Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 5874, received from the House and is at the desk. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title. The assistant…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res…

Madam President, how much time is remaining on our side? The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. There is 8 minutes 36 seconds remaining.

The Senator from Maryland has been on the floor for almost an hour. May he have the next 3 minutes? I see the Senator from Maine who could then speak after him. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Maryland.

I understand the leadership has 5 minutes each, equally divided. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The time remaining currently belongs to the Republican leader. There is 5 minutes, followed by the majority leader.

That is fine. Thank you. I would like the minority leader to go ahead. It is his 5 minutes, and I will reserve the last 5. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republican leader. Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I had the opportunity to hear…

Madam President, I wish to begin by thanking Leader Reid for his very kind comments regarding the work that is going into this bill. It has been my pleasure and honor to help lead a team, actually, which the Presiding Officer has been a…

Absolutely, the Senator is correct. I am glad I have this chart to answer her question because she has been representing the State of California beautifully for so many years. She knows this without me showing it, but 81 percent of the…

That is exactly what it looks like. The Senator from Illinois has described it accurately. If anybody believes he has not described it accurately, let them come to the floor because he has described the truth. He has said the truth. So I…

Exactly. I mean, I don't know how you explain to teenagers. There really is no explanation. I think it is shameful and we need to fix it. The Senator should know that is what we are trying to do. Again, I don't know what we can do about…

Madam President, I am going to speak for some time and try and reengage this debate. We had an excellent debate this morning between 9:30 and 12:30 trying to find a way forward on a very important bill, the small business bill. This is the…

That is absolutely true. I say to the Senator, in some ways I have some trepidation of continuing to read this because I have had any number of Democrats come to me and say: But there are more Republican provisions in this bill than there…

That seems to be where we are. That is why I said I feel like I am ``Alice in Wonderland,'' because it is topsy-turvy.

Well, through the Chair, I thank the Senator from Michigan because he is absolutely right. This is the wrong bill to filibuster. I mean, you may get political points by filibustering other issues, but to filibuster a small business bill…

Mr. President, there are a number of Senators on the floor who wish to speak. I see the Senator from Michigan, who has indicated she would like to speak for a minute on this bill. I will talk for the next 5 minutes, and others are going to…

Mr. President, I am pleased to join my two outstanding colleagues on the floor tonight to continue to talk about this extremely important bill. I follow up on what the Senator from Michigan said about the Senator from Washington State…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read the third time and passed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate…

Mr. President, I would like to follow up on what the Senator from Michigan has said because she has been one of the most forceful voices for trying to find a way to get the Senate to be able to move more quickly on so many important…