John Kerry

Mr. KERRY

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, let me just say, at this point, to the Senator from Missouri, that I greatly appreciate the comments he made. This question of our dependence on a whole series of things which matter to our national security, including these rare minerals, is an enormously important one, and I think he has done a good service to the Senate to bring it to our attention. So I thank him for that. Let me also say we are open for business. We would love to get going on some amendments on the START treaty, and I look forward to the opportunity to debate those amendments and, hopefully, have some votes on them in the course of the afternoon. Until such time as that may become a reality, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. KERRY

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 505, H.R. 5901.

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read a third time, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; that the title amendment which is at the desk be considered and agreed to, and that any statements relating to the measure be printed in the Record.

Mr. KERRY

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to proceed as if in legislative session for the purpose of processing some cleared legislative items.

Mr. KERRY

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 689, S. 1481.

Mr. KERRY

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 693, H.R. 4973.

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. KERRY

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I think the Senator from North Dakota wanted to engage in a very brief colloquy regarding some of the funding on the modernization program, and I know Senator Feinstein, the chairperson of the Intelligence Committee, wishes to talk about verification a little bit. I do this with the indulgence of the Senator from California. If an amendment is ready, we are ready to go to an amendment. So we are not trying to delay by any speaker any movement to an amendment. I wish to restate that 58 Senators on this side of the aisle are ready to vote on this treaty this afternoon. We are ready to vote now. If there are amendments, we are also ready to take up those. We would love to see if we could get the process going. I don't know if the Senator from North Dakota is here. He may not be here. I see the Senator from Tennessee is on his feet. He may wish to ask a question.

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, if the Senator from Arizona was about to speak on this, I would be happy to let him speak, and then Senator Lugar and I might respond. Is the Senator from Arizona able to say, by way of seeing where we are headed here, how long he thinks he might take?

Mr. KERRY. And possibly Senator Graham had a question, and I thought I would also respond to his question, if he wanted to pursue that.

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I completely understand and accept the Senator's desire to have this robust debate, and I welcome it. I agree that some of these issues are contentious and there are different points of view. This is exactly what we ought to be debating. I am in favor of that.

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I am about to completely cover for the Senator. Senator Kyl has been working with me. We want to make sure, as I said, everybody gets a chance, so I am just trying to lock it in. This is coming from me from Senator Kyl. I ask unanimous consent that Senator Sessions be given 30 minutes; that following Senator Sessions, Senator Kirk have 15 minutes; that following him, Senator Dodd have 20 minutes; that following him, Senator Graham of South Carolina have 10 minutes; and then Senator DeMint from South Carolina have 15 minutes.

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I appreciate that very much.

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, could I ask, is the Senator from Alabama saying he can't finish his floor remarks with respect to the treaty or to this amendment?

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I think we would like, if we could, to wrap up the debate this evening. I ask unanimous consent as it follows, then, that at the end of the list of speakers on the Republican side, Senator Sessions be granted the floor--for what period of time would the Senator like?

Mr. KERRY. Thirty minutes at the end of that, so the Senator will have--Senator Sessions will have two sessions, and we will come back after that. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I reserve 30 minutes after Senator Sessions, and at that time, could I ask--at that time, could we agree at that point to ask for the time for a vote perhaps tomorrow?

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, the other speaker on our side will be Senator Dodd. As stated, he will come after Senator Graham. I am reserving time, such time as I will use, either after Senator Kyl or Senator McCain. I ask unanimous consent that be the end of the speakers on this amendment, and we will agree to set a time for a vote according to the leadership.

Mr. KERRY. I really would like to lock it in, if I can, and I think this is a good effort and we can close it this way. Could we agree that this list will be the final list of speakers on this amendment, with the allowance for 5 minutes on each side prior to a vote?

Mr. KERRY. I think that is fine. We are moving in the right direction. I appreciate the effort of the Senator. We will get there. Is the Chair clear on the names? Senator Sessions for 30 minutes; we request Senator Graham for 10 minutes following that; Senator Dodd for 20 minutes following that; Senator Kirk for 15 minutes following that; Senator DeMint for 10 minutes--15 minutes; Senator Thune for 15 minutes; and then Senator Kyl and Senator McCain for such time as they will use; and Senator Kerry for such time as I choose to use.

Mr. KERRY. Senator Sessions for an additional 30 minutes at such time between Senator Kyl and Senator McCain as they would allow.

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I apologize, and I apologize to the Senator. The Senator from New York has informed me that he would like 5 minutes somewhere in there. I ask, according to the unanimous consent agreement, that he be permitted to speak after Senator Kirk. Actually, could he be permitted to speak for 5 minutes after Senator Sessions? I thank the Chair.

Mr. KERRY. I understand the comment of the Senator from Arizona. Let me ask this if I may: I appreciate the Senator from Arizona and the Senator from South Carolina agreeing to this. I ask unanimous consent to amend the request for the order to allow Senator Levin to have 10 minutes now and then we would go back to the order with Senator Graham, and Senator Barrasso would be added for 10 minutes to the overall list.

Mr. KERRY. I know another Senator is about to be recognized and I will not take very long. Let me just say I understand the frustration of colleagues. I truly do. I think my colleagues know the good-faith efforts the President, the Vice President, myself, and others have made to try to move the schedule here. The fact is, we began debate on this treaty on Wednesday afternoon--Wednesday morning, but we were delayed slightly--Wednesday afternoon after Senator Lincoln's farewell. We had opening speeches. Everybody argued it was important to have opening speeches and not necessarily have an amendment right away; we need to have openings. So we had openings. Then we had the second day of debate. Today, Friday, we have had the third day of debate. So tomorrow, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we have the opportunity to have the fourth day, fifth day, sixth day, which is what colleagues said we needed to try to accomplish this--maybe 6 days--and I believe we can do it in that period of time. I have been here for 25 years. I have been here when we have had a Republican President and a Republican majority leader. I have been here when we have had a Democratic President and a Republican majority leader and a Republican House and every variation. Inevitably, we have had some tough choices to face which don't please everybody. There are times when we are forced to try to deal with the business of our country. I respect completely--I have worked so closely with the Senator from Arizona for so many years. I know the feelings are what they are. But this treaty is, in our judgment and in the President's judgment, important to our national security. We have 150,000 troops out there across the world--Iraq, Afghanistan. They are pretty uncomfortable tonight, but they are doing their job. I believe we need to do our job here and not necessarily spend so much time worrying about schedule, which often we don't control, for one reason or another. I know the Senator is upset about something that came over from the House. We don't control the House. The House made a decision to pass something and send that to us, and the majority leader, for all the obvious reasons, feels compelled it is something he ought to deal with. So let's do this business. Let's not complain. I think the important thing here is to keep working. It is Friday night. I will stay as late as anybody wants to bring an amendment. Tomorrow we have some votes. We may or may not have intervening business. I don't know what the outcome of those votes will be. But we have the ability to continue on this treaty, and we certainly have the ability to finish it well before Christmas. The majority leader has made it clear to me. There are only four items or five items that have to be dealt with. The spending, and now that is going to be short-term spending until we resolve the differences. So we have spending. The second item is the two votes tomorrow, that is three items, and perhaps one other vote on the New York thing--I don't know what the situation is on that--and the START treaty. So on two of those items, I think most people understand we are not sure what the outcome is going to be. One we may be on for 1 day. It is hard to say. But other than that, this is the only business.

Mr. KERRY. I am happy to yield.