On the recordAugust 5, 2010
Mr. President, as I indicated, I intend to withhold the unanimous consent request because it would clearly be objected to. There are some people who disagree with the method by which this settlement would be paid for. But I also wish to mention that I have some hope that later today, finally at long last, we may be able to come to the floor of the Senate with an agreement that would be able to withstand the unanimous consent request. If we do that before we break, we would have resolved a very longstanding issue, not just 15 years of litigation, or a century of mismanagement, but also since last December, when this agreement was reached and the Congress was given time to approve it, but then that deadline had to be extended six times. At long last, perhaps we will be able to decide we can do this together. I very much appreciate the work Senator Barrasso is doing and Senator Kyl and Senator Baucus and others. My hope is that later this afternoon I will be able to come to the floor with such a unanimous consent request.
