[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 19419-19423]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            FIRST SESSION OF THE 113TH CONGRESS REFLECTIONS

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, as the first session of the 113th Congress 
comes to a close, it is appropriate to reflect on some of the 
accomplishments of the year, while acknowledging that so much more 
could have been done had Republicans in both the Senate and the House 
cooperated. We have passed some commonsense, good-government 
legislation. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I am proud 
of the work of the Senate Judiciary Committee this year. While there 
remains much work to be done, these accomplishments illustrate what we 
as a Congress are capable of when we set aside partisan politics and 
put the good of the American people first.
  My first legislative priority at the beginning of this Congress was 
to complete our work to improve and reinvigorate the Violence Against 
Women Act, VAWA. Vermont has been a national leader in addressing 
domestic and sexual violence. In Vermont, VAWA funding has helped the 
National Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence provide services 
for more than 7,000 adults and nearly 1,400 children in 2011 alone. The 
Burlington-based Women Helping Battered Women and Middlebury-based 
WomenSafe have supported thousands of children and adults by offering 
emergency shelter, transitional housing, counseling, and legal 
assistance. These dedicated service providers help victims recover from 
unspeakable trauma and abuse, but the need for VAWA remains. Three 
women are killed every day by abusive husbands or boyfriends. In 
Vermont, 51 percent of all homicides are related to domestic violence. 
After months of work, the Senate came together in the best tradition of 
the institution to reauthorize VAWA with a strong bipartisan vote. This 
bill, which I drafted with Senator Mike Crapo, a conservative 
Republican from Idaho, proved that when we put people before politics 
there is much we can accomplish. Our bill was written with the input of 
survivors and the advocates who work with them every day, law 
enforcement personnel, judges, and State and local leaders. It was 
drafted to meet the real needs of real victims. Although it faced early 
resistance, none of the commonsense changes it included should have 
been controversial. Eventually, the House listened to the experts in 
the field and followed the Senate's example and passed this inclusive, 
lifesaving legislation. At a time when we face gridlock and 
stonewalling on even the most compelling issues, I was heartened to see 
that we could find a way to cut through all of that to help victims of 
violence.
  I am proud of this new law. As a result of its passage, for the first 
time, VAWA guarantees that all victims can receive needed services, 
regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The Leahy-
Crapo Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act strengthens 
protections for vulnerable immigrant victims. It ensures that colleges 
and universities will do more to protect students from domestic and 
sexual violence. Our reauthorization also took important new steps to 
combat the appalling epidemic of domestic violence on tribal lands and 
to ensure that no perpetrators of this terrible crime are above the 
law. I was happy to work with Representative Tom Cole, a Republican 
from Oklahoma, to preserve this provision in our bill. I thank him for 
his leadership.
  To help support the important work of Vermont's domestic and sexual 
violence advocates, I included all-State minimum funding allocations in 
the VAWA reauthorization, and amended

[[Page 19420]]

the definition of rural State to ensure that Vermont continues to be 
eligible for grants under the Rural Grant Program, despite the 
increased population in Chittenden County. So far in 2013, Vermont has 
received $4.5 million in VAWA grants for victim services and violence 
prevention.
  The bill that the President signed also included the Trafficking 
Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, TVPRA, which strengthens 
effective programs to help us take on the scourge of human trafficking, 
both here at home and around the world. It is unacceptable that 150 
years after the Emancipation Proclamation, the evils of sex trafficking 
and labor trafficking, forms of modern-day slavery, still exist. It has 
been needlessly difficult, but I am glad that the Senate adopted my 
amendment to add the Trafficking Victims Protection Act to our Violence 
Against Women Reauthorization Act to address the horrors of human 
trafficking.
  My work across party lines did not end with passage of VAWA and 
TVPRA. It continued on a number of other smaller, yet nonetheless 
important, pieces of legislation.
