Max Baucus

Mr. BAUCUS

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendments be set aside.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent, again, that all pending amendments be set aside.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I send a second amendment to the desk on behalf of the Senator from Vermont and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, before the Senator critiques the bill, if the Senator from Florida will yield, I very much appreciate his kind remarks. As virtually every Senator knows, this is not the perfect bill. Each Senator would like to change it a little bit. This Senator, in particular, would like to have had more money, frankly. We have $400 billion over 10 years. If we had a little more, maybe we could accommodate many of the provisions to which the Senator is referring. They are good ideas. But I think this legislation is a good first step, a chapter in a very long Medicare book. Chapter 1 was in 1965, when it was first enacted. There will be many more chapters as we work to improve Medicare, so that our senior citizens get the benefits they rightly deserve. I thank the Senator very much for his working with us. He has given us some great ideas. I think over time, in the next couple to 3 years, we will have another chance. I thank the Senator.

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

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask the Senator from Florida how long he wishes to entertain us and to educate us.

Mr. BAUCUS. I ask that all pending amendments be set aside.

Mr. BAUCUS. On behalf of the Senator from Connecticut, Mr. Dodd, I send an amendment to the desk permitting open enrollment on a drug benefit for 2 years.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendments be temporarily set aside.

Mr. BAUCUS. I send an amendment on behalf of Senator Dodd expanding low-income protections to 250 percent of poverty.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, who controls time?

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, on behalf of the Senator from Iowa, Mr. Harkin, I send an amendment to the desk with respect to approving access to mammography services.

Mr. BAUCUS. I know the people in Florida very much appreciate the hard work the Senator does. Part of that is on behalf of senior citizens. I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendments be set aside.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, the Senate is not in order.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I will take a moment to review the schedule under the previous order. Under the previous order, the following Senators are to be recognized to offer the following amendments: Senator Grassley on rural provisions; Senator Harkin on mammography; Senator Conrad on fallbacks; Senator Kerry on a grant program; Senator Clinton on a study; and Senator Graham has one with respect to premiums. Republican Senators could offer amendments in an alternating fashion between Democratic amendments. A number of these Senators have chosen to offer amendments at a later time. Thus, I ask unanimous consent that this order remain the order under which Senators would be recognized to offer amendments, except that the Senator from Florida, Mr. Graham, now be recognized to offer his amendment, and immediately following Senator Graham, the Democratic leader be recognized for whatever amount of time he wishes to speak, and that the pending amendments be temporarily laid aside so the Senator from Florida may offer his amendment.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendments be temporarily laid aside so the Senator from Florida may proceed to offer up to two amendments.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, on behalf of the Senator from Vermont, I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

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

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

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

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, as we did with the Graham amendment, I would now like to allow consideration of the Kerry amendment, and thus I ask unanimous consent that all the terms of the previous order remain in place except that the pending amendments be temporarily set aside, and that the Senator from Massachusetts be recognized to offer his amendment.

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

Mr. BAUCUS. On behalf of Senator Harkin, I send a second amendment to the desk restoring certain reimbursements for nursing home services.

Mr. BAUCUS

Mr. BAUCUS. 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.