Mr. President, I rise to oppose the amendment. This amendment would create a commission similar to the base closure commission to oversee Postal Service decisions regarding which post offices, processing plants, and district offices are to…

Mr. President, I rise to support the amendment. I thank Senator Wyden and those who worked with him on this amendment for, frankly, calling our attention to this important matter and working to ensure that our efforts to salvage the U.S…

Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote and move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the next amendment on the list, the so-called McCaskill-Merkley amendment, be dropped a few places down because we are working on some compromise language that we hope will lead to a voice vote…

That would mean Senator Coburn's next amendment, which is amendment No. 2061, is now the pending business. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Shaheen). The Senator from Oklahoma.

Madam President, a while back we skipped over the McCaskill-Merkley amendment. We were working on a modification. The modification is ready now. I ask unanimous consent that we proceed to the McCaskill-Merkley amendment No. 2031. The…

Madam President, I appreciate the work that has been done on this amendment. I know there is a lot of interest on both sides of the aisle because of the concern about rural post offices. This establishes, again, some standards. It…

I move to reconsider the vote and ask unanimous consent that the motion be laid upon the table. The motion to lay upon the table was agreed to. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine. Amendment No. 2080, as Modified

I rise to support the amendment offered by my friend from Hawaii. The Postal Service is going to need the support of all its employees and managers to turn around its current decline. Postmasters and postal supervisors are a real and…

Mr. President, I believe the next amendment in order is amendment No. 2025 by the Senator from Kentucky. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kentucky.

Madam President, I thank my friend from Illinois. He has explained the amendment totally. It is a good amendment. I support its passage, and urge we adopt it by voice vote. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate? If not, the…

Madam President, I rise to oppose the amendment of my friend from New Mexico. I know there are a lot of people who don't want to lose 6-day delivery. But the greater imperative is not to lose the Postal Service as we know it. The…

If I may, if we are going to vote now--and Senator Collins and I spoke to this at great length yesterday. The CBO score my friend from Alabama cites is a real misreading of the effect of this legislation. It is a kind of form of accounting…

I ask unanimous consent that the vote on this motion to waive be placed at the end of the list of amendments that are in order to vote on now.

Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote and to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois. Amendment No. 2082, as Modified

Mr. President, I wish to join my friend from Maine in respectfully opposing Senator Akaka's amendment. This workers' compensation program has gotten out of control. Senator Collins has worked hard on this with others. Her reform proposal…

Mr. President, very briefly, I thank Senator Brown from Massachusetts for his statement and his work on the bill. This point of order puts the whole bill in jeopardy. Right at the beginning of the debate and the vote, it forces Members to…

Mr. President, very briefly, I join my colleague in saying that if this point of order by our friend from Alabama is sustained and this bipartisan bill therefore is not able to be brought up, the effect will be that the Postal Service will…