Tom Daschle

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, we just received word that Floyd M. Riddick, the Parliamentarian Emeritus of the Senate, passed away yesterday. As many of our colleagues may recall, Floyd M. Riddick was the Senate Parliamentarian from 1964 to 1974. He was a parliamentarian of extraordinary depth and value. In 1954, under the supervision of then-Parliamentarian Charles L. Watkins, he began working on the first edition of ``Senate Procedure.'' The Senate procedure book that came as a result of his work now bears his name. I think that says everything about the impact and the remarkable contribution Floyd Riddick has made to the Senate, to the way we continue to legislate, and certainly to the contribution he made in his time in public life. Floyd Riddick received a Ph.D. from Duke University in 1941. His dissertation was on congressional procedure, and he began work for the Senate in 1947, being the very first to publish a Daily Digest, which we all use every day from the back of the Congressional Record. Doc Riddick, as he was often referred to, was born in Trotville, NC, on July 13, 1908. As Senator Byrd has noted in his foreword to the current edition of ``Senate Procedure,'' he was truly a unique scholar. His contributions to the Senate will be utilized, as they have been utilized and valued, by future generations of Senators and staff who have not yet even been born. Floyd Riddick made his mark on the Senate, on Congress, and on history for the publication of ``Riddick's Senate Procedure.'' I know I speak for all of my colleagues and all of our staff in expressing heartfelt condolences to his wife Margo, to his friends, and his family.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I take this opportunity to correct an inadvertent but significant error in the Congressional Record of November 19, 1999, the last day of the first session of this Congress. It concerns a statement submitted for the Record by Senator Lott (145 Congressional Record S15048) regarding the Superfund Recycling Equity Act, which was passed as part of the Intellectual Property and Communications Omnibus Reform Act of 1999. The statement erroneously was attributed to both Senator Lott and me. In fact, the statement did not then and does not now reflect my understanding of the Superfund recycling amendments. I make this clarification at the earliest opportunity, in order to minimize the possibility of any mistaken reliance on the statement as the consensus view of two original cosponsors, particularly with respect to the availability of relief in pending cases. It is not. The recycling amendments were passed as part of the end of year appropriations process and did not have the benefit of hearings, debates, or substantive committee consideration during the 106th legislative session. Thus, there is no conference report, and there are no committee reports or hearing transcripts, to guide interpretation of the bill. However, much, though not all, of the language in the recycling amendments originated in the 103d Congress. At that time, key stakeholders, including EPA, members of the environmental community and the recycling industry, agreed on recycling provisions as part of efforts to pass a comprehensive Superfund reform bill. Although Superfund reform legislation did not reach the floor in the 103d Congress, it was reported by the major Committees of jurisdiction in both the Senate (S. 1834) and the House with bi-partisan support. In reporting these bills in the 103d Congress, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and the House Public Works and Transportation Committee each produced reports that include discussions of the recycling provisions. Since the recycling provisions of S. 1834 were identical in most respects to the Superfund Recycling Equity Act of 1999, and the meaning of key provisions of that bill were actively considered and discussed, the Senate Committee Report contains probably the best description of the consensus on the meaning of those provisions. To the extent the Committee Report does not address a particular provision of the recycling amendments, the Committee may very well have chosen to be silent on the point. With respect to such provisions, the ``plain language'' of the statute must be our guide. I am proud of our accomplishment in finally passing the Superfund Recycling Equity Act with broad bi-partisan support. This could not have happened without the hard work and cooperation of Senator Lott. And the significance of this accomplishment is by no means compromised by the absence of agreement on any legislative history. As usual, it will be for the courts to resolve questions of interpretation on a case-by-case basis, applying the bill to a wide range of potential factual situations. I again thank the distinguished majority leader for his work on this bill.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I join the majority leader in welcoming back our colleagues, the President pro tempore, our Chaplain, and our staff. I think we all had a wonderful break. It is good to be back and see so many friendly faces. The majority leader and I had a good conversation earlier today and discussed a number of matters to be addressed in the early days of this session of Congress. I look forward to working with him and with our colleagues as we begin this second session of the 106th Congress. I might inquire, has the majority leader finished? I didn't want to interrupt.

