Floor Statements

Mr. President, I only ask that the distinguished Senator modify his consent request to have that time on our side under Senator Boxer's control.

I announce that the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Lieberman) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Lieberman) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Lieberman) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Lieberman) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Lieberman) is necessarily absent.

I move to reconsider the vote and I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I could not hear.

I ask Senator Corzine, how much time do you desire on your amendment? You spoke last night.

Ten minutes.

No objection.

You have your 10 minutes.

Mr. President, it is my understanding that following the disposal of that, by vote, we would move to the Byrd-Durbin amendment No. 1819. It is my understanding that Senator Byrd would speak no longer than 20 minutes on that amendment. There would be no other limitation of time. I ask my friend from Alaska if he would approve that.

Byrd-Durbin amendment.

The only limitation, Mr. President, on my unanimous consent request would be Senator Byrd speaking no longer than 20 minutes. Of course, there would be no amendments in order, and there would be a vote on or in relation to the amendment.

Mr. President, I have no problem whatsoever if the majority gets 4 minutes, but why not add 4 minutes to this side also?

I ask that be modified to allow 2 additional minutes to the Senator from New Jersey.

I announce that the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Lieberman) is necessarily absent.

I ask my friend to modify the request. I just received a message from the cloakroom that Senator Kennedy wishes to speak for 15 minutes.

Maybe afterwards.

I ask unanimous consent the previous order be amended to withdraw the time of Senator Kennedy.

What was that, Mr. President?

Would the Senator yield?

I have spoken to the distinguished Senator from West Virginia. He desires to have a vote right now. The Senator has made a motion to table.

That was not the agreement.

I announce that the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Lieberman) is necessarily absent.

Will the Senator yield?

The Senator from Florida, Mr. Graham, was going to speak. He has now indicated he will very briefly address the Senate and make his speech after the passage of the bill--I assume passage. Senator Byrd is going to speak for up to 25 minutes.

Before passage. We are still working with Senator Leahy on our side.

Madam President, through the Chair to the Senator from Alaska, Senator Schumer does not wish any time.

I ask that that be stricken.

Yes, she does.

I am sorry to interrupt the Senator from Maryland. I ask consent that the Senator from Vermont be recognized to speak for 1 minute following the Senator from Maryland.

I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Madam President, through you to the distinguished Senator from Alaska, Senator Byrd wishes to speak for not to exceed 25 minutes. Senator Graham, as I indicated, will make a very brief statement, a matter of a couple of minutes, and then give his full statement after passage of the bill.

Senator Leahy, we will talk to him to find out what is his desire.

Senator Dayton desires to speak after the vote.

At this stage, I ask unanimous consent Senator Byrd be recognized for not to exceed 25 minutes. We will work on the others.

Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Madam President, if I could direct this question to the Senator from Alaska, does the Senator wish to table or just an up-or- down vote?

Madam President, the Senator from Alaska has been gracious enough to allow the Senator from West Virginia to proceed. Under the previous order, he is to be recognized to speak up to 25 minutes on this bill. I ask that time begin now.

Mr. President, I have a unanimous consent request. I ask unanimous consent that there be no speeches prior to the final passage vote, except for a 2-minute speech by the Senator from Florida, Mr. Graham. All other speeches would come after final passage.

Mr. President, I have conferred with the distinguished chairman from Alaska and he has no objection. I hope no one else does. I ask unanimous consent that Senator Leahy be the first speaker after the final vote.

Mr. President, will the Senator from Vermont, who has been so patient, withhold so that the Senator from Pennsylvania, who is here, can make a very important unanimous consent request?

Reserving the right to object, Mr. President, I want the Record to be spread with the fact that this is why Senator Daschle just entered into a colloquy with the distinguished chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Conferences haven't worked very well in this Congress.

We are willing to pass this bill, send it directly to the House. There would be a simple amendment. We can do that quickly, soon. We feel that would be the most expeditious way to handle this most important legislation. We favor the legislation. The minority favors this legislation.

I object.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that privilege of the floor be granted to two congressional fellows in the office of Senator Mark Pryor, Gita Upple and John Pierson, during consideration of this legislation.

