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“UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT--H.R. 4516” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Senate section on pages S10229 on Oct. 11, 2000.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT--H.R. 4516
Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the DOD authorization conference report following the reconsideration vote on H.R. 4516 on Thursday, and the conference report be considered as having been read and debated under the following time agreement: 2 hours under the control of the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, 1 hour under the control of Senator Gramm, 2\1/2\ hours under the control of Senator Levin, 30 minutes under the control of Senator Wellstone; That following the debate just outlined, Senator Kerrey be recognized to make a point of order and that the motion to waive the Budget Act be limited to 2 hours equally divided in the usual form.
I further ask consent that following the use or yielding back of time on the motion to waive, the Senate proceed to vote on the motion and, if waived, a vote occur immediately on adoption of the conference report, without any intervening action, motion, or debate.
Mr. REID. Reserving the right to object, I say to the majority leader we have no problem going to the bill. We have a problem with the time right now. There is one Senator over here trying to work something out with both majority and minority staff. We feel confident that can be done. But I think it would be to everyone's best interest if we stop the unanimous consent agreement after the word ``read'' on the first paragraph.
Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I am sure there is a good faith effort being made here. So I will revise my unanimous consent request.
But let me emphasize to all the Members that this is a very important bill. Some people think: We have passed the Defense appropriations bill, the military construction appropriations bill; what do we need an authorization bill for? This is the bill that makes the law that authorizes things for our military men and women, including an increase in pay, including the very important, laboriously worked out provisions with regard to health benefits for our active duty men and women and their families and our retirees. It also has the Department of Energy language in which the Presiding Officer has had so much interest. This is really a big bill and an important bill. So I hope we can get agreement. I believe we will.
Also, I emphasize that by spending 6 hours on this bill, you know that is time we could be spending on the Agriculture appropriations conference report or other conference reports that may be ready by tomorrow afternoon. So I hope we can get this locked up soon.
But, in view of the legitimate request that was made by the Senator, I modify my unanimous consent request and end it after the words
``considered as having been read'' in the first paragraph.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I say to the majority leader, I think the work done by Senator Warner and Senator Levin on this bill has been exemplary. They worked well together. This is a very important bill. We on this side, the minority, understand the importance of this legislation. As we speak, we are working with one of our Members to get this worked out.
Maybe before the evening is over we can get back and put in the time agreement. We just are not able to do that right now. But we want to make sure we underscore what the leader has said. This is an important bill. I really hope we can complete it before the end of the session.
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I, first, thank the distinguished leader and distinguished Democratic whip, all of us who made this possible. We are within 1 millimeter of resolving this problem. It has just been addressed to me. This is the first time I heard it. I know the Senator very well and we are going to see what we can do to work this thing out. So I think the Senate can assume that what the leadership has presented here, this unanimous consent request, can be accepted in the course of the day.
Mr. LOTT. OK.
Mr. WARNER. This will be the 39th consecutive authorization bill for the Armed Forces of the United States by the Senate. And it is an absolute must piece of legislation, as our distinguished leader and the distinguished Democratic whip said.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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