Don Nickles

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I thank all of our colleagues for their cooperation on eliminating two amendments. Mr. President, I call upon the Senator from Alaska who has an amendment.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I thank Senator Murkowski and also Senator Mikulski for their leadership in putting this amendment together. I urge its adoption.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I have two amendments that have been agreed upon by both sides of the aisle. One is an amendment by Senator Grassley, and an amendment by Senator Byrd and Senator Cochran. I ask for their immediate consideration.

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

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, one of these is an amendment Senator Byrd alluded to yesterday. Of these amendments was one Senator Byrd had mentioned that Senator Conrad had on his list. It is an amendment that is very complicated, and I will work with Senator Byrd and also Senator Cochran who raised it, and Senator Judd Gregg, all who are involved in bioshield and how it was scored. We will try to score it correctly, and we will work with our colleagues in a manner to do that. We are happy to accept that amendment. The second amendment is an amendment by Senator Grassley.

Mr. NICKLES. I want to thank our colleagues. We are making progress. I especially want to thank Senator Ensign who just withdrew his amendment on firewall. I am sure that will save us a substantial amount of time. On our side I believe we have amendments still pending. It would be the Kyl amendment and, I am hopeful, final passage. If Senator Conrad would look at this, I believe we have both agreed to clear an amendment of Senator Specter and Senator Harkin. For the information of our colleagues, we are down to maybe two amendments on our side. I see Senator Lautenberg is standing up.

Mr. NICKLES. Does Senator Conrad want to go with Senator Lautenberg's amendment?

Mr. NICKLES. This is late at night, and I urge our colleagues to confine their statements to 1 minute each. As a matter of fact, I ask unanimous consent that statements made on behalf of and in opposition to any remaining amendments be limited to 1 minute each.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I call upon our colleague and friend from New Jersey to offer an amendment.

Mr. NICKLES. I hope we do not need reconciliation to pass a debt limit. I do know it is important to pass a debt limit. This is a political season. Maybe people want to play games with it and offer unlimited amendments. I do not know that we would do that. We did not do that last year. We actually passed the debt limit in 1 day, I believe. I hope we can do it in 1 day and I hope we can do it outside of reconciliation. We should be able to do it. This gives us at least some additional protection to make sure the full faith and credit of the United States is adhered to, that we pay our bills on time. I urge our colleagues to vote no on the pending amendment, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, for the information of our colleagues, we are getting closer.

Mr. NICKLES. A couple of more days and we can finish this.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, we have three amendments that Senator Conrad and I have agreed to. I send them to the desk and ask for their immediate consideration: An amendment by Senator Brownback and two amendments, one by Senator DeWine and Senator Leahy and one by Senator Nelson of Florida and Senator Coleman.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, our colleague from Minnesota has been very patient, and I appreciate that. I wish to recognize our colleague from Minnesota.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, did the Senator withdraw his amendment?

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I thank our colleague for his willingness to have a voice vote. I urge our colleagues to vote no on his amendment.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Rhode Island for his cooperation. This is moving things along. We are making great progress. The Senator from Arizona has been waiting somewhat impatiently to call up his amendment. I hope he will be recognized.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, we have made great progress.

Mr. NICKLES. If the Senator would yield for a question, I understand your request is to have a vote on your amendment and to have a vote on the Durbin amendment back to back. Is that your request?

Mr. NICKLES. If the Senator will yield further, I want to thank my colleague from North Dakota because it has been very much because of his leadership--and I think we have helped as well--that we have not had a second-degree vote yet, and I do not think we should. We have done that because we have worked together. I wish for us to continue working together. I wish for us to have, if necessary, a vote on the Kyl and Durbin amendments, and a vote on--I believe Senator Kennedy has an amendment. I would hope we could do that by voice, but it looks like we need a rollcall vote on that. I think we may be able to take Senator Landrieu's amendment, and then we can vote on final passage.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I want to make a request and see if my colleagues will abide by this. We have an amendment offered by Senator Kyl. We have an amendment offered by Senator Durbin. We have an amendment pending in the wings by Senator Kennedy, and we have an amendment pending in the wings by Senator Santorum. I would ask all four of those amendments to disappear in the twilight of this morning, that we have a voice vote on Senator Landrieu's amendment, and we vote on final passage.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, tempers are starting to rise. This is not good for the cause. We are very close to the finish line. Senator Conrad and I have been working together very closely. We have agreed to a sense-of-the-Senate resolution by Senator Lugar and an amendment by Senator Specter. I send those to the desk and ask for their immediate consideration.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I believe Senator Collins has an amendment. I send it to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Massachusetts for his generosity.