negative akaka by being a man boxer brown bird cantwell casey clinton conrad dorgan durbin feingold feinstein johnson kennedy kerry whitehouse and wyden mr carden no mr lieberman no the senator from north dakota present how my record of the senator from north dakota is recorded in the negative vote i believe the reality is they've cast a vote after the time for voting expired by at least four minutes the majority jordi majority leader i appreciate my friend distinguished senator from arizona but it's always been the standard here when there's a close vote and this is unnecessary here this is the vote total and i think people just have to be very patient that ten minute limit we're going to hear to as much as we can and everyone knows if there's a problem on the other side we do the same thing it's no we're playing favorites let no one senator that is if we are within two or three votes of a tie vote is it going to be the rule that the chair will leave the time for voting open by at least four minutes as well as just explained and my second question is given the fact that the time was closed and senate corden corn was not given the opportunity vote earlier what would the chairs opinion be with respect to having a revote on that majority leader mr president with the center be kind of to direct his inquiry through the chair to me i had a parliamentary career but i have to be happy to always have the majority leader comment on whatever i'm sorry that that's what i think a lot of us didn't hear your question senators on this are mr president i perhaps was confusing because i actually had two questions the first was sense the time for voting had clearly expired by at least four minutes and the vote was within two or three of being tied and the majority leader asked if it wasn't the case that members could continue to change their votes or vote if it was a close vote whether we had now precedent for the remainder of this vote or the remainder of the day that if we're within two or three of a tie vote even though we're four minutes beyond the time for voting that the chair would then according to this president allow no one trying to take advantage of any one but we went through i think a lot of wasted time and i probably would have done the same thing i have been your position but no one was trying to take advantage of center cornett he was late and that's too bad  we will try to be as fair as we can we have at this stage about twenty five votes left base of forty that was last count that i looked at and we're going to try to expeditiously as possible and they're going to be some other close thoughts and we're going to try to be as fair as we can to you and us and so no one's trying to take advantage of anyone and i think that we there's an order in effect of the order is that we're going to have ten minute votes if i could just to address this question majority leader that's exactly the question i had since we announced the ten minutes and then the last vote we went over by about five minutes we need to be consistent in our members to know what the rules are going to be we made an exception here in my inquiry to the chair was whether as a result of that exception which did change the result of the vote the president would now be that we actually would have up to fifteen minutes to cast votes m i do say and i'm glad that the center from arizona raises an issue there's not time for lunch there's not time for meetings unless you go to the reception area in the future i think people are going to have to start missing votes it's really unfair to both sides if we have people who simply off doing other things everyone is busy and the reason we have the ten minute rule is because we need to work our way through these votes so i think you've made a very good point i say to my friend i think that we need to  stick to the ten minute rule so i will stick to rule if you have a problem when people are here shifting votes around but thing is but i think they should i think they should be in the chamber that's how we will p m one can figure a better way to do it i'm happy to listen but i think the ten minute rule should apply senator from arizona one final question i think i need to address this to the chair as as a pure parliamentary inquiry and bad is once the clerk's tally has been requested by the presiding officer is the boat closed or not except for members who might wish to  the conventional practice of the senate has been that the percentage of men have been permitted to vote or change their vote at that time present or to kota regular order is my my amendment next yes that there are now two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on the conrad amendment number four to a four as modified who  the president the alternative that i have offered would provide for a reserve fund that would allow the repeal of the one nine hundred ninety three tax increase on social security benefits in a way that would protect social security and medicare and not increase the deficit or the debt over the period of the resolution i would urge my colleagues to  support the amount the will time in opposition senator from kentucky mr chairman very interesting abandon since i have had this amendment the last two times a budget  went through the us senate senator conrad chairman of the budget committee has offered this alternative but i would note that it contains an instruction that he himself he himself as chairman should come up with the savings this is a very odd instruction that we put in the budget resolution because he does not say where the savings will occur i  he has no intention of raising taxes on other americans to pay for this amendment and i urge a no vote on this amendment mr cochran mr coleman ms collins mr lautenberg mr leahy mr lavender mr lieberman mrs lincoln mr lugar mr martinez mr mccain mr smith ms snow mr spect lieberman lincoln menendez murray pryor reed of rhode island rockefeller salazar sanders stabber now tester born of inch and wyden senators voting in the negative alexander mr bond mr bond no of that are without objection the there are now two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on the bunning amendment forty one ninety two the senator from kentucky that there is a modification at the desk to my amendment and senator has a right to my room and i haven't been notified and so is the other proper people the amendment is not modified ok this is a third time that i have addressed on the senate floor this amendment the unfair tax that has been on the senior citizens of this country since one thousand nine hundred three the additional thirty five percent that was put on and this time it's paid for not like the last only voted on this time it's paid for in my modification it specifically states that it is paid for by a across the board cut in discretionary spending we do not touch the entitlement spending but discretionary spending is cut by the amount of money that we need to pay for this cut for senior citizens so this is the we'll cut the taxes for our senior citizens the last one was the cover your  of some part of your body rather than the real kind of tax cut to senators time is expired senator from north dakota is to present well this this