Senator, I was just talking about it briefly, and I actually misstated it, so I am glad I was corrected. This rider, dropped at midnight, going on a bill that is a beautiful bill that I worked on for so long and that the Senator from…

Without a doubt. My friend is right. It is not like we are dealing with a subject matter that has no solutions, and science has shown us the various ways to do it. Certainly underground storage is fantastic, recharging. There are all these…

My friend is very knowledgeable and very smart. People tend to look at a provision, I say to my friend, in a very narrow way. They say: Oh, what is the difference? It doesn't matter. But my friend is right on the bigger picture. If all the…

A unanimous consent request is not in order? The PRESIDING OFFICER. It is not in order to strip out House language by unanimous consent.

Absolutely. What is such a joke is that my Republican friends, who were just objecting to our having an amendment to take this earmark off, always give big speeches about how Congress is putting all of these earmarks in. Well, this is a…

Yes, I have. I wish to say, since our friend is here--I am not doing anything, an attack on anything, and I never would. It is not my way. I am going to ask unanimous consent right now, Senator Cantwell, without losing my right to the…

I wish to say to my friend that I was aware of the provision, but I did not know the details of what you just said. My staff confirms that you are absolutely right. Are you saying to me that water contractors will be relieved of certain…

Mr. President, I want to thank Senator Cochran for his courtesy in getting the time for me. Coal Miner Health Care Benefits and WRDA Mr. President, some people may wonder why on a Friday we are still here and we are still arguing and we…

So we could ask for that by unanimous consent--to have such an amendment, and I want to make sure that after I make that, I would not lose the right to the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.

That was a good test. We can see where this is coming from, I say to my friend from Washington. All we are asking for is to go back to a bill that we worked on for almost 2 years, and now we are looking at a situation where we will be…

Then I would ask through the Chair, what would the appropriate language be to get unanimous consent? Is it to allow an amendment to do that? Would that be the right way to go? The PRESIDING OFFICER. A motion to concur with an amendment.

Madam President, I did not say this was a bad bill. I said this is a beautiful bill with a bad rider dropped on us. That was what I was talking about, the bill that was placed on top of WRDA. It is awful. The White House said: We do not…