Mr. DASCHLE. Why don't we establish the quorum and I will comment later. Quorum Call

Mr. DASCHLE

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

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, let me again welcome our colleagues back. I had the opportunity this morning to discuss the schedule and the many mutual matters of concern with the majority leader. Let me again welcome back our staff and express heartfelt appreciation for the great job that so many of our people have done over the last couple of months while we have been gone. I welcome our colleagues back not only to a new session but a new year, a new century, and a new millennium. As we begin this new year, Americans have every reason to be proud and optimistic. In the last decade of the last century, we saw freedom and democracy triumph around the globe. We saw Eastern Europe abandon communism and the Soviet Union disintegrate. We saw Nelson Mandela walk out of prison and into history as the first democratically elected President of the new South Africa. Here at home we restored strength to America's economy. We started the last decade with the biggest budget deficits in our Nation's history, and we ended it with the biggest budget surplus. We have seen more than 20 million new jobs created in the last 7 years. Today we have the lowest unemployment in 40 years, and the lowest unemployment ever among African Americans and Hispanics. Americans are working again. Finally, after 20 years, real wages for America's families are growing again. Family incomes are up, and inflation is virtually nonexistent. We also made progress in the last decade on the many social problems that some people thought were intractable. Since 1993, we have seen a 48-percent decrease in the welfare rolls, the largest decline in our Nation's history. We put 100,000 new police officers on the street, and today the violent crime rate is the lowest it has been in a generation. We enacted the single largest investment in children's health since 1965 and the largest increases in higher education since the GI bill. Today our Nation is prospering, and we are at peace. The question facing us as we begin this new session of Congress, this first session of the 21st century, is: How do we keep America moving in the right direction? How do we provide the leadership that will help continue the global march toward freedom and democracy? Here at home, how do we keep our economy growing? How do we help ordinary Americans provide for their families and prepare for their future? How do we widen the circle of opportunity to include those who have been left out up until now? There are many, frankly, who believe we will not answer those questions this year. They look at how little we accomplished last year and the fact that this is a Presidential year and conclude that little or nothing will happen between now and November. It does not have to be that way. A month ago, a lot of people thought the Y2K bug might cause all kinds of chaos. Instead, almost nothing happened. When it comes to us, when it comes to this Congress, people expect nothing to happen this year. Why not surprise them? We have extraordinary opportunities to do significant work this year, and we should work together to seize those opportunities. Let's not worry about who gets the credit. Let's worry about getting the job done. If the best minds in this country could work together to kill the Y2K bug, surely the best minds in the Senate can work together this year to protect Social Security, to modernize Medicare, and to pass a real Patients' Bill of Rights. We can work together to improve our children's schools. Working together, surely we can find new ways to help ordinary working families earn more and keep more of what they earn. There are all kinds of reasons for inaction, but there is not one good excuse. Henry Ford once said, ``You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.'' You cannot construct much of an argument for governing either just talking about what you are going to do. Eventually, one has to act. I believe there are essentially three challenges facing us this year. If we meet these challenges, I believe, frankly, that it will be good for both of our parties next November. Good policy, as they say, is good politics. More importantly, if we meet these challenges, it will be good for America, for our economy, for our families, and certainly for our future. Our first challenge is to maintain our fiscal discipline. Later this week, we expect new estimates from CBO and OMB about how large the surplus might be in the year 2010. We do not know today what their predictions will be, but we do know today that the best first use of whatever surplus we have is to protect Social Security and strengthen Medicare. Now--when our economy is strong, when we have a surplus, when we still have time on our side--is the time to prepare for the baby boomers' retirement by extending the life of the Social Security trust fund. Now is the time to modernize Medicare and add the prescription drug benefit so people do not have to choose between filling prescriptions and paying utility bills. That is an essential part of maintaining fiscal discipline. Maintaining fiscal discipline also means paying down our $5 trillion national debt. Mr. President, $2,200 is how much our national debt will cost every family in America this year. Think what a family could do with that much money. My colleagues and I support tax cuts that help working families with real, pressing needs such as child care and paying for college and caring for sick and aging relatives. We support eliminating the marriage penalty tax for couples who pay a marriage penalty. We support tax cuts that help small businesses grow and make it easier to keep family businesses in families. We want to work with our friends on the other side of the aisle to pass responsible, targeted tax cuts this year, but we all know what the best tax cut is. The best tax cut for America's families and America's businesses is to pay down the Federal debt. This year, because of the progress we have made since 1993 in eliminating the deficit and reducing the debt, the average American family will save $2,000 on their mortgage, $200 on their car loan, and $200 more on student loans. The American people made it clear last year they do not want a tax cut that is so big it wrecks the economy. They do not want a tax cut that is going to explode in a few years and add to our debt. They do not want a tax cut that disproportionately rewards the people at the very top at the expense of everyone else. What they want is for us to maintain our commitment to fiscal discipline and to Social Security and Medicare. Our second challenge is to expand our economic recovery, not just sustain it, but to broaden and deepen it to include more families and more communities. These are extraordinarily good times for many Americans, but too many families in this country are still struggling to afford even the basics. Too