is real cuts centers right about that this would cut across the board by twenty one billion dollars education that friends health homeland security law enforcement if you want to do that vote for the bunning amendment i've heard my colleagues to oppose it mr coleman hatch isaacson martinez mccain murkowski sessions shelby smith stevens and wicker mr lugar  rockefeller mr rockefeller no  kerry mr kerry no boxer mrs boxer no mr webb no white house now during bunning amendment number forty one ninety two as modified the a's are forty seven the nays are fifty three the amendment is not adopted there are now two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on which would bring it to a total of three billion dollars and i h has been grossly underfunded for many years enormous progress was made when we were adding three three and a half billion dollars a year known as a nine twenty which means in order to pay for this so across the board cuts all other accounts but i think the senator is correct that if we're going to prioritize spending i'm willing to do across the board cuts all of their cast import more money and  call is there a sufficient second conrad mr corker mr kennedy mr kerry mr reid of nevada mr roberts mr rockefeller mr salazar mr sanders mr schumer mr sessions shelby snowe specter stevens sununu tester warner webb wicker and wyden senators voting in the negative demand and martinez this is boxer this is mr roberts  on the spectrum i meant forty two zero three the a's are ninety five the nays are for the amendment is adopted mr president senator from north dakota the next amendment is that an amendment by senator dorgan then there would be a side by side to senator alexander energy reserve amendment then the senator alexander amendment then the senator kennedy amendment followed by senator sununu followed by senator lincoln followed by senator alexander i side by side on alexander then alexander then menendez then sessions then cornyn then pryor then allard those are the that's the regular order previously entered just for the notice of senators and we would note that none of them are subject to second degrees we bank that request one of those subject to second degrees  consent request that none of them be subject to second degree is their objection without objection sort of that takes us to the dorgan amendment both a trust responsibility and treaty responsibilities for the health care of american indians they are the first americans let me tell you how we meet our responsibility we also have responsibility for health care for incarcerated federal prisoners we spend twice as much money for health care per person on incarcerated prisoners as we do to meet our cast and our promise to american indians for health care this amendment provides one billion dollars restoration of funding for the indian health care program it is paid for by a general reduction in function nine twenty let me say again people are dying as a result of the underfunding for health care for american indians it's a promise we have made and it's long past the time we keep that promise this amendment is a step in that direction senator from north dakota has made an exceptional case regarding the failure of the indian help for program especially as it relates to his citizenry another citizen the throughout this country he's pointed out that it involves rationing poor medical care and that it involves inconsistent and spotty medical care i think he's probably made one of the best case you could probably make for why we don't want the federal government running health care indian health care system is a federal system and so our people vote on this i think we should understand that really this vote is a condemnation the idea of nationalizing our health care system thank  mr kennedy the white house mr cochran i if not on this the the i's are sixty nine nays are thirty the amendment is agreed to mr pres senator from florida mr president i call up amendment number four the alexander amendment that is coming up unwisely attempts to override the moratorium that we have which congress adopted in the president the senate is not in order the senate will come to order and the president signed just three months ago to prevent commercial oil shale leasing before we know the impacts of those proposed technologies are known and before they are in the projects in colorado utah have produced any results so my amendment takes that out my amendment also takes out his portion that he's going to allow oil and gas drilling on the outer continental shelf senator alexander is going to change that just to have it gas drilling all for virginia but i would argue that that's the proverbial camel's nose under the tent and what we fight about each year all drilling off the coast mr president senator from tennessee there are only two ways to bring down the price of three dollars a half gasoline and to keep electing kristie from going up one is to reduce demand one is to increase supply the senator from florida and i agree in our amendments on several provisions but he would take out the parts that will increase the supply of natural gas and increase the supply of oil which will tend to reduce the price of gasoline and reduce the price of natural gas and make us less dependent on people in other countries who are trying to kill us i urge a no vote if you want lower energy prices this is mind stein mr menendez mr sessions gold johnson kennedy club which are cole lieberman linkin mccaskill menendez murray nelson of nebraska pryor reed of rhode does anyone wish to vote or to change their vote it's not the a s r fifty six the nays are forty three and the amendment is accepted there will now be two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on amendment number forty two zero seven offered by the senator from tennessee mr alexander senator from tennessee  i've sent a modification of my men went to the desk which limits the encouragement of the development of natural gas resources but need the outer continental self to this coastline to off the coastline of the state of virginia madam president  this year it is estimated that four please can we have order in the chamber thank you madam president the estimates are that this year four hundred billion american dollars are going overseas to buy oil this amendment has some conference conservation measures in it but it also allows us to proceed with the department of interior to develop oil from oil shale in the in the western part of the united states it allows virginia who has asked to do it to explore for natural gas off the coastline to virginia the question is a yes vote is to bring down three dollar and  have gasoline prices the supply of oil in gas is important if we want to bring down the price of oil and gas to americans and make us dependent less dependent on foreign oil is modified senator from florida madam president i want to point out that the alexander amendment takes away the sensible moratorium which congress just adopted in the president signed three months ago which prevents commercial oil shale leasing before the impacts of those technologies are no  projects in colorado so in utah and it further starts the process of drilling in the outer