Tom Daschle

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.J. Res. 78, the continuing resolution, just received from the House.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the joint resolution be read a third time, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating thereto be printed in the Record, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I understand that a bill introduced earlier today by Senator Collins is at the desk. I ask for its first reading.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I now ask for its second reading and object to my own request.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Record remain open today until 4 p.m. for the introduction of legislation and the submission of statements.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there now be a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up to 5 minutes each.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.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 am pleased that Senators Dodd, McConnell, Schumer, Bond, and Torricelli were able to reach agreement on a strong, bipartisan election reform bill. Studies of the 2000 elections have made it clear that outdated and unreliable technology, confusing ballots, language barriers, lack of voter education, lack of poll-worker training, and inaccurate voting lists all added up to the disenfranchisement of six million voters. These problems are unacceptable, and, as a Nation, we can't afford to repeat them. Our Federal system leaves it to individual States to conduct their own elections; but Congress has an obligation to see to it that election mechanisms and procedures in every county in every State guarantee every eligible citizen a voice in the democratic process Under this agreement, States will be required to meet minimum standards, and a bipartisan committee will be created to set those standards. This bill requires that election officials notify voters of overvotes and give them the opportunity to correct a flawed ballot before it is cast. It will establish statewide computerized voter registration lists. This bill further guarantees that voting machines be made accessible to people with limited English proficiency and people with disabilities, and that provisional ballots be made available to people whose names do not appear on voting lists. Those ballots would be set aside until it can be determined whether the individual's name was mistakenly left off the registration list. If it was, the vote is then counted. Finally, this bill provides the real resources these real reforms demand. As we protect our democracy from its external enemies, we must also fix its internal flaws. That is what this compromise bill will do, and I look forward to working to get it passed early in the next session.

Mr. DASCHLE

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

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 277, S. 1762.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 278, S. 1793.

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

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 258, H.R. 2657.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, will the Chair inform us, are we under a time agreement at this time?

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I want to take a couple of minutes to speak to the Bond amendment. As I understand it, we are going to be voting on it shortly. I heard Senator Bond describe his amendment a little while ago. My immediate reaction was that I was very supportive. I thought it sounded like a reasonable amendment. Certainly we have to be concerned about the frustrations that many of our farmers have experienced with regard to the regulatory problems they face, the frustrations they experience in attempting to participate in agriculture today, as complicated as it is. I am very sympathetic. I hear many of these complaints when I go home as well. I think to whatever extent we can moderate their frustration by finding ways to reduce the regulatory anxiety, reduce the tremendous amount of paperwork they have to endure, we ought to do it. There have been efforts over the years to attempt to do it, and I think we have to continue to try to do it. Looking carefully at the Bond amendment, what I have come to realize is this amendment really makes the President not just a friend of the farmer but king. I do not know if there is any other word for it. This would provide powers we do not give the President under any circumstances today. Only a monarch has the powers that the Senator intends to provide the President in situations such as this. Basically, the Bond amendment grants the President authority to overturn any action by any Federal agency that he simply determines may harm producers. He can wipe out virtually any law of the land without question, without challenge. This is an extraordinary delegation of power, not only to a President but to anybody. This would make a monarch of the President. This amendment, needless to say, is a real assault on the environmental laws of this country. It would allow the President to waive the Endangered Species Act completely, the Clean Air Act completely, and the Clean Water Act completely. Frankly, it would set this country back at least 30 years in environmental protection, but it goes way beyond environmental laws. The definition of harm written into the Bond amendment is so vague that virtually any action by any Federal agency--it could even be a foreign action, for that matter--could be overturned by the President, but certainly efforts involving the USDA civil rights procedures, efforts involving laws protecting farm workers, actions to implement free trade agreements--all of those--without any consultation with Congress, without any respect for due process, without any appreciation of the protections we have built in for an appreciation of the real sensitivity we must show in regulatory and statutory frameworks, all are thrown out the window with this amendment. As I said a moment ago, should we be sensitive to the needs of farmers and ranchers as we consider their frustration in dealing with the regulatory headaches they must address? The answer is absolutely yes. Absolutely we have to find ways of doing that. We have to continue to work with the President and with the Department of Agriculture to make sure this happens. But do we want, really, to give the President unbelievable constitutional and statutory authority in this context? Do we want to say to the President: Look, if you do not like a law, just repeal it unilaterally, no votes in the Congress, no consideration, no public comment. You just go do it. That is what the Bond amendment says we can do. Frankly, we do not want to go that far. I hope people will think very carefully, as well intended as the Bond amendment is, about whether we are willing to make a President a monarch in this case, to give him the authority of fiat. Not in this democracy, not in this Republic, not in this Senate, not now, not ever. I yield the floor.

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. DASCHLE. I would also note that if cloture is invoked, this agreement also will provide that the Cochran-Roberts amendment still will be in order. It accommodates the germaneness question regarding Cochran-Roberts.

Mr. DASCHLE. Senator Dorgan is not on the floor.

Mr. DASCHLE. I am happy to include that.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, let me explain very briefly to our colleagues what we hope to do. The Senator from Kansas and the Senator from Oregon have an amendment that has been agreed to. They would like 2 minutes on a side to present it. Immediately following that, I will make a unanimous consent request that would allow us the opportunity to consider and debate the defense authorization conference report between now and 5:30. At that time, we will have the cloture vote, then the Department of Defense authorization conference report vote, and then a vote on a judge, all stacked, from 5:30 to whatever time following that. Following those votes, if Senators wish to offer additional amendments on the farm bill, they are certainly entitled to do so.

Mr. DASCHLE. Actually, I now have the text.

Mr. DASCHLE. I would be happy to respond to the Senator from Iowa. This does not preclude additional consideration of amendments or votes tonight.

Mr. DASCHLE. That is correct.

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

Mr. DASCHLE. I move to reconsider the vote.