Pete Domenici

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. It was set aside by consent.

Mr. DOMENICI. I will indicate that when I return I want to argue a few moments with reference to the Conrad amendment, but in the meantime, what I am going to do is ask Senator Gramm if he will manage the bill for me. He has been here, so he can just as well accomplish what I have. That means at this point, we will recognize Senator Bond and set aside the previous amendments, as per the understanding we had heretofore.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Fitzgerald be added as a cosponsor to the Abraham amendment, which we agreed to earlier. I mistakenly did not ask for that, and I should have.

Mr. DOMENICI. Approximately, but I don't know that we want to set that at this point. Approximately, the word should go out.

Mr. DOMENICI. I cannot set the time, then. What I will ask--we all understand most of the players are here--why don't we do it this way: The managers, respectively, can allocate the time, as per this understanding, to each Senator rather than entering into a consent agreement that binds us at this point. I think we are pretty close to having enough time.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, the only thing is, the Senator has had a long time to already talk, and we have not had any time to talk.

Mr. DOMENICI. I will be pleased to yield.

Mr. DOMENICI. Adding up all this, it seems to me we need collectively among us 1 hour 45 minutes, which could put us in a position to start voting at a quarter of 7. Can we set that as the time that we are going to start voting on these amendments in the order we have already agreed, and we will allocate the time as per the discussion here? Mr. CONRAD addressed the Chair.

Mr. DOMENICI. I am trying to see if we can start voting by 6:30. That will help some of our Senators, and I am sure it will help Senators on the other side.

Mr. DOMENICI. Did the Senator say 5 is enough or 10?

Mr. DOMENICI. Senator Moynihan wants 5 minutes on the Conrad amendment; right?

Mr. DOMENICI. Senator Kennedy wants 20 minutes. Why don't we just say if you take 20, we will allocate 20. Mr. President, I say to Senator Conrad, is he finished? Does he want more time?

Mr. DOMENICI. In opposition to the President's budget, does anybody have any idea how much time? Fifteen minutes? A total of 30 minutes on the President's budget sounds about right.

Mr. DOMENICI. We will get to you in a minute. We will give you time to speak in favor of the Conrad amendment.

Mr. DOMENICI. Does anybody on the Democratic side have an idea of how long they would want to speak?

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, maybe we can just start and take a little--I say to Senator Bond, how much time does the Senator think he needs? I do not want to limit you.

Mr. DOMENICI. And the distinguished Senator from New York wants to speak.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I am not sure when we will vote on that. I am going to have to leave for a little while. Senator Kennedy has not argued and we have not responded, and I have not responded yet to Senator Conrad. Of course, Senator Bond wants to talk about the President's budget and let us have a vote on it.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I want to finish the unanimous consent request. I was interrupted because it had not been cleared. Unanimous-Consent Agreement I ask unanimous consent that the votes occur on, or in relation to, the following four first-degree amendments at the conclusion, or yielding back, of time, and that no second-degree amendments be in order prior to the conclusion of the votes: Ashcroft amendment No. 145; Conrad amendment No. 147 regarding Social Security; a Bond amendment regarding the President's budget; and a Kennedy amendment regarding Medicare.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I think Senator Judd Gregg wants to speak about the amendment we set aside, and I yield him time for that at this point.

Mr. DOMENICI. We have no objection.

Mr. DOMENICI. First, I thank the distinguished majority leader for his assistance. I think that is a very good start. I also ask unanimous consent that heretofore any votes that we have had, that the time used up on votes count against the total time under the resolution.

Mr. DOMENICI. The Lautenberg amendment is not germane to the budget resolution; therefore, I raise a point of order under section 305(b)(2) of the Congressional Budget Act.

Mr. DOMENICI. I ask unanimous consent it be in order for me to make a point of order against the Lautenberg amendment so we can stack that vote.

Mr. DOMENICI. I ask for the yeas and nays on the Abraham amendment.