Tom Daschle

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. It was my understanding that there were requests for time on each nominee. If there is not, then it is my desire to have a period during which Senators could speak to the nominees and we would have three stacked votes.

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

Mr. DASCHLE. For the information of our colleagues, there will be three votes shortly on three nominees that we will take from the Executive Calendar. We are in the process of drafting a unanimous consent request to accommodate debate and the vote on those three nominees. I urge colleagues to stay in proximity of the building and the floor because these votes will happen shortly. The distinguished chair of the Judiciary Committee has reported them out, and I thank him and applaud him for his expedited work on these nominations. There will be a short debate and then there will be votes. They will not be stacked, but as I understand it, there is a request for time on each of the nominees. We will have those votes and, hopefully, at that point, we will be able to announce further legislative business.

Mr. DASCHLE. Shortly. Not at this point.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I object to that temporarily. I need to consult with my colleagues and certainly the chair and the manager of the bill, but perhaps that is something we might be able to do. We will certainly work with the Republican leader to provide him with some information in that regard at a later date.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. That is correct, 30 minutes of debate equally divided among three Senators, 10 minutes each.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that immediately following the next rollcall vote, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of Asa Hutchinson to be Administrator for Drug Enforcement, that there be 30 minutes for debate equally divided among Senators Leahy, Hatch, and Hutchinson, that at the conclusion of that debate the Senate vote on the confirmation of that nomination, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, any statement thereon be printed in the Record, and the Senate return to legislative session.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I indicated in the unanimous consent request that it would be at the discretion of the majority leader, but we did list September 4 as the anticipated date for the beginning of the consideration of the bill.

Mr. DASCHLE. The Senator is correct. The Export Administration Act is part of the unanimous consent agreement that we entered into a moment ago. It allows the majority leader to call up the bill on September 4. I say to my colleagues, and especially to my colleague from Tennessee, that this is an agreement he and I discussed prior to entering into the agreement. It acknowledges that we would have at least 2 full days of debate that would accommodate the interest of the Senator from Tennessee in discussing this issue prior to the time I would file a cloture motion. I confirm that for the Record, and fully expect that those 2 full days of debate will be immediately following the time we come back.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Idaho. I feel I may need to call an ambulance. I think I just bit off my tongue. I will say in all sincerity that I think he just gave the speech that I have repeated probably 25 or 30 times over the last 6 years, verbatim. I can't tell you how many people languished for not days or weeks but years. But I have said on this floor repeatedly that we will not engage in payback. We will not engage in that kind of practice because I don't believe in it. But I must say the record so far speaks for itself. Since assuming the majority--and we have only been able to deal with nominations since we came back. Prior to that time, we didn't have Members on committees. Since the organizing resolution passed, we have held hearings on 114 Presidential nominees. This last week Democrats reported favorably out of committee 17 nominees. In addition, during the 17-day period when Democrats won the majority in January, 13 hearings were held on Cabinet level appointees. During the brief time since the organizing resolution was passed, four judicial nominees have already had hearings before the committee, 100 percent more than were held before Senator Leahy became chairman. The majority has already confirmed three judicial nominees. President Bush has been slow to send the necessary documentation on some of the nominees. As of July 24, 34 percent of the 132 nominees announced by the administration have not had their paperwork sent to the Senate. I guess my point is that we are trying to accommodate all of those nominees whose paperwork has been sent. I think today again demonstrates the sincere desire to continue making progress just as quickly as the committees report out their work. We have confirmed 110 nominations since taking the majority, with an agreement on one more as soon as Mr. Hutchinson has been confirmed.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Idaho for his comment. There clearly will be nominees who will face challenges. We see that in the Commerce Committee as we speak. There will be others. But we will do our level best. That does not mean we are going to roll over and rubberstamp every nominee who comes forward because that isn't why we are here. We have an obligation to ask questions, to review the data, and to make a decision. We are going to do that. But to whatever extent possible, we are going to be fair, and we are not going to reciprocate, even though I must say there are sometimes temptations that are fairly powerful. I hope we will continue to make progress on the nominations. I also thank my colleagues, Senator Reid and Senator Nickles, for moving us along on the nominations, and Senator Lott in particular for his work in trying to reach an accommodation. My desire now is to work relatively late into the evening so that we might be able to get some of these amendments disposed of tonight. I do not think we will finish the bill tonight, but there is a lot of work to be done on the VA-HUD bill. We still have the Ag appropriations legislation left to do. So there is much to be done. Today is Wednesday afternoon, and we still have a day and a half, or 2, 3, 4, or 5 days perhaps, to do our work. But it is going to get done before we leave. We will move now to the VA-HUD bill after the Senators who sought recognition are allowed to speak. I yield the floor.

