not considered appropriate around here.
  He has the quaint idea that you should actually read the bill. He and 
his staff read hundreds of bills. They let them go if they think they 
are OK. They object to the particular parts they think are bad. They 
ask for amendments to improve those bills. And then when asked, if they 
do not accept Senator Coburn's suggestion, he simply says bring up the 
bill and let me offer my amendment. That is not good enough. They want 
unanimous consent to run hundreds of bills through in the dead of 
night, without anybody looking at them, and I am glad one person has 
the courage and the integrity and the spine to stand and object. He is 
the one who is for good Government, in my view, and not the crowd who 
wants to run things through without full debate.
  I thank the Chair and yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. BURR. Mr. President, let me, in full disclosure, say I am 
supportive of some of these bills. I am actually a cosponsor of some of 
these bills. But let me tell my colleagues what we are asked to do 
today.
  A vote for this cloture motion would be a vote to stop consideration 
of energy legislation. A vote for this initiative would be a vote to 
stop considering lower gas prices. A vote for this cloture motion would 
be a vote to muzzle--muzzle--a Member of the Senate. If that happened, 
it would also be a vote to muzzle the American people.
  It is absolutely essential that this body get back on the debate on 
energy, where real solutions are presented in the form of amendments 
and we can address the most important issue to the American people and 
that is the price of gasoline and an energy policy that is desperately 
needed in this country.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, how much time is remaining?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. There is 3 minutes remaining.
  Mr. COBURN. And for Senator Durbin?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Illinois has 31 
seconds.
  Mr. COBURN. Let me ask that again. The time remaining for me is 31 
seconds?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Oklahoma now has 2 
minutes 45 seconds. The Senator from Illinois has 31 seconds.
  Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, I will finish and end. First of all, the 
actual facts are that we are spending in Iraq $8 billion a month. It is 
not $10 billion to $15 billion; it is $8 billion.
  No. 2, I am not holding four of the eight Judiciary bills in this 
bill. As a matter of fact, I already agreed to three of them by 
unanimous consent, and they have gone through this body already. We can 
play with the facts all we want. The fact is, what is the priority for 
the American people? I wish to help people who are paralyzed. I have 
been a supporter of the Emmett Till bill. I think we ought to pay for 
it. We spent $396 million for conferences in the Justice Department for 
the last 5 years. Why would we not take some of that money and pay for 
it? No, that is hard work. We would not do the oversight. We would not 
get rid of the wasteful spending. What we will do is pass new spending. 
That is what has to change.
  What my colleagues want to do I am not necessarily objecting to. What 
I am objecting to is how they want to do it. I am objecting to doing 
something in the name of good today that undermines the name of good 
tomorrow, which is the future availability and potential for the 
children who come our way.
  We can have disputes about the war. I have not voted to fund the war, 
not once. What I have voted for is transparency and elimination of 
waste, and I brought up amendments. The sponsors of this bill, every 
one of them voted for the bridge to nowhere; every one of them voted 
for the Hippy Museum in New York instead of the Child Health Program. 
Every one of them voted to, in fact, vote for sidewalk and bike trails 
instead of fixing the falling down bridges in this country.
  The question is, When will we have people who will vote for the 
future? It is easy to spend money up here. It is very easy to do. And 
because we are on different sides of the debate doesn't mean those who 
want to do this are wrong. What is wrong is, in fact, creating a 
situation where we are going to charge it to our children.
  There are options. Senator Reid was offered a list of amendments to 
offset at the Justice Department for the Emmett Till bill, and so was 
Senator Dodd. They refused to even consider offsetting any wasteful 
spending.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cardin). The Senator's time has expired.
  Mr. COBURN. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The assistant majority leader.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, we are not leaving the Energy bill. 
Senator Reid, the Democratic leader, offered the Republicans to return 
to that bill immediately. This isn't going to take 60 hours, unless the 
Republican side decides to drag it out forever. It doesn't have to. It 
can take a much shorter period of time.
  The bottom line is still this: Are we ready to spend money here in 
America to solve some of our own problems or are we going to keep 
shipping this money overseas to rebuild an Iraqi economy that already 
has more oil than most nations on Earth? Why don't we spend money here 
for medical research, making it safer for our kids to go on the 
Internet, or trying to find runaway children?

[[Page 16619]]

  I think investments in America make us stronger, and that is what 
this vote will be all about. Those who make the argument to vote 
against it are voting against investment in America.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have offered a consent request to keep the 
Energy bill pending regardless if the Senate adopted a motion to 
proceed to S. 3297, the so-called Coburn package. I made this request 
so the speculation bill would not be displaced by the Senate acting on 
S. 3297, the Energy bill.
  To clarify for those listening, an objection was raised to my request 
to keep the Energy bill as the pending business. Anyone voting against 
this because of not being able to stay on Energy is mistaken or--well, 
I won't use the word. That is good enough.


