Christopher Dodd

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask the senior Senator from Oregon, does he want to be heard on his amendment?

Mr. DODD. My pleasure is we have the vote on the Wyden-Grassley amendment. So whenever that can occur, I am for it. We can do it right now. I am for it now.

Mr. DODD. It is not my sole decision, of course.

Mr. DODD. I can say to my colleague from Oregon that I expect momentarily we will work out some time agreements and we will schedule a vote fairly quickly.

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

Mr. DODD. Madam President, before our colleague from Delaware leaves the floor--I said this once before, but I want to repeat it. Our colleague from Delaware has only been here a few months, I guess--a little over a year now; it goes by very quickly--having stepped in after our colleague, Joe Biden, became Vice President, and I do not know how well noticed it goes, but Senator Kaufman, I believe almost on a daily basis or something like that----

Mr. DODD. On a weekly basis--takes a few minutes to recognize people whose names and faces I am sure most Americans have never known or seen. Their families and neighbors are familiar with them. But he chooses three or four people who have worked on behalf of all of us, in many cases for years, without ever getting the kind of notoriety and celebration people in elective office receive. I wish to thank him for doing it. It is not a piece of legislation. It is not an amendment to a bill. It is not some ordinance or some treaty this Senate has an obligation to engage in; it is merely taking a little time to recognize some very fine Americans. We all hear about the ones who mess up and do things that are wrong. They get the headlines. But every day, there are literally thousands of people in this country who go to work on behalf of the American public who do their jobs diligently and serve us all tremendously well. The fact that one Member in this body every week takes a few minutes to say thank you is something I deeply appreciate, and I thank him.

Mr. DODD. I note the absence of a quorum.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, what is the pending question?

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I now withdraw the Wyden amendment.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now resume consideration of the Durbin amendment No. 3989 and the Thune amendment No. 3987; that the Durbin amendment be modified with the changes at the desk; that the amendments be debated concurrently for a total of 10 minutes, with the time equally divided and controlled in the usual form; that no amendment be in order to any of the amendments in this agreement prior to a vote; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to vote in relation to the following amendments; that the Durbin amendment be subject to an affirmative 60- vote threshold; that if the amendment achieves the threshold, then it be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; that if the amendment does not achieve the threshold, it be withdrawn: Durbin amendment No. 3989, as modified; Thune amendment No. 3987; that after the first vote, the succeeding vote be limited to 10 minutes, with 2 minutes of debate prior to each vote, equally divided and controlled.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I couldn't hear. What is the situation we are in?

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I renew my unanimous consent request.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that upon disposition of the above-mentioned amendments, the Senate resume consideration of the Collins amendment No. 3879 and that the amendment be considered and agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following be the next first-degree amendments in order: Rockefeller-Hutchison, the FTC amendment; Senator Crapo, the GSE on budget amendment; Senator Mark Udall of Colorado, No. 4016 regarding credit scores; Senator Shelby's amendment No. 4010 re: the consumer bureau; Senator Whitehouse's State usury laws; Senator Vitter, No. 4003, the manufacturing amendment; Senator Cantwell and Senator McCain's Glass- Steagall amendment; and Senator Cornyn, No. 3986 regarding the IMF.

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

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Rhode Island for his very generous comments. We have worked closely together. He hasn't been here a great deal of time, but he was an invaluable asset last year about this time when we were spending an awful lot of time together. I had become sort of the acting chairman of the HELP Committee when my dearest friend in this Chamber became terribly ill, Senator Kennedy. He asked me to take over that committee for him. We were charged with the responsibility of putting together a sizable portion of the health care proposal. The Senator from Rhode Island was an invaluable asset in that process. We had some critical moments, which I will not go into now, but in those critical moments, he played a remarkably important role. Some day, I will have time to spend more time going back and writing or talking about those days. I can point to several moments when, in the absence of Senator Whitehouse's involvement, I am not sure we would have ever concluded the process as successfully as we did. I am eternally grateful to him for that. He has since then moved off that committee and he is doing other things. He is terribly interested in this subject matter, financial reform. I commend him for his passion and determination to have these issues raised.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. Reserving the right to object, I will make the case again. There are unlimited Members who wish to be in line. I understand that. I warn my colleagues, no amendment, in my view, is more important than the underlying bill. Understand that if we go this route, and I end up with every Member coming over and making that request--and there are many more who want to do that here--once this starts, then my ability to get us to the conclusion of a good bill is at risk. So I am going to object.

Mr. DODD. Madam President, I make that request.

Mr. DODD. I cannot agree to anything at this point. We can certainly talk with the leadership about that.