  As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Appropriations 
Committee's Subcommittee on State Department and Foreign Operations, I 
worked with Senators Shaheen and McCain to obtain a continuation of the 
Iraqi Special Immigrant Visa, SIV, Program, H.R. 3233. Congress created 
the program in 2008 to afford some of the tens of thousands of Iraqis 
who served alongside U.S. troops the opportunity to seek safety and a 
new beginning in the United States. It was set to expire at the end of 
October despite the fact that after 5 years fewer than 6,000 of the 
25,000 available visas had been distributed to those Iraqis who risked 
their lives to be our translators and our guides. They were a critical 
resource to our troops, helping them navigate complex cultural, 
political, and geographic terrain. Letting the program expire would 
have meant leaving many well-deserving Iraqi allies in danger and 
undermining American credibility for decades to come.
  Although our initial efforts this fall to include the extension in 
the continuing resolution were blocked, we were able to work together 
to honor our commitment and renew this critical program by passing 
bipartisan legislation at the final hour. Among the many lessons of the 
Vietnam War is that we must not abandon those who risked their lives to 
help us.
  Over the summer, I also worked with Representatives Kline and Miller 
on the House Education and Workforce Committee, and with Ranking Member 
Grassley to pass the Missing Children's Assistance Reauthorization Act 
of 2013, H.R. 3092. This important measure ensures that the National 
Center for Missing and Exploited Children, NCMEC, can continue its 
critical and lifesaving work on behalf of some of the most vulnerable 
children in our communities. Congress has now renewed its obligation to 
support vital efforts to locate missing children and to protect all 
children from being victimized by predators.
  The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children was first 
launched nearly three decades ago. In that time, NCMEC has helped law 
enforcement in the recovery of more than 188,000 missing children 
through the use of a 24-hour hotline, a national child pornography 
tipline, and a cyber tipline, as well as the circulation of millions of 
photographs used to help track and identify missing children. The bill 
passed by Congress in September extends the program another five years.
  The U.S. Parole Commission is an important public safety entity 
responsible for granting or denying parole for Federal and District of 
Columbia prisoners sentenced before parole was abolished. It also has 
jurisdiction over more recent DC offenders who are on supervised 
release from prison. The Commission's charter was set to expire in 
October, and what should have been a straightforward and 
noncontroversial extension, turned into a drawn-out struggle to 
override the objections of a single Republican Senator. Those 
objections meant that passage was only secured on the eve of the 
Commission's expiration, unnecessarily placing public safety at risk.
  The objection was particularly troubling given that Congress has 
consistently recognized the importance of the Commission, reauthorizing 
it on six prior occasions. Beginning in August, I worked closely with 
members of the House Judiciary Committee to find bipartisan, bicameral 
agreement. They understood the urgency and consequences of inaction and 
passed the U.S. Parole Commission Extension Act of 2013 in September, 
H.R. 3190. Unfortunately, that same sense of urgency was not felt in 
the Senate and opposition delayed passage until the final deadline. 
Although reason ultimately prevailed, unnecessary partisan opposition 
cost us time and threatened public safety. It is not the way to 
legislate.
  I also worked to clear a straightforward extension of the Supreme 
Court Police's authority to protect Justices, their staff, and official 
guests when they are away from Supreme Court grounds, H.R. 2922. I 
worked with my counterparts in the House for months to move this 
extension. Last month, the House voted by an overwhelming majority of 
399 to 3 to pass this bipartisan bill, which extends this important 
authority through 2019. Congress has provided this authority since the 
1980s to ensure the continued safety of our Supreme Court Justices and 
their employees. Threats to the safety of Supreme Court Justices are a 
threat to our democracy. In light of recent attacks on Justices off the 
grounds of the Supreme Court, it was all the more imperative that we 
pass this extension without delay.
  Most recently, I worked with Senators Moran and King to move forward 
the Veterinary Medicine Mobility Act. This legislation, which will 
enable veterinarians to cross State lines to treat animals, 
particularly livestock, when the need arises, will dramatically improve 
the ability of veterinarians to do their jobs effectively. I have heard 
from many Vermonters about just how important this legislation is to 
them. The bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee, and in my role 
as chairman, I moved to discharge it from committee so that it could 
progress to the full Senate as quickly as possible. I am optimistic 
that it will pass the full Senate yet this year.
