More interesting days in the Senate

Sen. McCain is really kind of pissy this morning over Senate debate time. He is very upset because Sen. Kerry couldn't get to the Senate floor on time to move an amendment. (But it was part of the Unanimous Request last night. We can't hold the Senate up for one person. It's inconvenient to everyone else.) Sen. Kerry was due in the Senate Finance Committee this morning working on health care, but, according to Sen. McCain, other Senators have needs too and they managed to move stuff aside. (Really, McCain sounds very whiney today.)

McCain keeps getting snippier about it.

Anyway, Sen. Kerry due on the floor at some point this morning to offer a 2nd degree amendment to a Kyl Amendment.

I bet he's still mad because Kerry really made Brownback and McCain look silly in contrast to his reasoned, calm sensible arguments. McCain was the definition of self satisfied unctuousness yesterday in his "debate" with Brownback - truly gag worthy.

backing a Kennedy/Bayh amendment - against Lieberman and Chambliss. Kerry's point seems completely sensible. He is arguing that the DoD's decision to fund development of 2 engines, not just one. This seems just simply good practice. Having two competing efforts reduces the risk of not having a good engine and innovations created for the one that ultimately loses can long term improve the winner.

I assume it is a case of wanting to cut costs, but this could be penny wise, pound foolish - if teh only engine, produced by only one company has problems.

(I also went back to see the grumpy guy and realize that this Kerry speech was not the one you were speaking of - as it was on the Bayh amendment, not Kerry's. McCain was really really mad at that Senator from Massachusetts.

Mr. McCAIN. Madam President, let me just say to my friend, the distinguished chairman, all of our Members have very busy schedules. The Senator from Arizona, whose amendment it is, happens to be the second ranking Republican and has heavy responsibilities. I would point out that we waited for a couple hours yesterday for the same Senator yesterday afternoon to be able to come to the floor to address another amendment. At the same time, the clock is running because the majority leader
has filed cloture on the bill.

So are we going to run the proceedings here, consideration of the authorization bill, based on the priorities of one Senator or are we going to carry out what we all agreed to last night in the unanimous consent agreement? There was no objection last night from the Senator from Massachusetts. He could have objected. So now we want to turn everybody else's schedules on their heads because one Senator has some other priorities.

Obviously, we are going to finish the bill because the majority leader filed cloture, and we have to close out the bill, after spending nearly a week on two issues, hate crimes and guns, neither of which had a single thing to do with the Defense authorization bill--because, unprecedented in the 20-some years I have been a member of the Armed Services Committee, the majority leader of the Senate came to the floor and proposed a hate crimes bill that had not been through the committee of jurisdiction
and was, obviously, very controversial on this side.

So after getting bollixed up for a week and a half--or at least a week--on those two issues, we enter into a unanimous consent agreement when the majority leader files cloture to close off debate on this side. That is the reason it is done. So now we are supposed to overturn, some 10 hours later, a unanimous consent agreement because one Senator cannot fit it into his schedule, when the sponsor of the amendment is the No. 2 ranking member on this side?

There is something wrong with that process.

I will be glad to discuss it with the distinguished chairman and we will try and see if we can adjust to it. In the meantime, the clock continues to run and we have fewer and fewer amendments that will be germane and be allowed to be discussed, because we find out this morning, after a unanimous consent agreement which could have been objected to last night, one Senator has a schedule that dictates we turn the unanimous consent agreement on its head.

(I assume I can quote all of this because it is sourced to the Senate Record)


http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node/77531&id=9019189

PS Someone needs to tell McCain that "elections have consequences" and one is that the Senator from MA is more important than the # 2 Republican - because we have 60 seats and he is an ally of the President. I used to cringe everytime he threw that phrase at Kerry.

Also, Kerry, McCain, Kyl, and Levin worked out different language that they could all accept and that was added to Kyl's amendment - so he never spoke on that. What he spoke on was the Bayh amendment that wanted continued parallel research on an alternative engine. Like the F22, the Defense department did not want it. (It may be that the engine in their plan has been sufficiently tested that no alternative is needed.)

At any rate, he said nothing about McCain or the order of speaking. Here is the clip - http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node/77531&id=9019280