Senate Proceeding on May 13th, 2009 :: 0:00:00 to 0:20:00
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proceedings. on c-span2. before you the fears and hopes of our hearts. we confess that we haven't loved and trusted you as we ought, for you give

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perfect peace to those who think -- those who keep their minds on you. lord, impart wisdom to our senators. help them remember that they aren't orphans beneath the sky but your children and that all their ways are held in your

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Rear Adm. Barry Black: care. give our lawmakers the glorious liberty that comes from knowing they are heirs of celestial blessings, and that nothing can separate them from your love. let your peace that passes

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Speech By: Rear Adm. Barry Black

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Rear Adm. Barry Black: understanding keep their hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of you. may they yield their attitudes and dispositions to your contr so that they might work effectively with each other. we pray in your powerful name.

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Rear Adm. Barry Black: amen. the presidin join me in recing the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and

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Harry Reid: justice for all. the presiding of clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington d.c., may 13, 2009. paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the hono begich, a senator from the state of alaska, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: robert c. byrd, president

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Speech By: Harry Reid

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Harry Reid: pro tempore. the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: the senate will proceed to executive session and consider the nomination of david hayes to be deputy secretary of interior. there will be up to one debate equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees prior to a cloture vote on that nomination. the senate will recess from

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Harry Reid: 12:30 until 1:30 to go out -- to allow for a special democratic caucus meeting. the reception for the spouse's dinner at the botanical gardens begins at 6:30 tonight and senators are encouraged to this is really a nice event. we don't have the opportunity to get together very often, mr. president, so this is something that we all look forward to. i'm confident it will be a very

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Harry Reid: good evening for us all. mr. president, senators with good intentions can disagree on issues. we can disagree with our naon's leaders. but we should all be able to agree at the president and his cabinet deserve a complete lineup when that team takes the field on the most pressing issues we face.

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Harry Reid: the american people deserve the leaders they asked for in november when they demanded we clean up the mess the last administration left behind. one of those key players is a man the man who president obama nominated to be deputy secretary of the interior. mr. hayes served successfully in this same position during the

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Harry Reid: clinton administration and understands better tha probably anyone else what it takes to effectively run a department of about 70,000 people. that's the department of interior. as the deputy secretary of interior, hayes would work closely with our former colleague, secretary ken salazar, on important decisions about many things, mr. president, and no two states

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Harry Reid: feel the importance of the secretary of interior than alaska and nevada. in nevada, 87% of the state of nevada is owned by the federal government. alaska is second. other of land that's controlled by the federal government, the secretary of interior and consequently his deputy would

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Harry Reid: have some say secretary salazar must make important decisions about developing renewal resources that would create jobs, conserving our public lands for future generations and keeping water clean. david hayes will play a central role in correcting the of the past and making important decisions for the future. in the past eight years the

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Harry Reid: interior department was marked by mismanagement secretary salazar's department has inherited the unenviable task of getting the american people to agency that manages one-fifth of the nation's land mass, 1.7 billion acres off our coast. the department's also moving

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Harry Reid: forward in critical ways. secretary salazar that he will take dramatic strides to move our country toward energy independence. with ensure our country is harnessing the wind, the sun and set us free from dependence on oil, foreign oil.

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Harry Reid: secretary salazar deserves the opportunity to have the most knowledgeable people around him to make this energy revolution happen. on secretary salazar's list, the first is he's a graduate of notre dame university, stanford law school.

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Harry Reid: he's creative. for 30 years he worked in natural resources and environmental law. he's written dozens of articles and book chapters about water supply issues, clean land cons skraeugs among other important -- conservation among other important topics. a long and impressive track record of negotiating the difficult issues our department deals with every day.

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Harry Reid: but he can't get his work done until this body confirms him. in a repeat of a scene we've become too familiar with lately, kweupbdz are standing -- republicans are standing in the way. mr. hayes' nomination feel passionately abo priorities, but i also know secretary salazar and mr. hayes believe just as strongly about finding common ground that

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Harry Reid: serves all of our i mr. president, the real issue -- the real issue -- is the fact that in the last minutes of the bush administration, the waning minutes of the bush kempthorne issued 77 oil and gas leases. these leases are next door to national parks.

