Tom Daschle

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I understand we are unable to get agreement to go to the Agriculture Supplemental Authorization. Therefore, I move to proceed to S. 1246, the Agriculture supplemental authorization, and I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. DASCHLE. I ask unanimous consent this cloture vote occur at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, July 30, and I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum be waived.

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, for the information of all Senators, this will be the last vote tonight, and we will have the next vote at 5:30 p.m. on Monday. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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 Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I want to further elaborate on the comments I made just a moment ago. We made the motion to proceed to the Agriculture supplemental authorization bill because we could not get agreement to bring it up on Monday. As most of my colleagues know, this is a very important piece of legislation for just about every State in the country. It has passed in the House. It is important to pass it before we leave, only because, as most of our colleagues probably already know, if we are not able to utilize and commit these resources prior to the August recess, the Congressional Budget Office has indicated to us that they will not allow us the use of these resources prior to the end of the fiscal year. We will lose $5.5 billion for Agriculture if this legislation does not pass prior to the time we leave in August. I emphasize I am not making any threats. I am not trying to cajole. I am just trying to state the fact that we need to get this legislation done. This is not a partisan bill. The administration supports dealing with Agriculture. On an overwhelming basis, it passed in the House. We need to pass it in the Senate. I am very disappointed we are not getting the cooperation to proceed to this bill because it is such an important issue. It is for that reason, and only for that reason, that I have delayed the cloture vote on the Transportation bill. There will be a cloture vote on the Transportation appropriations bill at some point, perhaps early in the week. But, nonetheless, it will happen. If we need to, we will run out the time to get to final passage and then vote on the bill. But I needed to get started on the Agriculture supplemental. And that is what the procedural motion that we just entered into entails. I appreciate my colleagues' attention.

Mr. DASCHLE. I am happy to yield to the Senator from North Dakota.

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

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, if I could regain the floor, let me say that I appreciate and respect the position of the Senator from Idaho. I am not sure that having this debate on the motion to proceed is the appropriate place to do it. It seems to me that it would be an appropriate subject for an amendment to reduce the amount of emergency assistance from $7.49 billion to $5.5 billion. To say, we don't need to spend $7.49 billion. We could have that amendment and have a debate about it. But having a motion to proceed and then having a debate and a filibuster, if that is required on the motion to proceed, just delays when we can actually get into the discussion and debate about whether or not it ought to be $7.49, or $7.1 billion, or $5.2 billion. But we will finish this legislation only because of the ramifications of not finishing it, whether it is Monday, or Friday, or at some other time. I put my colleagues on notice. I have no other recourse. This is not a threat. It is simply a fact that this is a piece of must-pass legislation. I hope people understand that. I would be happy to yield to the Senator from North Dakota.

Mr. DASCHLE. I would be happy to yield to the distinguished chairman.

Mr. DASCHLE. I yield to the Senator from Idaho.

Mr. DASCHLE. I yield to the Senator from California.

Mr. DASCHLE. The Senator has described it very well. We have spent a week delaying completion of our work on the Transportation appropriations bill, fundamental investments in our Nation's infrastructure. Why have we done that? Because there are those who are opposed to the regulatory commitment that we want to make for truck safety in this country. They are willing to sacrifice public investment in our Nation's infrastructure not for days but for weeks because they don't think we ought to support a rigorous inspection and a rigorous standard of quality with regard to safety on our Nation's highways. That is what this debate has been about now for several days. I am disappointed that only because of absentee Senators we lost the cloture vote tonight, but we will win that vote and inevitably we will win on the final passage of the Transportation bill. This has been nothing more than delay. This delay has been unnecessary, unproductive, and very unfortunate. The Senator from California could not have said it better. She is right. There will be another day. We will deal with these issues. I will say, as I said a moment ago, there are some things we must do before we leave. We have no choice. So we can delay now and we will compound the problems and the circumstances involving our departure later.

Mr. DASCHLE. I am happy to yield.

Mr. DASCHLE. That is correct.

Mr. DASCHLE. I would say that is fair.

Mr. DASCHLE. The Senator is absolutely right. The Senator has spent a good deal of time on this floor over not only of the past few months but of the past few years trying to pass the Export Administration Act. He ran into the same problems last year that we confront this year. There are those who are unwilling to consider the tremendous, negative repercussions that this country will continue to experience as a result of our inability to update the Export Administration Act now. Further delay, and it expires. I might add, it expires in August. Further delay further undermines our ability to be competitive abroad. I don't know why anyone would want to be in a position to put this country into that kind of a situation, but because of objections on the other side, we have so far been unable to move the bill.

