Senate passes resolution recognizing Leahy as third in line for the presidency

By Ramsey Cox - 12/17/12 08:50 PM ET

The Senate passed a resolution Monday evening recognizing Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) as the third in line for the presidency as president pro-temp of the Senate.

The resolution, S. Res. 619, came just hours after Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) — the former pro-temp — died.

As the Senate ended business for the day, it passed a several other measures by unanimous consent Monday.

Another resolution pass Monday, S. Res. 621, was one “condemning horrific attacks in Newtown, Conn.,” where a mass shooting took place Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School, killing 20 children and six adults.

The Senate passed S.1792, the Strengthening Investigations of Sex Offenders and Missing Children Act. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) introduced the bill, which authorizes the U.S. Marshals Service to investigate cases involving a sex offender who violates registration requirement or a missing child.

Whitehouse also introduced S.1793, the Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act, which allows the Attorney General and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to assist in the investigation of violent acts and shootings occurring in venues such as schools, colleges, universities, nonfederal office buildings, malls and other public places, and in the investigation of mass killings — defined as three or more killings in a single incident. The Senate also passed the House’s corresponding measure, H.R. 2076, which Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) introduced.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) introduced the Uninterrupted Scholars Act, S. 3472, which would amend the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act’s prohibition of the Department of Education from funding educational agencies or institutions that release student educational records without written parental consent. Now organizations conducting studies for, or on behalf of, child welfare agencies to improve educational outcomes for students in foster care would have access to the academic records.

The Senate passed S. 3687, to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to reauthorize the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Program, to designate certain federal buildings, and for other purposes.

Rep. Charles Dent (R-Pa.) introduced H.R. 6223, which amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 to consider a period of time working abroad for the U.S. Armed Forces as a translator, interpreter, or in an executive level security position as a period of U.S. residence and physical presence for naturalization purposes if at least a portion of such period was spent working directly in such capacity in Iraq or Afghanistan.