Jon Kyl

Mr. KYL

Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Ensign).

Mr. KYL. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Bond), the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Domenici), and the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Domenici).

Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Domenici).

Mr. KYL. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Bond), the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Domenici), and the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

Mr. KYL

Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Vitter).

Mr. KYL. Mr. President, if I could just address this question to the majority leader. That is exactly the question I had. Since we announced the 10 minutes, in the last vote we went over by about 5 minutes. We need to be consistent and our Members need to know what the rules are going to be. We made an exception here. My inquiry to the Chair is whether, as a result of that exception, which did change the result of the vote, that the precedent would now be that we actually would have up to 15 minutes to cast votes.

Mr. KYL. Mr. President, we need to defeat this amendment. This is not the usual AMT fix we are used to. This actually repeals rates of the AMT that were put into effect in 1993. The reality is we are not going to increase taxes in order to pay for the relief that would be provided to taxpayers here. This points out the difference between the Specter amendment, which we will deal with next, and the Conrad amendment. I urge my colleagues to support the Specter amendment because it is the real deal. It is the real way we will deal with AMT, rather than the phony way that is presented by a mere indication that we will find revenues somewhere to offset against this tax cut. The question the majority would have to answer is: What taxes are you going to raise in order to pay for this rate reduction for the people who would otherwise pay the AMT? There is certainly no suggestion that there is a spending cut in the offing. Therefore, what taxes would be raised to pay for this?

Mr. KYL. Mr. President, one final question. I think I need to address this to the Chair as a purely parliamentary inquiry; that is, once the clerk's tally has been requested by the Presiding Officer, is the vote closed or not, except for Members who might wish to change their vote?

Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

Mr. KYL. Mr. President, might I inquire as to whether any of the persons who have cast a vote since the Presiding Officer made that comment have changed their vote? The reality is they cast their vote after the time for voting expired by at least 4 minutes.

Mr. KYL. Mr. President, parliamentary inquiry: Once the Presiding Officer has announced the clerks will tally the vote, is the vote not concluded?

Mr. KYL. Mr. President, the time of the vote has expired.

Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. KYL. I am sorry, Mr. President, I am perhaps confused because I have two questions. The first was, since the time for voting had clearly expired by at least 4 minutes and the vote was within two or three of being tied and the majority leader said it was the case that Members could continue to change their votes or vote if it was a close vote, whether we had now established a precedent for the remainder of the day that if we are within two or three of a tie vote, even though we are 4 minutes beyond the time for voting, that the Chair would then, according to this precedent, allow people to change their vote or cast a vote?

Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).

Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn).