John Chafee

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, may I just say one other thing? I would like to say to all Senators who are listening that now is your chance to come over and speak against the amendment if you so choose. Time is running out here and, frankly, at the conclusion of the comments of the Senator from Arkansas and then a couple of minutes that the Senator from Ohio wants, unless there are people present wanting to speak, it is my intention to yield back the remainder of our time and have the Senate go out. So, anybody who wants to speak about this amendment--they will have a half-hour tomorrow, that is true. But now is the time to come over. We have some 50 minutes. The Senator will be taking 15, so there will be 35 or 40 minutes left. Now is the time to speak against the measure if anybody wishes to. If the Senator will proceed?

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I urge Senators who are opposed to the amendment to come to the floor. I am designated as in control of the time in opposition, but I will confess I am for the amendment so I will not be speaking against it. And for those Senators who wish time, now is the time to come over. There are 2 hours. We have an hour in opposition to the amendment. Obviously, I am prepared to turn over the time to anybody in opposition. But I will not be speaking against it. So I wish Senators who are opposed to this amendment would come to the floor. Thank you. I want to thank the Senator from New Jersey. Mr. LAUTENBERG addressed the Chair.

Mr. CHAFEE. What I suggest, Mr. President, is that I am perfectly prepared to give 10 minutes from the opponents' side of the amendment to the Senator from Illinois, if that is adequate time.

Mr. CHAFEE. All right.

Mr. CHAFEE. Now, Mr. President, I modify the unanimous consent request, and as a matter of fact, I will just read it over again so everybody will understand it. I ask unanimous consent that Senator Lautenberg be recognized to offer an amendment regarding drinking levels, and there be 3 hours for debate, equally divided, and the time be under the control of Senator Lautenberg and Senator Chafee. I further ask unanimous consent that there be 1 hour, equally divided, for debate tomorrow morning--in other words, do 2 hours tonight and 1 hour tomorrow morning--that we come in at 9:30 a.m., and go straight to the remaining hour on the amendment, and at the hour of 10:30 a.m. the Senate proceed to vote on or in relation to the Lautenberg amendment. I further ask unanimous consent that no additional amendments be in order prior to the vote in relation to the Lautenberg amendment.

Mr. CHAFEE. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CHAFEE. Fine.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, the majority leader has informed me that there will be no further votes this evening. And so we will now start the debate on the Lautenberg amendment, with 2 hours.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the motion was agreed to.

Mr. CHAFEE. Now, Mr. President, we have the so-called Lautenberg amendment that we would like to take up. This is the amendment that deals with the alcohol content in blood. The amendment would lower the alcohol content, which is a test, for drunken driving, from .1 to .08. Mr. President, we would like to enter into a time agreement on this. The time agreement would be something in the neighborhood of an hour and a half apiece. And now is the time for those Senators to come to the Chamber if, one, they object to this time agreement, and, two, the plan, further, would be that we would vote this evening. In other words, that would take us up to about 6:30, if all the time were used. So I want to send the word out, we are about to enter into this agreement. I trust offices are listening to what we are saying here and will come on over or call the cloakroom with their views because we want to move on. We have legislation we have to make progress on. We have been on this floor for some time but now we are ready for this particular amendment, the drinking amendment, which most people are familiar with. Mr. BAUCUS addressed the Chair.

Mr. CHAFEE. I applaud my colleagues on the Commerce Committee, particularly the distinguished Chairman Senator McCain, the ranking member Senator Hollings, and Senators Snowe and Breaux for their hard work on these provisions. Although the subtitle regarding the Dingell- Johnson/Wallop-Breaux program is included in the amendment offered on behalf of the Commerce Committee, I would like to express my gratitude to my colleagues on that Committee for the opportunity to remain involved in the negotiations leading to the language in the subtitle, and for the recognition that jurisdiction for that subtitle remains within both Committees. Indeed, the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration program, taken in its entirety, is primarily under the jurisdiction of the Environment and Public Works Committee.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Lautenberg be recognized to offer an amendment on blood-alcohol content and that there be 3 hours for debate, equally divided, under the control of Senator Lautenberg and Senator Chafee. I further ask unanimous consent that there be 1 hour remaining, equally divided, for debate. In other words, do 2 hours tonight and 1 hour tomorrow. The leader has indicated that we are to come in at 9 a.m. and that the vote will be at 10 a.m.; at 10 a.m., the Senate proceed to vote on or in relation to the Lautenberg amendment. I further ask unanimous consent that no additional amendments be in order prior to the vote in relation to the Lautenberg amendment.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, what we would like to do now is move to a Lautenberg amendment dealing with alcohol-blood content. The proposal is that there be 3 hours of debate equally divided. Unanimous Consent Agreement

Mr. CHAFEE. I ask unanimous consent to set aside the Wellstone amendment for the consideration of a McCain amendment.

Mr. CHAFEE. Well, I certainly agree with the distinguished ranking member. Senator McConnell has been very thoughtful. He has been on the floor. He is ready to go. We want to find out how many people want to speak on Senator McConnell's amendment so we can get some concept of the time that should be set aside. But that is another amendment. My thinking now is, if we can work out proceeding with the Lautenberg amendment, tomorrow morning we would take up the financing amendment that was agreed to in the committee today as a result of the agreement that was reached yesterday. There may be some debate on that. I do not know. But we are free to take that up tomorrow. My hope is we would do that tomorrow morning. And then tomorrow afternoon we would go to the McConnell amendment. But the Senator from Kentucky legitimately wants to know how many people want to speak on his amendment. We want a time agreement. He wants a time agreement. I am for a time agreement, enthusiastically for a time agreement. So, therefore, would individuals who want to speak on the McConnell amendment call up the cloakroom, let us know how long they think they need, and which side they will be on so we can figure that out. The same goes with the Lautenberg amendment. Time is of the essence. We will reach an agreement pretty quickly on the Lautenberg amendment. Now is the time for people to call with their thoughts. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CHAFEE. Has that been agreed to, Mr. President?

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

Mr. CHAFEE. Now, Mr. President, before the Senate we have the Wellstone amendment?

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I will talk a little bit about that. We have no time agreement, but I will be relatively brief, maybe 10 minutes. The Senator from Minnesota will be roughly how long?

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I have said several times tonight that the opportunity for those who wish to speak against this amendment is now. No one showed up to speak against the amendment. Therefore, I have been yielding time to the proponents of the amendment. We have the Senator from Washington who wishes to speak in support of the amendment for about 10 minutes, and then after the conclusion of that, I will yield an additional 3 or 4 minutes to the Senator from Ohio. Then it is my intention to close up shop here and put the Senate out. So, I do not know how much time we have left. How much time do I have left?

Mr. CHAFEE. The Senator from North Dakota wants to speak in favor of the amendment.

Mr. CHAFEE. How much time does the Senator want?

Mr. CHAFEE. All right, fine.

Mr. CHAFEE. So, anybody who wants to speak against the amendment, now is the time, or they will be relegated to tomorrow where there will be half an hour to speak against it. So I yield the Senator from Washington such time as he needs, maybe 10 minutes.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, does the Senator from Ohio wish a few minutes. I say to the Senator from Ohio, how much time would you like?