Putting aside the procedure on which the ombudsman is put in place, is there any distinction between what the duties of the ombudsman would be under the Inhofe second-degree and the underlying first-degree?

That will be a 10-minute vote on that amendment. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is in order to request the yeas and nays on the amendment at this time. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be a sufficient second…

I don't know that we condone a marketing tool by which a certain category--and it so happens that category perhaps has the preponderance of things which people would consider liberal. I am not sure we can escape totally the use of that…

It is that operative phrase of ``reach that criteria.'' It seems that reaching that criteria has the effect of excluding a lot of programming, albeit they don't have quite the audience that others do, but nevertheless, there may be some…

I wish to be supportive of this amendment of my colleague from Oklahoma. But at the same time, I do believe the amendment by Senator Harkin is deserving of consideration. I say to my colleague, my concern, is--and I wish to have the record…

I indicate to my colleagues that I would be prepared to, at a future time, to yield back our time so we can move to a vote on the Levin amendment as early as possible. So there is 3 minutes remaining, as I understand, under the control of…

if I may clarify what the situation is, 2 minutes in morning business is left, and that is being allocated to the Senator from Massachusetts, fine, no problem there. But as I understand, the Senator from Massachusetts also wishes to…

I hope my colleague will concur that the McCain amendment, which has been adopted by this Chamber on two occasions, would be dispositive of any confliction as to the definitions as to the future; would I not be correct on that assumption?

the Senator from Iowa talked about the two programs which I discussed earlier, Ed Schultz and Al Franken. He mentioned that his check indicated they haven't been contacted. I immediately went back and checked with the Department of…

My understanding is the yeas and nays have been ordered on the amendment, as modified. The PRESIDING OFFICER. They have not been ordered.

under regular order, if the yeas and nays have not been ordered, I ask for the yeas and nays. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There is a sufficient second. The yeas and nays were ordered.

That assurance to me is important. So what you are saying is it would not be any indirect censorship of any particular philosophical category of programming under your proposal?

And the variety of news services--again, there are obviously certain news services that have a proclivity to go to a more conservative side and some to the liberal side, but again, are news services given an equal opportunity to be heard?

I should like to reply. If I can get clarification, I am not sure I understood one word that I think is important. Did the Senator mean ``absolved'' or ``absorbed''?

I again join my colleague from Michigan and our distinguished colleague, a member of the committee. As the Senator says, it is all about veterans, and this is a most deserving class. This is the group that has done a minimum of 20 years…

I want to make it known now that the Senator from West Virginia has substantially revised his amendment in accordance with recommendations, if I may say with a sense of humility, that I made. He fully adopted those. I am going to support…

It is laid aside temporarily to come up at the conclusion of the Snowe amendment. And then, of course, prior to the Senate addressing a vote on the Snowe amendment, there will be 2 minutes for each side to address that amendment. I thank…

I understand we will now proceed to a brief colloquy between colleagues on both sides of the aisle with regard to the Levin amendment. That colloquy should, in total, not exceed about 10 or 11 minutes, and then we will proceed to a…

I did not mean to engender the ire of my good friend. I am simply stating factually, to me, NPR is a very balanced--I have often been on it myself and they have this sort of a format, the modulation of the voices is always quite subdued on…

I want to follow the regular parliamentary procedure. The unanimous consent--we have a perfect right to put the second-degree on, but I am trying to keep the continuity of the debate going rather than you extinguishing your 3 minutes. I…

In the interests of moving forward on the floor, Senator Inhofe will be available following the recess we are going to take for purposes of the respective caucuses. I wonder if we, given that there is significant time remaining now on the…

I say to my colleague and distinguished member of the Armed Services Committee, to avoid it in the future, that is precisely the objective of the McCain amendment, to prevent any recurrence. I am not suggesting I corroborate that there…

On our side, we would be happy to accommodate that vote following the vote on the amendment of the Senator from Rhode Island.

Fine. So that clarifies the sole technical distinction, which is an important one, between your second degree and the underlying first degree. Therefore, it is up to the Secretary, but once an ombudsman is selected, assuming the Secretary…

For example, I happen to like NPR, and I like to hear FOX News. I like to have the juxtaposition of the different viewpoints.