Kit Bond

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I have a number of amendments which have been cleared on both sides. We propose to bring them up individually and ask for their immediate consideration and a voice vote. I ask unanimous consent to set aside any pending amendments in order to offer those amendments.

Mr. BOND. First, I call up amendment 2070 on behalf of Senator Collins. This amendment would repeal the increased limit on the micropurchase threshold on Government credit cards.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, this amendment requires the IRS to submit a report on the debt indicator program which is currently used by the IRS to assist in tax filing and speeding up tax refunds where applicable. Senator Akaka has raised legitimate concerns on whether the debt indicator has led to the abuse of certain refund loans. While there are legitimate and appropriate refund loans, there is, unfortunately, some abuse of them. We need to address this problem. This amendment has been modified after discussion with our staff and the IRS.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I send to the desk an amendment on behalf of Senator Boxer.

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

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, this amendment has been cleared on both sides. It requires the Secretary of Transportation, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and FAA, to establish procedures to deal with airline passengers who have avian flu symptoms.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, on a lighter note, I understand that David Letterman last night said there had been an instance of avian flu being transmitted to human beings. He also noted that several Astros had come into contact with the Cardinals on Monday night and suffered greatly. Fortunately, I hope that epidemic only returns tonight and tomorrow night. Amendment No. 2073, as Modified

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 2073, and I send a modification to the desk on behalf of Senator Inhofe.

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

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I understand this amendment is necessary because in some homeless shelters, children are being sent to schools where they have not been going. It has caused a great deal of confusion. This is an appropriate measure and we accept it on this side.

Mr. BOND. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate turn to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to no more than 10 minutes.

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety, be authorized to hold a hearing during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, October 19th, at 2 p.m. in SD-430.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry be authorized to conduct a business meeting during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, October 19, 2005 at 10 a.m. in SR-328A, Russell Senate Office Building. The purpose of this meeting will be to consider an original bill to comply with the Committee's reconciliation instructions as contained in H. Con. Res. 95.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, October 19 at 10 a.m. The purpose of this meeting is to consider reconciliation legislation and any other pending calendar business which may be ready for consideration.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, October 19, 2005, at 10 a.m. to hold a hearing on Iraq in U.S. Foreign Policy.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, October 19, 2005, at 2:30 p.m. to hold a hearing on Nominations.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on ``Reporters' Privilege Legislation: An Additional Investigation of Issues and Implications'' on Wednesday, October 19, 2005 at 10:30 a.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226. Witness List Panel I: Chuck Rosenberg, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, on behalf of the United States Department of Justice Houston, TX. Panel II: Judith Miller, Investigative Reporter and Senior Writer, The New York Times, New York, NY; David Westin, President, ABC News, New York, NY; Joseph E. diGenova, Founding Partner, diGenova & Toensing LLP, Washington, DC; Anne Gordon, Managing Editor, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, PA; Dale Davenport, Editorial Page Editor, The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, PA; and Steven D. Clymer, Professor of Law, Cornell Law School Myron Taylor Hall, Ithaca, NY.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on October 19, 2005, at 2:30 p.m. to hold a closed briefing.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights be authorized to meet on Wednesday, October 19, 2005, to conduct a hearing on ``Video Competition in 2005--More Consolidation, or New Choices for Consumers?'' at 2 p.m. in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Witness List Mr. Glenn Britt, Chairman and CEO, Time Warner Cable, Stamford; CT; Mr. Kyle McSlarrow, President and CEO, NCTA, Washington, DC; Mr. Walter McCormick, Jr., President and CEO, United States Telecom Association, Washington, DC; Mr. Doron Gorshein, President and CEO, The America Channel, LLC, Heathrow, FL; Mr. Peter Aquino, President and CEO, RCN Corporation, Herndon, VA; Mr. Scott Cleland, Chief Executive Officer, Precursor, Washington, DC; and Dr. Mark Cooper, Director of Research, Consumer Federation of America, Washington, DC.

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I had not intended to extend this wonderful discussion because we were trying to get amendments on the Treasury, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Judiciary bill. I invite people to come down and offer amendments. However, since my colleague and neighbor brought it up, I thought I might mention a few things. No. 1, while he might want to root for the White Sox in the World Series, I was hoping he would not neglect and disregard and disrespect all of our wonderful Illinois neighbors who live in the southern part of the State who are St. Louis Cardinal fans. It is with a heavy heart that I tell the people of southern Illinois that the Cardinal fans have been ``dissed'' by my colleague from across the river. I wouldn't normally do that, but since he misquoted what I said, I thought I might as well take the same liberties and misquote what he had to say. First, right there at the end I thought we were almost opening a new front in this debate. Wal-Mart bashing; oh, that is a great liberal sport these days, bashing Wal-Mart. I saw just the hint of Wal-Mart bashing. But I am sorry, I didn't mean to attribute that to my colleague. He walked away from it. So we are not into Wal-Mart bashing. But he did say I wasn't interested in conservation or energy efficiency. Perhaps the reason he didn't vote for the Bond-Levin or Levin-Bond amendments to conserve energy and assure energy efficiency is he didn't understand that we ordered the scientists at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to find the new technologies and require that fuel efficiency improvements be made as technological advances go forward. That is the whole idea. How about letting the scientists say what technology actually works? It is a lot more fun on the stump making a political speech saying we are going to double the mileage--and, by the way, forget about it if the lighter cars do kill more people. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has produced those figures: the lighter cars have been killing more people. The third thing he said was we are going to waive all the environmental rules. We have had continually improving air quality in this country. We are making progress, and we are continuing to make progress. That is extremely important. Are we going to get rid of the standards? No. How about getting the number of processes? One refinery had 800 different permitting processes to go through. How many different permitting processes do you have to go through? We need to hold these refineries or other new facilities to the standards we are setting to make air cleaner. When government bureaucracy and lawsuits tell them how to build and how to operate the facilities, we get tremendous waste. This is why I am talking about economics. Economics is bringing about conservation, as is the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as are other conservation measures--new appliances with conservation standards. Each one of us has the ability, in responding to the marketplace as to the price of energy, to make wise decisions about energy usage. The market does work. If my colleague wants to have an allocation system to tell the American public what kind of cars and trucks they can buy and dictate what cars, trucks, and SUVs can be made by auto manufacturers, let's have that debate. In the meantime, let us all concede that the auto companies may have missed the mood. They may have made mistakes. They are paying for those mistakes in misjudging the market. But I would rather have the private sector taking the hit because they are in it for the profit motive, and they can afford it, rather than have the government make those decisions which cost jobs, which cost our economy. I am hoping a Member will have an additional amendment. I will look for that. I do not intend to answer my colleague from Illinois any further other than to say that if he cites my position, I will probably disagree with his characterization of my position. But we will have this debate perhaps again when we have an honest to goodness Energy bill, maybe one that fast-tracks refineries that would get us the oil, diesel, aviation fuel, and the coal gas we need. I yield the floor.

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I have another technical amendment to offer at this time.

Mr. BOND. I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.