                             cloture motion

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, and pursuant to rule 
XXII, the Chair lays before the Senate the pending cloture motion, 
which the clerk will state.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

                             Cloture Motion

       We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to 
     proceed to Calendar No. 894, S. 3297, the Advancing America's 
     Priorities Act.
         Harry Reid, Jon Tester, Carl Levin, Christopher J. Dodd, 
           Maria Cantwell, Benjamin L. Cardin, Daniel K. Inouye, 
           Hillary Rodham Clinton, Kent Conrad, Bernard Sanders, 
           Patty Murray, Debbie Stabenow, Ron Wyden, Patrick J. 
           Leahy, Max Baucus, Dianne Feinstein, Richard Durbin, 
           Robert Menendez, Sherrod Brown.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent if my friends on the 
other side would waive the live quorum so we could save the Senate 20 
minutes of time.
  Mr. COBURN. I am told by the staff that we cannot waive that.
  Mr. REID. You mean you don't want to. So let's go at it.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll, and the following Senators 
entered the Chamber and answered to their names:

                          [Quorum No. 3 Leg.]

     Boxer
     Bunning
     Burr
     Cardin
     Coburn
     DeMint
     Durbin
     Gregg
     Kyl
     Reid
     Roberts
     Webb
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. A quorum is not present.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move that the Sergeant at Arms be directed 
to request the attendance of absent Senators, and I ask for the yeas 
and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The question is on agreeing to the motion. The clerk will call the 
roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Inouye), the 
Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy), and the Senator from Illinois 
(Mr. Obama) are necessarily absent.
  Mr. KYL. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Colorado (Mr. Allard), the Senator from North Carolina (Mrs. 
Dole), the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Ensign), the Senator from Nebraska 
(Mr. Hagel), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain), the Senator from 
New Hampshire (Mr. Sununu), and the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Voinovich).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 87, nays 3, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 188 Leg.]

                                YEAS--87

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Brown
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burr
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Chambliss
     Clinton
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Coleman
     Collins
     Conrad
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Craig
     Crapo
     DeMint
     Dodd
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Graham
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kerry
     Klobuchar
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lugar
     Martinez
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Salazar
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith
     Snowe
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Tester
     Thune
     Warner
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden

                                NAYS--3

     Bennett
     Specter
     Vitter

                             NOT VOTING--10

     Allard
     Dole
     Ensign
     Hagel
     Inouye
     Kennedy
     McCain
     Obama
     Sununu
     Voinovich
  The motion was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. A quorum is present.
  The majority leader is recognized.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I will use leader time.
  The next matter is the Coburn package. It does not cost a penny. It 
is all authorization, dealing with some of the most sensitive issues in 
this country; for example, the Lou Gehrig's disease. It establishes a 
registry. Scientists say we cannot make any progress on that dread 
disease until a registry is established so scientists can take a look 
at what is going on in Oregon, Florida, Connecticut, and have a 
registry to go to work on this. That is only one.
  It deals with child pornography. It deals with paralysis. It deals 
with strokes. This is an important piece of legislation. I say to all 
my friends on the other side of the aisle, I have offered a consent 
agreement that this will not take us off oil, off energy. That was 
objected to this morning.
  You cannot vote against this legislation because it would take us off 
energy. You cannot vote against it because it will run up the debt 
because that is simply untrue.
  I hope people will vote for this package. I say to everyone over 
here, this is it. Everyone knows how little time we have left to 
accomplish everything we need to do. You can all go home and explain to 
your constituents, if you vote against this legislation, how you 
refused to move forward on some of the most sensitive issues that are 
in our legislative portfolio in Congress today. We will not be able to 
take these matters up at a later time, and we will have to wait until a 
new Congress. In the meantime there will be much suffering and mental 
distress as a result of not moving forward on these matters.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republican leader is recognized.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I am going to take a minute or so of my 
leader time.
  The issue before us, I say to my colleagues, is whether we are going 
to stay on the Energy bill. I have some optimism based on a 
conversation I had with the majority leader on the Senate floor earlier 
this afternoon that we might be able to come up with an agreement to go 
forward. This is not the time to go off of the No. 1 issue in this 
country. On every poll you have seen the American people expect us to 
deal with the energy problem and to deal with it now.
  With all due respect to any other matters that might be pending that 
all of us have an interest in, the question is, what is the most 
important thing to do in the Senate this week, right now, and it is to 
stay on energy.
  I would urge my friends on this side to oppose cloture. We will get 
back to this issue later. Let's stay on energy, finish the job, and 
deal with the No. 1 issue before the American people.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, as I said earlier, folks, there will not be 
another time. This is it.


