Thad Cochran

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Governmental Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, Restructuring and the District of Columbia be authorized to meet on Thursday, March 22, at 10 a.m., for a hearing entitled, ``An Assessment of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department's Year 2000 Achievements.''

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on National Parks, Historic Preservation and Recreation of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 22, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct an oversight hearing. The subcommittee will review the National Park Service's implementation of management policies and procedures to comply with the provisions of title IV of the National Parks Omnibus Management Act of 1998.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 22, 2001, at 2 p.m., to hold a closed hearing on intelligence matters.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be authorized to hold a joint hearing with the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs to receive the legislative presentations of AMVETS, American Ex-Prisoners of War, the Vietnam Veterans of America, the Retired Officers Association, and the National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs. The hearing will be held on Thursday, March 22, 2001, at 10 a.m., in room 345 of the Cannon House Office Building.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet on Thursday, March 22, 2001, at 2 p.m., in room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a hearing to discuss the goals and priorities of the Member Tribes of the National Congress of the American Indians for the 107th Congress.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 22, 2001, at 10:30 a.m., to hold a member's briefing.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 22, 2001, to hear testimony on Prescription Drugs and Medicare.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 22, 2001, to conduct a markup of S. 149, the Export Administration Act of 2001.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 22, 2001, at 9:30 a.m., in open and closed session to receive testimony from the Unified Commanders on their military strategy and operational requirements, in review of the defense authorization request for fiscal year 2002 and the future years' defense program.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 22, 2001. The purpose of this hearing will be to review the oversight of the Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, this simply clarifies the amendment with appropriate legal language. I hate to use that reference because these are lawyers writing these provisions and experienced staff members maybe who aren't lawyers who help them. It does improve the clarity of the language, and it does ensure that election-related reports, those provided for in the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 and amendments thereto, be provided as quickly and as completely on an Internet site as they can by the FEC. We think this will improve the disclosure of important information to the public about who is financing election campaigns, how they are being financed, where the money is coming from that the candidates are spending, that are required to be filed under current reports and the additional requirements that will be in effect after this legislation is agreed to. We believe this is an improvement. It supplements and complements the Snowe-Jeffords amendment which has already been adopted by the Senate. We are hopeful the Senate will be able to accept this amendment as modified.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, after consultation with the managers of the bill and their staffs, we have agreed to a modified amendment providing additional disclosure provisions to the bill. I ask unanimous consent to modify my amendment and send the modification to the desk.

Mr. COCHRAN

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

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. I ask the distinguished Senator how much time he wishes to speak because we are working on an amendment we hope can be adopted pretty soon.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. COCHRAN. I am happy for the Senator to be recognized in her own right and speak to the issues.

Mr. COCHRAN. I thank the Senator. I think his suggestions have been helpful. We have staff on the floor who have been working on the drafting of the amendment for several days and consulting with the FEC and representatives of the committee of jurisdiction. Let me have a chance to address the concerns of the Senator with some suggested modification language and discuss this with him and the chairman and ranking member of the Rules Committee, which has jurisdiction over this subject.

Mr. COCHRAN. I am happy to yield.

Mr. COCHRAN. I also do not want to presume to list every report that is an election-related report, hence the use of a general description of what we are talking about. We do want to include any and all reports that are required to be filed under the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 and the amendments to that. We think the amendments are included in the words ``Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971,'' including the amendments of 1974 and the one we are considering in the Senate today, which is an amendment to the 1971 act. We want to include all filings required by that law and all amendments to that law. That is understood. We also want to include, by way of suggesting cooperation and coordination with other Federal agencies and departments, any other election-related reports, and the Senator has correctly identified several. Those all should be included, in my view, in the meaning and the intent of this amendment and should be so construed by any court of law or any administrative agency with responsibility for enforcing this amendment.

Mr. COCHRAN. I would not want to limit it just to the Federal Election Campaign Act, but I did not want anybody to think we were giving the FEC the authority to require other agencies to file their reports with the FEC. We wanted to use ``cooperate and coordinate.''

Mr. COCHRAN. If the Senator will yield to me and let me ask for his reaction to this, can we put in the first section ``included, but not limited to, election-related reports''? Paragraph (b) means any report, designation, or statement required to be filed with the Commission-- included but not limited to. Let's put that in between ``election- related report'' and the word ``means.''

Mr. COCHRAN. I am happy to yield to the distinguished Senator.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator for his question and also for his comments to further explain the possible inclusiveness of paragraph (c) of section 502. This is not an absolute requirement of law under paragraph (c). It is an encouragement. It is almost like a sense-of-Congress resolution when we encourage the cooperation and coordination with the Federal Election Commission. We use the word ``shall.'' I do not know that in a contest in litigation this would be enforced by the courts, but we hope the spirit of it is conveyed by the use of the words ``cooperate and coordinate with'' the Federal Election Commission. I do not want to create within the Federal Election Commission the idea that they are superimposed over all other Federal agencies and departments and can summons them or require of them transferring information and documents to the FEC for exhibition on this Internet site, but it is our hope that this language will encourage the cooperation and coordination of these other Federal agencies that might receive reports, such as the ones described by the Senator from Idaho, so the FEC can put all of these in one central location on a Web site. They can do this through linking to other agencies and departments on the Internet. As the Senator knows, that is one way to deal with this, on the centralized Web site of the FEC to provide opportunities and cross- references to other agencies and identify documents that are election- related reports. That is our hope. The wording of it might be a little awkward. I am happy for the Senator to suggest a better way to say it, but that is the intent.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I am happy to yield to my friend from Idaho.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I allowed the clerk to read the entire amendment so the Senate would be fully informed of the exact provisions of this amendment. It does, purely and simply, what it says it does. It requires the filing of the posting by the Federal Election Commission of any filing made with the Commission on the Internet. In the case of filings made electronically, the posting will be done under the terms of this amendment within 24 hours. As far as other filings are concerned, those that may be filed without electronic dissemination through the Commission, or receipt in any other way, shall be posted within 48 hours. We have discussed the amendment and the question of enforceability and compliance with the Federal Election Commission representatives. We have been assured that this can be managed, it can be administered by the Federal Election Commission. It is also important to note there are a number of reports required under this act we are taking up now, an amendment to the 1971 act that would require filings by other than candidates for Federal office. At this time, most of the filings that are done are for candidates. I am hopeful that under the terms of this act we are considering now, the amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act, we will have much more disclosure. I think, for example, the amendment we have already adopted, offered by the distinguished Senators from Maine and Vermont, Ms. Snowe and Mr. Jeffords, will require more disclosure to be made about who is spending money to influence the outcome of Federal elections, and how that money is being spent. These disclosures will be made under the McCain-Feingold bill. They will be subject to the posting provisions of this amendment. It is my hope, too, that other Federal agencies which may receive election-related reports, as defined in section 502 of this amendment, will cooperate with the Federal Election Commission and make those reports available to the Federal Election Commission so it may post on a central Internet Web site all election-related reports relating to Federal election campaigns. This will make it a lot simpler and easier for the general public. It will make it easier for candidates, anybody interested in Federal election campaigns, to go to one site and find there, through links maybe to other agencies or otherwise on this Internet site, all of the receipts, disbursements, and disclosures required by the Federal Election Campaign Act. We hope this is a step toward fuller disclosure, disclosure that really does create greater access by the public to what is going on in Federal election campaigns. I am hopeful the Senate will agree to the amendment.