Senate Opening

The Senate Convened.

Opening Remarks

 
Senator Reid: (10:10 AM)

·         Today --

·         There will be a period of Morning Business with Senators allowed to speak up to 10 minutes each.

·         Senator Salazar will deliver his farewell address during Morning Business.

·         Senator Designate Ted Kaufman (replacing Vice President-Elect Joe Biden) will be sworn in at 11:00.

·         No votes are expected.

·         Next Week --

·         The Senate will convene Tuesday afternoon to clear some of President-Elect Obama's nominations, however, no roll call votes are expected.

·         The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (S. 181) is expected to be completed on Wednesday. The Hutchison Amendment is currently pending.

·         Spoke on Senator Salazar's departure from the Senate.

o    SUMMARY "He's now going to bring this remarkable experience of wisdom as he leaves the Senate and upon confirmation begins a new adventure as President Obama's Secretary of Interior. All of us feel his time here in the Senate is far too short. But, I know that his service to our nation will in no way take away from the legacy that he's left here in the United States Senate and after having served as Cabinet Officer, it will be enhanced."

 
Senator McConnell: (10:15 AM)

·         Spoke on Senator Salazar's departure from the Senate.

o    SUMMARY "We think he's been an extraordinarily outstanding and fine member of this body. And I wanted to join with the Majority Leader and say how much we appreciate his service here and how much all of us look forward to continuing to work with him in the coming years in his new and important responsibility as Secretary of the Interior."

Morning Business

 
Senator Salazar: (10:17 AM)

·         Spoke on his departure from the Senate.

o    SUMMARY "I thank my colleagues who are here this morning. I know that almost everybody took off last night, and so the Chamber is not exactly full this morning. But, I see both Democrats and Republicans here who came to hear me say the last few words that I will say from this desk here in the U.S. Senate...I thank my wonderful staff, many of whom are here today, and some of whom are watching back in Colorado for having made this possible, because without their great effort, frankly, we would not be able to do what we have done."

 
Senator Lieberman: (10:38 AM)

·         Spoke on Senator Salazar's departure from the Senate.

o    SUMMARY "He's a doer. He didn't come to make speeches. Though he makes a very good speech, as we just heard. He came to get things done for the people of Colorado and the people of America...so I wish him well. The only comfort in seeing him leave the Senate is he's only going down the street a bit, and we know he'll be here to work with us.)

 
Senator Reed: (10:48 AM)

·         Spoke on Senator Salazar's departure from the Senate.

o    SUMMARY "You and your family have been in Colorado for five generations. I feel like a recent arrival. My folks got here about 1850. From a new American to an old established family, thank you for your service, thank you for your friendship. Good luck, Mr. Secretary."

 
Senator Pryor: (10:52 AM)

·         Spoke on Senator Salazar's departure from the Senate.

o    SUMMARY "Senator Salazar, we're going to miss you very much here. We all love you. And we all know that you're going to do great things at Interior. We know there's a lot of challenges that America is facing right now, but we know that you're part of the solution, and God has called you to be where you're going right now. So thank you for your public service, and we're going to dearly miss you in this body."

 
Senator Whitehouse: (10:55 AM)

·         Spoke on Senator Salazar's departure from the Senate.

o    SUMMARY "I will only say that we will miss you very, very deeply. We are enormously confident in you. The Department of Interior is lucky to have you. President Obama is fortunate to have you join his Cabinet, and we wish you Godspeed, my friend."

 
Senator Klobuchar: (10:57 AM)

·         Spoke on Senator Salazar's departure from the Senate.

o    SUMMARY "When I think about Ken Salazar, I think about Ken Salazar in Colorado, in his beautiful mountains. And I just think the idea of him going to be the head of the Interior Department is something that is a gift to this country...we are all very, very lucky to have him."

Morning Business

Ted Kaufman was sworn in as the Junior Senator from Delaware.  
Senator Reid: (11:08 AM)

·         Spoke on the swearing in of Senator Kaufman.

o    SUMMARY "We who work in the Senate know of the strength of Joe Biden, but one of the reasons he's had the strength that he has over these years is because his back was always protected by Ted Kaufman. In this time of great consequence, Senator Kaufman's decades of experience and the wisdom accumulated over those years will serve him well as he serves the people of Delaware and the country in the United States Senate."

Senator Carper (11:10 AM)

·         Spoke on the swearing in of Senator Kaufman.

o    SUMMARY "Sometimes people come here and they've never served in elective office. Ted has not, but he comes here steeped in the knowledge of this Senate, knows the players, knows the way this place works, has a pretty good idea, I think, on how to make it work better."

