Carl Levin

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, we are going to withhold the unanimous consent agreement at this time. There have been a number of questions raised about it. The time is being well spent actually. Those questions need to be asked, but there are enough of them so that we will pick that up on Monday. But we are making good progress. We are going to have another 17 cleared amendments that will be coming up, we hope, in the next 5 or 10 minutes. We have already disposed of 77 amendments. I think we have done it in a way which will make this body proud that we are legislating. If people want to filibuster, threaten to filibuster or debate something, we are going to say: Come over and debate--which we have. So we have avoided these long periods of space. We have had no threat of a filibuster that has required a threshold of 60. We have had majority votes, and not the 60-threshold votes except for that one technical budget amendment issue. We are making great progress. I believe we will continue to make progress. The leader, in a moment, I believe, is going to a file cloture motion which is going to help with progress. But between now and the time we vote on cloture, both this afternoon and on Monday, we are going to continue to work on amendments to try to clear amendments. I am sure we will voice-vote amendments in the cases that they have been cleared and do not require a voice vote. The leader will, in a moment, again, state what his plans are. But for the time being, I want to thank our leader for the support he has given to the managers. It is essential. We have had that support. We are grateful for it, and to all of our colleagues and staffs working on this bill, which is always complex and always has literally hundreds of amendments. I yield the floor.

Mr. LEVIN

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I call up now a list of 17 amendments which have been cleared by myself and Senator McCain: Wyden amendment No. 2959; Bingaman amendment No. 2984; Grassley amendment No. 3079; Barrasso amendment No. 3082; Vitter amendment No. 3087, as modified by changes at the desk; Klobuchar amendment No. 3102; Klobuchar amendment No. 3105; Murkowski amendment No. 3135; Warner amendment No. 3145; Collins amendment No. 3196, as modified by changes at the desk; Barrasso amendment No. 3198; Klobuchar amendment No. 3234; Reid amendment No. 3244; McCain amendment No. 3247, as modified by changes at the desk; Alexander amendment No. 3258; Levin amendment No. 3280; Begich amendment No. 3290.

Mr. LEVIN. I ask unanimous consent that these amendments be considered en bloc, the amendments be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. LEVIN. I thank Senator McCain. He very humorously, with his great, good nature, kind of joshes himself comparing his patience to mine. My standard is not the one that anybody wants to follow around here; We will never get anything done. He is more than patient, and I am very grateful that he is standing there in that ranking position and sitting right in that ranking position. I hope he stays in that ranking position in some committee at least for many, many, many years--in the ranking position.

Mr. LEVIN. I join in that too. Now, we have to close. I don't know if we have the closing. We do.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. I ask unanimous consent that on Monday, December 3, 2012, at 5 p.m., the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination: Calendar No. 760; that there will be 30 minutes for debate equally divided in the usual form; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on the nomination; the motion to reconsider be made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order; that any related statements be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader, in consultation with the Republican leader, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 676; that there be 30 minutes for debate equally divided in the usual form; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on the nomination, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, and that no further motions be in order on the nomination; that any statements related to the nomination be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 508, S. 2170.

Mr. LEVIN. I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute amendment be agreed to; the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed; the committee-reported title amendment be agreed to with no intervening action or debate; and that any related statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 605, submitted earlier today.

Mr. LEVIN. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any related statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements related to the resolution be printed in the Record.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to consideration of S. Res. 606, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 2 p.m. on Monday, December 3, 2012; that following the prayer and the pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate resume consideration of the DOD Authorization Act, S. 3254; and that at 5 p.m. the Senate proceed to executive session under the previous order; further, that following disposition of the order with respect to the Grimm nomination, the Senate immediately resume consideration of S. 3254 and then proceed to the vote on the motion to invoke cloture; and that the second-degree filing deadline for amendments to S. 3254 be at 4 p.m. on Monday.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, there will be two rollcalls on Monday at 5:30. I emphasize the two rollcall votes I am referring to would be at 5:30. The first will be confirmation of the Grimm nomination and the second will be cloture on the DOD authorization bill. There could be additional rollcalls to the two I referred to on Monday. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the provisions of S. Res. 607 as a further mark of respect to the memory of former Senator George McGovern of South Dakota.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to consideration of S. Res. 607, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. LEVIN. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements relating to this matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I don't know of any further debate on this side on the Portman amendment. We support it, and we have no objection to it going to a voice vote at this time.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, we will try to get time agreements on those two amendments. In the meantime we are continuing to work through amendments. We are going to have more cleared amendments. We are going to get to the detention issue today. We are going to try to get to all of the issues people want to raise today so we can finish by the end of the day tomorrow. We have assured everyone who is interested in the detention issue that we will be getting to that later this afternoon. Vote on Amendment No. 3095

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