Dick Durbin: “first, I want to thank the majority leader for the compliment which he has placed to the constructive minority in the…”

“first, I want to thank the majority leader for the compliment which he has placed to the constructive minority in the Senate. We know that under the rules of the Senate, this procedure could have been stopped at any moment by any Senator. Yet we have worked in good faith with the good leadership of Senator Murkowski, Senator Cantwell, and Senator Boxer. We want to continue to. We have had a number of amendments considered here. Many of them had Republican responses which we have accommodated. Many of your amendments had Democratic responses which you have accommodated. I think we have done that in good faith. We have not threatened any filibusters. We have not tried to stop the process, and we do not want to. We think we have constructive amendments. We want to bring them forward. We would like to have a vote. I agree with the Senator completely, this is a constructive use of the Senate floor and the Senate procedure on a critical issue relative to our environment and energy policy in this country. Mr. McCONNELL. I thank my friend from Illinois. He is entirely correct. We are open for business. When we finish this tranche, I hope Senators on both sides who have additional amendments to be considered will come and offer them. After we get an additional tranche of amendments that are pending, then I think we will be in a better position to announce the way forward. I yield the floor. Amendment No. 27 The PRESIDING OFFICER.…”