Mr. DASCHLE. I am happy to yield to the Senator from New York.

Mr. DASCHLE. The Senator may be new here, but she certainly understands how this institution must work. It can only work with cooperation. As she has so rightfully indicated, the situation today is that on issues of great importance, as she said, to our oldest and our newest industries, there is no question that we cannot put any higher of a priority on the work that must be done in the next week than to address both of these bills. The agricultural supplemental package represents, for many of our program crop farmers, a significant portion of the income they will receive in this calendar year. A large portion of the income they are depending upon rides on whether or not we get this bill done in the coming week. I do not know what percent some of our high-tech companies relate to the ability to export abroad, but I would not be surprised if it were not just as great. So she is absolutely right. We cannot leave without addressing these critical pieces of legislation. Why? Because they expire. The authorization literally expires during the month of August. So we can do it Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or we can work into the weekend, or the following week, but we really have to understand that these are critical bills that must be addressed. And the only way we can address them, as she correctly points out, is through the cooperative effort of both parties, and I would hope both leaders.

Mr. DASCHLE. I would be happy to yield.

Mr. DASCHLE. By and large, that was exactly what we attempted to do. Obviously, there were many times when there were disagreements, but we tried to work through those disagreements. I am hopeful we can do so again in the coming week.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam 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 Friday, July 27, 2001, to conduct the second in a series of hearings on ``Predatory Mortgage Lending: The Problem, Impact, and Responses.''

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Friday, July 27, at 9:30 a.m., to conduct a hearing. The Committee will receive testimony on the nomination of Theresa Alvillar-Speake to be Director of the Office of Minority Economic Impact, Department of Energy. The Committee will also receive testimony on H.R. 308, to establish the Guam War Claims Review Commission, and H.R. 309, to provide for the determination of withholding tax rates under the Guam income tax.

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Friday, July 27, 2001 at 11:30 to hold a business meeting. The Committee will consider and vote on the following nominees: 1. Mr. Stuart A. Bernstein, of the District of Columbia, to be Ambassador to Denmark. 2. Mrs. Sue M. Cobb, of Florida, to be Ambassador to Jamaica. 3. Mr. Russell F. Freeman, of North Dakota, to be Ambassador to Belize. 4. Mr. Michael E. Guest, of South Carolina, to be Ambassador to Romania. 5. Mr. Charles A. Heimbold, Jr., of Connecticut, to be Ambassador to Sweden. 6. The Honorable Thomas C. Hubbard, of Tennessee, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Korea. 7. Mrs. Marie T. Huhtala, of California, to be Ambassador to Malaysia. 8. Mr. Franklin L. Lavin, of Ohio, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Singapore. 9. Mr. Thomas J. Miller, of Virginia, to be Ambassador to Greece. 10. The Honorable Larry C. Napper, of Texas, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Kazakhstan. 11. Mr. Roger F. Noreiga, of Kansas, to be Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the Organization of American States, with the rank of Ambassador. 12. Mr. Jim Nicholson, of Colorado, to be Ambassador to the Holy See. 13. Mr. Mercer Reynolds, of Ohio, to be Ambassador to Switzerland, and to serve concurrently and without additional compensation as Ambassador to the Principality of Liechtenstein. 14. Mr. John T. Schieffer, of Texas, to be Ambassador to Australia.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, this resolution concerns a request for testimony in a grand jury investigation in New York City relating to immigration fraud. The District Attorney for New York County has uncovered evidence that a New York resident extracted money from immigrants by falsely promising to obtain private relief legislation to benefit them through her contacts in Washington. The alleged scheme included fabrications of correspondence purporting to be from Senator Thurmond's office. The District Attorney has requested that an employee on Senator Thurmond's Judiciary subcommittee staff testify before the grand jury about the fabrications. Senator Thurmond wishes to cooperate with the District Attorney by authorizing this employee to testify before the grand jury. Accordingly, this resolution authorizes this employee to testify, with representation by the Senate Legal Counsel.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. I move to instruct the Sergeant at Arms to request the presence of absent Senators. I ask for the yeas and nays.