to the two managers of this bill, I have said before and I say again, we could not have better managers. They do things on a bipartisan basis. This is an important bill. I have from this floor on other occasions this year talked about the…

I respond to my friend, add to that the 2 weeks and 2 weeks, add 31 legislative days on judges, and understand that wound up being five people, three of whom are now judges, two of whom are not. As I understand it, we have more than…

If cloture is invoked on the underlying bill--certainly people know the procedure around here better than I, but if cloture is invoked Tuesday morning, say 11 o'clock, add 30 hours to that, and that is when we would be finished.

We had one unanimous consent vote today on DOD and a vote on the Lugar amendment. I thought there would be something on Boy Scouts, but that never came to be, on an amendment offered by the majority leader.

Make sure that people understand this: The mere fact that there are amendments that are valid postcloture does not mean they will allow a vote on them.

as we all know now, last night the President announced he will nominate John G. Roberts of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court. I congratulate Judge Roberts on this most high honor. Now the Senate begins the…

the only two amendments I am aware of--there could be others; that is why I think it is good we make a call for other amendments--is one Senator Dorgan has indicated he may offer dealing with the Unocal sale and the amendment being…

if I could say a word before closure takes place, I know the burden on the majority leader is significant. There is so much to do and so little time to do it. Through the Chair, I express my desire to the majority leader that we figure out…

I am pleased the Indian Prime Minister spoke today before a joint session. His remarks were thoughtful. He spoke of the great promise and values our two nations share--first of all, democracy. I also welcome to the Senate today several…

Because if it is going to come from other Interior programs, I would even go so far as to suggest maybe the Presiding Officer would not want $1.5 billion to come out of the Interior bill for programs that are not within the Interior bill…

if I could just briefly say, I appreciate the statement of the distinguished majority leader. I want this matter to stay before the attention of the Senate. I think it would be better to do it this way and send it to the House. I think…

That is real good news. I suggest the absence of a quorum, Mr. President. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Alexander). The clerk will call the roll. The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

I have a question I want to ask my friend. The money in the Interior bill, I hope it is additional money, not money coming from other programs. Does the distinguished majority leader know about that? Do you understand my question? I hope…

my friend, the distinguished majority leader, noted this morning that we have been in session for over 6 months. That is certainly true. My colleague from Tennessee is correct, we have made progress over these last 6 months. But it is…

briefly in response to my friend from Kentucky, the distinguished majority whip, I agree with him. We should have a civil debate on the Supreme Court nominee. That is going to happen based on what the President has done to this point. He…

I will use my leader time. I believe this is a shining moment. It is shining the spotlight on what is going on in this country--abuse of power, diversion, and, of course, a coverup. The analogy my dear friend from Kentucky used about the…

I say this to my colleagues or their staffs watching. We have spent considerable time on this bill. Yesterday was a little disjointed because of the funeral of Gaylord Nelson and the space shuttle blastoff that did not occur. We had a…

I ask that my leader time be used now. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

I ask that my amendment be read. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report. The legislative clerk read as follows: At the appropriate place, insert the following: Sec. __. No Federal employee who discloses, or has disclosed, classified…

I want everyone here today to be clear on what we are talking about. You can call it politics; I call it government. I call it good government. We are talking about a matter of national security. At least one--there could be more--at least…

I was just thinking we were in the majority, but I guess we are not. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.

I withdraw amendment No. 1200. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Amendment No. 1224

What time remains on both sides, Mr. President? The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority has 17\1/2\ minutes. The minority has 10 minutes 49 seconds.

I would ask, under the usual status here, under the usual procedure, that I would have the close here. But we have more time than you have, as I understand it--17\1/2\ minutes--and you have 10; is that right? The PRESIDING OFFICER. The…

with the permission of the Senator from Arizona, I would ask that a quorum be called. I note the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will please call the roll. The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.