                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 3268

  I ask unanimous consent that S. 3268, the speculation energy bill, 
that they all want to stay on, remain the pending business 
notwithstanding the adoption of the motion to proceed to a 
nonprivileged item, namely the Coburn package.
  How much more clear could we be?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I will be constrained to object 
because, as a practical matter, if we move to that issue, we will be 
off of the subject indefinitely because of concerns over

[[Page 16620]]

here about this particular measure. We will be on it indefinitely. We 
will probably never get back to the No. 1 issue that is before us. So 
under these particular circumstances, I am constrained to object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. REID. We would be off this as long as it would take to adopt the 
motion to proceed, which would take 15 minutes for the vote. Then we 
could move immediately to the bill. We could do that immediately. We 
could finish it quickly. The only effort that my friend, the 
distinguished junior Senator from Oklahoma, wants is to throw a monkey 
wrench into proceedings around here. That is what this is all about.
  I do not know why people on the other side of the aisle would join in 
this. You go home and explain to your constituents about Lou Gehrig's 
disease. You go home and explain about the stroke legislation. You go 
home and explain to your folks about the Emmitt Till legislation. You 
go home and explain to everyone there about the paralysis bill.
  Next time you see someone in a wheelchair at home, explain to them 
how you voted against moving forward on something that may get them out 
of that wheelchair.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I am confident--I see my friend from 
Oklahoma on the Senate floor. Maybe he would like to ask me a question.
  Mr. CORNYN. If I might through the Chair, under the rules of the 
Senate, I would be entitled to 30 hours of debate postcloture on the 
motion to proceed.
  Mr. McCONNELL. That is my understanding.
  Mr. COBURN. Should we go past that to a cloture motion, I would be 
entitled to 30 hours of debate. If you add these, 60 hours of debate, 
unless we debate all night long every night, would that, in fact, take 
us past the time, the expected time of adjournment?
  Mr. McCONNELL. Reclaiming my time, I think the answer to my friend's 
question is, that is where we would be. Thus my observation that if we 
want to deal with the No. 1 issue in the country in the last week we 
are expected to be here, the appropriate thing to do is to stay on the 
subject.
  Obviously, my friend from Oklahoma feels very strongly about this 
matter. He and the majority leader are likely to have this exchange 
again sometime down the road. The question for all of us is, what is 
the most essential thing to do for America right now?
  The American people are asking us to do something about the price of 
gas at the pump. The way to do that is to stay on that subject at this 
particular moment, and the way to do that is to vote against cloture on 
getting off the subject and going to something else.
  Mr. REID. With all due respect to my doctor friend from Oklahoma, his 
math is not very good. The 30 hours, if he would want to take the 30 
hours, which appears to be a little outlandish--but that would not be 
the first go-round we have had with outlandish stuff around here--that 
would run out sometime tomorrow. The cloture vote would be sometime on 
Thursday.
  No one says we have to leave on Friday. No one says we have to leave 
until we complete our work. So I would say to my friends, do not take 
the bait.
  First of all, we would be on energy. The Senator from Oklahoma can 
stall this out, and we know he is entitled to 30 hours after today and 
30 hours when we invoke cloture on the bill itself because cloture 
would be invoked on it if people had a right to vote on that.
  But do not take that bait. I say to everyone here, you go home and 
explain to someone, like I did, like I am going to have to do--Cathy 
Barrett from Sparks, NV, has Lou Gehrig's disease. She is going to die. 
The average time from finding out you have the disease until you die is 
18 months. Go home and explain to her and her family. And there are 
6,000 new cases every year. Lou Gehrig's disease, that is what it is 
all about.
  As I said before, you go and see someone in a wheelchair, and you 
tell them: I had the chance to do something about that, but I decided 
we would wait until next year. A year is not so important. You are only 
in a wheelchair for a limited period of time--perhaps your life.
  I think you should also go home and explain to every parent who is 
concerned about Internet pornography--people who thrive on doing things 
on the Internet to be in the position to abuse children, that is in 
this bill too.
  I think we should be concerned about an issue that every time you go 
home--and most everyplace in America has an African-American community. 
You see someone in that African-American community, you tell them: I 
did not vote for the Emmitt Till legislation. It was not important 
enough because I had other things I wanted to do.
  So every time you go back to your constituents, African-American 
constituents, wherever it may be in this country, you tell them: I 
wanted to get out of Washington; I did not have time to do that.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the majority leader just made a very 
strong argument for why this issue he is talking about should not be 
put off until next year. But the issue before us now is what to do 
immediately. We have been on the issue of energy for a week. It is time 
to stay on it and finish the job.
  The majority leader, not the minority, determines what the schedule 
is. If the so-called Coburn bill is so important, I am sure the 
majority leader will turn back to it soon. But the issue is staying on 
the No. 1 concern in the country now and finishing the job. The 
majority leader, who controls the schedule, has it perfectly within his 
power not to delay this bill until later. In fact, this bill could have 
been done sooner than now--sooner than now. The issue today is whether 
we stay on the No. 1 issue in the country and finish the job. I 
recommend that we do that.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I hope the Record does not show a grin on my 
face because there is not one. But I think the statement just made by 
the Republican leader: I could have gone to this earlier had I wanted 
to--we have had 90 filibusters, breaking all previous records, breaking 
all previous records of a Congress from the time we were a country 
until today. I could have moved to it earlier?
  For the last 18 months since we have been in the majority, which I 
know has caused the Republicans to be in a snit, we have had to file 
cloture on virtually everything to work around procedural hurdles. So 
this is all part of the game. And I am disappointed that my Republican 
colleagues are buying the line of big oil.
  We have offered, on many occasions, a vote on their drilling 
amendment. We did it again earlier today. I hope we can work something 
out on it. But please do not use that as an excuse to vote against 
these packages.
  I say, and I repeat again, for the 34 different reasons--the 34 
different bills in this package being held up for no good reason--it 
does not affect the debt at all. We have in the Record a letter from 
the head of the Congressional Budget Office that says it has no bearing 
on the deficit.
  I would hope that because of our African-American communities, people 
who have Lou Gehrig's disease, people who are paralyzed, people who are 
concerned about pornography, you will vote for this.
  Now, my friend casually says: Well, the Democratic leader will move 
to this some other time.
  There are very few other times left in this Congress. We are going to 
get out of here in the next week or 10 days, I hope. We then come back 
in September where we have a few--literally, a few days. There is very 
little time. So as it happened with LIHEAP, you folks walked right off 
the cliff last week. You are going to have to go home and explain to 
the poor, the disabled, and the old people why you voted against LIHEAP 
because I do not know when we are going to be able to move to it again. 
I would like to, but I do not know when we can do that again.
  I ask for a vote now.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Let me say briefly, my good friend is making a 
campaign speech about who is going to pay a price for this or that or 
the other. I do not think the American people are particularly 
interested in that.
  What we know they are interested in, all the surveys indicate what 
they are

