Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that my time not be counted against the time that is remaining under the previous unanimous consent request.

Mr. President, we have a number of Senators because of the bad

weather who are caught in traffic. I have two alternatives. One is when time is up, go into a quorum call. What I would like to do, because I know other people want to get the vote over and leave, what I would like to do, is let everyone know I would drag the vote. We do not have anything to do after the vote anyway. Unless there is some objection, I would let people know we are going to not be able to complete the vote probably until around 7 o'clock. I have two people, I understand one is a Democrat, one is a Republican. So if no one complains, I am going to go ahead and let the vote occur as required at approximately 6:25, and then I will drag the vote. Does anybody care about that?

Mr. President, it is my understanding the Democrats, under the control of Senator Baucus, are ready to yield back time. I want everyone to understand the vote is going to take more than the ordinary 15 minutes.

Mr. President, 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.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there be a limitation of 20 first-degree amendments per side on the farm bill, H.R. 2419, that they be from the original list of amendments already agreed to; that all other provisions of the previous agreement continue in effect; and that the managers' amendments cleared by both managers not be counted toward the 20.

Mr. President, I further ask unanimous consent that following the prayer and the pledge tomorrow, the Senate proceed to the message from the House on H.R. 6, the comprehensive Energy bill; that notwithstanding the receipt of the papers, the majority leader be immediately recognized to move to concur in the House amendment and to file cloture on that motion; that there be 20 minutes equally divided in the usual form for debate on the majority leader's motion, followed by a cloture motion on that motion; that there be no other motions or amendments in order prior to the vote; further, that the cloture vote on the substitute amendment to the farm bill be delayed to occur at a later time, to be determined by the majority leader after consultation with the Republican leader.

Mr. President, certainly the Senate is a place for squabbles. We have had lots of them. But also with the work that has to be done in this body, sometimes it takes a little debate here and there.

Today has been an important day for the Senate. We have been in a quorum call a lot. But during the time there were speeches being made on rare occasion here, there was a lot of work being done. The AMT is now done. I don't know that that is the case yet, but I heard that the House indicated they will accept our bill. That is quite important.

We have been working for weeks on the farm bill. A cloture vote is set at 9 o'clock in the morning, or whatever time we agree to. Maybe we would have gotten cloture on that, I don't know. I am happy with this agreement. It will be a lot of work, but we will finish the farm bill before we leave, unless something untoward happens.

This has been a day of progress. Tomorrow we will finish work on the farm bill, and there will be one vote. After we do that, the two managers, Senators Harkin and Chambliss, said they will work through amendments tomorrow. There are a lot of amendments that can be agreed to. We want Senators, tomorrow and Monday--there will be no votes on Monday, but if Senators feel strongly about an amendment, work with the managers and have that offered and have that be one of the 40. Hopefully, we can set up votes for Tuesday and finish the bill sometime before we leave here.

On the Energy bill, we are going to have a cloture vote in the morning. From all indications I have gotten from the minority, cloture will not be invoked. I will give a speech and others will. We would have Saturday, Sunday, and Monday to try to come up with how we are going to proceed on this matter afterward. I hope we can work something out by consent; otherwise, because of the way we have the bill, I have the authority to do certain things. I would rather do it by consent. I will do the best I can to be as cooperative as possible with the minority. It is an extremely important piece of legislation. I think there is a mindset of everyone here to do an energy bill. The question is, what is in it? If we have a bill, will it be signed by the President?

I understand all of the moving parts of the bill. But we have made progress today with AMT, the farm bill, and now the Energy bill, on which we have had an agreement to move this up 1 day and not be here Saturday.

For everyone who thinks we don't get a lot done, we and our staffs will be heavily involved in the matters I have outlined over the weekend. So I appreciate the cooperation of the Senators to get to the point where we are, and I feel pretty good about the day's work.

If my friend will allow me.

Mr. President, this has been cleared by floor staff. The unanimous consent request I just entered needs a clarification. So I ask unanimous consent that it be clarified that nothing else be in order prior to the vote tomorrow morning--no points of order. I think there is a general understanding.

I ask unanimous consent the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent we proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent we proceed to S. Res. 392, submitted earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid on the table, and any statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 393, submitted earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid on the table, and any statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent we now proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 394, submitted earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid on the table, and any statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the HELP Committee be discharged charged from further consideration of S. Con. Res. 54 and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to H.R. 4118, which was received from the House and is at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read the third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating thereto be printed in the Record, with no intervening action.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to H.R. 3315, which was received from the House and is at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read the third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating thereto be printed in the Record.

I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 9 a.m., Friday, December 7; that on tomorrow, following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour deemed expired, the time for the two leaders reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate then proceed to the House message on H.R. 6, as under a previous order.

Mr. President, I think all offices have been notified, but we were going to have a briefing by Admiral McConnell and General Mukasey at 11 o'clock tomorrow in 407, but that has been canceled because of a change in schedule on the Senate floor.

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

Mr. President, today there will be a period of morning business for an hour. As normally provided, the time is equally divided and controlled with the majority controlling the first half, Republicans controlling the final portion. When that time is up, we will have to see what we can do.