[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 5824]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, this morning, the Senate will be in a period 
of morning business for 1 hour, with the time divided between both 
sides, the Republicans having the first half and the majority the 
second half. Following that period of time, the Senate will resume 
consideration of the 9/11 legislation, S. 4.
  Last night, the Republican leader and I had a discussion about the 
legislation, the importance of completing it and how we do so. The 
Republican leader modified a pending amendment in order to include the 
provisions of three other amendments which were pending, and then filed 
cloture on that amendment. Before adjourning last night, I filed 
cloture on both the substitute amendment and the bill. So tomorrow 
morning, Friday, we will have a cloture vote on the Republican 
amendment. And, of course, if cloture is not invoked, then there is an 
immediate cloture vote on the substitute. So Members could be here 
Friday well beyond the noon hour.
  Just to remind Members, since cloture has been filed on the 
substitute and the bill, they have until 1 p.m. today to file any 
additional germane first-degree amendments. At this point, 
approximately 110 amendments have already been filed.
  Right now, 40 amendments are currently pending. That includes, of 
course, the substitute amendment. I am advised that from a preliminary 
review by the Parliamentarians of these pending amendments, only eight 
of them are germane. I have the list of amendments here. It is a long 
list, as we indicated, of some 100-plus amendments. Out of those, there 
are eight that are germane. There may be a couple more that are 
arguably germane. But that is where we are. We will instruct the two 
managers to see if they, today, can move through the germane 
amendments. That would speed things up postcloture tomorrow.
  We are still attempting to resolve other issues on this most 
important bill. It is a bill that deals, as we know, with the 
recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. It has been 2\1/2\ years since 
they completed their work. The House has already done theirs. We are 
going to do our very best to follow suit. I feel comfortable we will be 
able to complete something before we leave here this Friday or Saturday 
or, if good fortune smiles on us, we can work out something tonight.

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