Byron Dorgan

Mr. DORGAN

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

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I think we are very close to final passage. We need to clear that, but Senator Bennett and I wish to proceed to the amendments that have been cleared on both sides as part of the managers' package. They have been considered by both sides and agreed to. I ask unanimous consent to bring up, en bloc, the following amendments: 1859, as modified, and I send the modifications to the desk; 1867, as modified, and I send those modifications to the desk; 1842; 1888, as modified, and I send the modifications to the desk; 1891; and 1892.

Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to dispense with the reading of the amendments that I sent to the desk.

Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, to clarify, I said 1892 as the last amendment. Again, those amendments have been cleared on both sides, and I believe there is no further debate. I would yield to my colleague, Senator Bennett, for his comments, and I would hope then for immediate consideration of the amendments.

Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for the immediate consideration of the amendments I sent to the desk, en bloc.

Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that they be agreed to, en bloc.

Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I believe we are again within minutes of being able to get to final passage. I make a point of order a quorum is not present.

Mr. DORGAN. I withhold my request.

Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I wanted in these moments to say a special thank you to Senator Bennett and the staff on the minority side and majority side who put this bill together and worked with us. This is a bill that funds the energy programs and water in this country. It is a bill that is very important. It has taken us a while on the floor to get it done. I believe we have two amendments also remaining that we are trying to clear. We hope to clear those by voice vote momentarily. Then we will go to final passage. Hopefully we will get clearance to do that so we could be done in 10 or 15 minutes. It has been a long saga on the floor of the Senate here on this bill for the last several days, but I think the work is valuable and important and useful for the country. It is a good investment in our future. As I said when we started this process, Senator Bennett is a great Senator to work with, a great Senator to partner with on some very important issues. He and his staff have done a great job, as has the staff on the majority side, putting this bill together. I am going to include all their names in the Record. I included most of their names at the start of this discussion a couple of days ago, but I want recognition paid to the people who spent time to put this bill together. I want to alert colleagues I hope within a matter of 5 or 10 minutes to be able to do the two amendments remaining by voice and then go to final passage.

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

Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I think the Senator from Florida is going to seek recognition in a moment. I wish to mention for the Record the names of those staff who have contributed to the construction of this appropriations bill on the Energy and Water Subcommittee: Doug Clapp, Scott O'Malia, Roger Cockrell, Barry Gaffney, Franz Wuerfmannsdobler, Molly Barackman, Ben Hammond, Tyler Owens. We have had a lot of staff people who have put in a great deal of time. I wished to mention them by name as my colleague has done as well. We are very grateful for the amount of time people put in to make these things happen. This bill was a very important bill. I think it was constructed very well. We had a markup in the subcommittee, the full committee, and now good discussion on the floor of the Senate. We are very close to final passage. We are waiting because a couple Senators are asking for commitments on amendments on a bill that does not relate to this before they will agree to final passage. I think we are very close to having their appetite for that satisfied and we can go to final passage. I believe the Senator from Florida is going to talk about two amendments that have been cleared on both sides that could then be cleared.

Mr. DORGAN. Both the minority and majority have cleared both these amendments. I would ask for a voice vote on the amendments.

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

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

Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that no further amendments be in order; that the substitute amendment, as amended, be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table; that the bill, as amended, be read a third time and the Senate then proceed to vote on passage of the bill; that upon passage, the Senate insist on its amendment, request a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses, and that the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate; provided further that if a budget point of order is raised against the substitute amendment and the point of order is not waived, then it be in order for another substitute amendment to be offered, minus the offending provisions but including any amendments which had been agreed to previously, and that then no further amendments be in order; that the new substitute amendment, as amended, be agreed to with the remaining provisions beyond the adoption of the substitute amendment remaining in effect; further, that the subcommittee plus Senator Inouye be appointed as conferees.

Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. DORGAN

Mr. DORGAN. 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 July 29, 2009 at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Protecting Shareholders and Enhancing Public Confidence by Improving Corporate Governance.''

Mr. DORGAN. 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 Wednesday, July 29, 2009, at 2:30 p.m. in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mr. DORGAN. 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 Wednesday, July 29, 2009.

Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, July 29, 2009, at 10 a.m.

Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, July 29, 2009, at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. DORGAN. 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 Wednesday, July 29, 2009, at 10 a.m.

Mr. DORGAN. 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 Wednesday, July 29, 2009, at 3 p.m.

Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 29, 2009, at 10 a.m. in room SD-226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Nominations.''