[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Page 1620]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 ORDERS FOR THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2003

  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the 
Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until 10 
a.m. Thursday, January 23. I further ask that following the prayer and 
the pledge, the morning hour be deemed to have expired, the Journal of 
proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be 
reserved for their use later in the day, and there then be a period of 
morning business until 10:45 a.m., with the time equally divided, and 
Senators be permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each. 
Further, I ask that at 10:45 a.m., the Senate resume consideration of 
H.J. Res. 2, the appropriations bill. I further ask consent that at 11 
a.m., the Senate proceed to a series of votes in relation to the 
pending amendments as under the previous order.
  Finally, I ask consent that there be 2 minutes equally divided for 
debate prior to each of the stacked votes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. REID. Reserving the right to object, this appears to be in order. 
I wanted the opportunity to say we have made great progress today. Both 
leaders have indicated they want to finish this bill tomorrow. That is 
possible, but it is not going to be easy. I note to those on my side of 
the aisle that we have a number of amendments to be offered tomorrow. 
We have amendments by Senators Kennedy, Clinton, Bingaman, Cantwell, 
and Senator Boxer may offer an amendment.
  If there are other Democrats who want to offer amendments, they 
should contact me. Some of them have worked with the managers, but if 
they don't let me know they are interested in offering amendments, the 
day is going to go by quickly and they will not have that opportunity. 
Some wanted these amendments listed tonight to be it. I thought in 
fairness to Senators that this may have been misunderstood. We were 
close to saying the amendments in order were just those I listed 
tonight.
  I hope tomorrow we can move through the amendments. If we just do 
these, plus whatever Senator Stevens has--he has 60 or 70 amendments he 
is going to try to clear tomorrow morning, and it is going to call for 
a long day. I ask that everybody continue to move forward. From our 
side, I can say that we appreciate the new leader allowing us to offer 
amendments, not immediately filing cloture as we believe has happened 
in the past quite a bit. So we are very satisfied with the opportunity 
we have had to offer amendments, and we hope this is the wave of the 
future.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I thank the Democratic whip and I note 
that it has gone well. We have covered a lot of territory. People have 
had the opportunity to present amendments and speak on them and have 
votes on their amendments. But we have a lot out there, and a lot of 
work is being done. It would be much to the pleasure of the people on 
this side if we were able to complete this tomorrow. A lot of effort 
has gone into the last several days. Senator Stevens is as committed to 
doing everything he can on this side to work with the leadership on the 
other side of the aisle to bring this matter to a conclusion tomorrow, 
with everybody having a fair opportunity to speak and vote as they 
choose.

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