that here in your presence we may find knowledge of what you want us to do guide our senators this week so that they clearly understand your desires and give them the wisdom to obey provide them with daily strength to honor you with their service may they never act in such a way that they lose their self respect keep them from being that kind of people who want to get everything out of life while only putting a little into it remind them that they will answer to you for the way they have used their talents to serve others give them the ambition to honor you with faithfulness and humility we pray in a communication to the senate washington d c june eleventh two thousand and seven to the senate on the provisions of rule one paragraph three understanding rules of the senate i hereby point to honorable benjamin l carden a senator from the state of maryland to perform  hour and most receive energy legislation second hour read debate on the most proceed to the legislation on attorney general gonzales mr president the final twenty minutes of that that's all us will be allocated to senator on the motion proceed or not proceed to the bill to finalize it who doesn't see an urgent need to fix a badly broken immigration system the system even those people that oppose this legislation eventually believe the system is broken and needs to be fixed so everyone agrees that we need to fix it and i think the best way to fix it is to legislate but mr president when it came time to vote on the bipartisan compromise last thursday seven republicans joined with thirty eight democrats to invoke cloture let's put that in proper perspective four fifths of democrats voted to proceed complete this legislation one seventh of the republicans voted to proceed that is eighty percent to fourteen percent eighty percent of the democrats had moved forward fourteen percent of the republicans said let's move forward eighty six percent of the republicans said no today i'm going to in just an hour or so send a letter president bush to lay out my hope that we can still move forward on this legislation but i want him to know that further progress will require active support from republicans which is something that he has to make sure is republicans understand i seem to days roll call newspaper one republican senator said i think the democrats are going to have to take care of most these votes that the newspaper article says without mentioning sanders name put the onus on democrats to make up the fifteen vote deficit on cloture saying republicans and nearly maxed out support on their side this appears on page twenty four roll call i think the democrats are going to have to deal with most of these votes the senator said because present eighty percent to fourteen percent it's the president's bill for if the other republican field centers feel like the senator who's expressed on page twenty four of saying that we have to overcome the twenty fifth vote percent fifteen vote deficit won't happen mr president we've we've about two full weeks the debate on the bill unfortunately that by partnership was largely absent and a crucial vote last thursday when i go on to state to the president the percentages that i just outlined i further say in a letter to the president we appreciate the efforts of you and other republicans to work with us to get the bill this far but we believe it will take stronger leadership by you to ensure the plan is a bill do not block path to final passage simply put we need many more  and seven republicans to vote for cloture on final passage of the bill mr president this letter will be signed by senators reid durban schumer and murray the democratic leadership team i want to get the bil knowing majority the democratic caucus of already voted for cloture american people are certainly looking to congress for leadership we hope to present bush and his republican allies in congress will find a way to work with us to deliver this bill to the m and m against businesses on americans who demand and deserve it we see new cooperation a clear way forward from republican congress i'll do everything possible redress the immigration issue after debate on the energy bill is completed and there's mr president it's difficult for me to to even say this because i really wanted to to move next to the defense authorization bill and we can work out something when we can he says energy build pleat immigration i want to do that finding mr president on energy well turn  we are focused one of the great challenges of our time remaining our national energy policy one nine hundred thirty one thomas alva edison had a meeting with henry ford whose cars were driving a consumer demand for gasoline this what edison told ford quote i put my money on the sun and solar energy what a source of power help we don't have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that and a quote here it is seventy six years later seventy six years later we haven't tackled our addiction to oil and it's grown into a three pronged crisis bringing our economy running our national security threatening our environment there's a present today we use we will use twenty one million barrels of oil tomorrow the same how much is twenty one million barrels of oil it's a ditch ten feet deep and two hundred football fields long or a ditch ten feet deep and eleven miles long every day we use that o l every day the bill we begin debate on today the renewable fuels consumer protection energy efficiency act two thousand and seven take several major steps toward reducing our dependence on foreign oil per hour in the renewable energy producing that we produce right here in america and protecting our environment from global warming the bill is a is a substitute h r six but mr president this bill is a bipartisan bill number my chairman came to me and said we got this great legislation in my committee can we bring it forward and i said no we have to have energy bill our national energy bill has to be bipartisan  committee under the direction of senators benjamin and domenici came up with that good package that's part of what we're going to be debating here in the senate and then in the commerce committee senators stevens and senator you know it came up also with a extremely important piece of legislation dealing with cafe standards that is making cars more efficient that's going to be on and the bill that is in the bill that's going to be brought before the floor and then senator boxer and so on and hof work together and come up with some other pieces of legislation that we have put in this one bill there bill is that what their part of this bill is also excellent deals with green buildings and making our massive fleet of federal cars more energy efficient it's really a good piece of legislation it is a bipartisan bill there will be people wanting to put tax measures on this but i think we should wait until the tax committee summers and baucus and senator grassley do that this is a bill that we should try to protect the bipartisan aspect of it is really really quite a good bill and if we're able to pass it will save four million barrels of oil every day that's pretty good mr president it sets energy efficiency standards for lighting appliances water use this bill along will save a half a trillion gallons of water every year and for a place like nevada where we get four inches of rain every year in las vegas that's a lot of water it is a bill of protection consumers by punishing companies that price gouging manipulate supply for their profits that invests in carbon capture and storage for the first time our bill directs the president his cabinet to improve diplomatic relations with our energy partner steve has more leverage in the global energy market together this bill will save americans consumers cans of billions of dollars every year to cut our oil consumption reduce our dependence on foreign energy and by the way might just save the planet or add it to good bill porton bill a bipartisan bill and as i educated many of and fact i hope that we can proceed to the bellamy may not have to use the thirty hours will be allowed time f the republican leaders recognize just just a brief word about the immigration bill we could have been wrapping it up tonight as i indicated to my good friend the majority leader thursday afternoon i thought there was every reason to believe that we could have finished the immigration bill but a night instead we ended up having another cloture vote in my view a day or two premature and taken the friday off and today's then our time on a main english resolution giving the president advice about who the attorney general law to be having said that appreciate the comments of the majority leader that he would like to finish the immigration bill there are a substantial number of republican senators who believe that this bill would be an improvement over the current situation over the status quo and i hope we'll be able to chart a path working together on a bipartisan basis to get us back on track at some point to hopefully complete on a bipartisan basis what could well be the most important domestic achievement of this congress so i'm pleased to hear the majority leader saying there's a possibility that we could get back to this matter and wrap it up that certainly  my hope and i look forward to working with him toward that end before under the previous order the leadership time is reserved under the previous order there will be a period for the transaction of morning business until three thirty m with senators permitted to speak up to ten minute each the time equally divided in control between the two leaders or their designees senator senator from north dakota president i rise today do discuss the issues surrounding the removal of eight u s attorneys last year turney general gonzales has claimed that he had no involvement in the firing of the s attorneys in fact this is his statement he said i was not involved in seeing any memos was not involved in any discussions about what was going on that's basically what i knew as the attorney general that is really a stunning claim is own chief of staff kyle sampson admitted the attorney general misled the country he is not alone kyle sampson former chief of staff to the attorney general said one quote i don't think the attorney general's statement that he was not involved in any discussions was accurate i remember discussing with him this process of asking certain u s attorneys to resign the washington report post reported on michael battle the former director of the executive office for u s attorneys and i quote from that story the former justice department official who carried out the fir c news reported on william mercer the acting associate attorney general and i quote the justice department official william mercer told congressional investigators on april eleventh that he attended a meeting with the attorney general to discuss fired u s attorney carol am's situation mr president it is simply not quite credible that the attorney general of the united had no role in the removal of eight u s attorneys after all he is the head of the justice department to his credit the attorney general did admit eventual admit that he had misspoke in describing his lack of involvement given the growing public record i don't think he had much choice however to the great disappointment of people on both sides of the aisle the attorney general failed miserably in his attempt to set the record straight anya's testimony before the senate judiciary committee the attorney general used the words i don't recall or a variant on those words sixty four times sixty four times i don't recall i have no recollection i have no memory sixty four times and some counts have that number at over seventy some even approach ninety time after time the attorney general was unable to respond to even basic questions he couldn't explain or couldn't remember why the u s attorneys were fired or how he was involved again his performance was truly stunning his inability or refusal to answer basic question raises serious issues is he incompetent or is he simply playing the loyal soldier why were these u s attorneys removed unfortunately the answer that immediately suggest itself is that these firings were politically motivated let's look at some of the fired u s attorneys and the possible political reasons for their dismissal here we have them david iglesias new mexico there was a probe of democrats not completed quickly enough we had prominent republicans complaining that he had not probed the not reached conclusion on a probe of democrats quickly enough carol lam in california secured the conviction of a republican congressman also had indicted the number three official at the cia and was investigating a republican congress daniel bogden and nevada investigated a republican governor and former republican congress but commons in arkansas was replaced by a karl rove operative and invested a degree publican governor of missouri john mckay in washington state to the dismay of the local you start to connect the dots here they said that the reason these people were removed was because of poor performance at least that's the assertion of the attorney general but if you look at the written reviews of these same u s attorneys ones that have been removed and ones for which you can find a clear partisan reason for their removal look at the written reviews of their performance which is the reason given by the attorney general for their removal david iglesias new mexico written review respected by the judiciary agencies and staff complied with the partment priorities carol lam california effective manager and acted leader daniel bogden nevada overall evaluation was very positive bud cummins of arkansas very competent and highly regarded john mckay in washington state effective well regarded capable leader polish erroll arizona well respected established goals that were appropriate to meet the priorities of the department mr president what do we have here the attorney general says he wasn't involved others of his own staff says he was involved then he says well it was performance reasons that these people were removed but if you look at the written reviews of the people who were remove their performance reviews were excellent but what you do have is a clear political motivation in case after case involving these u s attorneys the president when you go back to the quote the reason they turn a general is giving now that it's performance based here's what the former supervisor of these prosecutors says komi added that the reasons given for the firings have not been consistent with my experience in that i had very positive encounters with these folks call me was a few seven is praise of several of the fired prosecutors call me was the deputy attorney general describe was inspired by him mr president it doesn't take long to figure out what's happened here eternity jenner comes here and testifies he can't recall he doesn't remember that he wasn't really a part of it is contradicted by his own staff then he says it's performance based but the performance reviews are positive without exception of these people have been fired their supervisor who is the deputy attorney general has rave reviews for virtually all of them so mr president let's connect the dots these are politically motivated firings i don't know what other conclusion one can come to and that is a very serious matter i have been in the united states senate for more than twenty years i have never come to the floor and raised questions about the political motivation of an attorney general never i do so now and i do it because i believe this is a serious matter when the administration of justice becomes politically tainted in this country that is an enormously serious matter there is no longer in my mind any question but that this attorney general has tainted his office that is only further demonstrated by his late night visit to the hospital bed of the attorney general of the united states at that time john ashcroft to get him to sign documents that he refused to sign about the legality of certain actions of this administration mr president we've seen enough this attorney general needs to leave his office he has tainted his office he does not deserve the high responsibility and enormous honor of serving as attorney general of the united congressional colleagues and we had the opportunity to meet with commanding officers and troops in each location on the floor of the senate i spoke to you about witnessing firsthand some of the progress being made since i've seen so little coverage of that progress i think progress bears repeating the new plan the counterinsurgency plan is showing initial signs of progress violence and i'll  dramatically decrease due to local leaders now cd is siding with the coalition forces in pursuing al qaida in baghdad u s and iraqi security forces are clearing and holding some of the most dangerous areas and sectarian violence has increased i was in specially impressed with the successes in ramadi where only a few months ago some were claiming last forever and al qaida said it was going to stablish  n their headquarters there in april attacks in ramadi decreased by seventy four percent all twenty three tribal areas in ramadi that are cooperating with u s forces to fight al two hundred sixty three weapons caches were discovered in the preceding three months iraqis are volunteering by the thousands to join the army and local police forces i'm disappointed that this progress has and widely covered by the media here in the united states in fact the only t v coverage i have seen is a sixty second clip by nick johnson on c n n who did an excellent job and i see that the l a times had a they were is very very high earlier last week my office received an e mail from one of our troops serving in iraq he detailed an exciting success story the establishment of a new hundred iraqis had volunteered for police recruitment hundreds more had received outpatient medical care damage claims were settled and all present received food unoiled rationed and their rockies seem to be very pleased to be cooperating with but the enemy being very clever and working toward any and all progress reacted to this success story by sending in some poor suicide bomber thanks to aggressive patrolling efforts by iraqi forces the bomber was aftermath of the incident the precinct signed up an additional seventy five recruits for police service as this american warrior wrote to us the bomber failed he failed to kill innocents and he failed to turn the progress of standing up ara police close quote but to his frustration there was no coverage of this good news story indeed the media the us media totally missed reported this story a number of media outlets for example carried these headlines from the baltimore sun attacks on iraq police leave at least twenty dead from the los angeles times twenty iraqis die in suicide attacks our correspondent wrote that he was shot he checked it out every way he could but it appears that in a false report the headlines referred to the failed attack but the picture that dramatically different outcome there's been no apparent retraction so the crowd scenes upon thousands maybe hundreds of thousands who saw the headline will assume that yet another tragic incident occurred in fall and just lump that in with all the other bad news that makes up a grim picture of iraq and you see why our brave men and women fighting over there are frustrated the following morning our correspondent found him another situation he learned that a combined iraqi army police and u s marine patrol in fallujah encountered a small band of insurgents at a suicide vehicle factory the police engage the enemy killing four of them  army and marines trapped additional escaping insurgents killed three more two large trucks laden with explosives and rigged to be suicide vehicles were found this was a best case scenario and they killed in his tracks best weapon was discovered because it caused any harm there were no civilian casualties whatsoever and u s demolition forces blew up the two suicide vehicles instead of celebrating their success the email notice that it was the writer noted that it was disappointing to read a headline children killed according to their story u s tanks fired a high explosive round at insurgents in placing an i e d in fallujah yesterday killing iraqi children and the insurgents got away to anyone watching the news that day it would seem that the war in iraq is being lost in the terrorists are winning or there's been significant progress in iraq there is no doubt that we are losing the war of information i could have said it better than the young man who wrote my office in frustration who said what incredible carnally of effort the enemy is afforded when u s media is their megaphone why spend precious resources on developing your own problem get a machine when you can make your opponents own news outlets scream your message louder than you ever hope to do independently close quote the young man and it is e mail by saying that the incidents details were very important to him and his comrades who are serving in iraq typical of our brave war fighters young man stressed that he and his  soldiers will continue to fight the fight he acknowledges there will be mistakes setbacks and casualties the world will hear about but there'll also be successes victories over enemy combatants progress stability and growth in the new iraq but tragically it appears no one's going to hear about that in our media so it has been a kind and creasing really clear that our media is unwilling or able to report anything except bloody headlines and bad news the u s government has a responsibility to do a better job in public diplomacy strategic influence getting our story out the u s military has made a real difference in iraqi communities there examples of many good stories like the local new precinct join command headquarters but somehow we're not doing an adequate job spreading the news let me just cite an example from today's washington post page a eleven tribal coalition in anbar said to be crumbling well i have missed it perhaps if i saw anything in  washington post about the coalition about twenty three shakes in the tribal areas cooperating with the united states but when you read their story a little further you see that they headline is about tribes when you read further down in the story we finally finally interview general petraeus and general petraeus said i think they've done this for their lives this is not just a business deal that they've struck when you oppose al qaida you are putting it all on the line this is not an economic issue that was the message from our commander he didn't get the headline there was another member of the council  who said that the salvation is like one in the family there are no problems between us and members u s military officials said that virtually everyone in anbar belongs to a tribe and that rather than ignore that fact they are trying to exploit it there is an overlay of governmental structure and tribal structures and that to when they work well may and incense compliment each other  quote well you know i was able to see a article by our t v story by ollie north past sunday the war stories you know he was talking about the good old days in world war two there's anything good about the old days in world war two hollywood and the media were on the same side as our troops what a wonderful vestige of the old times i thought this was a great great opportunity to see what had happened in the past the war it isn't public opinion is not just critical in iraq it's critical in the broader war on terror as we know from reading the statements of i'm an al zawahiri the number two in command he knows that they cannot win this war militarily they can win it only by influencing public opinion in the united states unfortunately recent congressional action indicates that terrorists may not be far off base resolutions to withdraw from iraq delaying funding for the troops tell the sunni terror selves and the shia militias that america's political will is wavering the supporters of these resolutions are sending a message hang on the united states will not have the political will to outlast our men and women in uniform are right to be disheartened that we have not only the media but some members of congress who are unduly influenced by our enemy it is critical that we not fall into this trap set by  and the other islamic terrorists who wish to defeat it it's about time that we realize our brave young men and women in iraq are putting their lives on the line they're under fire every day they are fighting a battle and they are making progress in their battle in the global war on terror they need the funds for equipment which we finally pass to them but they also deserve our moral support and support in winning the hearts and minds not only of the u of the world president i thank the chair yield the floor confidence of the senate or of the american people so i rise to oppose the so called no confidence resolution on both procedural and substantive grounds well urge my colleagues to vote against ending debate to paraphrase shakespeare whether or not this joint resolution sounds to sound and fury or monstrous on fury it signifies nothing it's nothing more than a bit of political theater which should be rejected out of hand let me make two points about it foreman two points about of substance before offering a few comments about the controversy from which it arose the first point i want to make about its form is that this measure would express the sense or opinion of the senate to a joint resolution as opposed to regular senate resolutions that require only  passage joint resolutions or legislative vehicles requiring passage by both houses and signature by the president we use joint resolutions to propose constitutional amendments and some other legislative business but this legislative vehicle is simply wrong it's simply the wrong way to conduct non legislative business such as expressing the opinion of this house or a one of one house in a report dated the day the congressional research service concludes that the form of this measure of the joint resolution is inappropriate for port what it purports to do i think this is significant and the reason for this conclusion is obvious if this joint resolution children should somehow pass the senate which i certainly expect it will not it will be sent to the house how on earth can the house vote on the sense of the senate what can a senate vote or what could a house vote about the senate's opinion on this matter possibly mean by a negative vote with the house to be saying that what the senate has expresses its own opinion is really not the senate's opinion this makes no sense whatsoever in fact the house already has its own resolution regarding the attorney general service and it is a regular house resolution the sponsors of senate joint resolution fourteen either do not understand or have disregarded how the legislative process is supposed to work i suspect it's the latter using this political ploy to force the president's involvement either way this body should reject it out of hand the senate has not used a joint resolution in the past on the rare occasion when it is not to criticize executive branch officials resolutions in the one hundred ninth congress to censure the president or condemned remarks by a former cabinet secretary it were senate resolution the resolution to censure the president introduced in the one hundred six congress offered by one of the co sponsors of today's joint resolution and was a senate resolution resolutions on the eighty first and eighty second congress is demanding the resignation of  no confidence resolution parliament's take no cause no confidence votes for an obvious reason in a parliamentary system of government the legislative bodies confidence or support is necessary for the head of the cabinet ministers to serve for an equally obvious reason the so called no confidence resolution before us should be rejected this is not a parliament in our presidential system of government the separation of powers means that the chief executive is elected separately from the legislature and cabinet officials such as the attorney general serves at the pleasure of the president under the constitution the senate's consent was required for the attorney general's appointment but our confidence is not required for the attorney general continued service the attorney general serves at the pleasure of the president not at the confidence of the senate the separation of powers has been a cancer in the throughout the controversy surrounding the removal of u s attorneys that gave rise to this misguided resolution as with the attorney general and with very few exceptions u s attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president the u s attorney statute says that they are subject to removal by the president neither the constitution nor the statutes say anything about the confidence of the senate for the continued service of officials the president has authority to avoid the separation of powers a principle fundamental to our constitutional system itself is becoming a casualty of part n policy or politics the brand new congressional research service report i mentioned earlier cannot identify a single resolution like this one even being offered in the past and this should not be the first no matter what its substance joint resolution is an appropriate for expressing the sense of the senate about this issue no matter what it's for a resolution expressing a lack of confidence in the executive branch official is inappropriate in our system of government mr president means address two points regarding the substance of the inappropriate joint resolution the first point is about the real purpose behind its words even though expressing a lack of confidence in an executive branch official is irrelevant in our system of government we all know that the real purpose behind this resolution is the pressure of the attorney general to resign on the one hand if it sponsors want the call for the attorney general's resignation i should be honest to do so on the other hand senator certainly do not need a resolution especially one is fundamentally flawed and inappropriate as this one the call for the attorney general's resignation as a number of the resolution sponsors have already done with the rapt attention and constant repetition of a complaint of a complaint m senators can demand the attorney general's resignation any time they choose my second point about the substance of this misguided joint resolution concerns us actual content the words themselves this joint resolution does not condemn o criticize the attorney general for anything he has done or said it does not call for his censure and just to repeat this joint resolution does not call for the attorney general's resignation in the past the senate has considered resolutions doing each of these albeit through regular senate resolutions properly suited to the task but this joint resolution before us does not even contain a single whereas clause offering any indication of the basis or any reason for what it sa rather this joint resolution speaks vaguely of holding confidence as if this were an all or nothing proposition as if this were some kind of a pass fail test even one kind of mistake no confidence votes those votes are at least limited to the confidence of the parliament itself this joint resolution purports to speak about all the confidence of all the american people but what could a yes or no vote on such a resolution possibly mean what a no vote means that no american has any confidence in the internal general doing anything when a yes vote main that every american has complete confidence in the attorney general about everything because neither one of these can possibly be true a resolution worded this way is easy either seriously misguided or nothing but a publicity stunt if not focused on his job performance or his leadership of the justice department it is not focused on his job performance or his leadership of the justice department  focused on the attorney general himself a resolution asking for a yes or no vote on something as vague and misdirected as confidence in a person attempts to reduce the multi faceted isn't passive and complex to the unilateral and simplistic in doing so this misleading joint resolution turns a bit of political theater into a theater of the absurd the senate should not even consider such a resolution evoking the image of caesar listening for the chants of the crowd before a thumbs up or thumbs down rather than purporting to speak for the american people i think we should let the american people speak for themselves i found sixteen opinion polls by nationally recognized polling out that story in march and april asking americans whether the attorney general should resign falls did not ask of the eggs squishy questions such as do you have confidence in the attorney general no these balls asked the real question behind the joint resolution before us today do you think the attorney general should resign an average of thirty nine percent of americans said yes only one poll showed a bare majority responding in the affirmative and considering its margin of error even that one might not show a majority support for this result of all frankly mr president i'm a little surprised that the percentage of americans who say the attorney general should resign is not hire my democratic colleagues and many of the media of their media allies after all have been working very hard week after week after week to persuade our fellow said sense that the attorney general should go daily front page news coverage senate and house hearings protests and lobbying by activists blogs columns editorials the attorney general's critics have been pulling out all the stops for six months now and while the joint resolution before a suggested this aggressive coordinated effort has deprived the attorney general of everyone's confidence about everything only a little over a third of americans think he should resign the pew research center examined news coverage during the week in march when the attorney general gave a much criticized press conference they found that the story about the dismissed u s attorneys was the most reported story in the national media with coverage jumping eight from the previous week in spite of that herculean media effort however only about eight percent of americans said this was the story they followed most closely these national polls are far better suited to measure what the american people think than the joint resolution before us and my democratic colleagues might want to consider another nugget of public opinion a usa today gallup poll showed that while thirty eight percent of americans believe that the attorney general should resign forty percent of americans believe that democrats in congress are spending too much time on this issue let me repeat that most americans say democrats spent too much time on this issue and believe the attorney general should resign one reason might be that there is so little to like to use the twenty minutes of the democrats time and i'd be prepared to extend the time for morning business if you would agree with greta that so perhaps there could be a unanimous consent  senator specter is allowed ten minutes and i would be allowed the twenty minutes of democratic time requiring if an extension of ten minutes of morning business  majority has eighteen and a half minutes republican time six for the majority has eighteen and a half minutes in the minority how much the minority time has expired so if i may mr president through the chair to the distinguished ranking member of judiciary my suggestion is that we extend the time on morning business to accommodate your ten minutes on my twenty minutes i would ask to have some sense of my remarks not be interrupted in the record without objection ok just a few weeks ago one of my distinguished democratic colleagues as i said a little earlier said during a press conference and democrats just know that u s attorneys were fired last year for improper reasons how democrats know this because they have any evidence for a conclusion no my democratic colleagues had to admit that quote we don't have a smoking gun unquote that is washington political code for just take our word for it because we can't prove it just a couple of weeks before that another distinguished democratic colleague told a gaggle of reporters after a judiciary committee hearing that he just knows someone in the white house ordered that those u attorneys be removed now how does he know this because he has any evidence for this conclusion no he too had to admit that quote of course we don't know that and quote it is truly ironic that this controversy involves prosecutors prosecutors must have some evidence to bring charges prosecutors must have evidence for a conviction i just wish that some of my senate colleagues felt such an obligation either to prove their allegations or move on to more important matters mr pre been investigating and probing the removal of those u s attorneys for six months dozens of staff in the senate the house and the justice department have done little else since the one hundred tenth congress began we have seen hearing after hearing interview after interview thousands of pages of documents and even hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to hire outside law firms as reinforcements democrats continue to authorize subpoenas not only for people who have not refused to testify but for people who have a grade to testify and even for people who have already testified and after all that my democratic colleagues have to admit that they have no smoking gun they cannot prove the allegations that they continue to repeat there are plenty of venue and does car but repeating talking points soundbites and cliches of no substitute for evidence this summer americans will see sequels of several movies in the theaters here in the senate's political theater we have already seen several sequels in the same of the same with very few exceptions he may remove them for whatever reason he chooses the president has the authority to remove a u s attorney to allow someone else to serve in that position or because that u s attorney's performance is in some general or specific way inadequate of the u s attorneys removed last year had served his or her four year term and had no right to serve longer that means the real issue if the president didn't want them to that means the real issue is whether these u s attorneys were removed for genuinely improper reasons attorney general has said as much and said he should have been more involved i also think the individuals who are asked to resign deserve better more respect and treatment more respectful treatment but there is a high burden of proof for those who say that a badly executed and explain process even a poorly conceived and mismanaged process was instead a nefarious artists and political scheme to subvert the justice system continue to make such claims without coming close to meeting that burden that's also asked americans if they approve of the way congress is doing his job while an average of thirty nine percent of americans believe the attorney general should resign an average of fifty six percent of americans disapprove of how we are doing our job should we all resign i think there are some people probably would say yes far more americans disapprove of congress and believe the attorney general should resign i wonder whether spending so much time on fishing expeditions that you know fish and wasting time on inappropriate misleading resolutions like the one before us the day only add to americans disapproval of our job performance in a statement last friday the main sponsor of this joint resolution said that the vote on this resolution is really about loyalty i suppose he meant loyalty to the president as if that were the only reason to oppose using the wrong vehicle for a misleading statement that has no relevance to lives less than the government in a way i agree that this is about loyalty but i think it is about loyalty to the constitution to the integrity of the legislative process to this body as an institution and to a fair and honest debate about these issues if my colleagues are loyal to those things they will see that the that absurd political theater so serves no real purpose will only add to at confidence in attorney general gonzales absolutely yes attorney general gonzales has made representations which are false he said he was not involved i e mail he said he was not involved in the memoranda which were circulated on this matter again contradicted by three top aides and documentary evidence  said that the terrorist surveillance program draw no objection within the department of justice and we find on examination that there were serious dissent within the department of justice  constitutionality of the terrorist surveillance program so much so that alberto gonzales when he served as white house counsel was one of those who went to the hospital room of attorney that attorney general john ashcroft to get of the attorney general ashcroft to certify that the program was constitutional show that there was no doubt in my mind  that there is no confidence which is residing in attorney general gonzales and this is much more than a personal matter this is a matter for the administration of the department of justice which is second only to the department of defense on the welfare of the people of the united states that apartment of justice has the responsibility for investigating terrorism and anti terrorism has the responsibility for and washing our rug laws has the responsibility for divorce and federal laws on violent crime and on white crime and the attorney general has the responsibility for supervising ninety three u s attorneys around the country who have very very important issues something that i know something about in some detail since i was the district attorney of philadelphia a years and there is no doubt that the department at the present time is in shambles the attorney general called me before his hearing came up and asked for my advice and i said set out the reasons why you asked these individuals to resign i just shut out the reasons why he did not do so the day after a very committee he called me again and i asked for my advice as to what i ought to do that i said al you still haven't responded as to why you asked these people to resign i took the position at that vote and i'm not going to say to him how he ought to run the executive branch on grounds of separation of powers and similarly with attorney general gonzales as to what he does that is a personal decision for him to marry but i have emphatic in the judiciary committee hearings as we have investigated this matter that i think the attorney general has not done the job and that the department of justice would be much better off without  the second question victor i look at is is this resolution politically motivated and i think that that is certainly at this time saying on the crosscurrent as to whether  domenici the following day the democratic fundraising apparatus led by senator schumer published a fundraising letter and there is no doubt about that conflict of interest senator schumer has been designated to lay the investigation vegas is the chairman of the relevant subcommittee so i think there was no doubt about the overtones of heavy politicization and the conflict of interest well this resolution of a third consideration i have likely lead to the departure or give the attorney general a reason to stay on my own hunch that the the thrust of the resolution if it really shakes his ouster is going to be boomerang and it's going to be counterproductive in my own chances that there is no confidence in the attorney general on this side of the aisle but that they have views will not be expressed in this format already some who have called for his resignation on the republican side of the aisle have said they will not vote for this resolution others have declined to comment about his capacity but have said that this is not the proper way to proceed that our form of government does not have a no confidence is the principal reason for this resolution to help the department of the fancher to embarrass republicans i think clear cut it is designed to embarrass republicans it's designed to embarrass republicans who have to say says that we have senate has no confidence in the attorney general and assigned to embarrass republicans who vote against the motion to cloture biggest it will be a gotcha thirty second commercial and later campaigns it will be used to say that whoever votes against the motion to invoke cloture sanctioning the conduct of attorney general gonzales and anybody who votes against the motion to invoke cloture is going to be the recipient of those thirty second gotcha commercials now there are many reasons to vote against the cloture motion one reason isn't a dominant reason is that the senate has a lot more because of the republican senators who had objected to the immigration bill and wouldn't allow any amendments to come up they wouldn't allow their amendments they didn't step forward with their amendments nor they allow others to offer amendments but we were on the verge of getting a list took a little more time the majority leader took down the bill but the national interest would be a lot better served had we continued with the bill on friday or perhaps on saturday we could work on a saturday or return to the bill today or still return to the bill today instead of taking up this resolution another reason why people could justifiably vote against closure is biggest the investigation is not it's not completed now that is still hanging fire so why have the resolution before we finish our investigation if there is another r but many on this side of the aisle most if not almost all will vote against cloture here the biggest there are ample reasons to vote against cloture about as i look at this matter as which is the most more the more compelling the more important candidly stating that i have no confidence in attorney general gonzales or rejecting the out right political choice which is involved in this resolution offered by the democrats i come down on the side that the interest of the country and moving for improvements in the department of justice is to make that candid statement that i have no confidence in the attorney general which i have said repeatedly with the distinguished ranking member but i come to the floor as a member of the senate judiciary committee now for fifteen years and as one who takes no particular pleasure in what i'm about to say but i urge a yes vote on cloture and i want to say why the department of justice is one of the country's most important department it has a budget of twenty four billion dollars and over one hundred thousand employees it's charged with combating terrorism fighting violent crime supports stopping drug trafficking upholding civil rights and enforcing civil liberties it houses key agencies including the f da drug enforcement agency the bureau of prisons the marshal service and u s attorneys offices as the leader of the department the attorney general is the chief law enforcement officer for the people of this nation and he is the chief lawyer of the united states he runs a big department he must be a strong manager who can direct the day to day operations and independent leaders with an unyielding commitment to the law who is willing to stand up against yes even the president if necessary and he must lead by example upholding the highest ethical standards i think senator excuse me president lincoln's attorney general put the challenge on the map when he said this the office i hold is not properly political but strictly legal and it is my duty above all other ministers of state to uphold the law and to and resist all encroachments from whatever quarter and quote that's the job of the united states attorney general and the subject before us today is the fact that for many of us this attorney general has not lived up to this standard and he has lost our confidence unfortunately the attorney general is failed to meet the challenges during his tenure the department of justice has become highly politicized in its hiring and firing i hope to lay that out and i believe in many of the legal opinions it is shoes as well in many respects is today an extension of the white house rather than the scrupulous independent in force or a federal law as suggested by president lincoln's attorney general through the investigation into the hiring and firing of at least nine u s attorneys we have heard attorney general gonzales give vague and unconvincing responses in critical areas about his department's performance the attorney general testified that he does not know who selected the various u s attorneys to be fired and therefore does not know why they were fired can you believe that he testified that the firings were based on a quote process of consulting with senior leadership in the department and quote however every single one of the department of justice's senior officials that have testified have stated under oath that they did not place a u s attorney on the terminations list with one exception kevin ryan of california this includes kyle sampson the attorney general's chief of staff associate attorney general and mike battle director of the executive office of u s attorneys and even david margolis associate deputy attorney general they all said they did not add names to the list of those to be fired so to this day we have been unable to find out who put in place the unprecedented targeted program to fire several s attorneys midterm at what time and who made the decision to place these attorneys on that firing list we've also learned that an internal order entitled delegation of certain personnel decisions to the chief of staff that was issued march one two thousand and six in that order the attorney general designated his role in hiring and firing certain senior officials in the department of justice to his chief of staff kyle sampson and a young thirty three year old former researcher from the republican national committee monica goodling i must say i find this a major abdication of the duty of a leader that apartment of justice is charged well let me in fact according to internal memos the attorney general was going to completely abdicate his role until the office of legal counsel stepped in saying he must at least be consulted in the process in a memo dated february twenty fourth two thousand and six paul cts assistant attorney general for administration wrote this and i quote the office of legal counsel advises that permitting the attorney general's delegates to approve appointments or removals of constitutionally inferior officers would be inconsistent with the excepting clause of the constitution the office of legal counsel recommends that the delegates exercising the authority of this delegation submit appointments or removals to the attorney general and quote eternity general says he didn't know and yet there was a meeting for one hour a st discuss this and yet he claims he did not know taken together the most favorable interpretation of these various actions is that the attorney general is clear have clearly s avoid these key responsibilities unfortunately information has come to light that demonstrates that the problems are not limited to poor management rather that apartment's reputation independence and credibility have been put in serious question mr gonzales has stated that he believes the attorney general wears to have one as a member of the president's staff and another as the nation's top law enforcement officer how does this compare with what i just read from abraham lincoln's attorney general answer it does not it is this perspective that i believe has led the attorney general to treat the department of justice as a political arm of the white house rather than as an independent law enforcement agency as it should be for example the committee investigation has shown that seven of the nine u s attorneys that were fired were not fired for so called performance reasons at all as stated in fact when reviewing the six evaluation and review staff report which are called the ears report of the fired u s attorneys all were given strong positive performance evaluations examples but cummins quote united states attorney cummins was very competent and highly regarded by the federal judiciary law enforcement and the civil client agencies and quote despite this review mr cummins was fired on june sixth two thousand and six carol lam quote u s carol lam was ineffective manager and a respected leader in the district the united states attorney committed significant prosecut resources to the felony immigration and border crime cases and quote despite this review mrs lamb was fired on december seventh two thousand a sense and a stance of glee for the very reasons that the ears reports found she had done a good job david iglesias quote this us attorney had a well conceived strategic plan that complied with department priorities and reflected the needs of the district overall the u s attorney effectively manage complaints detention decisions and pretrial practices despite end quote despite this review mr iglesias was fired on december seventh two thousand and seven then bog programs that support departments and they should to end quote despite this review mr bogden was fired on december seventh two thousand and seven paul charlton u s attorney charlton made his goals and expectations clear to his staff the u s attorney's office prosecuted more immigration violations than any other district and quote despite this review mr charlton was fired on december seventh two thousand seven john mckay mckay is an effective well regarded and capable leader of the u s attorney's office and the district's law enforcement community despite this review mr mckay was fired on december seventh two thousand and seven the department did not turn over the ears reports for the two u s attorneys who are said to have performance concerns and were not identified until late in the process margaret g r s and kevin ryan since the initial cause for the firing performance was clearly debunked by these reports it now appears that these six u s attorneys were fired because they upset the political arm of the white house for example david iglesias by all accounts a rising star was only placed on a list to be fired after the president and karl rove called the attorney general to pass along complaints specifically kyle sampson former chief in staff to the attorney general testified on march twenty ninth two thousand and seven that quote i do remember learning i believe from the attorney general that he had received a complaint from karl rove about u s attorneys in three jurisdictions including new mexico and the substance of the complaint was that those u s attorneys were pursuing voter fraud charges aggressively enough and quote mr sampson went on to testify  he also remembered that quote just a week before i left the department in march i remember the attorney general telling me that he had had a meeting with the president in october sometime i remember the attorney general saying you know i remembered the president in that meeting we had in october telling me that there were concerns about a glazier and quote in addition the committee investigation has shown that many of the u s attorneys who were fired or put on a list to be fired were handling contentious election related cases including todd graves former u s attorney in missouri recently revealed that he too was forced to resign after he had refused to support a case against democratic state secretary of state in missouri alleging that missouri was violating federal law for failing to purge voter rolls that's despite the rules of the department urges that no case involving election practices be brought prior to an election john mckay former u s attorney in washington fired at piers because he refused to bring a case during the hotly contested gubernatorial race against essential the democratic candidate david iglesias former u s attorney in new mexico it appears he was fired because he refused to bring a case alleging voter fraud prior to the election and tom hafele finger former u s attorney in minnesota was put on a list to be fired when he was pushing for an investigation into voter district was the focus of a document sent over from the white house for investigation that provides information on milwaukee voting trends and these are just examples of u s attorneys who were fired or considered to be fired because of their involvement in election fraud cases other u s attorneys who were fired were involved with sensitive public corruption cases the caret can grow tional investigation also uncovered that political considerations were being taken into account with regard to hiring and firing decisions for career employees at the department and the prestigious honors program now that's a no no monica goodling a young inexperienced lawyer thirty three with name white house liaison at the department of justice and in that role she was given the authority to hire and fire personnel in critical positions at that apartment on may twenty third two thousand and seven miss goodling testified that i quote may have gone too far in asking political questions of applicants for career positions and i may have taken inappropriate political considerations into account on some occasions and quote this is a thirty three year old making these decisions where was the attorney general the congress has also discovered that political appointees directed changes to be made to the performance of valuations of career staff and overrode career attorneys recommendations regarding which cases to pursue or not pursue for example in testimony before the house joe rich who worked at d o j as civil rights division for thirty seven years testified that he was quote ordered to change the standard performance evaluations of attorneys under my supervision to include criminal comments of those excuse me including critical comments of those had made recommendations that were counter to the political will of the front office and to improve evaluations of those who were politically favored and quote what does this do to the credibility of the department of justice of the united states in the senate judiciary committee's hearing last week br testified that quote on a number of occasions i believe i did order joe ridge to change for form and evaluations and quote there you asian of the department of justice and sharon eubanks lead attorney for the department of justice on the tobacco cases has stated that in june two thousand and five she was pressured to ask for lesser penalties against the tobacco companies she said and i quote at first the administration officials attempt to get the litigation team and  and my staff to agree to lower the amount but there was no basis for doing that and we refused and finally after a number of very heated discussions i said you write it and of say it and quote what a terrible comment about some of the biggest cases ever made in the history of the united states each of these facts on its own is disconcerting but taken together they show a department being run based on politics and not on law i also believe that the attorney general has compromised important legal principles by taking positions and espousing opinions that are outside the mainstream of legal thought for example the attorney general testified on january eighteenth two thousand and seven that hey b s corpus the right to challenge one's imprisonment is not protected by the constitution his quote mr president is my time here's what the attorney general said there is no express grant of hey vs in the constitution there is a prohibition against taking away i mean by that comment the constitution doesn't say every individual in the united states or every citizen is here by granted or assured the right to haiti as he also pushed to narrow the definition of torture and change to the geneva convention applies to in a january two thousand and two memo he wrote in my judgment this new paradigm renders obsolete geneva strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions and quote and when it comes to guantanamo attorney general gonzales has expressed strong objections to closing the detention facility and moving detainees to the united states in a new york times report of march twenty seventh twenty second of this year that mr gates argued said close guantanamo but according to administration officials now this is the newspaper only mr gates arguments were rejected after attorney general gonzales and some other government lawyers expressed strong objections to moving detainees to the united states a stance that was back by the office of the vice president and despite the fact that the us code states quote the foreign intelligence surveillance act shall be the exclusive means by which electronic surveillance may be conducted the attorney general has argued that the language used in the authorization for use of military force implicitly authorized the president to exercise powers including the collection of enemy intelligence in his prepared testimony from january two thousand and six he stated and i quote the supreme court confirms that the expansive language of the resolution all necessary and appropriate force ensures that the congressional authorization extends to traditional incidents of waging war and the use of communications intelligence to prevent enemy attacks is a fundamental and well accepted incidence of military force he is there by saying that guantanamo is a creature of this and therefore legal i don't agree with that i believe that each of these legal opinions has had dramatic negative consequences including negatively impacting america's relationship with most countries abroad finally and perhaps most disturbing the senate has he testimony from deputy attorney general james comey that calls into question the attorney general's character and integrity mr comey testa by testified about a conversation in the intensive care unit of george washington university hospital where he witnessed then white house counsel than solace quote trying to take advantage of a very sick man and quote to reverse a judgment that the terrorist surveillance program was illegal the testimony his testimony covies testimony raised questions about actions that are contrary to the ethical standards lawyers are required to uphold mr khomeini's testimony stands in sharp contrast to the statements made by mr gonzales to the senate about this incident in response to senator's questions on february sixth two thousand and six the attorney general left the impression that any reports of disagreement within the administration about the surveillance program were either inaccurate or in reference to some other program or issue he said that quote there has not been any serious disagreement about the program the point i want to make is that to my knowledge none of the reservations dealt with the program that we are talking about today end quote that was under oath mr president before us he didn't tell us about this he didn't tell us that he went as white house coun to a critically ill man's intensive care unit bed and tried to reverse a decision that the acting attorney general was making it wasn't until mr comey came forward and told us about it did we know now what do i conclude each of these issues are serious on their own and each would raise serious questions about the qualifications and service of this attorney general the department of justice is charged with in forcing the law and protecting americans rights and security the attorney general must inforce the law without fear or favor to its political ramifications he must act independently and pursue justice wherever it may lead and without compromise he must uphold the highest ethical standards let me quote again from president lincoln's attorney general the office i hold is not properly political but strictly legal it is my duty above all other ministers of state to uphold the law and to resist all encroachment from whatever quarter and quote this is what the attorney general should be that's why i'm going to support the motion to close off the ba morning business is now closed under the previous order the hour of three thirty p m having passed the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to h r six which the clerk will report motion to proceed to h r six an actor producer nations dependency on foreign oil by investing in clean renewable and alternative energy resources and so forth and for other purposes under the previous order the  cut anyone off who wished to speak on this issue before we went to a vote first mr president let me ask unanimous consent that alison anderson a trip last fall and paul the president today we begin consideration of energy legislation here in the senate later today we'll be voting to take up legislation that will be will make a meaningful and bipartisan contribution to charting a new direction for america's energy policy there's a growing consensus among federal and state and local policymakers across the illogical spectrum also from corporate leaders and the american public in general that our nation needs to move faster and needs to go farther to secure its energy future american families farmers and businesses look no further than the prices that are posted at the corner gas station to see the their the daily indicators of the economic perils inherent in maintaining the status quo in fact they watched as gas prices have stayed up more than three dollars per gallon for well over a month our national security experts cite the geopolitical and cations in the foreign policy challenges presented by the rise of state owned energy companies and by our own growing dependence on oil imports in two thousand and five united states imported roughly sixty percent of the petroleum that we consumed without the size of action that figure is projected to approach seventy percent over the next two decades with more than thirty five percent of that increase expected to come from member nations of opec or the organization of petroleum exporting countries meanwhile economists take note of our energy policies fiscal implications as well related to america's global competitiveness in two thousand and five and two thousand and six our dependence on petroleum imports combined with rising prices to add an estimated one hundred twenty billion dollars to our nation's trade deficit there's no doubt that there's a compelling case for action but there's also something more fundamental that's embedded in the american consciousness that is animating the national call for a new direction in our energy policy president franklin roosevelt once observed quote the creed of our democracy is that liberty is acquired and kept by men and women who are strong and self reliant quote perhaps it's this american principle of self reliance that's driving the national debate forward when it comes to energy policy after all by tapping america's limitless capacity for innovation our most  renewable resource the united states can become more energy self sufficient americans believe that we can and should lead the world when it comes to developing the new technologies that will produce clean alternative energy and how us to address the threat of global warming and inherent in this grand challenge is enormous opportunity opportunity to build a stronger economy to create the high paying jobs of the twenty first century and and the opportunity of course to lower our energy costs are present no single political party has a monopoly on these ideas rather these ideas are broadly shared by members of the senate on both sides of the political aisle the shared will to make progress in securing america's energy future is what has brought us to this point today later this afternoon we will vote on a motion to proceed to legislation that represents the bipartisan efforts of four committees in the senate energy and natural resources committee the environment and public works committee the commerce committee and the foreign relations committee and  successful in bringing the measure before the senate i believe that by the time the debate is concluded we will also have the recommendations of a fifth committee that is the senate finance committee to add to this legislation suffice it to say there has been a tremendous amount of bipartisan legislative effort on display in bringing this measure forward since the outset of the hundred tenth congress the senate has held more than fifty hearings on energy and climate related issues that is at least one hearing has been held every other day that we've been in session as a relates to what we've been able to accomplish in the senate energy committee let me at the outset  domenici the ranking member on the committee for the good will and the diligence that he has demonstrated at every step in this effort on just the second day of the hundred tenth congress we jointly announced an all day conference related to biofuels policy this conference true submissions and suggestions from more than one hundred stakeholders during that all day session attended by nearly every member of our committee we heard from about thirty experts that gave us suggestions that formed the intellectual basis for the committee's work in the important area of renewable fuels after that we held more than fifteen energy policy related hearings including eight oversight and legislative sessions specifically tailored to take testimony on the issues at the core of our legislation those issues in addition to biofuels were energy efficiency and second carbon capture and storage as a result of this process senator domenici and i were able to circulate a bipartisan proposal to the committee for markup in committee after a session in which we adopted almost thirty amendments from members on both sides of the dyess the energy committee reported legislation with a substantial bipartisan margin of twenty to three on the whole i think what we were able to accomplish in a relatively short period of time is something that all members of our committee can be proud of as i mentioned the legislation touches on three key topics related to our energy future first it boosts mastic renewable fuel supplies does so in a manner that will reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions and spur regional diversity of biofuels production and infrastructure the second thing the bill that came out of the energy committee does is it proposes to enhance economy wide energy efficiency in a way that can will reduce our nation's imports of foreign oil and provide significant savings to consumers and the third item that we addressed we will invest in the carbon capture and storage technologies that will help us to cut back on the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming present i think it would be helpful to describe of for my colleagues some of these issues in a little more detail first on the topic of bio fuel there's no question that in recent years a number of factors have sharpened public focus on the search for viable alternatives to conventional petroleum based fuels i've already described many of those factors including increased world oil prices concerns regarding import dependence and the environmental effects of the ickle emissions biofuels which is a term that includes both ethanol and biodiesel biofuels can be derived from an array of crops and other biological materials that are available throughout our nation since the one nine hundred seventy s all cars and light trucks with gasoline engines built for the u s market have been able to run on ethanol blends of up to ten percent that is eat in a smaller yet increasing number of the calls that are now estimated at about six million on american rolled roads today can run on fuel comprised of eighty five percent  or eighty five meanwhile existing diesel engines can run on bio diesel in any concentration but due to concerns about quality standards however manufacturers may not honor warranties for engines running on bio diesel blends in excess of five percent that is be five or twenty percent that is be twenty there's little question that passage of the energy policy act of two thousand and five was a watershed event for the nation's biofuels and history stablish ing the first federal renewable fuel standard the r f s created an escalating requirement for the amount of biofuels blended in u s gasoline starting with four billion gallons in two thousand and six and accelerating to seven point five billion gallons in twenty twelve however less than two years after that energy policy act was signed by president bush increased use of biofuels is already surpassing the original r f s targets with five billion gallons added to u s gasoline in two thousand and six another six billion gallons production capacity is expected to go into operation by two thousand and nine bringing total domestic production capacity to approximately eleven point seven billion gallons according to the energy information administration two thousand and seven annual energy outlook quote the market potential for biofuel blends that izzy ten b and b twenty remains significant gently larger than the current production levels and will continue to absorb the biofuel supply for the foreseeable future end quote yet as the energy committee began developing its legislation it was obvious that significant challenges remain to file fuels are to become a cornerstone of u s efforts to improve our energy self sufficiency today approximately ninety eight percent of domestic ethanol production is derived from corn starch and that creates upward pressure on commodity prices and restricts production to regions of the country were corn is grown and poses challenges to efficient distribution of the few so diversifying feedstocks to include a broader array of renewable bio mass can promote regional diversity in biofuels production and distribution spreading economic benefits to rural communities across the country and relieving pressure on corn commodity prices in addition it can lead to greater efficiency in the fuel production process and help save on fossil fuel emissions another issue key to making biofuels a significant factor in displacing domestic petroleum use relates to existing infrastructure challenges of the nearly one hundred seventy thousand vehicle fueling stations in the united states just one percent carried in eighty five or biodiesel in two thousand and six consumers must have access to these fuels if they are to become a viable alternative to address these various challenges the energy committee's legislation increases extends the existing r f s to thirty six billion gallons in two thousand and twenty two with specific incentives for the production of biofuels from new sources of renewable bio mass taken together these provisions will help provide market certainty to both the existing ethanol industry and to the next generation of advanced biofuels producers in addition our legislation provides resources to help break down infrastructure barriers to renewable fuel distribution and invest in research into the basic scientific challenges associated with the use of promising new feedstocks altogether the energy information administration has estimated that the legislation's biofuels provisions can help reduce america's petroleum imports by a million barrels per day an important contribution to improving our nation energy security the second major topic of the energy committee's reported legislation is energy efficiency obvious goal of these provisions is to use existing resources more efficiently which promises to further enhance u s self sufficiency and provide environmental benefits and of course save consumers money improving efficiency in transportation remains one of the most important and  challenges facing this nation consumption of liquid fuels is currently projected to grow by more than six million barrels per day from two thousand and five to two thousand and thirty with five point eight million barrels per day attributable to transportation so as fuel consumption increases so too do u s imports a key concern for both the economy and our national security the senate commerce committee has reported legislation that will increase corporate average fuel economy standards for the first time in many years and this legislation is also included in the bill that we will vote in relation t afternoon the commerce committee chairman and vice chairman are to be congratulated on finding a way forward on this very difficult issue as such i'm pleased to say that the provisions reported by the energy committee also support the goal  reducing the transportation sector as consumption of liquid fuels in general and gasoline in particular our provisions establish an escalating goal for reducing u s gasoline consumption starting with twenty percent and seventeen that's enough to reduce world oil prices more than two dollars and fifty cents per barrel under current e i a assumptions this national goal ramps up to forty five percent in and thirty which is the equivalent of five point six million barrels of oil per day that's more than twice the amount of oil the u s imported from persian gulf in two thousand and five to complement these initiatives the legislation also makes investments in advanced the ickle technology development basic science related to energy storage and in public education about how consumers can help reduce their own petroleum consumption in addition to the transportation sector efficiency is a resource that we can better the ploy in uses throughout the u s economy for example lighting and common household appliances can account for as much as two thirds of an average american families electricity bills by improving a number of appliance efficiency standards and streamlining and strengthening the department of energy's existing program consumers stand to collect twelve billion dollars in benefits as a result of provisions included in this underlying bill in fact all together the bills appliance officials see provisions will save at least fifty billion kilowatt hours per year or enough to power roughly four point eight million typical u s households will save seventeen trillion bt use of natural gas per year or enough to heat about a quarter million typical u s homes and it will conserve at least five hundred sixty million gallons of water per day or one point three percent of daily potable water usage around this nation the savings result from provisions which established the first ever federal water conservation standards for clo washers and dishwashers finally on the topic of fish and see the legislation recognizes that the federal government itself represents the nation's largest energy consumer and can play a key role in bringing new technologies to market the federal government has an obligation to lead by example and in doing so we can save taxpayers money for example even as the government reduced its energy consumption saving two point five percent from fiscal year two thousand and four to fiscal year two thousand and five federal energy costs never the last increase twenty four point one percent or fourteen point five billion dollars clearly rising energy prices have an impact on the federal budget just as they have an impact on the budgets for families and on the budgets for businesses across america so to capture additional savings this legislation strengthens federal energy requirements from lighting procurement to petroleum displacement to energy management strategies across federal buildings as a result leading efficiency groups have estimated that the legislation's provisions in this area can save sixty trillion bt use of energy fifteen million metric tons of carbon dioxide and almost four billion dollars in taxpayer money which we now and twenty fifteen the final issue touched on by the energy committee's report of legislation relates to carbon capture and storage or car while scientific and technological challenges remain carbon seaquest ration holes particular promise related to the potentially large amounts of carbon dioxide emitted from the use of fossil fuels electric generating plants may be the most likely initial candidates for implementing carbon sequestration the energy policy act of two thousand and five directed the secretary of energy to carry out research and development on technologies designed to capture carbon dioxide specifically with respect to combustion based energy systems however given the critical nature of these efforts the need to demonstrate emerging methodologies and the potential to the apply them to a wider variety of energy technologies our legislation strengthens and further expands this research in summary i believe the energy committee has produced legislation that will help us move forward expeditiously with groundbreaking research  is key to addressing global warming it will help to spur diverse domestic renewable fuels production and it will promote energy efficiency throughout our economy these efforts of course by our committee have been further complemented by the good bipartisan work of other senate committees that i mentioned taken together these bipartisan measures form the backbone of a national strategy that meets three complimentary goals boosting u s energy self sufficien driving american leadership in clean alternative energy and putting us on a trajectory to address the threat of global warming so i urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the motion to proceed to energy legislation which will we will have later this afternoon and now i will yield the floor i know my colleague senator domenici wishes to speak and give his views on the on the pending legislation  california would you like to speak now and then i'll speak to you i have all of my time and then i would just as well accommodate you you're going to speak five minutes and send them from would you like to here to say that this is a very important moment in the senate because we are moving toward a change in our nation's energy policy and clearly this day has taken a long time  obviously that the bills included in the leaders package senator reid's package they're not the be all and end all of everything we have to do but it's a significant step forward and as i said the day that i was fortunate enough to gain the gavel of the environment public works committee and the senator who's presiding knows this i said that is soon as we had the vote we would move forward with good legislation i think senator bingaman has certainly had that same attitude to begin moving and getting bills to the floor i was very pleased when senator reid agreed that we could have a group of bills put together which would be real confidence builder so that people know that we are working now as senator bingaman said we have three committees represented in this stuff with secular piece of legislation excuse me one moment the committees that that participated in this as senator bingaman said or the energy committee the environment public works committee and the commerce committee how fortunate am i to sit on two of the three committees i wish i sat on the whole three this is such an important issue but i'm so pleased to be able to sit on both the environment committee of which i am the chair and the commerce committee and we all know that global warming a a looming problem for us and we all should know at this point and the environment committees held at least twelve hearings on the subject which the presiding officer was president i think almost all of them we know that the federal government is lagging lagging behind on global warming that is reducing greenhouse gas emissions we're lagging behind europe where lagging behind the mayors of this country and many states including my state of california where there's been a bipartisan move forward to to move on reducing greenhouse gas emissions the contribution that the environment committee has made to this bill is to do that is to essentially make the federal government a model of energy efficiency and of lessening the carbon footprint that we  are making so i'm very proud of that and every single one of the bills that's in this package passed the environment committee with overwhelming support only one had a few against it at the end but almost all of them were virtually unanimous so we started off taking a look at federal government buildings and we realized that we're way behind the times in terms of the way we use energy and since our committee has jurisdiction over these buildings we decided to say that from now on we are going to make sure that we can save money for taxpayers by reducing the energy costs in federal government buildings and not only that but we set up a very important grant program which will give matching grants to state and local government actually it's to local government so that for their buildings they can have help making them energy efficient i don't know if my colleagues are aware of this but in america thirty nine percent of global warming emissions are attributed to buildings as the federal government takes the lead we help all governments make their buildings energy efficient we are really moving forward we also passed a very good compromise bill by senators lautenberg and mourner on new building the green buildings legislation we also passed the bill on a capital power flan kind of a model project to see what we can do from the carbon out of that call fired plant and we're excited about that and we passed the bill that would make the energy the energy building the department of energy building a solar building so wrapping it up mr president i s my time is up we're very happy to partake in this bill a we think we're finally moving forward on global warming in a small but deliberative way can set the stage by making the federal government the leader in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions thank you and i want to thank senator bingaman for the time i presented this out or colorado is recognized for three minutes thank you thank you very much mr president let me first of all congratulate senator bingaman and senator domenici the chairman and ranking member of the energy committee for their great work and their leadership i think the legislation that they have brought t today along with the legislation from the other jurisdictions in the senate exemplified the kind of working relationship that we have seen from the energy committee over the last two years two thousand and five energy policy act could not have been passed without the bipartisan leadership exhibited by senator bingaman and senator domenici and for that i am grateful to be a part of their committee that mr president say to all of our colleagues that we should definitely vote yes on the motion to proceed as we embark on this journey of looking at energy independence for our nation the drivers for energy independence and my mind are stark and clear it is one of the very fundamentally most important issue that faces our nation today first and foremost that driver of national security compels us to get rid of the addiction that we currently have to foreign oil one looks at what's happening in lebanon today and the funding of the hezbollah organization that continues to create havoc and that part of the world today it's a stark reminder to us that for too long america slept for too long america slept all our enemies enemies have fueled themselves with the dollars that come from the very high price of oil from places like iran and so our country today is dependent on us being able to grasp that concept of national security and that's why it is that i think in this senate chamber you will see that it's not only demo pratt that are going to be working on this energy legislation but it's republicans working out is legislation because issue of energy independence is not a democratic agenda or a republican agenda it's an agenda that is essential to the future security of america i'm hopeful that as we move forward with this legislation that will grasp the fact that we are taking some significant steps forward first the biofuels increase by moving forward with a new renewable reno renewable fuel standard will mean that we will be quintuple ing more than the amount of energy that we expect that we can produce from biofuels secondly the major initiative with respect to energy efficiency is something that we ought to embrace that's a lot hanging fruit for all of us in america as we deal with energy independence third we take major steps with carbon sequestration and sorry to move forward with the debate on global warming which is an essential for our country and finally mr president looking at other issues such as cafe standards will help us get down the road so what our dollar my colleagues will join us in this historic endeavor as we march forward towards energy independence in our nation thank you mr president can still say they want more but when you have a system like we have in america you have to have two bodies the senate and house both agree both had we had today they have a rules committee and then you go to conference and you know you know just think about how those two books house and senate just naturally disagreement right now we have to get all that in agreement before we have a bill that goes to the president and then he's got  and we're lucky that perry first one we did the big bail probably the best piece of legislation and modern times to to produce cars america to produce more what what energy we could and to do it in a in a any manner that was a frugal with reference to environmental damage was the first one and the president did us a great favor the same to our state  first big bill and it was one that he ran he signed with rally which which means we even even as to the executive branch it wasn't too far off the mark and before i get to my my statement i'm going to say there's one thing that didn't go right you know in your remarks senator you you mentioned a couple of times how we in that first veil had promoted technology because it was obvious to everyone as so long as america lived in a world with cheap cheap oil the the power the power of those who would invent and would use new technology in the field of energy was minimize when it was when when gasoline was fifty cents at the pump because there was no broad incentive to do something about but about the time we got to our major bill it was quite clear that we no longer were even major players on the oil international oil scene they could almost do with us what they wanted because we were way way too dependent and they grew more and more and more and that made those who don't like america less and less concerned the economics of them having a monopoly so as to speak toying around with the country that it's an open open economic society big difference they can really wreck ha when we did our bail we put a provision in a kind of a catchall i remember working on it and i remember you questioning it and then after a while we were graded and it was that section that provided for  guarantees and other incentives for for the technologies we mentioned in this vale as being most important for america's future and you remember and i remember one of those that happened was n and we even had to work hard on that different kind of incentive for nuclear and we did do it we got it in and it was a new kind of insurance for the first few that build theirs and they get an insurance policy that the federal government gi so as to permit him to expedite the building of that very complicated energy producing nuclear power plant but the administration because somebody in high places doesn't like doesn't like loan guarantees you know they all kind of loan guarantees in this government and in this world and but somehow somebody said you know we don't like them and it's and the department of energy doesn't do on mr president if you can imagine the sort of the our brand of energy hasn't been doing loan guarantees who cares there's longer entities all over the government the department of agriculture has billions of dollars of loan guarantees and i don't think that we're going that they're paid back i mean it's the it's just that the guarantee is given on a in a manner that permits those to use them and get money where they otherwise wouldn't but we didn't do that yet and in that first veil and i think we still you and i all the citizens of our country another push and maybe we ought to check into it and and give one more push to the administration and see how how we can enhance the you know the promotion of loan guarantees by the administration because there should be four core coal kind of products that need a lot money or for experimentation and for many other technologies there should be a very big pot of loan guarantees not a three four hundred million there ought to be more than a few billion so that they can do their work draw their money on new ideas and get on with with helping us make that step from a society that was well most it almost totally totally roped in and and gas and nothing else into a society with the great divergence of energy that's the way we're going in the legislation and the bill before us continues that momentum so i speak today as we prepared to consider an energy legislation on the floor of the senate to provide the proper context for this bill i think it would be instructive to reflect as i have just done upon the recent accomplishments of the congress i already indicated to you about two years ago the president signed the energy policy act of two thousand and five in center bingaman in my home state this weeping law was the most comprehensive energy policy and acted in decades i've watched with pride and this has been mentioned enough because it's hard to do but i have i watch with pride that in just two years this long term policy has already begun to show great positive impact on the short term the energy policy act is brightening our energies nuclear nations nuclear renaissance already over thirty nuclear power plants are in the works imagine that we went more than two decades without a single one applying and we have now over thirty with a number of the way up near the top of the of the clearance scale where we will be seeing them clear them or the beginning of construction soon and i'm sure many of us will go to that and say it's high time and we were pleased to be part of it now if operational these plants will provide enough electricity for nearly thirty million american homes while displacing about two hundred seventy metric tons of carbon dioxide each year just think of that think of how much we would have to do to displace that much carbon dioxide if it was produced and we had to get rid of it after it was produced in a coal burning power plant or some other plant that in the process of ignition produced sealed to this is safe clean affordable and reliable large scale energy for our nation and that is why earlier this year the nuclear regulatory commission approved nearly approved two early site permits for new reactors in illinois in mississippi as we try to produce reduce our dependence on foreign energy and address the issue of global climate change it becomes imperative for our energy and environmental security that we keep the momentum going on nuclear energy in this country on coal technologies clean coal technologies  y set forth in the energy bill of two thousand and five have resulted in bringing one hundred and fifty nine new coal vase facilities to various planning stages and over the next five years united states will jobs for our people because we're looking at an economy of yesteryear not of not up tomorrow coal coal miners instead of being out of work we will be looking for people to join the core of home miners in this country as we produce more coal because we're going to learn how to use a cleaning in our country as we speak as we seek to avoid this total dependence upon toil and natural gas this past week the department and the department of energy treasury and energy they together announced new instructions for applying tax credits for advanced coal projects and gasification projects in total three energy to bill energy bill tax credits will provide over one and a half billion dollars to help advance energy projects and capture and sequester carbon dioxide those are already being done and the credits have been given under the laws we have written in this thoughtful process  developing legislation over the past two years this bill also put in place mechanisms to ensure a secure reliable electricity grid for our nation and help transform our agricultural belt into an energy belt we already know that providing rural america literally thousands of jobs and billions in in new capital investment dollars to help bring clean fuel to our nation gas tanks in the area of biofuels two thousand and five bill created a solid foundation for the most significant policy set forth in the bill as we will consider this on shortly on the floor as a result of the energy bill of zero five we revitalized a renewable fuel industry in america for the first ever renewable fuel standard and production tax credit we all wondered when that would come it is done and there are now one hundred and fourteen byo refineries nationwide with the capacity to produce by point five gallons billion gallons of ethanol a year that's all because of the act that we passed in zero five that we keep me purring to that we were with the work here in this body on a bipartisan basis and then went to the house the same way and then had a president join us and with great joy in signing it in our state additionally ethanol refinery construction and expansion currently in the works has you know and capacity of an additional six billion gallons of ethanol the biofuels policy included in the energy policy act of all five as helped create approximately one hundred sixty thousand american jobs across almost many sectors of our nation's economy i think sometimes we wonder why the economy did so well maybe we should look around and say maybe  the money spent on energy facilities across this land because of this act had something to do with keeping the employment up and keeping the growth up i'm not sure that but i just throw it out because indeed that act of five could have been called the jobs act would have been called a a jobs producing act a diversification act providing jobs that were never there before ethanol production and demand are setting records in america as we seek renewable fuel to power our cars that we drive and with the bill reported out of the energy and natural resources committee this year for base truong bipartisan  we responded to that call for steps for sustainability and to provide a path for the emergence of sell your last six ethanol that's what we're here to work on today that will mean that we will be able to produce much more sell your logic ethanol which will do the same thing as ethanol expense except it will make it will make us able to produce far more since we can add the said your l to nuclear to electricity transmission to oil and gas to hydrogen to vile fuels and we did this with the majority both parties in the senate embracing this forward thinking policy for america this wasn't even a close vote mr president in each case it was substantially more than sixty votes a bipartisan votes almost equal one from each side on each of the important details and there'd been two already this one will be the third simply put the policy act of zero five has already helped to strengthen our energy security and grow our nation's economy more importantly if implement effectively the larger impacts of this great bipartisan legislation will be felt for decades in this country as we prepared to debate on the floor in the senate today we're going to consider a bill smaller in scope and less bold in its vision nevertheless this bill represents bipartisan work spanning four committees of the senate there are a lot of good policies in this bill however i believe there must be a full and fair debate on this bail and a complete amendment process we ensure that we get the work we will do in the senate and for the american people on an energy policy will be complete anything short of that mr president will be a departure from the example of the two thousand and five act the bill that we expect to soon consider provides for a biofuels mandate with  for displaced twenty percent of the growth in gasoline that we use in this country by twenty thousand and two this edition of thirty six billion gallons of bio fuel a year will see the majority of its content come from sell your logic ethanol sharp an important move away corn based ethanol in our fuel mix we will consider an energy efficient measure that if properly implemented as a potential to provide important efficiencies in vehicles buildings homes and business it saves the american consumer more than twelve billion dollars annually this is one part of our energy policy that goes on notice that the one i have just described important efficiencies and i do say to our majority was that my minority member when we started that he has led the come just from washing machines and what was the other mr chairman to this one dishwasher i'm not ashamed to talk on the floor about this what some people say we know shouldn't talk about and why shouldn't we when that saves a huge amount of money huge amount of energy and i remember one night i got a dishwasher i got a laundry board as a gift from a constituent because i had help with the r e a that went up the mountain and took electricity up there so she came down to meet me at the foot of the mountain city and said here's your washboard i saw what what washboards you said i don't need it anymore i got electricity i just bought a washing machine and i'm thanking you by america and make our lives better for our people on on fuel economy the senate stands poised to address vehicle fuel efficiency one way to help reduce our dependency by reporting our cafe standards for the oppose we drive everybody should know the commerce committee did that and and by active our later and and the four procedures that's on this bill so if people are wondering in the past they wan do something about cafe it is pending once this deal is made ending it is the subject matter before the senate of the united states the cafe standards yes and that it will compel our immobile companies to do better than they've done in terms of mpg we've never gone so far as the commerce committee did so it ought to make for a few hot speeches here on the floor i don't know when they'll come but sooner or later they will because the cafe standards for vehicles that we drive will be changed and i have only one page left and senators are waiting and i have a lot of time left but i don't need to use all my time specially when i was sent some senators have had to wait so if you had wanted to come down and speak i have a little bit of time i can give you some but i think we're going to now start yielding to other senators i assume and move on but i haven't talked to senator bingaman on that yet imus times is a senator from new from new york i was just trying to find out if there were any more people on my side but i thank you under the previous orders senate will resume debate on the motion to proceed to s j rez fourteen which the clerk will report motion to proceed under the previous order the republican leader shall control the time from five to five twenty in the majority leader shocking all the time from five twenty two to five thirty senator from new york recognized mr president just a parliamentary inquiry the republican leader controls  time from five ten to five twenty as i understand the under the previous order is from five to five twenty ok i ask unanimous consent as i understand it a begin and i hope when the minority leader because as i understand it there's a misunderstanding they weren't supposed to start till five can what the order says five o'clock which would only give us ten minutes to debate this resolution so let me begin and not waste any further time mr president i rise in support of the motion to proceed to a vote of no confidence in attorney general alberto gonzales is a rare measure i know it is one with few precedents but it is called for today because the dire situation at the department of justice is also without precedent the level of disarray and dysfunction the crisis of credibility the failure of leadership are all without precedent it is a simple measure we have before us let me read it it is the sense of the senate that attorney general alberto gonzales no longer holds the confidence of the senate and of the american people are there any members here who don't agree with that sentiment if so i haven't heard them senators are not a shot a lot and their silence on this point is deafening so mr president if senators cast their votes with their conscience they would speak with near unanimity amitie that there is no confidence in the attorney general and their united voice would undoubtedly dislodge the attorney general from the post that he should no longer hold but we may not have a unanimous vote here today i am told that's a puzzle because no matter what standard one applies no matter what criteria one uses the attorney general cannot enjoy the confidence of the senate he certainly doesn't of the american people the bill of particulars against the attorney general is staggering on the question the attorney general's credibility the record speaks for itself repeatedly the attorney general has misled the congress misled the american people and given incredible explanations for the u s attorney firings the attorney general's comments have been a series of shifting reactions in restatements is this confidence inspiring conduct from the nation's chief law enforcement officer we learned that attorney general was attorney general gonzales was personally involved in the firing plan after being told that he was we learned that the white house was involved after being told that it was we learned that karl rove was involved after being told that he was and we learned that political considerations were paramount after being told they weren't then when the attorney general finally had the opportunity to set the record straight on april nineteenth two thousand and seven what did he do more than seventy times he answered i don't know when asked the most basic questions about how he came to fire ten percent of the nation's u s attorneys the attorney general admitted he didn't know the reasons why several u s attorneys were fired but insisted in the very next breath that he knew that they were not fired for improper reasons does that inspire confidence one of our most mild mannered member senator pryor believes he was lied to directly by the attorney general and he has good reason to think so time after time the attorney general has shown he doesn't have the credibility to lead the department this is not a liberal or conservative assessment this is not a democratic or republicans estimate it is a universal one listen to the words of the very conservative national review magazine which wrote on march twenty eighth quote what little credibility gonzales had is gone alberto gonzales should resign the justice department needs a fresh start unquote that's on credibility on the attorney general's lack of commitment to independence and the rule of law the record is also disturbingly clear the attorney general has long shown that he misperceives his role he forgets that he is the people's lawyer not just the president's if one needs a single image to symbolize the attorney general's contempt for the rule of law it is that of all turned alberto gonzales bending over john ashcroft sick bed on the night of march tenth two thousand  it is the picture of the then white house counsel gonzales trying to take advantage of a very ill man who didn't even the have the powers of the attorney general to approve a program at the department of justice could not certify was legal that example unfortunately mr president has plenty of company consider the image of the tourney general gonzales in march this year making mrs goodling feel quote uncomfortable her words by going through the sequence of events related to the u s attorney firings how often do people comfort someone by revealing their recollection of events that are subject to a congressional investigation and to those examples the documented violent violations with respect to national security letters and other admitted abuses in connections with the patriot act how can such leadership inspire confidence rule of law in the gonzales regime sadly has apparently been an after thought rather than a bedrock principle again there is no liberal or conservative or democratic or republican position on the attorney general's lack of independence and commitment to rule of law it is virtually unanimous consider the words of the conservative group the american freedom agenda quote attorney general gonzales has proven an unsuitable steward of the law and should resign for the good of the country on the question of whether the department has been improperly politicized the record is again clear attorney general gonzales has provided over perhaps the most politicized department in history we have learned that under alberto gonzales being a loyal bushie was more important than being a consummate professional we have learned that s attorneys who were performing their duties admirably were apparently dismissed because of unfounded allegations by political figures allegations that were never investigated or never proven we have learned that an unprecedented voter fraud case was brought in missouri on the eve of an election in clear violation of the department's own policy we have learned that deep suspicions about improper politicizing politicizing even at the entry level of the professional ranks were correct we have heard from the attorney general's own former senior counselor monica goodling that she quote crossed the line in considering partisan affiliation in filling career positions at the justice department career positions not political positions the office  professional responsibility in the office of inspector general have now opened up investigations relating to the hiring of immigration judges civil rights lawyers and honors program attorneys all of this of course occurred under the attorney general's watch either the attorney general knew about these things potentially illegal act that he's are and did nothing or he was oblivious to what was going on beneath his own nose either way mr gonzales is responsible for a deeply political culture at the department unprecedented in modern times as the former deputy attorney general jim comi has said these kinds of blows to the reputation of the department will be hard to overcome does that kind of leadership inspire confidence finally given all of this on the basic question of competence and effectiveness the attorney general has proven himself to lack the leadership ability needed to right the department by every account the attorney general's handling of the u s attorney firings has been catastrophic the morale at the department is at an all time low how can we have confidence and in turn a general who can't get his story straight how can we have confidence in an attorney general who still can't tell us why ten percent of the nation's u s attorneys were fired how can we have confidence in an attorney general who would allow his top staff to take the fall for his own failings how can we have confidence in an attorney general who allowed improper and possibly illegal political hiring to take place given the crisis of competence and credibility given the abysmal record of trampling the rule of law and long time standards of nonpolitical hiring the vote today should be an easy one some will claim they are opposing the motion because they say this vote was called for political reasons this vote is not about politics if this were all about politics it would be easy to sit back let the attorney general remain cast dispersions on him for the next eighteen months and reap the political benefits but the department of justice is too important and we have an obligation to do everything we can in a bipartisan way day to demand new leadership is senator time is if i'd ask unanimous consent we've had some timing difficulties here we've only had about ten minutes to debate this resolution i'd ask unanimous i don't mind i asked the minority leader a question what is his pleasure here i had been told he was coming at five ten but the resolutions matter b anticipating speaking