Harry Reid

A couple of hours. With the 12:30 schedule, I would hope we would have a vote on ethanol; otherwise, we will debate that and whenever that finishes move to another issue, if ethanol is not resolved. It is not going to be a day-long debate.

We have had a conversation as suggested by the distinguished chairman. He is, as usual, right. I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside and that Senator Cantwell be allowed to offer her amendment, and that at such…

I ask the Senator to yield so the Senator from California can offer an amendment. She will speak for up to 20 minutes. In the meantime, Senator Domenici has a piece of paper you are probably interested in, and that would probably move this…

I am going to depart the floor and let the managers manage this bill, as they should. They are some of our most experienced Senators. The only thing I want to make sure is that the record is clear that following the offering of the…

Of course, I certainly understand that. I am only talking about first-degree amendments.

I think that would be totally appropriate. I would ask--the amendments we are talking about would be first-degree amendments.

The ranking member is in the Finance Committee at a very important meeting dealing with CAFTA. He is going to return as soon as the distinguished chairman of the committee makes his opening statement. I ask unanimous consent that the first…

The time I have left over from the 15 minutes that is from 3:30 to 3:45 I will leave to Senator Leahy. I am going to use part of his time now. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.

It is my understanding the vote Monday will be around 6 o'clock rather than our normal 5:30 p.m. time.

So we have an orderly process on our side, I would ask unanimous consent that of the time that has been allotted this side, Senator Boxer be given 45 minutes; Senator Dodd, 60 minutes; Senator Sarbanes, 15 minutes; Senator Voinovich, 30…

I also say if, in fact, there is more time needed tonight, would the distinguished leader allow Members to move past 6:30 tonight on debate.

I think it would be better--I haven't had a chance to discuss this with the majority leader--to vitiate the vote on cloture and then set a time to complete the debate on Priscilla Owen. We would be willing to do that. It would move things…

If I could direct another question to the distinguished leader, it was my understanding of our conversation late last night that we were not going to move forward on more judges this period but move forward to other matters. Do you now…

A few minutes ago he said he was on his way. Let me say, one of the distinguished clerks, without divulging a person's name, said that when Senator Frist and I talk about coming to the floor, it is dog time, meaning every minute is 7…

The Republican leader is going to come to the floor and talk about what the schedule will be the next couple of days. It should not take long. I ask when he shows up that the distinguished Senator from Florida yield to the majority leader.

Then following the two managers making their statements, thereafter, we go to an hourly timeframe and we have to, I think--it would be good for the managers not to be extending the time because it makes it impossible when you have people…

I simply say, if the Senator needs the full hour, I ask that it be deducted so we can kind of keep on track here. We will use 42 minutes our first go-around. We ask that you deduct whatever time you use off of the second time that you are…

I will respond, if I could. As indicated, that is why I asked the question. You have 42 minutes and we have 41. We need to stick to that. I would have no objection to your using the full time and deducting 15 minutes, or whatever it is…

I know we need to move on. I want to briefly say we are following the rules. We believe in following the rules, not breaking the rules. And while it is good to talk about this up-or-down vote, the fact is if we move forward as contemplated…

In that we have started this process, my friend, the distinguished majority leader, should be advised we will not agree to committees meeting during the time we are doing debate on Priscilla Owen. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there…

I have another reservation. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Democratic leader.

The duties of the United States Senate are set forth in the Constitution of the United States. Nowhere in that document does it say the Senate has a duty to give presidential nominees a vote.

I have listened to the leader's statements these past days on his trip to the Middle East. It is a fascinating place. I returned about a month ago myself. But the one thing that I always see in the Middle East is this tiny, little State of…

To the leader through the Chair, it is my understanding we will have a vote Monday night, and it will be one of the amendments on the list; is that right?

Senator Byrd, I feel this very way, very strongly. I say, respectfully, to a man who is the dean of the Senate today, has been in the Senate almost 50 years, who I have the widest respect for, we are not going to resolve this issue right…