many children go to bed hungry. Too many Americans still live on the outskirts of hope. The people who have been left out of this recovery include some of the hardest working, most decent people you would ever want to meet. They include working mothers who get up before it is light and take three buses to get to their jobs at nursing homes. They include former factory workers who lost their economic footing when the plant closed, who work now at jobs that pay one-third as much, with no benefits. They include farmers and ranchers in South Dakota and across the country who work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, who are out there right now in the bitter cold and snow, not even making back their production costs, earning less than their parents and grandparents earned in the Great Depression. Throughout our history, from our earliest days as a nation, Americans have always strived to do better. We did not stop when we cured polio. We said: Now let's cure cancer. Next week, we will become the first Americans ever to achieve 107 consecutive months of economic expansion. Surely we will not be the first Americans to say: This is all we can do. We have reached the end of our possibilities. Let us together expand this recovery. Our third challenge this year is to finish what we left unfinished last year. We need to pass a real Patients' Bill of Rights that lets medical professionals, not HMO bureaucrats, make medical decisions. Senator Lott and I discussed that just this morning. I do hope there is a real possibility for compromise and ultimately for the successful completion of our work on a Patients' Bill of Rights. We need to increase the number of Americans with private health coverage. We need to help communities repair schools that are falling down and expand schools that are filled beyond capacity. We also need to help communities hire qualified teachers and keep the good teachers who are already in the classroom. It is the only way we can fill the 2.2 million teacher vacancies we know will exist within the next 10 years. We need to keep the crime rates moving in the right direction by making it harder for kids and criminals to get guns, keeping our commitment to put another 50,000 new police officers on the beat by the year 2005, and giving law enforcement the resources they need to combat hate crimes. We need to keep crime rates moving in the right direction by cracking down on scam artists who target the elderly and by filling the vacancies on the Federal bench this year--no more excuses, no more delays. Also this year, we need to make it easier for parents who work full time to raise their families out of poverty by raising the minimum wage $1 an hour and expanding the earned-income tax credit. We need to pass meaningful, comprehensive campaign finance reform. Finally, we need to continue opening up new markets for American goods and services by passing the Africa trade/Caribbean Basin free trade initiative this year. So those three challenges ought to be ones we all share: No. 1, maintain our fiscal discipline, protect Social Security and Medicare, and pay down the debt; No. 2, expand the recovery to families and communities that have not yet benefited from it; and No. 3, finish what we left unfinished last year. In the weeks since we were together, I was fortunate to be able to spend a wonderful holiday with my family. I got to spend a lot of time in South Dakota. I talked with some remarkable people--from business and education leaders who are working together in Sioux Falls to try to keep up with the demand for high-tech workers, to family farmers and ranchers who are working practically around the clock to scratch out a living. I talked to a farm wife who gets up at 4:30 in the morning and drives over 90 miles to get to Howard, SD, to work at the PMB plant there, as they wrap every Pokemon card that is distributed in the United States-- right there in Howard, SD--only to drive another 90 miles back getting home, sometime after 7:30 at night, to do it all over again the next day. That work ethic is representative of the work ethic all across South Dakota and the upper Midwest. I had the privilege of traveling with Senators Akaka, Dodd, and Harry Reid to one of the most amazing, and troubled, regions of the world: India and Pakistan. We went to promote trade and understanding, but we also went to encourage both India and Pakistan to defuse the tensions between their nations and to step back from their increasingly tense nuclear arms race. I am hopeful we made some progress on both matters. Being in those two nations reminded me again of how fortunate we Americans are. We talked to Tibetan refugees who fled Tibet over the 19,000-foot Himalayan Mountains, suffering the worst maladies in health, recognizing that 40 percent of them might have to deal with serious frostbite on their feet and hands by the time they arrived in Nepal--only to do it because they wanted to be free, only to do it because they, too, wanted to experience at least some element of democracy. There is so much we as beneficiaries of democracy take for granted. I do not mean simply our material wealth and consumer comforts; I mean our most precious possession of all, our freedom. You recognize that every time you travel abroad, whether it is Pakistan, Nepal, India, or any other country. India, the world's largest democracy, is now celebrating the 53rd anniversary of its independence this year and the 50th anniversary of its Constitution. Perhaps because democracy is still relatively young in India, perhaps because of the high price they paid for their liberty, the people I spoke with in India seemed very much aware of how rare and how fragile democracy is. In Pakistan, we visited a country where a democratically elected government had only a few months before been toppled and replaced by a military ruler--another reminder of how privileged we are to live in the world's oldest and most secure democracy. I am encouraged by my discussions with General Musharraf and very hopeful they can restore economic progress, restore democratic institutions, and can find a way with which to begin resolving the regional conflict that is so prevalent in all the conversations we had with leaders in both countries, India and Pakistan. Democracies are not perpetual motion machines. As the great poet laureate Archibald MacLeish wrote: America is never finished. America is always becoming. Every American has a responsibility to make our democracy work. But we who have been granted the privilege of serving in this body have a unique responsibility. The Congress is no ordinary institution. This is where Americans come to solve our common problems and shape our national destiny. This is also where younger democracies of the world turn for guidance and where people and nations not yet free look for hope. That was so evident in our conversations with people in all the countries we visited on this too brief a visit to the subcontinent a couple of weeks ago. Are we going to live up to our responsibility to make this institution work, as we know it can? Are we going to meet the challenges before us and pass measures that will make a real difference in people's lives or are we simply going to pass time until the next election? As we begin this new session of Congress, let us resolve together to surprise everyone and do what needs to be done. I yield the floor.