Pete Domenici

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, June 21, 2005 at 2:30 p.m., to hold a hearing on nominations.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Tomorrow, the Senate will resume consideration of the Energy bill. Under the previous order, as we have just indicated, Senator Feinstein will offer a liquefied natural gas amendment in the morning, under 1-hour time agreement. Following that debate, the Senator from West Virginia, Senator Byrd, will offer an amendment regarding rural gas prices. It is my hope that we will be able to stack the votes in relation to the Feinstein amendment with additional votes tomorrow morning. Senators should expect at least 1 vote prior to lunch. For the remainder of the day, we will continue working through the amendments on the bill. We reached an agreement tonight with respect to the McCain-Lieberman climate change amendment. We expect to dispose of the amendment tomorrow afternoon. We will consider additional amendments tomorrow, and Senators should expect rollcall votes throughout the day and into the evening. Finally, I remind Senators we just filed cloture on the bill. That cloture vote will occur on Thursday, as we try to complete the bill this week. As a reminder, under the provisions of rule XXII, the first-degree amendments must be filed by 1 p.m. tomorrow.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent the Senate stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. I understand there is a bill at the desk that is due for its second reading.

Mr. DOMENICI. In order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I would object to further proceeding.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. I say to the majority leader and minority leader, I apologize; I was not here for the entire dialog between the two of them. I know there is this business of who is going to be absent which days, but I say to both Senators, I do not think that should keep us from continuing to insist that Senators who have amendments bring them forward. We have to see them.

Mr. DOMENICI. We need to know about them. There are two that we know of, one to strike the inventory of offshore assets. That will take a little while. Somebody should offer that before the day is out. That is an hour or two, and there will be a vote. We think Senator Feinstein has one. We would hope that would come forth. I think over the evening and midmorning tomorrow something will filter out with reference to global warming. Whether it is one, two, or whatever, there will be a conclusion, and somebody will offer an amendment. That will be the longest one. I do not know what the Senate leadership wants to do about the fact that it is probably real that there will not be 100 Senators each of the days, but I do not know that that ought to keep us from moving forward and getting some accord as to finishing this bill. I do not know which day, but we are not in the kind of problem we have been in the past. As both Senators know, we can get to the amendments pretty quickly.

Mr. DOMENICI. I thank the Senators for their comments.

Mr. DOMENICI

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

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I understand the distinguished Senator, Mr. Wyden, is here and desires to speak. I yield the floor.

Mr. DOMENICI. Reserving the right to object, is there a pending amendment?

Mr. DOMENICI. He does not need consent to bring up the amendment.

Mr. DOMENICI. I wish to say as a preamble to his speech, for those who are going to listen to him, that he is a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and has been for some time. Most of the time people think that the committee is a committee of interior, public land States, but it also has a lot to do with coal and our energy future, diversification of our energy resources. We have had a marvelous committee. Part of it is because of Members such as Senator Bunning. He has been a great participant. He comes to the meetings, he works hard, he offers amendments. He understands we need an energy bill. He does not win all the time, but he has his views, and he has been a strong proponent for us getting our house in order and to use as much American energy as possible for our future. I commend him for it. I trust we will get a bill out of the Senate and out of conference, one he can vote with not just a ``yea'' but with a hearty ``yea,'' not just one of those softballs but one of those fastballs he used to throw. That is what we are looking for. I yield the floor and thank the Senator.

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

Mr. DOMENICI. I wonder if the Senator would watch the floor for me while I leave for 10 minutes.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, will the Senator yield to me for 1 minute?

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, the distinguished Senator, Mr. Bunning from the State of Kentucky, is going to speak, and I assume he is going to talk about the Energy bill; is that correct?

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, we will not argue our case against the case of the Senator from New York yet. We will do that tomorrow. Suffice it to say we are talking about a reserve. It is there as a safety valve in the event something were to happen, and we will talk about the perils of that and why the amendment should not be adopted. For now, it looks as if we are lining up a number of amendments for tomorrow, including some amendments that should be in place with reference to global warming and some agreements and understanding regarding them. Later on, an amendment about the inventory of offshore assets, resources, will be discussed and when that amendment to strike will be taken up. So we might have some understanding by morning on a series of votes. For now, I do not think we are going to do anything else other than wrap up business, and we will take care of that in due course. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there now be a period for morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday, June 21. I further ask that following the prayer and the pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time of the two leaders be reserved, and the Senate then resume consideration of H.R. 6, the Energy bill; provided further that the Senate resume consideration of Martinez amendment No. 783 and there be 80 minutes of debate with Senators Martinez, Nelson, Corzine, Landrieu, Bingaman, and Domenici each in control of 10 minutes, the two leaders or their designees in control of 10 minutes each; provided that following that time, the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to the amendment with no second degrees in order prior to the vote. I further ask consent that the Senate recess until from 11:30 a.m. until 2:15 p.m. for the weekly party luncheons.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Tomorrow, the Senate will resume consideration of the Energy bill under the previous order, and there will be up to 80 minutes of debate on the pending Martinez amendment on OCS inventory. Following the debate, the Senate will proceed to a vote in relation to the amendment. Therefore, the first vote of tomorrow's session will occur at 11 a.m. For the remainder of the day, we will continue working through the remaining amendments to the bill. We have a couple of amendments pending, including the Voinovich diesel emission amendment. It is my hope that we can lock in time agreements on those amendments tomorrow afternoon. I also remind my colleagues that we will complete action on this bill this week. This is the statement of the leader. In an effort to move this process forward, we may file cloture on the bill tomorrow; therefore, Senators who have amendments should contact the bill managers as soon as possible.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. On behalf of the leader, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 178, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. DOMENICI. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.