SENATE—Monday, January 28, 2008
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918 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE, Vol. 154, Pt. 1 January 28, 2008 SENATE—Monday, January 28, 2008 The Senate met at 2 p.m. and was RENDERING PUBLIC SERVICE final 20 minutes equally divided and called to order by the Honorable JIM Mr. REID. Mr. President, a year ago controlled between the two leaders, WEBB, a Senator from the State of Vir- today, the Presiding Officer gave one of with the majority leader controlling ginia. the classic speeches in American his- the final 10 minutes. tory as a freshman Senator responding At 4:40 p.m., the Senate will proceed PRAYER to the State of the Union Message. It to vote on the motion to invoke clo- The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- was a message that was accepted on ture on the Rockefeller-Bond sub- fered the following prayer: both sides of the aisle by the people of stitute amendment. If cloture is not in- Let us pray. Virginia and everyone in this country. voked on the substitute, the Senate O God of divine love, help our Sen- I wish to remind the Senator what a will then proceed to a second vote on ators today to rise to the challenge of great public service he rendered last the motion to invoke cloture on the the needs of our world. Inspire them to year in giving this speech. Reid amendment to the underlying bill. do this by making new commitments As a reminder, there is a 4 p.m. filing f to You, followed by faithful service. deadline for second-degree amend- Make them strong in Your strength, SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE ments. At 9 p.m. tonight, the President will that they will not become weary in Mr. REID. We are going to try to get deliver the State of the Union Address doing Your will. Help them to under- approved very quickly—we are cleared to a joint session of Congress. Senators stand that the riches of our lives and on this side; we are waiting to have the will gather in the Senate Chamber at this great land have been given to us Republicans clear Governor Schafer to 8:20 p.m. and then proceed as a body to by Your loving providence. be the Secretary of Agriculture. We the Hall of the House of Representa- Remind them also that to whom would like to get that done in the next tives at 8:30. much is given, much is expected, and little bit. After we do this, it takes the that they are accountable to You for Senators are encouraged to attend White House a number of hours to get the Secretary of the Senate annual their stewardship as they journey all the paperwork in order so that he through life. Empower our lawmakers State of the Union supper tonight at can be sworn in. It would be really nice 6:30 p.m. in S–211. to use their considerable abilities to if we could get him to attend the State serve You and humanity. of the Union Address tonight. This f We pray in the Name of Him who would be extremely good. MEASURE PLACED ON THE gave His life for all. Amen. President Bush has nominated him. CALENDAR—S. 2557 f This will be the last State of the Union Mr. REID. Mr. President, S. 2557 is at speech the President will give, and it PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE the desk and due for a second reading. would be good if he had a Secretary of The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- The Honorable JIM WEBB led the Agriculture there during those pro- pore. The clerk will report the bill by Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: ceedings. So as soon as it is cleared by title. I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the the Republicans, we will clear Gov- The assistant legislative clerk read United States of America, and to the Repub- ernor Schafer to be the Secretary of as follows: lic for which it stands, one nation under God, Agriculture. indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. A bill (S. 2557) to extend the Protect Amer- f ica Act of 2007 until July 1, 2009. f UNANIMOUS-CONSENT Mr. REID. I object to any further APPOINTMENT OF ACTING AGREEMENT—S. 2248 proceedings with respect to this bill at PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE this time. Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unan- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The imous consent that the previously clerk will please read a communication pore. Objection is heard. The bill will scheduled cloture vote on the sub- be placed on the calendar. to the Senate from the President pro stitute amendment occur at 4:40 p.m. f tempore (Mr. BYRD). today and that all provisions under the The assistant legislative clerk read previous order remain in effect. Our REMEMBERING GORDON B. the following letter: staffs have talked; I am confident the HINCKLEY U.S. SENATE, Republican leader is aware of this. Mr. REID. Mr. President, I would say PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- very briefly that someone I have got- Washington, DC, January 28, 2008. pore. Is there objection? To the Senate: ten to know over the last number of Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, Without objection, it is so ordered. years died last night at 7 o’clock—the of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby f leader of the Mormon Church, a man appoint the Honorable JIM WEBB, a Senator who has been instrumental in the tre- from the State of Virginia, to perform the SCHEDULE mendous growth of the church. During duties of the Chair. Mr. REID. Mr. President, this after- his period of time, the church has ROBERT C. BYRD, noon the Senate will be in a period of grown by millions of new people com- President pro tempore. morning business until 3 p.m., with ing into the church. He has been a phe- Mr. WEBB thereupon assumed the Senators permitted to speak for up to nomenal builder, building scores of new chair as Acting President pro tempore. 10 minutes each, with the time equally temples around the world. As we speak, f divided and controlled between the two there is one new church building being leaders. built every day, being dedicated every RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY At 3 p.m., the Senate will resume day. That is a lot of construction. I was LEADER consideration of the FISA legislation. told last week that the largest single The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- The time until 4:40 p.m. will be equally builder of buildings in the United pore. The majority leader is recog- divided and controlled between the two States next to the Federal Government nized. leaders or their designees, with the is the LDS Church, the Church of Jesus ● This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. VerDate Mar 15 2010 08:14 Sep 24, 2010 Jkt 069102 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0686 Sfmt 0634 E:\BR08\S28JA8.000 S28JA8 rmajette on DSK29S0YB1PROD with BOUND RECORD January 28, 2008 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE, Vol. 154, Pt. 1 919 Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which public whether we are serious about tional Intelligence, approving the bill this good man was the leader. protecting them from harm and serious that established it by a vote of 89 to 2. He is someone who has done some about protecting their wallets. So the The Director of National Intelligence very unique things. He started what is question is this: Will we find a way to was supposed to be the person who called the Perpetual Education Fund. work together or will we find a way to would connect the dots, who would About half the members of the church get out of it and then blame the other make sure intelligence gaps were are located outside of the United side? closed, who could look across the en- States. Millions of members of the We got off to a good start. Last tire intelligence landscape and tell us church are located in Mexico, Central Thursday, millions of Americans were about our vulnerabilities before terror- and South America. He started what is, absolutely stunned to turn on their tel- ists discovered them on their own. as I have indicated, called the Per- evision sets and see the Democratic Last year, he did just that. The Di- petual Education Fund, which is a vol- Speaker of the House and the House rector of National Intelligence came to untary contribution made from mem- Republican leader standing together on Capitol Hill and asked us to either fix bers of the church to help these people a stage behind the Treasury Secretary the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance who are coming into the church be edu- from the Bush administration and nod- Act that allowed us to monitor foreign cated. As a result, tens of thousands of ding in agreement about an economic terrorists overseas or risk weakening people are now educated and are now growth package they had all worked this vital intelligence-gathering tool. church and community leaders around out among themselves. It was the kind Our friends across the aisle put off the world. of scene many people have wondered if action for months before finally pass- There is so much more that could be they would ever see again. ing a temporary revision right up said about this good man who was kind For the first time in years, the par- against the August recess.