[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 20 (Thursday, February 7, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S773-S774]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ORDER OF PROCEDURE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, my mind was on FISA. What we have done is, 
the staffs are working out a consent agreement where we are going to 
have three recorded votes. We are going to be able to dispose of two 
other votes by voice. Then we are working toward--and it is not done 
yet--we are working toward where that may be all the votes we will have 
tonight.
  Then what we will try to do--not try, it is the only way we can get 
from here to there to get it done--is tomorrow we still have a lot of 
debate left in this matter because of the time we have spent dealing on 
the stimulus package. So today we will do all the votes we can. We are 
going to have, as I have indicated, at least five amendments we will 
get rid of. I think that will leave about five. We will then have 
debate--there are a number of amendments where I think there is still 
like 6 hours of debate left on those, and they would complete that 
debate, hopefully get rid of a lot tomorrow, and what we can't, on 
Monday, and Tuesday morning we will start final votes.
  We will have a cloture vote involved in this also, but I think we can 
work out the time factor on the cloture vote and have final passage on 
this sometime on Tuesday. I have asked Senator Rockefeller to have a 
pretty good idea of what will be in the final package as it comes out 
here. So I think it would be to everyone's benefit that he and Senator 
Leahy, Senator Bond, and Senator Specter work with their House 
counterparts to see if they can work on a package to bring back to us.
  What we are facing with this, because of the constraint of time, is 
that the House has to work with the Senate to come up with something. 
If that doesn't work out, then the legislation expires. There will be 
no law on the 15th, and I don't think there is anyone who wants that. 
No one, with all that has gone on, even though I have complained a few 
times--well, I think there is no need to point fingers now. We are 
where we are, and we have to move as quickly as we can and try to 
finish this bill, including the conference report, next week. We have 
to do that.
  The unanimous consent is not ready yet, so I ask unanimous consent 
that my friend from Illinois, Senator Durbin, be allowed to speak for 
10 minutes as in morning business; and if one of my colleagues on the 
other side wants to speak before the vote starts, that is appropriate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republican leader.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, if I can say so, it sounds like a good 
game plan to me. My understanding is we are going to get started voting 
here very shortly. Is my understanding correct?

[[Page S774]]

  Mr. REID. Well, now, Mr. President, we lost one of them, so we are 
now down to two rollcall votes and two that can be accepted by voice. 
So we are two steps forward and one back. So the answer is: Yes, we 
will have two votes that will be recorded. We should be able to start 
those in a few minutes.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, will the Senator yield for a question?
  Mr. REID. I would be happy to yield.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I think most Senators will feel good about 
the significant progress on FISA, and hopefully we will get that 
completed.
  Senator Thune and I were speaking a moment ago about the other piece 
of legislation we hope we might finish, when FISA is completed next 
Tuesday or Wednesday, and that is the Indian Health Care Improvement 
Act, which we started on the floor of the Senate.
  I would ask the Senator: Might we expect to be able to bring that up 
for a day? We believe we can finish that in a day next week.
  Mr. REID. I say to my friend: Is there anything that can be done on 
that tomorrow or Monday? Has the debate on all the amendments been 
completed?
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I believe we have worked through most all 
areas of controversy, where we are waiting on some amendments that I 
believe Senator Coburn wishes some votes on. But I think we have made a 
lot of progress on both sides of the aisle to resolve items of 
controversy. I think if we could get it on the floor for 1 day, we can 
finish it. And, frankly, there is some urgency to Indian health care 
issues. As I said, Senators Murkowski, Thune, and others join me in 
hoping we can include that next week to be completed on the floor of 
the Senate.
  Mr. REID. I ask my friend, the Senator from North Dakota: Is there a 
way we could have a consent agreement that would give us specific time 
for any amendments and votes on amendments, and after they are all 
done, final passage?
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I have been working with Senator Kyl and 
others to try to see if we can reach an agreement on any amendments. I 
believe there will be very few votes required. I think Senator Coburn 
has some that may require a couple of votes, but by and large I think 
we have worked through most of the issues. Senator Kyl and Senator 
Thune, on that side of the aisle, have been working with me.
  But I would very much like to get whatever list or whatever time 
agreements we need so that we can bring that up. We really do need to 
finish that next week, following the disposition of FISA, if it is 
possible.
  Mr. REID. I ask my good friend, during those two votes we are going 
to have in a short time, if we can go to work to see if we could have a 
specific numbers of amendments, how much time is left on them, we will 
complete it to final passage.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I have been working with the Senator from 
North Dakota. While we have not surveyed all of the Members on this 
side, I believe the issues are well known to us; they have surfaced. 
The three key issues have mostly been worked through, as I understand, 
and I believe Senator Coburn is willing to put a time agreement on the 
amendments he has. All of which is to say that I believe, unless there 
are some votes on our side that have not come forward--and we will 
certainly inquire--it should be possible to get a time agreement with 
specific amendments that is not very long and that would result in the 
bill being concluded in a relatively short time. But we do need to 
survey the rest of our Members.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I would just echo what my colleague from 
North Dakota said and would agree that now we will have dealt with FISA 
and the economic stimulus bill, which I know are matters of great 
importance and urgency--this is a matter of great urgency to the people 
we represent. It is long overdue that we get this done. So I will do 
everything I can on our side to make it possible for us to limit any 
further amendments or anything that might further delay moving to a 
final vote.
  I appreciate the leader's indulgence, along with my colleague from 
North Dakota, and would simply ask that when we complete action on 
this, we move to this bill.
  Mr. REID. If I can respond to my three colleagues, originally we 
thought this bill would take 1 day, and we know it has been bifurcated 
because of other issues. But I would really think that before we spend 
another few days on this, we have to do everything we can to see if we 
can come up with a time agreement to give us a way to get to the end so 
we can have final passage.
  We do not need to speak, as I have, about the drastic needs in Indian 
territory. We need to do this. So I hope that--my friends, this is 
certainly a bipartisan piece of legislation--we can work out some time 
agreements, and part of that will be final passage.
  Mr. KYL. I do not know of any reason that cannot be done. There is 
certainly no intention on our side to take a long time or slow it down. 
I think the Senator from North Dakota would verify that I have worked 
to try to resolve issues that are outstanding. It is my belief that 
this can be done within a time period that is acceptable to the 
majority.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Pryor.) The majority leader has a 
unanimous consent request pending. Is there objection? Without 
objection, it is so ordered.

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