inspiration. i disagree. it involved the inspiration of a young senator from arkansas who realized that public service often meant trying to work together and reason together and to try to break down in your own individual fashion the dysfunction of washington. i worked with mark on so many things over the years and as a whip i went to him many times and we talked about difficult votes. i always found him to be honest, straightforward, highly principled. we didn't always come to the same conclusion on the vote, but i respected him every time because i knew that he gave thoughtful consideration to both sides when it came to his vote. he was going to do what was right in his own heart and especially what was right for arkansas and i knew that would make the final decision when it came to the vote. i also want to put in a word of thanks to mark as the grandfather of two 3-year-olds who are anxiously waiting for the arrival of santa claus in a

few weeks. mark had the responsibility of reforming the consumer product safety commission. it was long overdue. that commission was not exercising its authority and wasn't keeping americans safe as it should. mark stepped up in a bipartisan fashion, he stepped up, and he ended up strengthening the consumer product safety commission through his efforts on the senate commerce committee. that will keep toxic toys out of stores. many people recognize what mark pryor contributed in that effort. parent magazine applauded mark pryor as one of the three movers and shakers in washington in 2005 for his work on the consumer product safety commission, work that will continue to keep america safer. consumer protection has always been a hallmark of mark's service dating back to his days as arkansas aattorney general

and certainly as united states senator. fewer than 2,000 men and women have ever had the privilege of serving in the united states senate in our entire history. with hundreds of millions of people in our population, fewer than 2,000 have been sworn in to represent their states in the united states senate. in mark pryor we had a person who did an extraordinary job as united states senator for arkansas and for america. he's been a great friend of mine, someone i'm going to miss very, very much, but i hope he'll keep in touch. we say that somewhat loosely when people leave here but i mean it because mark pryor always brought a smile to my day and i recognize his work in public service aspired to the highest levels and always will. thank you, mr. president. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. in carper: mr. president, i came to the floor -- mr. carper: i dime the floor without any prepared remarks but i'd like to say a few words if i could about our colleague, mark

pryor. i affectionately call him hey, man, because in arkansas when you see one of your friends you don't say hi, tom or hi, mark, you say hey, man. and for the last 12 years we've exchanged a lot of "hey, mans." 10, 12 days i was in honduras, trying to figure out how to save a nation that may be a failing nation. they is a lot of gangs, involved in extorting money from businesses, involving kidnapping people, trafficking people. gangs have a bad connotation in honduras and they should. in washington, d.c. and the senate, not so much. and senator collins and senator durbin have talked about some of the gangs that this senator from arkansas has been involved in, which iy most would say is during -- i think most would say is doing the lord's work, doing good work.

he's a man of deep faith as we know, a role model for the rest of us and he's reminded me before and maybe some others as well that in the old testament we're reminded in proverbs we should always pray for wisdom. that's something i pray for every night not just for my colleagues, of course, but certainly for me. and i all i can say the good lord has answered his prayer because one of the reasons he's ended up as a member of these gangs for good is because he has so much wisdom. he's a good listener but he's just a very, very wise human being. it's been a joy serving with him. he got here in 2003, i think he raised his right hand and took the oath of office in 2003. you come through orientation through new u.s. senators and i talked to him bit later and i said how was orientation? well, it last bed that long. the democrats put you over here, if you're a republican,

we'll put you over here and just have at it. he and i talked about it, said that doesn't make much sense. as attorney general in the attorneys general association, as governor for me, former governor in the national governors' association, we had robust orientation programs for new attorneys and -- attorneys general and for governors. the presiding officer recalls that well. i think one of the reasons that the governor is less partisan, more likely to get things done agent and the same thing with the attorney general is because of that orientation that occurs a couple of weeks after they're elected and it's a great thing. we didn't have anything like that in the united states senate and senator pryor along with former governor voinovich, then senator sunny vouch -- voinovich and yours truly tried to get a new orientation. when people show up they no longer put in one corner as democrats and one as republicans

and told to go at it. maybe the most concentrated time they'll have with folks of the other party and those of us who are senators and spouses, chaplain and so for go and in and provide just -- learn from our mistakes. god knows, we've made plenty of them. and one of the things senator pryor is especially good atle doing is trying to connect each new senator with a mentor. a democratic mentor and a republican mentor and he was dogged at it. that's not that everybody needs a mentor but we all needs friends, need friends on both sides of the aisle and the seeds you have planted will bear fruit for a long, long time. i was -- a naval officer for 23 years. 23 years. and when i was 17 years old, graduated from ohio state, i had been -- 17 years, graduated from high school,

