[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6819-6820]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, every time we have a peaceful transfer of 
power at any level of our government, it speaks to the strength of our 
democracy. Today is no different.
  Today, Nevada welcomes our newly appointed Senator, Dean Heller--
until a few minutes ago, Congressman Heller--to this side of the 
Capitol. Nevada is still reeling, more than most, from the Wall Street 
recession that crashed our housing and jobs markets. I look forward to 
working with our new junior Senator to make the tough choices that will 
help our State and our citizens recover.
  The Senate will soon confront one of those tough choices. We will 
continue our conversation about how to save

[[Page 6820]]

taxpayer money and lower our Nation's deficit and debt. We have to 
recognize that we cannot do either so long as we keep giving away money 
to oil companies that clearly do not need taxpayer handouts. As gas 
prices and oil company profits keep rising, each Senator will soon have 
the opportunity to stand with the millionaires or with the middle 
class.
  Also, today the Senate will vote on whether to advance the nomination 
of the Attorney General's top deputy, Jim Cole. The Deputy Attorney 
General runs the day-to-day operations at the Department of Justice. He 
also supervises the National Security Division and makes critical 
decisions each day that affect the safety of our great Nation. For 
instance, Jim Cole is one of the only people at the Department of 
Justice who can sign the critical warrants that permit our intelligence 
officials to conduct surveillance on suspected terrorists.
  In the last week, our country has been reminded of the incredibly 
important role our intelligence community plays. It is unthinkable that 
partisanship and legislative ploys are keeping a public servant as well 
qualified as Jim Cole out of this important national security role. I 
hope the Senate will confirm him quickly this evening.

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