us and lift us with your mighty strength develop in us and optimism that will withstand all challenges bear all burdens and catapult all obstacles to guide the members of this body today on your path show them you way as you lead them by the power of your truth help them to set priorities that will deliver captives and relieve the oppressed causing justice to roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream direct our senators in there going out and coming in and spiraling them with a resolute determination to fulfill your purposes on earth we pray in your reverent name the senate washington d c may fourteenth two thousand and seven to the senate and the visions over a one paragraph three of the standing rules of the senate i hereby appoint the honorable mark ella pryor a senator from the state of arkansas to perform the duties of the chair signed leaders at three p m the senate will begin consideration of h r one thousand nine hundred five the water resources development act there's boxing in ha for the managers of the bill they'll be here at three o'clock ready to conduct business there will be no roll call votes which present if there are no amendments on tuesday the water resource bill will be ready for a vote then we can if there are no votes on word tomorrow and they have been able to claim complete work on the bill and we're going to have a judicial nomination before the caucus in the morning also i've had discussions with the republican leader we just finished a conversation just short time ago mispresent i indicated last friday flaying filing cloture on the most proceed immigration bill until today so that negotiations can continue that closure vote will occur now on wednesday republican leader and i will continue our discussions about the best way to proceed with supplemental bill is expected to see the house today were placed on the senate counter when it arrives the senate must complete action on the supplemental this week so that can be conference for the house and senate president part of the schedule memorial day recess it will occur that as a conference will be completed we must do more well just only a recess in addition the senate can expect to receive a conference vote on the budget sometime later this week will need to act on that also out of the budget act debate time is limited to ten hours so a busy week lies ahead just present for us here in the senate we have one week after this before the memorial day break mr president this weekend i had good fortune of having my brother here in town my brother don is the oldest of four boys he's twelve years older than i am he served the marine corps during the korean war he served in the army and it was a really a wonderful time we had yesterday among other things we went to arlington cemetery he wanted to go and i've been back here a long time as president i went to law school back here and now been in congress for about twenty five years but you don't often take the opportunity because you're busy doing other things visiting a wonderful attractions there are in the district of columbia area arlington cemetery is a place that every member of congress should go once in a while it's so amazing to see all i went to as i have a number of occasions to president kennedy's grave site the eternal flame he is there with his two babies who died with his wonderful wife watch the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier visiting the old gentleman oil all the marine corps memorial here jima he has mentioned there and i've been reading a lot about that lately mr president for some books flags of our fathers i don't want to hurt clint eastwood's feelings but the book's much much better than his movie a wonderful seven thousand americans were killed twenty thousand wounded the first few days hundreds were being killed every day medals of honor significant an even though that battle lasted a little over a month a significant percentage of all the medals of honor that were awarded during that war were awarded the speaks in words it cannot be described and just to set in rather than actual we're just hearing of the uncommon valor of our courageous merican when women in uniform serving overseas memorial lincoln monument these are things i enjoy doing but in specially enjoyed because my brother was there is present our troops service as we speak with wayne valor overseas thousands and thousands more do the same for us here at home last night national police we kick off with our candlelight vigil at the national law enforcement officers memorial president kennedy actually designated may fifteenth of every year as a national peace officers memorial day and the week surrounding police week forty five years later i commit that honor the memories of officers lost in the line of duty police officers last in line of duty so well as those who continue to serve remains as strong as ever last night candlelight vigil the on february first two thousand and six sergeant prentice was a first responder domestic violence call involving a man brutally beating a woman and sergeant prentice approach suspect he was fatally shot and killed by semiautomatic rifle  kylie's hearts perhaps that void will ease in some small way by the pride in knowing that their father their husband served his community and our country with next morning courage and uncommon valor during this national police week the memory of sergeant prentiss and all those who have likewise fallen the line of duty this year and the years pass are foremost in our thoughts under the previous order the leadership timers reserved under the previous order there will be a period for the transaction of morning business until three p m with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each and the time equally divided between the two it are designed to promote to celebrate and to educate congress and the public about the courageous courage and the patriotism of our whistleblowers these individuals often risk their careers to expose fraud waste and abuse in an effort to protect not only the health and safety of the american people