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Senate Section E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 111 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 156 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2010 No. 15 Senate The Senate met at 10 a.m. and was appoint the Honorable AL FRANKEN, a Sen- been without a leader because of what called to order by the Honorable AL ator from the State of Minnesota, to perform has been going on and the stalls that FRANKEN, a Senator from the State of the duties of the Chair. have taken place, so we had to file clo- Minnesota. ROBERT C. BYRD, ture. President pro tempore. We will notify Senators when the PRAYER Mr. FRANKEN thereupon assumed votes are scheduled. I would like to fin- The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- the chair as Acting President pro tem- ish Patricia Smith at a reasonable fered the following prayer: pore. hour today. That is immediately fol- Let us pray. f lowing a simple majority vote for her. Gracious Lord, we acknowledge Your Then there is a 60-vote margin on clo- RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY ownership of all the Earth and every- ture on the future Administrator of the LEADER thing and everyone in it. Thank You General Services Administration and for the evidences of Your favor in the The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- then there is 30 hours after that. past and for Your hand that has made pore. The majority leader is recog- We will do tomorrow as we did for and preserved us as a nation. May the nized. the Republicans when they had their knowledge of our rights and privileges f retreat last Wednesday; we were not in keep us conscious of our duties and ob- session. We don’t wish to be in session ligations. SCHEDULE tomorrow. We have the President com- Today, guide our lawmakers with Mr. REID. Mr. President, following ing to our retreat and a number of Your spirit. Keep them from stumbling remarks of the leaders, the Senate will other special guests, but if we have to as they seek to do Your will. Empower be in a period of morning business for come in tomorrow, either before or them in their work with a strength an hour, with Senators permitted to after the retreat, we are going to have that is not their own, infusing them speak for up to 10 minutes each. The to do that to meet the burdens of this with serenity to meet the challenges of first half hour will be controlled by the endless stalling that is taking place in an agitated world. Light up the candles Democrats, the second by the Repub- the Senate. of their hearts and help them shine licans. When a young Nigerian terrorist with Your peace and good will. Following morning business, the Sen- boarded an airplane bound for America We pray in Your great Name. Amen. ate will proceed to executive session to on Christmas Day, there was no perma- f resume postcloture debate on the nom- nent boss at the TSA, the agency re- ination of Patricia Smith to be Solic- sponsible for the safety of our airports. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE itor for the Department of Labor. I This agency was created after 9/11 spe- The Honorable AL FRANKEN led the would note this is another one of the cifically to keep air travel safe. When Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: endless delays we have had to go he tried to blow up that plane, the top I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the through. We are in postcloture; 30 positions at both the intelligence agen- United States of America, and to the Repub- hours of doing nothing. We have had so cies within the State Department and lic for which it stands, one nation under God, many 30 hours of doing nothing it is the Department of Homeland Security indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. hard to comprehend the wasted time— were empty. Why? Because Republican f all the staff, Senators’ time that could Senators refused to let this body hold a APPOINTMENT OF ACTING be better put to use. People could be vote on these highly capable people the PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE drafting legislation, on and on, con- President has asked to serve in these templating what could be done but for roles. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The this endless stalling we have seen. We all know Republicans have dedi- clerk will please read a communication The Senate will recess from 12:30 to cated themselves to grinding the Gov- to the Senate from the President pro 2:15 for the weekly caucus meetings. ernment to a halt. They do so openly tempore (Mr. BYRD). Following disposition of the Smith and proudly and boast about their The assistant legislative clerk read nomination, whenever that might be, aversion to compromise. That is why, the following letter: the Senate will proceed to vote on the time and time again, they exploit the U.S. SENATE, nomination of Martha Johnson to be rules of the Senate and abuse this PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, Washington, DC, February 2, 2010. Administrator of the largest real es- body’s procedural traditions. That is To the Senate: tate organization in the world, the why they have wasted countless hours Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, General Services Administration. It is and shattered remarkable records for of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby difficult to comprehend, but that has stubbornness. That is why, when we ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S401 . VerDate Mar 15 2010 04:08 May 18, 2010 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\RECORD10\RECFILES\S02FE0.REC S02FE0 mmaher on DSKD5P82C1PROD with CONG-REC-ONLINE S402 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE February 2, 2010 have faced questions of national secu- Senate floor, no, not General Stanley. would be responsible for ensuring the rity, they have answered with politics. He would not only be a pivotal part of Department’s partners at State, local Republicans have repeatedly asked the Pentagon’s senior leadership, he and tribal levels—and private sector— fearful families to put their concerns would also be in charge of making sure have the information they need to keep on hold while they score political servicemembers are prepared for war at us safe from the bad folks around the points, they think, by playing partisan a time we are waging two of them and world. games. This is not a game. as we plan to send 30,000 more troops to As far as disarmament, the fourth An embarrassingly high number of Afghanistan, a surge I know my Repub- nominee I mentioned is Ambassador critical national security officials re- lican colleagues support. Laura Kennedy. President Obama main unable to go to work. For polit- Our military leaders have told me his asked her to serve as our Nation’s rep- ical reasons, a handful of Republican absence is having a negative impact on resentative to the conference on disar- Senators are standing between these the Pentagon’s operations. I have re- mament. This group is responsible for experts and their offices. That means ceived phone calls: Senator REID, what negotiating multilateral arms control they are also standing between the are you going to do to get this person and disarmament agreements such as American people and the American approved? the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, people’s security. I tell them I am doing my best. Now the Biological Weapons Convention, Too many of the President’s nomi- we wasted all week—that is what it and the Chemical Weapons Conven- nees for critical national security jobs will wind up being—on two nominees, tion—some big issues. Ambassador await Senate confirmation. Today, I one to be the Solicitor for the Labor Kennedy is a member of the Senior wish to talk about four of those posi- Department and the other to be the Foreign Service and has worked with tions Republicans refuse to fill; one, head of the General Services Adminis- the State Department and Bureau of the Under Secretary of Defense for Per- tration. If people are serious about giv- European and Eurasian Affairs, the sonnel and Readiness, which is the No. ing our troops the tools they need to United Nations, the National War Col- 3 job at the Pentagon. We have Sec- succeed in battle and at home—and I lege, and as President Bush’s Ambas- retary Gates, we have one other indi- am confident the Republicans must sador to Turkmenistan. vidual, and then we have this Under think that—we should be and they Of all the countries with nuclear Secretary of Defense—whose position is should be as committed to giving our weapons, the United States, our great not filled. military the leader who will be going country, is the only one that does not No. 2, Assistant Secretary of State to work every day and making sure have a representative at the negoti- for Intelligence and Research, the head that happens. ating table of the Conference on Disar- of the State Department’s Intelligence Let’s talk about intelligence, these mament. Why? Because the Repub- Department. Think about that. When agencies that try to find out what the licans are stalling everything. That is Secretary Clinton is called to go to enemy is doing. The second and third unacceptable. We need to confirm her. Pakistan, Afghanistan or anyplace in positions I mentioned earlier are the We need to have confirmed her a long the world, her arm, the intelligence two intelligence roles at the Depart- time ago.
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