Unanimous Consent Request -- S. 2248
Floor Speech
UNANIMOUS-CONSENT REQUEST--S. 2248 -- (Senate - February 05, 2008)
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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I think it is perfectly apparent to everyone who is observing this process that these two issues are interconnected in terms of how we fairly go forward, and I think the point has been well made by the 49 Republican Senators over the last year or so that our rights are going to be respected; that we are going to move forward on bipartisan bills, such as both of these, in a way that is respectful to both sides, and as soon as we have an understanding about how we are going to go forward on the stimulus package, then we will be able to make progress on this bill. I am optimistic we are going to be able to do both.
Ironically, I share the goal of the majority leader, which is to finish both these issues this week. You would think that was not the case for all the sparring and finger-pointing that has gone on the past few days, but I have the same goal he does, to finish FISA and the stimulus package. Both of them, at the end of the day, are going to pass on a strong bipartisan basis. But the process for dealing with them is not irrelevant, and that is what we have been discussing off and on for the past couple days. Hopefully, we will make some progress and be able to get going on FISA later today.
For the moment, I object.
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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, it is a little like deja vu all over again, which I suppose was said by Yogi Berra. This is the same discussion we have had for the last couple of days.
Setting aside all of the finger pointing and the parliamentary nuances, what we know for sure is that we have a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act measure that came out of the Intelligence Committee with a vote of 13 to 2--the Rockefeller-Bond bill--which the President will sign. Certainly it is not within the realm of possibility that Members of my party don't want to finish this bill soon. It is supported by a Republican President, Republican Senators, and we tried to get votes on it Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of last week, to no avail. In fact, the last vote we had last week was on Monday afternoon, and then for 3 days it was sparring over that. I don't think anybody seriously believes the Republican minority does not want the FISA bill to pass.
With regard to the stimulus package, we have not been given procedural assurances. The majority leader is in a position to deny the minority the opportunity to offer anything, to fill up the tree and file cloture, and we have been given no assurances that we will be able to offer an alternative. It strikes me that the majority is in the absurd position of having argued the House bill is inferior. If the Finance Committee bill, plus additions, was not successful, why would it not be appropriate to give the minority assurances that an amendment to adjust the House bill, which the majority has been insisting for a week is not adequate, would not be appropriate?
These are the discussions we have been having off the floor. It is probably difficult to follow, for those who are watching it on television, because there are a whole lot of parliamentary nuances involved. But stepping back from the parliamentary part of it, we know for a fact the following: There is overwhelming bipartisan support for the FISA legislation, and the President will sign it. It was the President and the Democratic Speaker of the House and the Republican leader of the House who came together on a bipartisan stimulus package. We know there was overwhelming bipartisan support for doing a stimulus package.
I think we are going to get all this resolved and approve both these measures this week, but we are going to insist on doing it in a way that is fair to the minority.
That basically sums up my views on where we are at the moment, and we will keep talking about it off the floor and, hopefully, be able to have some meaningful votes here later.
Mr. DURBIN. Will the Senator from Kentucky yield for a question?
Mr. McCONNELL. No.
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