continental shelf which you just protected by adopting my  doing what senator alexander said the camel's nose is under the tail start drilling all for virginia i urge a no vote on senator alexander's side by side amendment if the senator would amend his his request for a minute on each side i'd be happy not to object i'd like to talk about it too and i don't object have a minute on each side on the if you want five minutes is fine and is there objection to a minute on each side that objection center from new mexico madam president what happened in this case with reference to shale oil the united states has as much oil in these two states colorado and utah by way of shale as the saudi arabians do or will we had that arranged in our energy bill where it was being researched by major american oil companies and in the dead of night the appropriators he's speaking of changing the law the appropriators change the law in an appropriation bill put a moratorium on on final regulations so that those who are investing money to see if we can produce this with hundred dollar all out there or not they've got to look at a moratorium as to whether or not they should invest money or not there should not be a moratorium it's protected by law this is somebody up in one of the states putting  moratorium on in appropriations with no one around this senator wyden there because i if i were there wouldn't happen we wouldn't got to bail we'd had to filibuster that bill because it is so wrong in appropriations to say expired senator from new jersey a man madam president i opposed the amendment because what this will do is senator nelson has said is unto a quarter of a century of bipartisan agreement where there is a moratorium on the outer continental shelf of west and east if we want to end our addiction if we care about prices then you don't do it by striking another vein ultimately of the same energy resource you do it by considering alternatives this amendment does nothing about that but it does undermine the moratorium of the outer continental shelf and i'm happy to yield to my colleague from colorado madam president senator from colorado i would urge my colleagues to vote no on this amendment because it deals with the state of colorado and the oil shale reserves in colorado we have a thoughtful way to move forward with that program is putting the horse ahead of the car this is the wrong way to go i urge no vote but the question is on the  mr rockefeller mr salazar mr sanders mr schumer mr sessions is there anyone in the chamber who wishes to vote or change their vote the yeas are forty seven the nays are fifty one the amendment does not pass senator from massachusetts that impression i think we have order for the senator from massachusetts please thank you i think the pending abandonment is the amendment that i had offered earlier in my career amendment number forty one fifty one with two minutes to debate equally divided of mr president madam president everyone is aware of the credit crisis and its impact on the whole all news this amendment is designed to ensure that the crisis does not impact students the amendment ensures that congress can act to provide low interest loans to students who need them it will bring stability and security to our higher education system and strengthens the federal student loan program so that secure low interest and loans will always be available to main street america even when wall street is in turmoil i urge my colleagues to support  is no shortage of student loan money under government guaranteed loans we sent seventy seven billion dollars to universities and colleges last year half of that through earmarks the more money we send to the universities the higher the tuitions go that's one of the reasons that it is higher than what it is today according to the secretary issued this this last week and a study issued this last week there is no shortage of available student loans among the federal back student loan guarantee program there is a slight shortage in the ten percent in the private this this does not address or increase at all the availability that's already there so we're not do anything with this other than spending the very money that these kids are going to have to pay back by borrowing now they'll have to pay it back two and three fault all those in favor say aye although the post say nay the ayes appear to have it the ayes have it and the amendment is agreed to move to reconsider without objection two minutes of time equally divided on the lincoln amendment senator from north dakota that a president would give just a moment to the center to collect herself and indicate that we are making very good progress but we have a long ways to go we want to thank colleagues for being so cooperative that we do to and indicate that if we have any hope of getting done tonight even late tonight it is going to take forbearance on the part of colleagues because we have probably forty five or even fifty amendments still pending that means at three an hour you can do the math we would be well into tomorrow so i would just ask colleagues if there is an ability to withhold on this vehicle or another vehicle that would certainly be helpful sunderland thank you mr senator from arkansas is recognized thank you madam president my purpose to day is to rise it's a very simple one and that is to better ensure that the men and women who have so courageously served our nation in uniform receive the benefits to which they are entitled and certainly have armed in a more timely manner i join my colleague senator snowe in offering this amendment last year we got around seventy million in the budget resolution and then again through the appropriations to specifically go to the veterans benefit ministration to hire more claims processing staff what we've seen is a tremendous backlog i know other senators in their offices and in their case work find the same situation i do and that is these incredible men and women that have served our nation in uniform and done so in such a courageous and brave way are not getting the benefits that they need or deserve and they're not getting them in a timely way anywhere from a hundred and eighty days to more in terms of backlog the v a certainly needs more resources they need the resources to train these individuals that are working with them to ensure that those benefits are delivered to these brave men and women so i thank the president madam president i certainly thank the chairman and the ranking for working with us and certainly senator snowe and encouraged my colleagues to support this amendment we have t and president the senator from maryland to recognize i am a co sponsor of the mccloskey and many other amendment you know that our military people don't stand in line when they have to serve this country they should have to stand in line to file for their disability claims this is outrageous we need to put the money enough money into the checkbook to protect the troops over there and when they come back here but vote for this lincoln amendment we support the troops could send the back there are now two minute debate equally divided on the sununu inman didn't the senator from new hampshire's recognize mr president madam president