Russ Feingold: “I oppose cutting off debate on this important bill prematurely. I have two amendments that have not been considered by…”

“I oppose cutting off debate on this important bill prematurely. I have two amendments that have not been considered by the Senate--one to help service members called to active duty, the other to cancel this year's automatic pay raise for Members of Congress--that will be shut out if we invoke cloture. We should be doing all that we can to help members of our armed services who are serving so courageously. And, with the Nation's deficits and the tab for the Iraq war at alarming levels, we should not be accepting another backdoor payraise. At a minimum, the Senate should consider and vote on those worthy amendments before completing work on the Defense authorization bill. Cloture Motion The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair lays before the Senate the pending cloture motion, which the clerk will report. The legislative clerk read as follows: Cloture Motion We the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on S. 2766, the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2007. Bill Frist, John W. Warner, John E. Sununu, Jim Bunning, George Allen, Lamar Alexander, Craig Thomas, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Chuck Hagel, Ted Stevens, Judd Gregg, Robert F. Bennett, Thad Cochran, Pat Roberts, Pete Domenici, Jim Inhofe, Jeff Sessions. The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived.…”