 
Senator Reed: (11:19 AM)

·         Spoke on Senator Biden's departure from the Senate.

o    SUMMARY "Once again, in the tough decisions in the White House, I think that Joe will have a special equity because his son serves along with the sons and daughters of other Americans, and he will recognize that when they make difficult decisions regarding deployment of our forces. It is an honor to serve with him. It is an honor to call him a colleague and a friend."

·         Spoke on Senator Clinton's departure from the Senate.

o    SUMMARY "So we have, I think, in the presence of Hillary Rodham Clinton, an extraordinary asset in our State Department. Senator Obama made a wise choice. She brings not only experience and great recognition, but tenacious attitude toward work and service. She is one of the hardest working people I have ever met. All of these skills are going to be important at this moment in our history."

 
Senator Cantwell: (11:23 AM)

·         Spoke on the economic stimulus package.

o    SUMMARY "It is very important that as we start the discussion on the stimulus next week, that we get our priorities right. That we inject capital and confidence and construction back into our economy. And though we must act urgently, we must, I believe, get things right in the stimulus package and take time to make sure we are getting it right. Getting it right means maintaining, I believe, a laser focus on job creation activities in the short term and over the next few decades. And this should be the priority in putting together the stimulus package and making sure that we are providing businesses with the certainty they need and the tax code to make investments now."

o    SUMMARY "We know that as we face this financial crisis we need to make the right decisions to put the few pillars in place that will be the strength that we can really lean on as our country faces these difficult times. I can think of nothing more simple and game changing than a $100 billion investment in clean energy to get us on the right track, to make us world leaders, and to make us the leaders in this 21st century technology that can produce jobs long into the future."

Morning Business

 
Senator Dorgan: (12:19 PM)

·         Spoke on the Administration's request for the second $350 billion in TARP funds.

o    SUMMARY "We have all these holdings companies and now Citigroup completely coming apart. But in the meantime, these companies are judged by our country, by the Federal Reserve and others, to be too big to fail. Doesn't matter how incompetent they might be, they're too big to fail. Interestingly, they've not been big enough to regulate. I'm talking now about the investment banks. It seems to me if you're too big to fail, you're sure not too small to regulate. Why would we not have regulatory authority to prevent this sort of thing?"

o    SUMMARY "If we keep pushing in the right direction, I have hope that this country will prevail. This country has done so many terrific things against the odds, and we will again. But it requires people to be smart and tough. And you cannot have a wall of debt out there that you don't care about, an unbelievable wave of speculation that you say doesn't matter. You can't have regulators that refuse to regulate. You can't have an avalanche of dark money that no one can see. The fact is you've got to fix those these things."

Morning Business

Senator Hagen: (1:15 PM)

·         Spoke in favor of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (S. 181).

o    SUMMARY "Mr. President, when discrimination in the workplace results in a lower wage for those discriminated against, the people responsible should be held accountable. This bill helps them to do that. It does not place an undue burden on employers, nor does it open them up to decades-old litigation. It simply says, for all of the legal jargon, that it's not acceptable for women to make less than men on the same job with the same qualifications and with the same performance. In 2009, that is not too much to ask."

 
Senator Bond: (1:29 PM)

·         Spoke on education in the United States.

o    SUMMARY "We're working very hard on many fronts to try to get the economy going again. During this time, I think it's important we not lose sight of our long-term priorities. We have to build a better safety net for our children and families. We must think about the long-term educational prospects and tools for success our children need regardless of the economy."

o    SUMMARY "We need to equip the parents with the skills to maximize a child's development. This is exactly what a program that I have worked on in Missouri does. It's called 'Parents as Teachers,' or P.A.T. And that is precisely what the focus is on. It focuses on primarily the first three years of life when half the learning intelligence, when the socialization and interaction are developing, when the curiosity is excited."

o    SUMMARY "There are more families that can and should be reached by this life-changing program, which is why I have introduced the Education Begins at Home Act with Senators Murray and Clinton. The legislation will establish the first dedicated federally funded stream to support the expansion of P.A.T. and our bill has had strong bipartisan support in the past."

Morning Business

 
Senator Reid: (2:51 PM)

·         Performed wrap up.

·         Next Week --

·         The Senate will convene at 3:00 PM on Tuesday and following Leader remarks, there will be a period of Morning Business with Senators allowed to speak up to ten minutes each.

·         As a reminder, Senators should plan to gather in the Senate Chamber by 10:15 AM on Tuesday to proceed as a body at 10:30 AM to the swearing in ceremony.

·         There will be no roll call votes on Tuesday. The next vote is expected on Wednesday.

The Senate stands adjourned until 3:00 PM on Tuesday.