Don Nickles

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we vote in relation to the Murray amendment at 5 o'clock this evening, with the time until then equally divided. I know my colleague from Washington spoke, but I say the time divided equally on the amendment.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I am trying to understand the amendment. I have not looked at it totally. The Senator's amendment would increase funding in this education function by $8.9 billion for fiscal year 2004?

Mr. NICKLES. We have a 10-year budget. Do you increase funding in 2005 or 2006 or any of the outyears?

Mr. NICKLES. You also increase taxes, or decrease the tax cut-- whichever language you want to use--by an amount of how much?

Mr. NICKLES. Now, what percentage of an increase in the--$8.9 billion is what percent of an increase over the money being spent this year?

Mr. NICKLES. My calculation is that it is closer to 40 percent.

Mr. NICKLES. Will the Senator yield further?

Mr. NICKLES. Doesn't your amendment deal only with No Child Left Behind?

Mr. NICKLES. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't that figure $23.6 billion, and so you would increase that amount by $8.9 billion, and isn't that closer to 40 percent?

Mr. NICKLES. We will have to debate that. I believe I am talking about the No Child Left Behind. I believe you are increasing that by about 40 percent, which is kind of hard to understand. I yield the floor.

Mr. NICKLES. On or in relation thereto.

Mr. NICKLES. I am reserving the right to table the amendment, and no amendment prior to that vote. We still would have the option for a motion to table, and if a motion to table wasn't successful, to offer a substitute amendment.

Mr. NICKLES. I yield 15 minutes.

Mr. NICKLES. I yield 4 minutes to my colleague.

Mr. NICKLES. How much time remains?

Mr. NICKLES. I yield 4 minutes to the Senator from Tennessee.

Mr. NICKLES. How much time remains on both sides?

Mr. NICKLES. I yield myself 3 minutes. Mr. President, when we marked up our budget, we put in a couple of billion dollars actually over the President's request. I mentioned to my colleagues then: No matter what we put in, there are going to be amendments on the floor to increase education. I might show our colleagues--Senator Gregg did this far better than I--education funding under this President as compared to President Clinton has exploded. It has gone up dramatically. Title I, which addresses the issue we have before us on No Child Left Behind--if you look at the rate of growth we have in title I grants, it is a dramatic increase. The Senator from Washington has an amendment. This might even show it better. It shows that the spending level basically in the last few years, under this President compared to the previous President, has had a dramatic increase. As a percentage, I might mention, it went up in title I percentages of 10.3, 18.1, 12.9, 8.6--big increases. The Senator from Washington has an amendment that says let's do No Child Left Behind and let's go from $23 billion--let's add another $8.9 billion, which would be a 38.7 percent increase for 1 year. It says $8.9 billion. It doesn't sound like much. Most of the figures we are dealing with are over 10 years. This is 1 year. We only increased nondefense discretionary spending by $10 billion. This is $9 billion for education, and not all education, just part of education. I understand there will be amendments later to deal with IDEA, and we put in an additional $1 billion for IDEA, we put in an additional $1 billion for title I at the request of the chairman of the HELP Committee, who was a strong leader and made an excellent presentation. No matter what we do, no matter how high the percentage increases we have, even if they are double digits, there are amendments that will say let's do more. This amendment says let's do 38.7 percent more. I think it is irresponsible, and I will urge my colleagues at an appropriate time to support a motion to table the amendment.

Mr. NICKLES. I yield the remainder of our time to the Senator from New Hampshire.

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

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

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

Mr. NICKLES. Madam President, for the information of our colleagues, this is Wednesday night. I ask the Parliamentarian, how many hours are left on both sides?

Mr. NICKLES. For the information of our colleagues, this is Wednesday. We are working very aggressively to finish this bill. I have tried to see if we could not advance a lot of the major amendments, including the 350 amendment. I have been trying to get that up all day. I have not been successful, but I understand we will have that up tomorrow. Several people have been asking about this amendment. This is the amendment that would reduce the growth package from $725 billion to $350 billion. I suspect we will have votes on that tomorrow. It is my expectation tonight, for the information of my colleagues, as long as the majority leader is willing, we will stay in until midnight tonight. Several people said they did not want to have votes tonight, that they have other things to do. I have consulted with my friend and colleague from North Dakota who has been a pleasure to work with on this resolution, and we both know we have a lot of amendments with which we need to deal. I urge my colleagues to work with us and not surprise us with their amendments, show us their amendments, and we will see if we can agree to them or work out a time agreement on them and see if we can finish this resolution in a timely, orderly fashion, in a way we would be proud to function. Sometimes the Senate does not do that when we handle budgets. It would be my expectation that we would stay in at least until midnight tonight and consider several amendments. I believe we now have three amendments in order. Senator Kyl has an amendment dealing with the death tax; Senator Graham of Florida has an amendment dealing with prescription drugs; and Senators Collins and Rockefeller have an amendment dealing with assistance to States. We are willing to consider all those amendments and additional amendments tonight. I will yield the floor. It is our expectation there will not be any additional rollcall votes tonight, but that does not mean the Senate will not be considering amendments. I urge my colleagues, if they have amendments, please work with Senator Conrad and myself to have those amendments timely considered.

Mr. NICKLES. I will be happy to yield to my friend for a question.