Floor Statements

Mr. President, I wish to shift gears a little bit here this morning and focus on a problem we have here in the Senate. The problem is caused by our Republican colleagues.

The Republicans have become the party of no. What we want to question is this: We have back here the breakdown of the 85 times they have stopped progress in America today, some in the form of filibusters, others in the form of various ways of objecting to things--just objecting to things. For example, with health care, there is an article in the New York Times today where one Senator said his main goal is to defeat health care. One Republican Senator said they want health care to be President Obama's Waterloo. Eighty-five times, taking not hours of the Senate's time but weeks and months, the American taxpayers' money being wasted.

I came to the floor yesterday and talked about what has happened with nominations. Every one of these nominees is a human being, a person who has decided to devote their life to public service.

Yesterday, I came to the floor and talked about Dr. Benjamin, a woman who is a medical doctor from Alabama who has devoted her life to taking care of the poor and the oppressed. President Obama selected her to be Surgeon General of the United States a long time ago. It wasn't until last night, after months, that somebody decided over here: Well, maybe that is a little too much. We have an emergency declared with the swine flu. Maybe we should let her go.

I received a call Monday from the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, indicating that a woman by the name of Jeanne O'Toole--I ran through her resume yesterday. There might be somebody better educated than she and who has written more on matters relating to what Janet Napolitano knows is needed, but I don't know who it would be. Dr. O'Toole is a well-educated medical doctor, having written numerous pieces on bioterrorism, all kinds of weapons of mass destruction, Anthrax, the plague. She has written about all that in some detail. Janet Napolitano said the Department of Homeland Security needs someone as Under Secretary to work on bioterrorism, to work on the swine flu that is sweeping the country.

No, it is held up. We were told yesterday, when I offered her name, by the Republican leader that we need to work on this a little longer. What is going on here in the Senate some day will be written about--a time like no other time in the history of the Senate. A minority party has held up progress for so long for so many unnecessary reasons. In fact, there are no reasons, except--I guess I have to change that a little bit. One of the important nominees of President Obama being held up is someone to be a Trade Representative. We have all kinds of problems dealing with trade around the world. There is a hold on that. We know that the hold isn't based on a law that one of the Republican Senators doesn't like; it is not a law being discussed in the House of Representatives here. It is not a law being discussed in the Senate or in one of our capitals around the country; it is a law dealing with tobacco that is being discussed in Canada. He is holding up this important job for a person waiting to go to work, who served in two Republican administrations, one Democratic administration previously, and he is being held up because of a tobacco debate taking place in Canada. We have no control over that.

We have the General Services Administration. They take care of all Federal

property. This is the Administrator. That name has been submitted by President Obama, and it is being held up over a building in Kansas City--somebody wants a building built in Kansas City, one of the Republican Senators. He is holding up this nominee.

There is a hold on two State Department officials, who are extremely important. One is to be the person working with Secretary Clinton to take care of Mexico, Central America, and South America. That will be his responsibility someday--if he can ever get cleared. It is being held up because they don't like what is going on in Honduras. I guess they will be really upset today, because the problem has been solved. What they want over there is the international community, which is totally against the coup having taken place in Honduras--one took place and they say it was the right thing to do, even though the Organization of American States and the whole international community opposes what has taken place. I guess they are going to be upset now because the problem was solved last night. That person who was illegally taken from that country was brought back--he has been in hiding in the Swiss Embassy for more than a month--and he is now going to take office again. We have the person who is going to be handling Central America being held up, in addition to an Ambassador to one of those countries down there, for the same reason.

This isn't a single problem. Take, for example, President Bush--the second President Bush. At this time during his Presidency, there were five nominees on the Senate calendar. One had been reported out of committee in September, and four were reported out in October. We are still in October. They had five. President Obama has 52 nominees on the Senate calendar and another 175 pending in committee. That is 52 compared to 5. Some of these have been out for a long time. Some have been reported out in March, May, June, July, and August. They are being held up for reasons about as ridiculous as I have told you already.

Sadly, many of these holds are women and minorities. Republicans have been stalling President Obama's nominees for months on end. There is a backlog of good, qualified nominees who are awaiting confirmation. These are people who have decided they are going to spend time in the Federal Government, giving up, in many instances, professorships at major universities, leaving law firms and accounting firms, medical schools, giving up private practice, and they are waiting, waiting until the Republicans decide they are going to let them through.

