[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Page 19073]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT--H.R. 2985

  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
with respect to the Legislative Branch appropriations bill be 
reinstated with the time limited to 10 minutes equally divided between 
both sides.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, may I 
ask the distinguished Senator if I could have 3 minutes in morning 
business to make a brief comment on another matter?
  Mr. BURNS. I have no objection to that. I shall not object to it. We 
had about 30 seconds. I pulled the trigger a little too quickly. 
Senator Craig is in the Chamber and would like just about 30 seconds 
with regard to the Interior appropriations bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question before the Senate is the 
unanimous consent request of the Senator from Mississippi. Is there 
objection? The Chair hears none, and it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. BURNS. I would ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Idaho 
be granted 30 seconds with regard to the Interior appropriations bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? The Chair hears none, and 
it is so ordered.
  Mr. CRAIG. I thank the chairman for allowing me this brief moment. I 
have spoken to the veterans funding in this bill. Chairman Hutchison 
was in the Chamber, and Senator Murray has spoken to that. I appreciate 
all of their cooperation. We have tried to get our arms around this 
funding issue at Veterans, and I now believe we have. We are going to 
be very insistent on good numbers in the future. I have asked the 
Secretary to report to the authorizing committee on a quarterly basis. 
I think he will do the same to the appropriating committee.
  Beyond that, this is a tremendously important bill for my State of 
Idaho. I often say the Federal Government owns Idaho. We Idahoans 
sometimes resent that. Because of the large land mass, it is Government 
land, but BLM and Interior play an important role out there.
  We thank you for your consideration, both the Senator from Montana, 
the chairman, and the ranking member, Senator Dorgan, but especially 
the expeditious way you have gotten this bill through. Because of this 
veterans funding that is critical and the way that it has been handled, 
I know it has been unique to Interior at this time and place, but it 
was also necessary to complete it. We thank you very much for that 
cooperation.

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