Floor Statements

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, what is the pending business before the Senate?

The message to accompany H.R. 4853.

Mr. President, I move to table my motion and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 4853 with the Reid for Baucus amendment No. 4727.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I move to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 4853 with the Reid-McConnell amendment No. 4753 and that the amendment be considered read.

I ask for the yeas and nays on that, Mr. President.

I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

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

Mr. President, I have a cloture motion at the desk.

Mr. President, I move to refer the House message to the Finance Committee with instructions to report back forthwith, with the following amendment.

On that I ask for the yeas and nays.

I have an amendment to my instructions at the desk.

On that I ask for the yeas and nays.

I have a second-degree amendment to my instructions.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture vote occur on Monday, December 13, at 3 p.m., with the mandatory quorum being waived.

Before the Chair rules on this, there are some people who need the ability--anyway, there is no need to go into detail, but for those people who can't get here on time, if people can't get back until 5:30, it would be our normal vote. We are not going to cut anyone off at an unreasonable time. There will be plenty of time for people to vote, within reason.

Mr. President, following leader remarks, there will be a live quorum to resume the impeachment trial of G. Thomas Porteous, Jr. Senators are encouraged to come to the floor immediately. Once a quorum is present, there will be a series of up to five rollcall votes in relation to the impeachment, the motion and articles in relation to the impeachment.

Upon conclusion of the impeachment proceedings, the Senate will recess subject to the call of the Chair in order to clear the Chamber. When the Senate reconvenes, we will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 3991, the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act, with the time until 12:30 p.m. equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees.

The Senate will then recess from 12:30 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. to allow for a caucus the Democrats are having.

At 3:30 p.m., the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 3991. There will then be a period of 30 minutes of debate. It will be equally divided and controlled between the leaders or their designees. Upon the use or yielding back of that time, the Senate will proceed to a series of up to four rollcall votes.

Mr. President, as to how we are going to schedule those votes, I have had inquiries from both sides. There are some issues tonight as to time, but we will do our best to be as cooperative as we can. We have a lot of votes we have to complete today. And I am likely going to move to my motion to reconsider on the Defense Authorization Act this evening, allowing, as I will indicate at that time, time for amendments to that piece of legislation. But I will be meeting with the Republican leader.

There is work being done on the tax issue. It is further along than most people would think. I do not think there is a great deal more work to be done on that, and then people can decide what they are going to do on it. I have a meeting contemplated with the Republican leader sometime later today to decide how we will proceed on that.

The votes this afternoon will be on the motion to proceed to the public safety matter I have just spoken about, the motion to proceed to the Emergency Senior Citizens Relief Act, the motion to proceed to the DREAM Act, and the motion to proceed to the Zadroga legislation which is the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act.

If cloture is invoked on a motion to proceed, there would then be 30 hours of debate, as we know.

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

Mr. President, is a quorum present?

Mr. President, the Senate deliberated yesterday evening for a long time on the Articles of Impeachment against Judge Porteous and related motions. We meet today to vote on the articles.

Before proceeding to vote on each of the articles, however, the Senate has agreed to vote on a motion that notwithstanding impeachment rule No. XXIII, the Senate shall disaggregate the Articles of Impeachment by holding preliminary votes on individual allegations in the articles.

Can the Chair confirm, for the benefit of Senators, that a ``yes'' vote is a vote to disaggregate the articles sought by Judge Porteous and a ``no'' vote is a vote to proceed directly to voting on the four Articles of Impeachment.

Mr. President, I move to reconsider that vote.

Mr. President, before proceeding to the final vote on the Articles of Impeachment, I ask unanimous consent that Senators may be permitted, within 7 days from today, to have printed in the Record opinions or statements explaining their votes and that the secretary be authorized to include these statements along with the record of the Senate's proceedings in a Senate document printed to complete the documentation of the Senate's handling of these impeachment proceedings.

Mr. President, I remind all Senators to remain in their seats during voting on all four Articles of Impeachment. Under impeachment rule XXII, once we have begun voting on the first article, voting will proceed on each of the Articles of Impeachment. When their name is called, Senators shall rise from their seat and cast their vote. This will ensure that a decorum of the Senate is maintained while these grave proceedings are underway. These proceedings affect not only Judge Porteous but also the Senate and our system of government.

