[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 18114-18115]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  UNANIMOUS-CONSENT REQUEST--H.R. 1585

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate 
resumes consideration tomorrow of Senator Webb's amendment No. 2012, 
that the second-degree amendment be withdrawn and there be 4 hours for 
debate equally divided in the usual form on that amendment, and that at 
the conclusion or yielding back of that 4 hours, the Senate vote, 
without intervening action, on the Webb amendment.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
  Mr. McCONNELL. Reserving the right to object, I say to my good friend 
the majority leader, this amendment was just laid down a couple hours 
ago. The chairman of the committee and the ranking member of the 
committee were not even here today. The ranking member will be here 
tomorrow. He has not even had an opportunity to make his opening 
statement. We wish to offer a side by side, probably to be offered by 
Senator Lindsey Graham, a member of the committee. I was hoping we 
might be able to enter into a consent agreement that gave us a chance 
for an alternative, which is frequently the way these things are 
handled.
  Bearing that in mind, Mr. President, I am constrained to object.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, my friend has stated he would object to 4 
hours, and I assume the same answer would be to 6 hours or 8 hours; is 
that right, I say to my friend.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I say to my friend the majority leader, 
yes, at the moment. I am hopeful we can work out an agreement under 
which we could have a side by side, which is the way these things are 
often done in the Senate.
  Mr. REID. I understand that. Mr. President, what I suggest then is 
this: Senator Levin has been here all day. He didn't give his opening 
statement because he was occupied doing other business. He is here now. 
He was here all today in the Senate. I talked with him earlier this 
morning. What I suggest then is we get an agreement that if, in fact, I 
file cloture tomorrow, we can have a cloture vote on Wednesday. That 
way we wouldn't do it tonight. We will work with the minority leader. I 
think there is a strong possibility we could do side by sides. We 
wouldn't lose anything by waiting until tomorrow to see if we can work 
out some agreement.
  What I am asking is that rather than my filing cloture tonight, 
hopefully I won't have to do it tomorrow, but if I did on this 
amendment, rather than waiting until Thursday to vote on it, could I 
have an agreement from my friend that we would vote on the cloture 
motion on Wednesday rather than Thursday?
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, let me say to my friend the majority 
leader, I think that is fine. Just a suggestion: If we go down that 
path of trying to get cloture on every single amendment, if cloture is 
invoked, then it would further delay completion of the bill potentially 
by somebody insisting on using postcloture time. We have no desire to 
make it difficult to get through this bill. We would, however, like to 
have votes on our amendments.
  I think the better way to proceed, as the majority leader has 
suggested, is to see if we can come to agreement on amendments and side 
by sides and move the process along, which sounds to me is what the 
majority leader is suggesting, and that is fine with me.
  Mr. REID. That is fine. What we will do, Mr. President, is hopefully 
not have to file cloture on this amendment. If

[[Page 18115]]

we do, we will have a cloture vote on Wednesday. I feel confident we 
can work something out. We will certainly do our best on this side. 
Senator Levin is here. He is easy to work with, as is Senator Warner.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection to the cloture 
vote taking place on Wednesday?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. REID. I thank the Chair.

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