Max Baucus

Mr. BAUCUS

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from New Mexico.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I yield 3 minutes to the Senator from West Virginia.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I yield 2 minutes to the Senator from Minnesota.

Mr. BAUCUS. Would the Senator be OK with 2?

Mr. BAUCUS. It is compromising toward the intentions of the other side.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from New Jersey. The Presiding officer. The Senator from New Jersey is recognized.

Mr. BAUCUS. Well, obviously Senators can speak on those amendments, which includes the underlying bill. But I would hope we process those amendments and then do the next set of amendments after that.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.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. I renew my request and ask unanimous consent that the time between now and 11:30 be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I yield back the remainder of our time.

Mr. BAUCUS. Under the agreement, we are going to alternate sides for speakers. I want to ask the Senator from New Hampshire how much time she wishes to speak.

Mr. BAUCUS. I yield 3 minutes to the Senator from New Hampshire. Amendment No. 528

Mr. BAUCUS. I object.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I yield 4 minutes to the Senator from Minnesota.

Mr. BAUCUS. I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from North Dakota.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I yield the Senator 30 seconds.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I yield 7 minutes to the Senator from Hawaii.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time for debate equally divided be extended until 12 noon and add in the other time to be equally divided, so on that basis, there is more on this side.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time between now and 11:30 be for debate only, to be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, the idea is then to have votes on pending amendments.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, this morning the Senate returns to work on its bill creating and saving millions of jobs. As the leader said, and we all know, our work has rarely been more urgent. Initial jobless claims have hit a 26-year high. I repeat: Initial jobless claims, 26-year high. Last week, 626,000 people, each of them mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, lost their jobs. That is two-thirds of the entire State of Montana--626,000 people in 1 week. The number of claims by people continuing to apply for unemployment benefits reached a new record. With 4.8 people applying for unemployment benefits, we need to respond. We need to complete this jobs bill. This past November, our Nation conducted a historic and meaningful election. America voted for a new era. America voted for change. In keeping with the call of our new President, the Senate has, this week, conducted itself with levels of openness and accommodation not seen for years. I would like to underline that. This has been a very open Senate process. We have not seen this in a long time and I hope it continues and even grows. The managers have not filled the amendment tree. We have not sought to blur issues with second-degree amendments. No tree, no second-degree amendments. Senators have gotten votes on their amendments. The Senate has put in a long, full week and worked late nights. Yesterday, the Senate conducted six rollcall votes and adopted five amendments with voice votes and we considered and processed numerous other amendments. We have now reached the point in this debate, in the adage familiar to most Senators, that everything has been said but not everyone has said it. I might underline that everything has been said many times but not everyone has said it. I now call on my colleagues to show restraint. I urge my colleagues to forgo offering amendments. I urge my colleagues to allow the Senate to bring this matter to a close. Pending now are seven amendments: The underlying Finance- Appropriations substitute amendment; the Murray amendment, No. 110, to strengthen infrastructure investments; the Dodd amendment, No. 145, mitigating home foreclosures; the Coburn amendment, No. 176, on competitive bidding; the Udall amendment, No. 359, to expand the number of veterans eligible for the employment tax credit; the Coburn amendment, No. 309, on particular spending prohibitions; and the Sanders-Grassley amendment, No. 306, as modified, to require recipients of TARP funding to meet strict H-1B worker hiring standards. I hope that in short order the Senate will be able to come to an arrangement that will allow us to process the remaining Coburn, Udall and Grassley-Sanders amendments. After that, I hope the Senate will be able to address amendments by Senators Feingold and Conrad as well as the pending Dodd amendment on our side, as well as equal numbers of amendments on the Republican side. Then I hope the Senate will be able to address amendments by Senators Wyden and Menendez, as well as an equal number of amendments on the Republican side. After that, we will seek, as much as possible, to allow a fair system for the consideration of other Senators' amendments. We will address, first, amendments of Senators who are here and willing to offer their amendments. But I renew my call for Senators to resist the temptation to offer their amendments. We are getting to that point where it is becoming a point of diminishing returns. The amendments are coming to the point where they do not need to be offered on this bill at this time. This is just February. There will be plenty of other opportunities for Senators to offer amendments on other bills. We have to get this bill finished today. There will be a conference committee. The managers will work with Senators in the conference to address their concerns. Not everything needs to be said by everyone on the Senate floor today. I urge Senators to forbear offering their amendments as much as possible. We will continue to try to give Senators notice of what will be coming up. Abraham Lincoln appealed to the ``better angels of our nature.'' I renew that appeal today. Let us work together today in the spirit of comity and cooperation that reflects the better angels of the Senate. Let us finish this bill today. I thank all Senators for their cooperation. So we can work out an orderly procedure, I now suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I object. We are under an agreement where we speak on both sides and offer amendments later. So I respectfully object.

Mr. BAUCUS. I object.