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Harry Reid: it was a concern of the national park service when it was done. the environmental community is up in arms. the people of utah don't like it. we have one national park nevada. i know how the people of nevada would feel if we started bringing in oil rigs next to the

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Harry Reid: national park. they wouldn't like it. salazar, w secretary of interior, withdrew those regulations. he didn't terminate them. he withdrew them for further study, further review. we have here, issue of the people of the state of utah versus the oil company.

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Harry Reid: for far too long the oil companies always win. win for a change. every state has unique challenges. mr. hayes is prepared to travel across the west to confront them head on, not so he can tell states what to do, but rather so he can work with them to a each issue thoughtfully and respectfully.

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Harry Reid: working together solutions is the answer. robbing a cabinet secretary of his right-hand man is not. secretary salazar knows this senate and his door is open to every member of this body. could you find a nicer person in the world than ken salazar? i don't think so. and mr. hayes has his backing and his backg

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Harry Reid: hayes will continue doing what salazar directs him to do. now is the time to move forward, not to drag o or try to score political points. ask anyone who knows him -- david hayes -- they'll tell you among the many skills he has is the ability to work cooperatively and in a bipartisan fashion on the most complex issues.

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Harry Reid: i wish our republican colleagues would show the same spirit in at least the simpl kweurpblg such a clearly -- confirmi tpaoeupd candidate. -- qualified candidate. he has an excellent academic background. no one questions his capabilities.

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Harry Reid: the real issue sthaoes oil and gas -- is these oil and gas leases. he's a good and honest our country is fortunate he's once again answered the call to serve. i say to my friends, mr. president, frankly, we have a couple of sick senators today,

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Harry Reid: and we -- the republicans can block. i under yesterday. there was a plea, we've got to stop these democrats from confirming this man. david hayes will be confirmed. if i have to wait franken comes, he's going to be confirmed. we're going to confirm david hayes. everyone should und if we happen to lose this today,

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Harry Reid: i will just move to reconsider until we have the votes. ken salazar is going to have david hayes working with him. everyone should understand that. secretary salazar has bent over backwards to answer the questions of the senators that are questioning these oil and gas leases and few other things. salazar is a man who is known

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Harry Reid: for his ability to compromise. he's a consensus builder. i would hope that people would allow this nomination to go forward. if there were some about hayes having written a law review article where he's calling for something that's outlandish or if he had done

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Harry Reid: something that in the past that is out of line, i never heard a single word about his qualifications. he's a man that's qualified for this job. the president of the united

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Speech By: Mitch McConnell

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Mitch McConnell: states has nominated mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: in fairness, i would ask my time be charged against the majority time. whatever time we used would be counted against this the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: yesterday afternoon the trustees of the social security and medicare trust funds released their

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Mitch McConnell: annual report. after reviewing its findings, it's clear that the future of social security and medicare can be summed up in one word: unsustainable. even before the report was issued, we knew these programs could not remain solvent for long under current conditions. last year's report predicted paying out more than it takes in

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Mitch McConnell: by 2017 and that it would bankrupt about two decades after that. last year's report also predicted that medicare would start paying out more than it takes in within a year and that the trust fund for this vital program would be bankrupt about a the report that was released

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Mitch McConnell: yesterday predicts a far graver scenario. as a result recession, social security will start paying out more than it takes in by 2016 and it will go bankrupt four years previously expected. the situati for medicare is even more serious. medicare is already paying out more than it takes in and it will bankrupt in just eight

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Mitch McConnell: years, two years earlier than expected, according to yesterday's report. it would be irresponsible for congress to wait any longer before addressing this problem. some say we haven't reached a point of crisis continue to kick the problem down the road until these programs actually go bankrupt. they seem to think if the house is on fire, it's okay to wait

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Mitch McConnell: until the whole place burns down department. most americans disagree. most people think that if a program they depend on is falling apart or is about to fall apart, then their elected representatives in washington have an obligat about it and to do something. the time to act is n

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Mitch McConnell: these programs go bankrupt. not after. the warning signs about social security and medicare have been around us for years, and the problems with these programs are also at the core of the current record levels of government spending and debt. at the moment, programs soal security, medicare, and medicaid as well as the interest

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Mitch McConnell: we pay on the national debt consume nearly $7 out of $10 the federal government spends. $7 out of $10. medicare, social security, medicaid, national debt. soon we'll have little money left for anything else, including vital priorities like defense, health care, transportation, and programs that fuel job

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Mitch McConnell: reform has been put off for too long. take example. by law, the president is required to submit legislation to lower medicare s levels if the cash flow of program falls below a certain level. so last year when medicare cash flow fell below that level, the president submitted legislation to lower spending.

