[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Page 21464]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                PROGRAM

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, tomorrow morning, the Senate will begin 
consideration of the FSC/ETI JOBS conference report. We will be unable 
to reach a limited time for debate; therefore, cloture will be filed on 
the conference report. At approximately 9:15 a.m., the Senate will 
begin the first cloture vote on the pending substitute amendment to the 
intelligence resolution. It is my expectation that cloture will be 
invoked, and we should be able to adopt the substitute shortly 
thereafter and then proceed to the cloture vote on the underlying 
resolution.
  I also encourage Senators who wish to offer the amendments that are 
listed on the amendment list approved earlier tonight to come forward 
and offer those amendments. We hope to dispose of those tomorrow. 
Following the disposition of the resolution, the Senate will resume 
consideration of the FSC/ETI JOBS conference report.
  Again, we have been unable to lock in a time certain for a vote on 
the conference report, and it appears cloture will be necessary. We 
will continue to work with all Members to move forward on our remaining 
work. As I mentioned earlier, we will finish both the Senate 
intelligence reform resolution and the FSC conference report prior to 
adjourning, as well as the Homeland Security appropriations conference 
report and/or Defense conference report as they are available.
  Mr. REID. Will the Senator yield to me for a brief minute?
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to waive the 
live quorum vote prior to cloture.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Nevada.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, this second part of the 9/11 Commission 
recommendations is winding down. I know there has been a lot of hurt 
feelings today: You took too much from my committee; you are not giving 
enough to my committee.
  People are very protective of what they have around here and what 
they fear they might lose. I have been chairman of the Environment and 
Public Works Committee on two separate occasions, and transferred from 
the Environment and Public Works Committee today was a very important 
aspect of the Public Works Committee, FEMA, the Federal Emergency 
Management Administration.
  I only indicate that because when the dust settles, we will find that 
we have created a much more powerful Intelligence Committee, a much 
more powerful intelligence apparatus, and we will find that the 
homeland security committee, which we have created, merged with the 
Governmental Affairs Committee, is going to be one of the most powerful 
committees in the Congress of the United States.
  As I said, there are a lot of hurt feelings. This has been very 
difficult for Senator McConnell and I. We did not run for this 
assignment to manage this bill, but this is part of the 
responsibilities we have, and we have done the very best we can.
  I hope tomorrow people will sit back and rather than lamenting what 
they did not get or what they felt they should get, they will 
understand what we are doing. This is part of the recommendations of 
the 9/11 Commission. Always remember this is legislation, it is not 
perfection. Legislation is the art of compromise, and I believe that 
includes consensus building, which we have done.
  I want to again, through the Chair, extend my appreciation to the 
distinguished Senator from Kentucky. This has been extremely difficult 
for him and for me, but this is part of our responsibilities. I want to 
express my admiration and appreciation for his cooperation in allowing 
us to move forward on this legislation.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I thank my friend from Nevada for his 
kind comments. I will have a good deal more to say about him tomorrow 
as well because this has been a challenging undertaking. I do think we 
have made substantial progress, if not having achieved everything we 
hoped, but I think we have come a long way in the right direction.

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