  Unfortunately, the passage and enactment of bipartisan legislation 
has become more the exception than the rule. If this unprecedented 
obstruction continues, we will end up passing 46 percent fewer laws 
than we did last year. That is 46 percent less progress made for the 
American people and the Nation. It is therefore not surprising that the 
American public holds the Congress in such low esteem.
  As the elected representatives of the American people, we bear a 
special responsibility to find ways to work together to find real 
solutions to our Nation's problems. Yet Congress is gripped by the 
paralysis of partisan politics. We are not the first Congress to face a 
divided government where Republicans control one House and Democrats 
the other. For example, during the 99th Congress, when the Republicans 
controlled the Senate and the Democrats the House, Congress passed 687 
bills, which were enacted into law. It is disappointing how our 
progress pales in comparison. To match that level of productivity this 
Congress, we would have to pass over 600 bills next year. If we stay on 
track, we will have accomplished 81 percent less legislatively than the 
divided 99th Congress. To be clear, we have passed into law 19 percent 
of what the 99th Congress was able pass. That is not a shining record 
of accomplishment, and we can and should do better.
  It is my hope that both parties can set aside petty politics and get 
down to business for the American people. We do not agree on 
everything, but just as the Senate found common ground earlier this 
year on historic legislation to reform our broken immigration system, 
we must find a way to work together. The status quo is unacceptable and 
serves a small and extreme minority, not the common interests of a 
majority of Americans. Let's make the sacrifices and compromises 
necessary

[[Page 19421]]

to push forward legislation that improves our economy and the lives of 
our constituents.
  Look no further for such an opportunity than the Border Security, 
Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, a bill a 
bipartisan group of Senators supported and that the House has failed to 
consider.
  This comprehensive bill contains measures that are important to many 
Vermonters and to the Nation. I added a provision that takes an 
important step toward restoring privacy rights to millions of people 
who live near the northern border by injecting some oversight into the 
decisionmaking process for operating Federal checkpoints and entering 
private land without a warrant far from the border. The bill contains 
significant measures to assist dairy farmers and other Vermont growers 
who have long relied on foreign workers and who will need them in the 
future. It contains a youth jobs program proposed by Senator Sanders to 
help young people gain employment. It contains a measure I proposed to 
make sure that no Canadian citizen traveling to Vermont to see a family 
member will be charged a fee for crossing our shared border. It 
contains an improvement to the visas used by nonprofit arts 
organizations like the Vermont Symphony Orchestra who invite talented 
foreign artists to perform in America. It contains measures to improve 
the lives and futures of refugees and asylum seekers who call Vermont 
home. It contains improvements to the H-2B Program to help small 
businesses. And it contains a measure to ensure that the job-creating 
EB-5 Program will be made permanent so that the State of Vermont can 
continue the great work that is being done with it to improve Vermont 
communities. This is a bill that will help Vermont families and 
businesses alike.
  The immigration reform legislation was cosponsored by four Senate 
Republicans and marked the first time in 7 years that the Senate was 
able to pass a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill. There 
are some provisions in this bill I am not comfortable with, and there 
are provisions that I believe are noticeably absent. However, we came 
together as a Chamber to pass the best possible bill in the spirit of 
compromise and an effort to make lasting, positive change. 
Unfortunately that progress was stalled by the House Republican 
leadership, which has inexplicably vowed not to allow a vote on the 
Senate's bipartisan legislation.
  When the Speaker of the House says as he did last week that the 
Senate should pass more bills, I respond by challenging the leadership 
of the House of Representatives to take up bipartisan Senate-passed 
bills. The list of such bills that have been stalled by the 
obstructionism of House Republicans continues to grow.
  Senator Grassley and I worked hard as chair and ranking member of the 
Senate Judiciary Committee to draft a bipartisan bill to protect 
whistleblowers. This legislation, which is identical to our legislation 
from last Congress, will provide important protections to employees who 
come forward and disclose to law enforcement price fixing and other 
criminal antitrust behavior that harm consumers. This legislation is a 
continuation of the long partnership that I have had with Senator 
Grassley on whistleblower issues.
