Tom Harkin: “I concur with my chairman in that regard. The only other observation I make, we are not encouraging a lot of amendments.…”

“I concur with my chairman in that regard. The only other observation I make, we are not encouraging a lot of amendments. We are just saying if you have amendments come over and do them this morning or this afternoon so we can finish up the bill, hopefully, by tomorrow. I know there are some important amendments-- Senator Byrd certainly has one coming up on title I--that we need to address in this bill. Again, I am hopeful, if people do have amendments, that they will come over. And, again, Members need to know amendments have to be filed by 1 p.m. today to be considered under the cloture motion. Mr. President, I understand that the Senator from Rhode Island, Mr. Reed, needs to make a modification to his amendment, and I know, also, the Senator from Washington, Mrs. Murray, wants to offer an amendment before we begin Senator Byrd's amendment. Senator Byrd has been kind enough to yield to them a few minutes so we can get that done before he proceeds on his amendment. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island. Amendment No. 2194, as Modified”