The Chair will shortly instruct the Members of the Senate on the question to be put and the manner of response.

Mr. President, it is my understanding that Judge Porteous is forever disqualified to hold and enjoy any office of trust, honor, or profit of the United States; is that true?

Mr. President, I have an order at the desk. I ask that it be stated.

Mr. President, I move that the Senate, sitting as a court of impeachment for the Articles of Impeachment on G. Thomas Porteous, Jr., adjourn sine die and that when we return to legislative session, Senators McCaskill and Hatch, the two managers of this legislation, be recognized for 5 minutes each.

Mr. President, I therefore move that this man, Judge Porteous, be disqualified from holding office at any time in the future in the United States.

Mr. President, I send an order to the desk and ask that it be stated.

Mr. President, I renew the request I made previously that the Senate, sitting as a court of impeachment for the Articles of Impeachment against G. Thomas Porteous, Jr., adjourn sine die, and as soon as we go to legislative session, Senator McCaskill be recognized.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order previously entered be vitiated directing that the Senate recess subject to the call of the Chair.

I thank the Chair.

Mr. President, as always happens, there are always bumps in the road here in the Senate, most of which we don't foresee. We have scheduled now four votes. We are going to move to the next one as soon as we can. The House of Representatives is in the process of voting on the DREAM Act, but they may not get to it for a couple of hours. I need to have them finish their vote before we vote over here. So having said that, we may be in a little downtime here after we finish this vote for a couple of hours or whenever we can get to it. They have to have that vote completed over there. They know we are in a hurry. We also will get today from them the continuing resolution that will allow us to do something about spending. I am doing my best to work through these issues, including the issue that has overwhelmed us all the last few days, and that is the framework for the tax thing that has been negotiated. The main reason for interrupting is the next two votes will not flow automatically. We need to do them sometime tonight. I am working with Senator Collins and Senator Lieberman, Senator Levin and others to try to come up with some way to move forward on the Defense bill. We will see if that can be done. There are a lot of other things going on around here such as the START treaty and a few other things. We are trying to work through that. I am sorry we will not be able to proceed right through these votes, but we may have to have a downtime for a few hours.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we go into a period of morning business until 6:30 tonight, and that Senators be allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 443, S. 3992, occur at 11 a.m. tomorrow, December 9, with the time following any leader time until 11 a.m. equally divided and controlled between the leaders or their designees; that following any leader statement, Senator Durbin be recognized for up to 10 minutes, and the Senate then resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 3992; that during Thursday's session, Senator Bennett be recognized to speak for up to 20 minutes for his farewell speech and also Senator Dorgan be recognized at 2 p.m. for up to 20 minutes for his farewell speech and that Senator Bunning be recognized for up to 30 minutes for his farewell speech.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 640, H.R. 4337.

I ask unanimous consent that the Bingaman substitute amendment which is at the desk be agreed to; the bill, as amended, be read three times, passed; the motion to reconsider be laid on the table; and any statements relating to this matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to proceed to Calendar No. 647, S. 3167.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee- reported amendments be considered; the Carper amendment which is at the desk be agreed to; the committee-reported amendments be agreed to; and the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed; the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements relating to this matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to proceed to S. 3036.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee- reported substitute amendment be agreed to; the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed; the committee-reported title amendment be agreed to; the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements relating to this matter be printed in the Record.

I ask unanimous consent to proceed to S. Res. 697.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements relating to this matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there be printed as a Senate document a compilation of materials from the Congressional Record in tribute to retiring Members of the 111th Congress, and that Members have until Thursday, December 16, to submit such tributes.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, December 9; that following the prayer and the pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed to have expired, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 3992, the DREAM Act, as provided under a previous order.

Mr. President, at approximately 11 a.m., the Senate will proceed to a series of up to three rollcall votes. The first vote will be on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the DREAM Act.

If cloture is not invoked, the Senate would proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 847, the 9/11 health compensation bill.

If cloture is not invoked, I may reconsider the failed cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the Department of Defense authorization bill, S. 3454.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order.