[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 148 (Wednesday, September 17, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S8929]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--S. 3001

  Mr. LEVIN. Madam President, let me first thank our dear friend from 
Louisiana for allowing this interruption. It is a very important 
presentation.
  In a moment, I am going to propound a unanimous consent request. 
Before doing that, there has been a lot of inquiry as to whether a 
managers' package is included in this. It is not. It has been unable to 
be cleared on the other side, so it is not included in this unanimous 
consent request, so that everybody understands it.
  I now ask unanimous consent that at 6:30 p.m., morning business be 
closed; that after the bill is reported, all postcloture time be 
yielded back, the first and second-degree amendment be withdrawn, the 
bill then be read a third time, and the Senate proceed to vote on 
passage of the bill; that upon passage, it then be in order for the 
Senate to consider, en bloc, the following calendar items: Nos. 733, 
734, and 735; that all after the enacting clause of each bill be 
stricken and the following divisions of S. 3001, as passed by the 
Senate, be inserted as follows: Division A, S. 3002; Division B, S. 
3003; Division C, S. 3004; that these bills be read a third time, 
passed, and the motions to reconsider be laid on the table, en bloc; 
further, that the considering of these items appear separately in the 
Record.
  Further--and this is what I am going to call the second half of this 
unanimous consent request--the Senate then proceed to the consideration 
of Calendar No. 758, H.R. 5658, the House companion, that all after the 
enacting clause be stricken and the text of S. 3001, as amended and 
passed by the Senate, be inserted in lieu thereof; the bill be read a 
third time, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the 
table; that the title amendment which is at the desk be considered and 
agreed to; that upon passage of H.R. 5658, as amended, the Senate 
insist on its amendments, request a conference with the House on the 
disagreeing votes of the two Houses, the Chair be authorized to appoint 
conferees without further intervening action or debate, and that no 
points of order be considered waived by virtue of this agreement.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. WARNER. Madam President, reserving the right to object, and I 
shall object, but before doing so, finally, I would like to say to my 
colleague and Senators on both sides of the aisle, under the leadership 
of yourself, Mr. Chairman, and to some extent my participation as the 
acting ranking member and certainly the members of our committee and 
staff--we have all worked very diligently to achieve a bill. The 
particular request my distinguished colleague has put to the Senate, to 
which I shall object, really refers to those items we were unable to 
reconcile procedurally in the course of some several days of 
deliberation beginning, perhaps, as early as last Thursday. We were 
here Friday. We were here Monday and Tuesday. We were unable to achieve 
the reconciliation. There were objections, I say absolutely candidly 
and frankly and factually, on both sides. So it is not as if one side 
has weighed down the other, in my judgment. It has been the inability 
to reconcile differences between the Senators. I have been here 30 
years. I have seen it happen before. It will happen many years after I 
leave.
  At this time, I point out that the cloud seems dark, but the silver 
lining is that a group of us, 61 in number, voted for cloture. That 
enabled us to be here at this moment, and there will be a bill at some 
point in time. There will be an armed services bill by the Senate. I 
hope it will be favorably acted upon by a majority.
  At this time, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. LEVIN. Madam President, let me first thank my dear friend from 
Virginia. He is accurate in his statements about differences not being 
able to be resolved in terms of a number of amendments which we had 
hoped to get to votes. My statement referred only to a managers' 
package on which we had cleared about 100 amendments. That is the one I 
made reference to before.

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