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, last spring I joined my colleagues in honoring President Lyndon Baines Johnson when we hung a portrait of our former president on the one blank wall left in the President's Room in our nation's capitol. As I noted at that time, I could think of no other president or American who was as deserving of this honor as LBJ. As the Senate Majority Leader and President, LBJ was a man of immense skill, dedication and compassion. He is remembered by most Americans as a great leader whose strength of personality helped him preside over an extremely productive Senate that expanded Social Security, created the Interstate Highway system, and passed one of the most important civil rights laws of the 20th Century. Less well known, however, is LBJ's tremendous ability to compromise. He truly believed in the message of his favorite Bible verse: ``Come, let us reason together.'' Our nation and our government needs more men and women who share this powerful belief. Today, I want to bring to the attention of my colleagues and all Americans another aspect of LBJ's legacy that too often has been overlooked--his work to bring justice to disen- franchised ethnic minorities and to improve the lot of the large number of Americans suffering in unimaginable poverty. John Kenneth Galbraith, the noted economist and former presidential aide, recently highlighted LBJ's accomplishments in this area in an important speech at the LBJ library in Austin, Texas. As Professor Galbraith noted, historians often view LBJ's administration in terms of its involvement in the Vietnam War. While we should never underestimate the impact that war had on our country, historians are remiss to view LBJ through this narrow prism. Those who do fail to acknowledge his meaningful and lasting accomplishments in expanding civil rights, protecting voting rights, and fighting poverty. These victories have forever changed the face of America for the better. Professor Galbraith's speech is based on his personal and professional relationship with LBJ. It is a testament to LBJ's leadership and a tribute to the sometimes overlooked legacy of the Great Society. This speech is an important step towards setting the historical record straight and establishing a legacy of LBJ's Administration that is historically accurate as well as comprehensive. I ask unanimous consent that Professor Galbraith's speech be printed in the Record.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I associate myself with the remarks made by the distinguished majority leader. He noted that this is a matter of great import to many Senators, including those from the Northeast. They have made their position known, and I respect that position. I have also indicated to them personally, and I have said publicly, that I do not support compacts. I do not support the Northeast Dairy Compact. I do not believe it is good economic policy. I think the process that allowed the Northeast Dairy Compact in H.R. 1402 to be inserted in the budget process was flawed and wrong and unfair. This isn't the way we ought to deal with complex and extraordinarily important economic policy affecting not hundreds or thousands but millions of rural Americans. I oppose compacts in any form, but I especially oppose them when they are loaded into a bill without the opportunity of a good debate, without the opportunity of votes, without the opportunity of amendment. We will come back to this issue. We must revisit this question. We must find a way by which to assure that all views are taken into account, and all sections of the country are treated fairly. In this case, the two Senators from Wisconsin in particular, and the Senators from Minnesota, Wellstone and Grams, were not treated fairly. I do not fault anybody. These things happen. Senator Lott and I have to deal with a lot of different challenges and issues. He and I have admitted that we wished this could have been done differently. Those four Senators were not treated fairly. I applaud them for coming to the floor to express themselves, and to say in as emphatic a way as they can, as eloquently as they have, how important this matter is to them and how determined they are to see it resolved. My hat is off to them. I thank them. I also thank them for their cooperation in working with us to come up with a way to resolve this. It is one thing to throw things and to stomp up and down and to cause all kinds of havoc. Anyone can do that. But it takes courage, it takes character, it takes class to say, look, in spite of the fact that we were not treated fairly, we are going to work with you to assure that people in other circumstances will be treated more fairly. I thank them for that. Again, I appreciate the majority leader's comments in acknowledging the unfairness of this and ensuring that we will deal with it appropriately at a later date. I yield the floor.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. I might also say, I heard the distinguished Chair talk about the service provided to this committee and to the Senate by the distinguished ranking member, the Senator from Nebraska. I will make a full statement at a later time, but let me say for the record now, no one has served this committee, this caucus, and this Senate more effectively, taking his intelligence responsibility more seriously, than the distinguished Senator from Nebraska. He has been an extraordinary leader, an extraordinary Member, and one who has taken his responsibilities on this committee as seriously as anybody has to date. He departs with the actions taken today. He will leave the committee as a result of the statute requiring a certain limit of time for each Senator. I know I speak for all Senators in expressing our gratitude to him and our admiration for a job very well done, I yield the floor.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. I have appreciated the hard work of the Majority Leader on this issue, and I am pleased that this legislation has been included as part of the omnibus appropriations bill. I hope that this provision will serve to achieve our goal of encouraging recycling. It is also my understanding that the language of the bill is not intended to exempt from liability parties who had reason to believe that the recyclable material originated from the portion of a DOD, DOE, NRC or Agreement State-licensed facility where source, byproduct or special nuclear material, as defined in the Atomic Energy Act, was processed, utilized or managed. Is it your understanding that the agreement does not cover these materials?

