[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 11477]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               RECOGNITION OF THE ACTING MINORITY LEADER

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada is recognized.
  Mr. REID. We have two of the most experienced managers in the Senate 
working on this bill, Senators Grassley and Baucus. The rules of this 
tax debate are not the ordinary rules of the Senate. They are unique in 
this piece of legislation. So we need to make sure that Members 
understand that, and that those who have amendments, as the majority 
leader has indicated, give the managers some indication as to when they 
will be ready. We don't have the luxury, as we have on a lot of pieces 
of legislation, to just wait around until they show up. With some 
exceptions, the time runs all the time--with the exception, of course, 
if there are rollcall votes.
  I ask that all Members understand that the rules of this debate are 
different than others. If we are going to complete all of the work 
people want--we have a significant number of amendments on this side 
that people want to offer, and they may not be able to offer them. If 
the majority wants to take time on our amendments, they can do that, of 
course.
  This is also one of those times when we have the ability to enter 
into debate and have amendments voted on. We are going to have this 
trimmed down as much as we can on our side, but we have a lot of 
amendments. Voting alone on this bill could take several hours. So I 
hope everybody will cooperate with Senators Grassley and Baucus and 
help us move this important piece of legislation.

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