[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 83 (Tuesday, May 20, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4475-S4476]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AND VETERANS AFFAIRS AND RELATED AGENCIES 
                  APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008--Continued

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. A message from the House is the pending 
measure.
  The Senator from New Jersey is recognized.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I raise a point of order that title VIII 
in its entirety, section 1004 of title X, and section 1005 of title X, 
each violates paragraph 4 of Senate rule XVI in the Reid motion to 
concur in the House amendment No. 2, with an amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The point of order is sustained. The motion to 
concur with the amendment falls.


                           amendment no. 4803

                (Purpose: In the nature of a substitute)

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I appreciate the patience of my friend from 
New Jersey. He was here much earlier in the day. For a number of 
reasons we were unable to have him recognized at that time, but he is 
always such a team player who is willing to wait. I appreciate my 
friend from New Jersey very much.
  At this time I now move to concur with House amendment No. 2, with 
the amendment which is at the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       Mr. REID moves to concur in the House amendment No. 2 to 
     Senate amendment to H.R. 2642 with an amendment 4803.

  Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent the 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. REID. 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. 4804 to Amendment No. 4803

  Mr. REID. I have a second-degree amendment at the desk and I now ask 
for its consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid] proposes an amendment 
     numbered 4804 to amendment No. 4803.

  Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent the 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.'')


                             cloture motion

  Mr. REID. I now send a cloture motion to the desk.
  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, 
     hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to 
     concur in the House amendment No. 2 to H.R. 2642, the 
     Supplemental Appropriations bill, with an amendment, Senate 
     amendment No. 4803.
         Harry Reid, Richard Durbin, Benjamin L. Cardin, Charles 
           E. Schumer, Sheldon Whitehouse, Patty Murray, Bill 
           Nelson, Amy Klobuchar, Jack Reed, Dianne Feinstein, 
           Mary L. Landrieu, Joseph Lieberman, Daniel K. Akaka, 
           Barbara A. Mikulski, Byron L. Dorgan, Maria Cantwell, 
           Sherrod Brown.

  Mr. REID. I now ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum required 
under rule XXII be waived.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have had a number of conversations with 
the distinguished Republican leader and I

[[Page S4476]]

have told him where we are going to try to get by the end of the work 
week on this matter now before the Senate, and he is mulling over my 
suggestions that I made to him this afternoon. We will meet again and 
talk about this tomorrow.
  We also have now the budget conference report that has been filed. 
That was done this afternoon. Tomorrow I am going to ask consent that 
we move to that. There is a 48-hour rule. Under the 48-hour rule we 
can't get to that until Thursday at 4 o'clock. I think it would be to 
everyone's interest to see if we could get rid of that--I don't know if 
``get rid of'' are the right words, but see if we can move on to that 
and adopt that report tomorrow.
  We also received from the House the veto message--I am sorry, the 
farm bill. We are going to have to, at some time before we leave here, 
have a vote on overriding the President's veto on the farm bill. So 
there are things we have to do.
  The budget has a statutory time. I am not certain we will need to use 
the whole 10 hours. I rather doubt it. We have the veto override. That 
is very privileged. We can spend a lot of time on that or whatever time 
people want. We hope we could get to that very quickly and see where 
the votes are.
  And then we still have the supplemental to dispose of. So we have a 
lot to do in the next few days, but with some cooperation I think we 
can get to where we need to get. I certainly hope so. I hope that is 
important and understandable to the Senators.

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