Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 109 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION
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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 109 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 151 WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2005 No. 49 Senate The Senate met at 9:30 a.m. and was U.S. SENATE, Again, we will alert Members when called to order by the Honorable JOHN PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, we have locked in the exact time of the ENSIGN, a Senator from the State of Washington, DC, April 21, 2005. stacked votes later today. Nevada. To the Senate: I yield the floor. Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby f PRAYER appoint the Honorable JOHN ENSIGN, a Sen- MORNING BUSINESS The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- ator from the State of Nevada, to perform fered the following prayer: the duties of the Chair. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- Let us pray. TED STEVENS, pore. Under the previous order, there Lord God Almighty, Maker of heaven President pro tempore. will be a period for the transaction of and Earth, Creator of humanity in Mr. ENSIGN thereupon assumed the morning business for up to 60 minutes, Your own image, we rejoice because of chair as Acting President pro tempore. with the first half of the time under the control of the majority leader or Your strength. Lord, from the quiet- f ness that heals, from the searching his designee and the second half of the that reveals, guide Your Senators into RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME time under the control of the Demo- channels of faithful service. Use them The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- cratic leader or his designee. to bind up the wounds of the broken, pore. Under the previous order, the The Senator from South Dakota. the disinherited, and the rejected. leadership time is reserved. f Teach them to bring harmony from dis- JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS cord and hope from despair. Help them f to daily celebrate life in all its myriad RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I rise aspects. May they never lose their zeal LEADER today in morning business to speak about a matter of great importance, in working to make our planet a place The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- of peace. and that is our broken judicial nomina- pore. The majority leader is recog- tion and confirmation process. As Sen- Bless the men and women of our mili- nized. tary as they sacrifice to keep us free. ators, we have sworn to support and de- Shower them with eternal blessings. f fend the Constitution, and on the issue of judicial nominations the Constitu- We praise You, Lord, for all Your glo- SCHEDULE rious power. Let the works of our tion is straightforward. It states that mouths and the meditations of our Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today we the President nominates judges and the hearts bring glory to Your Name. will begin with a 1-hour period for Senate has the duty to give its advice Amen. morning business. We will finish the and consent on those nominations. For emergency supplemental appropria- over 200 years, that is exactly how it f tions bill during today’s session. The worked, regardless of which party was PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE order from last night provides for up to in power. three votes, including final passage, Over the past 2 years, the Democrat The Honorable JOHN ENSIGN led the and those votes will be stacked for a minority has attempted to change the Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: time certain late this afternoon. We rules and stand 200 years of Senate tra- I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the also have an agreement to consider the dition on its head. The Democrat mi- United States of America, and to the Repub- nomination of John Negroponte to be nority now thinks that 41 Senators lic for which it stands, one nation under God, Director of National Intelligence. We should be able to dictate to the Presi- indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. will debate that nomination today and dent which judges he can nominate. f stack that vote to occur with the re- The minority also thinks that it should maining votes on the emergency sup- be able to prevent the rest of the Sen- APPOINTMENT OF ACTING plemental bill. ate from fulfilling its constitutional PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE I thank Chairman COCHRAN and Sen- duty of voting up or down on judicial The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ator BYRD for their hard work on the nominees. clerk will please read a communication appropriations measure. That bill will The Democrats’ position is contrary to the Senate from the President pro go to conference next week, and we to our Constitution, our Senate tradi- tempore (Mr. STEVENS). hope that we can have a conference re- tions, and the will of the American The legislative clerk read the fol- port available in a reasonable period of people as expressed at the ballot box lowing letter: time. this past November. It must stop. ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S4041 . VerDate Mar 15 2010 21:14 Jan 30, 2014 Jkt 081600 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\2005SENATE\S21AP5.REC S21AP5 mmaher on DSKCGSP4G1 with SOCIALSECURITY S4042 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE April 21, 2005 The advice and consent provision in have farmers going into the field, the had, and that is the chance to be voted the Constitution has served us for over tourism industry is starting its season, on in the Senate. 214 years up until the last Congress. so we need to do something to help be- I fully support what the other side is That meant that the Senate should come energy independent. I am very in- saying about wanting to debate these vote, and for over 200 years no nominee terested in the issue of renewable fuels. nominees. Let us do it. I am certainly with majority support has been denied I want to see as big a renewable fuels willing and hopeful that we will be able an up-or-down vote in this body, zero. standard as we can get on the Energy to engage in a spirited and vigorous de- The Democrats have said that they bill, but we have to get it on the floor bate. Let us debate, but then let us have confirmed 98 percent of the Presi- to debate it first. We cannot have these vote. dent’s nominees. The actual number is attempts, these threats—and I hope I yield the floor. 89 percent. But even at that, are we to they are just that: threats—because it The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- say that we are only going to follow would be tragic, it would be nuclear, if pore. The Democratic leader is recog- the Constitution 89 percent of the the other side decided to shut this Sen- nized. time? Furthermore, this Senate’s ate down over the issue of judicial f record on dealing with the President’s nominees. JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS appellate court nominees is the worst The Democrats in this Chamber have for any President in modern history. tried to confuse the issue of legislative Mr. REID. I understand we are in a This President’s record of having his and judicial filibusters, clearly trying period for morning business. I will use appellate court nominees voted on is 69 to confuse the public about what this leader time. percent, which ranks him lowest of any means. Well, what we are talking about Mr. President, I have the greatest re- President in modern history. is simply the narrow issue of judicial spect for my friend from South Dakota, It would be one thing if these nomi- nominees. It is part of this Senate’s but his assertion of facts is simply nees did not have the votes for con- constitutional responsibility and duty, without foundation. When the Demo- firmation, but they do. These nominees and we must take it very seriously. crats took the majority in the Senate, will have 54 or 55, 56, 57 votes for con- However, in the last Congress that be- I, along with others, said that this was firmation. It is wrong to deny them came extremely politicized. not payback time; we were not going to what the Constitution says they de- What we are talking about again is treat the Republicans the way they serve and for us to ignore our constitu- simply the issue of judicial filibusters. treated us during the Clinton years. tional responsibility to see that they Incidentally, it was the Democrats who During those years, they did not have have an up-or-down vote in this body. last voted on the filibuster in the Sen- the decency even to have hearings for The Democrats have said that it is ate to do away with it back in 1995. It judicial nominations; they simply left their prerogative to debate. Well, that was a 76-to-19 vote. It had to do with them, 60 in number, in the committee. is great. Let us debate them on the the whole issue, not just judicial but We thought that was inappropriate, floor of the Senate. But before they can legislative filibusters as well. Many of and that is the reason during the time be debated, a nomination has to be those Democrats who voted to end the that President Bush has been Presi- brought to the Senate floor for debate. filibuster still serve in this institution dent—we were in the majority, and we We have a right to debate under the today.