[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 11679]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--H.R. 7

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at a time to be 
determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the 
Republican leader, and prior to the August recess, the Senate proceed 
to the consideration of H.R. 7, the charitable deductions bill, as 
reported by the Finance Committee, and that it be considered under the 
following limitation: That there be 4 hours for debate on the bill 
equally divided between the chairman and ranking member of the Finance 
Committee; that there be one substitute amendment in order to be 
offered by the majority leader or his designee; that the debate time 
shall come from the time on the bill; that upon the disposition of the 
substitute amendment and the use or yielding back of time, the bill be 
read a third time and the Senate vote on final passage of the bill, 
without any intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. LOTT. Reserving the right to object, Mr. President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republican leader.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, this bill has not been filed and the 
amendment mentioned is a brandnew amendment which was received at 3:10 
p.m. today. I really do not have any idea what is contained in this 
complete substitute, but I do know we would be unable to clear it for 
consent at this time. We are working right now to get in touch with 
Senator Grassley and others to make sure they are familiar with this 
and have had a chance to look over the substitute amendment to make 
sure there is no problem with it.
  I had hoped we had been able to clear this earlier today, and I hope 
that if we are not going out of session right away, we might even have 
a chance to come back, if I can get this cleared, later this afternoon. 
But until I can do a hotline on it and check with the senior member on 
the Finance Committee about the substitute amendment, I have to object 
at this time. I emphasize, I think maybe we can clear it before the 
afternoon is done. I hope we can come back to it.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection has been heard.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I say to my friend, the distinguished 
Republican leader, Senator Daschle will be here tomorrow and maybe even 
tomorrow something can be worked out. My understanding is the President 
wants this badly, and I hope we can work it out.

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