Arlen Specter

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, in an effort to not lose any more time, we had an amendment by Senator Lieberman, which he decided not to offer. It is more time to discuss the rules as to whether that constitutes the Democratic amendment, but the suggestion has been made that the Democrats are be agreeable to setting aside the Cornyn amendment on the condition that a Democratic amendment will be considered before Senator Inhofe's amendment is considered further, but Senator Inhofe would be permitted to lay down his amendment and speak for a few minutes. Is that acceptable?

Mr. SPECTER. I ask consent for that.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, the Senate is coming in at 9 o'clock tomorrow, as I understand it. As soon as we go on the bill tomorrow, the first amendment will be offered by Senator Kennedy. Then the second amendment will be offered by Senator Inhofe. The third will be offered by Senator Akaka. The fourth will be offered by Senator Ensign. The fifth will be offered by Senator Nelson. The sixth will be offered by Senator Vitter. The seventh will be offered by Senator Durbin. The eighth will be offered by Senator Kyl. And then our next amendment, after a Democratic amendment, will be by Senator Chambliss. What we would like to do is have the Senators present promptly, and we would appreciate it if we get people down here about a half hour before their amendment comes up. We had some dead time today because we had nobody on deck. But we want to give people notice so we can proceed expeditiously. We have a great many amendments, and we want to move on them. I ask unanimous consent that the time agreement on Senator Kennedy's amendment be 10 minutes equally divided.

Mr. SPECTER. So we will have an early vote tomorrow morning to get us started.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, under our sequencing, we are about to go to the amendment of the distinguished Senator from Alabama, Mr. Sessions. We are trying to get time agreements. Senator Sessions believes this is a very complex and important matter, which I agree that it is, so I propound a unanimous consent request for 3 hours equally divided.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I do withhold the request. In the interim, while Senator Kennedy is reviewing the matter, we can start the debate with Senator Sessions and look forward to counting the time, which we start now, on Senator Sessions' ultimate hour and a half, if we may.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, if I may interrupt the Senator from Alabama to propound a unanimous consent request.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we set a 3- hour time limit, with an hour and a half under the control of Senator Sessions, 45 minutes under the control of Senator Kennedy, and 45 minutes under my control, with the time of the vote to be determined by the leaders. I do not anticipate a 1:30 vote, which would be inconvenient. We will respect Senator Reid's position of taking the amendments one at a time and not setting them aside. But we can do that consistent with stacking the votes until later in the afternoon. Starting this morning, it was hard to get all of the people in, and we started the vote a little earlier than anticipated. So we did not maintain our time structure on the first vote. But we are going to insist on observing the rule of 15 minutes and 5 minutes over, or if votes are stacked, 10 minutes and 5 minutes over, to see if we can move the bill along. So I ask unanimous consent for that.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I add to that agreement no second-degree amendments.

Mr. SPECTER. Madam President, we are talking about a possible 2:30 vote. The day is badly fragmented with a signing ceremony at the White House at 1:45, a briefing by Director Negroponte at 3, and a social at the White House at 5. It is pretty hard to see how we get any business done when we dodge in and out of the raindrops in a hurricane. But we are talking about a 2:30 vote. If we are to have it, I wanted to stack three votes at that time. We are going to respect what Senator Reid wants to do, to take them up one at a time, but we are asking Senator Vitter to come over right now because we are about to wrap up. Senator Sessions wants 10 more minutes. I will speak briefly. Then we will yield back the remainder of the time. Then after Senator Vitter's amendment is heard--we have already argued Senator Inhofe's amendment-- we may be in a position to stack three votes at 2:30 or very close to that time. That is what we are looking toward. I yield to Senator Sessions for his final 10 minutes and yield back the remainder of the time to move on to Senator Vitter's amendment.

