A bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to clarify regulations relating to overtime compensation.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

I will yield.

I thank the Senator from Louisiana. Let me return the bouquet. I thank the Senator from Louisiana on behalf of all the friends I have who are reservists--I was a reservist once myself in my younger years--all the National Guard people and the employers, the small businesspeople who try to do their best. These people are called up. They go to Iraq. Many times they try to give them some compensation, but they are leaving their families behind, their kids, their communities, and all the Senator has been asking for is to treat them fairly and decently, to help these employers make up that difference in income, many of whom are trying to do their best. But let's face it, a lot of them are small businesses. They cannot do it.

I thank the Senator from Louisiana for standing up for small businesses, for standing up for our Guard and Reserve people who have given so much to this country, making sure they are treated equitably and fairly. I thank the Senator for doing this. This is an issue that has to be resolved, and again every guardsman and every Reserve person in the United States owes the Senator from Louisiana a great debt of thanks.

I have to say this: If I am ever in a foxhole someplace, I want the Senator from Louisiana on my side because I know I will never have to worry about my backside if the Senator from Louisiana is there. She has what we call real grit. I am proud of her and thank her for being here this weekend and for never backing down. I thank her for standing up for our people in uniform in this country who are in the Guard and the Reserves.

I also want to thank those on the Republican side, Leader Frist and others, who have worked to try to get accommodations made and reasonable agreements worked out. This is a place where there must be compromise. It is not your way or my way all the time. It is trying to work out compromises, trying to work out reasonable solutions to things. I thank those on the other side of the aisle who have worked this weekend with us.

I especially want to also thank our leaders, Senator Daschle and Senator Reid, again for their willingness to work hard to try and work out these agreements with the leadership on the other side.

These are contentious things, but we know that. Sometimes around here we are not the masters of our own fate. I know the administration comes in and they want things a certain way. Sometimes it is hard being a member of the majority party whose President is in the White House. It is tough. I know that because a lot of times we may want to do things one way and the White House wants it the other way and they make it very tough on Members of their party. I understand that. I have been there before.

People of good reason can come together and work together to work these issues out. I know people took me to task today on the other side of the aisle. That is all right. I do not mind that. We have been around this place a long time. I want people to know I am going to stand here and fight for my farmers. They do not have many people fighting for them. They are a minority in this country. We got through a good farm bill in 2002 and the President signed it, touted conservation, and now twice conservation has been invaded, taking the money out of

our farm program. It is not right to do it that way.

So I am glad that when we come back in November to finalize our appropriations bills for next year--we have a continuing resolution until November 20 so we have to come back to finish that. Under the agreement we worked out, there will be an instruction to the conferees to undo what we did on the omnibus, to right what we did here and to make the conservation program whole again. That can be done. It can be done in November and, quite frankly, not too much will be upset in 1 month. We can live with that. We will get it straightened out in November.

I am glad we have reached this kind of a resolution and we will come back in November and try to get things straightened out at that time.

I want to thank those who have worked so hard to reach this agreement. I guess, as it goes now, we will be finished tomorrow and people can get back to their homes and campaign.

I also want to publicly thank all of the people at the desk, the clerks, the reading clerks, our Parliamentarians and others, the floor people on both sides, Republican and Democrat. They have had to give up their family this weekend. I know that. I want to thank them publicly for being here and working long hours on Saturday, Saturday night, and Sunday. It is now 8 at night. They provide a tremendous public service on both sides of the aisle. I know a lot of times they could probably get a lot more done if we Senators were not around. The staff can work out things.

I also want to thank our reporters who are here. They have also worked long hours this weekend and given up their family time. I have to mention the pages, too. The pages probably had a nice weekend planned. We thank them for being here and permitting us to do our job.

These are things sometimes that take a long time to work out. We try our best and we have our debates. We go back and forth, but we could not do our job without all of these wonderful people. They do make the Senate a wonderful place in which to work. It is 20 years that I have spent here. I never would have imagined in my younger life I would have had such an opportunity or an honor to serve my constituents in Iowa, indeed all of the people in this country, as a Senator. All of you who work and labor here do not get much glory. Nobody ever writes about you and you probably do not get on television, you do not get to speak on the Senate floor like we do, but we could never do our job without you. I want you to know I appreciate each and every one of you, Republican, Democrat, and those of you who do not have a party who are here in a nonpartisan capacity. You do make this place function well, and I thank you for it. I thank you for letting us do our job on the weekend.