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, this issue is of great significance to many of my colleagues and to members of the public. In particular, it is of great interest to the Senator from Arkansas, and I deeply appreciate her leadership on this issue.

Mr. DASCHLE. I agree completely with the Senator from Arkansas. Since an explicit provision to this effect was inadvertently omitted, would the Majority Leader agree to address this issue through a technical correction to be enacted at the earliest possible opportunity next session?

Mr. DASCHLE. This past Wednesday--the day we finally produced a fragile budget agreement--marked the 199th anniversary of the first time Congress ever met in Washington, DC. They met that day in what was then an unfinished Capitol. Several times during the negotiations, the thought occurred to me that, if the same people who are running this Congress were in charge back then, the Capitol might still be unfinished. These negotiations took longer, and were more difficult, than they needed to be. The good news is: We finally have a budget that will keep America moving in the right direction. Many longtime members and observers of Congress say this has been perhaps the most confusing, convoluted budget process they can remember. There have been a lot of technical questions these last few weeks about accounting methods, economic growth projections, and CBO versus OMB scoring. But the big question--the fundamental question that was at the heart of this budget debate--is quite simple: Are we going to move forward--or backward? We have chosen, thank goodness, to move forward. This budget continues the progress we've made over the last seven years. It maintains our hard-won fiscal discipline. It invests in America's future. And it honors our values. This budget will put more teachers in our children's classrooms, and more police on our streets. It will enable us to honor our commitments to our parents, and fulfill America's obligations as a world leader. And, it will enable us to protect our environment and preserve precious wilderness areas for generations not yet born. I want to thank the Majority Leader, my Democratic colleagues, especially Senator Harry Reid, our whip, and Senator Robert Byrd, ranking member of the Appropriations Committee. I also want to thank some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, particularly Senator Stevens, chairman of the Appropriations Committee. In addition, I want to acknowledge and thank President Clinton and Vice President Gore, as well as the incredibly skillful, patient White House negotiating team, especially Chief of Staff John Podesta, Deputy Chief of Staff Sylvia Matthews, OMB Director Jack Lew; Larry Stein and Chris Jennings. I also want to thank my own staff, and the staff of Appropriations Committee, who have worked many weekends, many late nights, to turn our ideas and debate into a workable budget document. Finally, I want to acknowledge our dear friend, the late Senator John Chafee. Losing Senator Chafee so suddenly was one of the saddest moments in this difficult year. He embodied what is best about the Senate. He was a reasonable, honorable man who cared deeply about people. Completing the budget process was a major challenge. But in the end, I believe we have produced a budget John Chafee would have approved of. This budget invests in our children's education - the best investment any nation can make. It maintains our commitment to reduce class size by hiring 100,000 teachers. It contains money to help communities repair old schools and build new ones. It will enable more children to get a Head Start in school, and in life. And it will allow more young people to attend after-school programs where they will be safe, and where they will have responsible adult supervision. This budget protects Medicare beneficiaries by providing fair payments to the hospitals, clinics, home health care providers and nursing homes they rely on. This budget will make our communities safer by putting 50,000 more police officers on the street--in addition to the 100,000 who have already been hired--and by investing in youth crime prevention. This budget will help keep Americans healthy . . . by reducing hunger and malnutrition among pregnant women, infants and young children . . . and by increasing funding for the National Institute of Health and the national Centers for Disease Control. This budget protects our environment. We took out riders that would have harmed our environment, and put in money to fund the President's Lands Legacy program. This budget will help working families find affordable housing. It will help farm and ranch families weather these hard times. This budget protects our national security . . . by increasing military pay and readiness . . . and by reducing the nuclear threat at home and around the world. This budget will help us fulfill our responsibilities as the world's only superpower. It provides money to pay our UN arrears and fund the Wye Accord to promote peace to the Middle East. It will also enable us to ease the crushing burden of debt on some of the world's poorest countries, so those nations can begin to invest in their own futures. At the beginning of the year, our Republican colleagues proposed an $800 billion tax cut. For months, we all heard a lot of debate about what such a huge tax cut would mean. This budget makes it clear. There is no way we could have paid for