on a farm. from the osha manual on hazards on being on a farm, when you walk around, look around carefully and make sure you look down because there could be a slippery substance, you could step in it and fall. 31-page osha manual. osha isn't all about safety. it's about underregulatory burden on businesses, and i hope we will reject this. there is a slippery substance around here that we need to avoid, and that is more government regulations. i recommend that we vote not to allow osha into the cockpit. mr. harkin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. harkin: mr. president, this has nothing to do with osha in the cockpit at all. the bureau of labor statistics said the people that work in the airline industry, the people that handle the airplanes, the flight attendants have one of

the highest rates of accidents and illnesses in any part of the private sefrpblgt so what happens -- sector. what happens if congress urged the f.a.a. to consult with she about workplace safety? they entered into a memorandum of understanding. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. har they entered into -- mr. harkin: all this bill says is f.a.a. should consult with osha, work together to increase workplace safety in the airline industry. osha will have no regulatory power. they'll have no subpoena power. they can't issue citations. they can't get in the cockpit. the f.a.a. merely consults with them. f.a.a. still keeps all of their authority. it will not change wayne in the way airline -- change any way in the way airline safety is regulated. f.a.a. will be the sole purview of.

in addition, by terms of this memorandum of understanding, the f.a.a. will not adopt any osha standard unless there is no impact on airline security. that's a nonissue. keeping osha out of the cockpit, osha is not about to get into the cockpit. what we do want to do is to have the f.a.a. get the best expertise and advice on what they should do for safety around our airplanes and our airports. so, mr. president -- the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. mr. harkin: mr. president, i move to table the paul amendment number 18 and ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there being a sufficient second, the question's on the motion to table. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the yeas are 52, the nays are 47.

the motion to table is groad to. -- is agreed to. under the previous order under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid on the table. the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: first of all, mr. president, i express my appreciation, as i have before, to the manager of this bill, senator rockefeller, who's worked so hard for so long on this bill. years. i appreciate the work done by the ranking member of this committee, senator hutchison, who has worked with him for years on this legislation. i ask unanimous consent the pending amendments be set aside and senator coburn be recognized to offer his amendment number 64. that after the amendment is reported, the senate proceed to a vote in relation to the coburn amendment and that no amendments be in order to the coburn amendment prior to the vote. upon disposition of the coburn amendment number 64, the pending amendments be set aside and senator coburn be recognized for up to ten minutes to offer

amendment number 80 with a modification which is at the desk, number 81 and number 91. that senator humor be recognized for up to -- schumer be recognized for up to two minutes to offer amendment number 17. senator brown of ohio be recognized for two minutes to call up amendment number 105, the ensign amendment number 32, and that reid amendment, reid of nevada, number 54 and udall amendment number 51 be modified with the changes that are at the desk, the wyden amendment number 27 be withdrawn, and the senate then proceed to votes in relation to the following amendments in the order listed. brown, ensign, reid, udall number 49, udall number 51, as further modified, coburn number 80 as modified, coburn 1, coburn 9 -- coburn 81, coburn 91, and schumer 71. further there, be two minutes equally divided prior to each vote listed above and notwithstanding rule 22, the leahy-inhofe amendment number 50 remain in order. that upon disposition of the schumer number 71, there be ten minutes of debate equally

divided prior to a vote in relation to the leahy-inhofe amendment number 50, that that amendment be subject to a 60-vote threshold for passage. that if it does not achieve 60 affirmative vote, the amendment not be agreed to and that there be no amendments in order to any of the amendments listed in the agreement prior to the votes. further, upon disposition of the leahy-inhofe amendment, there be no further amendments or motions in order to the bill except for a managers' package to be agreed to if it has the concurrence of the majority and the republican leader. that the bill then be read a third time and the senate proceed to a vote on passage of the bill as amended, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate, if the bill is passed, it be held at the desk. finally, when the senate receives the house companion to s. 223, as determined by the two leaders, it be in order for the majority leader to proceed to its immediate consideration, strike all after the enacting clause and insert the text of s.

223 as passed by the senate in lieu thereof. that the companion bill as amend be read a third time -- amend be read a third time, the staff poe paygo -- paygo statement be read, the bill be passed ushes the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table. that upon passage, the senate insist on its amendment, request a conference with the house on the disagreeing votes votes of the two houses, and the chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the senate, with the ratio of 5-4, all with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: leader? mr. reid: no objection? the presiding officer: no objection having been heard -- mr. reid: mr. president -- the presiding officer: the leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent to set aside all pending amendments so i may call up my amendment 79, the grand canyon economic impact study, and that be in order notwithstanding to

order 22. the presiding officer: is there objection? mrs. hutchison: i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard.

mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, until the senator from oklahoma is ready to start, i just wanted to say that i so appreciate the majority leader working with us as well as senator rockefeller, senator coburn, all of the people who have had so many interests in this bill. i think we are finally on a glide path now, if i can use an aviation metaphor and i am pleased to see that are senator coburn is on the floor because now i believe we will be able to achieve the passing of this bill after a few votes tonight and i'm very grateful to everyone for staying here to finish this important document. and, with that, mr. president, i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. coburn: thank you. i ask unanimous consent to call up amendment number 64. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from oklahoma, mr. coburn, proposes amendment number 64. mr. coburn: thank you. amendment 64 is an amendment by myself and senator begich from alaska. it's an orphan earmark amendment where we instruct the agencies to eliminate moneys that have been sitting for nine years or longer and not expended. that's close to $500 million that we can count so far.

