Kent Conrad: “I add my voice to the chairman's and indicate to our colleagues we have now been able to substantially reduce the list…”

“I add my voice to the chairman's and indicate to our colleagues we have now been able to substantially reduce the list on our side. I report to the chairman a very substantial reduction. I think we have eliminated, now, more than 50 of the amendments that have been noticed. But that still leaves us with over 40. At three amendments an hour, that would be 13 hours of straight voting. It is not just going to be straight voting because we still have time on the resolution. We still have eight or nine amendments that are going to require more extended time during the day, before we get to vote-arama. I think, just eyeballing it, we are probably talking 4 hours before we get to vote-arama. Then we have at least, as I have indicated, 13 hours of votes after that, if people do not back off and show restraint. We have the night. We have the night to think very carefully about what kind of quality of life we want for ourselves over the next 2 days. We have had very significant debates, significant amendments. Let's try to close this out and do it in a way that has the dignity the Senate should have. Yes, we will have significant additional amendments and debate, but let's eliminate the duplication and try to have a reasonable number of amendments so we can be done by a reasonable time on Friday. I thank the chairman for working with me as we have to try to move this process.”