On the recordFebruary 4, 2014
Reserving the right to object, Mr. President, when we last dealt with unemployment insurance, I offered a unanimous consent request at that time that would have allowed up to 20 relevant amendments--20. Mr. President, my friend, the Republican leader--he is again, through a lot of words, saying: We do not want this. We are not going to help you pass it. There is more than one way to filibuster a bill. Providing for an endless number of amendments is one of those ways to kill this bill. Mr. President, what we are going to do here is offer a fully paid for 3-month extension of unemployment insurance. Simple as that. Simple as that. That is what the Republicans said they wanted, and we agreed to do it. We will not agree to an unlimited number of amendments. I look forward to hearing from my Republican colleagues if they have a proposal that is different than this, which is, again, a different way of saying: We do not care about unemployment compensation as it is now focused, and we are not going to support it. In the meantime, I object to an order providing amendments without limit and without any commitment to vote on passage of the bill. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard. Is there objection to the original request? Mr. McCONNELL. I object. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