Some may say, why don't you move forward on them? Let me give those within the sound of my voice a little explanation. We have had to file cloture motions on nominees to stop filibusters. During the same time during President Bush's Presidency, not a single one. We have had eight or nine now. Each one of those takes a long time. You move to it, you wait 2 days, and there is 30 hours, and then 2 more days, 30 hours. With these 53 they have held up here, there aren't enough hours in the day to do this--working weekends and all night. It is a real disappointment.

We have a situation here where the only response we have from the minority is to stop everything. They have become the party of no. If that is what they feel they should be known as, that is what it is going to be. We are going to remind the American people what is taking place here. This never happened before, where they are opposed to everything, whether it is somebody who has an unfortunate situation in their life where they can't work because there is no job--150,000 people have been deprived, by their stalling, of a simple check to pay their rent, or to make a payment on their car.

I hope that Republicans around the country--and there are so many people of good will who are Republicans around the country, just like Democrats and Independents. I have a little bit of experience. When I came to the Senate, I didn't know how things worked. It has only gotten this way this Congress, to the degree that it has. When I came here, we had so many moderate Republican Senators who would work with us and we would work with them--Hatfield, Packwood, Danforth, Heinz from Pennsylvania, D'Amato from New York, and Senator Warner from Virginia was always somebody who would work with us. There were lots of different Senators. But I am sad to say we don't have that now. They are going to have to sell themselves to the country as the party of no. That is not the party I know in Nevada and around the country. Republicans are good, law-abiding people, who believe in good government. They have a political philosophy that is not in keeping with the Democrats, but that is OK. We work together on issues. I hope they will see the light and become the party of working with us. That is what they should be--not the Senate Grand Old Party, the party of no.

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

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

Madam President, following leader remarks, there will be a period of morning business, with Senators allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each. The Republicans will control the first hour and the majority will control the next hour.

I anticipate that the Senate will adopt the motion to proceed to H.R. 3548, the Unemployment Benefits Extension Act of 2009. We also expect to receive the conference report to accompany Interior appropriations. I have spoken to the Speaker and the majority leader of the House, and they expect to have that to us early this afternoon. The conference report contains a continuing resolution that funds the government through December 18. We hope to reach a short time agreement to consider that conference report today. If we are not able to do that, we are going to have to have some votes tomorrow and it could spill over into Saturday if we can't work anything out. We have to get the unemployment done. We have millions of people who are waiting for that money.

Madam President, I understand there are two bills at the desk due for a second reading.

Madam President, I object to any further proceedings with respect to these matters en bloc.

Madam President, last week four Nevadans tragically died from the H1N1 virus, the swine flu. In Clark County, NV, the State's most populous county and the home of Las Vegas, 18 people have now died as a result of the H1N1 flu. We are all familiar with this strain of the flu. It has been on the front pages for months.

This past weekend, President Obama declared the outbreak a national emergency in anticipation of a rush of patients to doctors' offices and emergency rooms.

Fortunately, for nearly 150 years the United States has had a high- ranking official in place to serve as the government's top public health officer. We call that person the Surgeon General of the United States. Unfortunately, though, right now we have no permanent Surgeon General. The reason is as simple as it is mind-boggling: Republicans in the Senate refuse to confirm President Obama's exceptionally qualified nominee for this job. I would try to explain the Republican reason for the refusal, but, as with so many other

things they oppose, a rationale simply does not exist. Senate Republicans are simply so opposed to everything--absolutely everything--that they even oppose putting people in some of the most important positions in our government. Democrats, on the other hand, believe those who are chosen to serve our country must be able to get to work without delay.

Perhaps those watching and listening think this is how the Senate always operates. It is not. Allow me to put these delays in context.

President Obama has 228 nominations awaiting confirmation--228. During the first Bush administration, there was not a problem; during the Reagan years, not a problem; during the Clinton years, minor problems; during the second Bush administration, no problems. During the first Bush administration, the first year, there wasn't a single cloture motion that had to be filed. He got basically everyone he wanted. But that isn't the way it is here. In the first 4 months of the Bush administration, as I indicated, the Senate was controlled by the President's party. We were in the minority. There wasn't a single filibuster--not one. But in the first 4 months of the Obama administration, Republicans filibustered eight of his nominees--in the first 4 months. That means President Obama faced twice as many filibusters of his nominees in the first 4 months of his administration as President Bush faced in his first 4 years.