Mr. President, we started on our side last night with 90 amendments. We are down to 31 now. I am not sure all of those will be offered, but I think the end is in sight. If we work hard today and put in a fairly decent day tomorrow, we will be able to finish this bill. I know the Presiding Officer, the President pro tempore of the Senate, has worked hard and was able, with his wisdom, to get rid of a number of reporting amendments that took a lot of pressure off of everybody. Those will be taken to conference and the decision will be made as to what will be done rather than having 70 different reporting amendments on relatively the same subject. I think we have the opportunity to finish this most important bill in the next day or two.

Madam President, I object. I say this respectfully: We worked very hard last night to get a routine set up here this morning. Senators Stevens and Byrd agreed to it. Senator Byrd is coming to speak and to offer an amendment. I would be happy to yield our 50 seconds, and after the 3 minutes expires, we should call on Senator Byrd.

Madam President, that would be extended by 7 minutes on their side; is that true?

We will extend it by 7 minutes on this side.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Madam President, the Senator from Pennsylvania is still on the floor, and I wonder how long he wishes to speak on the bill. Senator Byrd is here.

Madam President, I yield to the Senator from Pennsylvania 4 minutes.

Madam President, I yield back our time for morning business so we can get to the bill.

Will the Senator yield for a question?

Mr. President, I state to the distinguished manager of the bill, Senator Durbin is not going to be able to come. I think if we just proceeded with this, it may move more quickly than one would think. Senator Durbin is not going to come. Senator Kennedy will speak. Senator Boxer will speak. I think it would move more quickly than one would think.

I do really think this will move more quickly. We don't need to allocate 20 minutes on this. If we just go forward, things will work out. You still have the right, after somebody completes a statement, to get the floor.

Mr. President, he would get the floor, anyway. He is the manager of the bill. I have no objection to that request.

It is my understanding that Senator Durbin is going to speak for 5 minutes. We are going to move to set aside for Senator Warner and, following that, move to set aside for Senator Lautenberg. Is that right?

Before we go to Senator Durbin, will the Chair approve the unanimous consent request that was propounded?

Mr. President, the only thing I would like to ask before we get started is, does the Senator from Alaska think the Presiding Officer is qualified to speak about baseball?

I would like that very much.

I object.

Mr. President, if I could, would it be appropriate to have 2 minutes equally divided prior to the vote on the Lautenberg amendment?

Also, I ask that Senator Byrd have 2 minutes.

I ask that it be 1 minute on each side. OK, 2 minutes is fine.

Reserving the right to object, I think we have come close to clearing that amendment on this side. I don't think it will require a vote. I don't know if we need to waste the time on that.

Mr. President, I ask also if the second vote--the one on the motion to table the Lautenberg amendment--can be a 10-minute vote. I don't see why we cannot speed this up a little.

If I may say to my dear friend, we have a number of amendments at the desk that are entitled to consideration before that one. I will do my best to get Warner cleared, but I would rather not have a vote on that because we have some at the desk also that have been offered and debated. So I object.

Mr. President, I haven't had the opportunity to talk to Senator Byrd or his staff.

We have no objection.

I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Will the Senator yield for a question?

You talk legal background, but you did not go to a very good law school, did you?

I announce that the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Lieberman) is necessarily absent.

Mr. President, has all time expired on this amendment?

I advise everyone, this next vote is a 10-minute vote. The prior vote was a 15-minute vote and went about 27, 28 minutes. I hope we can have the 10-minute vote in maybe 20 minutes.

I announce that the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Lieberman) is necessarily absent.

Mr. President, I stepped off the floor. Just so I understand, it is my understanding that the distinguished Senator from Hawaii, the ranking member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, is going to speak for approximately 20 minutes. Senator Stevens indicated to me that there were two or three amendments on the majority side that they want to offer, and we have offered several amendments this morning. They wanted to, in effect, catch up. We want to reciprocate with amendments. Following that, we will offer an amendment. I don't know how many amendments the Senator from Alaska wants his side to offer prior to going back to our side. If we just had some idea so we can have our folks lined up here.

I would be happy to talk to the Senator off camera, so to speak. But we have a plan, if the Senator will approve. I will talk off camera momentarily.

Could Senator Stevens give us an idea of how long the work on your side is going to take so we can have an amendment lined up after that?

The only thing I would say is that everyone knows we have a lot more amendments than the other side. We have at this time I think still 29 or 30 amendments. It doesn't seem fair,

for lack of a better word, that the majority is going to get rid of basically all of their amendments leaving us with all of ours when we still have to finish this bill tomorrow. That is looking more remote all the time. I don't see how in the world we can do that under the guidelines. I apologize to my friend from Alaska for not being able to get a time agreement on one of the amendments. That is the only one. On the rest of them, we worked out time agreements.