but also the federal treasury and taxpayer dollars this week's events promoting and celebrating whistleblowers are important for all members of congress and for the public as well by highlighting what whistleblowers do we provide insight into what it means to be a whistleblower and the important role that they play in government and society for over two decades i've learned from appreciated and honored whistleblowers congress needs to make a special know of the role that whistleblowers play in helping us to fulfill our constitutional duty of conducting oversight of the executive branch of government or what we learn in high school government classes called checks and balances as a senator i have conducted extensive oversight in div aspects of the federal bureaucracy despite the differences in cases from agency to agency and from department to department one constant remains the need for information and the need for insight from whistleblowers this information is vital to effective congressional oversight the constitutional responsibility of congress in addition to legislation documents alone are insufficient when it comes to understanding a dysfunctional bureau mercy only whistleblowers can explain why something is wrong and provide the best evidence to prove it moreover only whistleblowers can help us truly understand problems with the culture of government agencies because without changing the culture business as usual is the rule whistleblowers have been instrumental in uncovering seven hundred dollars being spent on toilet seats in the department of defense these american heroes were also critical and are learning about how the food and drug administration missed the boat and approved vioxx how government contracts were inappropriately stared at the general services administration and how the corporation and wrong was cooking the books and ripping off investors courageous employees blew the whistle and shed much needed sunlight on the problems that would otherwise never see the light of day like our will stumble hours each whistleblower in these cases demonstrated tremendous cour they stuck their neck out for the good of all of us they spoke the truth they didn't take the easy way out by going along to get along or by just looking the other way when they saw that things were wrong and that there was wrongdoing the whistleblower who i called the grandfather of all whistleblowers ernie fics gerald of about thirty years of department of defense fame as an auditor says that the only thing that whistleblowers comment the only let me say it this way the only thing that whistleblowers do and it ends up getting him in trouble is in his words quote on quote commit troops for committing then they're about as welcome as a skunk at a sunday afternoon picnic with the bureaucracies if there were the i've said it for many years without avail and it won't probably be be an avail i'd like to see the president of the united states and i've said this to four different presidents have a rose garden ceremony hon whistle this would send a message from the very top of the bureaucracy which is a presidency of the united states about and to the bottom of the bureaucracy about the importance and value of whistleblowers they deserve this attention and we all ought to be grateful for what they do and appreciate the very difficult circumstances that they often have to endure to  actually smear their good names and their good intentions earlier today i had the opportunity to speak at a panel that gathered to discuss the plight of whistleblowers at the federal bureau of investigations these individuals discuss the hurdles a face in exposing the truth or according to fitzgerald committee truth further they discuss the lengths at which some bureaucrats will go to prevent the truth from getting out on fortunately these former agents also discuss a culture that keeps problems internal and the circling wagons within the bureaucracy when things go wrong oftentimes this culture shoot the whistle blower instead of addressing the problem mr president retaliation against  whistleblowers should not be tallied tolerated we have an obligation to ensure that those who retaliate are punished congress has recognized the need to protect whistleblowers and i have used my experience working with was some lawyers to promote legislation that protects them from retaliation legislation such as a whistleblower protection act the sarbanes oxley oxley act and the false claims that these acts all recognize the benefits of whistleblowers and offer protection to those seeking to uncover the truth for example whistleblowers i've used a false claims act to help the federal government recover nearly twenty billion dollars since congress passed my amendments in nineteen eighty six and i think th turn effect if you could quantify it would be many times the twenty billion dollars of hard case that's actually come back into the federal treasury now these laws that i gave are a good step however our work in this field is unfinished and more can be done the next step than protecting whistleblowers was filed in january and is currently pending before this body asked to seventy fo the federal employee protection of disclosures act will provide much needed updates to federal whistleblower protections i'm proud to have been on the original co sponsor of ass two seventy four and believe the senate should move this important legislation unfortunately this bill was introduced but not addressed in the last congress it is my whole that this chamber will act on to asked to seventy four and improve the protections for whistle blowers mr president i urge all of my colleagues to join in support of asked to seventy four and swiftly move this important legislation to help protect whistleblowers further than present law does i also ordered all of my colleagues to attend the advance that are occurring all week to help celebrate whistleblowers point out the importance of this is an important tool in the checks and balances of our government and all that whistle blowers have done to benefit t work of congress and more