Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2006

LEGISLATIVE TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2006

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I wish to be recognized for the purpose of having a colloquy with the chairman and ranking minority member, Senator Lott and Senator Dodd.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is recognized for that purpose.

Mr. WYDEN. I thank the Chair.

As the distinguished chairman of the Rules Committee knows, Senator Grassley and I have worked for a decade to bring some openness and accountability to the Senate by requiring that when a Senator puts a hold on a major piece of legislation, they would have to disclose it publicly. Senator Grassley and I are ready to go with that bipartisan amendment which we have worked on for a decade. I would simply ask the distinguished chairman of the committee and the ranking minority member what the process is so that Senator Grassley and I can bring forward this bipartisan amendment. I pose my question to the distinguished chairman of the committee.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, in answer to the distinguished Senator from Oregon, we have before us the Reid amendment which is in the nature of a substitute.

I am advised it is not; it is a regular amendment. We are going to have a vote on it at 11:30. We are open for debate on that amendment.

Then we are working out arrangements where we would come back to this side to Senator Santorum and Senator Dodd, who are going to offer the next amendment jointly, sometime between now and 11:30, or immediately after the vote on the Reid amendment. Then it would be back to the Democratic side and going back and forth for the next amendment that might be in order. We are encouraging Members to come to the floor and offer their amendments. We have Senator Inhofe coming up to offer amendments on our side. But after Senator Santorum, we would be back for I guess a jump ball if anybody wanted to offer an amendment.

Mr. WYDEN. Would it be acceptable to the distinguished chair of the committee and ranking minority member that I could ask unanimous consent that after you all have completed the bipartisan amendment of the Senator from Connecticut and the Senator from Pennsylvania, that when you all have completed your business, the Wyden-Grassley amendment come next?

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, we have no objection. We are encouraging Senators to come to the floor with their amendments, and if Senator Wyden would like to be next in line, that is fine. As a part of that, let me ask consent that Senator Inhofe be allowed to offer the next amendment after the Wyden-Grassley amendment so we would have a package of the two lined up.

I propose then that we have the Wyden amendment in order after the Santorum-Dodd proposal, to be followed by the Inhofe amendment.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. WYDEN. I thank the distinguished chairman and the ranking minority member.

http://thomas.loc.gov/