I have requests to make, on behalf of the managers of the bill, with respect to amendments that have been cleared on both sides of the aisle. Amendment No. 352 I now call up amendment No. 352, on behalf of Mr. Salazar, regarding the…

I call up amendment No. 354 on behalf of Mr. Graham regarding functions of the general counsel and judge advocate general of the Air Force. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report. The assistant legislative clerk read as follows: The…

I now call up amendment No. 393, on behalf of Mr. Kennedy, regarding the Veterans Health Administration facilities. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report. The assistant legislative clerk read as follows: The Senator from Mississippi…

I now send an amendment to the desk, on behalf of Mr. Leahy, providing reprogramming authority for certain State Department accounts. I ask for its immediate consideration. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report. The legislative…

I now send an amendment to the desk, on behalf of Mr. Reid and Mr. Levin, regarding retired pay and veterans disability compensation, and ask for its immediate consideration. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report. The legislative…

I call up amendment No. 370, as modified, on behalf of Mr. Salazar, concerning democracy assistance for Lebanon. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report. The legislative clerk read as follows: The Senator from Mississippi [Mr…

I notice that the distinguished Senator from New Jersey is on the floor. He is a cosponsor of this amendment. I assume he is here to talk on the amendment. I was going to try to bring the discussion to a close so we could vote on the…

The Dorgan amendment is the pending amendment. The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.

we have no objection to the modification. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The amendment has been so modified. The question is on agreeing to the amendment, as modified. The yeas and nays have been ordered. The clerk will call the roll. The…

I thank the Senator for the explanation of his amendment. There is one thing, in looking at the amendment, that I am not sure of, and I am wondering if he could advise the Senate. Does the Senator have an estimate from anyone at the…

I thank the Senator and thank the Chair. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

We have under the order a vote, now, on two Kerry amendments, Nos. 333 and 334. Is there time for debate? The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there is 2 minutes to be evenly divided on each amendment.

The yeas and nays have been ordered on the underlying amendment. I ask the yeas and nays be vitiated. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The question is on agreeing to the Durbin amendment. The amendment (No. 356)…

the next amendment is on behalf of Senators McConnell, Leahy, and Obama that addresses the Avian flu virus in Asia, which I send to the desk. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report. The assistant legislative clerk read as follows…

I do not know of any other Senators who intend to debate this issue. I would like to put an exclamation point on the statement made by the distinguished Senator from Texas though. One thing that is clear, if we do not have a permanent…

I am pleased to advise the Senate that we have been able to reach agreement on a series of votes that will occur at 1:45. I am authorized by the leadership on both sides to propound this unanimous consent request. I ask unanimous consent…

I now send to the desk an amendment on behalf of Mr. Lugar and Mr. Biden. It deals with an increase in funding for the Department of State's Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization with an offset. The PRESIDING…

a vote now occurs on the motion to waive, right? The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is right.

I ask unanimous consent we stand in recess under the previous order. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the hour of 12:30 having arrived, the Senate will stand in recess until 2:15 p.m. Thereupon, the Senate, at 12:39 p.m…

there is some confusion on my part. I thought the Senators were going to debate this, but there was a suggestion that we could agree on a time for a vote on the motion to waive the Budget Act. So I inquire of Senators whether that is the…

there is a question about how much time is going to be---- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion to waive is debatable. The Senator from Mississippi.

we had a full debate of this issue. This is not the first time this issue has been presented to the Senate. As a matter of fact, before this fiscal year began, 2005, there was a question about how much money would be needed by the…

I compliment and thank most sincerely my friend from West Virginia, the distinguished senior Democratic member of the Appropriations Committee, for his support during the committee markup in terms of the procedures for the consideration of…

This bill before the Senate contains funds that help replenish the accounts that were depleted by our agencies that were actively involved in the tsunami relief. We are asking in the bill for the Senate to approve about $1 billion for…

the Senate now has under consideration H.R. 1268, the fiscal year 2005 emergency supplemental appropriations bill. Pending is the substitute amendment recommended by the Committee on Appropriations. The committee met last Wednesday, April…