Larry Craig

Mr. CRAIG

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the bill be considered read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. CRAIG

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 308, introduced earlier today by Senators Dodd and Inouye.

Mr. CRAIG. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution and preamble be agreed to en bloc, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statement relating thereto be printed in the Record as if read.

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

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. CRAIG

Mr. CRAIG. Let me thank my colleague from North Dakota for those kind words. While he and I might disagree on policy as it relates to how we respond to American agriculture, we did not disagree and we do not disagree on the need. There are consequences if we fail to respond to that need at a time when markets are being taken away from production agriculture in this country. We have seen dramatic declines in commodity prices across the board. He and I agree on Canadian trade policy. We are very frustrated by what appears to be a one-way flow of commodities out of Canada with very little moving from our side into Canada; and when it attempts to move, finding all kinds of restrictions. I must tell the Senator from North Dakota I have been very frustrated with this administration, that they have not taken a more aggressive role in trying to determine why those differences have come about and responding to them. Thanks to our Governors, collectively, and our urging, the administration is now making some response in that area. I hope it is very, very productive. Canadians need to understand that under the North American Free Trade Agreement it is not a one-way street, nor should it be. I would agree also with my colleague from North Dakota as it relates to the response by the chairman of the Federal Reserve today. We probably would not differ on our concern over the analysis of the current world economic situation. I hope that our economy will respond to lower interest rates, but I must say that our economy also responds to tax cuts. Our economy also responds when consumers are having to pay less to their Federal Government and are allowed more of their own hard-earned money to stay in their pockets. But this administration was adamant this year, and we were unable to effectively respond to what I thought, and others thought, was a need for a reasonable tax cut in certain areas. There is an interesting analysis that we have just done as it relates to the obstructive nature of policy used on the floor of the Senate this year by our colleagues on the other side. In the last four years, the need for cloture--that is a term used here in a procedural effort to shut down a filibuster effort so that we can proceed to deal with a bill--had to be used four times more than in the preceding years under a Democrat-controlled Senate. In other words, there was a concerted effort this year by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to simply stop the process, to slow it down, to force cloture, to seek endless debates. So it becomes very frustrating when you are trying to do the business of the citizens, to move a timely budget process, a timely appropriations process that requires the necessary voting on 13 different appropriations bills to fund Government, to get it done when, day after day, debate is made on issues that are not relevant to the procedure and, in some instances, not relevant to the policy at hand. But that is a tactic that can be used and is legitimate before the Senate. I am not denying its legitimacy; I am denying the repetitiveness in which it was used as compared to the prior four years under a Democrat Senate, with George Mitchell as leader of the U.S. Senate. There has been nearly a four times greater need to file cloture so as to move the process forward. In other words, was there a directed effort to slow down the Congress, to slow down the Senate this year? I think the statistics and the history will clearly demonstrate that is the case. Be that as it may, it was important that we ultimately finish our work and that we adjourn. We are now on the eve of an adjournment because our work is done. We now have completed the appropriations process. We have done so in a way that dealt with the needs of this administration and the balance of power that, by Constitution, must and does occur in our Government. I will tell you that the end product isn't all that I would like, and there is a lot in it that I don't care for. But that is not unusual in any process where compromise is necessary to produce a final product. So I am pleased to say that that final product has been produced, that our majority leader labored mightily with the speaker, with representatives from the administration, and with representatives of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle to resolve this issue. Should it have been done here on the floor in open debate? Yes. If we hadn't had to file over 100 cloture motions in the last four years, the process would have been much different. But that is the character of the Senate itself, and those are the rules under which we operate. Having to deal with those rules and the obstructive nature that can be applied to the process, I think we can declare a successful session. I hope that is the case in the end. Is the surplus produced by a balanced budget, which Republicans are proud of, intact? Yes, it is, by a very large amount. But it is also important to say that we never argued in the first place that all of the surplus would be held intact, and that it must be guaranteed to Social Security. That was a marker the President laid down. And while we agreed with him that there was adequate money in the surplus to reform Social Security for present and future purposes, it was the President that laid that marker down and, just in the last 48 hours, has tried to redefine what he meant by the marker. I am sorry, Mr. President, ``is'' is. Let me repeat that for the President. Mr. President, ``is'' is. We don't need to redefine it. We explain it. We totally understand it. We know what you said in your budget statement. All of the surplus went to Social Security, except you wanted about $20 billion of it to go somewhere else without getting blamed for it, and were simply saying that the argument is much different. We have used a very limited amount of moneys that we had not appropriated that could arguably be called surplus. But the surplus is intact. The budget is balanced. There is adequate money to begin what I think is a generational opportunity to not only assure and guarantee Social Security in the outyears beyond 2020 but, most importantly, to guarantee that it is done in a way so that our children and our grandchildren will not have to pay excessively to get a reasonable return on a guaranteed retirement annuity as Social Security has become. Those are the issues that we will deal with in a new Congress, and those are issues that are going to be paramount to the strength and stability of our country, and to the well-being of our citizens. I hope that we will deal with them in a reasonable and bipartisan fashion, because the correct solution to Social Security must be bipartisan by its nature and by its definition, and I am sure that we can accomplish that. Mr. President, with that, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. CRAIG

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Judiciary Committee be discharged from consideration of Senate Resolution 129 and that the Senate proceed to its consideration and to the consideration of the following private relief bills and resolutions en bloc: Calendar No. 604, S. 1460; Calendar No. 603; S. 1202; Calendar No. 672, S. 1961; Calendar No. 605, S. 1551; Calendar No. 669, S. 1171; Calendar No. 671, S. 1916; Calendar No. 675, S. 2476; Calendar No. 673; S. 1926; Calendar No. 678, Senate Resolution 283; and S. 2637. I ask unanimous consent that the committee amendments be agreed to, the measures be considered read a third time and passed, the title amendments be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bills appear at this point in the Record.

Mr. CRAIG

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 1756, which was received from the House.

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, Senators Grassley and D'Amato have an amendment to the desk.

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that amendment be agreed to, the bill considered read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. CRAIG

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 581, S. 2107.

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, Senator Abraham has an amendment at the desk. I ask for its consideration.

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the amendment be agreed to, the bill be considered read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. CRAIG

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 1197, which was received from the House.

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, Senators Leahy, Smith of Oregon, and Hatch have an amendment at the desk. I ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the amendment be agreed to, the bill be considered read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. CRAIG

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask the Chair lay before the Senate a message from the House of Representatives on the bill (H.R. 2807) to amend the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act of 1994 to prohibit the sale, importation, and exportation of products labeled as containing substances derived from rhinoceros or tiger. The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate the following message from the House of Representatives: Resolved, That the House agree to the amendment of the Senate to the bill (H.R. 2807) entitled ``An Act to amend the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act of 1994 to prohibit the sale, importation, and exportation of products labeled as containing substances derived from rhinoceros or tiger'', with the following amendments: In lieu of the matter proposed to be inserted by the amendment of the Senate, insert the following:

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate agree to the amendments of the House.

Mr. CRAIG

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask the Chair lay before the Senate a message from the House of Representatives on the bill (S. 191) to throttle criminal use of guns. The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate the following message from the House of Representatives: Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 191) entitled ``An Act to throttle criminal use of guns'', do pass with the following amendment: Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

Mr. CRAIG. I ask unanimous consent the Senate agree to the amendment of the House.

Mr. CRAIG

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. 2638, introduced earlier today by Senator Frist.

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed; that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. CRAIG

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Banking Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1560 and that the Senate then proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, Senator D'Amato has an amendment at the desk, and I ask for its consideration.