went off to ohio state to become a navy midshipman. five years as, a hot war in southeast asia and until i retired in 1991. i started learning about leadership when i was young, before i was amidshipman but among the things i learned about leadership is leaders should be humble, not haughty. leaders should say do as i do, not do as i say. leaders should have the heart of a servant and we should come here with the idea of serving. scripture, he would be leader must be servant to all. he would be first, should be slave to all. leaders should have the courage to stay out of step when everybody else is marching to the wrong tune. leaders should ask not what's the easy thing to do, the expedient thing to do, should ask what's the right thing do

and leaders ought to just ask that question, really asked by that rabbi 2,000 years ago, that rabbi was asked what are the -- what's the most important commandment of all, mentioned what one was and he said the second one is to love our neighbors as ourselves. that's the most important one of all. leaders are like that. leaders are like that. i just want to say my friend "hey, man" also known as senator mark pryor person emphasize that kind of leadership. he's demonstrated but his own character, his own behavior what a leader is. and i'm tempted to say we're going to miss him but we're still going to see lot of the him and can't be often enough. maybe when somebody has done a great job, we say two words, bravo zulu. i say that to you, my friend. we also have this admonition in

the navy, hail and farewell, a squadron like mine, when people come in they have an event, call it hale and farewell -- party. we say farewell and a following sea. i would say that, farewell and a following sea and we're going to see a lot of you in the future. god bless you. thank you. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. sessions: mr. president, i thank senator carper for those good remarks. i think they touched the quality and character that mark pryor has displayed as a member of this senate. i've been asked a number of times who are some of your favorite people across the aisle, democratic people that you respect and like, and mark pryor has always been the top of that list. we've both served as attorneys general of our state so we had a number of things to talk about.

i've been able to commiserate with him over arkansas football in recent years. we kind of keep up with those things a lot. but i just would want to say something that i basically said at the senate -- at the national prayer breakfast several years ago. senator pryor and i were cochairmen and i was able to say with great confidence that mark pryor is one of the best people i've ever served with in the united states senate. he's a man of faith, integrity, his ego is under control. not always so around this place. interest makes it run better. collegial, willing to work with people across the aisle, work within his own party, not one that's had bullet making decisions, done what he's thought is right year after year here in this great senate.

but we had the opportunity to lead the senate prayer breakfast and then the national prayer breakfast twice, and it was a special time. and mark really did a great job, spent a great deal of time meeting with people from all over the world, and i think the depth of his faith is quite obvious. and i'd just, mark, want to say that you're special to me, your service in the senate has been very special, you've always done what you thought was right for your state, and done so in a way that's so pleasant and collegial to work with. i know you'll have some great adventures ahead, looks even like the razorbacks are coming back, they might give alabama and auburn a hard time next year. who knows? hope springs eternal. they did pretty well the end of this year.

i got to say a monster may be arising in arkansas. who knows? but while we do have a great senate, less than 2,000 people ever served in this body, people of talent and ability throughout, but there are people over the period of years that touch you as genuine, as the genuine article, people that you respect and admire. mark, you're one of those. god bless you and godspeed. i thank the chair and i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

choab cloams. klobuchar: mr. pr? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: before i get started today, i have one unanimous consent request for a committee to meet during today's session of the senate. it has the aprawfl of the majority and -- approval of the majority and minority leaders. i ask consent that this request be agreed to and this request be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: thank you, mr. president. i join my colleagues today in all the good words that they have said about my friend, nor pryor. -- senator pryor. i have gotten senator pryor best from the commerce committee where he scored a major victory for the children of this country. that was at a time, if you remember, when we learned that toys were being brought in and children's products from all over the world that contained lead. we actually had a young child in minnesota whose mom went out and bought a pair of reebok te reebs

shoes and with the shoes came a charm and the child swallowed the charm. the child died over a period of days as the lead in the charm went into his system. that is just one example. and senator pryor was heading up at the time the consumer subcommittee, and we took on a major bill to change the standards of lead in children's products, including jewelry, toys. and it was a huge bipartisan vote, a very important bill, and what was called actually the most important consumer legislation in decades. and senator pryor got that done. not only that, later when in his capacity as head of that subcommittee we had a little girl in minnesota named abigail taylor who died in a swimming pool and all she was doing was playing in a kiddie pool and she happened to be sitting in the middle of the pool. the pool train malfunctioned and basically sucked her insides down. she survived for a year.

and when mark pryor came to minnesota, he met with that little girl and her dad. she later died after a surgery to try to save her life. and we worked after that to get the bill passed named after howard baker's grandchild, who had also died in a similar circumstance, to make sure that all these public pool drains, from apartments, to ymca's, that the pool trains checked. you do not hear about them on the use in like we used to. and that's because of mark pryor's work. i know that the taylor family -- that was my proudest moment, calling them in the cloakroom an.that we could get this done,t wasn't quite that easy. it was in the energy bill, i think, for us to get it done. but being able to call scott taylor, who never gave up believing that the congress

could get something done. again, just one more example of the work that senator pryor has done. so i thank you for that. i'm also here today to address something slierl different. that's a bill that we would like to get done before the end of the year in the united states senate. and it is a bill that i have with senator cornyn, and ids called the stop exploitation through trafficking act of 2015. it has 19 bipartisan cosponsors. i note the year 120136789 we have been waiting over a year, nearly two years to get this done. a version of the bill which is very similar to ours has passed the house. it passed the house this summer. we did the initial bill. senator cornyn and i wrote the bill. we wocialged with all the sex trafficking groups. it is a very important bill, and their number-one priority this year to get done. -- to get it done. i want to thank majority leader reid for his work, senator leahy

for working to get the bill to the floor where it now is. the we've also been working with senators heitkamp and kirk, senator wide deny has been an incredible -- wyden 45 has beenn incredible partner. congressman paulson had called me to ask me to sponsor this bill. he took it on and with the help of representative cantor and representative mccarthy and the speaker was able to get that bill passed through the house. so this is one of those incidences where people came together and have been moving a very important bill. we have support from the national conference of state legislatures, cindy mccain, wife of senator mccain, and i have done a lost work on this issue. we suffolk their national -- we spoke to their national conference this year. national center for missing and exploited children supports the bill. the fraternal order of police supports l bill. national alliance to end sexual

violence, united methodist women -- the list goes on. but what i will say is that it is time to get it done. there is error in the house bill, a minor one, that we need to correct and that's why we need to pass the senate bill. we have made the changes that are in the house bill and we also feed to pass it in the senate because this one includes the national sex trafficking strategy. we have -- senator cornyn has been working this on her side. there appear to be no objections. i will explain in a bit the amendment that passed out of judiciary 18-0 that of his portion that's complud in this bill we joined forces because i was actually having trouble getting the bill through on its own and so we had joined forces on this bill and now it appears that we could have some objections on our side that i hope get cleared up, because people are disappointed they can't get other bills on. i can't help people to get these other bills through. i don't have that in my power right now. and the 27 million people around

the world who are victims of sex trafficking, they can't help to get thatte that done. nor can all the kids that we see in minnesota that get taken into sex trafficking. 13 years old is the average age. they can't do anything. they can't be pawns in a game. so it is my hope that we will be able to work this out and get this bill passed in the next day or two because then i have to get it over to the house. so i am under a major time constraint. this is an important bill that makes clear that girls and boys who are victims of sex trafficking should not be treated as criminals. the statistics, as i said, more than 27 million people around the world, whether it's boc boko haram, taking the little arms' s from their beds e tracking down the people who stole them in the middle of the woods. whether it is a young girl on

the oil patch in north dakota -- a major case going on from the u.s. attorneys' office -- whether it is a young girl in minnesota. this is happening in our country today. and in fact over 80% of the victims that we have in the united states are from the united states. so while we see this all over the world, we know that we have our own problem in our own back door. some of it is because of the internet. we love the internet. because it's also provided ways for the people to advertise for sex trafficking, in ways that makes it more difficult to track down. as i said you the average age of a child that's a victim of sex trafficking is 13 years old. not even old enough to get a drierch's licensedriver's licenh to go to a high school prom. as i said, we see problems in our own country. country. despite all the numbers, we're not just here to talk about the bill. the reason i am going to make an

enormous push for it this week to try to get it done because i don't believe these kids, mostly girls, should be pawns in a legislative game. we're not here because of the numbers. we're here because of people like tamara vandamin. she wasn't even a teenager. she was just mad at her mom and ran away. a pimp found her and made all kinds of promises, promises that sound pretty good when you're a scared kid away from home. she was taken advantage of when she was the most vulinerm, before she -- vulnerable, before she even had a chance to grow up and be an adult. that's why we're doing this bill. this bill is actually based on a model that we have in about a dozen states right now, including minnesota, that basically says to states, here, we'd like to incentivize you to use this model, which is to help the victims of these sex crimes, which is to help them with services and which is to not prosecute them as criminals, because the only way you're

really going to be able to go after the johns, the way you're going to be able to go after the people that lead these kinds of rings is if you're willing to get these victims, get them the help they need to turn around their lives, but also to get them to testify. that is, wooed very well in our state -- it has worked very well in our states, including a 40-year sentence against a guy that was running a major sex trafficking ring. so if you don't think this is going on in towns like st. paul, minnesota, then you look -- need to look at your own communes, because it's going on. one of the main goals of the bill is to make sure that kids sold for sex are not criminals. according to a report from polaris, 15 states across the country have already had these safe harbor laws. another 12 states are starting to make progress in the right direction. so we're not starting from scratch, not some crazy idea that someone tried in one state.

