[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 121 (Monday, September 25, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10097-S10098]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   SECURE FENCE ACT OF 2006--Resumed

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
come out of morning business and return to the pending bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 6061) to establish operational control over 
     the international land and maritime borders of the United 
     States.

  Pending:

       Frist amendment No. 5031, to establish the effective date.
       Frist amendment No. 5032 (to amendment No. 5031), to amend 
     the effective date.


                     Amendment No. 5031, Withdrawn

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw 
amendment No. 5031.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                           Amendment No. 5036

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Tennessee [Mr. Frist] proposes an 
     amendment numbered 5036.

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the 
amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of 
Amendments.'')
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.


                amendment no. 5037 to amendment no. 5036

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I send a second degree to the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Tennessee [Mr. Frist] proposes an 
     amendment numbered 5037 to amendment No. 5036.

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the 
amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:
       At the end of the amendment, add the following:
       This Act shall become effective 1 day after the date of 
     enactment.


                             Cloture Motion

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I now send a cloture motion to the desk on 
the pending first-degree amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The cloture motion having been presented under 
Rule XXII, the Chair directs the clerk to read the motion.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

                             Cloture Motion

       We the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the pending 
     amendment No. 5036 to Calendar No. 615, H.R. 6061: a bill to 
     establish operational control over the international land and 
     maritime borders of the United States.
         Bill Frist, Jim DeMint, Johnny Isakson, Craig Thomas, Jim 
           Inhofe, Pat Roberts, Gordon Smith, Wayne Allard, John 
           Ensign, Saxby Chambliss, Chris Bond, Conrad Burns, Norm 
           Coleman, Mitch McConnell, Michael B. Enzi, Richard 
           Shelby, John Thune.


                             Cloture Motion

  Mr. FRIST. I now send a cloture motion to the desk on the underlying 
bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The cloture motion having been presented

[[Page S10098]]

under Rule XXII, the Chair directs the clerk to read the motion.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

                             Cloture Motion

       We the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     do hereby move to bring to a close debate on Calendar No. 
     615, H.R. 6061, a bill to establish operational control over 
     the international land and maritime borders of the United 
     States.
         Bill Frist, Lamar Alexander, Richard Burr, Gordon Smith, 
           John Thune, Johnny Isakson, John Cornyn, Judd Gregg, 
           Jim Inhofe, Saxby Chambliss, Sam Brownback, Tom Coburn, 
           Jeff Sessions, Richard Shelby, Craig Thomas, Michael B. 
           Enzi, Lisa Murkowski.

  Mr. FRIST. I ask the mandatory quorum for both motions be waived.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                            Motion to Commit

  Mr. FRIST. I move to commit the bill to the Judiciary Committee, with 
instructions to report back forthwith, with an amendment, and I send 
the motion to the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Tennessee [Mr. Frist] moves to commit the 
     bill, H.R. 6061, to the Committee on the Judiciary, with 
     instructions to report back forthwith, with an amendment.

  Mr. FRIST. I ask for the yeas and nays on the motion.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.


                           Amendment No. 5039

  Mr. FRIST. I send a first-degree amendment to the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Tennessee [Mr. Frist] proposes an 
     amendment numbered 5039 to the instructions of the motion to 
     commit.

  Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be 
dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

       At the end of the amendment in the instructions:
       Strike ``2 days'' and insert ``3 days''.

  Mr. FRIST. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.


                Amendment No. 5040 to Amendment No. 5039

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I now send a second degree to the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Tennessee [Mr. Frist] proposes an 
     amendment numbered 5040 to amendment No. 5039.

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the 
amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

       In the amendment strike ``3 days'' and insert ``4 days.''

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, we can come back and comment on this, but 
what I have just done is put an amendment on the legislation. The 
military commission or Hamdan legislation--I have put that as an 
amendment on the border security fence bill. I say that just so our 
colleagues will understand the Democratic leader and I are working very 
hard to reach an agreement, and we are just about there. We need to 
talk to some more colleagues about how we will address the Hamdan 
legislation.
  Because things are tight in terms of being able to finish the amount 
of business we need to do in the next 4 to 5 days, what we just went 
through was to set up a structure whereby we know we are going to be 
able to finish that. Again, our intent is to work out a plan to be able 
to address that legislation in a way that is agreeable to both sides. I 
think we should be able to do that tomorrow morning.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, if I could just briefly respond, we would 
like to proceed as expeditiously as possible. We have been alerted by 
one of my Senators that the rule XIV legislation that was brought to 
the Senate late last week is different from the amendment that was 
filed tonight. So some of my folks are trying to figure out what has 
happened. We thought what was going to be filed as an amendment to this 
fence bill was the same piece of legislation that was rule XIVed. So we 
have now a rule XIV that has been sent up, and now we have this 
amendment. So that has created a little bit of confusion on our side.
  But I also say this: I think we could work something out if we can 
get to the bill. When we start late in the session like this, any one 
Senator weighs about 1,000 pounds because any Senator can stop anything 
they want. So we have to make sure we can get to this. It takes all 100 
Senators to agree that is the case. If we could proceed to it, it is my 
understanding the majority leader would allow a limited number of 
amendments. We could work on this tomorrow with some time agreements on 
it--agreements on both sides.
  If this is not worked out, it is my understanding that what would 
happen is that on Wednesday there would be a cloture vote on this 
amendment dealing with Hamdan. That would occur on Wednesday, and then 
after that, amendments germane in nature would be in order if, in fact, 
the majority decided to allow any amendments to go forward.
  So it appears to me the best chance for Senators on both sides to 
have an opportunity to offer amendments to Hamdan would be to move to 
it tomorrow. If we cannot do that, then we will have to see what 
happens with cloture. But I believe that is where we find ourselves 
tonight.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, that is exactly where we are. I think the 
good news is both sides recognize this is a very important issue before 
this body and before the American people and that we have had a lot of 
work on this bill to where I think--speaking of the Hamdan 
legislation--there is going to be very broad support. There are areas 
people have expressed concern about, and our intent is to work out a 
unanimous consent agreement hopefully early in the morning whereby we 
can address those with amendments.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I would further say just briefly that, yes, 
we do have this matter before us. Is it what we want? The answer is, 
probably we think we could do better. That is why we would agree on 
this side to have a limited number of amendments and have this body 
decide whether the bill can be improved. We hope that can occur. As I 
have indicated in my previous statement, it all depends on how the 
other 98 Senators feel as to whether we can move forward short of 
cloture on Wednesday.

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