  Congress should encourage employees with information about criminal 
antitrust activity, such as price fixing, to report that information by 
offering meaningful protection to those who blow the whistle rather 
than leaving them vulnerable to reprisals. Throughout our history, 
whistleblowers have been instrumental in alerting the public, Congress, 
and law enforcement to wrongdoing in a variety of areas. These 
individuals take risks in stepping forward, and many times their 
actions result in important reforms and have even saved lives.
  The legislation is based on recommendations from the Government 
Accountability Office, which interviewed key stakeholders in the 
antitrust community and found widespread support for antiretaliatory 
protection in criminal antitrust cases. The provisions in this bill are 
modeled on the whistleblower protections that Senator Grassley and I 
authored as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and are narrowly tailored to 
ensure that whistleblowers are not provided with an economic incentive 
to bring forth false claims.
  Antitrust laws protect consumers and serve to promote our free 
enterprise system. Our bipartisan bill will help to ensure that 
criminal violations of these laws do not go unreported. I urge the 
House to act quickly to pass this important bipartisan legislation.
  Last month, the Senate passed the bipartisan Employment Non-
Discrimination Act of 2013. That vote was 20 years in the making, and 
it was long overdue for Congress to extend these protections to all 
American workers. Years from now we will look back on this remedy as 
another historic milestone on our Nation's path toward more perfect 
union--a quest to realize more completely the motto engraved in Vermont 
marble above the Supreme Court building that declares ``Equal Justice 
Under Law.''
  All Americans deserve civil rights protections under our 
Constitution, which, in addition to the First Amendment, also ensure 
due process and equal protection. In previous legislative debates like 
the one before us today, Congress has protected and bolstered these 
rights by passing legislation to fill gaps in our Federal laws. This 
includes passing legislation to protect the practice of religion 
without discrimination, to prevent pay discrimination based on sex, and 
to serve openly in the military. By passing the Employment Non-
Discrimination Act, the Senate took another significant step forward in 
removing discrimination from our laws and ensuring the equal treatment 
of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans. I urge the House 
to advance this remedy to injustice, which is already the law in 29 
States.
  Similarly, I urge all Senators to allow passage of several common 
sense bills that were reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee and 
which enjoy strong bipartisan support but remain stalled due to the 
ideological objections of one or two Senators.
  For example, this is now the second time in two Congresses that the 
Judiciary Committee has reported the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant 
Act reauthorization with strong bipartisan support. In the 111th 
Congress, we held a hearing to examine a series of recommendations from 
the Government Accountability Office. I worked with Senator Grassley to 
incorporate many of those recommendations into the reauthorization. Yet 
our progress is needlessly stalled.
  Statistics show that the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program has 
been saving lives for years. The Judiciary Committee most recently 
reported this legislation on a bipartisan vote in August, and it has 
since been approved by all Democratic Senators but remains stalled on 
the Republican side. Over 15 years ago, I worked with Senator Ben 
Nighthorse-Campbell to create this partnership to support State and 
local law enforcement jurisdictions in the purchase of lifesaving 
bulletproof vests. Since that time, over 13,000 jurisdictions have 
participated in this program and more than 1,084,081 vests have been 
distributed to law enforcement because of this partnership.
  Last year, Chief Michael Schirling of the Burlington Police 
Department in Vermont testified before the Judiciary Committee on the 
importance of the bulletproof vest partnership to law enforcement in 
Vermont and across the country. This year alone, 31 Vermont 
jurisdictions received a total over $73,000 to aid in the procurement 
of 271 bulletproof vests. That is 271 more Vermont law enforcement 
officers who will have a better chance of survival if they are shot in 
the line of duty.
  A few of my friends on the other side of the aisle argue that it is 
not the place or function of the Federal Government to spend Federal 
dollars on first responders in communities across the country. I urge 
them to put the safety of our most dedicated law enforcement officers 
and first responders over politics and ideology. Law enforcement 
officers risk their lives every day to ensure our safety, and I believe 
it is our duty to support them.

