Mr. President, I yield the floor to my colleague from North Dakota. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.

I thank the gentlewoman. Mr. Speaker, Wilma Mankiller led a remarkable life. As my friend Congressman Boren so eloquently stated, her beginnings were awfully humble. Frankly, they didn't get much better for a long time. She traveled to…

Mr. President, I am prepared for the vote anytime the chairman of the Finance Committee is ready to proceed.

Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 202, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.'' ____________________

Mr. President, it has been 2 weeks since we last spoke on the floor on this issue. There has been a lot written in the press and a lot of things that have been said. I will reiterate what I said earlier in that debate before we took an…

Mr. President, so what are we going to do? We have before us a need. It is a good need. It is something we ought to do. We are going to borrow 43 cents out of every dollar we spend this year. We are going to put the Madelines of this world…

I comment on the Senator's point, there is not anybody in this body, Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, who does not want a great future for our kids. Everybody does. The Senator from Oregon has a set of twins, beautiful…

I thank the Senators from Alabama and Florida for their comments. Many have heard us use the word ``pay-for'' sometimes. When we say that, what we are actually saying is, we don't want the debt increased. So we don't want to get that…

Mr. President, I yield to Senator Chambliss at this time. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Georgia.

I must say to my colleague, I agree with him--what he said--but under the conventions that we use, Senators can ask others to object on their behalf, and, regrettably, I have been asked to do that and will do that on Senator Vitter's…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent, since the majority took an additional 5 minutes of our time, that our original unanimous consent be changed to give us the time from 11:05 to 12:05, and the majority from 12:05 to 12:30. The ACTING…

Mr. President, I would be happy to give the Senator some additional time, and we will roll the time off of your later time, if you would like time now, I say to the Senator.

I recognize the Senator from Florida and the Senator from Alabama to start that off. I yield to the Senator from Alabama.

Mr. President, I want to set a little bit of a tone. First, I thank the Senator from Michigan. Yesterday, it was through her work and Senator Levin's work that we were able to come to an agreement on a compromise in the Senate. I think…

Will the Senator yield for a moment. He talked about a tornado in Oklahoma. When the Oklahoma City bombing happened and we sent emergency funds to Oklahoma City, we paid for them. We decreased spending somewhere else to pay for that…

Mr. President, let me set the record straight. Yesterday in this body we offered the same bill in a way that would not increase the debt. It was immediately tabled, with all Republicans voting not to table it and the majority voting to…

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, again, I would note this is the fourth time I have done this and, regrettably, because we had an agreement yesterday that the House would not go along with, I have to object because we will be…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Stabenow control the time from 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.; that I control the time from 10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.; that Senator Stabenow control the time from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.; that I control…