[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 154 (Thursday, October 22, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S10655]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, following leader remarks, there will be a 
period of morning business for 1 hour. Senators will be permitted to 
speak for up to 10 minutes each. The majority will control the first 30 
minutes, and the Republicans will control the final 30 minutes.
  Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of 
the conference report to accompany H.R. 2647, the Department of Defense 
authorization bill. There will then be an hour for debate equally 
divided and controlled between Senators Levin and McCain, the chairman 
and ranking member of that committee. Around 11:45 a.m., give or take a 
few minutes, the Senate will vote on the motion to invoke cloture on 
the conference report.
  Last night, I filed cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3548, 
the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act. That is so important to 
millions of people in America today. We have a lot of people out of 
work, and their unemployment benefits have run out. I hope we do not 
have to have a cloture vote in the morning. I would think it would be 
to everyone's interest to move forward on this legislation. I would 
like to do it, just get rid of the bill, finish that.
  I have had conversations with my Republican colleagues, and they want 
some amendments. We have been pretty good this year being very open in 
the amendment process. There have been a couple snags once in a while 
that we ran into but not often. I see no reason why we cannot have a 
reasonable number of amendments on each side and complete the 
legislation today. If we do not, we are going to have to have that 
cloture vote tomorrow. If we have a cloture vote tomorrow, we likely 
will have a vote on other matters which I have the right to bring 
forward without notice--at least another matter. I hope that is not 
necessary. I know staff has been working to come up with a finite list 
of amendments. I hope that can be done very quickly.
  People have the right to know what the schedule is, and I have done 
my best to outline what the schedule is going to be in the next 24 
hours. I hope we can move toward some finality in that regard.

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