an $800 billion tax cut without exploding the deficit again, or raiding Medicare, education, and other programs working families depend on. Instead of moving backwards on taxes, we're moving forward. We're cutting taxes the right way. We're widening the circle of opportunity . . . by extending the R&D tax credit, and other tax credits that stimulate the economy . . . and by empowering people with disabilities by allowing them to maintain their Medicare and Medicaid coverage when they return to work. There is one other point I want to make about the budget: For every dollar Democrats succeeded in restoring these last few weeks . . . for teachers, and police officers and other critical priorities . . . we have provided a dollar in offsets. Dollar for dollar, every one of our priorities is paid for. If CBO determines that this budget exceeds the caps, the overspending is in the basic budget our Republican colleagues drafted--on their own. the unfinished agenda As I said, Mr. President, this budget does move the country in the right direction--but only incrementally. My great regret and frustration with this Congress, is that we have achieved so little beyond this budget. Look what we are leaving undone! In a year in which gun violence horrified America . . . a year in which gun violence invaded our schools and even a day care center . . . the far right has prevented this Congress from passing even the most modest gun safety measures-- measures that would make it harder for children and criminals to get guns. The far right has prevented this Congress--so far--from passing a Patients' Bill of Rights. More than 90 percent of Americans--Democrats and Republicans--support a real Patients' Bill of Rights that holds HMOs accountable. So does the AMA, the American Nurses Association--and 200 other health care and consumer organizations. And so does a bipartisan majority in both the House and Senate. Yet the Republican leaders in this Congress continue to use parliamentary tricks to deny patients their rights. As we leave here for the year, HMO reform, like gun safety, has been stuck for months in the black hole of conference committees. The Republican leadership clearly is hoping that we will forget about all the shootings . . . forget about the families who have been injured because some HMO accountant overruled their doctor and denied needed medical treatment. I am here to tell them: The American people will not forget. And neither will Senate Democrats. We will fight to close the gun show loophole. And we will fight to pass a real Patients' Bill of Rights next year. We will continue the fight for meaningful campaign finance reform. We will continue the fight to preserve and strengthen Medicare--including adding a prescription drug benefit. We will resume the fight for a decent minimum wage increase. We will fight for a fair resolution of the dairy-pricing issue. And, we will restore the rural loan guarantee program for satellite TV service, so rural Americans aren't left with second-class service. It's taken a long time, but we finally have a budget that keeps America moving in the right direction. That is a relief, and a victory for the American people. But we still have a long way to go. We are leaving here with too many urgent needs unmet. We must do better next year.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Three hundred.

Mr. DASCHLE. Reserving the right to object, and I certainly will not object, let me say the majority leader and I talked about this. I am appreciative of his position. I am disappointed he has filed cloture. I hope it isn't received in the wrong way by all of those who worked so hard to get to this point. I had told my colleagues that if they continue to work and if they continue to cooperate, if they continue to allow time agreements, that we would not be in a position where we would have to file cloture and we would get to the final passage. That was my commitment. Senator Lott did not make that. I made it to my colleagues. In this case, I am going to have to explain to my colleagues why what I said is not what we are going to do. We are down now to a handful of amendments, with time agreements. So I am as convinced today as I was a couple of days ago, as I was before that, that cloture certainly isn't necessary. I am hopeful, with those tight time agreements, and with the opportunity to dispose of the amendments, we can come to final passage. But I will certainly work with the majority leader to see if we might find a way to make that happen. I hope he will work with us to assure those who have relevant amendments will have an opportunity to have their votes and we can finish. I do not object to the request.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I appreciate the commitment made by the majority leader. I know Senator Akaka is disappointed that it is not in this package of bills. He has worked, along with senator Murkowski who, I think, may be a cosponsor of this legislation, to pass it tonight. That is impossible. But I think Senator Akaka is certainly willing to accept the commitment made by the majority leader that by the 15th we will take up this legislation and hopefully resolve it successfully in the not-too-distant future. This is an important bill, the Marianas. It is an important bill for Senator Akaka, and I am appreciative of the commitment that is now part of the record that we will come back to this bill in a matter of months.