our bill will be an incentive to states when they have applied for federal grants. they will be able to apply for grants after they have a safe harbor bill in place. our bill would create a national strategy to combat human trafficking. our national strategy will encourage cooperation and coordination among all the agencies who worng this problem. federal, state, tribal and local. it is a nationwide problem. i can tell you that these pimps and the people running the rings do not care about local boundaries or county boundaries or state boundaries, and we need to be as sophisticated as they are when it comes to tackling this problem. we also need to be giving sex trafficking victims the right support, like job training and skills building. the bill allows victims of sex trafficking to participate in the job corps program. i'm also pleased to include a provision that senators whitehouse and sessions have been working on to clarify the

authority of the u.s. marshal service to assist local law enforcement agencies in loablghting missing chin. as i have said, i have been working closely with senator cornyn on the justice to victims of trafficking act. this is also a bill with senator wyden, which is included in this package. when you look at this bill, you have to think of our safe harbor provision, you have to think of those provisions i just mentioned that make it easier for people who are victims of sex trafficking, for kids to be able to participate in job training, then you look at the provision from senator whitehouse and sessions with the u.s. marshals, and the last part of it is the work with senator cornyn and senator wyden from the justice for victims of trafficking act. this is included in this package of bills. it increases the fees and fines on perpetrators and should bring in about $30 million each year to pay for victims' services. i know that we have a lot of need in the states right now because this is relatively a new problem in terms of being on the

increase. so we have things like shelters that could apply for grants from the fund. this is a very good provision and i thank senator wyden and cornyn for working on it. i would also add this is the provision that went through o on an 18-0 vote as an amendment. we know that there was support out of the judiciary committee for this part of the bill. as a former prosecutor, i know how important this victim-centered approach can be. sex trafficking victims are often afraid to talk to law enforcement. it makes sense. they're not sure they're going to help them. are they going to give them shelter, turn their lives around, give them a place to sleep? and if they don't have that kind of trust, then they go back to the pitch pimp. if we focus on identifying those victims, even when they may not tell us that they're being trafficked, then that can help us to get them to come forward to get help and also to testify

against a trafficker, leading to more convictions. we also need to address the needs of the victim. housing, education, legal issues, to help break this cycle of violence and abuse. we have a great new shelter that opened up in st. paul this year. i was proud to be there with cindy mccain. the 180 degrees -- that's what it's called. brittany's place in st. paul. it provides special services for victims of sex trafficking to help them turn their lives around. we also need to use the tools available to go after sex traffickers. we can't get them if we can't just use the sex trafficking charges. we need to look at money laundering charges or enterprise corrupting charges who are other charges that although not directly perhaps related to trafficking targets traffickers nonetheless. so that's going to be an important part of this, and a law enforcement part and the reason that the state prosecutors are now partnering more with the federal

prosecutors. we need to go after trafficking facilities -- facilitators. they're actually letting this havment there are some incredible businesses that have the goen up front on this. like maryland cross and nelson. a number of other hotel chains across our country are working on this issue. airlines from delta on. american airlines, others have been doing work in this area and it's actually really exciting because you have businesses that are willing to say we're on the front line. we see when something's going on on our hotel or on our plane and we're willing to train our employees so they know to report it to law enforcement so we can stop things from happening on the front line. this is all happening right now in our country, and the thought that in the congress when we passed a similar bill in the house, when we all know we have to make minor corrections to it on the senate side, this was the bill originally that senator

cornyn and i introduced. we've now joined up with really good provisions from senators whitehouse and sessions as well as senator wyden and senator cornyn, and that's what this package is. it is just the kind of legislation that we should pass. and again, the victims of these sex trafficking crimes are not the ones that can figure out how we negotiate things in the united states senate. the ones that are in these states that haven't yet done anything that may open their eyes when they hear they can get a grant if they change our laws a bit and find out best practices across the country, what's working, those victims are the ones we should be focusing on. not what's going on here. and a lot of these bills that people on our side of the aisle may want out of the judiciary committee, i support them but they're not in my control. what's in my control is in this bill where i've been able to garner republican support. and all i'm asking from my colleagues here is to be able to go forward with this bill on this side.

