SENATE—Monday, October 28, 2013
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October 28, 2013 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE, Vol. 159, Pt. 11 16213 SENATE—Monday, October 28, 2013 The Senate met at 2 p.m. and was complish during this 4-week period and THE WORK AHEAD called to order by the President pro it will go by quickly. We are attempt- Mr. REID. Mr. President, during this tempore (Mr. LEAHY). ing to work things out so we don’t have 4-week period we are going to do a to work during the holidays for a number of things, not necessarily in PRAYER change. The last several years we have this order, but we are going to consider The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- been stuck up to Thanksgiving and ENDA, known as the Employment Non- fered the following prayer: right through Christmas on a couple of Discrimination Act, which would pro- Let us pray. occasions. vide basic protections against work- Eternal God, we have heard with our It is obvious Senators aren’t making place discrimination on the basis of own ears and seen with our own eyes these Monday votes a priority. We have sexual orientation and gender identity. Your great power on our behalf. Lord, a lot of people not showing up. So ev- We haven’t taken this up for a number our ancestors told us about You, how eryone should understand, this vote to- of years. We tried and failed in the You kept them from disgrace, drove night is a very important vote. I am House of Representatives before, but out evil, delivered them from shackles, disappointed some Senators aren’t we are going to take it up here again. rescued them from trouble, protected going to be here. But in the future the We are going to consider a bipartisan them from hardships, and kept this Na- next Mondays we can be expecting a bill to make compounding drugs safer. tion free. We praise You for using our vote or series of votes. I think we have As we will recall, there was a terrible lawmakers for Your glory. Accept our become very complacent and not wor- tragedy in the Northeast, where a num- thanksgiving as we press toward the rying about the Monday night votes. ber of people died as a result of not future, eager to serve Your purposes We will have some votes that may be compounding these products properly. for our lives in this generation. more meaningful, as this one is. This bipartisan legislation will allow We pray in Your great Name. Amen. During this next work period, the us to have safer compounding drugs and track prescription medicines from f only time we will have off will be No- vember 11 for the celebration of Vet- factory to the drug store. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE erans Day. Therefore, if we are going to We are going to consider job creation legislation that will build on the eco- The President pro tempore led the finish our work in this 4-week period, nomic recovery and strengthen middle- Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: that means we are going to have to class families, and we are going to take work on Mondays and Fridays. I hope I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the up the Defense authorization bill which United States of America, and to the Repub- we don’t have to work weekends, but supports our troops and ensures this lic for which it stands, one nation under God, we have to get this work done. indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Nation does everything in its power to (Mr. KAINE assumed the Chair.) keep America safe from those who f would do us harm. RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY f Before we debate any of these mat- LEADER ters, we must consider a number of The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The SENATOR-ELECT CORY BOOKER vital Presidential nominations, includ- majority leader is recognized. Mr. REID. Mr. President, this week ing several that have been stalled for more than 1 year. One of those is some- f we are going to say goodbye to our col- league who was appointed to represent body who has been wanting to work in SCHEDULE the State of New Jersey after the un- the Defense Department, something vi- Mr. REID. Mr. President, following timely death of Frank Lautenberg, but tally important for the Pentagon, and leader remarks, the Senate will be in a we also will welcome a new Member to has been held up for 1 year on an unre- period of morning business until 4:30 the Senate, Senator-elect from the lated matter. It is too bad, but this has been held up by one Republican Sen- this afternoon, with Senators per- State of New Jersey CORY BOOKER. ator. So we are going to move forward mitted to speak therein for up to 10 What a remarkable young man he is. minutes each. and do it very quickly. He was a student at Stanford, and to It is no secret the Republicans have At 4:30 p.m. the Senate will proceed get into Stanford you have to be a very systemically slow-walked and blocked to executive session to consider the good student. I am impressed with his scores of President Obama’s judicial nomination of Richard F. Griffin, Jr., academic skills, but he was also a tight and executive branch nominations. to be general counsel for the National end for the football team at Stanford, Pending executive nominations wait an Labor Relations Board for a term of 4 No. 5 in the Nation. They have a great average of 5 months. Democrats have years. At 5:30 p.m. there will be a clo- football program. Everyone will meet broken filibusters of 66 of the Presi- ture vote. CORY BOOKER and find that he is a very dent’s nominations. Republicans have ORDER OF PROCEDURE big man physically. blocked or delayed more than that I ask unanimous consent the time After graduating with a degree from with secret holds and procedural holds. until 4 p.m. be for debate only. Stanford in political science, he got his As a Senate, we reached an agree- The PRESIDENT pro tempore. With- master’s degree in sociology from ment the first of the year to consider a out objection, it is so ordered. Stanford. He then became a Rhodes number of important nominations that f Scholar and studied U.S. history at Ox- have been stalled for months and, in ford. He received his law degree from far too many cases, for years. But ob- UPCOMING WORK PERIOD Yale. What an outstanding record: structionism once again has reared its Mr. REID. Mr. President, I welcome Stanford, a couple of degrees; Rhodes ugly head and we have a backlog now. back the President pro tempore. I hope Scholar, Oxford; Yale Law School. It is time to move forward without he had a productive week in Vermont, That is quite impressive. Then he delay and fill those crucial roles. and that all my colleagues enjoyed vis- served on the Newark City Council and In the wake of a Republican govern- iting with constituents at home. was mayor for 2 years, a job that has ment shutdown, the Nation is watching This work period is going to be 4 been noticed all over the country, rec- for a sign the Senate can function effi- weeks long. We have a great deal to ac- ognizing the great work he has done. ciently and normally. It is time to ● This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:36 Feb 27, 2018 Jkt 029102 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0686 Sfmt 0634 E:\BR13\S28OC3.000 S28OC3 jstallworth on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BOUND RECORD 16214 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE, Vol. 159, Pt. 11 October 28, 2013 show the American people how well The Presiding Officer, before coming crises over the past 3 years—I do not and how quickly the Senate can work here, was Governor of the State of Vir- blame only them for holding the when cooperation is present. Likewise, ginia. I am sure the Presiding Officer, United States Government’s full faith our colleagues in the House of Rep- as I have, has gone through towns and and credit hostage. I also blame the so- resentatives owe the American people neighborhoods and seen those little called main stream Republican col- to stop wasting time on political show strip malls with all these places for leagues who remained silent even as votes and start legislating. lease. If we passed in Congress, as we these anarchists among us committed I have enough trouble with my sched- have done in the Senate, the so-called political malpractice. They knew bet- ule, but I just have to briefly comment Workplace Fairness Act, it would allow ter. They should have known better. on the House schedule. They are going these small businesses to get back and They know the consequence of default, to work until noon on Wednesday and rent space allowing it to survive. and they know the cost of a govern- then they are taking off the next 10 Think of the advantages online retail- ment shutdown. Yet they allowed days. From now until the first of the ers have. They don’t have to pay 5 per- members of their own party to take the year, they have scheduled 18 working cent, 7 percent of what the others pay. country down a dangerous road, doing days.