Christopher Dodd

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. Madam President, today I wish to recognize a significant milestone for one of the towns in my home State of Connecticut. This year, the town of Hebron is celebrating the 300th anniversary of its founding. As recently as 1930, Hebron's population stood at only 879 people. Today, with an estimated population of 8,600 persons, Hebron continues to exemplify Connecticut's rich heritage. Throughout its history, it has been able to retain its small-town, rural charm that existed when it was first founded on May 26, 1708. With its wide-open fields, mixture of colonial and contemporary architecture, and the annual Harvest Fair, Hebron provides an idyllic New England setting. Gay City State Park, the towns most widely known attraction, offers a glimpse into Connecticut's industrial roots with the opportunity to explore the ruins of an extinct mill town that existed until the time of the Civil War. The residents of Hebron are rightfully proud of the town's rich cultural and agricultural heritage and have scheduled a year's worth of activities to celebrate this momentous occasion. I ask my colleagues to join with me in congratulating my many friends among the good people of Hebron as they gather this year to celebrate their town's three centuries of history.

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation with my colleague, Senator Alexander, to proclaim the third week of April as ``National Shaken Baby Syndrome Awareness Week.'' First recognized by our late colleague, Senator Paul Wellstone, Shaken Baby Syndrome Awareness Week is one step the Senate can take each year to raise public awareness of Shaken Baby Syndrome, represents one of the most devastating forms of child abuse in this country. This form of abuse not only results in severe injury and lifelong disability in some cases, it results in the deaths of hundreds of children each year. In recognition of the need to eliminate child abuse and to raise awareness about the issue, the month of April has been designated ``National Child Abuse Prevention Month,'' an annual tradition that was initiated in 1979 by former President Jimmy Carter. As we focus more closely on the prevention of child abuse this month, awareness and prevention of Shaken Baby Syndrome should be an important component of these efforts. The facts demonstrate the need for our efforts: Based on the most recent statistics available, about 1530 children died of abuse in 2006. While each of those deaths is a tragedy, it is estimated that 300 of those children were victims of an inflicted head injury. Nearly all of those children were under 5 years of age, and two-thirds had not reached their first birthday. The total annual cost of child abuse and neglect in the United States is estimated to be $103.8 billion a year. However, there is good news: Programs that educate new parents about the danger of shaking and how they can protect their child have been shown to be remarkably effective. Eleven years ago, a pilot project to educate parents before they left the hospital began in Buffalo, New York. Since that time, the incidence of inflicted head injury is 50 percent lower in the Buffalo area. Today, New York and eight other States require hospitals to provide parents with education that gives them the knowledge to keep their children safe, and regional and local programs have begun in other States. Since Texas began in 1998, several states now require that licensed child care providers bee ortant trained about the causes, consequence and prevention of Shaken Baby Syndrome, important knowledge when more than 8 million children under age 5 are in child care during the work week. In Wisconsin, Illinois and New York, education programs are being designed for middle-school and high-school students: tomorrow's parents, tonight's babysitters. While awareness of the vulnerability of young children to inflicted brain injuries is important, we are learning that effective education programs work best when they enlist the support of parents and other caregivers, and give them the knowledge and techniques they need to keep young children safe. I, like many of my colleagues, am a parent. My children are still young and my parenting memories are perhaps more fresh than those of some other members. The overwhelming majority of my memories are ones I will cherish for a lifetime. But, I also recall exhaustion, anxiety and moments of frustration and anger. While national surveys show such moments are a normal part of being a parent, they are rarely spoken of. Education and awareness can give every parent the opportunity to learn how to cope with frustrating moments, and to keep their children safe. Understanding this, last year I introduced the Shaken Baby Syndrome Awareness Act of 2007. This initiative provides for the creation of a public health campaign, including the development of a National Action Plan to identify effective, evidence-based strategies for prevention and awareness of Shaken Baby Syndrome, and establishment of a cross-disciplinary advisory council to help coordinate national efforts. Through this legislation I hope to reduce the number of children injured or killed by abusive head trauma, and ultimately eliminate Shaken Baby Syndrome. With the support of the Centers for Disease Control, in 2008 Pennsylvania and North Carolina will begin statewide initiatives to support the efforts of hospitals to educate new parents. This builds on the program that began 11 years ago in Buffalo, New York and it builds on the efforts of doctors, nurses, educators, child care providers, prevention organizations and parent advocates across America who have been working to prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome and other inflicted abuse. I would like to recognize those efforts, and the efforts of many others, including those formed by parents and relatives of children who have been killed or injured by shaking, who work to increase awareness of how parents can help protect their children from this devastating form of child abuse. Among those who are working toward the end of preventing the tragedy of child abuse and who are supportive of this resolution are: Association of University Centers on Disabilities, Brain Injury Association of America, Child Welfare League of America, Children's Healthcare is a Legal Duty, Children's Safety Network, Congress of Neurological Surgeons, Easter Seals, Hannah Rose Foundation, National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies, National Association of State Head Injury Administrators, National Center for Learning Disabilities, National Child Abuse Coalition, National Exchange Club Foundation, Prevent Child Abuse America, Shaken Baby Prevention, Inc., Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention Plus, The Arc of the United States, The Center for Child Protection and Family Support, The National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions, The National Shaken Baby Coalition, United Cerebral Palsy, Voices for America's Children, D.C. Children's Trust Fund, and National Family Partnership. I would like to thank Senators Menendez, Casey, Bayh, Clinton, Schumer, Hatch, Murray for their support of this worthwhile initiative. I urge the Senate to adopt this resolution designating the third week of April 2008 as ``National Shaken Baby Syndrome Awareness Week,'' and I urge members who take part in the many local and national activities and events recognizing the month of April as National Child Abuse Prevention Month to take the opportunity to visit a local hospital, child care center or school, learn what they are doing to help parents protect their children from injury and recognize those efforts.