probably $1 billion. it helps the agencies. it's money that we have already allocated that will never be spent that's unaccounted for. i believe we're going to have a voice vote on it and i'd appreciate everybody's support of that amendment. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the amendment is considered adopted. mr. coburn: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to call up amendment number 80. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: as -- mr. coburn: as amended. the clerk: the senator from oklahoma, mr. coburn, proposes amendment number 80 as modified. mr. coburn: this is an amendment -- we have an essential air service. senator mccain's amendment to eliminate essential air service, which is basically a subsidy for people who drive -- have to drive short distances, not long distances, to airport.

but we've selectively said certain people in this country can be advantaged by driving certain distances. and what this amendment, as modified, says, provided the secretary doesn't see extraneous severe circumstances otherwise, if you have to be at 90 miles or greater to qualify for essential air service. we stated out with 100 and we saw there were significant difficulties that people actually had a requirement. so what we've done is we've taken this amendment, moved it to 90 miles. it doesn't affect a large number of airports, but there are several within this that have minimal -- and remember the average american drives over an hour to get to the airport now. so we're saying we're not going to do it if you're driving an hour and a half, 90 miles, unless there's a circumstance the secretary of transportation says otherwise like some particular places in west virginia it's it's tremendously

mountainous and the time distance does not meet with the average and all it does sincere lessen it. remember in this bill we're increasing the amount of funds at a time we're going bankruptcy we're increasing funds for essential air service respect what we've done -- air service. we've done a compromise to extend it to where we need it. it affects less than 26 airports and now less than that now that we've modified it. i would appreciate your support on that and i think we'll have actual votes on that in a minute and i move to call up amendment number 81. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from oklahoma, mr. coburn, proposes amendment number 81. mr. coburn: mr. president, this is another amendment on essential air service. this amendment eliminates essential air service when the average emplanements are less

than 10 a day. 10 a day. there's no way we can afford, given our financial situation, to subsidize essential air service for the airport that's have 10 a day. i know that's a disagreement around us, and amongst us, especially those that are having the benefit of that subsidy today. and, by the way, the subsidy posed to be limited to the $200, but when you actually take what actually goes and happens on many of these, it's over $400. one of them $482 per person federal subsidy in airports that have less than 10 emplanements today. it's a common sense given the realities of where we are. the realities of a $1.68 trillion deficit now predicted by the white house for this year. it makes common sense that we would do this. mr. president, i call up amendment number 91 and ask

unanimous consent. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from oklahoma, mr. coburn, proposes an amendment number 91. mr. coburn: the airport improvement program is a needed program, but what we do regularly in the airport improvement program is we're incentivizing this expenditure of moneys in a way that does not recognize the priorities of this country. and the way we do that is we have a cost sharing that the federal government consumes 95 -- pays for 95% of all these programs. well, what's happened -- and even in my own state, we have spent money in airports that have very few -- very few landings every day. no commercial service, but very few private commercial -- private planes land.

and all this amendment does is says that if you're going to qualify for the aip program for program improvement, that over the next three years, we would take that from 95% down to 75%, which is well above the average of every other grant program that we have in the federal government. so it's not about trying to eliminate. it's trying to say, if we're going to give priorities, what we should to is lower the amount of federal funds so that the state or the community that wants to utilize these funds will recognize by -- they're going to have to pony up a little bit more of the money if, in fact, it's a legitimate thing. at 95% we're having all sorts of money wasted on things that are not a priority for our country given the financial situation where we are. i think with that, i've responded in less than the time allocated to me and i retain the balance of my time. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york.

mr. schumer: [inaudible] senator hutchison for their help here pursuant to the previous order i call up my amendment number 71. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from new york, mr. schumer, proposes amendment number 71. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the amendment be considered as read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: i ask consent that the reading of the amendment be waived. i did that. mr. president, i'm -- yield back the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. rockefeller: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent on behalf of senator brown of ohio to call up the brown-portman amendment number 105. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rockefeller: to the ensign amendment number 32. the clerk: the senator from west virginia mr. rockefeller for mr. brown proposes amendment number 105 to amendment number 32.

mr. coburn: notice the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. rockefeller: i ask unanimous consent that the order of the quorum call be rescinded so that we may proceed to -- the presiding officer: without objection. mr. rockefeller: [inaudible] the presiding officer: the question is on the brown-portman amendment to the ensign amendment. without objection, the second-degree amendment is agreed to. the question is on the ensign amendment as amended.

without objection, that amendment, as amended, is agreed to. the question is on the reid amendment number 54 as modified. without objection, it is agreed to. the question is on the udall amendment, number 45 -- number 49 -- i'm sorry -- as modified. without objection, that amendment is agreed to. okay. the question is on the udall amendment number 51 as further modified. without objection, that amendment is agreed to.

the question occurs on the coburn amendment number 80 as modified. mr. coburn: i ask for the yeas and nays. i move to table. i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second on the motion to table? there is a sufficient second. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or to change their vote? order, please. are there senators wishing to vote or change his or her vote? if not, the ayes are 34, the nays are 65, and the motion to

table is not agreed to. the question is on the amendment. the presiding officer: without objection, the amendment is agreed to. mr. reid: move to reconsider. lay that on the table. mr. president? the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i would ask unanimous consent the next vote -- the presiding officer: there will be order, please. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the next votes be ten minutes in duration. the presiding officer: without objection. the presiding officer: the question is on the -- the question is on amendment number 81, offered by senator coburn.

the presiding officer: all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the presiding officer: all those

in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to. the question is on coburn amendment number 91. [inaudible] is there a second? is there a second on the motion to table? there appears to be. the question is on the motion to table. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: is there anyone wishing to change his or her vote? if not, the ayes are 58, the nays 41, the motion to table is agreed to.

the question is on the schumer amendment number 71. all time is yielded back. the question is on the amendment. all those in favor say aye. opposed? the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to. there are now 10 minutes of debate