importantly all they have done to make america safer stronger a better nation and to make sure that we get our dollars worth for the taxpayers dollars and now mr president how i'm i would past few months to advocate for the american families that will pay the alternative minimum tax in two thousand and seven you have all heard me say that the empty is an absolutely maddening tax that has in crept into the homes of more and more families each year and that it should be repealed the a m t was first installed by congress in one hundred sixty nine it created a two tier tax system and that tax system still exists it essentially pieced together a backup tags to ensure that the wealthiest taxpayers among us did not evade income taxes altogether through the use of tax shelters loopholes and d all legal albeit in the labyrinth of federal tax code the road to tax fairness is paved with good but this one the a m t has created a giant sized pot hole that is going to drive middle income taxpayers bad unlike the federal income tax the a m t is not indexed for inflation that means more and more middle income taxpayers are being slapped with higher tax rates and fewer exemptions credits and deductions as a fall under the creeping chattel of this thirty six year old stealth tax on top of the unfair tax  burden is mind boggling complexity no wonder the a m t is causing major heartburn among more and more families across america it is facing those who live in high tax states and have three or more children that is because the a m t causes taxpayers to lose standard deductions for state local tax payments and for personal exemptions even including spouse and children in two thousand for about three million taxpayers about two percent of all taxpayers or subject to the alternative minimum tax but without congressional action up to twenty three million taxpayers are right now subjected to the a m t during this two thousand and seven tax year in order to prevent this my friend and chairman of the finance  enter dues legislation on the first day of the one hundred tenth congress to repeal the individual alternative minimum tax beginning in two thousand and seven tax year you have also all my colleagues have me say that the a m t is expanded beyond its original intent and that it is now a tax congress never intended to collect meaning they never intended to collected from twenty three million taxpayers that are right now hit with it that would not have been hit with it before never intended to be at with over the past six years congress has had to enact a series of what i call patches to prevent the alternative minimum tax from hitting more and more middle class americans a class of tax payers it was never intended to be taxed by more recently congress acted to reinvent millions of taxpayers from receiving this surprise on their two thousand and six tax returns by including an extension of a m t relief from the tax increase prevention and reconciliation act of last of two thousand and five this pervasion extended the example that was initiated in the jobs and growth tax reconciliation act in two thousand and three through the year two thousand and six but at a higher level the example for married couples jointly was increased from fifty eight thousand to sixty two thousand five hundred fifty dollars this week in fact marks the one year anniversary of the enactment of the conference agreement of that last a that contained the m p patch for two thousand and six nearly twenty million american families that were exam for me m d before that because of the two thousand and six patch knew it this time last year that congress was moving to relieve the a m t burden for the whole year of two thousand and six this year those families those very families plus several million more have no such assurance by this congress now to the contrary democrat leadership now the majority in this congress does not appear to be moving any legislation to address c m t i'd be requiring attention but this one the a m t is a thorny ass and must be addressed not later but we must address it right now some of you may wonder why this is a pressing issue why can't this wait for an a m t patch at the end of the year well this is a reason it is because twenty three million american families that are subject to the m t m two thousand and seven are dealing now with the uncertainty of whether by hawk or by crook they must come up with the money to set aside to pay that tax in april next year and many of them just check the instructions from the two thousand and seven estimated tax payment forms many of them don't have the option of waiting until next april because they have to file their estimated tax payments quarterly this very year so some of them filing on april fifteenth quarterly report had to figure that the alternative minimum tax set money aside sent in the treasury because they are here and now is here now for those twenty three million people or the parts of them that have to file the quarterly returns those families have already seen that first estimated tax payment common goal hopefully they had some refund coming to them from last year that they were able to offset against a portion of that first payment but of course we know many of them had to shell out to the tax and sam congress more of their hard earned money without first estimated tax payments last month unfortunately as unpopular as a m t is among taxpayers and policy makers it is not easy to simply array see it from the books because of a massive amount of revenue that it is set recently i had hoped that the senate was unified on not wanting to collect the a m t for this year or any future year on march the twenty third i offered an amendment to the fiscal year two thousand and eight senate budget resolution that would have required congress to stop spending amounts that are scheduled to come into the federal coffers through the a m t from middle income taxpayers who were never intended to pay in the first place this would have put some honesty back into our budgeting process however not a single one of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle voted in its favor repealing the empty would put lawmakers on notice to either cram federal spending by like amount or be drams parent about the revenue base on the house side we hear that the ways and means committee is doing a lot of talking about the a m t but they have yet to move we're forced to wonder what their plans may be to do that we need only read what they have been saying and think through the conclusions on such a proposal it has been reported that some in the other body the majority party is a democrats over their plan to examine everyone who are less than two hundred fifty thousand dollars a year from the a m t it sounds to me like they might be on the right track to full repeal when i hear that however as i said we need to follow on what exactly they would  do if they insist on providing pay for others to the cost to cover the lost revenue under the new paid go rules that are being adopted one option is reportedly being floated on the house side is to pay for a two hundred fifty thousand dollar a t m to exclusion by raising the top marginal income tax rates when we have found some shocking numbers we have found some shocking numbers when we examine that issue further in order to exam folks who are earning less than two hundred fifty thousand dollars from the a m t if you insist on raising taxes to offset it you would have to raise the top marginal tax rate to cover forty six percent to over forty six percent now we have a chart there going the top marginal  rand mark would have the highest marginal tax rates that we've had since nineteen eighty i take a few minutes to put that regular income tax thirty's and forty's up to a top marginal tax rate of over ninety percent the concept of the doctrine for home mortgages enters charitable contributions state and local taxes to name a you became ingrained in in the code during that period of stifling high tax rates during the president kennedy administration tax rates were reduced from ninety one percent  seventy percent on the highest income levels and rates fell again during the reagan administration first from seventy percent to fifty percent and then again the top marginal tax rate was twenty eight percent by the one nine hundred eighty six tax the top rate now stands at thirty five percent now it is important to remember that we look when we look at those historical rates that the tax base was narrower prior to nine hundred eighty six than out and gap and the result of the base broadening is that if the tax code were to approach a tax rate similar to the highest marginal rate under the more narrow pre nine hundred eighty six tax base it would result in substantially higher effective tax rates than in the pre one nine hundred eighty six tax rates a marginal regular income tax rate of over forty six percent man actually exceed the top effective rate that was in place before nine hundred eighty six because of the increase in the tax base now another option that may be working its way through the mail on the house side is the pay for that exemption by raising the top alternative minimum tax rate again where that option the tax rate increase is staggering the top am t rate would go up to nearly thirty seven  percent there is a popular misconception that of congress can sit on its hands on tax policy before the next election and that there will be no tax increase until two thousand and eleven while that  comforting it is on informal just in acting the alternative minimum tax patch for two thousand and seven will cost over fifty billion dollars that also means that without doing the patch americans and we'll pay fifty billion dollars higher alternative minimum tax and it's coming from people middle income tax payers that were never intended to be taxed when the alternative minimum tax was put in place back in hundred sixty nine so we must to prevent such an unfair tax increase now the folks who voted against my mammon to take the a m t revenue off the table for the tax and hours have some real explaining to do soon it is possible that they will do nothing on the tax side and the result is that fifty billion dollars a tax increase on families middle income tax families that are going to be subject to the empty for the first time and are subject to it right now or they may propose some sort of exemption or relief that is paid for by other tax increases and face the i'm proposing mansi tax increase on the neighbors of those who have been paying b m t or perhaps they may provide a m t relief but federal way the money in the budget anyway and increase the deficit i suggest that the tax and spenders consider learning to have a different tune and span within their means soon or folks may figure out that you plan to raise their tax rates all along so the sad reality mr president is that while it is the new congressional majority that needs to face the music is likely to be the american taxpayers that will end up earth we're waiting for senators to come back to the floor here general speeches on any subject senator's wish till about three o'clock this afternoon and then we're told the senate will move back to that bill on water projects possible today probably later in the week according to senator reid the majority leader debate on that immigration measure so that's what we have looking forward here in the senate so we continue to wait for senators to come back to the floor we're told they have two or three o'clock to speak as if morning in morning business means any subject they want then at three o'clock the senate scheduled to move back to that the army corps of engineer water projects bill here's a congressional quarterly article today talking about what's on the agenda for the senate this article datelined today from congressional quarterly says that one way or another senate majority leader harry reid the nevada democrat intends to bring immigration legislation to the floor this week but the highly emotional and deeply complicated policy issue may not stay there long the article goes on to say that weeks of good faith negotiations between the bush administration and senators in both parties began to unravel last week as they remained at odds on several provisions essential to the legislation rather than allow more time the majority leader said he will stick to his schedule to start what he hopes will be two weeks of immigration overhaul debate on may sixteenth that would be this wednesday and in the absence of some agreement the debate would begin with a bill modeled on last year's senate passed measure that again from congressional quarterly and you can read more about that and any of the stories we cover at cspan at our website c span dot org waiting for senators to come back to the floor here it should be getting underway in a few minutes in the senate this week beginning where they ended last week on a water projects bill that authorizes some fourteen billion dollars for the army corps of engineers the managers of the bill are california democrat barbara boxer she chairs the environment and public works committee and james inhofe of oklahoma he's the ranking republican on that committee legislation immigration policy overhaul also possible this week in fact likely to take center stage we get towards wednesday we understand that majority leader reid is expected to file a cloture motion today a motion to stop debate or to limit debate the motion to proceed to the bill so that's the procedural  maneuver to bring the bill closer to coming to the floor we'll keep our eyes open and you can follow this story and others on our web site at cspan dot or h r fourteen ninety five which the clerk will report on a number one twenty eight h r four hundred ninety five an act provides for the conservation and development of water and related resources and so forth and for the purposes mr president of the previous sort of the senator from california is recognized to offer an amendment thank you i called amendment number ten sixty five it is an amendment in the nature of a substitute and i ask for its immediate consideration before he starts i would like to also call up amendment to feingold amendment number ten eighty six passed with that be brought up and laid aside and considered as re really appreciate the manager the bill chairman environment public works committee stingley senator from california course of that conflict interact late last week the house and a new build of the senate and we will see that within the past hour or so this present the ball is now in our court the senate's court democrats  republicans agree the senate needs to get a bill into conference as soon as possible we need to work together to make that happen but i've had a number of conversation with senator feingold i'm sorry senator mcconnell the last several days spoke to him earlier today at some length as badly as we all recognize we need to get a bill to conference we've not on this side of the aisle mispresent lost sight of the fact that the american people have concluded presence around policy has failed and we're now demanding a new way forward and we have the american people now after to ensure quick senate passage of our conference vehicle later this week as well as to give senators an opportune to express their views on the president's record policy i will offer two important moments the first amendments to president is fine gold read to safely redeploy united states troops from iraq by march thirty first of next year and transition the mission to finding archives and other terrorist organizations growing security for us infrastructure and personnel and training iraqi forces course after first of april of next year our troops will be interact for counterterrorism force protection that is protect american assets in iraq and help train iraqis offer eleven review which is consistent with the bipartisan legislation approved by congress with one major change permits the president waived the time i'm laying for redeployments and has in it mr president things that some members want very badly including the presiding officer to deal with our troops are taken care of how often they have to go back to battle how much time they have to have before being returned to the battlefield after having been deployed will have votes on these two amendments at the earliest possible date i will work with the distinguished republican leader to see when that can happen these votes represent not twenty for the send to shape the important conference  hope will begin this week upon passage of the senate version of the supplemental as president there's probably no end of a menace can be offered as i have here today but on our side of the aisle democrats believe that we should do something very very close to what was done in the bill that we sent to the present that he vetoed and basically that's what we have here except getting the president's the ability to waive the timelines we have in the legislation and finally mr president there's are those on this side who believe that there should be some end in sight and that's why indicated that as of april first of next year the funding would still go on but it would be limited to the counterterrorism force protection and training iraqis i think this presents a very important to understand that transitioning this mission to fighting al qaeda is a part of the recognition of what we and the american people feel is important at present as you know americans are american troops are over there protecting the shias protecting the sunni's the kurds and at all times all these different elements are shooting at the americans mr president we should limit our focus to this al qaeda and mr president i will offer those amendments and just a short time i would call that feingold read matter at this time ask the clerk to report levon read first that's ten ninety six is that the number to know so i would ask the clerk to report that my leader leaves i want to mention something i i hope i can get the attention of the floor staff just to make sure my understanding is that you have now offered these amendments in iraq to the underlying bill but the but the text that is before us is clean of the iraq amendment so