J. Exon

Mr. EXON

Mr. EXON. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. EXON. I object. The Senator from Nebraska yielded to the Senator from Massachusetts with certain instructions and understandings that the Senator from Nebraska is going to insist upon. Therefore, I yielded to the Senator from Massachusetts not to offer an amendment, but to make such remarks as he sees fit.

Mr. EXON. I yield 2 minutes to the Senator from Michigan and following that 2 minutes to the Senator from Minnesota.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, unfortunately, the Senator from Nebraska is placed in the position where I have a great number of Senators who want to address this. If I have any time left for myself at all, I would like to answer some of the statements that have been made. But in view of the fact that I have Members on this side who are very vitally involved in this whole matter at this time, I would like to yield 2 additional minutes for whatever purposes he sees proper to my colleague from North Dakota. I would like to yield, following that 2 minutes, to my colleague from the State of Illinois and 2 minutes to my colleague from the State of New Jersey, 6 minutes in total.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I yield 6 minutes to the Senator from North Dakota, followed by 2 minutes for the Senator from Florida.

Mr. EXON. Since we are limiting--may I suggest we take care of the two Senators that I have mentioned--this is 4 minutes--and then go to 10 minutes. Is that reasonable?

Mr. EXON. The first two I have are Senator Leahy for 2 minutes and then Senator Baucus for 2 minutes.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I have four more relatively short speakers that I would like to yield to at this time. I would like to yield at this time in whatever order they are entitled to the floor from the time allotted to me most generously by my colleague from California. First is Senator Leahy for 2 minutes, and then Senator Baucus for 2 minutes, Senator Conrad for 6 minutes, and fourth, Senator Graham for 2 minutes.

Mr. EXON. I simply say to my friend, we want to be accommodating, too. We know the situation we are in. I have three additional Senators which I had assigned time, of which Senator Reid is one of them. There is 1 minute, 2 minutes, and 2 minutes. If we could accommodate those Senators who have been waiting--and I do not want to be unfair--for the next 5 minutes, at least we would take care of the first round of the attempts that this Senator is trying to make to accommodate a whole group of Senators on this side who want to speak. Could we complete the first round, in line with the question from the Senator from Nevada?

Mr. EXON. We are now going to go forward in an orderly fashion. I yield 2 minutes to the Senator from Louisiana. Following the Senator from Louisiana, I had committed to yield 1 minute to the Senator from Maryland, 2 minutes to the other Senator from Maryland, 2 minutes to the Senator from New Mexico, 4 minutes to the Senator from Massachusetts, 2 minutes [[Page S7309]] to the Senator from Nevada, and then we will go to a main amendment of the Senator from North Dakota. Mr. JOHNSTON addressed the Chair.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I move to lay that motion on the table.

Mr. EXON. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Vote on Amendment No. 1128

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on two amendments that have been previously ordered to be voted on. I ask for the yeas and nays on the Feingold amendment and the yeas and nays on the Dodd substitute.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, the Senate is not in order.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I request the yeas and nays.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I believe now we would proceed under the previously agreed to order. I yield such time as she may need to the Senator from the State of California.

Mr. EXON. Will the chairman yield for a question? The question I have for my great friend and colleague I want to preface by saying the chairman knows of my fondness for him and the many years that we have worked. I have never seen a finer presentation, I say to my friend from Oregon. I do not disagree with a single thing he has said. I think he said it all very, very well. I cannot think of a more important amendment that will pass. I think this amendment will pass. I know of no objection to it on this side. I just checked with Senator Domenici. He knows of no objection on his side of the aisle. I think the case has been adequately made. I have a list of 23 Democratic Senators, and heaven knows how many on that side of the aisle, that have other important matters, and we run out of time at noon today on the amendment. I am just wondering, since I think there seems to be near unanimous support for the amendment, if there is any way that we can cut down some of the time to allow some of these other Senators a chance to offer their amendments. Because of the time constraints, because I would not want to see any of our colleagues have a heart attack or apoplexy for fear that they are not able to talk on their amendment, I am just wondering, my question is can we get some time agreement if we would agree to yield back our whole hour of the time? I know of no opposition on this side. Could we get an agreement to cut down the remaining 50 minutes or so that the chairman has? I think he has made his case very well.

Mr. EXON. Certainly.

Mr. EXON. Will the Senator yield for a question?

Mr. EXON. I will simply add there have been Senators coming to me wanting 10 to 20 minutes. I have cut them most down to 1 or 2 minutes. If I might courteously suggest that if we had some time constraints, I believe everything good can be said about this amendment in a minute if people choose their words very carefully.

Mr. EXON

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, this amendment is offered by myself. It creates a majority vote point of order against legislation which increases the public debt beyond that set forth in the budget resolution. It is something that we discussed in the committee.

Mr. EXON. You can get the word of the two managers, if that will suffice for the distinguished Senator from Colorado.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, pursuant to section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, I move to waive that act for the consideration of the pending amendment. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. EXON

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, the second-degree amendment strikes language in the Grassley-Domenici amendment which would restructure the IRS compliance initiative placing it within the budget caps.