i think it would be sad indeed if we were not able to get this bill through because of democratic objections. so i plan for asking for unanimous consent for this bill if we're unable to work something out, and i'm going to keep at it until this session closes, because this bill is named the stop exploitation through trafficking act of 2013. i think two years is enough time. two years is enough where a young girl's life at age 13 is ruined. we can get this bill done. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. cardin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: mr. president, this week i received several requests from international advocate groups to speak out against the injustice in other countries in regards to their judicial system. it's not unusual that we get requests here in the united

states to speak out on those matters, where journalists are in prison solely because they're doing investigative journalism. or human rights activists are in prison just because they speak out about the injustice in their society. or people in opposition to the government are arrested or harassed or tortured because they disagree with the government. and the judicial system of that country is unable to deal with those types of issues. they understand that one of america's core values is fairness, inclusion and equal justice under the law. however, recent events have shown that here in the united states we're not where we need to be in regards to our judicial system, and we must do more. shortly after the tragic death of trayvon martin, an unarmed youth who was killed by an auxiliary police personnel, i convened a group of activists in

baltimore to try to understand what is happening in our community. and i must tell you what i observed and learned during that discussion i think is very informative to us all. it was an african-american audience, and they were explaining to me that if you have a teenage son in the african-american community, you've got to talk to that son about what they need to do in regards to their potential confrontation with police. and it was chilling to me to understand the fear that's in our community as to how you have to deal with law enforcement. law enforcement should be on your side. and yet, it sort of ripped me apart to understand how widespread the concern is in

minority communities, how widespread the number of victims of racial profiling in minority communities, how many families have had examples. there was this one young woman who was there, told me that when she was a young girl she was going to the arena to see a basketball game with her father and how her father was pulled over for no reason other than the color of his skin, pulled aside unable to proceed to the basketball game. and the impact it had on this young girl at the time about is this america? is this the core values we believe and equal justice under the law? one of the victims of racial profiling was a young lawyer who was returning home from a funeral that he was attending, and he was stopped by the maryland state police solely because of the color of his

skin. no other reason. he decided to do something about it. he brought a legal suit against the maryland state police. wilkins vs. state of maryland. as a result that lawsuit the maryland police committed itself to stop racial profiling. there were certain practices that had to be established, certain checks that had to be done, certain data had to be provided. and it became, i think, the model example of what law enforcement needs to do to make sure that it is not using racial profiling. i mention that case because robert wilkins, the young lawyer who brought that case, has been confirmed by the united states senate and now sits on the d.c. court of appeals, one of the confirmations that we were able to complete in this term of congress. he's an excellent member of the court of appeals for the

district. but you have to -- we get constant reminders about the problems we have in our criminal justice system. ferguson, missouri; of course, and the tragic death of michael brown gives us another example. and i'm a strong supporter of the independence of our judicial branch of government and the grand jury system, but i think all of us understand the frustration. no criminal indictments brought in trayvon martin, none in michael brown, none in the most recent eric garner, unarmed individual who was choked to death in new york. unfortunately, there are many, many more examples where the criminal justice system does not appear to be working for equal justice for all. in oakland, california, the naacp reported that out of the 45 officers involved in shootings in the city between 2004 and 2008, 37 of these, those shot were black. none were white. one-third of the shootings

resulted in fatalities, although weapons were not found in 40% of the cases, no officer were charged. no wonder people are losing confidence that we really do have a system where all of our citizens are treated equally under the law. i do point out that the department of justice is investigating the circumstances in ferguson and michael brown, so we'll wait to see what happens with the federal investigation. but the initial suspicions that many of these cases were solely because of the color of a person's skin. that's why the individuals were stopped. not because they were observed in criminal activities. not because they had specific information about a crime that fit the description of the individual that was stopped. that's profiling. and profiling is wrong. profiling is when the police target an individual, start an investigation, do things because

of race, religion, national origin. that is wrong. it doesn't work. if you have specific information about a crime, obviously you can use that, the identifiers to deal with the investigation. that's appropriate. if you don't have specific information, it is profiling and profiling is plain wrong. it is un-american, not what we believe in. not in our core values. it is a waste of resources because it doesn't help you solve a problem. it turns communities against law enforcement, and you need communities working with law enforcement if we're going to have the most efficient law enforcement. and it can be deadly, as we have seen too frequently in recent years here in the united states. profiling must end. mr. president, the attorney general issued some guidance today on profiling, and i say,

look, there are some things in there that i found very helpful. for the first time this justice department guidelines will cover new categories such as national origin, gender, gender identity, religion and sexual orientation while closing certain loopholes and narrowing some exemptions. the guidelines mandates new data collection which makes it easier to track profiling complaints. they're all positive. for the first time we now have specific guidelines against profiling, but it only applies to the federal agencies. we need to act, because only we can make it apply not just to the federal but the federal, the state, the local auxiliaries. we can close all loopholes so that we do not allow profiling to take place in america, as we should. and we can give a private right of action so that we can have enforcement of the laws that we pass. that's what we should do.

