[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 126 (Tuesday, October 1, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9662-S9663]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--S. 3009

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 619, S. 3009, a 
bill to provide economic security for America's workers; that the bill 
be read the third time, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid 
upon the table, without intervening action or debate.
  I say to my colleague from Oklahoma, I don't know whether he wants to 
do this. I know Senator Smith wanted to speak. If you are going to 
support this, I hope he can speak after--or maybe you want to let him 
speak a few words before. Would that be possible?
  Mr. NICKLES. Is the Senator going to make a unanimous consent 
request?
  Mr. WELLSTONE. The Senator can follow then. I ask unanimous consent 
that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 
619, S. 3009, a bill to provide economic security for American 
workers--this is to extend it another 13 weeks, and we should do that--
that the bill be read three times, passed, and the motion to reconsider 
be laid upon the table, without intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I need to 
ask my colleague a couple of questions.
  I am sympathetic to granting an extension of unemployment 
compensation. As the Senator mentioned, we have done it in the past. I 
am not familiar with the Senator's bill. Has the bill been printed yet? 
Not to get in too big a hurry, but is the bill available? My staff said 
maybe we can find it on the Internet, but I don't believe it has been 
printed yet.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. I have a copy of the bill that I would be pleased to 
give to the Senator.
  Mr. NICKLES. I would appreciate a copy. I would like to look at it.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. There is nothing really complicated about this. We 
have a lot of people out of work. The economy is not doing well. They 
have run out of benefits, and they need another 13 weeks.
  Mr. NICKLES. I don't think asking a couple of questions is too much 
to ask. Is this a clean 13-week extension in unemployment compensation?
  Mr. WELLSTONE. The Senator is absolutely correct.
  Mr. NICKLES. Is that all it is?
  Mr. WELLSTONE. The Senator is correct. Although it is 13 weeks, it is 
20 weeks for States with higher levels of unemployment.
  Mr. NICKLES. Back to my question, it is not just a 13-week extension 
of unemployment compensation----

[[Page S9663]]

  Mr. WELLSTONE. The same way, I say to my colleague, we did it in a 
bipartisan way in the early 1990s, where it was 13 weeks, and for 
States with higher levels of unemployment, it went to 20 weeks. We have 
done it before, and we can do it again right now.
  Mr. NICKLES. I will just inform my colleague that I just need to see 
his bill.
  One additional question: Has there been a cost estimate? I think I am 
familiar with old cost estimates on a clean 13-week extension, but I am 
not familiar with how much additional the Senator is asking. Does he 
have a cost estimate on his bill?
  Mr. WELLSTONE. CBO has not given us an estimate. I think it will be 
$10 billion to $13 billion. If I may say to my colleague for a moment, 
I appreciate his question and what he is talking about, and we will let 
you read it. But people are flat on their backs. In the case of States 
with high unemployment, it would be 20 weeks. We have done it before. 
The CBO estimate--I have given you what I believe it is going to be. I 
am not neutral. We need to do this. We need to take this action.

  Mr. NICKLES. Just for my colleagues' information, I have not seen his 
bill. I understand from staff it was introduced on Thursday, but it has 
not been printed yet. I would appreciate a copy of the bill. We would 
like to review it and see what it is. I will work with my colleague and 
my friend from Oregon, who I know is interested in the bill as well. We 
have other colleagues who are also interested in passing some extension 
of unemployment. Whether it goes beyond the 13 weeks or not needs to be 
discussed. There are Democrats and Republicans--other Senators--besides 
just a couple who want to address this issue.
  At this point, I will object. But I will tell my colleague that I 
will work with all interested Senators to see if we can pass some form 
of unemployment compensation extension before we adjourn in the next 
week or so. We at least need to see the bill. This idea of having a 
bill introduced on Thursday and not printed in the Record yet, and then 
wanting to pass it on Tuesday, without other people looking at it, I 
think is premature. So at this point I shall object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, if I may say to my colleague from 
Oklahoma, I appreciate what I heard and his willingness to move 
forward. I can guarantee him that he will have the bill in a matter of 
seconds, lest we harp on the complexity of all of this to the point 
where it becomes a reason for not taking action; it is very simple and 
straightforward, as I have defined. We have done this before in a 
bipartisan way. God knows, there is not one Senator in here who doesn't 
understand the economy in their State. We can take prompt action right 
away, and for people out of work in Minnesota and around the country, 
they need this. We are pleased to do this. We will come back to the 
floor ASAP and pass it in a bipartisan fashion.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. At this time, all time remaining under morning 
business belongs to the minority.
  Mr. REID. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. President. The minority has how 
much time remaining?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Two minutes 17 seconds.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, we have a number of people who wish to 
speak. We are told we are not going to be able, even though we are 
going forward for the fifth time, to invoke cloture. I do not think on 
our side we need all that time. Each side has a half hour. While my 
friend, the distinguished Senator from Oklahoma, is in the Chamber, I 
am wondering if we can have 15 minutes on our side for Senator 
Lieberman to talk about cloture, and the other 15 minutes would be for 
morning business because Senator Kennedy has been here all morning 
wishing to speak, Senator Sarbanes is here, and Senator Durbin has 
shown up.
  I, therefore, ask unanimous consent we have the vote at 12:15 p.m. 
rather than 12 o'clock, and that the time be apportioned accordingly.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. NICKLES. Reserving the right to object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, the vote was originally scheduled for 12 
o'clock, with 1 hour debate equally divided. I know my colleague from 
Oregon wishes to speak on the unemployment compensation issue. I know 
he has not had a chance. Does the Senator want to move the vote to 
12:15 p.m.?
  Mr. REID. Yes, we want to use 15 minutes of Senator Lieberman's time 
for morning business. Senator Lieberman only needs 15 minutes. He is so 
good he can handle it in 15 minutes.
  Mr. NICKLES. That is perfectly acceptable. The assistant majority 
leader is basically saying this side gets 30 minutes and his side gets 
30 minutes, and he is going to change the time allocation of the 30 
minutes?
  Mr. REID. That is right.
  Mr. NICKLES. I have no objection, except I would like the Senator 
from Oregon to be able to speak.
  Mr. SMITH of Oregon. I wonder if I may take the remaining 2 minutes 
on the minority side even though I am speaking for the majority 
position.
  Mr. NICKLES. The Senator is entitled to speak. They can get their 
vote at 12:15 p.m. Can the Senator from Oregon have 5 minutes to speak 
on the unemployment compensation issue, and then we will divide the 
hour as described?
  Mr. REID. The Republican side has 2 minutes left. He can take that 2 
minutes.
  Mr. NICKLES. We will give him 5 minutes.
  Mr. REID. From where does his 5 minutes come? I do not care as long I 
know.
  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senator 
from Oregon have 5 minutes and then the hour be apportioned as 
described by the assistant Democratic leader.
  Mr. REID. I dare the Presiding Officer to tell us what we have just 
done.
  Mr. NICKLES. The Senator from Oregon gets 5 minutes and then we have 
1 hour.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. REID. I ask the Chair, how much time do we have for the three 
speakers on our side?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Thirty minutes.
  Mr. REID. Ten minutes per speaker. Ten minutes to Senator Kennedy, 10 
minutes to Senator Sarbanes----
  Mr. SARBANES. Five minutes. We are saving 15 minutes for Senator 
Lieberman. It will be 5 minutes.
  Mr. REID. Five minutes for Senator Kennedy, 5 minutes for Senator 
Sarbanes, 5 minutes for Senator Durbin, and then the other 15 minutes 
for Senator Lieberman. If he feels very generous, he can yield part of 
his 15 minutes to these other Senators.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.

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