Barbara Boxer

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I wish to amend my UC to say that there be 2 minutes of rebuttal, after Senator Enzi completes his 7 minutes, to be controlled by myself.

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I am thrilled to report the white smoke is coming out, and we have reached agreement on how to proceed. We are going to keep the order--and I hope everyone will make sure I am saying this right--keep the order the way it is. The only exception is, if a Senator wants to question another Senator, that Senator will do it off of the time they already have.

Mrs. BOXER. That is wonderful. Now I believe we go to Senator Casey for 15 minutes.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. OK.

Mrs. BOXER. Then I ask unanimous consent that when Senator Enzi completes his remarks, the Senate proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent, on behalf of Senator Cardin, that Michael Morgan, a fellow from his office, be granted the privilege of the floor for the duration of the debate on S. 3036.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, June 3, 2008, at 9:30 a.m.

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 3, 2008, at 2:30 p.m.

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, June 3, 2008, at 10 a.m., in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, June 3, 2008, at 10 a.m., in room 215 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 632, S. 2162.

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee substitute amendment be withdrawn, the Akaka-Burr substitute amendment which is at the desk be agreed to; the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed; the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that S. 2307, the Global Change Research Improvement Act of 2007, be star printed with the changes at the desk.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Rules Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 2967 and that the Senate then proceed to its consideration.

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read three times, passed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements be printed in the Record.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 741, S. Res. 550.

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements related to the resolution be printed in the Record.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. I thank the Chair.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H. Con. Res. 309 which was received from the House.

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to the measure be printed in the Record.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Will the Senator yield?

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I wonder if the Senator knows that Exelon has given its support to this bill and also NRG and they are coal and nuclear and Exelon is nuclear. So I wonder if my friend understands that Senator Warner is going to do an amendment, as he has said from day one, and I am sure you will help him with that amendment. The amendment probably has a very excellent chance of passing. I wish to make sure my friend knows companies that build nuclear powerplants endorse this bill without any changes, although there are going to be more changes. Under some of the modeling, I wonder if my friend has looked at what the projections are for building nuclear powerplants without one amendment on this bill. Does my friend know the answer to my question? Has he looked at some of the modeling that we have gotten from this administration on this point?

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, if I might ask unanimous consent for 5 minutes so the three of us can engage because I think this is a very important point.

Mrs. BOXER. First of all, I think for my friend to say these two companies have no future plans to build powerplants or expand the plants, that makes no sense. I haven't read their annual report, but for him to say the only reason is because they are going to make some money off the allowances--I don't think he is looking at the plans for these companies, No. 1, but they can speak for themselves. The second part, which my friend didn't answer, is that in the modeling we have seen, without one amendment, it looks as if there will be built, over the period of the lifetime of this bill, 150 nuclear plants. So without one amendment--and there are going to be amendments--and I have never been a great fan of nuclear energy. For one reason, I worry about the waste. I worry about the waste. I worry about having all this waste. So that is my issue. I have said many times there are a few of us who care about that, and there are others who seem to feel comfortable it is totally safe. We will have that debate. But the fact is, when you pass legislation such as this, there is a winner. The winner goes to those energy sources that don't produce carbon just on its face. That is why we give so much for clean coal, because we are trying to make sure we keep going with coal and that it is clean coal. So I would say to my friend, and then I will yield my time to Senator Warner to go back and forth--I am pleased he came over here. I love working with Senator Isakson. He is a friend. He is a pal. We don't see eye to eye on this particular issue because I believe that to have people who are nuclear powerplant proponents say this bill doesn't do enough, means they haven't looked at what the projections are ipso facto because it is a clean energy source, in terms of carbon. I wished to make that point. But I wish to thank my friend for the tenor and tone of his remarks. I yield the remainder of my time to Senator Warner.

Mrs. BOXER. How much time does the Senator from Tennessee have remaining?