Don Nickles

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) is necessarily absent. I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) would vote ``nay.''

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) is necessarily absent. I further announce that if present and voting, the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) would vote ``yea.''

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Durbin be recognized to switch his vote.

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 I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays. Is there a sufficient second? There is a sufficient second.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I move to waive the point of order, and I tell my colleague that you can still pass sense-of-the-Congress resolutions with 60 votes.

Mr. NICKLES. If the Senator will yield, this is a concurrent resolution.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, this is an amendment offered by myself and Senator Murkowski. The net effect of it would be that if we are dealing with the budget process and the so-called wish list amendments, the sense of the Senate and sense of Congress would basically be ruled out of order. My amendment would instruct the Chair to make precatory amendments not germane to the budget resolution. That means you would need 60 votes to pass it. At one point, we had 100 amendments, and over two-thirds of them were precatory amendments; they were wishes. The word precatory means to wish. That doesn't change the budget resolution, and it wastes a lot of time. It means that, yes, we have some kind of sparring back and forth. I don't know how many votes we have had in the last couple of days, two-thirds of them have been sense of the Senate or sense of the Congress. And, really, they will have very little impact on the budget process. I think they have made the Senate look bad in the process. I urge my colleagues to support the amendment. I am not going to request the yeas and nays unless it is necessary. I think this would help us do our business in a much more orderly and efficient manner. Mr. LAUTENBERG addressed the Chair.

Mr. NICKLES. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 2257

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) is necessarily absent. I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) would vote ``yea.''

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) is necessarily absent. I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) would vote ``yea.''

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) is necessarily absent. I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) would vote ``yea.''

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms), is necessarily absent. I further announce that, if present and voting the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms), would vote ``yea''.

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) is necessarily absent. I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) would vote ``yea.''

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) is necessarily absent. I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) would vote ``yea.''

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) is necessarily absent. I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) would vote ``yea.''

Mr. NICKLES. I move to table the Kennedy amendment, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to vote against Senator Kennedy's amendment. I tell you, if you voted for the Nickles- Jeffords amendment, you should not vote for Senator Kennedy's amendment, because the amendment we just adopted, I guess unanimously, said that we do not want to increase costs. The Kennedy amendment says, let us pass the so-called patients' bill of rights. That was introduced 2 days ago. It is 68 pages long. It has lots and lots of mandates, mandates that will increase costs. And as costs go up, the number of uninsured will go up. This bill has hundreds of regulations in it. So if you want more regulations instead of patient care, that would be what you would be voting for in Senator Kennedy's amendment. I mention that this is opposed by individuals from the Mayo Clinic to the Cleveland Clinic to some of the best health care providers in the world. They are saying: You are going to make us provide and spend our time litigating and regulating instead of providing quality health care. I urge my colleagues to vote no on the Kennedy amendment. And if they voted in favor of the last amendment, they certainly should vote no on the next one. You cannot tell me this thing does not have significant costs to the consumers.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to vote against--Mr. President, may we have order?

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) is necessarily absent. I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) would vote ``yea''.

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

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I thank Senator Frist and Senator Collins for speaking on behalf of this amendment. I now recognize Senator Jeffords, who is the principal cosponsor of this amendment, for our time.

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) is necessarily absent. I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) would vote ``yea''.

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms), is necessarily absent. I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) would vote ``yea.''