Congressional Record UNUM

E PLURIBUS

United States

of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 110th

 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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S10535 

Vol. 154 WASHINGTON, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2008 No. 175 

House of Representatives 

The House was not in session today. Its next meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 19, 2008, at 1 p.m. 

Senate 

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2008 

(Legislative day of Wednesday, September 17, 2008) 

The Senate met at 12 noon and was 

called to order by the Honorable JON

TESTER, a Senator from the State of 

Montana. 

PRAYER

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

Let us pray. 

O God of new beginnings, as our Nation greets the dawn of fresh opportunities and daunting challenges, inspire 

the Members of this body to trust Your 

sovereignty. May they remember the 

words of the 75th Psalm, declaring that 

You place leaders in positions of authority. 

As we pray for our outgoing and incoming Senators, help them to place 

their ultimate trust in You, the author 

and finisher of destinies. 

Today we also pray for our Government’s executive branch. Sustain our 

President in the remaining days of his 

administration. Sustain also the President-elect, Barack Obama. Give him 

the integrity of Joseph, the faith of 

Moses, and the wisdom of Solomon. 

Prepare him to mobilize the branches 

of our Government toward shared objectives that honor Your name. Amen. 

f 

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 

The Honorable JON TESTER 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. 

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. BYRD). 

The legislative clerk read the following letter: 

U.S. SENATE, 

PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, 

Washington, DC, November 17, 2008. 

To the Senate: 

Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, 

of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby 

appoint the Honorable JON TESTER, a Senator from the State of Montana, to perform 

the duties of the Chair. 

ROBERT C. BYRD, 

President pro tempore. 

Mr. TESTER thereupon assumed the 

chair as Acting President pro tempore. 

f 

RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY 

LEADER 

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

f 

ORDER FOR MORNING BUSINESS 

Mr. REID. Mr. President, following 

my remarks and the remarks of Senator MCCONNELL, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business with Senators 

allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes 

each. 

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered. 

SCHEDULE 

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I, of course, 

welcome everyone back for what we 

hope to be a short period of time before 

Thanksgiving. We, of course, have completed this election. We still have three 

Senate contests where we are waiting 

to get the results. One of them should 

be decided in the next few days, the one 

in Alaska; the one in Georgia will be 

decided on December 2; and the one in 

Minnesota will take, I am told, a 

month or 6 weeks. In that race they 

have 3 million hand ballots, and Minnesota is going to count every one of 

them. So that is going to take a while. 

In the summer of 1858, a young State 

legislator from Illinois accepted his 

party’s nomination for the Senate with 

a timeless speech that echoed from 

coast to coast. That speech has been 

recited many times. He said: 

‘‘A house divided against itself cannot 

stand.’’ . . . I do not expect the Union to be 

dissolved—I do not expect the house to fall— 

but I do expect it will cease to be divided. 

That is what he said. One hundred 

fifty years later, a young Senator from 

the land of Lincoln stood on the very 

same steps on which Abraham Lincoln 

stood to announce his pursuit of his 

party’s nomination for President by 

calling upon our country to not just 

believe in his ability to change Washington but to believe in what we can do 

together if we set aside what divides us 

and embrace a common purpose. 

Over the past 21 months, Barack 

Obama has had a message of hope much 

like Abraham Lincoln’s which has 

spread across this country like a tidal 

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