Angie Craig: “the leader, in opening the Senate this morning, said we would come to the floor later today to begin to debate motions…”

“the leader, in opening the Senate this morning, said we would come to the floor later today to begin to debate motions to instruct the conferees on the budget resolution conference that is now underway and being negotiated between the House and the Senate. Of course, that is critical to our going home--the process to finalize the work of the Congress this year. So for the next few moments, I wish to speak about two issues that are in that conference that will be a part of the debate this afternoon on the instruction of conferees. The first one is what we call the Byrd amendment, also known as the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act. To set the record straight, it is important to say that so people understand when I reference the Byrd amendment I am not talking about the Byrd rule as it relates to what can and cannot be inside the budget resolution but is, in fact, what Senator Byrd, I, and joined by others some time ago know as the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act. As many Senators are aware, this amendment, the Byrd amendment, has had tremendous support in this body. In fact, in 2003, 70 Senators notified the President of our strong support for this provision. Further, just recently, 25 Republican Senators notified the majority leader of our strong opposition to any repeal of the Byrd amendment in the Deficit Reduction Act. I firmly believe those 25 Senators stand firm in their opposition to any repeal.…”