this is an amendment that simply adds language to that's an deficit neutral fun that emphasizes health care id we all know the value of technology and improving health care efficiency lowering costs reducing medical errors our language my language would ensure that health care i t focuses first on electronic prescriptions we know we can reduce the number of errors the mistakes and prescribe improve quality of care and improve the health care costs for all of our seniors by moving to electronic perscribe being incentives for doctors grants for doctors to accelerate this process this is based on legislation introduced by senator kerry and stabenow on the democratic side who we please have order in the chamber and it infant and i on the republican side it's a strong bipartisan effort that will save money and improve the cost of care i know senator kerry has a similar amendment that adds further language to this except the section and i hope that the the senate will accept both of the amendments thank you madam president senator from north dakota to recognize that a president we have no objection to the amendment from the senator from new hampshire and that takes us to the kerry amendment passed deem to pass without objection the amendment is agreed to ocean to ocean to table motion to reconsider motion to table without objection sen ordered not president as the senator from new hampshire said this is a slight variation on the amendment we just passed it's an idea with the working on a bipartisan basis and i think hopefully in the conference the two amendments can be melded into one we did have time to do that now but i look forward to seeing it pass thank you we have the time when a president going to we go to consideration of the kerry amendment the the kennedy amendment which is a side by side to the alexander senator from north dakota i think the excellent performance of the presiding officer  the kennedy amendment which is a side by side to the alexander men of senator kennedy  massachusetts madam president we're going to have a just a moment to be alexander amendment and this is an option which i her the senate will accept the alexander amendment would undermine our civil rights laws the alexander amendment which cut the o c s budget at a time when they've just reported a nine percent increase in the charges of discrimination we should be giving the o c more money to fight the problem not less in addition the kinds of cases the senator from tennessee opposes are extremely rare e e o c filed just twenty nine suits in the past eleven years involving english only policies and only when speaking english was unnecessary to do the job if we want to fund english literacy and i favor that we should do it we should do so but not by harming the o c ability to fight t discrimination so my amendment provides the needed support for english language education and the funds that across the board with a cut without harming neo cs ability to fight a discrimination  is amendment forty three fifty three the critical report the amendment will be critically important amendment number four three five zero and from massachusetts mr kennedy proposes a moment of a forty three fifty two year old time in opposition as a senator from tennessee as i understand the senate of massachusetts amendment he would increase funding for the adult literacy programs to help americans learn english i think that's a terrific idea since nineteen zero six engr immigrants have been required to learn english no child left behind which the senator help the right measures their progress in english legislation i've offered which the senate has passed gives people who are legally here and who seek to become a citizen a chance to become a citizen a year early if they become proficient in english so i support senator kennedy's amendment in a moment i will offer my memo which will stop the government from suing the salvation army for requiring its employees to speak english on the job that's a different matter the senator's right on this amendment i look forward to voting for it the question is on the amendment yield center from north dakota i would just ask would say would both senators be willing to take voice votes on these two amendments this present dissenter from tennessee want to do that madam president i admired the senator from massachusetts amendment plan to vote for it but there's not so much admiration for allied men went by some senators i'd like to have a roll call vote on it because i think it's time it became mr johnson mr kennedy sessions mr shelby mr smith ms snow mr white house mr wicker are there any senators who wish to vote or change their vote on this about the a's are ninety five the nays are two the amendment is agreed to democrat wrote a book the disunite ng of america he was please every order in the chamber while the senator from tennessee speaks you madam president arthur schlesinger a prominent democrat a great friend of the senator from massachusetts wrote a book about the disunite this uniting of america he deplored the balkanization of our country the equal employment opportunity commission is balkanizing our country when it sues the salvation army as it did for requiring its employees to speak our common language on the job any employer may require any employee to to  speak whatever language but that's our national language only a few things you knives are common history the principles in our founding documents and our common language we should be valuing rather than devaluing our common language of vote yes is fo uniting america of vote no on this amendment is for disunite ing america in the words of art senator from massachusetts let's look at what the law is and what the alexander amendment provides the law tartly says that if there is a need to speak english on the job fine employers can require that but employers taht use a militia only rules as an excuse when they really just want to fire minorities who are for forming the job correctly in this tax situation those employees had performed the job for five years correctly in addition this amendment reduces the oceans ability to fight all forms of discrimination because it cuts the entire budget sanders mr schumer mr sessions mr shelby mr smith ms no mr spect mr lugar i mr harkins no are there any senators who wish to vote or to change their vote on this vote the ayes are fifty four the names are forty four the amendment is agreed to without objection better present a senator from north dakota than i'm president i think would be useful at this point to recap the next tranche of amendments the following amendments are in order nando's forty two fifty nine sessions forty two thirty one cornyn forty two forty two pryor forty one eighty one allard forty two forty six nelson forty two twelve ensign forty two forty sanders forty two eighteen a conrad undesignated gregg forty three zero five reid forty one fifty four demand forty three twenty eight biden forty one sixty four dole forty two await died forty two fifty four allard forty two thirty two brown forty one fifty five brownback forty two eighty four co the benefit of our colleagues it is going to take real restraint if we're going to have any kind of reasonable ending