I think, again for lack of a better word, in basic fairness we should have some idea about how long it is going to take on the other side until we are ready with amendments over here. Otherwise, I would have no alternative but just say go ahead with regular order and start offering the amendments that are already pending.

Mr. President, everyone here should know that this bill will not be finished tomorrow. Understand that it will not be finished tomorrow. If it is going to be 4 or 5 hours on amendments on the majority side when they have just a few amendments, this bill will not be finished tomorrow, period. Take however long they want. We have done everything to cooperate. There was one amendment that we didn't get a time agreement on, but we still finished that in a reasonable period of time.

I have the greatest affection, respect, and admiration for the distinguished manager of this bill. But to take 4 or 5 hours, that is 9 o'clock. To think we can finish this bill tomorrow is hallucinating. We can't do that.

There is a basic difference. If I may say, there are some people over here who really don't care much about this bill ever passing. That is the way the Senate is.

Senator Daschle has used his good office because of a gentlemen's agreement that he had with the manager of the bill and Senator Frist to move this along as quickly as possible. We are trying to do that. It is no one's fault, but one of the Senators had a medical problem that held us up for several hours before we were scheduled to vote. It seems there is always some problem here.

We have tried as much as we can to be responsible in our ability to move this bill.

Four or five hours--I just repeat, we can't finish this bill tomorrow. Everyone should understand that. That isn't done with any animosity. It just can't be done.

I very much appreciate the Democratic leader's observation and his patience. We have a number of amendments that we have asked Members to withhold offering because there have been other matters on the Senate floor. During this period of time, we have had virtually no quorum calls until the recent episode where there has been movement-- speaking only for myself--preventing anything from happening on this bill.

I will in just one second. So we have basically been without

quorum calls. And we still have, as the Senator from South Dakota, the Democratic leader, mentioned, about 30 amendments we have to dispose of.

As the leader said, some of these will fall as a result of the vote on the Bayh-Ensign amendment. But that still leaves at least 15 or 20 amendments we have to dispose of, and that doesn't count those at the desk. Just basic numbers indicate we have a lot of work to do.

I would also say that for my friend, the distinguished majority whip, to indicate we haven't been doing anything during the day--we have. There were some concerned about the time Senator Byrd spent on his amendment. But there was nothing done to stall for time. That time was taken, every minute, by some of the more distinguished Senators who spoke in support of Senator Byrd's amendment. He wouldn't agree to any time limit, but there certainly was no effort to stall anything. Then we were waiting to offer other amendments.

My point is that just by sheer numbers, if the Senator from Kentucky says it will take several hours of debate when we get to it this evening, does that mean we get to it at 6 o'clock or 7 o'clock? Are we going to spend 2 hours on that? That means we finish that debate at 9 or 9:30. We have a vote on that, we have 9 matters at the desk to vote on, and then we still have the amendments that have not even been offered.

So this is no easy chore we have. I, frankly, in spite of the good will between the distinguished majority whip and our Democratic leader--I think it is going to be difficult to do that based upon what we have been told by the majority this afternoon.

I am happy to yield for a question from my friend.

The amendment before us? I would say I haven't had a chance to speak to my friend from New Mexico, but is this anything we object to?

Mr. President, without losing my right to the floor, through the Chair I say to my friend from New Mexico that it is my understanding he does not oppose the amendment.

Mr. President, that is my whole point. There is no reason to vote on this amendment. This is the old stall we are getting. That is all this is. There is no reason to vote on this amendment. We have substantive issues, and this is very important. I appreciate the good speeches from the chairman of the committee on this most important issue. But everybody is going to vote for it. If we are trying to finish this bill, which obviously we are not at this stage, the stall is going on and whatever has to happen to make sure the vote count is right on the Bayh amendment.

We need to move forward on this legislation. I will vote on it anytime we want. But I am just saying that it is a waste of time. I have seen stalls before. This is a stall. That is speaking only for myself.

I would be happy to.

I would like to respond to the question.

Mr. President, I think it would be totally appropriate to have a vote on this as long as the Senator from New Mexico has 5 minutes to speak. This issue brought now by the majority is a result of the very important amendment offered by the Senator from New Mexico. I have no problem. My only point is this: There may have been one vote that was 98 to 0. I don't remember that. There certainly could have been. I assume this will be another one. But I think that will be fine after the Senator from New Mexico speaks, and then vote.