Those who are watching may also understandably assume that if this is not how the Senate always operates, then there must be something extraordinarily controversial about these nominees, something highly objectionable or even questionable. Again, no. None of the nominees are controversial. None of them are questionable.

As I mentioned, Republicans in the Senate refuse to confirm our Nation's Surgeon General at a time when our President has declared a national emergency over the H1N1 virus. The President's nominee, Dr. Regina Benjamin, a physician from Alabama and the founder of a nonprofit rural health clinic, is eminently qualified for the position. She had been written up in news accounts from all over the country before she was selected by President Obama.

But that is not all. Republicans in the Senate also refuse to confirm the top official responsible for science and technology in our Department of Homeland Security. For that position, President Obama nominated an expert in combating both pandemics and bioterror attacks. Imagine that. Americans are bracing against a flu epidemic here at home and threats of terrorism from abroad; the President nominated someone highly experienced in both of these areas, and Republicans are saying no.

If that sounds like something you wouldn't want your Senate to do, you might even be further concerned that it is not the first time these Republican Senators have done it. While our sons and daughters are fighting in Iraq and rebuilding that nation, earlier this year Republicans delayed the confirmation of America's Ambassador to Iraq. While troops serve bravely in Afghanistan, earlier this year Republicans delayed the confirmation of LTG Stanley McChrystal, our new commander in that difficult war.

These telling examples are only the tip of the iceberg. Allow me to continue.

Months ago, President Obama picked a trade expert who worked in the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations to be this Nation's Deputy Trade Representative, an extremely important job, but she has yet to officially join the Obama administration. Listen to this one. Why? Because a Republican Senator is holding up the nomination over a bill they think would hurt tobacco companies. If that seems like an unrelated, random reason to hold up this qualified nominee, you might even be more outraged to learn that the bill that so angers this Republican Senator is not before the U.S. Senate, it is not even before the U.S. House of Representatives. In fact, it is not even in the United States. It is a bill before the Canadian Parliament. It should go without saying that our administration can't dictate how the Canadian legislature does its job any more than the Canadian Parliament can dictate how we do ours. It should go without saying, but unfortunately we evidently have to say it.

Another example: President Obama nominated another former chief of staff of the General Services Administration, which manages Federal agencies. Today, that person has still not been confirmed. President Obama nominated this woman in April on the first full day of the Major League Baseball season. Today, on the second day of the World Series, she remains unconfirmed for her job. Why? Because a Republican Senator is demanding that a Federal building be built in his home State.

Let's go over these few things. There are 228 being held up, but we know we should have a Surgeon General. We know Regina Benjamin is eminently qualified. We have a flu pandemic. We have other issues facing our country, and we need the top doctor. We don't have it. Why? Just because the Republicans don't want anyone to move forward. We know that the head of the Department of Homeland Security, the Secretary of Homeland Security, is desperate to have someone there who can do the work that is needed dealing with this flu epidemic. I had a call from the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, the day before yesterday. She said: I can't imagine why I can't get this woman to help me. We are dealing with bioterrorism, with the flu pandemic, and she is being held up. We are talking about trade relations that need to be improved all over the world, and we have this being held up because of some tobacco law they are considering in the Canadian Parliament.

There are so many examples. President Obama asked an expert in Latin American affairs, a man who has written books, a scholar--his expertise is in regime change in Central and South America. He has been a visiting scholar at many fine universities in the United States, even at Oxford. He has been chosen to be our Nation's Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere to take care of what is going on in the southern part of this world in which we live.

Nearly 6 months after he was nominated, one Republican Senator still refused to allow the confirmation to move forward. This Senator is trying to force our Nation to recognize a military coup in Honduras, and so he is holding this nomination hostage. Most people would reasonably conclude that this nominee's expertise would be particularly useful at a time when there is a diplomatic crisis in Central America, in Honduras. The man who was ousted--some say constitutionally, some say not--they took him out of the country. He came back, and now he is in Brazil's Embassy and has been for about a month. There are demonstrations every day. The economy is staggering. Yet this is being held up.

These examples are not isolated. They are part of a much larger pattern. This year, Republicans have already gone to great lengths to ensure that President Obama cannot have his full team in place. We have already wasted taxpayers' precious time and money by holding up the present nominees for Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Director of National Drug Control Policy, Deputy Secretary for the Department of the Interior, two members of the Council of Economic Advisers, a number of Assistant Attorneys General, and many others. These nominees finally broke through, the ones I just mentioned: the Secretary of Labor, Health and Human Services, the Director of National Drug Policy, the Deputy Secretary of the Interior, two members of the Council of Economic Advisers, and a number of Assistant Attorneys General. They finally broke through, but their story doesn't end there. When votes were finally called, they passed with flying colors.

They passed with votes of 89 to 2, 97 to 1, 88 to 0, and 97 to 0. The numbers don't lie, and there is no clear evidence that many of these objections were without merit--just to stall. Some took weeks of time when we could have been doing other things. So it is obvious that these objections are not the norm, that they are not based on qualifications, and they are rampant with this Republican minority.

As far as Republicans are concerned, no one is too important to block. No high-ranking position is too important to remain empty, and no problem is too urgent to delay. The person who Janet

Napolitano wants to work on bioterrorism and the pandemic that we have with the flu, who has been selected by the President, is being held up; the Surgeon General is being held up; the Trade Representatives are being held up; 228 nominations are being held up for reasons like a Canadian bill, like a building in their State--petty reasons.

The American people must look at what is going on and say: What is this all about? It is about Republicans setting records last year on how many filibusters they would conduct. If I sound like a broken record, it is because Senate Republicans continue to be recordbreakers. Last year, after they held up the work of Congress more than any other time in history, the American people rejected the Republican status quo. They said no to Republicans' ``just say no'' strategy.

There is no question that the American people are taking notice, there is no question that they see these games for what they are, and there is no question they are fed up with these petty partisan tricks, and there is no question that these tactics have consequences-- consequences that we don't have one of the most important jobs in America filled by one of the most important doctors in America, Regina Benjamin, and that we don't have somebody in the Department of Homeland Security to help with bioterrorism and with the flu pandemic.

These reckless tactics have consequences. The Republicans delay and delay at their own peril. But the truth is that all Americans suffer. It is time for them to allow these nominations to go through. And I haven't mentioned the judges.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate considers the conference report to accompany H.R. 2996, Interior appropriations, there be 2 hours of general debate on the conference report, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees; that if any points of order are raised against the conference report, then any motion to waive the point of order be debated within the time limits provided for debate on the conference report; that upon the use or yielding back of time, and disposition of points of order, if the motions to waive are successful, then the Senate vote on adoption of the conference report, with no further motions in order.

Madam President, I will be brief. I know the Republican leader is busy, but I just wish to make a couple of comments on a couple of nominations.

A woman by the name of Tara O'Toole has been nominated to be Under Secretary of Science and Technology at the Department of Homeland Security. This woman has such wonderful qualifications. She is presently the CEO and director for the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburg Medical Center. She is a professor of medicine and public health at the University of Pittsburg. The Center for Biosecurity is an independent organization dedicated to improving the country's resilience to major biological threats.

Dr. O'Toole is internationally known for her work on biosecurity and on health and safety issues. She has written volumes, literally. She is published in areas of Anthrax, smallpox, plague, biological attacks, containment of contagious disease epidemics, biodefense research, hospital preparedness. These are areas that she has written in. She is coeditor in chief of the Journal of Biosecurity and Bioterrorism. She was a principal author and producer of ``Dark Winter,'' an influential piece of work done in 2001. She has served on numerous government and advisory committees. Her education is significant: a bachelor's degree from Vassar College, a medical degree from George Washington University, and a master of public health degree from Johns Hopkins University. She has completed an internal residency at Yale and a fellowship in occupational and environmental medicine at Johns Hopkins. This is a remarkably powerful foundation for someone who is going to be the Under Secretary, the deputy, second in charge at the Department of Homeland Security. It is such an important job, Under Secretary of Science and Technology.

I had a call on Monday from the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, saying: I am desperate for this woman. My staffing for bioterrorism is depending on her. She is a person I am going to depend on for the pandemic that the President declared with the H1N1 flu. So I am really concerned about not being able to get this woman confirmed.

I ask unanimous consent, therefore, that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 331, the nomination of Tara O'Toole to be Under Secretary of Science and Technology at the Department of Homeland Security; that the nomination be confirmed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no further motions in order; that the President of the United States be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Madam President, I would renew my request and inquire about the possibility of a 2-hour time limit of debate on the nomination or any reasonable time agreement, or I will even take an unreasonable time agreement at this stage.

Madam President, I am going to ask unanimous consent that the Surgeon General be confirmed. This is a wonderful woman who has dedicated her life to taking care of the poor and underprivileged. She has done that for two decades on the gulf coast rather than going to some fancy place and seeing how much money she could make. She didn't do that. She has garnered nationwide praise for founding a rural health plan in Bayou La Batre, AL.

More than 40 percent of the town's 2,500 residents have no health insurance. In 2002 she became the first African-American woman to be president of the Medical Association of the State of Alabama. She would be a terrific Surgeon General. Her family situation directs attention to the need for taking care of people who need help. Her father died of diabetes and hypertension. Her brother died at 44 with HIV-related illness. Her mother died of lung cancer. She certainly is qualified and needed during this crisis.

I, therefore, ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 477, the nomination of Dr. Regina M. Benjamin to be Surgeon General of the Public Health Services of the United States; that the nomination be confirmed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no further action in order; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.

I thank the Chair.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that all postcloture time be yielded back--and we are talking about the unemployment extension bill--and the motion to proceed be agreed to; that once the bill is reported, the following be the only first-degree amendments in order to the bill; that debate time on the listed first- degree amendments be limited to 60 minutes each, except the Baucus-Reid substitute, which would be debated within

the time limits provided for the bill; that general debate on the bill be limited to 60 minutes, with that time equally divided and controlled between the leaders or their designees; Baucus-Reid substitute amendment, which contains unemployment insurance extension and net operating loss provisions, as well as the negotiated home buyer tax credit language; the Johanns amendment regarding an alternative substitute; that upon disposition of the amendments, the Baucus-Reid substitute amendment, if amended, be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read the third time, and the Senate then proceed to vote on passage of the bill.

Madam President, we have more than a million people, as we speak, who have no unemployment insurance. These are the most desperate of the desperate. They have long since lost their jobs. If we can recognize that what would stimulate the economy is giving somebody who has been out of work a long time a check, and they will spend it--we have more than a million people wanting to spend that money, maybe to pay rent or make a car payment they are behind on to stop the car from being taken sometime in the middle of the night.

We have agreed to a bipartisan amendment dealing with first-time home buyers that has been worked on by Johnny Isakson. It was his idea originally. We have Senator Bunning, who offered an amendment dealing with net operating loss. We have agreed to that. I would even be willing to modify my unanimous consent request and include the Corker- Warner amendment regarding TARP trustees, another bipartisan amendment.

The Republicans have dropped their request for having an amendment on E-Verify, which took several days to work out. I appreciate that. They have dropped their request to do another in the long line of amendments dealing with ACORN. But now they are hung up on a TARP amendment that would basically sunset the program. This isn't the time to do that. This is just an effort to delay and divert attention from this most important issue.

Even if that weren't the case, the House of Representatives--I spoke to Steny Hoyer at 3:30. I told him I would call him in the next half hour, 45 minutes. They will accept what we have talked about for first- time home buyers and the work we have done with net operating loss, but they are not going to accept terminating TARP. That is basically what it is. It sunsets it. We know there is a time limit on it, anyway, statutorily. It seems to me there should be a better time to debate this, dealing with a multibillion-dollar program.

So I hope my modification, which basically would add to it the alternative substitute by Senator Johanns and the Corker-Warner amendment regarding TARP, would be agreed to.

I say to the distinguished Republican leader that we will not be able to accept the request to do the sunsetting of TARP tonight. I think it is unfortunate that we cannot approve what we agree upon. Today is Thursday. I have already explained to the distinguished Republican leader--and he understood it, anyway--that this would put it over until Monday, and then Monday sometime we would attempt to get cloture on the bill. We got it on the motion to proceed to it. That takes another couple of days. It is a difficult thing for people to have to wait a week. I hope there will be an agreement to allow us to move forward.