Mr. SPECTER. Madam President, the issue of border security is obviously a vital matter. The assurances that we will be able to check the flow of illegal immigrants will materially aid in the passage of this bill, a comprehensive bill--if assurances can be given that the border is secure and also with employer sanctions. I think the Senator from Alabama has submitted a good amendment. It does not have the overtone of the enormous fence along the entire border, stretching 2,000 miles. It is targeted. We have been advised by the administration, by Secretary Chertoff, that there is support for the amendment of the Senator from Alabama. That is about what they are looking for. They have made a detailed analysis. Secretary Chertoff met with the Judiciary Committee on a very extensive briefing 2 weeks ago. We talked about this at length. For those reasons, I plan to support the Sessions amendment. Madam President, I am prepared to yield back all time if Senator Sessions and Senator Kennedy are prepared.

Mr. SPECTER. If we can yield back time, we are prepared to go on to another amendment. We are trying to structure it so we will have three votes in the range of 2:30.

Mr. SPECTER. Madam President, while the Senator from Massachusetts is working out the questions, I have discussed with him setting aside temporarily the Sessions amendment so that we can proceed to the Vitter amendment and not waste any time. Madam President, I have discussed it with Senator Vitter, who is agreeable with an hour and a half equally divided. I have made that suggestion to Senator Kennedy. He is going to run it by his leadership to see if it is acceptable on his side. Why don't we proceed as if it is so that Senator Vitter is recognized now and starts to talk, and it will count against his time when we finally get the agreement.

Mr. SPECTER. I yield back my time and Senator Sessions yields back his time.

Mr. SPECTER. I think the record is closed on the Sessions amendment, and we are now proceeding to the Vitter amendment, and we will await Senator Kennedy's comment as to the unanimous consent request on an hour and a half. I thank the Chair.

Mr. SPECTER. Madam President, will the Senator from Louisiana yield for a unanimous consent request?

Mr. SPECTER. Madam President, we have now worked out that we will conclude Senator Vitter's amendment, then we will go to Senator Obama's amendment, which I believe we can accept. I ask unanimous consent that between now and 2 o'clock, the time will be equally divided between Senator Vitter on one side and Senator Kennedy and myself on the other.

Mr. SPECTER. Senator Kennedy and I will divide the time evenly, and we are agreed we will have two votes at 2:30 p.m. or perhaps 3 p.m. if the Obama amendment is to have a vote, but I do not expect it. And we preclude second-degree amendments.

Mr. SPECTER. I thank the Chair.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, the essence of the argument from the Senator from Louisiana is when he says ``automatic guaranteed path to citizenship.'' Well, it simply is not so. There is nothing automatic when you have to fulfill the requirements of paying a fine and learning English and paying back taxes and working for a protracted period of time. There is nothing guaranteed about it. It is earned. And that is the hallmark of American values: to earn it. That concludes my argument, Mr. President.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, as soon as Senator Kennedy returns to the floor, I will make it official on asking unanimous consent locking in the two votes at 2:30. I am informed there is agreement by authorized representatives of the leader of the Democrats. And we are now awaiting the arrival of Senator Obama, who is reportedly due here momentarily. So until he arrives, Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, when we complete debate on Senator Obama's amendment, we will then have two votes at 2:30. And then, after the votes, it is our desire, subject to Senator Inhofe's agreement, to come and debate his amendment. That may take a substantial period of time. I am advised by Senator Kennedy they would like 2 hours equally divided. So that will take us fairly far into the afternoon. We will stay in session even though Director Negroponte will be having a session upstairs. This bill needs to be moved, so we will stay in session on the Inhofe amendment during that period of time. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Idaho be given 2 minutes to debate the Vitter amendment.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at 2:30 we proceed to the Sessions amendment for a 15-minute vote, and thereafter we proceed to the Vitter amendment for a 10-minute vote.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, we have Senator Obama on the floor ready to offer his amendment. There is some issue as to whether it has been worked through on all of the aspects of being modified. But I think we are very close. So what I would suggest we do is proceed to consider the Obama amendment, subject to some minor change which may be made on modification. And I ask unanimous consent that the time be equally divided between now and 2:30.

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be dispensed with.