president. the presiding officer: is there further debate? hearing none, the question is on passage. all those in favor say aye. all opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill is passed. mr. cornyn: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: i note the absence of a quorum, madam president. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, madam president, so much of the senate s work happens behind the scenes and out of the spotlight. over the past few weeks, there are scores of senate staffers, probably more than scores, hundreds i would say, who have spent many late nights and some sleepless ones put
hours. what s the latest? democrats are now on pace to pass this bill, probably within the hour. this after a marathon voting session that started at 11:30 p.m. eastern time last night, has gone all through the night into the afternoon, and after some last-minute drama, within their own caucus, democrats have resolved those issues, and now are pushing ahead to final passage. that drama caused by concerns initially raised by kyrsten sinema of arizona. the 15% corporate minimum tax. she was concerned it could impact some smaller companies. it s supposed to hit companies that have a billion dollars or more in income. but she had concerns about companies that were subsidiaries of those that were owned by private equity firms. she wanted to exempt those subsidiaries. she agreed to a republican amendment that targeted this, that narrowed this corporate minimum tax, exempted those subsidiaries. but democrats were revolting over this because of the way that republican amendment wou
inflation reduction act after a republican amendment in the vote-a-rama past with democrats like kristen sinema, voting in favor of it. this is making the legislative marathon even longer as republicans continue to try to make this process as painful as possible. democrats are painting the eventual expected passage of the bill as a major victory, hailing what is in it for the american people. vote after vote after vote we have done this with no sleep 11 hours straight. why? because we know this bill is finally going to do something about climate change. lift the ban on negotiating less expensive drugs under medicare. and then as the name of the bill says, bring inflation down by 305 billion dollars a deficit reduction. oil need 50 votes. we don t need 60 we don t need any republican votes to do something significant for working families in this country. unfortunately, for fairly well known reasons we have conservative democrats. we couldn t get the 50 votes that we need r
quorum call: mr. merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, i ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley merkley: thank you. ,mr. president. i wanted to make a few comments on what has transpired here on the floor of the senate. first, some enormously good work has been done with regard to addressing the disaster caused by hurricane sandy. i know in a number of states, unprecedented devastation has occurred and we should respond extremely quickly, more quickly than we have. and i hope the house will immediately take up this this package. certainly, disaster relief delayed is disaster relief denied. so i hope the house will, indeed, move extremely quickly to address the devastation throughout the northeast. mr. president, i also wanted to note that tonight, 55 senators stood up and said as we assist the victims of hurricane sandy, we should also assist the victims
as our senators provide the currency of perseverance to protect and defend this land we love, strengthen them for the challenges and empower them for the vicissitudes. remind them, as they strive to pay liberty s recurring bill, that you will never leave or forsake them. rouse yourself, o lord, and help them. we pray in your merciful name. amen. mrs. blackburn: mrs. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. i have a motion at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from tennessee, mrs. blackburn mrs. blackburn: mr. president. , i ask that we waive the reading. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. president. right now, chinese owners control more than 194,000 acres of farm and forestry land valued at $1.9 billion as of the last a