Madam President, I guess reasonableness is in the eye of the beholder. Try to explain to someone who has been out of work for 8 months that their ability to get a check to pay the rent before they are evicted is going to be held up because this program, which is--I think the original TARP was $700 billion, as I recall, after meeting with the Secretary of the Treasury, who first came up with the idea. The program has been moving along, and there may be some reason to modify the program, and there should be debate on that. I have no problem doing that. But we should not hold this up. Every amendment we have talked about here has been bipartisan in nature. The Isakson amendment is bipartisan, the Bunning amendment is bipartisan, and the Corker amendment is bipartisan. I cannot imagine why we would hold this up.

My friend the distinguished Republican leader said they are not going to approve this, and I think that is too bad for the nameless people out there--I can see them in my mind's eye being desperate for help.

Madam President, since we started this some 3 weeks ago, about 150,000 people have been added to the list of people who are eligible for what we are trying to do--150,000 people. Now there are well over a million people waiting to get this relief.

I have said that this matter will not be approved by the House. The House is going to move to health care next week. I received a call from Leader Hoyer. He wants this matter to come over there with what we have agreed upon.

This is another effort to delay what we are doing. This is not a question of flexing muscles--who has 60 votes and who has 40 votes. It is a question of moving forward with legislation now, not next week, to help people in America.

Remember, since we started this--trying to get a simple extension of unemployment benefits, which is paid for, and it is not deficit spending--we have agreed to do what has been suggested by the Republicans. First-time home buyers, we agreed to that; net operating loss, we will agree to that; we will agree to what Senator Corker wants, which is trustees appointed for TARP.

This is soon to be the fourth week of trying to simply get something done. The Republicans have been saying no, no, no to everything we do-- ``the party of no'' is pretty well described. We have had 87 noes so far this year in the form of 56 filibusters, plus trying to move the bills some 30 more times. So you

can talk all you want about it. We should have been through with this 3 weeks ago.

Madam President, this bill should have been wrapped up 3 weeks ago. It is always something. There is always a little something more to do, until time goes on and on. It is obvious that my friends don't care about these people who are desperate for money. I care about them. We care about them.

Madam President, would the Chair announce the next order of business. Under the provisions of the consent agreement the Republican leader and I agreed to, what is the matter before the Senate--or will be shortly?

Madam President, the next vote will be the last vote this week. When we complete the next vote, that will be the last vote for the week. When we come in Monday, we are going to come in half an hour early; that is, we are going to have a vote at 5 o'clock on Monday. We have to do it at 5 o'clock so we can complete work before midnight the next day. So everyone should be here no later than a quarter to 6 because we are going to have to close the vote at a quarter to 6. We hope we can work something out between now and then, that we will not have to go the way we are planning on going.

The way things are now lined up, we are going to have unemployment compensation that will have the amendment of Senator Isakson and the amendment of Senator Bunning in it. We hope we can complete that business and move on to other things next week.

I don't want to sound like the proverbial boy calling wolf, but there is a strong possibility--much more than 50 percent--that we will be in next weekend. Remember, we only work 2 days, the 9th and 10th, and then we are off the 11th, 12th, and 13th. I hope everyone will understand that. There has been full notice given to everyone. I hope we can work something out and that will not be necessary. I will work with the Republican leader to give everyone as much notice as possible.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. President, would the Chair state the matter before the Senate at this stage?

Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Baucus and Senator Reid of Nevada, I call up a substitute amendment, which is at the desk.

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

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

Mr. President, I have a first-degree perfecting amendment at the desk.

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

Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Mr. President, I have an amendment at the desk to the language proposed to be stricken.

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

Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

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

Mr. President, I have a motion to commit the bill with instructions, which is also at the desk.

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

Mr. President, I have an amendment to the instructions at the desk.

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

Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment to the instructions.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 3548 on Monday, November 2 at 4 p.m., and that the time until 5 p.m. be equally divided and controlled between the leaders or their designees; that at 5 p.m. the Senate proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the Baucus-Reid substitute amendment, and that the mandatory quorums required under rule XXII be waived.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to a period for the transaction of morning business, with Senators allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each.