Kent Conrad

Mr. CONRAD

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, I see that the Senator from Indiana is on the Senate floor. He has the time at 4 p.m. under his control. I wish to thank the Senator from Indiana for his graciousness in accepting a change in the time. We had earlier told him he would be up for 3 p.m., and he very graciously accepted this change to 4 p.m., which I appreciate very much.

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, I would inquire of the Senator, would he be willing to take a voice vote?

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that we go to a voice vote on the Bayh amendment.

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

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, I thank the Senator from Indiana. I thank him for working with us to get this amendment worked out, and I want to also thank my colleague, the ranking member of the committee, for his cooperation once again. We now are prepared to start voting, are we not?

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, let me note that we might need to get an agreement on how we proceed. However, I think we should put colleagues on notice that very shortly we are going to start voting. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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 Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Sanders amendment, No. 545, be modified with the changes at the desk.

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that we proceed to vote in relation to the following amendments in the order listed; that there be 2 minutes equally divided prior to each vote; and that after the first vote, time be limited to 10 minutes on each succeeding vote, with no second-degree amendments in order to any of the amendments covered under this agreement, except where we might have a side-by-side, as indicated. The first amendment would be the Hutchison amendment No. 517, as modified; the second amendment would be the Ensign amendment No. 472; the third amendment would be the Sanders amendment No. 545, as modified; and the fourth amendment would be the Enzi amendment No. 497.

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, let's do this. The Hutchison amendment we don't have at the desk as modified, so we need to revise the unanimous consent to make the Ensign amendment No. 472 the first amendment in the tranche to be voted on, then going to the Sanders amendment, and then the Enzi amendment. Hopefully, momentarily, we will have worked out getting the Hutchison amendment, as modified, to the desk. So that would mean we would first proceed to the Ensign amendment, and I notice that Senator Ensign is here.

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, I will modify the unanimous consent request so that we go immediately to the Hutchison amendment on a voice vote.

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, I would like to at this moment thank the gentlewoman from Texas for working with us to get this amendment modified. It was very helpful to the work of the committee. We appreciate very much her cooperation.

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, I, too, thank Senator Cantwell. She was very helpful to us in getting this so that we didn't have to have a vote and so the amendment could be adopted. I thank the two Senators. Amendment No. 472 We now proceed to the Ensign amendment.

Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, this amendment is absolutely well intended, but it will create unintended consequences. This will give the Budget Committee authority over nonbudgetary matters. This amendment, if it were adopted, would create a supermajority point of order against Senator Domenici's mental health parity bill. It would give a supermajority point of order against the Defense authorization bill. It would give a supermajority point of order against the minimum wage bill, against bankruptcy reform, against pension reform. This amendment should not be adopted. I urge my colleagues to vote no.

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

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, 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. Amendment No. 498

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to consider the Thomas amendment No. 498 and that there be 2 minutes of debate equally divided and the vote time be limited to 10 minutes, with no second-degree amendment in order.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, there are no blank checks here. Reserve funds simply say that the committee of jurisdiction has to report a bill, and they have to pay for it. Nothing happens unless the committee reports and unless they pay for it. Now, this amendment would knock out every reserve fund--every one that has been put in by Republican Senators, every one that has been put in on this side. It would knock out the reserve fund for SCHIP, children's health care. It would strike the reserve fund for veterans. It would strike the reserve funds for tax relief, for education, for energy, for the farm bill, for Medicare, for housing, for childcare, for mental health parity. It would knock out Senator Cornyn's reserve fund for immigration, and on and on. I urge a ``no'' vote on this amendment. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I would have preferred not to have to offer this amendment, but Senator Coleman has an amendment that would extend several energy tax incentives, including the clean, renewable energy bond program, and tax incentives for energy-efficient buildings and powerplants. I am in entire agreement with the Senator on that matter. The problem is, he has paid for it out of section 920, and the 920 pool of money is about evaporated. So the effect of his amendment would be to cut veterans, homeland security, and law enforcement; and I can assure colleagues that will be dropped in conference if it is adopted here. Instead, to try to accomplish the goal, I have offered those same provisions, paid for by a deficit-neutral reserve fund. That gives the committees of jurisdiction the widest latitude to pay for the initiatives that are deserving and important. Amendment No. 598

Mr. CONRAD. I send the amendment to the desk.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. CONRAD. The Senator from Minnesota has a minute.

Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I wish my colleague was right. The 920 offset is a fantasy. This will never survive conference because the 920 pool is gone. I urge colleagues to vote for the first amendment, the Conrad amendment, that provides a funding mechanism that will survive conference. I ask unanimous consent that we go to the vote.

Mr. CONRAD. I was asking that we pay for these very worthwhile initiatives with a deficit-neutral reserve fund instead of using section 920.

Mr. CONRAD. Yes. What I have done is I have tried to convince my colleague--we absolutely share the same goal.