Robert Dole

Mr. DOLE

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. DOLE. We will just have two votes that way.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I am sorry I have not been here earlier but we have been working with the President, trying to cooperate with the administration on the matter of Mexico, which is very important. So we have been spending most of the day on that down at the White House. say I did receive a letter from the President today supporting this measure, if that will have any impact on the other side of the aisle. But it is our intent to finish this bill, and we will have some votes. As a former majority leader I learned all about votes. As a former majority leader, I learned how to get votes and one way is to move to table the committee amendment. I move to table the Levin amendment, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. DOLE. But it is available in the Record.

Mr. DOLE. The majority views will be identical to what you now find in the Record at page 783.

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

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I know, in addition to the Senator from Pennsylvania on this side of the aisle, the Senator from Tennessee, Senator Thompson, has a direct interest in this legislation. I wish to commend Senator Bryan as the prime mover of this effort. I think it should be addressed. It will be addressed, I can assure the Senator from Nevada, the Senator from Pennsylvania, and other Senators. We need to find out, we need to determine, we need to make a record to make certain that congressional pensions are in line with other Federal employees. If they are too generous or if they are out of line, then we need to make changes. It is my understanding that Senator Bryan, along with my distinguished colleague from Pennsylvania, Senator Santorum, are going to introduce legislation today and, if introduced, this legislation will be referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs. After consulting some of my colleagues on the committee, including the distinguished chairman from Delaware, Senator Roth, I have every reason to believe that the committee or one of its subcommittees will hold hearings on the pension reform issue at some point later this year. Now, let me make it very clear--because I know the Senator from Nevada is acting in good faith, and this Senator is acting in good faith--not only will we have hearings, but we hope something will be reported out of the committee. Because, if it is not reported out of the committee, then I am not going to stand here and block an effort by the Senator from Nevada later on if he stands up to offer an amendment to something else. I give him that assurance right now. It should come out of the committee with a big bipartisan vote. If it is determined changes should be made, it ought to be made on a bipartisan basis. It ought to be brought to the floor and we ought to act on it. I told the Senator from Nevada last night--he talked about the Easter recess; it may not happen quite that quickly--that I think there should be some pressure, I do not mean it in the negative sense, for the committee to respond as quickly as possible. I know there are other things that have to be done. But this, too, should be a priority in the chain of events, because a lot of people are concerned about this; a lot of people write to us about this. So let us address it. Let us face up to it. So I just assure the Senator from Nevada, as I did last evening, that I am sympathetic to what he is attempting to do and I will be trying to cooperate with him every step of the way.

Mr. DOLE. Does the Senator from Nevada wish to make a statement first and have me respond?

Mr. DOLE. I think I should respond to the Senator's request.

Mr. DOLE. I thank the Senator from Nevada. I know that we have a number of colleagues on both sides of the aisle who share the concerns just expressed and Santorum, may wish to say a word at this time.

Mr. DOLE. Yes.

Mr. DOLE. I ask unanimous consent that the Lautenberg amendment be set aside.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, may we have order.

Mr. DOLE. If I can have my colleagues' attention so I can make an announcement? I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, in federalist No. 57, James Madison made the following observation. He said: [The House of Representatives is] restrain[ed] from oppressive measures [because] they can make no law which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends, as well as on the great mass of the society. This has always been deemed one of the strongest bonds by which human policy can connect the rulers and the people together. It creates between them that communion of interests and sympathy of sentiments of which few Governments have furnished examples * * * if this spirit shall ever be so far debased as to tolerate a law not obligatory on the legislature as well as on the people, the people will be prepared to tolerate anything but liberty. Unfortunately, Mr. President, the Congress has not always adhered to James Madison's timeless vision of representative Government. For far too long, Congress has severed its connection with the people, imposing new rules and regulations on the private sector, while seeking to exempt itself from those same rules. Not surprisingly, many of our citizens have begun to view the Senate and the House of Representatives as the Imperial Congress, as an institution that considers itself above the law and without accountability.This past election day, the American people finally decided it was time to shake up the Washington status quo. Not only do the American people want less Government, less regulation, and lower taxes, they also want Congress to clean up its own act by living under the very laws we seek to impose on everyone else. Last week, by a unanimous vote of 429 to 0, the House passed its own version of congressional-coverage legislation, taking the first big step toward restoring the credibility of Congress with the American people. And, if all goes according to plan, we could have a congressional-coverage bill on the President's desk as early as next week--the first bill passed by the 104th Congress, and the first bill of the new As a result of S. 2, Congress will have to abide by the minimum wage and civil rights laws. Congressional offices will be subject to OSHA- style inspections. Congressional employees will have the right to unionize. And they will be entitled to family and medical leave, just like workers in the private sector. To ensure that Congress abides by these laws, S. 2 establishes an independent Office of Compliance with a five-member Board of Directors. The Directors on the Board will be jointly appointed by the Senate majority leader, the Senate minority leader, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the House minority leader. The Office will also have a general counsel, an executive director, and two deputy executive directors, one for the Senate and one for the House. Each of the deputy executive directors will be responsible for promulgating the implementing regulations for his or her respective House. In addition, S. 2 contains an important provision that hasn't received much attention during this debate. This provision requires that any future legislation affecting private employment must be accompanied by a report describing the manner in which the legislation will apply to Congress. If any provision of the proposed law does not apply to Congress, the report must include a statement explaining why this is so. This reporting requirement will help ensure that Congress resists the temptation of exempting itself from future regulations and rules. Hopefully, Mr. President, S. 2 will herald a new era of regulatory caution, where Congress thinks twice before imposing a new Government- crafted requirement on the private sector. It's one thing for Congress to create a new regulatory burden; it's something quite different when Congress has to bear the burden too. In fact, S. 2 may have its biggest impact on the private sector, as Congress becomes increasingly reluctant to impose more rules, more regulations, more redtape. Finally, Mr. President, I want to congratulate my distinguished colleague, Senator Chuck Grassley, for spearheading the congressional- coverage effort here in the Senate. Without his hard work and commitment, S. 2 would not be the priority that it is today. I also want to take a moment to recognize my colleagues, Senators Nickles, Lieberman, and Thompson, for their important contributions as well. Order Of Procedure