Mr. DASCHLE

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

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I know there is additional business to be conducted. Let me say briefly that we have just passed a number of very important pieces of legislation affecting many States, and it is unfortunate at this hour and given these circumstances that Senators who have had so much to do with their passage are not on the floor to be able to watch them as they have finally passed. I commend Senator Johnson in particular for one bill that was part of the package, the Lewis and Clark authorization project. As a result of the passage of this legislation, there are tens of thousands of people in southeastern South Dakota, southwestern Minnesota, and northeastern Iowa who will benefit from good, clean, abundant sources of water, in some cases for the first time in a long time. This has been a work in progress for many years. It passed in large measure because there was such a collective effort in the southeastern part of our State, and the southwestern part of Minnesota, and, as I said, in the northeastern part of Iowa. I commend them for their efforts and their diligence and their persistence. I congratulate them for the fact that it now has passed. Let me also thank the distinguished Senator from Oregon, Mr. Smith, and the Senator from Alaska, Mr. Murkowski, for all of their help and effort in getting us to this point. It would not have happened without them as well. This is a great day for my State. It is a great day for those in other States. I, again, congratulate especially Senator Johnson for his leadership and his effort in getting us to this point. I yield the floor.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, Steve Bale is one of those individuals who serve faithfully and diligently over many years to ensure that the United States Senate runs efficiently and effectively. All Senators know and appreciate the members of the Senate community who share their pride in public service and commitment to the Senate. We know we could not do our jobs without the dedication of people such as Steve Bale. Steve began his career in the Senate in 1969 as an employee of the Stationery Room under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Senate and ultimately became Keeper of the Stationery. Not many ascend to that unusual title; there have been only fourteen in the history of the Senate. The first person to hold that title was John Lewis Clubb who was given the title in 1854, after some twenty years of actually doing the job. Some may wonder what the Keeper of the Stationery does for the Senate and how that job and title came into being. The Stationery Room can be traced back to the First Congress and the first Secretary of the Senate, Samuel A. Otis, who provided various writing and other supplies for the Senate. Operated initially out of a corner of the Secretary's office, the Stationery Room has occupied nine different locations within the Senate. It has grown from this corner- office operation into a multi-million dollar one serving about 240 offices in the Senate and expanded from its initial offerings of ``ink, quills, and parchment'' to a complex merchandise facility which meets the hightech and traditional needs of these offices. The Stationery Room used to be a simple, service desk facility. Steve led the transition to a full self-service store. Under Steve's direction, the administrative and business functions of the Stationery Room were automated for the first time. He oversaw the installation and GAO certification of an inventory control system and has supervised the installation and testing of the new Y2K compliant computer system. With Steve at the helm, we can all be absolutely certain that the Senate's Stationery Room will NOT have Y2K problems! Of particular note is the role Steve played in the development and procurement of the Senate's official flag. S. Res. 369, agreed to on September 7, 1984, directed ``the Secretary of the Senate to design and make available to Members an official Senate flag.'' Working closely with the staff of the Committee on Rules and Administration, Steve provided the expertise to have a flag designed, find the appropriate manufacturer and ensure that the Senate has official flags for all of its official functions. Few Senators know about the relatively brief history of the Senate flag and fewer still know about Steve's important role in seeing that this resolution's direction was successfully carried out and that the Senate has a suitable and dignified flag. We are fortunate to share a wonderful sense of community among the members and staff who serve here. Steve is among the most respected and well liked within this small community. Always helpful, always smiling, always encouraging to the numerous staff who come into his office on a daily basis, he has found no problem too trivial and no task too difficult to handle. As Steve leaves his many friends and admirers in the Senate, we wish him a long retirement filled with many hours on the golf course.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I know there are a number of other Senators who asked to be a part of this colloquy and they are not on the floor yet. I do recognize the importance of the authorization bill that is currently being considered. I know we need to give both of our managers the time they need to be able to complete their work. This is a very important piece of legislation.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I compliment the majority leader. This is the result of ongoing discussions we have had for some time. I appreciate very much the involvement and the work done by the distinguished Senator from Montana. This accomplishes much of what we hoped we could do. It is not everything. I am very hopeful we can get this done before April 1, but the majority leader has made as strong a commitment to me personally, and I am sure he is prepared to do it on the record, that he will work with us to accomplish the objectives laid out in this unanimous consent agreement. I appreciate, as well, the cooperation of the distinguished Banking Committee chairman, and I believe as a result of the effort we have been able to demonstrate in getting to this point, we will achieve our goal. We cannot leave rural America out. We will have an opportunity to provide service to them. This will give us the vehicle to make that happen. So I do not object.