Mr. DASCHLE. I am happy to yield to the Senator.

Mr. DASCHLE. The Senator is correct.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I further ask unanimous consent the majority leader may, after consultation with the Republican leader, turn to the consideration of the export administration bill, S. 149, but not before September 4, 2001; further, that the Senate now turn to the consideration of H.R. 2620, the VA-HUD appropriations, and Senator Mikulski be recognized to offer the text of the Senate bill, S. 1216, as a substitute amendment.

Mr. DASCHLE. I add that one, too.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask that be part of the unanimous consent request.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I especially thank our manager and the ranking member, as well as our distinguished colleague from Nevada, who works so ably on both sides of the aisle, for reaching this agreement. We have a lot of work to do. But we know what the work is. I hope we can work expeditiously tomorrow morning. This will be the last vote of the evening. I yield the floor.

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I compliment the distinguished Senator from California for the eloquent summary of this issue that she just made, as well as for offering this amendment. I ask for the yeas and nays on the amendment.

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I will propound a unanimous consent request. If we get this agreement at this time--in consultation with the Republican leader and the two managers, and I compliment them--we will make this the last vote of the evening. I ask unanimous consent that the list I will send to the desk be the only first-degree amendments in order to H.R. 2620, that these amendments be subject to relevant second-degree amendments; that upon disposition of all amendments, the substitute amendment be agreed to, if not previously ordered; that the bill be read three times, and the Senate vote on passage of the bill; that upon passage of the bill, the Senate insist on its amendments and request a conference with the House, and that the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees, with the above occurring without any intervening action or debate.

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in recess until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the yeas and nays on the bill be vitiated.

Mr. DASCHLE. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. DASCHLE. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, it is with regret that we are filing this cloture motion this morning. Obviously, it won't ripen until Friday. I don't know that there is any debate about the importance of getting this legislation finished. This is an emergency. This is a commitment that we must make prior to the time we leave, in large measure because the Congressional Budget Office has indicated they will not score it as money that can be utilized. We would not be able to commit the money prior to the time we leave. We all know the stakes. But when Senators come to the floor and offer amendments on Medicare lockboxes on an emergency issue such as this, it is a clear indication that we are not really very serious about finishing this legislation on time. I reluctantly will also ask for a vote to reconsider the Transportation appropriations bill at 11 o'clock this morning. That will at least temporarily take us off of Agriculture and move us back onto the highway legislation, the Transportation appropriations bill, because that, too, is a critical piece of legislation that has to be addressed before we leave. We have made that very clear. I tell all of my colleagues that there will be no respite tonight, if Senators choose to use the full 30 hours, which is their right, prior to the time we go to final passage. We will be in all night long. There is no other recourse. I want to put my colleagues on notice that will happen. I regret the inconvenience, but that is what we will have to do in order for us to finish this bill. It is my expectation that if that also happens while we continue to negotiate to find some solution to this Agriculture bill--and let me applaud him while he is on the floor. The chairman has done an outstanding job of getting us to this point. And I, as always, have great admiration for our ranking Member of this committee as well. We couldn't have two better legislative partners than the two of them. I am hopeful that over the period of time we are now debating the Transportation appropriations bill, and maybe even the VA-HUD bill, we can come to some resolution on this question. But clearly, no one should misinterpret what we are going to be doing this morning. We will continue to be on this bill for whatever length of time it takes to complete it and to do it right. I regret that it may be Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. But if that is the case, that is exactly what we are going to have to do. I want to make sure that Members understand this delay is unfortunate. We are not apparently serious enough if we are going to be making up lockbox amendments. We have to use this time as productively as possible. It seems to me that the best way to do that is to now take up the highway bill, finish it, and perhaps move to HUD-VA, and return--as we will--to the Agriculture emergency supplemental bill as soon as it is appropriate to do so. I wanted to share that with my colleagues to make sure Members know what the exact schedule is likely to be for the remainder of the day. They should expect a very late night tonight if the 30 hours that is required prior to the time we go to final passage would be consumed prior to the time we have the ability to vote. I expect a vote at 11 o'clock on the cloture motion on the Transportation appropriations bill. I yield the floor.

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