Congressional Record—Senate S1377
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March 10, 2014 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S1377 Reed Shaheen Walsh Heinrich McConnell Schumer VICTIMS PROTECTION ACT Reid Stabenow Warner Heitkamp Menendez Scott Rockefeller Tester Warren Heller Merkley Sessions Ms. AYOTTE. Mr. President, I thank Sanders Toomey Whitehouse Hirono Mikulski Shaheen my colleague Senator MCCASKILL, as Schatz Udall (CO) Hoeven Moran Wyden Shelby well as Senator FISCHER. The Senate Schumer Udall (NM) Inhofe Murkowski Stabenow Isakson Murphy voted 97–0—unanimously—to support NAYS—34 Tester Johanns Murray Thune the Victims Protection Act. This act Johnson (SD) Nelson Alexander Cruz Portman Toomey builds on important work that was Johnson (WI) Paul Barrasso Enzi Risch Udall (CO) done in the Defense authorization bill Blunt Fischer Kaine Portman Roberts Udall (NM) Boozman Grassley King Pryor to ensure that victims of sexual assault Rubio Vitter Burr Hoeven Klobuchar Reed Scott Walsh in the military will be treated with Chambliss Inhofe Sessions Landrieu Reid dignity and respect; that there will be Leahy Risch Warner Coats Isakson Shelby Lee Roberts Warren full accountability for commanders to Coburn Johanns Thune Cochran Johnson (WI) Levin Rockefeller Whitehouse ensure the climate within their unit is Vitter Corker McConnell Manchin Rubio Wicker one of zero tolerance toward sexual as- Wicker Wyden Cornyn Moran Markey Sanders saults; and that when a victim comes Crapo Paul McCaskill Schatz forward, that victim—male or female— NOT VOTING—4 NOT VOTING—3 is supported within this system. Begich Kirk Harkin Kirk McCain The Victims Protection Act, passed Harkin McCain The bill (S. 1917) was passed. today by a vote of 97–0—and few things The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ma- in the Senate pass with a 97–0 vote— vote, the yeas are 62 and the nays are jority leader. will ensure there is another level of re- 34. view when a commander disagrees with The motion is agreed to. f the recommendation of a prosecutor to f UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREE- prosecute a sexual assault case. It will MENT—EXECUTIVE CALENDAR then go up to the civilian secretary for LEGISLATIVE SESSION another level of review. Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unan- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under The bill also ensures commanders are imous consent that notwithstanding judged in their evaluations on the cli- the previous order, the Senate will re- rule XXII, all postcloture time be ex- sume legislative session. mate within their unit for addressing pired and the vote on confirmation of sexual assault and how they handle f Calendar No. 563 occur at 10:30 a.m. on these types of cases. Wednesday, March 12, 2014; further, VICTIMS PROTECTION ACT OF 2014 It also eliminates the so-called good that on Tuesday, March 11, 2014, at soldier defense. Because even if you The PRESIDING OFFICER. The 11:30 a.m., the Senate proceed to vote have been a good soldier, if you have clerk will report the pending business. on cloture on Executive Calendar Nos. committed sexual assault, you need to The assistant legislative clerk read 577, 578, 579, and 580; further, that if be held accountable for your actions. as follows: cloture is invoked on any of these So this bill will ensure people who are A bill (S. 1917) to provide for additional en- nominations, notwithstanding rule perpetrators are held accountable for hancements of the sexual assault prevention XXII, all postcloture time be expired their actions. and response activities of the Armed Forces. and the votes on confirmation of the The bill also allows important input The bill was ordered to be engrossed nominations occur on Wednesday, from the victims so they can have a for a third reading and was read the March 12, following disposition of the say as to whether they believe a case third time. McHugh nomination, in the order upon should be brought in a military or a ci- Mr. COATS. Mr. President, I ask for which cloture was invoked; further, vilian system for prosecution. the yeas and nays. Is there a sufficient that following Senate action on these This act adds on the important work second? There appears to be a suffi- nominations, the Senate proceed to we have done together in the Defense cient second. vote on confirmation of Calendar No. authorization bill but it is not the end. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill 512; further, that there be 2 minutes for We will continue in the Armed Services having been read the third time, the debate prior to each vote and all roll- Committee to make sure the reforms question is on the passage of the bill. call votes after the first vote in each that have been passed are imple- The yeas and nays are ordered. sequence be 10 minutes in length; fur- mented, that commanders are held ac- The clerk will call the roll. ther, that following disposition of Cal- countable for a climate of zero toler- The legislative clerk called the roll. endar No. 512, the Senate resume legis- ance within their units, and that vic- Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the lative session and proceed to consider- tims of sexual assault are treated with Senator from Iowa (Mr. HARKIN) is nec- ation of Calendar No. 309, S. 1086, the dignity and respect and know they will essarily absent. childcare and development block grant be supported if they come forward to Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators bill. report. are necessarily absent: the Senator The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there So I thank the Chair, and I again from Illinois (Mr. KIRK) and the Sen- objection? thank Senator MCCASKILL for her lead- ator from Arizona (Mr. MCCAIN). Without objection, it is so ordered. ership on this bill. So few things pass The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there in this body unanimously, but this f any other Senators in the Chamber de- shows the bipartisan commitment we siring to vote? ORDER OF PROCEDURE have to stopping this scourge of sexual The result was announced—yeas 97, assault in the military. Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent nays 0, as follows: I yield the floor. that Senator AYOTTE be recognized for [Rollcall Vote No. 62 Leg.] up to 3 minutes to comment on the f YEAS—97 passage of S. 1917; further, that fol- MORNING BUSINESS Alexander Cantwell Cruz lowing her remarks, the Senate pro- Ayotte Cardin Donnelly Baldwin Carper Durbin ceed to a period of morning business; Barrasso Casey Enzi that the time be controlled in alter- CLIMATE CHANGE Begich Chambliss Feinstein nating 45-minute blocks, with the ma- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ma- Bennet Coats Fischer Blumenthal Coburn Flake jority controlling the first 45 minutes. jority leader. Blunt Cochran Franken The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there Mr. REID. Mr. President, just last Booker Collins Gillibrand objection? week one of the world’s most well- Boozman Coons Graham Without objection, it is so ordered. known spiritual leaders, His Holiness Boxer Corker Grassley Brown Cornyn Hagan The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, visited Burr Crapo Hatch ator from New Hampshire. the Capitol. He talked about the moral VerDate Mar 15 2010 04:41 Mar 11, 2014 Jkt 039060 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A10MR6.004 S10MRPT1 tjames on DSK3TPTVN1PROD with SENATE S1378 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE March 10, 2014 imperative to protect the planet we nearly ran dry, and barge traffic had to groundbreaking on the Moapa land, call home. The Dalai Lama spoke with be brought to a stop because the river where they are going to have hundreds passion and longing of his native Tibet, wasn’t deep enough for them to travel. and hundreds of jobs because they are where mountain snows melt in spring While record droughts affected some going to produce huge amounts of en- to feed the rivers to provide Ban- parts of the United States, torrential ergy through solar, and that energy is gladesh, China, India, Nepal, and Paki- rains and extreme thunderstorms going to go to California. We have huge stan with water. struck others. Temperatures topped 60 amounts of solar energy all over the The Himalayas are sometimes called degrees in Alaska in January. Feb- State of Nevada and we are shipping it the ‘‘third pole’’ because they contain ruary brought a blanket of snow and to California because California did the nearly a third of the world’s nonpolar ice to Atlanta, GA—the South. right thing. They passed a law saying ice. But in recent years, manmade cli- In other parts of the world, glaciers by a certain period of time one-third of mate change has caused milder win- and ice sheets which have been frozen all their power must come from renew- ters, less snow, and less water for 1.3 for tens of thousands of years are melt- able sources. This is a progressive billion people living downstream from ing and melting quickly. Fires have State. It is important, and we are help- Tibet. consumed vast forests and monsoons ing them meet those demands, but we In the Western United States we face and superfloods left millions homeless are also doing a lot to produce our own a similar problem. For more than a all over the world. Since this new year, energy. decade drought has plagued the Colo- the United Kingdom has had its wet- I talked about this powerplant. The rado River, both upstream and down- test winter perhaps ever but far more powerplant, Moapa, at this Indian res- stream—the lifeblood of a number of than in the last 100 years. Tokyo, ervation, is the first solar project to be Western States, including Nevada, Japan, in a period of a little over 2 built on tribal lands—certainly in Ne- California, Arizona, and other States.