Judd Gregg

Mr. GREGG

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that this amendment be agreed to.

Mr. GREGG. I ask that all debate on this amendment be completed by 8:25.

Mr. GREGG. Will the Senator yield? Is the Senator willing to enter into a time agreement on this amendment?

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, for the information of our Membership, we are waiting for two Members who have amendments on the list to go before 9:30: One dealing with gaming, Senator Kyl; and one dealing with defenders, Senator Nickles. As soon as they arrive we will begin those amendments and begin debate on those amendments. As I mentioned earlier, if there is a Member who wishes to bring forward an amendment at this time, it appears we have some time to do that. We will welcome their attendance on the floor. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all time be yielded back on the Feingold amendment and all debate on that amendment be concluded.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I will simply note for my colleagues that we are making pretty good progress through these amendments that have been lined up. We lined up seven amendments to do before 9:30. We are making excellent progress. If there are Members who have other amendments, it is possible we can work them in. If they can come down to the floor and discuss them, that will be helpful. We are going to stay on the bill until it gets done, if I have my option. The sooner we can wrap up these amendments, the better. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum. I withdraw that.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, at this time I ask unanimous consent that all debate on the Feingold amendment be completed at 8 o'clock, the time between now and 8 o'clock be divided between Senator Feingold and Members or a Member in opposition, and that no second-degree amendments to the Feingold amendment be in order.

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

Mr. GREGG. At this time I can't agree with that. I am not aware of a second-degree amendment.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I just asked that there be a time limit of 40 minutes equally divided on the amendment.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, we will now move on to the Feingold amendment. For Members' notice, the next item in order will be Senator Feingold's amendment dealing with the cable issue. I presume he will be here at any time to start that. Those Members wishing to speak on that amendment should be on the floor as I assume there will also be a time limit on this amendment. In fact, I ask unanimous consent that debate on the Feingold amendment be limited to 40 minutes equally divided.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent at this time that all time be yielded.

Mr. GREGG. I ask unanimous consent that the next 5 minutes also be allocated to me.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I suggest that for the next 5 minutes the time be charged to my time.

Mr. GREGG. I ask unanimous consent that there also be no second- degrees on the McCain amendment.

Mr. GREGG. Would the Senator yield?

Mr. GREGG. That was not my understanding.

Mr. GREGG. If the Senator will yield, the unanimous consent agreement did not preclude second-degrees. At this time I am not in a position to preclude second-degrees. I do not expect one. I am not aware of one, but I am not in a position to agree to that.

Mr. GREGG. The allocation will be 10 minutes--sorry, 30 minutes--10 minutes to the Senator from Utah, 15 minutes to the Senator from Virginia, and 5 minutes to the Senator from Arizona.

Mr. GREGG. I suggest all debate on this amendment be concluded within 25 minutes.

Mr. GREGG. I suggest at this time we turn to the amendment from Senator Bumpers. I ask unanimous consent that he be recognized on his amendment, that there be 40 minutes, equally divided, on the Bumpers amendment, and that at the conclusion of that, that we turn back to the Thompson amendment.

Mr. GREGG. If you use the unified, you get $171 billion. If you don't use--those are surpluses that are independent of the Social Security system.

Mr. GREGG. If you use the Social Security trust funds, the surpluses in 2004 would be $154 billion. If we don't use the unified, you get a zero number.

Mr. GREGG. Let's go back to the unified budget surplus.