[[Page 19422]]

Based on data collected by the Department of Justice, in just 2012, 
bulletproof vests saved the lives of at least 33 law enforcement 
officers in 20 States, which is an increase of almost 14 percent over 
2011 levels.
  The obstruction of this program's reauthorization should end. I hope 
those who are determined to continue their opposition will explain 
those objections to law enforcement officers across the country who put 
their lives at risk day in and day out. Congress has consistently 
pursued policies that support our State and local law enforcement 
officers and first responders. They are the frontlines of our national 
defense and indispensable to their communities. I urge all Senators to 
stand with America's law enforcement officers and support this 
legislation.
  In April, the Judiciary Committee favorably reported bipartisan 
legislation that I authored with Republican Senator Mike Lee to update 
ECPA and to bring this law fully into the digital age. Our bipartisan 
bill updates ECPA to require that the government obtain a search 
warrant--based upon probable cause--before obtaining the content of our 
emails and other electronic communications. The commonsense reforms in 
our bill carefully balance the interests and needs of consumers, the 
law enforcement community, and our Nation's thriving technology sector. 
The bill enjoys the support of a diverse coalition of more than 100 
privacy, civil liberties, civil rights, and technology organizations 
from across the political spectrum, including the American-Civil 
Liberties Union, the Heritage Foundation, the Center for Democracy and 
Technology and Americans for Tax Reform. The bill is also the product 
of careful consultation with many Government and private sector 
stakeholders, including the Departments of Justice, Commerce, and 
State, local law enforcement, and members of the technology and privacy 
communities. I remain disappointed that a single Republican Senator has 
objected to the unanimous consent request to pass this bipartisan bill, 
which overwhelmingly passed the Judiciary Committee.
  The privacy reforms in this bill are too important to delay. Like 
Senator Lee and me, all of the bill's supporters understand that 
protecting our digital privacy rights is not a democratic ideal, nor a 
Republican ideal, but an American ideal that all of us should embrace. 
I hope that all Senators will join me in supporting the Electronic 
Communications Privacy Act Amendments Act and that the Senate will pass 
this bill without delay.
  Earlier this year, during consideration of legislation to prevent gun 
violence, the committee passed a bipartisan bill to help curb the straw 
purchasing of firearms and the interstate trafficking of firearms. 
Senator Collins, who shares my goal of giving law enforcement officials 
better tools to combat the straw purchasing and firearms trafficking 
that puts guns into the hands of drug cartels and other criminals, 
joined me in this effort.
  There is no doubt that straw purchasing and gun trafficking 
contributes significantly to the proliferation of guns in our 
communities across America and also across the southern border in 
Mexico. Under current law, there is no criminal statute specifically 
prohibiting straw purchasing. To convict criminals, prosecutors must 
rely on laws that prohibit an individual from making false statements 
in connection with the purchase of a firearm. The penalties for such 
``paperwork violations'' are often too low or do not serve as effective 
tools for law enforcement to put criminals behind bars. My bill would 
have changed that.
  This bill would have established a new Federal criminal offense for 
straw purchasing or conspiring to straw purchase a firearm from another 
person. My legislation would have also criminalized smuggling firearms 
out of the United States and also would strengthen existing law 
regarding the transfer of firearms to prohibited persons. This 
legislation was strongly supported by law enforcement groups from 
across the country. I was greatly disappointed when this legislation 
did not receive the votes to pass the Senate, including from a Senator 
who had voted in favor of it in the Committee. Despite the best efforts 
by Senator Collins and me to find consensus with stakeholders and 
senators, too few Republicans were willing to join our important effort 
to meaningfully combat the serious public safety risks that straw 
purchasing and firearms trafficking pose.
  The committee also passed several bills to prevent gun violence and 
protect law enforcement officers, including Senator Boxer's bipartisan 
School and Campus Safety Enhancements Act of 2013, Senator Franken's 
bipartisan Justice and Mental Health Collaboration, and Senator 
Cardin's bipartisan National Blue Alert Act. Each of these bills was 
carefully crafted and enjoy bipartisan support. I urge the Senate to 
consider these important legislative proposals early in the next 
session.
