Kent Conrad

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I have a unanimous consent request that I wish to propound on the next group of amendments before we go to the Vitter amendment. I ask unanimous consent that the following group of amendments be the next to be considered; that the provisions of the previous order regarding debate time, vote time, and budget points of order remain in effect for the duration of consideration of amendments to the budget resolution; and that the amendments be considered in the order listed. This is the order proposed: Senator Hutchison amendment No. 866; Menendez amendment No. 921; Coburn amendment No. 895; Brownback amendment No. 841; Graham amendment No. 898; Boxer amendment No. 953; Reid amendment No. 730; Hutchison amendment No. 868; Snowe amendment No. 773; Senators Murray and Bond amendment No. 880; Thune amendment No. 803; Barrasso-Wyden--I do not have a number on that amendment; a Democratic side by side to Bennett of Utah on spending stimulus; Bennett of Utah amendment No. 954; a Democratic side by side to the Enzi trigger; Enzi No. 824; Conrad or his designee side by side on AMT; and Grassley on AMT.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I yield time in opposition to Senator Reed of Rhode Island.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, the next amendment is the Landrieu amendment with 2 minutes equally divided.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, Senator Roberts has a unanimous consent request on a change of vote.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, that takes us to the Boxer amendment, No. 953, afterschool reserve fund. Senator Boxer.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I would say to colleagues, I do not know what it is about this year, but the hole just keeps getting deeper. We still have over 200 amendments, and nobody seems to be much interested in kind of being collegial here and allowing us to get to some kind of reasonable list. Now, 200 amendments pending, 3 an hour--that is almost 70 hours. That is 3 days. So please work with us and be willing to take voice votes. When we have amendments that are being adopted overwhelmingly, you know, really, do we really intend to stay here for 3 days? I hope not. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following be the next group of amendments to be considered; that the provisions of the previous order regarding debate time, vote time, and budget points of order remain in effect for the duration of consideration of amendments to the budget resolution; that the amendments be considered in the order listed: Hutchison No. 866, Menendez No. 921, Coburn No. 895, Brownback No. 840--we have done this? Well, this is good. We are making progress.

Mr. CONRAD. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, we have four amendments in this list that we could agree to: Menendez No. 921; Coburn No. 895, Murray-Bond No. 880, and Barrasso-Wyden--do we have a number on that?

Mr. CONRAD. No. 788.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that those four amendments be agreed to.

Mr. CONRAD. Menendez No. 921, Coburn No. 895, Murray-Bond No. 880, Barrasso-Wyden No. 788.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, that takes us to the Hutchison amendment, No. 866.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I support the Hutchison amendment. I think there is strong support on this side. Would the Senator be willing to take a voice vote?

Mr. CONRAD. I thank the Senator from Texas. I ask unanimous consent that the Hutchison amendment No. 866 be agreed to.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, that takes us to Brownback amendment No. 840. Senator Brownback would describe that amendment. This is a similar circumstance. There is strong support on this side toward the Senator's amendment, and we could take it on a voice vote if the Senator would be willing to do that. If the Senator would take a moment to describe his amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. It is amazing how that will improve the chances.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, we have strong support for the amendment on this side. I ask unanimous consent that the amendment be adopted.

Mr. CONRAD. Without objection on this side.

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that we adopt the Enzi amendment No. 824.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, we have just been informed that the matching amendment to the Reid amendment may be withdrawn. They are working on that right now. So that would mean a vote on the Reid amendment and the Hutchison amendment may not be necessary. Amendment No. 953, as Modified So, Mr. President, I ask that we now return to the Boxer amendment because we have reached conclusion on that. We know it will require a vote. If the Senator would be so inclined, we could return to that amendment and go to a vote.

Mr. CONRAD. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, if we are really going to have recorded rollcall votes--what was the final tally--on votes that are 89 to 9, we are going to be here a very long time. Honestly, I have been doing this for 22 years. I don't know if I have ever seen a year where colleagues just seem to be absolutely insistent on having rollcall votes on things that are going to keep us here a very long time. We cannot make people give up their votes or take voice votes. But at some point there has to be a serious consideration. Is this what we are really going to do to each other? Are we going to be here for 70 hours? That is where we are headed. With that, we can go to the Snowe amendment--or has the Hutchison- Reed amendment been resolved? We should pass over that and go to Senator Snowe's amendment. She is right here. If the Senator would explain her amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask the Senator if she is willing to take this on a voice vote?

Mr. CONRAD. I ask for a voice vote.