Don Nickles

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, if we can have order, I believe Senator Bingaman has the next amendment.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, Senator Bingaman's amendment creates a new point of order against specific policies that might be reported to the Finance Committee. It is not at all related to the budgetary effects of such legislation and is not appropriate for inclusion in the budget resolution. It is not germane. I raise a point of order against the amendment pursuant to section 305 of the Budget Act because the amendment is not germane.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President I believe the next amendment to be voted on was offered by Senator Lieberman.

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

Mr. NICKLES. Just to inform our colleagues, we are going to have a vote on the Lieberman amendment and then on the Kennedy amendment. Then we are going to try to organize a bunch of other votes. So we are making progress. I thank the minority leader and also my colleague Senator Conrad. We are making good progress. We have amendments on both sides. I know a lot of people want to get some of these considered. We are going to move as quickly as possible. Let's get through these next two votes and then we will see where we go. I urge our colleagues to expect a late night tonight. We have a lot of work today. It is possible we could even finish tonight if we all cooperate.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I will comment on the amendment of my good friend Senator Lieberman. This amendment would increase taxes by $13.7 billion over the next 5 years. It spends $6.8 billion, or presumes to spend $6.8 billion on homeland security. That would be a 40-percent increase over this year. We have already provided in the budget a 15-percent increase over last year. My colleague mentioned defense. We just increased defense spending 7 percent over last year. Homeland security is 15 percent. I don't think, frankly, we can afford 40 percent. I urge my colleagues to vote no on the Lieberman amendment.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I inform our colleagues that we are making great progress. I thank Senator Conrad and Senator Daschle for their assistance. The next and last amendment we have in the original list of amendments is offered by Senator Kennedy. I also want to repeat what Senator Conrad said a moment ago. It is our intention to keep plowing ahead. We are making good progress. We are accepting some amendments. We may have to have a few more rollcall votes but I hope not too many. Senator Kennedy will be the next in the order.

Mr. NICKLES. I yield to my colleague from New Hampshire.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on the amendment.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, we now have two or three sense-of-the- Senates. I will just tell everybody, Senator Conrad and I have decided we are not going to have any rollcalls on sense-of-the-senates, at least that is not our intention. We are willing to agree to a couple as long as they will keep debate to the sense-of-the-Senates very brief, like 1 minute. I believe Senator Feinstein or Senator Mikulski has one. Senator Mikulski has one, I believe, and we would be happy to consider it.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I apologize to my colleague. Yours is a regular amendment, but we made it deficit-neutral, so we are willing to accept your amendment. So if you send it to the desk, we will accept it.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I compliment my colleague from Maryland. There is no objection to the amendment on this side.

Mr. NICKLES. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I believe the Senator from Minnesota, Mr. Coleman, has an amendment.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I believe the Senator from California, Mrs. Feinstein, has a sense-of-the-Senate resolution.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, this is another one of these amendments-- we have had a dozen of them now--that says we are going to pay for this by increasing taxes on wealthy people. I don't know how many times we have to vote on it. Then I look at the spending. It says we will increase spending by $3.4 billion from 2.1 to 5.5. That is a 164- percent increase. It is a big tax increase. It is a humongous spending increase. I urge my colleagues to vote no.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, we are making progress. Senator Conrad and I are reducing the amendments pretty quickly. I compliment him for that. We are trying to accommodate Members on both sides of the aisle. Maybe we can get this legislation finished tonight. I believe the Senator from Alaska has an amendment.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I was hoping my colleague from Connecticut, my very good friend, since the hour is getting late, would accept a voice vote. Maybe not yet. Maybe people will start considering that option. Most people know how the votes might come out. This is a $2 billion tax increase. Again, it is only directed at the millionaires or the upper income bracket, but, of course, that is not what the Finance Committee gets. The Finance Committee gets a resolution that says raise revenues. Then I look at the function it hopes to have the money go to. It would increase by 100 percent. I keep hearing people say we want deficit reduction, but I keep seeing programs grow by 100 percent, 140 percent. I urge our colleagues to vote no on the amendment.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, No. 1, I thank my colleague from Georgia for his brief discussion and for not offering the amendment. I think if he offered the amendment we might be here a little while. I believe the chairman of the Agriculture Committee would like to make a few comments.

Mr. NICKLES. I thank our colleagues from Mississippi and Georgia, because collectively they saved the Senate probably about two hours. I thank both of our colleagues for their cooperation. We are having very good cooperation. We are getting rid of a lot of amendments. I know there are a few that people want to have votes on, so please be patient and we will try to have voice votes on every other amendment we consider tonight. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum for a very brief moment.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I also believe there is a sense-of-the- Senate resolution by the Senator from Arkansas, Senator Pryor, dealing with LIHEAP. That is at no cost, and we have no objection to that sense of the Senate as well. I ask for its consideration.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I thank our colleagues. We are making good progress. We have a few more to go. We might have to have a couple more votes. I want people to be patient and expect as much. My colleague from Kentucky has been waiting and he is ready to offer an amendment. Possibly it can be accepted.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, for the information of all colleagues, we are still shopping a few more amendments. We are trying to get bipartisan agreement on about half a dozen amendments. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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