Trent Lott: “Regarding the Amtrak legislation, work was done on Friday and it is being worked on now by our staffs. We had additional…”

“Regarding the Amtrak legislation, work was done on Friday and it is being worked on now by our staffs. We had additional amendments that were filed this afternoon and we are going through them. In the meantime, we have cleared on both sides some nine amendments in a variety of areas. Our staffs have worked together, and we have reviewed these amendments. They look constructive to me. They are from both sides of the aisle--from Senators Crapo, Tester, Allard, Bond, DeMint, Sanders, Coburn, and Hutchison. So we will, in a few moments, offer these amendments en bloc for acceptance. I see that Senator Domenici has left the floor. I appreciate his remarks on the energy legislation. As on so many issues, he has been one of our most thoughtful and committed leaders on a variety of subjects. I used to call him our 'No. 1 utility player.' Wherever you had a complicated substantive issue, if you needed someone to come and talk about it sensibly, whether it was budget issues, energy issues, appropriations, energy plants, nuclear issues, he has been such a great Member for many years. The Senate will truly miss him upon his retirement. Once again, I thought his remarks a few moments ago were extremely thoughtful and pointed out some of what we need to be doing in the energy policy of this country, and the many problems with trying to get to conference. The biggest problem in getting to conference is that the two bills are almost irreconcilable.”