[[Page 16621]]

interested in, is seeing the Congress work together to do something 
important about the No. 1 issue in the country, and that is the price 
of gas at the pump.
  We have a chance, if we stay on the subject--I am optimistic that we 
are going to have some amendments that are agreeable to both sides. We 
can move forward. The majority leader, who is in charge of the 
schedule, can get us back on any subject he chooses at any time of his 
choosing. So I would hope our colleagues would vote to stay on the 
subject of lowering the price of gas at the pump for the American 
people.
  Mr. REID. Every Senator, all 100 of us, are experienced politicians. 
And for the Republican leader to say there is no price to be paid for 
what they have been doing: not allowing LIHEAP to go forward, and now, 
in effect, killing 34 different bills that should have passed like that 
you do not think there is a price to be paid for it come November 4? 
The American people will decide that.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate 
that debate to proceed to S. 3297, a bill to Advance America's 
Priorities, shall be brought to a close?
  The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Kennedy) and the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Obama) are necessarily 
absent.
  Mr. KYL. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Colorado (Mr. Allard), the Senator from North Carolina (Mrs. 
Dole), the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Ensign), the Senator from Nebraska 
(Mr. Hagel), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain), and the Senator 
from New Hampshire (Mr. Sununu).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 52, nays 40, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 189 Leg.]

                                YEAS--52

     Akaka
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Brown
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Clinton
     Coleman
     Conrad
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Harkin
     Inouye
     Johnson
     Kerry
     Klobuchar
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     McCaskill
     Menendez
     Mikulski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Rockefeller
     Salazar
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Warner
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--40

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Bennett
     Bond
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burr
     Chambliss
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Collins
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Craig
     Crapo
     DeMint
     Domenici
     Enzi
     Graham
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Kyl
     Lugar
     Martinez
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Roberts
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thune
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Wicker

                             NOT VOTING--8

     Allard
     Dole
     Ensign
     Hagel
     Kennedy
     McCain
     Obama
     Sununu
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote the yeas are 52, the nays are 40. 
Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn not having voted in 
affirmative, the motion is rejected.
  Mr. REID. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Stabenow). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. COBURN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  Mr. BAUCUS. I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The legislative clerk continued with the call of the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Whitehouse). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I apologize to everyone for the quorum 
lasting for so long, but there are certain things I have trouble 
getting to. Sometimes I need a little downtime to meet with staff, and 
there are a number of times I don't have an opportunity to do that, and 
meet with a number of Senators. So I apologize to everyone for not 
allowing the quorum to be called off. I do that very rarely, but I 
thought it was appropriate today.
  I have a number of things I want to do and I will do that now.
  Mr. President, I withdraw the motion to proceed to S. 3297.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion is withdrawn.

                          ____________________