Floor Statements

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, I have had a number of conversations this morning with Democratic and Republican Senators. They are attempting to work out a compromise with respect to the CHIP bill, the children's health program. They think if they have more time, they can do that. I believe they are acting in all sincerity. They have tried very hard. They have even had individual meetings with House Members; Democratic Senators have met with Republican House Members; Democratic and Republican Senators have met with Republican House Members. They have tried to work something out.

It is an unusual situation. They have even been calling the Speaker. A number of the prime negotiators have talked to her numerous times on the telephone and met with her personally.

Having said that, this is an effort to try to work something out. I ask unanimous consent the motion to proceed to H.R. 3963 be agreed to, that the bill be laid aside until 4 p.m. this coming Monday, November 5; that on that day, Monday, November 5, the Senate vote on cloture on the bill at 5 p.m.; if cloture is invoked, there be 2 hours for debate on the bill and any possible germane amendments thereto, and at the conclusion or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to vote under the provisions of rule XXII.

Madam President, in an effort to try to be cooperative in this matter, I ask consent to allow these individuals more time to deal with this, and therefore I ask unanimous consent to proceed to this legislation, H.R. 3963, and that it be adopted and the bill be laid aside until the disposition of the farm bill, H.R. 2419. That would probably not be until, at the earliest, somewhere in the middle of November sometime.

Madam President, of course, I am disappointed. I have tried to keep the Republican leader advised. I have done my best to balance the requests. I usually do not get in this position of Democratic and Republican Senators, but I have been happy to do that. This is my effort to try to do that.

I hope there can be some way, sometime, that we can send a bill to the President that he will not veto. Hopefully, this one he will not. We have made some changes in it, as I have indicated. We changed to no waivers over 300 percent. We have locked in more tightly anything dealing with undocumented children. We have cut the time for adults. Any adults who are on the program, with no children, they were to have 2 years, now it is 1 year. We have moved the best we can.

Having done that, Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate now proceed to consideration of the children's health insurance bill, H.R. 3963, the time between now and 4:45 p.m. today be equally divided between

the two leaders or their designees, and no amendments or motions be in order to the bill; that at 4:45 p.m. the Senate vote on cloture to the bill and that motion to be filed upon reporting of the bill; if cloture is invoked, the bill be read a third time and the Senate vote without any intervening action or debate on passage of the bill.

I thank the Chair.

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

Madam President, we have tried hard to arrive at another compromise. I do not know how--it would be physically impossible for us--to do any more than what I have suggested. I have said, when told that the negotiators needed more time, we will wait until after the farm bill and go after this issue. Objected to. I was called by my friends on the other side of the aisle yesterday, who said: Can we have a little more time? I said: Sure.

I came today and said let's finish this matter this coming Monday. Let's finish it after the farm bill. And both times there was an objection.

I have met with Senators Hatch and Grassley on many occasions. On every occasion I can think of Senator Baucus has been there, and in some of those meetings Senator Rockefeller has been present. The four of us have had a significant number of meetings with the Speaker, with Chairman Dingell, and Chairman Rangel.

I went down at 20 after 2 today and met with a number of Republican House Members, relaying to them--and I have no doubt that they would acknowledge this--that we have tried to work with them in coming up with something.

Now, I explained to them the Senate rules. If I wanted to not have this cloture vote, I couldn't stop it. It takes unanimous consent to move from our doing this. I explained that to them. But I did tell them this, and I will say to you and those within the sound of my voice what I told those freshmen. I believe the negotiations that have taken place in this matter have been in good faith. There has been no bad faith by the participants.

The burden has been borne by the chairman of the Finance Committee, Senator Baucus, and the ranking member, Senator Grassley. Senator Hatch, who was the original sponsor of this bill, with Senator Kennedy, has been involved from the very beginning. Senator Hatch was at the meeting where I met with House Republicans. Senator Baucus was there, and I repeat what I told them. If we can't do something now, and we send the bill to the President and he vetoes it, I don't think we should rush forward and try to override his veto. I think we should just let things simmer a little while.

I told them if they could come up with something that we can work with--I spoke to the Speaker this morning, and I said: I am not sure we can move much further.

