Robert Dole

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now turn to consideration of S. 440, the highway bill.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, that the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements on the resolution be placed in the appropriate place in the Record.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Senate Resolution 134, submitted by myself and Senator Daschle.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from South Dakota for yielding and congratulate him for the outstanding job he has done, as well as the Senator from South Carolina, for their teamwork, efforts, and partnership that produced a historic bill. No question about it, this is one of the most important pieces of legislation we may have passed so far this year. Others may have different views. But it is near the top of the list. The Senator from South Dakota, Senator Daschle, the Democratic leader, is in a meeting, so I will make my little statement on my amendment, and then we will vote on that. After that vote, he will make a very brief statement and then we will vote on final passage. Is that satisfactory?

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I think the distinguished Democratic leader would like to speak at this time. As I understand, after he speaks, I will have just a few minutes to speak on my amendment. Then we vote on the Dole amendment and then final passage. I hope during the two votes I can determine what we will do the balance of the day and the balance of the week, so my colleagues will have some information before 6 o'clock. We are attempting to take up two bills and we are meeting objections from different sides for different reasons on each. We may be able to work that out during the vote. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, just let me indicate to my colleagues, as I said earlier before many were here, we hope to determine the balance of the schedule this evening and tomorrow before 6 [[Page S8480]] o'clock this evening, and so we will try to let everybody know by then what the schedule will be. Hopefully, it will not be too heavy. It depends on how this bill comes out. I will let Senators know in a few minutes.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, gentlemen start your engines, because we are about to pass telecommunications reform that will be the roadmap to our Nation's future. When we started floor consideration of S. 652 more than 1 week ago, I noted that this was just the beginning. A beginning of a new era of leadership for the telecommunications industry and for America. While some see America's power dwindling, I see it growing. I see our renaissance, and its called the information age. America's years of leadership in telecommunications, whether it was inventing the telegraph or the microchip, gives us the right to lay claim to this future. We have earned it. We must now reach out and take it. recognizing senator pressler's hard work And one person who deserves a good deal of credit for making this new era a reality is Senator Pressler. As all Members know, telecommunications reform is a tough, complex, and often contentious issue. Congress has struggled with it for more than a decade, with no success. And along comes Senator Pressler. He tackled this issue and has moved it through the Senate in record time. His tenacity proves that the Senate is capable of delivering on the toughest issues. Not only did he have to fight competing interests, but also the White House. Senator Pressler has won, the Senate has won, and America has won. The bill also could not have been possible without Senator Hollings. Both Senators Pressler and Hollings have done an outstanding job at bringing the competing interests together, or as close together as possible. the real jobs stimulus package No doubt about it, telecommunications reform is the real jobs stimulus package. Except this one relies on the private sector to create those jobs. And it will. Thousands of jobs will be necessary to build new communications networks. And that's just the beginning. Studies indicate that millions of more jobs will be created because information will become more accessible, jobs that will make America more efficient, more productive, and ultimately more powerful. While some may argue that it is not the perfect bill, its message is right--competition, not government, is the best regulator. Competition, not regulation, has the best record for creating new jobs, spurring new innovation, and creating new wealth. It's that simple. Competition and deregulation are also the only ways to accommodate the explosion of new technology. conclusion Mr. President, removing the telecommunications industry's shackles is not about politics as usual. It is not about Republicans versus Democrats. It is about providing all Americans, rich or poor, urban or rural, a better future. I believe that a procompetition, deregulatory telecommunications bill can help make that future a reality.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, let me indicate, as I did earlier, that this is a tremendous vote--81 to 18. It is a very significant piece of legislation that has passed this Chamber, largely through the efforts of the distinguished Senator from South Dakota [Mr. Pressler]. It is not a perfect bill. I understand that almost everybody finds something wrong with it, which probably means it is not that bad; it is probably a very good bill. I think it is a very important piece of legislation. I thank all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their cooperation. I do not think we took too much time. On a bill of this magnitude, it takes a little longer on the Senate side, and it probably should, as the Senator from Illinois [Mr. Simon] said earlier today. I thank the Democratic leader, Senator Daschle, for his cooperation throughout the debate. Mr. President, I have had a discussion with the Senator from South Dakota, [Mr. Daschle], the Democratic leader, and I outlined to him what I would like to do. First, I will ask unanimous consent that we go to S. 440--I will not ask it now--and I understand there will be an objection. Then I will move to the consideration of S. 440, and I understand the Senator from Massachusetts, [Mr. Kennedy], and others will at that point discuss the motion to proceed. If that would be the case, there would be no votes tonight and no votes tomorrow. Then we would try to work out something to accommodate our colleagues on Monday. So I do not want to make the request until the Senator from South Dakota indicates it is all right to do so.