by any kind of reasonable time all of these amendments are in order are we're prepared to vote on them to the extent colleagues could withhold on additional amendments that would certainly be helpful we are rapidly approaching the point at which we will have had  average number of amendments on a budget resolution it runs from thirty two to thirty six roughly on a budget resolution roll call votes and we're if if we get through this traunch i think we'll be well over that number but colleagues have a right we understand that we just ask people to to think if there's a possibility to withhold two hundred as is next there will now be two minutes of debate security and enforcement of immigration laws but instead of just going down the same old tired way that hasn't created results as you will be asked to do and senator sessions amendment what we do is actually go after the magnet that brings people to this country and that's jobs and those who employ them illegally and so we have the ability under this amendment to pursue civil penalties against bad actor employers to render them ineligible to receive federal contracts to also go after criminal aliens and federal state and local presence to make sure we deport them and finally to implement the eggs that data portion of the u s visit entry and exit data system so we know who is coming into this country and how to track them these are the ways in which will begin to address some of our immigration challenges and finally we make sure that we allow the national guard to go to the border but not until we have been declared that it will not in paid or render on say our troops abroad for which the national immigration reform language that suggests once again that a comprehensive enforcement can't be affective really done without a comprehensive amnesty approach it fails to include any provision for state and local law enforcement enforcement bios include any provision for border fencing bios to include any provision to advance specific lee the effect of operation streamline policy that is being done now in fo border areas that need to be done in twenty that has resulted in a sixty percent reduction in illegal entries in those four areas the bananas amendment does not sufficiently cover the area and i would ask that it not the past and that mom in coming up next would be the one more appropriately affective to carry out the will of this congress the question is on the amendment mr corker mr cornyn mr cragg mr mr dorgan mr durban mr feingold mrs feinstein sessions mr shelby mr tester is there any senator who wishes to vote to change their vote  roberts no any senator who wishes to vote or change their vote there will now be two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on amendment number forty two thirty one offered by the senator from alabama mr sessions quick please have order madam president we please have could people please take their conversations outside of the chamber reason or the either those have not been translated into action or findings as a result we have not made the progress we should have made we've created a lack of confidence in the american people who are cynical about what we do here ma'am in is brought to recover allow a budget neutral reserve fund for any emigration factor but it's the city clee mansion six and it does not in any way suggest that these enforcement measures should be delayed until some amnesty proposal or comprehensive reform is passed they programs are operation streamline four of twenty southern border sectors now prosecuting illegal entries and they've seen a sixty percent reduction in illegality we'd like to see that twenty of course they would commit fraction of the fence and four other areas madam president urged support for this amendment which would clearly move us in the direction we've been voting for in the past madam president from new jersey's recognize madam president i urge my colleagues to oppose as a member of the senate just a pretty significant vote voted to get to the heart of the matter with the draw of jobs and those who offer them illegally that's where the whole issue really is in the senate just acted intelligently in that respect that is tough and smart but under senator sessions amendment we're going to deploy another six thousand national guard without condition to the to the border at a time in which we are overstretched with the national guard in iraq afghanistan and for the challenges that states have for emergencies in their own stage we're going to go ahead and deputized local police and the local departments i think that that's a mistake i think it's not that we have had these before they have not succeeded we just succeeded in passing an amendment that is going to be tough and smart do well with the heart of the matter deal with the employers who illegally hire people make sure they get sanctioned make sure we proceed against those who have federal contracts doing this and making sure that we get rid of criminal aliens in the jails of this country local state and federal that's the way to pursue it we just did it but again so sessions and the question is on the sessions amendment is there a sufficient second there appears to be a sufficient second there is a sufficient second the clerk will call the roll mr akaka mr alexander mr coleman i no clinton mrs clinton no kennedy mr kennedy no mr coon mr th i mr hatch mr hatch i thirty seven other senators wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote if not on this amendment the eyes are sixty one the nays are thirty seven and the this present this amendment creates a sixty vote point of order we have order the chamber center from texas this present this amendment creates a sixty vote point of order against any legislation that will increase income tax rates on tax payers including of course middle tax middle class families and others if this looks from ill year as because it is last year we had a vote on this precise amendment and you'll see that we had sixty three senators vote in support of this point of order against raising income tax rates including the friends our friends on the other side of the aisle whose names are indicated here i understand from the from the distinguished chairman of the budget committee he may offer a procedural objection to this but we're prepared the appropriate time to offer a motion to waive any objection would ask for support of us bipartisan legislation to present so much good of light i asked the parliamentarian through the presiding officer is a series of questions about this amendment listener will state his inquiries a number one is this amendment germane to the budget resolution independent of the chair it is not germane number two if this amendment were beat were to be adopted is it corrosive to the privilege nature of a budget resolution in the opinion of the chair the amendment would be corrosive to the budget brought under the deliberate number three if this amendment came back from the conference committee would it be fatal to the privileged nature of the budget resolution must present time is expired parliamentary inquiry there in texas as president i have inquire whether adding the amendment at this point that is prior to any conference committee would  endanger the privilege nature of the budget resolution as opposed to offering it and adding it in conference and other words is there any difference between doing it now and adding it later corrosive but not fatal to add the amendment at this point in terms of privilege so it would not it would not affect the privilege status of the budget resolution to agree to my amendment at this time is that correct it would not fatally affect it at this time i think the chair to present it would fatally affected if it came back from conference committee hundred seventy four i moved to waive section three o five b two of the budget act for consideration of this amendment asked conrad seventy and i'd ask for the a's and nays on the motion is there sufficient second there appears to be the mr in no way mr levin mr lieberman mrs lincoln whitehouse and wide as a fifty nine the nays are thirty nine three fifths of the senate is duly chosen and sworn not having voted in the affirmative the motion is not agreed to the point of water is sustained and the amendment fulls motion to reconsider the motion to table without objection mr president senator from north dakota we have order in the chamber sign it will be a lot of the president is the president we have now cast roughly nineteen roll call votes we have another twenty pending just for the background of senators in two thousand and five we had thirty seven recorded roll call votes in two thousand and six thirty six recorded roll call votes in two thousand and seven thirty two recorded roll call votes so just with the votes we've already had the votes that are in train we will have exceeded the vote levels recorded roll call votes of any of the last three years i say that knowing that senators have a right to continue to ask for m m s they certainly have that right but just to put in some perspective that with twenty additional amendments to be voted on that will take about seven hours that would put us at midnight and i know the senate sometimes does its best work after dark but i would hope that we'd think seriously about relinquishing some of these amendments and save them for a later vehicle the next vote that is in order is the vote is the amendment by the senator from arkansas senator pryor and we have indicated that on both sides we would be willing to take that as a voice vote to the senator from arkansas i would describe as a man parks these are sometimes called technology parks or vision thinking better is it cetera but there's no doubt that the science parks have a great track record of spurring innovation and job creation at a time when the economy is slowing and international competition is growing we need to do everything we can revive good paying jobs for american workers more than three hundred thousand workers in north america work in a university science park every job in a science part generates an average of two point five seven jobs in the economy this president with that i think we have an agreement that will do this by voice thank you for your consideration is that for the debate if not all in favor say aye all opposed say nay the eyes appear to have it the eyes do have it the amendment is agreed to a motion to reconsider without objection to present that would take us to the allard amendment number forty two forty six there are two minutes equally divided who yields time mr president that are from colorado for the is there a sufficient second there appears to be president senator from colorado mr president in the presidential campaign senator obama has called for about one hundred eighty eight proposals of news because new spending put this a mammoth consists of take one hundred eleven of those new spending proposals we put them in this amendment and if you look at it with a two zero nine five year budget it's going to cause this country somewhere around one point four trillion dollars now the argument has been made on the campaign trail that this can be paid for by taxing the rich and that simply is not possible if you take and apply a tax increase to those who make two hundred fifty thousand dollars or more per year all you come up with around two hundred twenty five billion dollars that's not anywhere close to what it takes to pay for all these new proposals so what you're what you're going to have to do is you're going to have to cram your hands into the pockets of the small business you're going to have to cram your hands into the middle class american family and yank out the money out of their pockets you're going to have to send it to washington and you're going to have to pay for a bloated bureaucracy the point of this amendment is that you can't pay for all the spend on it as time has expired just taxing the rich senator from look the code of this amendment is a concoction it is a complete president i think it is unfortunate that the senator has offered this amendment styled in this way we have not done that i think this is beneath the dignity of the senate i would urge my colleagues to vote no against what is a complete fiction demand mr don mr lieberman mr menendez announce mr stevens this is a new name mr test no senator voted in the affirmative soon vetter web white house wicker and w kerry no mr don mr dodd no mr leahy mr leahy no mr rockefeller mr rockefeller no mr biden mr biden no mr corker mr cork understand the center has a modification so yes from the breast of mr mr president the modification is not in the body of the amendment but is in the stated purpose that can make the stated purpose and if that meets with the approval of the other side so it is as has now changed as well as we all know the budget resolution before us includes room in the budget in two thousand and eight  thousand nine hundred digital stimulus package that is saying was chairman included this quote unquote insurance policy against further economic downturn and i commend him for it and also want to thank him and senator baucus and all the distinguished bipartisan  sponsors for working with me to pass this amendment the amendment simply allocates more of the stimulus money for quote unquote ready to go infrastructure projects the amendment moves three point five billion from the allowances functions  the fans for taishan function and designated as fiscal two thousand and eight discretionary funding this is existing money that is already assumed in the resolution and i want to reiterate this this point the three point five billion dollars is already assumed in the resolution the idea behind this invent amendment is simple if we're going to spend we should invest this amendment injects money into the economy and create jobs over forty thousand jobs for billion dollars of infrastructure expenditures but it also makes a lasting investment in infrastructure that will remain long after the economy recover is their objection to agreeing to the amendment without to means test medicare part d the same way that we means test medicare part b an individual making over eighty two thousand dollars a year a couple making over one hundred sixty four thousand dollars a year seniors would be expected to pay a little over ten dollars a month extra that's all we're doing this amendment saves a couple of billion