Mr. President, I reserve the right to object and ask unanimous consent that the amendment of the Senator from Indiana, Mr. Bayh, No. 1871, be the next amendment in order.

I then ask unanimous consent that the request be modified so the Senator from Indiana may be allowed to offer his amendment following the disposal of the Nickles amendment.

I announce that the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Lieberman) is necessarily absent.

It is my understanding staff is preparing a unanimous consent request; is that right?

Mr. President, the Democratic leader is here. He has agreed, on our side, if we can have the vote at 9 o'clock, and have the time until 9 o'clock equally divided between both sides and at that time have 2 minutes for the amendment of Senator Nickles, equally divided on that amendment, and then 2 minutes prior to the vote on the Bayh amendment, equally divided.

That is right. There would be no amendments in order to either amendment prior to a vote on or in relation to each amendment.

Senator Byrd has been waiting all day for an amendment which he and Senator Durbin have.

I say to the distinguished Senator from Louisiana that she has been very patient, and she has been here for the last 2 days, and I understand that. We will do our very best to get her on that as soon as possible.

I ask unanimous consent that the request I propounded be modified to that effect.

We yield back our time.

I announce that the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Byrd) and the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Lieberman) are necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Byrd) and the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Lieberman) are necessarily absent.

Will the Senator yield?

Senator Byrd has asked me to announce that tonight we would have Senator Boxer offer an amendment. She is going to just take a couple of minutes. Senator Leahy has an important amendment. He will take a reasonably short period of time. Senator Durbin has an amendment. He will take a short period of time, and then Senator Corzine and Senator Landrieu, in that order.

Mr. President, I do not know then how to operate.

Mr. President, will the Senator yield?

Mr. President, I have not asked for any time agreement. I am trying to help. I am trying to move this along. I personally do not care if we ever finish this bill. I am trying to work and move this bill along. I was asked to have some people offer some amendments who have a vote. I have spent probably an hour and a half getting these people lined up to offer amendments.

If we are going to finish this bill tomorrow, then we have to do it this way. Otherwise, count me out of the ball game. Somebody else can figure out how to do it.

If the Senator will yield. I then say to Senator Boxer, Senator Leahy, Senator Durbin, Senator Corzine, and Senator Landrieu, go home. We will do them tomorrow.

Will the Senator yield?

The Senator from California and I came to Washington together many years ago. We are very close friends. I consider Senator Boxer a sister. I appreciate her saying a few words on my behalf. But I think probably part of the blame was mine. I know the Senator from Alaska very well, and I probably would have been well advised, when he was raising his voice a little bit, for me not to raise my voice. The fact of the matter is, we both have been working on this bill for hours and days, and probably we are both a little testy. So I think there is blame to go around on both sides. I do appreciate my friend from California defending me. She has made her point, at least as confirming our friendship, and I think Senator Stevens and I can work this out and move the bill along.

I do appreciate very much my friend from California sticking up for me as she has done tonight and has done for the last 22 years we have been together.

Mr. STEVENS addressed the Chair.

I send a modification of the Nelson amendment to the desk.

Mr. President, this is an amendment offered by Senator Nelson. He has been in negotiations with the majority staff for several days now.

I urge its adoption.

This amendment is also one that has been reviewed by the two Senators from Maryland. They both think this is good. There has been tremendous damage at the Naval Academy. This covers that also.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Boxer amendment be modified.

Mr. President, I have an amendment, if I could be heard briefly.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, the Senator from California was concerned about the modification. This had been approved by staff. She wanted to make sure everyone understood that the money she is seeking would be paid for out of existing funds rather than offset. That is the purpose of the modification.

Mr. President, I am told by staff that in the usual fine work of Senators Reid and Stevens there has been a slight misstep. This was already approved earlier today.

Unless Senator Stevens has something else--I know it is in order--I call up the amendment of the Senator from Vermont who has been waiting around for a while. He has a short statement to make.

We will do that as he is speaking.

I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendments be laid aside.

I call up amendment numbered 1807 on behalf of Senators Leahy and Chafee and ask unanimous consent that the amendment be modified with the changes at the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that Senators Coleman, Daschle, Biden, Lieberman, Feingold, Reed of Rhode Island, and Lautenberg be added as cosponsors.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

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

I ask for the yeas and nays on the amendment offered by the Senator from Vermont.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside for the purpose of Senator Durbin offering an amendment.

