Kent Conrad: “It is absolutely not possible to do that and to consider all of the amendments that have been reported to us. We have…”

“It is absolutely not possible to do that and to consider all of the amendments that have been reported to us. We have over 110 amendments. If we go into a vote-athon with 110 amendments, that will take 40 hours to complete with 3 votes an hour being conducted. It is very important that the message go out to our colleagues: It is now time for us to exercise self-discipline. Every Senator has the right to offer their amendment and get it considered under the rules of the Budget Act. Unfortunately, that means if individual Members insist on their right to offer each and every one of the amendments that has been prepared, we are going to be here through Monday. That is just the hard reality of calculating the number of amendments, the amount of time, and how long it takes to vote. If people want to be here through Monday, voting every 20 minutes on an amendment, we can do that. Or we can exercise self-restraint and self-discipline and work with the managers and work with the leadership and winnow down the number of amendments and enter into time agreements so we can dispose of amendments as quickly and efficiently as possible.”