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 10, 2008, at 10 a.m. to conduct a hearing entitled ``Turmoil in U.S. Credit Markets: Examining Proposals to Mitigate Foreclosures and Restore Liquidity to the Mortgage Markets.''

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 10, 2008, at 10 a.m., in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 10, 2008, at 2:30 p.m., in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 10, 2008, at 9 a.m., in room 406 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building to hold a hearing entitled, ``Hearing on the Nomination of David R. Hill to be Assistant Administrator (General Counsel) for the Environmental Protection Agency.''

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 10, 2008, at 10 a.m., in room 215 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Identity Theft: Who's Got Your Number?''.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 10, 2008, at 9:30 a.m., to hold a hearing on Iraq.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be authorized to meet, during the session of the Senate, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Climate Change: A Challenge for Public Health'' on Thursday, April 10, 2008. The hearing will commence at 10 a.m. in room 430 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 10, 2008, at 10 a.m.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 10, 2008, at 2 p.m., to consider the nominations of the Honorable Andrew M. Saul, the Honorable Alejandro M. Sanchez, the Honorable Gordon J. Whiting to be Members, Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 10, 2008, at 2:30 p.m. to hold a closed hearing.

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Alabama and myself be recognized for 20 minutes, 10 minutes apiece, to make some closing comments.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, before I make those remarks, and I have checked with the Parliamentarians, I would be remiss if I didn't recognize a former colleague, Senator John Glenn, who is here on the floor of the Senate. Senator Glenn, welcome to the Senate. Nice to have you back. Mr. President, if I may, this morning, I think we have adopted a very good piece of legislation, one that is going to take a significant step in dealing with the present housing crisis in our country. As I have repeated on numerous occasions over the last number of weeks on the Senate floor, almost 8,000 people every single day are facing foreclosure. That is a staggering number of people, and in a given week's time that would fill most any college or professional sports stadium. Eight thousand people every day run the risk of losing their most important asset outside of their beloved family members. The greatest accumulation of wealth for most people is their home. It may mean for them, in their future, providing for a secure retirement, dealing with college education, providing for the unforeseen crisis that can occur where that equity in a home can make all the difference in the world, not to mention what a stabilizing influence it has for a family, a neighborhood, or a community. Home ownership. All of that is at risk for too many of our fellow citizenry. Over these last many days, the Senator from Alabama and I and others have tried not to solve every problem in that area but to take a major step forward in addressing the issue of foreclosure, the housing crisis, and the economic problems we face. I think we have done that with this bill. This legislation includes the original ideas we were able to work out a week or so ago dealing with FHA modernization, dealing with disclosure, dealing with mortgage revenue bonds, and dealing with the idea of providing some tax relief for people who are willing to move in and occupy foreclosed properties, which provides assistance to communities that would otherwise lose as a result of having dilapidated and boarded-up properties in their midst. And there were a number of other provisions, including counseling services and the like, included in that core piece of legislation. But over the past week, a little less than a week, we have added a number of other provisions to this bill at the behest of our colleagues, working with both the chairman and the ranking member of the Finance Committee as well as members of the Banking Committee and those who are interested in this legislation. The underlying bill and the important provisions in it contained many good increases in support for various things we need to accomplish. In addition, the managers' package, which was adopted last evening, accommodates 16 different amendments, Mr. President. These amendments help veterans meet their housing needs. We actually increased some counseling funds that Senator Murray and Senator Mikulski and Senator Schumer were interested in. We improved coordination at counseling agencies. We were able to accommodate a number of Senators on both sides of the aisle. I particularly want to express my gratitude to Senator Salazar for his amendment, Senator Boxer, Senator Carper, and Senator McCaskill, who offered some very good ideas. I mentioned Senator Murray and Senator Mikulski, Senator Leahy, Senator Johnson, Senator Crapo, along with Senators Harkin and Sanders and Pryor, and Senator Ensign, Senator Brownback, Senator Gregg, Senator DeMint, and Senator Cornyn, who all offered ideas which we were able to accommodate. Members of both sides had a lot of very good ideas which strengthen this bill. So we are very grateful for their participation and involvement in allowing us to come to where we are today. I should have actually begun my remarks by thanking the majority leader. Senator Reid made this possible. When I talked with Senator Reid about a week and a half, 2 weeks ago, after having a conversation with Senator Shelby and other members of the Banking Committee, we believed we could come forward with a core group of ideas and offer our colleagues the opportunity to begin to move on this housing crisis. Senator Reid approached the Republican leader, Senator McConnell, and as a result of their