dollars over the next five years it's very reasonable there's nothing else in this budget that does anything on entitlement reform and we all know in title months are heading for a train wreck in this country we ought to at least do this a little bit for our children for deficit reduction so i would encourage all of this the senators to well for this amendment it's very very reasonable health care reform at least in medicare reform not be isolated just in this case i urge strongly that this member not ended up i mean is there sufficient second there appears to be mr carden mr carper mr case warner mr weber mr white house vote or to change their vote if not the votes are forty two i fifty six your member has not agreed to organizations representing tens of millions of americans supporting it including the a f l cio the c r u the children's defense fund the y w c a and many many other organizations this amendment could not be simply the wealthiest people in this country about how  so good since the one nine hundred twenty s their incomes of soaring while at the same time the middle class is shrinking and we have by flaw the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country the time is now to begin changing our national priorities and moving this country in a different direction this amendment restores the top income tax bracket for households earning more than one million dollars a year it raises thirty two and a half billion over three years and invests that in our kids including ten billion dollars was special education times it appears under the sanders amendment it's paid for by raising taxes another thirty two point five billion dollars ostensibly from the rich that is to say by raising taxes on people who make over a million dollars a year here's  problem with that the budget on the floor already assume the expiration of the current tax rates that is to say that the rates on the highest level go from thirty five to thirty nine point six and that money is spent if you took all of the top rate income you'd come up with twenty five billion dollars a year not even enough to meet what's here and that money's already been spent so the reality is somewhere or other somehow more taxes would have to be raised and i don't think that the american people want to do that sickly in the current environment mr conrad nevada rockefeller sanders schumer daven out and white house mr bond mr bond no no no mr carper no sen from north dakota and we're going to have order in the chamber so no brainer mr president i want to one more time implore our colleagues we have some colleagues who have multiple amendments pending we have already had by the time we end this trial will have had nearly forty votes that is significantly more than any of the last three years we've had a budget resolutions terms of recorded roll call votes we've got some colleagues and i don't know of this is their staff speaking for them or members are actually so wedded to these amendments i would just ask colleagues ask their staff how many you amendments do they have on these less we've got we got a list here of fifty more amendments and that it really is truly that is not reasonable that is not reasonable to live by any historic stand order the next amendment in order is the amendment of senator from rhode island senator from new hampshire this man was mine and we've agreed to pass over to them yes that is correct oil reach two hundred eleven dollars a barrel that translates very quickly into excruciating the high prices for seniors for low income americans like he has a program that could help them and i would urge passage i see my colleagues on  and very high price that we can make a big difference by increasing this account to bring it to the authorized level in my state of maine the last allocation and once used up in a matter of four the reading of the memo be without objection senator chuck you and mr president the every senator here today knows that we need to address the problem with social security within the next eight or ten years the current surplus that we have for so security will run out and we will be in the red as far as cash flow goes and will begin to transfer money from the general fund to pay for sole security over the last two decades we have taken over two trillion dollars of so security surplus and spend it over on other things in the next five years alone counting interest we'll take another trillion dollars of this surplus and spend it on other things this amendment simply says that we should spend this all security surplus that's in front of us only on full security last time this bill was on the floor it got forty five votes and several of those of you who voted against it said you thought it set up private accounts so you voted against it there's nothing in this amendment about setting up private accounts or how we say that it simply says the seventy times also parody on social security and save it for the future thank you mr friends who use time in opposition is present at the center of montana its president this member is privatization so security this body rejected them but this nature in two thousand and six we also voted last year mr johnson mr kennedy mr obama pryor mr reed of rhode island mr reid of nevada mr roberts mr rockefeller mr salazar mr sanders mr schumer mr shelby mr smith ms snow this is not for mrs boxer no are there any senators who wish to change their vote or that still need to vote if not the odds are forty or fifty eight and the amendment is not agreed to provision and it's fully offset by an across the board cut in non defense discretionary spending my the chairman asked whether i'd be willing to have a voice vote at this hour of the night i'd be willing to do about anything he asked me to do including a voice opposition if there's no further debate on the amendment all those in favor say aye aye opposed the eyes appear to have it the ayes have it the amendment is agreed to move to reconsider ocean a table without objection mr president the next amendment is the amendment by senator dole number forty to await president the senator from north list without objection mr president my amendment withdrew x seventy five million dollars for ice to expand the to eighty seven g b program so that more local law enforcement agencies have the resources to identify and help process criminal illegal aliens to address the problems presented by individuals who are not only here illegally but do itself a genocide themselves because of their criminal behavior we must provide the funding for ice to make the necessary resources available to our local law enforcement officials who are on the front lines greater funding for i specifically the two eighty seven g program is sorely needed and i urge my colleagues to support this important amendment them and if there is no further debate all those in favor say aye i was no the eyes appear to have it the ayes have it the amendment is agreed to move to reconsider without objection next we have in order an amendment by senator dodd of connecticut number forty two fifty four the senator from connecticut especially i asked at the moment be said at the desk as a senator clover charge senator obama lieberman durbin menendez