Kent Conrad

Senator Harkin is here, and Senator Harkin needs about 4 minutes; is that right?

Could I say to my colleague, we have 17 minutes left on this side. We have four Senators left to speak. The Senator has, I think, probably 54, 53 minutes left--something like that. So I say to Senator Lieberman, if you could take about 4…

We have a situation in which our time is rapidly fleeting. They have much more time left on their side than we do on ours. Could the Senator do her presentation in 7 minutes?

I would say to Senator Boxer the situation we find ourselves in is we only have 34 minutes left on our side. I will yield 7 minutes to Senator Boxer. Senator Murray is here now.

Perhaps we can ask for a unanimous consent request to lock in these next Senators so people know who is waiting.

I thank the Senator, and I thank him for his leadership on these issues. Nobody has been more serious about getting deficits and debt under control than the Senator from Delaware, Mr. Carper. Mr. President, how much time would Senator…

If I may, if the Senator could do his presentation in about 8 minutes, we have six speakers left and we have 50 minutes.

I thank the Senator from Rhode Island. I thank him for his contributions on the Budget Committee. I don't think there has been any stronger voice for fundamental health care reform along the lines of dealing with the system we currently…

That was part of a unanimous consent agreement so that we could manage the time on the floor better. We have, I say to the Senator, 60 minutes left on our side. I think they have 100 minutes left on their side. We have seven Senators left.

The problem is, we are oversubscribed by that. It is difficult to--we have not been yielding for things that are not budget related, I would say to the Senator. So I wonder if it would be agreeable if the Senator would take 5 minutes on…

We have Senator Reed slotted in between. I wonder if we could propose--I say to Senator Alexander, how much time would you like?

I thank the Senator. Senator Alexander is next. I wonder if we could enter into a quick time agreement to get the next Senators slotted. That might help us manage the floor, I would say to my colleague, Senator Sessions.

I wish to inform the Senator from New Jersey that Senator Alexander is scheduled to be here at 12:30 or thereabouts, so if the Senator could consume about that amount of time, we can make this all work.

I thank the Senator. I thank him for the extraordinary work he has done on the Budget Committee. I thank him for the extraordinary work he has done as an individual Senator to propose bipartisan tax reform, bipartisan Medicare reform, and…

Senator Menendez is here to be recognized for 10 minutes, and we can do that at this point. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from New Jersey.

I just want to say very briefly how delighted we are to have Chairman Hall here, how delighted we are that his health is recovering after a very serious health scare.

I think that's very important for the people that we represent here, that they understand, yes, we've made progress, in some ways very dramatic progress, especially against al-Qa'ida, but that significant threats remain and that we've got…

I'd say to the press they ought to quit printing anonymous attacks on people; it does not reflect well on them, either.

As far as I am concerned, these people that work behind the cloak of anonymity attacking people are cowards.

I think that, too, is an act of patriotism. It's very much appreciated.

I think we have made a lot of progress, particularly in a couple of key areas.

As far as I'm concerned, he's a patriot.

I now believe the time for biennial budgeting has come.

The current budget process is simply not working.

If I could just say to my colleague, Canada is going to develop this resource. This oil is going to go somewhere. It is absolutely in our national interest for that oil to come to our country. If the language is, as the Senator represents…