leadership, they provided this opportunity, resulting in where we have arrived today, coming to this accommodation. So Senator Reid and his staff deserve, along with Senator McConnell, a very special thanks for making it possible for us to achieve what we have. Let me say very quickly that this bill is called the Foreclosure Prevention Act. Quite candidly, what we have done doesn't quite live up to the title. We have more work to do. We don't do enough, in my view, in preventing more foreclosures in the country. We do some things but not enough. But I would say to my colleagues who are concerned, we are not done yet. There is more work that needs to be done. In fact, this morning, Senator Shelby and I and the committee were having a hearing on how to deal with additional foreclosures in the country. We have more work to do--another hearing next week. We have to deal with the Government-sponsored enterprise legislation, we have flood insurance to deal with, and a number of other issues that require our attention, and our intention is to work on those issues. So more work needs to be done, but at this juncture we believe we have presented a good package. Mr. President, Congressman Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is holding hearings this very morning, as he has over the last day or so, on these issues. My hope is we can get quickly to a conference with the other body on this package and come back with a compromise that is as strong as the one we are sending out for consideration. Again, I thank Senator Shelby, my friend and colleague from Alabama. We have worked closely together over the years on the Banking Committee. I served under his chairmanship of the committee where he had good strong leadership and offered some very strong ideas that were adopted by the Congress of the United States. The tide has turned. I am now chairman. But I have a good partner in Senator Shelby and his staff in helping us work through these issues. I mentioned Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, Senator McConnell, and their staffs for their work as well on this legislation, but we don't often thank or mention the names of the people who do all of the late work, who stay up all night drafting and arguing, disagreeing and debating on what to include in these packages. So I want to thank, particularly in the leadership area, Gary Myrick, Randy Devalk, Lula Davis, who has been terrific with the floor staff-- absolutely wonderful in the last several days--Tim Mitchell, Mark Wetjen on Leader Reid's staff, and Rohit Kumar and Dave Schiappa on the minority leader's staff. Dave, we thank you for your support and help in all of this. On Senator Shelby's staff, Bill Duhnke, Mark Oesterle, Shannon Hines, Mark Calabria, and Jim Johnson all were helpful. And I want to acknowledge all the positive efforts of my staff: Shawn Maher, the staff director of the Banking Committee; Jonathan Miller, Jenn Fogel-Bublick, Amy Friend, Julie Chon, Lynsey Graham Rea, and Drew Colbert. These are all people--and there are others as well on these committees--who do a lot of good, hard work, and we thank them. Again, Mr. President, before the close of business, another 8,000 people may file for foreclosure in this country, so we have work yet to be done in this area, but this bill is a major, positive step in the right direction. There are provisions that, frankly, I am not as enthusiastic about, but they were consensus provisions added to this legislation. There are many provisions that I think take us exactly in the right direction in minimizing the impact of what is occurring in our country and allowing us to get back on our feet, again restoring confidence and optimism in the housing market, and for that I am very grateful to all who have participated in allowing us to arrive at this point. I yield the floor.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the Ensign-Cantwell amendment to the housing bill. This amendment extends expiring tax credits for renewable energy production and development and tax credits for energy efficient homes and buildings. Let me be perfectly clear. I fully support extending these tax credits. I voted for them last December when we tried to attach them to the Energy bill. I supported them again when we considered the economic stimulus package in February. I am in fact an original cosponsor of the freestanding legislation this amendment is based on. I have long argued that we have a responsibility to put our nation on a path toward energy independence. In addition to making us better stewards of the environment, this is also vitally important to protecting our national security by reducing our dependence on foreign fossil fuels. Done responsibly, it can also spur economic growth and create tens of thousands of new good-paying green collar jobs. However, I felt compelled to oppose the Ensign-Cantwell proposal as an amendment to the housing bill. In my view, however, the housing bill simply was the wrong legislative vehicle for this initiative. As I have said many times, nearly 8,000 people every day are facing foreclosure-- 8,000 people every single day are losing their homes and must cope with uncertain and difficult financial futures for themselves and their families. Working this week with Senator Shelby, the majority and minority leaders, and others, I felt it my responsibility to shepherd through a basic set of policies that will help mitigate this housing crisis. This bill did clearly not include everything I would have liked, but it provides a critical first step, and it was imperative in my view that we act quickly to stem this national housing crisis without being sidelined by other matters, regardless of their merit. I wish to thank my colleagues Senator Cantwell and Senator Ensign for their commitment to clean, renewable energy and their leadership on the issue. For the reasons I have given, I wish this proposal could have been advanced differently. However, I remain committed to working with them and all the Members of this body to achieve the goal of energy independence.