She said: You should see the changes they want to make. There is very little. There isn't much that they want--which was comforting to me. And that is what the House Members told me today when I met with them this afternoon.

So I would hope people understand that good-faith negotiations have taken place on a bipartisan, bicameral basis on this most important piece of legislation. I am not happy with the President on this issue. I think he is making a big mistake. I think he is hurting some of his House Members, who could be in a very precarious position as a result of voting no to overriding his veto, but that is the decision they have made. And I am willing to try to get them out of the hole I think some of them are in.

Yesterday the President came from left field. Talk about a sucker punch. He suddenly said: I don't like the way this is paid for.

We are paying for it. It is not deficit spending. We are taking care of this with a relatively small tax on cigarettes and cigars. That surprised everybody. It surprised everybody that the President now, when he learned that we had changed things--got adults off the program, changed its to limit waivers, tightened down the immigration issue. We did everything he asked us to do, and now he changes the program again.

We are at a point now where the President does not become relevant to this issue because in the bipartisan, bicameral work that we have done between the House and the Senate, we want to do this ourselves, so that when we come to a decision on what we can do, and I think we are within days of doing that, we will bring this bill back. The Speaker said she would do it; I said I would do it.

I express my appreciation to the courtesies extended to me by Senators Grassley and Hatch on the Republican side and the extreme patience of Senator Baucus for allowing the many different diversions that we have had in getting to the point where we are today. With the understanding and the hope that we can move forward on this bill, and even though some of these programs are going to change drastically by March because there will be as many as 11 States that will run out of money, hopefully in the next few weeks we can change this legislation and still insure 10 million children and maintain a program that is reasonable for the States and certainly the children we are trying to protect.

So I again express my appreciation to the participants of the many involved in the negotiations, and I want to also reach out my hand in friendship to the Speaker. There isn't a Democrat or Republican, including Senators Grassley and Hatch, who would not say publicly how willing she has been to try to work to come to some reasonable conclusion of this legislation. She has been great, as has Chairman Rangel and Chairman Dingell.

Madam President, I yield the floor. Is there anyone on the floor who wants to take the remaining time? Good.

I yield to my friend, the distinguished Senator from Florida.

Madam President, we are going to have a vote in just a few minutes. I know people have things to do. This will be the last vote this week. But I alert all Members, we have had a number of meetings today with Senator McConnell. We are trying to work it out so we do not have to have cloture on the motion to proceed to the farm bill.

I understand that the minority has to take a look at the amendment to the bill that has come out of the committee and was all ready to go and the Finance Committee needed to make some changes on it. That should be back from Legislative Counsel in just a matter of minutes--at least we hope that is the case.

If we do not have to do cloture on the motion to proceed, there will be no votes on Monday. If we do have to do a vote on the motion to proceed, there will be a noon vote on the motion to proceed on Monday, and we will have to do that; otherwise, we will come in and go to the farm bill Tuesday around 2 o'clock in the afternoon so the managers can give their opening statements, and anyone who wants to speak on the bill. There are going to be lots of opening statements on the farm bill, so I would hope people would come early and get those out of the way.

There are a number of people who have expressed to me--who have warned me that there are going to be some amendments on that bill. We are going to have to make sure we do this the right way. We want to make sure there are amendments that are offered. We will have to take a look at them because it is late in the session and the farm bill is a tax bill. So we have to make sure we do not get into any issues we do not need to get into. But we will be as fair as we can possibly be on the farm bill. It is a bill we have to complete.

Also during the next 2 weeks, we have to get the first appropriations bill to the President. I had a very constructive conversation with Josh Bolton today regarding what will happen when we get that bill to him. We also have other important business to do, such as making sure the Government is funded after November 16.

So we have a very busy week. The President has indicated that probably tomorrow he is going to veto WRDA. We will have to take a look at that.

If there is no cloture vote, we will be on the bill Monday for opening statements, as I indicated. We have a productive farm bill.

I wish to express my appreciation to everyone for the work on the children's health bill. I will repeat what I said before the vote: There has been bicameral, bipartisan work on the CHIP bill--bicameral, bipartisan work. At 2:20 today, I went and met with a number of House Republicans trying to move forward on the children's health initiative. It is my recommendation that this bill will be sent to the President. If he vetoes the bill, it is my recommendation--I will express my feelings to the Speaker--that we not even attempt a veto override.

My Republican colleagues--this is difficult for me to be talking about: I should not say ``difficult.'' It is unusual for me to be talking about my Republican House colleagues. But they indicated that would be the very best step forward. We are very close to being able to do a bipartisan, bicameral children's health bill. I think we can really do that. I have spoken to the Speaker. She believes that is the case, also. If we can do that, at the earliest opportunity, we will bring that back for consideration of the Senators.

I express my appreciation to Senator Baucus, Senator Rockefeller, Senator Grassley, Senator Hatch, and many others. This has been a very difficult but rewarding process for me. It indicates to me that there is the ability of this Congress to work on a bipartisan, bicameral basis, and until we accept that as a truth, we are going to have trouble moving these many bills we have bouncing around here to completion.

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

Mr. President, in my remarks dealing with the CHIP bill, I spoke profusely about the cooperation of the distinguished Speaker. She has been wonderful on this issue.

Sometimes, you leave out your friends. Steny Hoyer and I have known each other for many years. We have served in Congress together for 25 years. I failed to mention his work on this bill. He has been vigilant and with us every step of the way, and I should have mentioned his name.

I also want to say that in speaking--my staff, frankly, has spoken to him; I have not in the last hour or so. One of the things that very well could happen is that the House may not send the bill to the President for a while--the bill he says he is going to veto--to give the negotiators more time to see if they can come up with something. That is certainly something I think would be a wise thing for the House to do. Since we got the suggestion from Steny Hoyer, I am sure it is very wise. So that is one thing the House may do.

Again, everyone has cooperated. I appreciate very much the work and the stage where we are.

I note the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, first of all, let me apologize to everyone for having a little downtime. I have been in a meeting for a couple hours with the Speaker and other Members and it was fairly intense and I could not break away to do this. I apologize for keeping everyone waiting.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Monday, November 5, following the period of morning business, the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 339, H.R. 2419, the farm bill.

Mr. President, there will be no vote on Monday. I remind everyone we do have an event--and people have spent a lot of time on this event--for Senators and their spouses Monday night. I would hope people would be considerate and keep that in mind. People have gone to a lot of trouble for that event, and I hope people will not let this no-vote day that is relatively new on the horizon stand in the way of attending this event and disappointing a lot of people who have worked hard to make this event for the spouses of Members. We do not get together that often. It will be a very nice evening for all of us.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 2546 and the Senate proceed to its consideration.

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

Mr. President, it is my understanding there are two bills at the desk, and I ask unanimous consent for their first reading en bloc.

Mr. President, I now ask for a second reading and, in order to place the bills on the calendar under rule XIV of the Senate, I object to my own request, all en bloc.

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

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar Nos. 152, 357 through 370, and all nominations on the Secretary's desk; that the nominations be confirmed with the exception of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration nominations; the motions to reconsider be laid on the table; the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then return to legislative session.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.; that on Friday, following the prayer and the pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and that

there then be a period for the transaction of morning business with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

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

Mr. President, today the Senate will conduct a period of morning business for an hour, with the time equally divided and controlled. The majority will control the first half and the Republicans will control the final half.

Following morning business, the Senate will resume the motion to proceed to H.R. 3963, the children's health insurance legislation.

For the knowledge of all Members, we came in late today. There was a very important hearing that one of the committees had. We had been told that there would likely be a Senator who would object to the committee meeting, so we came in later so they could complete their work. I think we will still accomplish all we need to do.

I filed a cloture motion on the motion to proceed. Unless an agreement is reached, we will have a cloture vote sometime this afternoon.

We are going to start the farm bill after the CHIP legislation is completed or disposed of. That will be Monday when we will move to the farm bill.

Mr. President, I ask that the Chair direct its attention to two bills at the desk and due for a second reading.

Mr. President, I now object to any further proceeding to these bills en bloc.