i've introduced legislation that does exactly that, to end racial profiling act, s. 1038. i'm proud to have as cosponsors senator reid, durbin, blumenthal, coons, harkin, menendez, levin, mikulski, warren, boxer, gillibrand, murphy and white house, hirono. i'm loud in the house of representatives -- i'm proud in the house of representatives the lead sponsor is john conyers, 59 cosponsors in the house bill. the legislation that we've authored would provide training and mentoring for police departments so that they have what they need. it prohibits all forms of profiling. it provides for data collection and provides grants to develop best practices. it has broad support, including support of the leadership conference on civil and human rights, the aclu, naacp and the

rights working group. mr. president, as i started my comments on the floor, america is the beacon for hope for people all around the world. they embrace our core values because they know what america stands for. it stands for every one of us being treated fairly under our laws. i'm proud of our values, and i'm proud of what we've been able to accomplish as a nation, where we can enjoy religious freedom, where you can speak out however you want to in your government. but let us take care of business first at home and recognize that we are not where we need to be. recent events where people have lost their lives and our system is not working needs to be corrected. one thing we can do is pass the end racial profiling act. as senator kennedy said civil rights is the great unfinished

business of america. we can end profiling by passing legislation. i encourage my colleagues to work with me so we can end profiling and move us one step closer to equal justice under the law for all americans. with that, mr. president, i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: a senator? mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: i ask unanimous consent to suspend the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lee: i ask unanimous consent to grant floor privileges to neil ashburn for the duration of 2014. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lee: thank you, mr. president. i note the absence of a quorum. quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from montana. a senator: mr. president, i ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: mr. president, as we hurry to finish things late in the year, we're running out of time to reauthorize the native american housing act. this legislation was first passed in 1996 to consolidate indian housing programs at the department of housing and urban development. this block grant replaced 14

different housing programs operating in indian country. the law has been previously reauthorized twice in a bipartisan manner. the house -- the housing needs in indian country are staggering. a recent g.a.o. report stated that 5.3% of homes on indian lands lacked complete plumbing. that compares to homes nationwide where it's less than 1% that lack plumbing. tribal communities also face a serious housing shortage. in some cases, there are up to 20 people living in a single three-bedroom home. that is not by voice, by the way. that's by necessity. these are often extended families with three or four generations under one roof. this is unacceptable. we must do more to honor our trust responsibility the government has to american indians. the best tool we have to address this housing shortage is the indian housing block grant program authorized by in the hosda. not pacing this reauthorization places this program in jeopardy and we should reauthorize it

today. last year during the tenure as chair of the committee on indian affairs, which i currently chair, senator cantwell introduced a reauthorization bill. the bill makes a number of positive changes to the law so at this point in time, i would ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to immediate consideration of calendar number 331 -- 334, s. 1352, that the committee-reported substitute amendment be agreed to, the bill as amended be read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from utah. mr. lee: mr. president, reserving the right to be on. i prepared an amendment which is at the desk. the amendment i'd like to offer would strike just one provision of this bill which is the reauthorization of the hawaiian homes commission act from the

this large reauthorization bill. the hawaiian homes commission act, in my view, is unconstitutional. conditionit conditions benefitso certain residents in the state of hawaii on their ancestry, that is, on what race they belong to. like the united states supreme court, which has invalidated similar laws making membership in a racial group an explicit qualification for certain benefits, i believe this act violates the constitutional guarantee of equal protection. i, therefore, cannot support the reauthorization without an amendment striking that same language. accordingly, i would respectfully request that my distinguished colleague, the senior senator from montana, modify his request to adopt my amendment which is at the desk and which would strike section 503. the presiding officer: will the senator so modify his request? mr. tester: i object to the modification because of this.

setting aside the fact that senator inouye was a very, very good friend of mine, the native hawaiian homelands act was passed into law some time ago and the native people -- native hawaiians have sacrificed their lands in a similar way that the native peoples have here and in alaska. native hawaiians here have similar needs to those that i just explained. in fact, the cost of housing in hawaii is a significant barrier for native hawaiians. reauthorizing the native hawaiian provisions will provide stability and assurances to keep housing programs for native hawaiians moving forward. and for these reasons, i would object to that modification. the presiding officer: there is an objection to the modification. is there furthered objection to the original request? mr. lee: i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard.

mr. tester: i am disappointed that we cannot pass this legislation. this bill would not only reauthorize the indian housing programs at h.u.d. but it would streamline cumbersome environmental programs and allow for more flexibility to build more modern sustainable housing. this will reauthorize housing programs, as i said, for the native hawaiians, where the need exists in a big, big way. i should also mention that the exact same provision was included in the bill that passed the republican-controlled house of representatives last week on a voice vote. finally -- on a voice vote. finally, this would make the h.u.d. program available for tribeally designated housing authorities through the indian housing block grant. these funds will be used for homeless native veterans as well as those who are at risk of becoming homeless. as many of my colleagues know, american indians serve at a higher rate per capita than any other population in our military.