Mr. President, I have an amendment that has been cleared on both sides. I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendments be set aside and send an amendment to the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. President, I have been advised by the majority that this amendment has been approved on both sides.

I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. President, if the Chair would allow, we now have two amendments we would like to offer tonight and debate tonight, one by the Senator from New Jersey, Mr. Corzine, and the other by the Senator from Louisiana, Ms. Landrieu. And we have been told that the mother of two small babies is going to go first, Senator Landrieu. I will yield to her if there is no objection.

I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside to allow Senator Corzine to offer an amendment.

I ask unanimous consent that amendment No. 1848 be withdrawn.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

The Senator from Pennsylvania has asked to speak this morning. The Senator from Maryland is here. I ask unanimous consent that the first 3 minutes of the time be charged to the Republicans. I ask that the Senator from Pennsylvania be recognized for 3 minutes.

I yield 10 minutes to the Senator from Maryland, to be followed by 10 minutes to the Senator from Oregon, followed by 10 minutes to the Senator from Louisiana, Ms. Landrieu.

I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Edwards), the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry), and the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Lieberman) are necessarily absent.

I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry) would vote ``yea.''

Mr. President, will the Chair indicate how long the last vote took?

Mr. President, I say to everyone here, we are trying to finish the

bill this week. Over the last several days, these votes have gone on and on. We cannot finish this bill if the votes take more than 20 minutes. Everyone should be on notice. We have many amendments. This would have been an opportunity, during the extra 20 minutes on this amendment, for someone to have offered their amendment and then completed the vote on the next amendment. We cannot finish the bill if we continue having 38-minute votes.

I will yield back his time.

I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Edwards), the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry), and the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Lieberman) are necessarily absent.

I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry) would vote ``nay.''

Will the Senator withhold that request?

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that amendment No. 1835 be withdrawn.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside, and I send an amendment to the desk on behalf of Senators Reid, McCain, and Lincoln.

Madam President, if the Senator will allow me to state what I think is in the process of happening, the Senator from Nevada is going to take about 5 minutes, and the Senator from West Virginia would take the remainder of the time until 12:30. He is going to offer an amendment. Senator Byrd is going to offer an amendment, if that is appropriate with the manager.

Yes. Senator Ensign would like to be recognized to speak for 5 minutes on his amendment, and Senator Byrd has an amendment. We understood, based on previous conversations, that the majority was going to offer amendments. We were of the impression there was no one here to offer one before 12:30, other than the Senator from Nevada, Mr. Ensign.

Whenever the Senator wants to go to a vote. I know leadership wants a vote.

Senator Byrd was only doing this out of his normal courtesy. He had other things to do. He was willing to come here and do this at this time because we thought there was no one to offer an amendment on that side.

No. So if you have people here ready to go, I ask Senator Byrd, would that be OK that they go?

If I could take a minute, Madam President.

I know this last vote was a close vote. There was some trouble in determining the final outcome of the vote. But I do say this, speaking for me and for the Democratic leader, we are doing our best to cooperate, but things are not going very quickly here, and I am not confident, at this stage, we can complete this bill. We want to. We have every intention of doing so. But, as I indicated a few minutes ago, when a vote takes 38 minutes and this one takes--how long has this vote taken, Madam President?

How long?

I think that speaks for itself. I hope we can move along more quickly. It is not anything that we are doing that is slowing this down. We have a number of Senators over here who wish to offer amendments. I know the majority has some. So I think tonight and tomorrow night could be very late nights.

Madam President, the Senator from Florida spoke just before the break to both managers of the bill. He wishes to speak for 4 minutes on an unrelated subject. I ask unanimous consent that he be allowed to do so.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Senator Byrd has cleared the amendment to which we already agreed. He is ready to offer other amendments, as others are. We certainly want to cooperate and have the Republicans offer a number of amendments. We have more to offer than they do, but they have an opportunity to offer theirs. At this time, I suggest the Senator from New Mexico be recognized. If, in fact, Senator Graham of South Carolina shows up, the Senator from New Mexico will be happy to yield to him. He is only going to speak for 10 minutes anyway.

We understand.

Madam President, I simply wish to say, prior to the Chair ruling, that the Senator from Arkansas is a member of the Finance Committee. She has studied this long and hard. I think it appropriate she brought this before the Senate. I compliment and applaud her for bringing this to the Senate's attention.

