[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 121 (Monday, September 25, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10098-S10099]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--S. 3709

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, on another issue, I ask unanimous consent 
that at a time to be determined by the majority leader, in consultation 
with the Democratic leader, the Senate proceed to the immediate 
consideration of Calendar No. 527, S. 3709, the U.S.-India nuclear 
bill.
  I further ask consent that the managers' amendment at the desk be 
agreed to as original text for the purpose of further amendment and the 
only other amendments in order be Feingold on Presidential 
certification, Dorgan on fissile material production, Boxer on Iran, 
Reid on Yucca Mountain, Craig on Yucca Mountain, with no second-degree 
amendments in order, 1 hour of debate on each amendment, and 1 hour of 
general debate on the bill, all equally divided in the usual form.
  I further ask consent that following disposition of amendments and 
the use or yielding back of time, the bill, as amended, be read a third 
time and the Senate proceed to the consideration of H.R. 5682, the 
House-passed companion, that all after the enacting clause be stricken 
and the text of S. 3709, as amended, be inserted in lieu thereof, and 
that the Senate then proceed to a vote on passage of H.R. 5682, as 
amended, with no intervening action or debate.
  I further ask consent that following passage of the bill, the Senate 
insist upon its amendment and request a conference with the House, the 
Chair be authorized to appoint conferees, and S. 3709 be returned to 
the calendar.

[[Page S10099]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. REID. Reserving the right to object, Mr. President. I received a 
rare personal telephone call today from Secretary Condoleezza Rice, 
which I appreciated. It was on this subject matter. I told her how I 
felt. I told her it is unfortunate that this legislation has been put 
aside since last July until today. I also told her that I personally 
support the legislation. I cosponsored it. I think it is important 
legislation.
  I told her exactly what I told the majority leader and the Indian 
Foreign Minister last week; that is, I support this legislation and 
believe it is very important for the full Senate to act on it very 
quickly.
  This legislation, I believe, is strongly supported by a sizable 
majority of the Senate. I canvased our side for amendments. We have a 
number of amendments that have been talked about. I think that is the 
universe of the amendments, with rare exception. I think these are 
manageable amendments. They are few in number. And I think we could 
complete this legislation very quickly. I have directed our floor staff 
to prepare a unanimous consent request to that effect.
  We have a situation where the managers' amendment Senator Lugar and 
Senator Biden have come up with--they have not been able to work this 
out, the two managers. These are two of the most senior Members of the 
Senate. I hope they can do that in the near future.
  So I ask unanimous consent that the majority leader's request be 
modified as follows: that once the agreement has been reached on the 
managers' amendment, the Senate begin consideration of S. 3709 under 
the following limitations: that the managers' amendment be immediately 
agreed to for purposes of original text, that first-degree amendments 
deal with similar subject matter as contained in the bill, and that 
relevant second-degree amendments be in order.
  Before the Chair puts the question, I would point out it would be my 
expectation we could finish this bill very quickly. I think we could 
finish it in 1 day. It might be a long day, but we could do that. I 
think we could do that. I think this is important enough that we should 
have a long day, if necessary, to do this and that agreements would be 
possible on each of our amendments. On every amendment we would offer, 
we would agree to a relatively short time limit.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the modification?
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, as the 
Democratic leader said, this is a critically important piece of 
legislation. That is why I wanted to bring it forward tonight and am 
pleased the Democratic leader so strongly supports the legislation. Our 
challenge will be to figure out how we can address it with the 
appropriate concerns. And I understand his statement on the managers' 
amendment of the chairman and ranking member, that there is a little 
more work that needs to be done.
  Enactment of this legislation will create significant export 
opportunities for U.S. industry, with job creation, with thousands of 
new jobs created. There are some technical differences between the 
House and Senate bills that will have to be worked out in conference. 
Therefore, I do believe we should address this bill before we leave.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, right now, I will object to the 
modification of my unanimous consent request. After a brief discussion, 
we can come back and see if we are close to being able to take this to 
the floor under this time agreement, with these amendments. I think we 
ought to lock it down tonight. With that, I object to the modification.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard to the modification.
  Is there objection to the original request?
  Mr. REID. I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, will the majority leader yield for a 
question?
  Mr. FRIST. First, let me go through the remaining business.
  Mr. DURBIN. I will wait.

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