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, today I am introducing the Access to Medical Treatment Act. I am pleased to be joined by Senators Harkin, Reid, Inouye and Johnson in this effort to increase individuals' freedom of choice in health care. At the outset, I want to extend my thanks to my friend Berkley Bedell, who formerly represented the 6th District of Iowa, for first bringing this issue to my attention and for his assistance in developing this bill. Berkley Bedell has experienced first-hand the life-saving potential of alternative treatments. His story underscores the need for the legislation I am introducing today and the importance of a national debate on ways to promote consumer choice and expand access to promising new medical treatments. American consumers have already voted for expanded access to alternative treatments with their feet and their pocket-books. The Journal of the American Medical Association recently published a study by David Eisenberg and others that found that Americans spent nearly $27 billion on alternative therapies in 1997. Americans made more visits to alternative practitioners--a total of 629 million--than to primary care doctors. Expenditures for alternative medicine professional services increased 45.2 percent between 1990 and 1997 to $21.2 billion. Some type of alternative therapy is used by 46.3 percent of the American population. Alternative therapies are also being incorporated into mainstream medical programs and practice. The curriculum of at least 22 of the nation's 125 medical schools include courses on alternative medicine. The National Institutes of Health now has a Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine where work is underway to expand our knowledge of alternative therapies and their safe and effective use. Despite the growing reliance on many types of alternative medicine, other alternative therapies remain unavailable because they do not fit the categories already carved out by Congress for exemption from the requirement to gain FDA approval. My bill would increase access to treatments that would normally be regulated by the FDA, but have not yet undergone the expensive and lengthy process currently required to gain FDA approval. Given the popularity of alternative medicine among the American public and its growing acceptance among traditional medical practitioners, it would seem logical to remove some of the access barriers that consumers face when seeking certain alternative therapies. The time and expense currently required to gain FDA approval both discourages the exploration of innovative, life-saving treatments by individual practitioners, scientists and smaller companies and limits patient access to low-cost treatments. Mr. President, the Access to Medical Treatment Act proposes one way to expand freedom of choice for medical consumers under carefully controlled situations. It asserts that individuals--especially those who face life-threatening afflictions for which conventional treatments have proven ineffective--should have the option of trying an alternative treatment, so long as they have been fully informed of the nature of the treatment, potential side effects, and given any other information necessary to meet carefully-crafted informed consent requirements. This is a choice that is rightly made by the consumer, and not dictated by the Federal government. All treatments sanctioned by this Act must be prescribed by an authorized health care practitioner who has personally examined the patient. The practitioner must fully disclose all available information about the safety and effectiveness of any medical treatment, including questions that remain unanswered because the necessary research has not been conducted. Patients must be informed of any possible side effects or interactions with other drugs. The bill carefully restricts the ability of practitioners to advertise or market unapproved drugs or devices or to profit financially from prescribing alternative medicine. This provision was included to ensure that practitioners keep the best interests of patients in mind and to retain incentives for seeking FDA approval. If an individual or a company wants to earn a profit from a product, they would be wise to go through the standard FDA approval process. The bill protects patients by requiring practitioners to report any adverse reaction that could potentially have been caused by an unapproved drug or medical device. If an adverse reaction is reported, manufacture and distribution of the drug must cease pending a thorough investigation. If it is determined that the adverse reaction was caused by the drug or medical device, as a part of a total recall, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, along with the manufacturer, has the duty to inform all health care practitioners to whom the drug or device has been provided. This legislation will help build a knowledge base regarding alternative treatments by requiring practitioners to report on effectiveness. This is critical because current information available about the effectiveness of many promising treatments is inadequate. The information generated through this Act will begin to reverse this reality, particularly because information will be collected and analyzed by the Center for Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. In essence, this legislation addresses the fundamental balance between two seemingly irreconcilable interests: the protection of patients from dangerous and ineffective treatments and the preservation of the consumers' freedom to choose alternative therapies. The complexity of this policy challenge should not discourage us from seeking to solve it. I am convinced that the public good will be served by a serious attempt to reconcile these contradictory interests, and I am hopeful the discussion generated by introduction of this legislation will help point the way to its resolution. Mr. President, this legislation represents an honest attempt to focus serious attention on the value of alternative treatments and overcome current obstacles to their safe development and utilization. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Will the majority leader yield because I think this is the most appropriate time to add my wishes as well.