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Mitch McConnell: unfortunately, this legislation did not move forward in congress. real leadership on entitlement reform will require action from both parties, and yesterday's report is the wakeup call. reform is no longer just a good idea. it's absolutely necessary. it's the only way to restore the

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Mitch McConnell: pr get at the root of fiscal programs. unless we act now, these programs will no longer be sustainable and debt will continue to spiral out of control. now, the good news is that a solution actually exists. as i said many times before, the best way to address this crisis

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Mitch McConnell: is the conrad-gregg proposal would provide pathway to fix the long-term challenges of entitlement spending and our unprecedented national debt. challenges that the democratic budget and their economic policies for the past few months completely ignore. there's never been a better time to adopt this sensible

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Mitch McConnell: bipartisan proposal. this week we learned that the defi year will be nearly $90 billion higher than previously estimated bringing the deficit for this year to $1.8 trillion. this is nearly four times --

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Mitch McConnell: four times higher than the record set last year. it also means that this year's defici is higher than those of the past five years combined. the danger of all of this debt is simple: higher inflation that threatens to derail an economic recovery and trillions in debt that our children and

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Mitch McConnell: grandchildren will have to repay to countries like china and nations in the middle east. secretary geithner said yesterday when it comes to reforming social security, the administration will build a bipartisan consensus to ensure that social security remains solid. i welcome the and i urge the administration to support the conrad-gregg proposal which is

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Mitch McConnell: and i would argue the only way to address entitlement spending and our unprecedented national debt. after yesterday's report it is clear that we can't wait any longer to address this crisis. americans relied on programs like medicare and social security for decades. it would be dishonest and unfair not to tell them the truth about

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Mitch McConnell: these programs. that they are near collapse and that urgent reform is needed to bring them back to sustainability. more than 800,000 kentuckians receive social security benefits an nearly that in medicare. they deserve our honesty and they deserve

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Mitch McConnell: lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. we need to make sure programs hike social security and

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Robert Bennett: medicare remain viable for them and for their child grandchildren. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order the leadership time is under the previous order the senate will proceed to the executive session to consider the following nomination w the clerk - will report.

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Speech By: Robert Bennett

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Robert Bennett: the clerk: department of the david hayes of virginia to be deputy secretary of t interior. the presiding officer: under the previous order there will now be one hour of debate equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: t senator from utah.

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Robert Bennett: a senator: mr. president, i rise in opposition to the hayes nomination. mr. bennett: i'm here with the senator from alaska and i would like to be told consum 15 minutes. so that the senator from alaska and i can coordinate our presentation. the presiding officer: we'll do that.

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Robert Bennett: mr. bennett: mr. president, i listened with interest to the statement of the majority leader with respect to david hayes, and i agree with much of what he had to say. file compelled to correctome of the things -- i feel compelled to correct some of the things that he had to say. because they are some of the same things that the department of interior has been saying that

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Robert Bennett: i find, in fact, are not factual. i agree with him that the president appoint whomever it is he wants. and i agree with him that david hayes is position. i also believe, however, mr. president, that members of this body who have of

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Robert Bennett: entitled to clear answers to their questions before the confirmation goes down. and it is have been asking for clear answers to those -- legitimate questions and that those answers have not been and, therefore, i am not willing to proceed with the confirmation

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Robert Bennett: vote until we get those answers. this is not to say that i am opposed to david hayes and will do everything to see to it that he is not confirmed. indeed, i want to do everything i can to see that he is confirmed as rapidly as possible. but as rapidly as possible does not mean that i must give up my