Cord Byrd

I am not sure about that. Mr. McCONNELL. Is that not the case, I ask the majority leader----

I thank the Senator again. I feel pretty well today. I have had the flu over the weekend, but I am glad I came to the Senate today.

may I say to the majority leader, there are those who filibuster sometimes, but they, too, can be dignified. I have seen filibusterers who were dignified. The late Senator Richard Russell and some of my friends on that side of the aisle…

Yes. Mr. McCONNELL. We have not been filibustering judges during this first session of Congress, and we have been giving judges an up-or-down vote as a direct result of the Senate's collective decision to sort of step back from the brink…

I thank the Senator for the speech he made. I am glad I stayed and listened to his speech. It is one of his finest speeches. It is a speech made in the true spirit of Christmas, too. The Senator, once again, stands for the poor, the…

The Senator can't find that in writing anywhere in the Constitution. I can vote against a nominee just because, any Senator can vote against a nominee just because----

first, I apologize to the distinguished Senator for imposing on his patience. He sat back in that chair and he was in the Senate Chamber before I was today. He sat patiently through that long, drawn-out discussion, and I apologize to him…

That has never been the rule here. Senators have a right to talk, to filibuster. Mr. McCONNELL. Will the majority leader yield?

All this business about us working for 214 years, there have been a lot of misquotations of history when people talk like that. I say that a Senator has a right under the Constitution to object for whatever reasons--they may not be…

as we look out the window in most of our great country, we can witness the season change, the change in the season, and we can feel it. The air has become crisp with autumnal chill. The leaves on the trees change their color; from the…

as the City of New Orleans and countless other communities along the U.S. gulf coast continue to clean up from the twin disasters that were Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as Florida reels from yet another major hurricane there, as U.S…

last night, as the Senate was working into the late hours of the night and tensions were running high, our esteemed and beloved colleague, the former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, took me by the arm and pulled me aside…

I am increasingly alarmed about the congressional budget process as it now operates. I helped to write the Budget Act of 1974. At the time, I served as chairman of the Subcommittee on the Standing Rules of the Senate. The subcommittee was…

I ask that Senators address each other in the third person, not in the second person. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia is correct; if Senators would address each other through the Chair and in the third person.

this Friday, November 11, is celebrated in this country as Veterans Day. It is always held on the 11th of November in memory of the end of World War I. In that ``War to End All Wars'' what wishful, optimistic thinking. All guns were laid…

Continuing, the Department of Defense has served our country well. But from time to time Congress has needed to make changes, such as the Goldwater-Nichols Act, to fix problems that have arisen. We know what the problem is. The Department…

The Snowe amendment to what? The PRESIDING OFFICER. To the Department of Defense authorization.

Fine, if we could set this amendment aside until after the two votes. In the meantime, let the Senator from Nevada, Mr. Ensign, speak, and then have the amendment set aside until after the two votes. Meanwhile we can confer.

the proposal coming, as it does, from the distinguished chairman of the Armed Services Committee, gives me pause. First, I send the amendment to the desk. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report. The legislative clerk read as follows…

I was hoping we would have a vote on the amendment which I had offered earlier, or in relation thereto, a rollcall vote.

the Pentagon continues to have massive management problems. The GAO believes that billions of taxpayer dollars could be saved each year, if these problems can be straightened out. This modification to my amendment would require an…

Yes, the modification is at the desk. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the modification? Without objection, the amendment is so modified. The amendment, as modified, is as follows: At the end of subtitle A of title IX, add the…

the reconciliation bill would increase immigrant work visas by 350,000 per year, about one-third of the current level. It is a massive and destabilizing increase that does not belong on the reconciliation bill. My amendment would strike…

my amendment will suspend the time limitations on debate for reconciliation bills that increase the deficit. The Congress will never succeed in balancing the budget, cutting the deficit, as long as the reconciliation process can be used to…

several of the unions are very supportive of the amendment I have just offered. Among these unions, it should be mentioned that the American Federation of Government Employees is very supportive; the American Federation of State, County…