and continue to be one of the most underserved groups of veterans. with all the good things in it, i am extremely disappointed that we cannot get this bill across the finish line. housing of native people should be a priority for congress as we wrap this session up. it is frustrating to see a bill get through the house and only have potentially a couple senators here hoping to get a better report card from a group like the heritage foundation. so i'm sorry that we cannot pass the bill today. this is disappointing for indian country and the senate. i'm more than willing to talk about germane changes but the bottom line is this, mr. president. many folks here do not understand the trust responsibilities we have to our native american people. if we're going to start carving folks out like the native hawaiians, we're going to be making two classes of native american people in this country. i don't think that's fair to them nor do i think it's fair to this country.

with that, i would yield the floor. mr. leahy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, i'm about to make a unanimous consent request but i should explain why. it's on the freedom of information acted act, one of or nation's most important laws. for nearly 50 years, foia has given us ways to access government information, showing what the government is doing and the senate is now poised to build on that important legacy with the passage of the bipartisan leahy-cornyn foia improvement act. it's going to require federal agencies to have presumption of openness. make as a priority the people's interest in what the government is doing. reduce the overuse of exemptions to withhold information. make information available for public inspection. it will open the government to the more than 300 million americans that government is supposed to serve. the bill is supported by 70

public-interest groups that advocate for government transparency. sunshine government initiative said the leahy-cornyn bill strengthens government transparency. we passed this out of judiciary committee in unanimous support. ranking member grassley said the foia improvement act opens wide the curtains, provides more sunlight. senator cornyn has been my partner for many years in government transparency, and noted our bipartisan effort, and i thank them both. i would ask consent that my full statement be made part of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: and i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar number 605, s. 2520. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 605, s. 2520, a bill to improve the freedom of information act. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure?

withouwithout objection, the see will proceed. mr. leahy: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the committee-reported substitute amendment be agreed to, the bill as amended be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be considered laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. so ordered. mr. leahy: and, mr. president, i see other senators seeking the floor. i yield the floor. mr. harkin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. harkin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that zachary gross, katie crabtree and emily barto, internlz with the senate health, education, labor, and pensions committee be granted floor privileges for the remainder of today's session and that caitlin boon, a detailee with the committee, also be granted floor privileges for today's session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. harkin: mr. president, i speak today at this time in support of the nomination of lauren mcferran to fill an approaching vacancy on the national labor relations board. i was heartened by the recent

cloture vote in support of the mcferran nomination and urge my colleagues in just a short while to vote in favor of her confirmation. miss mcferran is well-known to most of us as a senior staffer on this committee, on the help committee, where she has long served as chief labor counsel and more recently as deputy staff director. she's been nominated to fill a vacancy that will result from the departure later this month of a current board member, nancy schiffer. i would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank miss schiffer for her dedicated service on the national labor relations board. she's been a highly respected board member and i wish her every success in her future endeavors. i also want to say a word about the previous nominee to the board, sharon block, whose nomination was withdrawn at the insistence of senate republicans. though i have no doubt ms. mcferran will serve with fairness and distinction, it is fortunate that sharon block, a

dedicated public servant will not have opportunity to serve further on the national labor relations board. ms. block was an extraordinarily qualified nominee who is widely respected by republicans and democrats alike. ms. block's nomination was withdrawn as a result of circumstances wholly beyond her control. but her qualifications and experience are undiminished and untarnished by the circumstances that led to the withdrawal of her nomination. mr. president, the national labor relations board is an agency that is absolutely critical to our country, to our economy and to our middle class. over 75 years ago, congress enacted the national labor relations act, guaranteeing american workers the right to join and form a union, and to bargain for a better life. that act sets forth a national policy to encourage collective bargaining, to encourage collective bargaining. that is the national policy of

this government, and has been since 1939. let me read what the act specifically states. quote -- "it is declared to be the policy of the united states to eliminate the causes of certain substantial obstructions to the free flow of commerce and to mitigate and eliminate these obstructions when they have occurred by encouraging the practice and procedure of collective bargaining and by protecting the exercise by workers of full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing for the purpose of negotiating the terms and conditions of their employment or other mutual aid or protection" -- end quote. that's the policy of the united states government.

