Kent Conrad

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, the next amendment in order is amendment No. 4155 by Senator Brown from Ohio.

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

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, next in order is an amendment by Senator Brownback of Kansas. Amendment No. 4284

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I would just ask the Senator from Kansas if he would be willing to accept a voice vote.

Mr. CONRAD. I will not oppose the amendment of the Senator from Kansas.

Mr. CONRAD. I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, we now can go to Senator Inhofe who has an amendment. Amendment No. 4239

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, if everyone cooperates in these final hours, I think we could reach conclusion. It will be late, but we could reach conclusion at a reasonable time tonight--at least before midnight. But it really is going to require everybody's cooperation. If you have an amendment that you could reserve until a later vehicle, please do. We have already had nearly 30 rollcall votes. That is very close to what the average has been in the last 3 years in terms of recorded votes. We still have more rollcall votes that are going to have to be done. We think at this point it would be wise to take a half-hour break to give people a chance to match the paperwork that is out there and try to conclude on a finite list.

Mr. CONRAD. I am happy to yield.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, the Senator has made a good suggestion and one that Senator Gregg and I have just discussed that we will do during this break, and that is to try to put together, No. 1, a finite list of amendments that still require a vote; and, No. 2, a managers' amendment of bipartisan, noncontroversial amendments that could be agreed to as a package.

Mr. CONRAD

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

Mr. CONRAD. I move to reconsider the vote and to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendments Nos. 4214, 4244, 4229, 4269, 4297, 4264, 4349, 4248, 4261, 4243, 4153, 4215, 4287, 4148, 4166, 4225, 4253, 4286, 4183, 4210, 4199, 4249, 4285, 4162, 4211, 4176, 4172, 4219, 4227, 4352, 4364, 4195 En Bloc

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, the following amendments have been cleared: Nos. 4214, Senator Enzi; 4244, Senator Roberts; 4229, Senator Martinez; 4269, Senator Thune; 4297, Senator Hatch; 4264, Senator Coleman; 4349, Senator Dole; 4248, Senator Barrasso; 4261, Senator Grassley; 4243, Senator Vitter; 4153, Senator Burr; 4215, Senator Enzi. In addition, these amendments have been cleared on both sides: Nos. 4287, Senator Klobuchar; 4148, Senator Kennedy; 4166, Senator Biden; 4225, Senator Feinstein; 4253, Senator Dodd; 4286, Senator Klobuchar; 4183, Senator Pryor; 4210, Senator Lautenberg; 4199, Senator Dorgan; 4289, Senator Dorgan; 4285, Senator Nelson of Florida; 4162, Senator Reid. The following bipartisan amendments have been cleared: Nos. 4211, Lieberman-Collins; 4176, Carper-Coburn; 4172, Sessions-Casey; 4219, Voinovich-Stabenow; 4227, Clinton-Warner; 4352, Casey-Grassley; 4364, Smith-Clinton; and 4195, Lincoln-Snowe. Let me indicate, if I may, this is the first managers' package. There are others that are being considered that have not yet been vetted. If your name is not on this list, it does not mean your amendment has been rejected. There are still amendments being reviewed by the committees of jurisdiction. The process we go through, the Budget Committee staff has to review them, as well as the committees of jurisdiction on both sides. That is the process for clearing amendments. So there are a fair number of amendments still in the queue going through that process.

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, if I may just review for our colleagues, that is 30 amendments that were just cleared. We now go to an amendment by Senator Boxer.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, did we move to reconsider and table?

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, can we have order in the Chamber.

Mr. CONRAD. We need to ask people to hold it down so we can conduct business. It will go much faster if we do that and respect the rights of Senators to be heard. We now go to Senator Ensign for an amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, might I ask a series of questions, through the Chair, to the Parliamentarian?

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask the Chair if the amendment by the Senator from South Carolina is germane to the budget resolution?

Mr. CONRAD. The second question is, If this amendment is adopted, is it corrosive to the privileged standing of budget resolutions?

Mr. CONRAD. No. 3, if this amendment were adopted and went to conference and if it came back from conference, would it be fatal to the budget resolution's privileged status?

Mr. CONRAD. The next amendment in order is the amendment of the Senator from Texas, Mr. Cornyn.

Mr. CONRAD. Does the Senator yield back his time?

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I will ask a series of questions of the Parliamentarian through the Chair. Is the amendment by the Senator from Texas germane?

Mr. CONRAD. Would it be corrosive to the privileged status of the budget resolution if this amendment were adopted?