I would be delighted to yield to my leader. I paid homage to him earlier and I will pay it again most respectfully. I cannot say enough good things about Senator Reid's strength and character, about his own personal attributes of honesty and forthrightness. When Senator Reid gives his word, go to the bank. One does not have to worry about it.

He has a tough job. He has to deal with us and then he has to deal with the other side and try to work out these agreements. These are very tough negotiations. I could not ask for a better friend, a better person, to negotiate and work things out and get these compromises made. I could not ask for a better friend and a better person to do it than Senator Reid of Nevada.

I yield to the Senator.

That's right.

I thank my friend. I thank my friend for those very kind and overly generous words. I again say to Senator Reid, you do me a great honor. I don't think there is any higher honor than to have someone that you respect and that you admire say those kinds of things. I hope the Senator from Nevada understands the depth of my feeling about him personally--personally and professionally. Personally, as just a good, decent, wonderful human being, someone who cares deeply about people and making our Government work for people, making sure that people have the same kind of opportunities we had when we were kids.

A young kid from Searchlight, NV, and a young kid from Cumming, IA, knowing what our parents were like, poor--we see the two things we have in common. We were both born in small houses in small towns to poor parents. But we had a country that gave us an opportunity.

I know the Senator feels very deeply that he wants to pass on to his kids, and his grandkids, a country that gives them the same kind of opportunities the country gave us; for the Harry Reids of today who are born in some little house in some unknown town someplace out in the middle of nowhere, that they, too, have the same opportunity that this Harry Reid had to succeed in America.

That is the kind of America I know the Senator wants to leave. That is why I admire him so much. He is just a great human being.

I am glad you are our assistant minority leader, hopefully our assistant majority leader in the next term.

I thank you for those kind words, and thanks for your words on behalf of our farmers. We couldn't have gotten where we are without your great help and your great leadership. Even though you may not have a lot of farmers in Nevada, you have a lot of farmers who are your friends from Iowa, the Midwest, Ohio, and everywhere else.

I thank you for that very much.

Mr. President, I understand I have some time tomorrow to speak further on the issue. I will at this time yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for about 10 minutes.

Madam President, I am so pleased to be on the floor and to thank our leadership: First, Senator Frist, our majority leader, from Tennessee; Senator Daschle, the minority leader; and Senator Reid, who has worked so tirelessly today. Reasonable minds came together on some of these issues. I particularly thank the Senator from Oklahoma, Senator Nickles, for working throughout the day with us on this very important amendment for the Guard and Reserve; and particularly, Senator Kit Bond, who was one of the leaders on the Republican side; Senator Jeff Sessions for his kind remarks today; Senator Jeffords, who signed the letter to the President; Senator Nelson of Florida and Senator Akaka, who came to the floor; Senator Murray for her strong support of the amendment; Senator Boxer for being an original cosponsor of the amendment, along with Senator Durbin and

Senator Kerry. There may be others I can mention in the next few minutes because this truly was a success for all of us and the Senate, for the Republican leadership and the Democratic leadership of the Senate, to be able to come to a reasonable agreement to pass a tax credit for members of the Guard and Reserve, to pass a significant tax credit for businesses in this country, particularly small businesses that are really struggling to make ends meet and are doing the patriotic thing.

Madam President, I had submitted this for the Record several days ago, so I will not repeat it. I call attention to the hundreds of businesses--potentially thousands--that will benefit directly from this tax credit, but most important, it is the guardsmen and reservists whose paychecks will continue, whose families will be supported, who will be the direct and most important beneficiaries of the agreement reached tonight. I thank my colleagues, and I will speak in more detail tomorrow about the benefits.

Because we worked together and kept working in good faith and because we kept them in our minds, the Senate tomorrow at some time will pass, by unanimous consent, according to the agreement just reached, a tax credit for businesses. It won't technically be in this huge bill I have been holding up for 3 days. As I started this discussion, there was nothing we could do to get it in this bill. The only thing that could have happened to get it in the bill is if we pass it, the President would veto it, send it back, and tell us to rewrite it. The chances of that happening were not good. So we negotiated the next best thing, which was passing a stand-alone tax credit for the Guard and Reserve out of the Senate again, as we have already done with 100 Members of the Senate--Republicans and Democrats--and sent to the House.

