[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 101 (Wednesday, June 18, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5741-S5742]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ORDER OF BUSINESS

  Mr. REID. Madam President, this has been a difficult week. We have 
spent a lot of time in quorum calls. There has been a tremendous number 
of speeches. All have been good. I have enjoyed every one of them. But 
we have been working very hard to move to something on which we can 
work together. The housing bill has been brought to us by two of our 
most experienced legislators--Senators Dodd and Shelby. They both 
served in the House of Representatives. They are experienced. They 
understand how Capitol Hill works. Senator McConnell and I have met 
with them, and we are now at a point, after a long discussion with 
them--they have had conversations with the administration; I have not 
had any, but they have--where Members should be advised that tomorrow 
morning at 9:30, as soon as the admiral completes his prayer and 
Senator McConnell and I have anything to say, we are going to move 
immediately to the housing bill. There has been agreement with the 
managers, with Senator McConnell and with me, that we are going to 
legislate on this bill. There will be amendments offered, and we will 
have amendments debated. We hope we can have some votes scheduled 
tomorrow. We are going to work, everybody should be advised, on Friday. 
Monday is a nonvote day. We have a lot of work we need to do on Monday.
  I advise everyone, the break before the Fourth of July starts a week 
from the day after tomorrow. In that short week, we have 4 days. We 
have to make sure we complete this housing bill. We will have to take a 
run at seeing if FISA can be completed. Either the House is going to 
send us a bill or we have a message here from them and we will work on 
that. We also have the little piece of legislation, the supplemental 
appropriations bill. The House is going to have a rule on that 
tomorrow. We have permission, as I understand it, from the Republican 
leadership in the House that they can do a same-day rule. That matter 
will come to us sometime tomorrow night or Friday.
  We have a lot to do. We all want to go home for the Fourth of July, 
and we all need to go home. We have parades and constituents to see. It 
is an important time. We spend a lot of time here, and it is important 
we get back to the States during the week rather than only on weekends. 
I think the Republican leader and I have an agreement on how we will 
proceed on the housing bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republican leader.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, let me echo the remarks of the 
majority leader. We are going to have an opportunity tomorrow to 
legislate like the Senate has long been accustomed to legislating. We 
are actually going to offer amendments. They are going to be related to 
the bill, and we are going to get started. The majority leader and I 
and Senator Dodd and Shelby all agree on how we ought to go forward. I 
hope Members on both sides who have amendments that are related to the 
subject matter will get them out early. Let's process them. Let's have 
the votes, and let's let the Senate work its will.
  We also have the other items the majority leader has indicated we 
need to address before the recess. We will work

[[Page S5742]]

diligently to get passage on all those matters. There will be a lot of 
cooperation on this side of the aisle, and I am confident there will be 
on the other side of the aisle so we can have a productive workweek 
before the Fourth of July break.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. REID. If I could say one or two additional things, I received a 
letter from, I think, nine Republican Senators and their request was 
totally valid. They said this is a big piece of legislation. Don't rush 
into it. I advise all Senators who sent me that letter, the legislation 
has been available all day. I hope they and their staffs looked through 
it. If there are provisions in it they think should be changed, that is 
what tomorrow and the next day and Monday will be all about.
  While we have a good attendance in the Chamber, during July, there 
are no Monday no-vote days. In July, we are going to work all the work 
period. We also have a weekend that we have scheduled that we are going 
to be in session, July 25 we are going to be in session. Everyone has a 
lot of notice now to not plan anything for that weekend. We have work 
we need to do. I will be in close touch with the Republican leader 
tomorrow and on Monday, before we start our last rush, but everyone 
will have a good idea of what we are going to do in the next work 
period. Right now it is a little bit in flux, but we know there are 
things we have to complete.
  This, of course, is the last vote for today. We will start tomorrow 
morning. Hopefully, we will have some votes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. BROWN. I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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