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

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. I object.

Mr. DODD. Madam President, I thank you, I thank Senator Shelby and his staff, our staff, and the leaders. The majority leader has been tremendously valuable. Senator Baucus, Senator Grassley, the Republican leader, and his staff as well. This has been a long week but satisfying. I will have more remarks to add about the details of what is here. This is a very important moment, and the leadership deserves an immense amount of credit for making this possible. I thank them immensely.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, let me say to my colleague from South Carolina, I appreciate his generous comments. We have reached a point where, obviously, we are trying to complete this product. We have been at this for over a week. There are a lot of good ideas, while I disagree with his conclusion on his own amendment. What we are trying to do, at the behest of the leadership, is accomplish as much as we can, where we can, and move forward. I have said this so many times, but if I were writing this on my own, it would look different. We live and work in an institution where we have to deal with 99 colleagues, and 435 in the other body, and an administration down the road. We are trying to package these ideas in a way that would win a majority of support here and will be accommodated in the other body and to receive the ultimate approval of the White House. It is an arduous journey and complicated and an emotionally charged set of issues. It is no easy path. While I, for one, have a number of ideas that have been offered by people I support--in fact, my own idea was rejected. As a principal negotiator, I wasn't able to convince my colleagues on the other side to take an idea that I might point out the Wall Street Journal this morning said the administration is moving closer and closer to. It is a very valid point that the Senator raised, and I agree a lot of what we are talking about is dealing with the effects of foreclosure. Whether you like the idea, we are dealing with after the fact. I would prefer to deal with an effort--and there are some provisions that deal with this--to keep people out of foreclosure. But with a major thrust we ought to be talking about--and the administration, through the FHA Secure program, which they are opening, will do a large part of that--we are heading in the right direction. On the CDBG, there are legitimate criticisms about that money. This program is very differently designed. We keep it far more targeted, with more accountability required. One of the values is the following. We are oversupplied in housing. The marketplace is not doing as well in resolving this issue because supply and demand is not working as it normally does because of the abundance of housing out there and the unavailability of capital to move a lot of it. Our concern was, of course, not only to clean up the properties but to clean up the properties and move them because you get a declining value in neighborhoods with foreclosed properties. So that hard working neighbor my friend talked about who is sitting there going, wait a minute, I have done everything right here and I read all the documents and I made a responsible loan and here you are taking care of the property next door and someone is getting a break with the Government's help and I am not getting much out of it. Why are my tax dollars being used for that purpose? My answer to his constituents, and to mine, is I understand what you are saying, but I am concerned because if the value of your property, which you have maintained and done everything right with, is declining by 1 percent immediately when the next-door neighbor's property or one down the block is foreclosed on, to allow that to deteriorate affects you directly. We know crime rates go up 2 percent and values, by as much as $2,000 to $5,000, go down that day on that property, and it will continue to decline as that neighborhood further deteriorates. So there is a direct correlation between trying to help the property get back on its feet, to make it marketable and able to be sold because the neighborhood will be adversely affected if we don't do that. The community block grant program of $4 billion in this bill is targeted. It is right that it is after the fact. We ought to, ideally, figure out a way to keep a person out of