Robert Dole

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. We will both be here. That will be all right with me. I think it is going to work out that way. I do not know how much time the Senator from New Jersey would want. If we reach an agreement, I think it is going to be about an hour on each amendment. I am perfectly willing to continue to operate without any window, but a number of my colleagues have obligations away from the Capitol. Obviously, the important thing is to finish the bill. That is the most important thing.

Mr. DOLE. I appreciate the comments of the Senator from West Virginia, my friend. I think someone said 2 hours would do. I said, no, an hour should be adequate. Maybe that will not happen. Obviously, the important thing is to finish this bill. I think we have made some progress here, hopefully, this afternoon. If we can have time agreements, if they are less than an hour, there will be less than an hour window. I will work with the Senator from West Virginia. My little dog, Leader, misses me and your old dog Billy, we have not gotten them together yet.

Mr. DOLE. As I understand it, we cannot give that assurance.

Mr. DOLE. I cannot speak for anybody on that. I do not have any amendments. Others on either side may wish to reserve that right. It is my understanding the other side cannot agree to any vote before 7:15. Somebody on that side must already be out the window. So we would be happy to try to work it out. We can have two votes at 8 o'clock. If we can get agreements on the Domenici and Lautenberg amendments, we can do it at 8 o'clock.

Mr. DOLE. What about Domenici, is that subject to second-degree?

Mr. DOLE. Why do we not let Senator McCain proceed? I think he has a very important statement.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Whatever. If all time is used. I do not think we need 2 hours for sunshine. In any event, I just advise Members this is the last vote tonight. There will be votes tomorrow throughout the day, and I would tell my colleagues the first vote will probably be around 10:45, 11:00, 11:15 in the morning.

Mr. DOLE. That is a possibility. So we would like, if we could do that tonight, to finish the debate on the Hutchison amendment, and then we would have a vote on that tomorrow morning. But we would have that vote at the same time we have a vote on the Glenn amendment, which will be around 11 a.m.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, let me indicate to my colleagues this will be the only vote tonight because we were able to take three of the amendments, the Pryor amendment, and two Feingold amendments we were able to work out and accept. So there will just be this one vote. As I understand, Senator Hutchison may be prepared to offer her amendment, at least the debate tonight on her amendment. Is that correct?

Mr. DOLE. I move to table the amendment, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, as I understand it, we had four amendments. We have accepted the two Feingold amendments and the Pryor amendment, [[Page S 9898]] which leaves the Lautenberg amendment. Mr. President, I understand the Senator from Mississippi, Senator Lott, will be here momentarily. He has 13 minutes. The Senator from New Jersey has 3 minutes. If he is not here momentarily, we will yield back his time. Then I will move to table the Lautenberg amendment. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, we are trying to get some order so Members will know precisely what will happen. As I understand, Senator Domenici is prepared to offer an amendment, and he is prepared to enter into a time agreement. That cannot be done until Senator Glenn has an opportunity to look at the amendment. We are not certain whether or not there will be a second-degree amendment. I am advised that we can now deal with the Lautenberg amendment without a second-degree amendment, and it will be 1 hour equally divided. I ask unanimous consent when Senator Lautenberg offers his amendment, No. 1535, that no amendments be in order, that there be 1 hour for debate to be equally divided in the usual form, and when the Senate votes, the vote occur on or in relation to the Lautenberg amendment.

Mr. DOLE. That is what we are trying to work out. We will not take up the Lautenberg amendment, I assume, for another 20 minutes, so the vote will not come until the end of that hour. We hope we get an agreement on the Domenici amendment, also on the Feingold amendment, and also on an amendment by Senator Pryor. We are looking at the Feingold amendment. We did not have a copy of Senator Pryor's amendment. If we can start getting these agreements, I can advise my colleagues when we will have the vote.

Mr. DOLE. That is correct. There have been a couple of suggestions made. One, that we can sequence four or five amendments and have all the votes tomorrow morning. We would be here this evening debating the amendments, and those who had other plans or just wanted to frankly do something else, that they would be free to do that this evening. We would have votes tomorrow morning. I think that is what we are trying to put together. There are four amendments we are aware of. I think the Senator from Texas, Senator Hutchison, has an amendment. We are trying to contact her. I think fairly soon we will have the Glenn amendment, the big amendment, the substitute amendment, which I assume will probably take some time to debate on that.

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

Mr. DOLE. I hope the number is not too large. I know there are a number of amendments.

Mr. DOLE. Not at this point. We are trying to get the sequence. If we cannot agree on second degrees, that will present a problem. We are at least trying to sequence amendments so Senators will know when they may be expected to be here to offer their amendments, and obviously we would like to have additional amendments if anybody has an amendment. The Senator from Massachusetts will do his, I understand, tomorrow?

Mr. DOLE. As I understand, we have a copy of that amendment, and I will have Senator Hatch and Senator Roth look at it. I would hope that even if we reach some agreements that Members with amendments would stay tonight and try to dispose of those amendments. They may be acceptable or reaching some agreement, where we could have the vote, if not tonight, sometime tomorrow morning. I think there is good-faith effort on the part of the leaders to keep this bill moving. I think we have gone over a couple of large hurdles this afternoon. If we can make some progress this evening, even though there might not be any votes after a certain point, we could still stay here. The managers are anxious to be here late tonight, to deal with amendments.

Mr. DOLE. I make that request.

Mr. DOLE. Following the Pryor amendment, the amendment by Senator Hutchison, an amendment on reasonable reliance. If I could renew that request, that following the debate by Senator Domenici, 20 minutes, we then move to the Lautenberg amendment, and after completion of debate on the Lautenberg amendment, be followed by debate on the Feingold amendment, to be followed by debate on the Pryor amendment, to be followed by debate on the Hutchison amendment.

Mr. DOLE. And that he would follow the Hutchison amendment; is that all right?

Mr. DOLE. That is correct. Some may be accepted, as I understand it. Some may need rollcall votes.

Mr. DOLE. Some might go over. I am not quite ready to announce that, but I [[Page S 9882]] agree with the Senator from West Virginia, we are going to take them up. We can either vote as they come up or we can stack the votes, if that is satisfactory.

Mr. DOLE. Right. I would say two or three--that is a small number.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, first let me commend my colleague from Arizona for his eloquent statement and my colleague from Delaware, Senator Biden. I certainly share the views they both expressed this evening. This is a tragedy I do not believe we will be able to measure for a long, long time. It will have an impact on the West for decades. I hope we can take up the Bosnia resolution as early as next Wednesday or Tuesday.