Thad Cochran: “to respond to the Senator's comments, in looking at the list of amendments that are not germane, these two amendments…”

“to respond to the Senator's comments, in looking at the list of amendments that are not germane, these two amendments appear to be not germane postcloture and therefore not in order. We are checking to see what the reaction is from the authorizing committee. What that would amount to is this is an authorization that has not been approved. The language amounts to an authorization of a water project that has not been approved by the committee that has legislative jurisdiction over the issues. So we are awaiting a response and a reaction from the legislative committee to the amendments. I suggest we move on to other amendments that may be in order. The Kennedy amendment was temporarily laid aside so the Senator could discuss her two amendments. Having done so, I think we can return to the Kennedy amendment and then let the Senate work its will on that amendment. The Senator from Massachusetts has asked for the yeas and nays on his amendment, and we could proceed to a vote. We were trying to get a reaction from the chairman of the appropriations subcommittee having jurisdiction over the pandemic influenza vaccine issue, the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations subcommittee. They are having a hearing right now and we haven't had a response to our inquiry about the reaction.…”