Mr. DOLE. Following the vote, the Senator from South Dakota, Senator Daschle, will be recognized, and then we will have final passage.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I announce that the Senator from Utah [Mr. Hatch] is necessarily absent from the Senate. He is attending the meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Budapest, Hungary, along with the delegation of officials from Utah and the United States Olympic Committee. Salt Lake City was earlier selected as America's choice to host the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, and a final vote on site selection will be taken by the IOC at their meeting in Budapest. Senator Hatch is in attendance at these important meetings in support of Salt Lake City to be the host city and of the United States to be the host country for this premier international event.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Let us do that right now. Then I will come back after that and try to get consent on these other things. In the meantime, if somebody else has an amendment they feel a compelling desire to offer, we would appreciate that information, because it might determine how long we stay tonight. Several Senators addressed the Chair.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I am trying to determine when we can complete action on this bill. We had a heavy, positive vote on cloture. I am going to read a statement that I think satisfies the managers of the bill to see if we can get some agreement, some accommodation. The managers have been working toward a final resolution of this bill that encompasses the following request. I am not going to try to get the agreement, but I will read it: That all amendments qualified postcloture must be called up by number by 7:30 p.m.; that all amendments be limited to 15 minutes, 30 minutes for second degrees, for the debate to occur--we are not certain about this--either tonight or beginning at 9 o'clock in the morning. If some of those can be debated tonight, it can save us time tomorrow morning. If we can get the agreement, then rollcall votes will be stacked to begin at 12:30 p.m. I would rather begin at an earlier time tomorrow, but I understand there is a problem on that side. If we can resolve that, they will begin earlier, with the last vote in the voting sequence being final passage of the telecommunications bill. After that, if get consent, we will go to the highway bill, S. 440, which I understand there are a couple major issues, but, otherwise, we should be able to finish that by Friday sometime. So if Senators have amendments, the point is they ought to be letting the managers know. We think there are only about six, maybe a few more than that. I understand Senator Stevens has some that may be accepted. Senator Leahy has one that is going to be accepted. That would leave one by Senator Lieberman, one by Senator Simon, one by Senator McCain, one by Senator Harkin, and then the managers' amendment.

Mr. DOLE. Let me indicate, at 7:30, we will assess and see where we are. If we can work it out, we will try to accommodate most of my colleagues. I understand there may be a movie tonight--Batman or something--that many of my colleagues are headed for. It is a good movie, I understand, too. Vote on Amendment No. 1317

Mr. DOLE. I yield to the Senator from Illinois for a unanimous- consent request.

Mr. DOLE. I am advised that I can make the following request that has been cleared on both sides. I ask unanimous consent all remaining first-degree amendments be offered by 7:30 p.m. this evening.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I want to urge my colleagues on both sides-- if there are any amendments on this side, too--we want to try to complete action on this bill today. The chairman has indicated his willingness to stay all night and keep the hours running. Thirty hours will expire tomorrow at 4 p.m. If we stay all night that would be 4 p.m. Or, if we can get an agreement to vote final passage by 12 noon tomorrow, otherwise, I think we may seriously consider the first option--staying all night. I believe that most of the amendments will be tabled. I do not know of any serious amendments at all. Most of the amendments are on the other side. There are still some 50 amendments pending which is sort of par for the course, so far. But we hope that if people are serious about their amendments, they will offer them today so that we can dispose of this. The managers have been on the floor now for almost a week. They have done an outstanding job on both sides. They are prepared to complete action on this bill late, late, late tonight. I urge my colleagues. Maybe some amendments will be accepted. I do not know what the status of many of these amendments are. But it would be our intention to table every amendment from now on unless the managers indicate otherwise. We are having a Republican conference. I will make that clear to them that, if we are going to finish this bill, we have to have some discipline on this side to help table amendments for both managers of the bill, not just the manager on this side. So I urge my colleagues to finish today. If you want to agree to an agreement, we will have final passage no later than noon tomorrow. Otherwise, I will leave it up to the managers. The chairman has indicated to me that he prefers to stay here all night and dispose of amendments between now and 4 o'clock tomorrow.

Mr. DOLE. As I understand, they need to take care of the underlying amendment.

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

Mr. DOLE

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

Mr. DOLE. So then the vote will be, again, on the issue. We can adopt the motion to reconsider by voice vote. Vote on Motion to Reconsider

Mr. DOLE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the yeas and nays be vitiated on the motion to reconsider.

Mr. DOLE. I ask for the yeas and nays on the motion to reconsider.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. DOLE. We can bring the Dorgan amendment back by regular order. We can do it that way. Senator Simon has an amendment relating to violence. We would like to have debate on all three amendments--the Conrad amendment, the second-degree amendment, and then an amendment I am offering with Senator Simon, a sense-of-the-Senate amendment, that all relates to TV violence. I wonder if we might have the debate on all of those before we start voting. That is the only problem we have.