foreclosure in the first place. In this bill, we don't do a lot about that. We do it with mortgage revenue bond proposals and with the counseling in the bill that does help. Clearly, as the Presiding Officer and I heard at a hearing in his State in Philadelphia--we heard from people directly how counseling can make a difference. So there are some provisions which do minimize foreclosure. In the absence of doing more, we need to ask ourselves: Can we do something when these properties do fall into that situation? That is why this Community Development Block Grant Program has value beyond putting tax money into a community, but making a difference possibly for those other homeowners who otherwise have watched everything they saved and worked for--their single source of wealth creation is in that house, and that equity they built up by being responsible over the years to protect themselves in retirement or to assist their child get a college education, to take care of that unforeseen problem that can happen with a health care crisis, that equity can make all the difference in the world--and through no fault of their own, they watched almost instantaneously that hard-earned equity decline rapidly because of what happened here. Part of the goal here--and I cannot admit it is going to work in every case--is to make sure that homeowner is getting some protection. They ought to get something back for their tax dollars, and this is an indirect way to help them get back on their feet. My colleague raised a legitimate point. If it is a great idea, why can't we vote on it? We have reached a point where we want to move on and complete the legislation. There are a lot of ideas we want to bring up. The general thought was to see if we couldn't complete this work and move on to a conclusion. I appreciate my colleague's comments. I thank him for his indulgence and consideration as well. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DODD. I object.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I know the Senator from Vermont wants to be heard, but let me just say a few things to my friend from Oklahoma. First of all, I appreciate his comments about the importance of monitoring and overseeing the programs, the homeless programs in the McKinney-Vento legislation that goes back some time. He may not be aware of this, but I will raise it with him anyway. Senator Allard of Colorado and Senator Reed of Rhode Island have offered a piece of legislation to modernize and streamline the McKinney-Vento legislation. It passed out of the Banking Committee some months ago unanimously. I commend Senator Allard and Senator Reed for working together in a bipartisan fashion to come forward with the proposals dealing with homelessness. The bill--and it can be corrected--we brought up here to bring it up on the consent calendar with anyone who wanted to offer some amendments to it. It sounds as if my colleague from Oklahoma has an amendment that would be right on the subject matter of the Reed-Allard proposal. There has been a hold on the legislation to come forward with that bill, offered by our two colleagues from Colorado and Rhode Island, that specifically addresses the issues, although I am not suggesting exactly the amendment my colleague from Oklahoma has, but it would seem to me that would be an appropriate place to deal with homeless programs. We may have exact numbers--I tried to inquire here whether it is 1.8 or 2.1. It is a lot of money, obviously, and I do not question that at all. But we do have a bill that is enjoying pretty board-based support here. Rarely, I might add, do we see that--it comes out of a committee of jurisdiction that authored and wrote this legislation, unanimously adopted by every Banking Committee member who had an opportunity to go through the hearings and watch all of it. I am more than prepared--I do not want to speak for Senators Allard and Reed--that bill could be done this evening, and possibly the amendment suggested by my friend from Oklahoma could be a part of that to go forward. He understands the situation Senator Shelby and I are in, in trying to get this particular bill done. If that hold could come off the legislation and someone sit down and try to work on this provision, we might very well accommodate the very issue that goes to the heart of the homeless programs. So I raise that with him. It is S. 1518. It did come out I think several months ago.

Mr. DODD. Reclaiming my right on the floor, there is a vehicle moving including, possibly, the legislation that is coming from Senator Carper here. It seems to me that making a case for exactly why probably allowing that bill to come up, the very bill that Senator Allard and Senator Reed have drafted on homelessness that was unanimously adopted by the committee after significant work would be the right place--if people have ideas and suggestions on how to deal with Federal property or deal with allegations of fraud and the like, that is the vehicle. As my colleague from Oklahoma points out, he is the only member with a hold on that bill, so we are not going to be able to get to it, and the suggestion somehow that we are denying him an opportunity is really not the case. I am more than willing to entertain ideas and thoughts, and I do not want to speak for Senator Allard and Senator Reed--they are the authors of the legislation--but I am confident they would be more than willing to sit down and listen to the arguments and possibly include ideas in the legislation. Ninety-nine Members of this body have decided that this bill is a pretty good bill, and one Member has not. I respect that. You have the right to do that here. But I think the right to do that should also suggest that when you stand up and suggest we are not welcoming enough of an idea here in this bill, we might properly put our attention at the focus where it deserves to be, and that is on bipartisan legislation specifically dealing with the issue of homelessness, which includes various other ideas, and we can get that done. So I apologize to my colleague from Vermont, but I wanted to address that situation and the work of the committee, on which the Presiding Officer is a member, dealing with these issues. I yield the floor.

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

Mr. DODD. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that following morning business on Thursday, April 10, the Senate then resume consideration of H.R. 3221, and the Senate proceed to vote in relation to the following amendments in the order listed, and if a point of order is raised against an amendment, then there be 2 minutes of debate prior to a vote on the motion to waive the point of order, equally divided and controlled in the usual form: Senator Alexander's second- degree amendment No. 4429; Senator Ensign's amendment No. 4419, as amended, if amended. I also ask unanimous consent that Senator Alexander and Senator Ensign be recognized for 5 minutes apiece in consideration of their amendments; that all remaining pending amendments be withdrawn, except the substitute, and that a managers' amendment that has been cleared by the managers and the leaders also be in order; that the managers' package be considered and agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; that upon disposition of the listed amendments, the substitute, as amended, be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; that upon disposition of the substitute amendment, the bill be read a third time, and the Senate vote on passage of the bill without further intervening action or debate; that upon passage, the title amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to, and that the cloture motion on the bill be withdrawn.

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. Reserving the right to object, Mr. President.