Kent Conrad

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that succeeding votes be 10-minute votes.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, Senator Gregg and I have now visited about the number of outstanding amendments. There are over 60 outstanding amendments. We can do three an hour. That means, unless some of our colleagues relent, we are going to be voting for 20 hours. That is the simple math. I ask my colleagues on both sides, please, if you can withhold on your amendment and wait for another vehicle, we urge you to do that. We simply cannot spend the next 20 hours voting.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, the Senator from Kentucky has done us all a favor by the way he has modified his amendment. It is an amendment we can accept. I ask if the Senator could accept a voice vote.

Mr. CONRAD. Correct. We will need to insert that. I ask unanimous consent that we accept the Bunning amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. We would like to proceed to Senator Dole for the purpose of offering her amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, we are prepared to accept the amendment of the Senator from North Carolina. We urge our colleagues to accept it. I ask unanimous consent to agree to the amendment offered by Senator Dole.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, next up is Senator Feinstein. She has an amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. I ask unanimous consent to adopt the Feinstein amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, next we have Senator Sessions to offer an amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, the Sessions amendment would increase taxes in fiscal year 2008 by $2.6 billion. It would increase taxes in fiscal year 2009, for a total in those 2 years of $11.7 billion of tax increases. In later years, the Sessions amendment would provide additional revenue loss of $148 billion over 5 years. That busts the budget and takes us back into deficit. It is sort of the worst of all worlds. It increases taxes in the front end and then blows a hole in the budget. I urge colleagues to vote against the Sessions amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. I ask for the yeas and nays on the Sessions amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, next is the Nelson amendment. I say to colleagues, on the Nelson amendment and the succeeding Kyl amendment, there will be 6 minutes evenly divided. Mr. President, I ask Senator Gregg to remind Senators of whom we have left in terms of what is the rest of the order.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, there have been a number of statements about the previous amendments that are factually wrong. The previous amendment had a $5 million exemption per person, plus a top effective rate of 35 percent. My colleagues on the other side have misread the previous amendment. It had a top effective rate of 35 percent. I wanted to state that for the Record. The fundamental difference between the two is that the previous amendment was paid for. This amendment, by Senator Kyl, whom I respect, is not paid for. I would say to my colleagues, if this is a priority, why not pay for it? The hard reality is that if this amendment before us now is adopted--the Kyl amendment--it blows a hole in the budget, puts us back into deficit, after we have worked so hard all these hours to get a balanced budget by 2012. This proposal would put us back into deficit by over $15 billion in 2012. It would add $35 billion to the deficit. I urge my colleagues to reject this amendment. In the previous Baucus amendment, we provided for all of the middle-class tax cuts and fundamental and significant estate tax reform. It was paid for. This amendment is not. It ought to be rejected.

Mr. CONRAD. The Senator is wrong. I know why the Senator is reading it to conclude that. My tax experts tell me that the way the interactive effect occurs, the top effective rate is never more than 35 percent. I know why the Senator is reaching that conclusion. I would be glad to have my tax counsel visit with him because they assure me that in the previous amendment, the top effective rate was 35 percent. I know the Senator agreed about the 5-percent surcharge. I think time has expired.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, Senator Gregg has indicated repeatedly that the 10-minute votes are just not being abided by. The only way they can be abided by is, No. 1, if people stay in the Chamber or very close to the Chamber. We are not going to finish this resolution unless we change the way we are doing business. We still have dozens and dozens of amendments remaining. We are going to be here until 1 o'clock this morning unless we change the way we do business. I have to ask the leadership if they will support going to 10-minute votes.

Mr. CONRAD. Does the leadership support that request?

Mr. CONRAD. No, we have gone over.

Mr. CONRAD. Will the leadership support us going to 10-minutes votes?

Mr. CONRAD. Then the word has to go out that we are going to 10- minute votes. I have to try to make amends on a previous debate. Senator Kyl indicated on the Nelson amendment that it appeared to be higher than a 35-percent rate. There was reason for him to believe that, looking at the amendment. I want to make clear that while we believe the Nelson amendment had a top effective rate of 35 percent, just looking at the amendment, one could easily conclude that is not the case. So I want to make that clear. In no way were we denigrating Senator Kyl's honor with respect to accurately and honestly depicting that amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, we are making progress, but we are not making progress fast enough. If we stick to this current pace, and people insist on the number of amendments that are still outstanding, we are going to be here all night. Staff just informed me that is the reality. Please, if you can withhold and offer them on a separate vehicle, do that. Senator Allard is next.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, this amendment, if it were adopted, would cut Medicare and Medicaid by $58.8 billion. It would cut the Homeland Security Committee by $5.8 billion. It would cut the Agriculture Committee by $3.6 billion. Beyond that, Mr. President, the pending amendment is not germane. Therefore, I raise a point of order that the amendment violates section 305(b)2 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, and I urge a ``no'' vote.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, the next amendment is the Smith amendment. Let me just say we have to get colleagues to cooperate a little more on reducing the number of amendments they are insisting on or we are going to be here late into the night. That is just what the reality is. Please, colleagues, withhold. Senator Smith is next.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, we would be pleased to accept this amendment on a voice vote.

Mr. CONRAD. If objection is heard--Senators can vote however they think is the right way. We certainly always have that right; Senators always have that right. On this side, I urge Senators to vote aye.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, Senator Gregg and I have worked through a number of amendments, and I will now send that package to the desk and ask that the amendments be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid on the table. The list of amendments includes: Lieberman-Collins No. 519; Burr No. 499; Biden No. 528; Thune No. 546; Kennedy No. 602; Chambliss-Feinstein No. 619; Reid-Sanders No. 490; Kerry-Sanders No. 616; Webb-Warner No. 620; Kerry No. 615; and Graham No. 614.