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, we are now going to final passage. That will be the last vote today. Then tomorrow, we will start on unfunded mandates, debate only, at 10 o'clock. We worked out a problem with the distinguished Senator from South Dakota, the Democratic leader, I guess based on--because the report was not filed. We are trying to get an agreement, I might say to my colleagues, many of whom want to leave here early Friday or even tomorrow evening. If we can get an agreement to lock up all these amendments, I am certainly willing to accommodate my colleagues in these early days, as we did today, in fact. So help us put that together, because our staff on each side is working on it. Do not list every amendment you have ever thought of, because we would like to finish it by a date certain next week, Tuesday or Wednesday. So there will be no further votes tonight after this vote. Have the yeas and nays been ordered?

Mr. DOLE. As I understand it, under the agreement, there will now be a colloquy between myself and the distinguished Senator from Nevada, Senator Bryan.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I also want to commend my colleague, Senator Grassley, for his outstanding work and expeditious work on this bill, and also my colleague, Senator Glenn, for his efforts, and Senator Lieberman. I know it has taken a long time, there have been a lot of amendments, and I thank my colleagues.

Mr. DOLE

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

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Madam President, and my colleagues, we are very honored today to have visitors from Japan, the Prime Minister, Mr. Murayama; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Kono; Parliamentary Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Sonoda; Assistant Director of the First North American Division, Mr. Suzuki. They have been here visiting with President Clinton earlier today, and Senator Daschle and I have had a very good visit. As you know, we have had a strong, good relationship with Japan since World War II. The commemoration of the conclusion of that war will be next year. I was saying to the Prime Minister that obviously you look to the past and you remember the past, and you remember the agonies; but we also look to the future. We have our problems and they have their problems. We have our problems with them, and they have their problems with us. I say to my colleagues that I hope you will take this opportunity to say hello to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and other members of the delegation. To facilitate that, I ask unanimous consent that we stand in recess until 5 p.m.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask that I might have at least 2 or 3 minutes before I move to table because it is something I am very interested in. I have been on the nutrition committees. I have gotten awards from FRAC, and I do not think this amendment belongs here. I want to make a brief record. So, maybe we could agree to vote at 6:10. That gives the Senator from Minnesota 20 minutes and the Senator from Iowa 10 minutes.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, it may be that the Leahy amendment has a great deal of merit. Let me say again that the House passed this bill after 20 minutes of debate by a vote of 429 to zero. This is our fourth day on this same bill to cover Congress as we cover every other business in America. And I do not quarrel with that we have not raised any objection to any amendments or taken too much time. No cloture has been filed or anything of that kind. It may be that sometime later this year when we get around to congressional reform there would be an appropriate amendment. But I hope that my colleagues will join me in tabling the amendment at this point so we can finish this bill without amendments. This may be a good amendment. I am not going to pass judgment on it because I have great respect for the Senator from Vermont. But since I do not fully understand it and I am not certain how many others do, since we will have congressional reform legislation before us, I move to table the amendment and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. DOLE. Will the Senator yield for a procedural question? I do not want to interrupt the Senator's train of thought. We would like to see if we could set a time for a vote on a motion to table. I understand the Senator from Minnesota needs about 20 minutes. I do not know how much time the Senator from Iowa needs.