E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 110 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 154 WASHINGTON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2008 No. 155 Senate (Legislative day of Wednesday, September 17, 2008) The Senate met at 9:30 a.m., on the appoint the Honorable MARK L. PRYOR, a could waive that or they could let us expiration of the recess, and was called Senator from the State of Arkansas, to per- have a voice vote tomorrow. As I un- to order by the Honorable MARK L. form the duties of the Chair. derstand it, there is only one Senator ROBERT C. BYRD, PRYOR, a Senator from the State of Ar- holding up this bill now. We will work President pro tempore. kansas. on that during the next hour or so. It Mr. PRYOR thereupon assumed the appears we may have to be in session PRAYER chair as Acting President pro tempore. tomorrow, with a vote on Monday. I The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- f know there is a holiday on Monday fered the following prayer: starting at sundown and going to sun- Let us pray. RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY LEADER down on Tuesday. Creator of the universe, all loving, all The staff worked until about 3 a.m. wise, all powerful, move on Capitol Hill The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- this morning on the bailout. They today. Your lawmakers need You for pore. The majority leader is recog- made significant progress. There are such a time as this, and You have nized. probably 15 issues still left out- promised to supply their needs. Supply f standing. Senators are going to have to their need for wisdom. Illuminate their get together and resolve those. We minds as they seek to do the right SCHEDULE hope sometime tomorrow evening we thing. Infuse them with supernatural Mr. REID. Mr. President, following can announce that there has been some power to make sense out of the riddles the remarks of the leaders, if any, the that baffle so many. May they be able kind of an agreement in principle so Senate will proceed to the consider- the only thing that will have to be to look back over today’s labors know- ation of the House message to accom- ing they have glorified You. Lord, as- done is to write the legislation. We are pany H.R. 2638, the continuing resolu- still a long way from completing it, but tound them with new thoughts and tion. The time until 10 a.m. will be fresh insights they could not conceive we have made significant progress, as I equally divided and controlled between just indicated. We will keep Senators without Your blessing. the leaders or their designees. At ex- We pray in the Name of Him who is advised on a timely basis as well as we actly 10 a.m., the Senate will proceed the truth. Amen. can. to a rollcall vote on the motion to in- f voke cloture on the motion to concur f PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE in the House amendment to the Senate CAPITOL VISITOR CENTER ACT OF The Honorable MARK L. PRYOR led amendment to H.R. 2638. 2008 the Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: As those of us here have seen, in try- Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unan- I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the ing to make entry to the Capitol, there imous consent that the Senate proceed United States of America, and to the Repub- is something of a bicycle race or per- to Calendar No. 611, H.R. 5159. lic for which it stands, one nation under God, formance of some kind. It has really The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. slowed things up, so we are not going pore. The clerk will report the bill by f to terminate the vote in the normal 15- title. APPOINTMENT OF ACTING minute time schedule. We are going to The legislative clerk read as follows: make sure people have an opportunity PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE A bill (H.R. 5159) to establish the Office of to get here. the Capitol Visitor Center within the Office The PRESIDING OFFICER. The I say to all Members, unless some- clerk will please read a communication of the Architect of the Capitol, headed by thing can be resolved by consent, we the Chief Executive Officer for Visitor Serv- to the Senate from the President pro are going to file cloture today on the ices, to provide for the effective management tempore (Mr. BYRD). Department of Defense authorization and administration of the Capitol Visitor The legislative clerk read the fol- bill, which will be a Monday vote. Center, and other purposes. lowing letter: Hopefully, there does not have to be a There being no objection, the Senate U.S. SENATE, vote tomorrow. Thirty hours after clo- proceeded to consider the bill. PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, ture was invoked on this matter will be Mr. DEMINT, Mr. President, I rise to Washington, DC, September 27, 2008. To the Senate: sometime tomorrow afternoon. There speak on the newest addition to the Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, are a number of ways we can do that. U.S. Capitol, the U.S. Capitol Visitor of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby People wanting the extra 30 hours Center. ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S9881 . VerDate Aug 31 2005 04:54 Sep 28, 2008 Jkt 069060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A27SE6.000 S27SEPT1 smartinez on PROD1PC64 with SENATE S9882 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 27, 2008 I have been told by the Architect of oath of office—but I believe they gross- ices held in the Capitol for over 70 the Capitol that the CVC is scheduled ly understate the prominent role of years while Congress was in session, to open its doors to the public for the faith and Judeo Christian values in the becoming the largest church in Wash- first time on December 2 of this year. I history of this great building. ington in 1867; pictures of National Day have toured this impressive facility, I have worked with the Senator BEN- of Prayer events or the March for Life, and I believe it will be a vast improve- NETT, the ranking member of the Rules both of which are attended by hundreds ment in the experience visitors will Committee, this week to address some of thousands of citizens each year; the have when touring the Capitol Com- of my concerns. After several conversa- text of President Lincoln’s second In- plex. I look forward to the opening of tions, he and Senator FEINSTEIN, the augural and his Bible to go with the this long awaited addition; it will be a chairman of the Rules Committee, sent table from which he delivered his ad- momentous and historic occasion. me a letter formalizing an agreement dress, which is already in the CVC; a However, in addition to providing se- to make some changes. Our agreement description of all the paintings in the curity and functionality, the CVC also includes engraving ‘‘In God We Trust’’ Rotunda on the virtual tour monitors provides an educational experience de- in stone in a prominent location within found in the CVC; and a picture of signed to tell the story of our Nation’s the CVC; engraving ‘‘The Pledge of Al- Members of Congress gathering sponta- Capitol. I believe it is critical that this legiance’’ in stone in a prominent loca- neously on the Capitol steps to sing history appropriately and accurately tion within the CVC; removing the ‘‘God Bless America’’ on September 11. reflects the traditions and history of words ‘‘Our Nation’s motto’’ from the In the words of Benjamin Franklin: the Capitol. Unity panel on the Wall of Aspirations ‘‘We have been assured in the sacred We want our constituents and visi- and replacing it with a new panel. writings that except the Lord build the tors from around the world to get an I will ask unanimous consent to have house, they labor in vain that build it. accurate portrayal of the Capitol’s his- a copy of this letter be printed in the I firmly believe this and I also believe that without His concurring aid, we tory and, as much as possible, to un- RECORD. derstand the motivations and inspira- In addition, I have a verbal agree- shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.’’ tions of those who have led our branch ment with Senator BENNETT that the I also firmly believe this. And while I of Government since its establishment Architect of the Capitol will be in- firmly believe every person has the 220 years go. structed to consider the rich faith her- right to their own opinion and the Tragically, as the CVC exists now, itage of our Nation when considering blessing of religious freedom, that free- they will get a much different experi- the content of any future display. I dom is the freedom of religion, not ence. would like to thank my friend for his freedom from religion. We don’t have In touring the CVC, I found the ex- help on this issue, and I look forward to agree with our Founding Fathers hibits to be politically correct, left to working with him in the future. and the history of our country, but leaning, and secular in nature.