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Mr. Frist: Mr. President, for the information of our colleagues, we will engage in a unanimous consent request which will set out the activity for the afternoon and possibly early evening on the Supreme Court Hamdan decision.
I ask unanimous consent that the cloture motion with respect to amendment No. 5036 be withdrawn, and that further, the cloture vote scheduled in relation to H.R. 6061 be delayed to occur following the disposition of S. 3930, and that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 634, S. 3930, relating to military tribunals; provided further, that the substitute amendment, the text of which is at the desk, be considered and agreed to as original text for the purpose of further amendment; provided further, that the only other amendments in order, other than any managers' amendments which are to be cleared by both managers and the two leaders, be the following:
Levin, substitute; Rockefeller, congressional oversight; Kennedy, interrogation; Byrd, sunset; Specter, habeas.
I further ask unanimous consent that the listed amendments be limited to 60 minutes equally divided between the two leaders or their designees, other than the Specter amendment and the Levin amendment which will be limited to 2 hours equally divided, as stated above, and that there be 3 hours for general debate equally divided, again, between the two leaders or their designees. I further ask unanimous consent that following the disposition of the above amendments and the use or yielding back of time, the bill be read a third time and the Senate proceed to a vote on passage, with no intervening action or debate.
The Presiding Officer: Is there objection?
Mr. Reid: Reserving the right to object, Mr. President, this is in keeping with our agreement. I wanted the record to reflect--in case Senator Leahy is watching us because he wanted to make sure he would have 45 minutes on his amendments and 15 minutes on the bill--it is my understanding Senator Specter will be giving him 15 minutes of his time, but if he doesn't, I will take it from the bill. So Senator Leahy will have his 45 minutes, 15 minutes on this bill.
So I think this is an opportunity to improve this bill. We would all like to have had more time for hearings and debate on the floor, but we are where we are. I am thankful and grateful that we have an opportunity to improve this bill.
The Presiding Officer: Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. Frist: Mr. President, I will have an opening statement on the bill. But what we have done is set out, with a time agreement, a way to address a very important piece of legislation. I appreciate the Democratic leader and his caucus, our leadership and our caucus all agreeing upon this outline of how we will address an issue that will make us safer and more secure.
We will turn to the bill, and then I will make an opening statement, and then we will start right in with the amendment process following my opening remarks.
Continue to Congressional Records Page S10243
