Floor Statements

Mr. President, the Senate, tomorrow, will conduct a period of morning business so that Senators may pay tribute to our retiring colleagues. At 11:30, the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of Robert Gates to be Secretary of Defense. It is my hope and expectation that consideration of this critical nomination can be expedited.

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

Mr. President, I again want to congratulate the new leadership in the Senate for the 110th Congress. Democrats 2 days ago elected their leadership and the Republicans yesterday elected our leadership. A lot of planning is underway for the 110th Congress. As everyone knows, we have before us the objective of finishing the business of the 109th Congress, both over the course of today and possibly tomorrow, and then in a period that will begin the week of December 4, and possibly continue into the week following that. Both the Democratic leader and I have outlined what we have to accomplish. It is still a very long list in terms of appropriations bills, in terms of the United States-India nuclear agreement, in terms of potentially other trade agreements. We have tax extenders and a whole range of issues.

The Democratic leader and I will go into a quorum call very shortly and we will finalize the plan for today. But as we stated yesterday, before we leave this week--either tomorrow or we could finish later tonight--we do need to finish the United States-India nuclear agreement. We talked yesterday in our own conference about the importance of that particular piece of legislation, legislation that all our colleagues are familiar with, and we have a unanimous consent agreement to proceed to that with a fixed number of amendments. If you look at the amendments, it is clear that we won't have to do all of those amendments on that legislation. So I am confident that we can and we will finish that bill before we leave.

We do have an understanding that we will go to the agriculture appropriations bill as well. At some point I want to be able to do that and hopefully we can work out the details on how we can accomplish at least starting that particular bill, with the objective of finishing the United States-India nuclear agreement before we leave. So in the next few minutes we will be coming back with an announcement of that schedule as agreed to, but we will finish that bill before we leave.

Mr. President, I will be back with the plans here shortly after I talk to the Democratic leader, and in the meantime we will be in a period of morning business. Again, the United States-India nuclear agreement is something we will complete before we leave and is the order of the day. We should be able to go to that very early this morning, maybe as soon as 20 minutes from now. That will be the plan, to proceed through those amendments. There is one amendment we may have to go into a closed session to debate, and the details will be announced for that as well.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the unanimous consent for consideration of the United States-India legislation, that during the session of the Senate on Thursday, September 16, the Senate proceed to consideration of the Agriculture appropriations bill, at a time to be determined by the majority leader after consultation with the Democratic leader; provided further that following the statements of the Chairman and ranking member, Senator Conrad be recognized in order to offer a first-degree amendment.

What this means is, to clarify, in a few minutes we will be going to the United States-India legislation. At some point over the course of the day, following getting on that bill, the amendments in that bill, we will have the opportunity to proceed to the Ag bill.

Let me restate our intentions to complete the United States-India legislation either today or tomorrow. We will complete that legislation. We have a whole list of amendments that were by unanimous consent listed. I think we can condense those amendments down on that legislation. We will be able to do that, I believe. If we do that, we should be able to address all those amendments and have that legislation completed.

I urge all of our colleagues to keep their statements fairly brief on that legislation. Let's get to the amendment process in order to complete that bill tonight so that we will not have to be back tomorrow.

Mr. President, just for the information of my colleagues, this will be the last rollcall vote tonight. The plans will be on Monday, December 4, to be back in session, and in all likelihood we will not be voting until the late afternoon of December 5. Everybody stay posted. We will keep you apprised of the future plans.

Mr. President, I ask consent that the order with respect to the agriculture appropriations bill be modified to allow for the Senate to proceed at 2 o'clock on Tuesday, December 5, and for Senator Conrad to be recognized following the statements of the two managers; further, that following the remarks of Senator Conrad, Senator Dorgan be recognized to speak, and that following those comments, Senator Landrieu be recognized to speak for 10 minutes. It will be our intention to vote around 5 or 5:15 on that Tuesday and that will be the next vote.

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

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 4073 introduced earlier today.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 616, which was submitted earlier today.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 621, H.R. 5061.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 663, H.R. 6121.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 4559 just received from the House and at the desk.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 5103, which was received from the House.

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