[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 14028-14029]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   FORECLOSURE PREVENTION ACT OF 2008

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask that the 
Chair lay before the Senate a message from the House of Representatives 
with respect to H.R. 3221.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the message with respect 
to H.R. 3221.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A message from the House of Representatives to accompany 
     H.R. 3221, to provide needed housing reform and for other 
     purposes.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move that the Senate concur in the 
amendments of the House striking titles VI through XI to H.R. 3221, and 
I send a cloture motion to the desk.


                             Cloture Motion

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The cloture motion having been presented under 
rule XXII, the Chair directs the clerk to read the cloture motion.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

                             Cloture Motion

       We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to 
     concur in the amendments of the House, striking title VI 
     through XI, to the Senate amendment to H.R. 3221, the 
     Foreclosure Prevention Act.
         Harry Reid, Christopher J. Dodd, John D. Rockefeller, IV, 
           Debbie Stabenow, Jeff Bingaman, Ken Salazar, Joseph R. 
           Biden, Jr., Max Baucus, Patty Murray, Barbara A. 
           Mikulski, Charles E. Schumer, Sheldon Whitehouse, 
           Sherrod Brown, Bill Nelson, John F. Kerry, Robert P. 
           Casey, Jr., Benjamin L. Cardin, Frank R. Lautenberg.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum 
call has been waived.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture 
vote occur at 5 p.m., Monday, July 7, with the hour prior to the 
cloture vote equally divided and controlled between the chair and 
ranking member of the Banking Committee, and that no other motions be 
in order.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Chairs hears none, and it is so ordered.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, let me say this. I had one Senator come to 
me today and say: You know, why don't we spend more time here? We set 
out to accomplish certain things. We haven't been able to accomplish 
everything we wanted, but I say to everyone here, the procedures we 
just now went through would take, if we followed every step of the 
procedure of this body, well into late next week. So people should just 
be satisfied that we are going to be able to have whatever the action 
is on Medicare, whether it passes or doesn't. At least we are going to 
have final action on that now, we are going to be able to complete the 
supplemental, and we have a time set to complete FISA early next week, 
with people having all the opportunity they want to talk about how 
great it is and how horrible that bill is.
  We also have a pathway so that Senators Shelby and Dodd can complete 
the housing bill. I think it is a good piece of work. Was it as smooth 
as I would like? No. As I said when I came here this morning, when I 
gave the example of going out with my dad as a boy and gathering wood, 
and we would get stuck in those washes and those back tires would spin 
and spin, that vehicle was going a thousand miles an hour but going 
nowhere; it was stuck in sand and nothing would happen, and we would 
work and put stuff under the tires and push it, and it took a long time 
but we always got it unstuck. Well, we would have gotten unstuck here; 
it is just a question of when, and the ``when'' is now.
  So I say to the individual who asked me about this, is this something 
that is real pleasant to watch? Probably not. But for this country, the 
Senate has been doing this for 230-some-odd years, and that is how it 
works. We have heard a lot of times, as we watch the legislative 
process in action, that it is like watching the stuff they put into the 
hot dog: it is probably not too pleasant to watch, but it tastes pretty 
good when you chomp on it. That is what this legislation is all about.
  I think we are going to have the ability to work on issues important 
to the country. We know how important this supplemental is to lots of 
people in this country. We know how important the FISA legislation is. 
We know how important the housing bill is. And, of course, we know how 
important the Medicare bill is. Will they all wind up at a point where 
everyone in the Senate wants them? Probably not. But at least we have 
the opportunity to have finality on all of these.
  So I extend my appreciation to the people on my side who have agreed 
to drop amendments and work toward a common goal. As Senator McConnell 
and I have said here on the floor on a number of occasions, these are 
difficult times. The Senate is divided 51 to 49. Although we are in the 
majority, it is a slim majority. And our will has been tested this past 
year and a half. As we remember very clearly, one of our Senators got 
very ill before we were even able to swear in the Presiding Officer and 
others of the nine Democratic Senators and one Republican Senator. But 
we worked our way through that.
  We have worked our way through a lot of difficult issues, and I say 
to my friend the Republican leader, I know, frankly, that I get upset 
at him sometimes, but I always try to do it in a way that I hope brings 
dignity to this body. He has a job to do, I have a job to do, and we 
will continue to do that. I am happy we have been able to get to the 
point where we are today.

[[Page 14029]]


  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, let me add briefly that we are on a 
glidepath to completion here of a number of extremely important 
measures to our country, from the supplemental, which will fund the war 
in Iraq and Afghanistan, which also includes an important new veterans 
benefit program; to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which 
has helped protect us against attacks since 9/11; to an important 
Medicare bill, which will be resolved in one way or another in the next 
few weeks; to an important housing bill. In each of these instances, we 
will end up getting a bipartisan result at some point in the very near 
future on very important issues for the American people. So I think 
today has been very successful in crafting a pathway--a glidepath, if 
you will--to completion. I share the majority leader's view that this 
was a day of considerable accomplishment on major issues for the 
American people.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, if the Republican leader has completed his 
statement, I would ask unanimous consent that the final 20 minutes--10 
minutes for Senator McConnell and 10 minutes for me--be reserved for 
us. If other people want to come and use that time, we will use leader 
time, but prior to the vote we would ask for the opportunity to speak.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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