Ted Stevens

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. I am not agreeing to any order, Mr. President. We have a list of amendments. We are going to go down the list of amendments and see who is here.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, who has the floor?

Mr. STEVENS. I am perfectly ready to start considering amendments, but I am not going to have any time agreement right now on any amendment.

Mr. STEVENS. Yes.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, this amendment has been cleared on both sides. I ask the Senate consider and adopt this amendment.

Mr. STEVENS. I did not ask unanimous consent.

Mr. STEVENS. The procedure we had, and I told people on this side we would do, we have two amendments on this side, one amendment on that side, that have been cleared and we will let them go home. I am perfectly willing to go to anyone else who wants to talk, but as the manager of the bill we have the right to say to people: Look, if you will agree to offer these and make these changes, we will take them up right away, as soon as this vote is over. That I did, so I don't apologize to anyone. I would like to yield to my friend from Vermont.

Mr. STEVENS. Can we get this amendment adopted? May we adopt the amendment?

Mr. STEVENS. I move to reconsider the vote and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. STEVENS. I said I wouldn't apologize. I do apologize to my friend from Nevada if I offended him. I did not intend to offend him. He is a valuable Member of the Senate and has worked, whether in the majority or minority, assiduously to see the Senate does its work. I don't argue with that at all. I have great fondness for the Senator from Nevada. I wish I lived in Nevada. I might even vote for him if I lived there. I see the current occupant of the chair is laughing at that, but it is true. The difficulty I have is I think we don't communicate well enough across this aisle in terms of the plans we each make as manager of our side on this particular bill. Right now the Senator from Nevada has an amendment by Senator Nelson we agreed to clear. I am pleased to yield the floor. Amendment No. 1858, As Modified

Mr. STEVENS. It is acceptable.

Mr. STEVENS. I urge its adoption also.

Mr. STEVENS. I ask consideration of the amendment, the adoption of the amendment, and consideration of the amendment as amended.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote. Amendment No. 1843

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I want to state to the Senator from California that on amendment No. 1843 we sent a notice to the Senator that we are prepared to accept that retroactive assistance meal reimbursement amendment, if she is prepared to offer it tonight. That is Senator Boxer's amendment.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I wish to make a comment. The Senator from California is absolutely right. If there is a saint in this town, it is Mrs. Bill Young. She has been extremely helpful to all of the soldiers and sailors at Walter Reed and at Bethesda. Just today, she called me and told me that the admiral at Bethesda told her he is under orders to send bills for about $5,000 to several different military people who are in the hospital for reimbursement of their meals. I told my staff to notify the admiral that we had fixed it in this bill, or I would personally guarantee the payment, and not just have standard garnishing of these kids' salaries. I commend the Senator for the amendment. We attempted to fix that in one former bill. But that bill hasn't become law. I think the bill will become law very fast. I support the Senator's amendment and urge its adoption. Amendment No. 1843, As Modified

Mr. STEVENS. Is that modification of the amendment we just agreed to the yeas and nays on? I have no objection.

Mr. STEVENS. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. STEVENS. The Senator is correct. It has been approved on our side for Mr. Nelson.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask that the Chair lay before the Senate amendment No. 1852.

Mr. STEVENS. This is the Feingold military family leave amendment. I ask for adoption of the amendment.

Mr. STEVENS. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. STEVENS. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at 9 a.m. this morning, the Senate proceed to a series of consecutive votes in relation to the following amendments; further, that there be no amendments in order to the amendments in the below stacked sequence prior to the votes, with 2 minutes equally divided before each vote, and that each vote in sequence after the first be limited to 10 minutes. The stacked sequence is: the Durbin amendment No. 1837, the Daschle amendment No. 1854, the Landrieu amendment No. 1859, the Boxer amendment No. 1843, the Leahy amendment No. 1807, and the Durbin amendment No. 1879. I further ask unanimous consent that other than the above mentioned amendments, the only other amendments in order to the bill be the following, and they be subject to second-degree amendments that will be relevant to the first-degree amendment to which they are offered: Byrd amendment No. 1819; Corzine amendment No. 1882; Bond amendment No. 1825; Domenici amendment No. 1864; Senator Brownback is to offer an amendment relative to rescission; Senator Collins will have an opportunity to offer an amendment relative to loans; Senator McConnell, a sense of the Senate on troops; Senator Specter on loans; Senator Byrd, the remaining amendments on his list; Senator Dorgan, an amendment related to Iraqi oil; Senators Boxer and Schumer, shoulder- fired weapons; Senator Daschle, a relevant amendment; Senator Frist, a relevant amendment; myself, a relevant amendment; Senator McConnell, a relevant amendment; and Senator Reid, a relevant amendment. I further ask unanimous consent that budget points of order not be waived by virtue of this agreement and that no other points of order lie against any pending amendments at this time. I state, as an explanation, that the order of the nonstacked amendments will be determined by when people arrive and they are called up. That second part is not a list of order in which they will necessarily be called up.