John Chafee

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. I move to lay it on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 1726 (Purpose: To provide that demonstration projects shall be subject to any limitation on obligations established by law that applies to Federal-aid highways and highway safety construction programs)

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that no further amendments be in order to the Finance amendment and the amendment be agreed to with a motion to reconsider being laid upon the table.

Mr. CHAFEE. Madam President, this amendment gives the Secretary of Transportation the authority to fulfill our international treaty obligations. It deals with the so-called highway between Canada and Alaska. It has been cleared by both sides.

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, this amendment makes several technical clarifying and noncontroversial changes to the underlying legislation.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. CHAFEE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. CHAFEE. Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. CHAFEE. Madam President, I now call up amendment No. 1724, which I submitted last Friday.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I say to my distinguished colleague, the ranking member of the committee, that he is exactly right. There are two big amendments out there, but neither of them have anything to do with our committee. One is from the Finance Committee dealing with the tax portions of this legislation, and the other from the Banking Committee dealing with the mass transit portions of this legislation. But both of those are in other committees. So we have been very anxious. The Finance Committee chairman and others have indicated that they are prepared to come to the floor. We started this at 1 p.m., and we keep hoping that they will come. We are losing valuable time, Mr. President. Obviously, both of us and all members of the committee want to finish this legislation. There are several hundred amendments still out there, but I have reason to believe very few of those are actually going to be presented. So, we could really make tremendous progress if we could dispose of those two major amendments--the one from the Banking Committee and the one from the Finance Committee, which we are expecting to have presented momentarily.

Mr. CHAFEE. I ask unanimous consent the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. CHAFEE. Madam President, this is what we might call a repeat offenders amendment. I filed it last Friday so that our Members would have a chance, and their staffs, to look at it and consider it. The amendment would strengthen and clarify the repeat drunk driving offenders section of the bill; that is, the underlying bill. The bill, as currently drafted, requires States to act and support penalties for drunk drivers who have a blood alcohol concentration of .15 or greater. And two things have to occur--the drunk driver is arrested, has a blood alcohol content of .15 or greater, and has been convicted of a second or third or more drunk driving offense within 5 years. This amendment, of which Senator DeWine is the lead sponsor, is cosponsored by Senator Lautenberg, Senator Warner, Senator Chafee, Senator Baucus, and Senator Dorgan. And what it does, it strikes the reference to the .15 blood alcohol concentration and lets the State law on blood alcohol concentration determine what is a ``repeat offender.'' The amendment, therefore, clarifies that a person who is arrested for driving with a blood alcohol concentration level lower than .15, such as .08 or .10, still may be classified as a repeat offender if the State so chooses. So, in essence, Madam President, what this amendment does, instead of our setting it at a Federal level, we let the States set the level for the second or greater offense that has occurred within the 5 years. Mr. BAUCUS addressed the Chair.

Mr. CHAFEE. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I totally agree. I think once we dispose of those two big amendments, we can really wrap this thing up. It is dangerous to make predictions around here.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. CHAFEE. Now, Mr. President, we are waiting for those who are going to present the Finance Committee amendment, which I hope will be soon. Pending that, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CHAFEE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. CHAFEE. All right. I will not. Anyway, I think we can do it rather soon. I know the majority leader is very anxious to get this legislation completed. I share that interest and concern with him. So, while we wait upon the Finance Committee representatives, Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, this is an amendment, as I said, that I sent to the desk last Friday. It would require the Secretary of Transportation to reduce the amounts made available under the so-called ISTEA Act for fiscal year 1998 by the amounts made available under the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 1997, the so-called 6-month extension. Last year, Mr. President, as you recall, in the latter part of the calendar year, around October, the Senate passed a 6-month extension of the ISTEA legislation which allowed States to use their unobligated balances to fund eligible transportation projects. It also allocated an additional $5.5 billion in new money to the States. The Senate agreed to provide that $5.5 billion on the condition that the amounts allocated to the States under the ISTEA II legislation in fiscal year 1998 would be reduced by the amount each State received for the 6-month extension. In other words, under the legislation we are now considering, Mr. President, we provide money for the entire fiscal year of 1998. What this amendment would do is say the amounts we previously gave the States in October for this fiscal year will be deducted from the total amount that we provide for the entire fiscal year for them. By the way, Mr. President, the amounts would be allocated to each of the categories for which they had received that amount previously. For example, the amount each State will receive in the surface transportation program, so-called STP funds, under ISTEA II will be reduced by their portion of the more than $1 billion provided in STP funds for the 6-month extension. There are several reasons why this reduction is necessary. First of all, ISTEA II provides money for each fiscal year 1998 through 2003. It does not provide a half-year amount. If this reduction is not required and agreed to, the States would receive one and one-half times as much as they should for 1998 and our bill would be subject to a point of order. Second, the reduction ensures that each State will receive money based on the new formula provided in ISTEA II instead of the old formula, or amounts received in the past. We worked long and hard to update this formula to make it as fair as possible.

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Special Committee on Aging be permitted to meet on March 9, 1998 at 1:00 p.m. for the purpose of conducting a hearing.

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, we are here ready to do business on the so-called ISTEA II legislation. There are a host of amendments out there which we would like to have brought up; either present them, or consideration to see if we can accept them, work out something, or, if not, go to votes. But we are here to do business. The store is open. I very much hope that those who have amendments will bring them over. I must say, Mr. President, if people who say they have amendments do not bring amendments over, I lose sympathy for them if later on they say they have amendments and they want time and so forth. Now is the time when nothing else is interfering with the action. So I urge my colleagues who are listening to please bring their amendments over so that we can deal with them. Seeing nobody on the floor who wishes to present an amendment, Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Will the majority leader yield?