Wendell Ford

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. No.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Arizona [Mr. Bumpers] is necessarily absent.

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

Mr. FORD. I asked for a quorum.

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, regular order.

Mr. FORD. Regular order.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 3995

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Connecticut [Mr. Dodd] and the Senator from Connecticut [Mr. Lieberman] are necessarily absent.

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Virginia [Mr. Robb] is necessarily absent.

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I object. Mr. KENNEDY addressed the Chair.

Mr. FORD. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 4009

Mr. FORD. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 4013, As Amended

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from West Virginia [Mr. Rockefeller] and the Senator from Alabama [Mr. Heflin] are necessarily absent.

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Connecticut [Mr. Dodd] and the Senator from Connecticut [Mr. Lieberman] are necessarily absent.

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, 1 minute equally divided, so 30 seconds each?

Mr. FORD. It is hard to say good morning in 30 seconds.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. Reserving the right to object, Mr. President, and I do not suspect I will object. The reason is, we were told by the floor leader that we would be in at 10 and start voting at 10 in the morning, and we would be out from 1 until 2 and then come back and complete it. Then we heard it was going to be 11 o'clock. Now it is twelve o'clock. We are trying to adjust our schedules, and here within 30 minutes we have had a 2-hour shift. I would like to hold up until I have had an opportunity to discuss it with our leader to be sure of the arrangements they have worked on based on the previous announcement.

Mr. FORD. I appreciate that. I have no objections now, I say. But it is just the idea of clearing things as you would clear them on your side. We will be clearing it with somebody different in a couple weeks.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. We had worked out on this side an opportunity for the Senator from Washington, Senator Murray, to be somewhere between noon and 2 o'clock.

Mr. FORD. We would like to reverse that, Senator, and put Senator Murray before Senator Kerry.

Mr. FORD. Yes, and Senator Murray will be speaking in favor of the amendment of Senator Kerry. She has an amendment also. It would work out for her travel plans. We agreed the 12 to 2 o'clock period she could introduce her amendment.

Mr. FORD. It is somewhere before 2 o'clock.

Mr. FORD. May I ask one more question? I apologize for taking so long, but would Senator Domenici advise me about the amendment by Senator Nunn on long-term entitlement reform. It seems to me he and Senator Brown may have a joint amendment. I wanted to be sure that Senator Nunn was accommodated.

Mr. FORD. That will be sometime late Monday?

Mr. FORD. That would be ideal, sometime around 5 o'clock or after.