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.

Madam President, I would like to respond directly to the minority leader because I wish to make clear that there are no extraneous provisions in this bill other than disaster relief for farmers. The last time I checked, they were small…

Madam President, could I ask the minority leader a question, please. Will he yield? Would the minority leader be willing to say how many amendments might be enough? The Senator from Maine, the ranking member, said a few. The Senator from…

Yes. Mr. McCONNELL. I will tell my friend from Louisiana that is the sort of thing the majority leader and I work on every day, is to try to determine the number of amendments, and we ought to continue to try to do that.

Madam President, let me press for a minute on this question, because with all due respect to the minority leader, until we can finally agree on that number, it is going to be hard to figure out a path forward. So my question to the…

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…

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…

For whatever reason, I don't know why. I think maybe they think that is good politics. But I don't believe it is, and I don't think most Americans, even Republicans, would think that is good politics.

These changes are actually hurting the competitiveness of U.S. businesses. Again, we don't need to do this kind of ad hoc, harmful tax reform. We need a comprehensive approach. The responsible approach is what I think we probably all agree…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H. Con. Res. 308, the adjournment resolution, received from the House and at the desk. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the…

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong opposition to the Flake amendment. The best way to reduce deficits is to create jobs. The Darwin Martin House in Buffalo is one of Frank Lloyd Wright's singular architectural…

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues in support of this legislation tonight. I also want to thank Chairman Jim Oberstar, whose commitment to safety across the various modes of transportation is…

Mr. President, if the minority leader will yield for a question, I appreciate how the leaders have tried to work together, although we don't seem to be getting to an agreement at this moment, but I wanted to ask the minority leader to…

The farmers are an important constituency. They have broad-based support. So that is on this bill. That is it; the bill as it came out of Finance, the bill as it came out of Small Business with those two amendments--one put in by the…

I wish to speak for 2 minutes to close this out. I thank the Senator from Alaska who has been very forceful in his advocacy for this bill and for lending the experience he has had, before he was a Senator, as a small business owner to help…

I thank the Senator for raising that. Although it was not said publicly, I have been told privately that there is some strong objection on the Republican side for including that. I said I thought it was a bipartisan amendment, but if it is…

Mr. President, I am still hopeful we can find a way forward. Many things in life are worth fighting for and this bill is one of them. I did not know if we would have to fight 12 hours and a few days or 12 hours and a month. But we are…

Well, I appreciate that because I do have the greatest respect for the Senator from Maine. But she has not been excited about this program. She voted no, but we got 60 votes for the program. So I think perhaps we might find a way forward…