  In early November, the Judiciary Committee reported by an 
overwhelming bipartisan majority the Leahy-Cornyn Justice for All 
Reauthorization Act which would reauthorize legislation first passed in 
2004, when the House and Senate had Republican majorities, and it was 
signed into law by President George W. Bush. The Justice for All 
Reauthorization Act strengthens and reauthorizes key programs to make 
the criminal justice system work better and more fairly. And it does so 
in a fiscally responsible way, reducing overall authorizations by 
nearly 25 percent. This is a strong example of what we can accomplish 
when we work together.
  Whether it is on the complex issues of protecting victims of domestic 
violence or in crafting a comprehensive immigration reform bill, we 
have demonstrated that we can work across the aisle to develop and pass 
practical legislative solutions. Just recently, in fact, we saw similar 
progress made by Senator Murray and Congressman Ryan as they put aside 
their considerably different views to formulate a budget deal. 
Likewise, the House and Senate are in the process of conferencing a 
farm bill that we hope will be satisfactory to all parties. I hope that 
we can continue this trend of bipartisan cooperation as we consider 
legislation in the coming year, as there are tremendously important 
bills to be considered.
  For example, the Committee will continue its work on surveillance 
oversight and reform. For decades I have consistently fought to curtail 
the sweeping powers contained in the USA PATRIOT Act and FISA 
Amendments Act, while also bolstering privacy protections and 
strengthening oversight. With the recent revelations of sweeping 
government surveillance programs that threaten personal privacy and 
threaten the economic health of American technology companies, we are 
at a watershed moment in this important debate. That is why I joined 
with Congressman Sensenbrenner in October to introduce the USA FREEDOM 
Act, a bill to end the dragnet collection of Americans' phone records 
and recalibrate the government's surveillance authorities. All three 
branches of government have now called into serious question the 
effectiveness of these authorities. I will continue pressing the 
administration to rein in these powers and work with Democrats and 
Republicans to pass the meaningful reforms that are in the USA FREEDOM 
Act.
  Regarding the problem of patent trolls, we have significant work to 
do on several issues under the Judiciary Committee's jurisdiction. It 
is my hope that we will be able to work in a bipartisan way to address 
issues like abusive conduct by patent trolls who are targeting small 
businesses. I have heard from a growing number of main street 
businesses in Vermont and across the country that have received 
aggressive demand letters and been threatened with lawsuits when they 
are simply the innocent user of an allegedly infringing product. I have 
introduced bipartisan legislation with Senator Lee to tackle this 
problem, and I look forward to the Judiciary Committee's continued 
focus on this important issue next year.
  In the wake of this past June's Supreme Court decision striking down 
the coverage formula for Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, I have 
been working with Congressman Sensenbrenner

[[Page 19423]]

and other House Democrats to introduce a bipartisan and bicameral 
response to the Court's ruling and to restore this vital protection to 
the Voting Rights Act, and will continue to push for this legislation 
next year.
  Finally, I will remain focused on a number of important criminal 
justice issues, with sentencing reform legislation as a top priority. 
As a former prosecutor, I understand that criminals must be held 
accountable, and that long sentences are sometimes necessary to keep 
violent criminals off the street and deter those who would commit 
violent crime. I have come to believe, however, that mandatory minimum 
sentences do more harm than good. I chaired a hearing on reevaluating 
the effectiveness of federal mandatory minimum sentences on September 
18, 2013, and have been working with both Democrats and Republicans on 
sentencing reform proposals.
  In the coming year, I also plan to reintroduce my forensics reform 
bill, and will also take up the Second Chance Reauthorization Act, 
which I was proud to reintroduce earlier this year along with Senator 
Portman. Since its enactment in 2008, the Second Chance Act has reduced 
prison costs and improved public safety by giving Federal, State, and 
local governments additional tools to help inmates more successfully 
reintegrate into their communities upon release and avoid re-offending. 
