[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Page 11249]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT--RECONCILIATION

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, with regard to the reconciliation bill, 
we have reached agreement with the minority which I will now propound.
  I ask unanimous consent that on Tuesday, May 13, at a time determined 
by the majority leader, after consultation with the Democratic leader, 
the Senate proceed to the consideration of the Senate reconciliation 
bill, if properly reported, and that there then be 14 hours remaining 
equally divided under the statutory limit.
  Mr. REID. Reserving the right to object, I want to make sure there is 
an understanding. It is my understanding that the leader sometime this 
evening, after the bill is reported out of the Finance Committee, would 
bring this to the floor, but that we would not work on the bill 
tonight. The 14 hours would start running actually tomorrow; is that 
right? I wanted to make sure that was the understanding.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kentucky.
  Mr. McCONNELL. That is the understanding.
  Mr. REID. We have been, for the last 24 hours, suggesting that we 
would be better moving to the debt ceiling sooner rather than later. We 
feel it should be done before this tax bill. We are working on that. I 
have worked with the distinguished Senator from Kentucky the last 
couple of hours. If we get a few breaks during the caucuses, we may be 
able to bring it up this afternoon. I have no objection to the request 
by the Senator from Kentucky.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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