Kent Conrad

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, there has been excellent cooperation. I thank our colleagues. We have removed at least 80 amendments. But here is where we stand at the moment. We still have 24 or 25 amendments. We need to take a break because we need to have the desk crew take a break. They have worked nonstop. We are going to need to take about a 30-minute break. But to be able to do that and not wind up right back at 3 a.m., because we have made some progress now, we are headed for about 1:45 right now if all the amendments are voted on that are in queue, we have to ask colleagues to please let us know if you can accept a vote on your amendment on a later vehicle. That is the only way we are going to avoid it. You can do the math yourself: 25 votes, 4 an hour, 6 more hours--that is right back at 2 o'clock in the morning. So, please, during these next two votes, those who have amendments that do not have to be on this vehicle, come to us and let's see if we cannot work something out. Senator Clinton is next up. Amendment No. 244, As Modified

Mr. CONRAD. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, let us be clear, the Bunning amendment doubles the tax cut, undermines funding for Medicare, and provides absolutely no assurance that the additional tax cut will be used to eliminate the tax on Social Security benefits. So let's be clear. It doubles the tax cut. It undermines funding for Medicare. It provides no assurance that the money would be used to reduce the tax on Social Security benefits.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, 30 seconds off my leader time. This amendment is fully paid for, and it has exactly the same force and effect of law, as does the amendment of the Senator from Kentucky.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, this amendment says simply that we ought to repeal the tax that applies to Social Security benefits; that we should do it in a way that does not cut Medicare funding and that does not further increase deficits and debt. I urge my colleagues to support the amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, just to report to the colleagues, we have five more amendments in this queue. We have five amendments that we are working to try to get approved. We have 23 amendments beyond that. I make an appeal. There are a number of Senators with multiple amendments. We have 8 Senators that, among them, have 20 amendments. I appeal to those Senators, please work with leadership to try to reduce those amendments. We are working diligently to get, as we have just seen described by the chairman, a series of amendments approved. Let's work and make modifications where necessary, where we can get others handled in that way. If we don't do this, we are going to be here at 3:30 tomorrow morning. So please, let's get these amendments worked out. These are 5-minute votes.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. The chairman of the committee and I have agreed we will put in a quorum call at this moment, and we will remind colleagues that we will begin the voting very shortly. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, parliamentary inquiry: Having now reached the hour of 1, the order would provide that the votes start at 1; is that correct?

Mr. CONRAD. I yield an additional minute to the Senator from New Jersey.

Mr. CONRAD. I thank the Chair. I again suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, will the Chair advise us when the time on the Clinton amendment has been eliminated and the time on the Lautenberg amendment commences?

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

Mr. CONRAD. I thank the Chair and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CONRAD. I thank the Chair. We are awaiting Senator Lautenberg to take up the 10 minutes on his amendment, unless Senator Gregg wants the remaining time on the Clinton amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. With 25 votes stacked, we are talking about 8 hours of voting; would that not be correct?

Mr. CONRAD. I just say, I have never seen us accomplish four. We have tried.

Mr. CONRAD. So 25 amendments are in queue. We can generally do-- correct me if I am wrong--we can roughly do three votes an hour.

Mr. CONRAD. So I think it is fair, in terms of advising our colleagues, very shortly we are going to start on a voting sequence that will include--is it 25 amendments?

Mr. CONRAD. So our colleagues should be advised that the voting will begin at or about 1 o'clock. Can the Chair advise us of how many amendments are pending?

Mr. CONRAD. Then the schedule of going to the votes that are in sequence would start at 1 o'clock?

Mr. CONRAD. And then Senator Gregg has 5 minutes in relationship to the Clinton amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. To recap, if I can, so colleagues understand about where we are, is this correct, that we would have 10 minutes on the Lautenberg amendment equally divided which is in relationship to debt limit?

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, parliamentary inquiry: What is left in the queue, so colleagues who are watching can be informed where we stand with respect to the schedule?

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