I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Edwards), the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry), and the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Lieberman) are necessarily absent.

I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry) would vote ``aye.''

Reserving the right to object, I thought we had on this list--and I may have a different list--Senator Leahy has an amendment.

We have no objection.

Mr. President, through the Chair, to my friend from Wisconsin, it is my understanding the Senator has two amendments.

One is a reporting amendment and one is on another subject. I ask, since he has been waiting for such a long time, that he send his reporting amendment to the desk. Then it is my understanding there are a number of matters you wish to dispose of dealing with reporting amendments. Then he would like to offer his amendment. If there is a vote, we would vote on that and the Graham amendment at the same time.

Yes. At least he could offer it and we could vote later. He has been waiting a long time.

That is fine.

I send an amendment to the desk on behalf of Senator Corzine.

I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Amendment No. 1805, As Modified

I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Amendment No. 1836

I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Amendment No. 1842, As Modified

I ask unanimous consent that Senator Byrd be added as a cosponsor of the Bingaman amendment.

Mr. President, before the Chair rules, I would simply say I am willing to let this go without a recorded vote. The reason for that is I have spoken to the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Senator Warner, and I have spoken to the ranking member, Senator Levin, and Senator Warner has told me he has had a number of high-level meetings with leadership in the House and people from the Pentagon, and that there is every intention of being able to help American veterans.

There has been in existence now for more than 100 years a law that someone who is disabled as a result of military service and also draws retirement pay from the military cannot draw both. This is unfair.

I have worked on this issue now for several years, and we now have it so people who are Purple Heart veterans are able to draw both their disability and their retirement. What is contemplated by Senator Warner, Senator Levin, and others is that that will be increased to up to 50 percent--those who would be able to draw both their disability and their retirement.

I hope that comes to be, as it is so important to the American veterans. This is something that is bipartisan in nature. This amendment before the Senate is sponsored by the Senator from Nevada, the senior Senator from Arizona, Mr. McCain, and the senior Senator from Arkansas, Mrs. Lincoln, and it is an issue that has bipartisan support.

If we had a vote on it here, as we have had on a number of occasions, regardless of the cost, as indicated on a number of other occasions, it would pass. I think the incremental steps are something I do not relish, but I am willing to accept that. And I do hope those who have promised us action will be taken in the immediate future will do so. Otherwise, I will be back with Senator McCain and Senator Lincoln at a subsequent time and cause a vote to occur on this Senate floor.

I say to my friend, the distinguished Senator from Alaska, I would ask that during the time we review that--it will take just a few minutes--the Senator from Wisconsin be allowed to offer his amendment. He has literally been here for hours.

If I could ask what the subject matter is of the amendment, through the Chair to my friend from Wisconsin.

The Senator from Wisconsin told me earlier today he would take no more than 15 minutes to discuss his amendment.

The only reason I am stalling a little bit here is I do not know the subject matter of the Graham amendment.

Mr. President, we would agree when the Senator from Wisconsin completes his statement, which would be 15 minutes from the time I give the floor to him, that there be a vote in relation to the amendment of the Senator from Wisconsin, with no second-degree amendments in order.

I would ask through the Chair to my friend, the distinguished Senator from Alaska, are we going to vote only on Graham, not on Feingold? Are we going to have two votes now?

So I would ask that my unanimous consent request apply only to the amendment of the Senator from South Carolina.

We do not want time.

And I would ask for the modification, the amendment of the Senator from South Carolina, as modified.

Amendment No. 1806, As Modified

Will the Senator yield?

The unanimous consent agreement said that following the statement of the Senator from Wisconsin, the Senator from South Carolina would be recognized for 5 minutes,

and then we would vote. So we have people coming from all over the city here to vote.

Is that in the form of a unanimous consent request?

I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Edwards), the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry), and the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Lieberman) are necessarily absent.

I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry) would vote ``yea.''

Will the distinguished Democratic leader yield?

Did you ask consent that following the offering of your amendment the Senator from California, Mrs. Feinstein, be recognized to offer her amendment?

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

Mr. President, I ask that the pending amendment be set aside.

I send an amendment to the desk on behalf of Senator Landrieu.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Darcy Zotter, a fellow on Senator Harkin's staff, be given floor privileges for the duration of the consideration of this bill.