Jim Inhofe

I don't know of anyone who is going to be wanting time to speak against this amendment. I inquire of the ranking member if he knows of anyone who is going to be speaking in opposition to this amendment?

That is the policy they have been using. It is not mandated. It is a policy they have stated has been their policy, and the programming has reflected that that is the case.

No. This has been the policy. By the way, I remind the Presiding Officer, this is on the time of Senator Harkin.

It merely makes it optional. If the Secretary of Defense wants to pursue the ombudsman as a practice, then he may do it. It doesn't say he shall. It says he may. It is not mandated. It is just optional at the discretion of the Secretary of…

In my statement, I commented that it is a very disordinate amount that has been historically given to NPR in terms of listening audience because they have that on for 24 hours. So certainly that is already there, and that is more than the…

I think that is right. I believe that is the case. The 33 stations have program directors. Their goal is to maximize their audience. If they hear that something is in demand that might not be consistent with what is in demand throughout…

To have it purely market driven so that these kids who are out there, our troops risking their lives, would be able to determine what they wanted to listen to rather than having something imposed upon them. Ideally that is what I would…

No, we cannot have--well, actually, the Harkin amendment would impose a censorship to a degree; that is, it would change the criteria that, No. 1, it has to be a syndicated network, and, No. 2, it has to have 1 million listeners. We have…

You are yielding to me. Let me finish here. It would actually be over $1 trillion, if you carried it out to the end of a 10- year period. I understand what you are saying about 1 year, and that is fine.

I appreciate that very much. First of all, I have been told by the budget analysts that, in fact, they were not offset. Some of them proposed tax increases. You could call that an offset. I don't. That is increasing taxes to do it. We are…

I ask the Senator, would you like me to yield time to you? I am trying to finish this.

I don't want to do it unless the Senator from Iowa agrees, because his remarks are excellent. If I could finish, it would be a matter of a couple minutes, and then you could get back on the reconciliation bill, if that would be acceptable…

Yes. I want to respond. I thought I had the floor. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. President: Do I have the floor? The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Thune). The Senator from Oklahoma now has the floor.

What I would like to do is urge the adoption of the Warner amendment to the underlying bill.

The unanimous consent agreement was to set aside the quorum call. I wanted to find out if the Senator is going to be offering it now. I wanted to get the floor if he is. If not, I will not object.

I see the Senator from Delaware is in the Chamber. If he would like to go ahead, it would be acceptable.

I would like to have a few minutes to respond to some of the substance of the two subjects discussed by the Senator from Utah. Then I would like to describe the amendments I have offered. It will probably take me 20 minutes.

I am aware that only one affects the Banking Committee. The national security ramifications of the performance and the functions of CFIUS are far greater than any banking function. I would be happy to deal with the chairman of the Banking…

The independent producers of oil and gas are a backbone of our domestic supply of energy. The independent producers have made clear the high value they place on research performed at the Tulsa office of the Strategic Center for Natural Gas…

I am grateful to the chair of the Small Business Committee for her concern about the interests of small business. As chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the manager of the Highway bill on the part of the…

First of all, no. I am not going to make any additional remarks. I was going to put us into morning business. I understand the Senator had some things she wanted to talk about.

I assure the Senator that I am willing to discuss with my fellow conferees the idea of including in the conference agreement on this legislation language adding PM-10 to the CMAQ apportionment formula.

The distinguished junior Senator from Alabama, one of my closest friends, made a very reasonable request for 6 minutes equally divided. If he wants to restate the request, it is without objection.

I offer Senator Lautenberg a moment to make a statement. He has been working with us on his amendment. It has been withdrawn. I certainly yield to Senator Lautenberg for no more than 5 minutes. Amendment No. 619, as Modified

This has been an effort that has been bipartisan all the way around. It has been 3 years in the making. For all of us to get along this well for 3 years--I hope it does not end after this is over. I compliment you and Senator Baucus, along…