to encourage collective bargaining, not to destroy it, not to tear it down, not to throw up roadblocks against collective bargaining, but to encourage it. those who continually attack the national labor relations board, who try to interfere in its procedures, many times are those who want to throw a monkey wrench into collective bargaining. well, they are going against the policy of the united states. so i'm proud to be a citizen of a country that promotes collective bargaining to allow workers to negotiate for better wages, better conditions, safe working conditions. a country that protects fundamental rights like the freedom of association. the act provides these essential protections for union and nonunion workers alike. it gives workers a voice in the workplace, allowing them to join together and speak up for the various essence of

middle-class jobs, fair wages, good benefits, safe working conditions. these rights ensure that the people who do the real work in this country have a shot at joining the middle class and receiving a fair share of the benefits when our country grows. the nlrb, the national labor relations board, is the guardian of these fundamental rights. workers themselves cannot enforce the national labor relations act. but they can turn to the board if they have been denied the basic protections provided under the law. in short, the board plays a vital role in vindicating workers' rights. get this, mr. president, understand this -- in the past ten years, the national labor relations board, the nlrb, has secured opportunities for reinstatement of 22,544 employees who were unjustly

fired. and over that same past ten years, the nlrb has recovered more than $1 billion on behalf of workers whose rights and wages were violated. the board also provides relief and remedies to our nation's employers. a lot of people think that the nlrb is just there for the workers. not so. it's there to help employers, too. for example, employers can turn to the board for relief if a union commences a wildcat strike or refuses to bargain in good faith during negotiations. the nlrb has a long history of helping businesses resolve disputes efficiently by preventing or resolving labor disputes that could disrupt our economy, the work the board does is vital to every worker and every business across the nation. that's why it's so important we maintain a fully functional

five-member nlrb. i'm proud of the fact just over a year ago we were able to confirm members to completely fill the bird for the first time in over a decade. now we need to fill a soon-to-be open seat so the board can continue to function effectively. and that's what this vote is all about coming up. it's unfortunate some of my friends on the other side of the aisle don't believe in the national labor relations act. not all of them, but a very vocal minority, i would say. they don't agree it should be the policy of the united states to promote collective bargaining and self-organization in order to prevent disruptions in -- quote -- "the free flow of commerce that can have a detrimental impact on our nation's economy." they would like to change the existing law if they could, but they don't have the votes. so instead they've attempted to

pull every possible lever to slow down the work that goes on at the nlrb. recently republicans in the house of representatives have held hearing after hearing specifically addressing the nlrb. they passed two bills to amend the nlra, the national labor relations act to strip workers of their rights. republican elected officials have tried to defund the agency, threatened the professional credentials and livelihoods of nonpartisan career employees. and even called on a republican board member to resign in order to incapacitate the agency. you heard me right. republicans called upon a republican board member of the nature labor relations board to quit, to leave it, and then they wouldn't have enough members to function. while most concerns -- what

most concerns me about this political game playing is how it affects the everyday life of workers across america. workers who are disciplined, penalized, even fired unjustly by employers, it's the nlrb that ensures workers who are illegally punished as i mentioned can get back their jobs jobs and lost wages. this is exactly why we need to confirm ms. mcferran today. no one can contest her qualifications. as i said, she currently serves as both chief labor counsel and deputy staff director of the health, education, and pensions committee and i'm proud to have her a member of my staff. she has served this committee with excellence and great professionalism. first hired by my predecessor, senator kennedy, she stayed on after his passing and my assumption of the chairmanship of the committee. she has a deep knowledge of labor law, she is an incredibly

lented lawyer. she is a person of sterling integrity and strong character and she will be a great asset to the board. it is my hope that by promptly confirming ms. mcferran's nomination to fill the upcoming vacancy we can continue the progress that has been made recently and begin a new era where orderly transitions on the nlrb are the norm, where we don't go month after month, year after year with vacancies, a board that can't function. instead of letting every vacancy become a political football with threats to shutter the board and pressure for recess appointments, we should set a new precedent of confirming nominees, democrat and republican alike, in a timely manner, allowing the dedicated public servants at the board to stop worrying about making headlines and instead focus on the important work they do every

day. again, that important work includes ensuring american workers are able to exercise their right to freedom of association. in the workplace this means collectively bargaining for better wages, benefits and working conditions. it is enshrined, enshrined in the national labor relations act and upheld by the nlrb. i have no doubt that ms. mcferran will do an excellent job in this important position and i urge my colleagues to support her confirmation later this afternoon. mr. president, with that i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. morning business is closed.

under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nominations: nuclear regulatory commission, jeffrey martin baran of virginia to be a member. national labor relations board, lauren mcgarity mcferran of the district of columbia to be at that member. department of energy, ellen dudley williams of maryland to be director of the advanced research projects agency. the presiding officer: flr now two minutes of debate prior to a vote on the baran nomination, equally divided. who yields time? mr. leahy: yield back on this side. the presiding officer: all time having been yielded back, the yeas and nays have been requested. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: