Congressional Record UNUM

E PLURIBUS

United States

of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 112th

 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION

∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor.

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S5631 

Vol. 158 WASHINGTON, MONDAY, JULY 30, 2012 No. 114 

Senate 

The Senate met at 2 p.m. and was 

called to order by the Honorable MARK

R. WARNER, a Senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia. 

PRAYER

The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, offered the following prayer: 

Let us pray. 

Eternal Savior, our God and our 

strength, in the shadow of Your hand, 

we find protection from life’s slings 

and arrows. You keep us from toiling 

in vain, from spending our strength for 

nothing. Today, use our lawmakers to 

make America a light of the nations. 

May our Senators work with such integrity and dependence on You that 

freedom may reach to the end of the 

Earth. Lord, help them to seek first 

and foremost to know and do Your will 

and reward them for their service and 

sacrifices for freedom. Have compassion on us all and guide us to the 

springs of living water. 

We pray in Your merciful Name. 

Amen. 

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PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 

The Honorable MARK R. WARNER led 

the Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: 

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the 

United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, 

indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 

f 

APPOINTMENT OF ACTING 

PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The 

clerk will please read a communication 

to the Senate from the President pro 

tempore (Mr. INOUYE). 

The assistant bill clerk read the following letter. 

U.S. SENATE, 

PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, 

Washington, DC, July 30, 2012. 

To the Senate: 

Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, 

of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby 

appoint the Honorable MARK R. WARNER, a 

Senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia, to perform the duties of the Chair. 

DANIEL K. INOUYE, 

President pro tempore. 

Mr. WARNER thereupon assumed the 

chair as Acting President pro tempore. 

f 

CYBERSECURITY ACT OF 2012— 

MOTION TO PROCEED 

RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY LEADER

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader is recognized. 

SCHEDULE

Mr. REID. Mr. President, we are on 

the motion to proceed to S. 3414, which 

is the cybersecurity bill. This is 

postcloture. At 4:30 p.m., the Senate 

will proceed to executive session to 

vote on the nomination of Robert 

Bacharach, of Oklahoma, to be a U.S. 

circuit judge for the Tenth Circuit. 

This likely will be our last vote on a 

circuit judge for this Congress. I hope 

we can be successful. This is a person 

whom I will talk about a little bit, and 

he is certainly well qualified. He came 

out of committee unanimously. 

At 5:30 p.m., today, there will be a 

cloture vote on the Bacharach nomination. If cloture is not invoked on the 

Bacharach nomination, the Senate will 

resume legislative session and begin 

consideration of the cybersecurity bill 

following the vote. 

MEASURE PLACED ON THE CALENDAR—H.R. 6082

I am told H.R. 6082 is at the desk and 

due for a second reading. 

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report the bill by 

title. 

The assistant bill clerk read as follows: 

A bill (H.R. 6082) to officially replace, within the 60-day Congressional review period 

under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands 

Act, President Obama’s Proposed Final 

Outer Continental Shelf Oil & Gas Leasing 

Program (2012–2017) with a congressional 

plan that will conduct additional oil and natural gas lease sales to promote offshore energy development, job creation, and increased domestic energy production to ensure a more secure energy future in the 

United States, and for other purposes. 

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I object to 

any further proceedings with regard to 

this bill. 

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard. The bill will 

be placed on the calendar. 

MIDDLE-CLASS TAX CUT

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I was glad 

to hear Speaker BOEHNER say last week 

he will bring the Senate-passed middleclass tax cut to the House floor for a 

vote. I heard again today he is going to 

hold to what he said. I think that is 

very good. 

Our struggling Nation is one vote 

away from avoiding the fiscal cliff for 

middle-class families. Every Member of 

the House of Representatives should 

have an opportunity to show where 

they stand: with millionaires or the 

middle class. Members can support the 

Democrats’ plan to cut taxes for 98 percent of Americans while reducing the 

deficit by almost $1 trillion or they can 

support the Republican plan to hand 

out more tax breaks to millionaires 

and billionaires, increasing taxes for 25 

million American families struggling 

to put kids through college or even 

food on the table. 

The two approaches demonstrate a 

glaring difference in priorities. There 

is another difference between the two 

plans. The Democrats’ proposal is the 

only one with a chance of becoming 

law. President Obama said he would 

sign it tomorrow. What he will not do 

is sign into law any more wasteful 

giveaways to the wealthiest 2 percent. 

The Senate has defeated the Republican proposal in a bipartisan vote, so 

it is simply a waste of time for House 

Republicans to continue to pursue 

their middle-class tax hike. House Republicans should stop holding the middle class hostage to extract more tax 

cuts for the richest of the rich. They 


smartinez on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with SENATE