and clinton all be added as co sponsors was present just very briefly here we all i think are aware of the growing problem waters in this country it used to be not that long ago that one child in one hundred sixty six was afflicted with autism those numbers are now drop to one in one hundred fifty it's the fastest growing to a logical disability the united states and it becoming more and more serious it's highly complex senator santorum and i offer the combating terrorism a year or so ago which passed overwhelmingly here this legislation increases the funding by one hundred ninety seven million it's completely offset by dealing with a function three seventy and therefore it's paid for completely in revenue neutral  nineteen eighties that was one in twenty five hundred children as the senator from connecticut it's indicated that current statistics are one in one fifty that means mr president that some one point five million children and their families are coping with this disease this is an area where more research can make a tremendous difference i urge adoption and the dot  us to allard amendment number forty two thirty two i don't see the senator from tennessee the senator from south carolina will call up  the allard a member of the as agreeable mr president mr mr president i'd like call up a member number forty two thirty two and escorts made it consideration the clerk will report senator from south carolina mr de meant for m numbered forty two thirty two i ask for the suspense of the reading and i would ask senator alexander allard to take a minute we've called it up and if you would just explain what it is and the senator from colorado is recognized right that will cut the federal deficit limited government way by reducing spending five percent ramps rated and affected by the o m b and use the savings to pay down the federal debt five percent of the expected increase under this budget we're not cutting any programs or is there anything out just saying that in effect the upgrading probably means you don't deserve an increase the part program was initiated by congress a result of opposition to president senator from north dakota i think there's a kernel of a good idea here unfortunately the part program i think has been defective in its analysis it says for example that the community development program is defective because it lacks a clear purpose ask your mayors and your governors about that it says that amtrak amtrak's purpose is ambiguous ask the millions of people who go to work every day and amtrak it says the d c the department of homeland security security grants has an ineffective risk assessment formula and a lack of consistent performance asked that of the first responders around the country who are have the responsibility of protecting the homeland mr president this would cut program seven hundred fifty million dollars programs that are vital to the security of the country to the the senator from is there is there sufficient second there appears to be the question is on the amendment forty two thirty two the clerk will call the sir johnson robert salazar smith specter stabenow tester warner webb and whitehouse kennedy mr kennedy no mr corker i mr sanders mr sanders no mr lieberman mr lieberman no are there any senators wishing to change their vote or who still haven't voted if not the yankees are twenty nine the nays are sixty eight and the amendment is number forty three twenty eight was my attempt so yes i did vote no that was a mistake this but not changed about as it was forty five to fifty two without objection president as president of the majority leader  present i have had a conversation with the distinguished managers of the bill and we're not there yet but we are at a point where maybe in the next twenty thirty minutes we can have a finite list of amendments whatever that number is we would like goes in and spend the rest of the time working through those so i hope we can do that no one has been cut off of offering any amendments but i hope people would be work with our with  work very very hard all this week and i would hope that people who work with them and be considerate of not only them but these people up here who make the senate work have not had they've been here since we started voting some would hope that we can do that we'll report back in half hour or so the senator from north dakota predicate we have order the senate will be in order i think the chair the next amendment in order is forty one fifty five by senator brown from ohio dispense of the reading this president without object presents a menace co sponsored by sen snowe and stabenow feingold in clinton to increase employment in manufacturing congress needs to address training and retraining a manufacturing workers this amendment does that more than three million manufacturing jobs have been lost since two thousand more than two hundred thousand in my state of ohio alone susan helper a business professor at case western in cleveland wrote in the washington post recently about paving the high road for american manufacturing the high road manufacturing agenda include significant federal investment in federal tax credits for research in the manufacturing extension partnership in worker training and retraining programs watch this amendment does manufacturing training is a tool to help this is succeed especially small manufacturers i urge my colleagues to support the brown feingold clinton amendment who yields time in opposition if there is no further debate all those in favor say aye oppose no have it in the amendment is agreed to without process that i want to take to the rest of government and ask my colleagues to consider it i think we're all familiar with that based review and alignment commission it's a process by which we've tried to get correct where our military bases are where we've closed some where we've put more resources other places and i might note to my colleagues it is save the sixty five billion dollars sense brac is been in place it's worked one of the things that's worked i take that brac process to the rest of the government programs and have a commission so dennet fighting here like a brac commission review all of the federal programs and recommand for emanations those that are duplicat where they've accomplished their purposes and then give us one vote in a whole package thirty five programs two hundred programs eliminate a more capable deal or no deal and put that on the line  be willing to accept a voice vote mr president i would like a recorded dulness we've done this by voice and i think it's time we really seriously consider it and see where members are on this issue as i have for the asian nation as president i will not nays have been ordered as president i will not oppose the amendment of the senator from kansas if there's no further debate the question is on the amendment burns mr cochran mr coleman ms collins mr harkin mr hatch mr call mr kyle mr lieberman mrs lincoln mr lugar mr martinez mr mccain mrs mccaskill mr menendez mr sanders mr schumer mr sessions mr shelby mr smith ms known mr specter  nevada roberts rockefeller sanders sonu tester webb and why the senators voting in the negative bang him and collins snowe stevens and warner