Offenders can escape the cycle of recidivism when they have the job 
training and skills necessary to successfully reenter society. So far 
in 2013, the Vermont Department of Corrections has received over 
$800,000 to implement a two-phase adult reentry demonstration program 
and a comprehensive statewide adult recidivism reeducation planning 
program. The reauthorization bill improves and consolidates the 
programs authorized by the Second Chance Act and reauthorizes the bill 
through 2018. The reauthorization bill improves and consolidates the 
programs authorized by the Second Chance Act, and reauthorizes the bill 
through 2018.
  There are far too many young Vermonters who do not have a roof over 
their head each night. While organizations like the Spectrum Youth and 
Family Services and the Vermont Coalition for Runaway and Homeless 
Youth do their best to provide emergency shelter, services, and housing 
for youth who are homeless or marginally housed, the need far outweighs 
their capacity. Next year I plan to introduce legislation to 
reauthorize the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, RHYA, which expired at 
the end of September. RHYA funds outreach services and helps provide 
shelter for children and young adults who find themselves homeless. I 
look forward to reauthorizing and improving vital RHYA grant programs 
to help children in our most vulnerable communities. This 
reauthorization will also bolster training and resources to ensure our 
grantees are well equipped to meet the needs of young victims.
  In addition to our legislative work, the Judiciary Committee will 
also continue its work to consider judicial and executive nominations. 
During this past year, unfortunately, the same obstruction that plagued 
the Senate during the first-term of the Obama administration continued 
to delay the rate of confirmations to appointments on the Federal bench 
and the Executive Branch.
  The 113th Congress began with a high level of vacancies on the 
Federal judiciary. As of January 2013, there were 77 vacancies in the 
Federal judiciary, and of these, the Administrative Office of the U.S. 
Courts determined 27 to be ``judicial emergencies.'' Over 2013, the 
number of vacancies steadily climbed to around 90. While we were able 
to confirm a total of 46 judicial nominees this year, including 11 
circuit court and 31 district court nominees, we were unable to keep 
pace with new vacancies. By December of this year, there were a total 
of 88 judicial vacancies, 35 of which are judicial emergency vacancies. 
In stark contrast, at the end of the fifth year of the Bush 
administration, there were only 49 judicial vacancies, including 16 
judicial emergency vacancies.
  This year, the Senate voted to confirm two high-level nominees to key 
law enforcement positions at the U.S. Department of Justice: James 
Comey, Jr. to be the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; 
and B. Todd Jones to be the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, 
Firearms, and Explosives. It was unfortunate that the majority leader 
was required to file cloture on both of these nominations before we 
could get to a confirmation vote. In stark contrast with the treatment 
of previous FBI Director nominees, who were all confirmed by the full 
Senate within a day or two of being reported by the Judiciary 
Committee, James Comey is the first FBI Director nominee in Senate 
history to be filibustered. He was ultimately confirmed overwhelmingly 
by a vote of 93 to 1. Two days later, the Senate confirmed B. Todd 
Jones by a vote of 53 to 42, making him the first confirmed head of the 
ATF since that position became Senate-confirmable in 2006.
  The consideration of nominations is one of the most important 
functions of the Judiciary Committee. I am hopeful that we will not see 
the same sort of obstructionism and dilatory tactics that we 
encountered during 2013.
  In the coming year, we must redouble our efforts to work past our 
differences to find bipartisan, commonsense solutions to our Nation's 
problems; I know that that is what Vermonters expect of me. We have 
seen so far in this Congress an unprecedented level of gridlock, 
partisanship, and political brinksmanship, which culminated in a costly 
and unnecessary Republican government shutdown in October. We can and 
must do better, and I hope that we can put the obstructionism of this 
past year behind us. The American people expect and deserve better. We 
owe it to our constituents to work together to pass commonsense 
bipartisan compromise legislation, and we have already seen that we can 
do just that. I look forward to working with my colleagues on both 
sides of the aisle to build upon the progress we have made and find 
meaningful solutions to the many challenges we face as a country.

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