[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 4629-4630]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           ORDER OF BUSINESS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, for the benefit of all Senators, we have 
been trying in the last 24 hours or more to work our way through the 
amendments to get to a vote on this most important bill we are dealing 
with, the small business innovation bill, a bill that has already 
created thousands of jobs around the country. It is an extremely 
important bill. We need to reauthorize this bill. It is a very small 
amount of money. It generates a lot of jobs. But we have been stuck.
  I think we have had a breakthrough that we can at least, hopefully, 
work toward conclusion of this extremely difficult matter. I have 
spoken with one Senator who had a concern about an issue that has 
actually been held up--it is a Republican amendment held up by a 
Republican--not allowing us to have a vote on it. I think we have 
worked our way through that. Now the floor staff is trying to come up 
with a consent agreement that would work toward having a vote develop 
the will of the Senate on the 1099, the tax reporting requirement. 
Also, there are a number of amendments people wish to have votes on 
dealing with EPA standards. I think we are at a place where we can 
perhaps set up some votes.
  With the difficulty of all the things we have today, including a 
briefing by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and the 
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs on Libya, I think realistically we will 
not have any votes this afternoon. Tomorrow morning we have the funeral 
in New York for Geraldine Ferraro. We will work very hard to set up a 
series of votes for tomorrow afternoon. It could be a significant 
number of votes. It could be 10 votes or so tomorrow afternoon, and if 
it has to spill over into Friday, we will have to do that. At least I 
think we can get the voting done tomorrow. With a little bit of good 
fortune, we can work with the few problems we still have outstanding 
and move forward with Senator Landrieu's bill on which she and Senator 
Snowe have worked hard.

[[Page 4630]]

  I hope this let's Senators know what we are doing. Even though it 
seems like nothing, there has been a lot of work that has gone into 
this. It is fair to say we will have no more votes today, and we will 
try to get something set up for tomorrow afternoon.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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