[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 41 (Tuesday, April 4, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2762-S2763]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ORDER OF PROCEDURE

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, we have a number of people who want to 
speak on both sides, and the distinguished chairman is here. I was 
going to ask unanimous consent--let me discuss one thing first before I 
do--to first allow the two distinguished Senators from Florida to speak 
briefly on a matter not involving immigration but involving----
  Mr. CRAIG. Does that have to do with basketball?
  Mr. LEAHY. A group by the name of the Gators.
  But before they do that--I hope to maybe go back and forth--I would 
like to ask to be able to lock in on this side, realizing that we will 
probably go the traditional way, back and forth on the bill on both 
sides, that it would be Senators Nelson, Menendez, Lieberman, Salazar, 
Durbin, and Kennedy.
  What I was going to recommend is we ask people to be able to speak in 
15-minute blocks, each one of them speaking for 15 minutes, realizing 
that if we work it this way, I would imagine the distinguished chairman 
would want 15 minutes on his side, and go back and forth.
  So I would propound that following discussion by Senators Nelson and 
Martinez, recognizing the significant accomplishment for Florida, we 
have 15 minutes a side for discussion and that the Senators on our side 
in the slotted times be Senator Nelson of Florida, Senator Menendez, 
Senator Lieberman, Senator Salazar, Senator Durbin, and Senator 
Kennedy.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, and I may 
well object, the question that comes to my mind is, When are we going 
to proceed to consider amendments and try to move the bill? When the 
distinguished ranking member says to give the chairman a chance to 
speak--I have spoken enough. We went on this bill on Wednesday 
afternoon and we spoke all day Thursday, and there weren't too many 
speakers around on Friday, but there was an opportunity to speak. And 
we were here yesterday afternoon, and not too many speakers pursued an 
opportunity to speak.
  So the question that I have--and perhaps I can better talk to Senator 
Leahy about it privately--when are we going to move to amendments? We 
need to finish this bill this week, and I would like to move to 
amendments.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I have the floor.
  Mr. SPECTER. Wait a minute. I don't know who has the floor, but I 
will yield to you.
  Mr. LEAHY. No, no. Finish what you were saying.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, Senator Kyl is ready to offer an 
amendment. Senator Allard is ready to offer an amendment. I see Senator 
Kennedy with his portfolio; maybe he has an amendment. I would like to 
move to amendments to try to move the bill.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I know there are amendments on both sides. 
I have already stated my admiration for the way the Senator from 
Pennsylvania moved this bill through the committee and on to the floor. 
I would like to have finished the bill last week, and I share his sense 
of urgency to finish. I suspect there will be discussions about this in 
both the caucuses this noon. I wonder if possibly the Senator from 
Pennsylvania and I, and whomever else he would like, could try to sit 
down and work out an order for amendments so that we can move forward. 
But that probably will not happen until after the caucuses, and I 
thought we could at least have others speak. I have spoken, and I will 
include another statement for the legislative record this morning. But 
I think if we get Senators down here to talk about it, we can also work 
out the time for amendments.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, would the Senator from Vermont yield for a 
question from me regarding this unanimous consent request?
  Mr. LEAHY. Of course.
  Mr. KYL. That would not preclude the offering of an amendment by 
unanimous consent?
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, for offering an amendment, it would 
require, of course, unanimous consent. I have not included, just 
because it gets too complicated--that is why I wanted to work out with 
the distinguished chairman when such amendments might be offered. It 
would allow Senators to speak, but any Senator speaking, if they wanted 
to offer an amendment, would still require unanimous consent then. 
Rather than trying to micromanage this all the way down the line, I 
will let each Senator make that request.
  Mr. KYL. I thank the Senator. I just wanted to get an amendment 
pending but not to speak on it.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, we are only going to move ahead if we 
come to an understanding; I recognize that. If the Senator from Vermont 
wants to have a speaking sequence, I will not object, and we can 
retreat from here into his cloakroom to try to figure out when we are 
going to move the bill. We are giving up almost 2 hours; perhaps we can 
work this evening to make up that time.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
  Mr. ALLARD. Mr. President, I have an amendment I am ready to offer, 
and I would like to speak to that amendment. So the way the agreement 
is being put together now, I will be expected not to offer that 
amendment until after we have had more discussion between both sides; 
is that correct?
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I think Senator Allard accurately states 
it. When he has his 15 minutes, nothing will stop him from talking 
about the amendment.
  Mr. LEAHY. That is right.
  Mr. SPECTER. And he can lay the groundwork so that when he does offer 
the amendment later, he will not have to speak quite as long.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, the Senator from Pennsylvania states it 
accurately. A number of Senators, I suspect, on both sides are going to 
talk about amendments they intend to offer. Unanimous consent will not 
be given for anybody to offer an amendment on either side during this 
time, but I would encourage Senators to talk about the amendments they 
intend to offer.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I object to the request.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The objection is heard.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, any Senator can object. I have been told 
that there are those on the Republican side who would object to a 
Democrat offering an amendment, so I suspect there would be similar 
objections here. But any Senator can speak about his or her amendment. 
Any Senator can offer an amendment. Any Senator can make an objection. 
But insofar as there are going to be objections on the Republican side 
to some Democratic amendments, and vice versa--there is a

[[Page S2763]]

Democratic amendment pending, of course, that of Senator Mikulski--I 
thought, until we get to the caucus, at least we could accomplish 
something by talking about the amendments we want to offer.

  I will again make a unanimous consent request that after the two 
distinguished Senators from Florida speak about the Gators, there be 15 
minutes a side to talk on the bill or amendments Members wish to offer. 
And if we do that, again, I realize we would alternate. On the 
Democratic side it would be Senator Nelson of Florida, Senator 
Menendez, Senator Lieberman, Senator Salazar, Senator Durbin, and 
Senator Kennedy.
  I renew that request.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, might I direct an inquiry to the Senator from 
Vermont?
  Mr. LEAHY. Certainly, Mr. President.
  Mr. KYL. If the Senator from Vermont would agree to have the two 
Senators from Florida speak to their State's accomplishment, as you 
noted it, perhaps we could then work out the rest of it. I simply have 
an amendment I want to lay down and not to speak to it, but I hope 
nobody would object to that. That is what I wish to discuss with the 
Senator. Can we amend the unanimous consent request to get the 
conversation started and we can go back and see what we can work out to 
accommodate Senators?
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the two Senators 
from Florida be allowed to speak at this point about the Gators as in 
morning business, but I will then again request at least on our side we 
have an order of speakers as I have noted.
  I ask unanimous consent now simply that the two distinguished 
Senators from Florida be allowed to speak as in morning business.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection? Without 
objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Florida.

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