John Kerry

Mr. KERRY

Mr. KERRY. Would the Senator extend that courtesy to me for the purpose of an administrative question?

Mr. KERRY. I thank the Chair.

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I will not assert this, but ask the Senator from Missouri if he is aware that under the rules of the Senate, and under precedence of the Senate, a Senator may yield for a question, a Senator may not yield for a statement in the guise of a question, and a Senator may not yield for a question proceeded by or followed by a statement. And that under rule 194 of the Senate, either by request of the Senator or by decision of the Chair, a Senator may be asked, in fact, to give up his right to the floor and take his seat if that rule is violated? Is the Senator aware of that?

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, could I ask one administrative question of the Senator from Missouri?

Mr. KERRY. The Senator is not entitled to make a statement.

Mr. KERRY. I thank the Chair.

Mr. KERRY. It is not up to the Senator from Utah to make that decision.

Mr. KERRY. Will the Senator yield for an administrative question?

Mr. KERRY. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. KERRY. Would the Senator permit a parliamentary question? Would the Senator from Missouri yield for a question?

Mr. KERRY. Does the Senator not have to ask a legitimate question?

Mr. KERRY. Parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. KERRY. With that appropriate announcement, and the joy that it brings, we will yield to the Senator from Missouri and take our licks.

Mr. KERRY. I will be happy to yield to my friend from Arizona for his purpose.

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that this side now be permitted to consume, it is 2 o'clock, maybe 1 hour 15 minutes, to be divided among Members on our side in order to have an opportunity to debate the bill.

Mr. KERRY. Again, without the Senator losing his right to the floor, I propound a question. How long does the Senator from Utah think that might be?

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I ask my colleague if he would agree to the following structure then. Would it be agreeable to the Senator from Missouri, since he and the intercessions of the Senator from Utah have now taken up about an hour and 15 minutes, if we were to have perhaps 45 minutes or an hour for those on our side to speak, with the understanding that when they are finished the Senator from Missouri would then be recognized to again continue his remarks?

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, without the Senator losing any right to the floor, I ask if I may ask a question.

Mr. KERRY. I thank the Senator. Mr. President, that is exactly what we are trying to find out. I will accept the Senator's word, obviously, that he is going to try to wrap up around 2 o'clock and allow other people to debate. So we will afford that. I thank the Senator from Missouri.

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I appreciate full well that questions, in a way, have educated the Senate, and all we are trying to do is find a way. Obviously, some other colleagues planned their day, since we tried to do this outside sort of the rigorous assertion of the rules, if you will. That said, would we be able to rely on and could we perhaps enter into an agreement now that the Senator would finish at 2 o'clock at which point we would have an opportunity on our side to be able to allow a number of people to speak for a little period of time to try to balance it out a bit?

Mr. KERRY

Mr. KERRY. Fine, Mr. President. We will try to stick with that.

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, that is fine.

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I wanted to indicate to my friend from Arizona that the Senator from Missouri indicates to me that he intends to speak for a relative period of time. It was agreeable to him as a result of that to try to accommodate a couple of Members over here, unless they want to wait until afterwards. I am just trying to balance it. Could the Senator perhaps give us some indication of the length of time, so we can try to pin this down?

Mr. KERRY

Mr. KERRY. I yield the floor. Mr. KERREY addressed the Chair.

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, that is, I think, a superb way to proceed. It is the way we have been trying to proceed. I thank the majority leader for trying to structure it that way. There was an understanding prior to that that the Senator from Nebraska will proceed for 15 minutes, at which point Senators Gregg and Leahy will be recognized for their amendment.