[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 4920-4921]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             HOUSING DEBATE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the Senate is evenly divided: 51 Democrats, 
49 Republicans. Is the bill that is going to be the subject matter of 
the housing debate perfect? It is not perfect. But with the Senate as 
evenly divided as it is, we have to work on a compromise basis. We are 
not going to get everything we want. The Republicans are not going to 
get everything they want.
  I was interested to see people in the press today telling us how they 
could have done a much better job on this work Senators Dodd and Shelby 
have done. I am satisfied with what we have. Is it everything I want? 
Of course not. If I were a dictator, I would come up with a different 
bill. But I am not. The Senate is such that everyone's rights are 
protected. When you have a body that is so evenly divided, with the 
procedures we have in the Senate, there has to be compromise.
  I admire and congratulate Senators Dodd and Shelby for working this 
out to the point where we are. I have complimented them on a number of 
occasions. The last time I did it was last night, indicating what good 
work they have done.
  But, also, to get this bill where it is now, we needed cooperation 
from other people: for example, those who run the Finance Committee--
Senator Baucus and Senator Grassley. There are some tax measures in 
this housing bill, and they had to sign off on that. They did that. 
Their staffs worked hand in hand with the Banking Committee staff, and 
we have their product.
  I look forward to a good debate on this legislation. There will be 
amendments offered to take provisions out of the bill. There will be 
amendments offered to put provisions in the bill. That is the way it 
should be. I would hope that people would be willing to have relatively 
limited time. We wish to move forward on this bill as quickly as we 
can.
  At this stage, I have had a number of conversations with the 
Republican leader as to what we hope can be accomplished in this bill. 
I think at this time it is far too early to talk about timelines and 
when, in fact, we are going to get it done. We do know there is an 
emergency out there and we need to do it as quickly as we can. I 
applaud the bipartisan work, as I have indicated. I think we need to 
continue this effort of bipartisanship. I think it is critical to do 
this, to complete this action on this important legislation, and in an 
expedited manner.
  I have not had the chance privately to ask the Republican leader--and 
I normally do not do this--but I will violate my own rules today and 
ask the Republican leader if he could agree to a unanimous consent to 
provide for housing-related amendments only.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republican leader.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, let me say my expectation is that the 
amendments that will be offered to the bill will be housing-related, 
but I am not in a position at the beginning of the bill to enter into 
such a consent agreement. I think there is a widespread feeling on both 
sides of the aisle that we need to get an accomplishment here, that we 
need to do it on a bipartisan basis. But I am not in a position other 
than to say to my good friend that is my expectation. I am not in a 
position to agree to such a consent here at the outset of the bill.

[[Page 4921]]

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, we have an extremely important hearing that 
is going to start at 10 o'clock or thereabouts, being conducted by the 
two managers of this bill. The assistant leader, Senator Durbin, has 
agreed to manage this bill until these two good men can complete enough 
of their work at the hearing to come back and manage the bill. Senator 
Durbin is experienced, and he will handle things extremely well, as 
well as anyone could do that. I appreciate his stepping in. He had his 
own schedule, and he set that aside to work on this bill. I appreciate 
that very much.

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