Now the focus will be on the House leadership. Now the focus will be on the House. Is the Republican leadership in the House going to stand up for the men and women in the Guard and Reserve? Are they going to include them or leave them out of their tax bill? That is something the House leadership will have to discuss.

I am so proud tonight of the Senators. Again, many Senators helped. I will go into more detail in the morning about that.

Let me make sure that I have included in the Record the Military Officers Association, representing 376,000 members. I will submit for the Record the Reserve Officers Association. In the morning, I will submit many other documents we have received from Active and Reserve military organizations for members of the military coalition thanking us for standing strong for them to get a tax credit for them. If anybody deserves a tax credit--and if we can afford $137 billion for many other interests in America--nobody deserves it more than the employers, particularly the small employers of under 500 or a thousand. That is not that small, but in the definition of small business, something under 500 is technically called a small business. In my State, we think of a 10- or 15-employee company as small. But particularly for those small- and medium-sized businesses that are doing the patriotic thing, keeping the paycheck whole for the Guard and Reserve while they are on the front line and also hiring replacements for them to run the factories, the businesses, the architectural firm, or drive a truck, et cetera.

So I am just as proud as I can be tonight to thank my colleagues for working so well together. It has been a pleasure particularly working with Senator Daschle, who has the patience of a saint on many of these issues and in the way he has negotiated with Senator Frist to bring this to a good end.

I will yield back the remainder of my time tonight and, of course, reserve the right to speak again in the morning on this important subject.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Will the Senator yield for 30 seconds?

I would particularly like to thank the Senator from Iowa. There is a long list of Senators, but I need to particularly thank the Senator from Iowa, for the two of us have been on the floor together for the last 2 days. He has been very generous in terms of helping with this issue, and he is a cosponsor of this amendment as well. He has been a tremendous supporter.

The Senator from Iowa has also, our colleagues know, had other issues which he will speak about in a moment, very important to farmers, actually in my State as well as Iowa and States all over the Nation, but I would be remiss if I did not thank the Senator from Iowa who has been arguing, holding the floor, making our points so we could get our colleagues to focus on this issue, which has been done, and now we have a bill we can send to the House. So I thank the Senator.

Will the Senator yield?

Through the Chair to the distinguished Senator from Iowa, I have a State that is rapidly growing. It has, as you know, the tourism interests and the mining, and we have some ranching. There is limited agriculture, but we have some. But the State of Iowa is agricultural based. It is hard for a lot of us who come from big cities to understand. Nevada is the most urban State in the Union, with Las Vegas and Reno making up about 90 percent of the population. So it is hard for a lot of us to understand the passion that someone like Tom Harkin has for farming and farmers. It is hard for me to understand that. But I have come to learn the passion and the depth of feeling that the junior Senator from Iowa has about farmers and farming--agricultural matters.

I hope the people of Iowa have some understanding, which I know they do, about how you fight for farmers, family farmers. I have learned a lot about family farmers because of listening to the Senator talk. It is not only listening to him talk, it is how he talks. I think it is so good that we have in this body people like Tom Harkin, who believe in something, who have a knowledge of agriculture, but not only is it a broad-brush knowing a lot about agriculture, you care about the people who are involved in it.

What we have gone through in the last few days--and when I say gone through, as I told Senator Harkin as I was going home last night, I had a Harkin headache--I feel good being one of 100 here and knowing that I serve with people like Tom Harkin who believes so deeply in a subject. Not only does he express, personally, his feelings, he wants everyone here to know.

When the history books are written about agriculture and what has happened legislatively with agriculture, Tom Harkin's chapter in that book will be in bold print.

I don't know much about this program that Senator Harkin feels so strongly about, but I was there when he got it done. And I know how good he felt about having accomplished this farming conservation. I have some understanding of what it is but not the knowledge that Senator Harkin has--how he felt about this. When this was accomplished, it was like somebody hit a home run. I have had some legislative victories and I know how good it feels. And I know how bad it feels when someone tries to take that away from you. That is what has happened here, a legislative victory that is significantly important to the farmers of this country, in Tom Harkin's mind. He proved to me that people were trying to take that away from him. And by taking it away from him, they were taking it away from American farmers.

So I say to my friend, Senator Harkin, thank you very much for being a believer, for being a believer in something that is important to this country, family farms.

Mr. President, I understand there are two bills at the desk to be passed under a previous order.

Madam President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be dispensed with.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.