Robert Dole

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, today when the Senate convened, the President pro tempore, Senator Thurmond, appointed the Senator from Idaho, Senator Kempthorne, to be Acting President pro tempore for the day. It is my understanding Senator Thurmond is necessarily absent attending business in South Carolina and attending the funeral of the president pro tempore of the South Carolina State Senate, the Honorable Marshall Williams. While Senator Kempthorne was Acting President pro tempore for today, one of his responsibilities was to sign duly enrolled bills. Signing enrolled bills is part of the process necessary prior to the documents being sent to the White House for the President's approval or disapproval. Senator Kempthorne had the distinct pleasure to sign the following enrolled bills, therefore facilitating their being sent to the White House: H.R. 4, welfare reform; H.R. 394, State pensions; H.R. 1878, enrollment of HMO's; and H.R. 2627, Smithsonian coin. I want to commend Senator Kempthorne and congratulate him on his work today. I hope the President signs all the bills. That may or may not be the case.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 2203, just received from the House.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be deemed read a third time, passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be placed at the appropriate place in the Record.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 1295, just received from the House.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, based on what I said earlier, I now ask unanimous consent that the Finance Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1643 regarding MFN status for Bulgaria, and that the Senate now proceed to its immediate consideration; that all after the enacting clause be stricken and the text of H.R. 2099, HUD-VA, H.R. 1977, Interior, and H.R. 2076, State, Justice, Commerce, as vetoed by the President, be inserted, the bill be advanced to third reading and passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, all without any further action or debate.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I reserve the right to object. I will just state to my friend from Vermont that we both share the same feeling about returning employees to work. But if we can, as I indicated earlier, get these bills down to the President, agree with the President any problems he has with these bills will be resolved in the budget agreement, then these employees will be back to work until the end of the fiscal year. So it would be permanent, it would not be a 30- day continuing resolution. That would leave, as I said, the District of Columbia, which is now under a continuing resolution, and Labor-HHS, if I can convince my colleagues to let us bring that up, and then foreign ops where there is only one difference holding up that very important piece of legislation. I would be constrained to object on that basis.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I had not thought of that, but I think that probably would be something to think about. These are separate bills, not the ones vetoed by the President. It would be new bills. They would be identical to the ones he vetoed. But the one additional ingredient here is that we are on these budget negotiations, and we are serious about it--the President is, I am, the Speaker is, Senator Daschle and Congressman Gephardt are. I know on the Interior bill, for example, there are only about three reasons the President said he vetoed that bill. Those are all the parts and all the things we are hearing about on the nightly news. We ought to be able to resolve that. Maybe we can come back later and try, instead of these three at once, maybe sending down one we might be able to work out. We would do this only with the agreement of the President. So we are not trying to do anything here that the President would not sign off on, and I intend to raise that at our 3:15 meeting and tell him in good faith that if he would let us send down these one or two bills, we are prepared to resolve differences as part of the budget agreement. I thank my colleague from Vermont. Maybe we can revisit this in a different form later today.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. I thank the Senator from Idaho. Mr. President, the time for the two leaders has been reserved, and there will be a period for morning business until 12:30 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 5 minutes each. I do not anticipate any rollcall votes today. I am going to make a request, but I know it is going to be objected to. I hope we can revisit it later this afternoon because most of us would like to see everybody back to work. A week ago today, we passed in the Senate by unanimous consent a proposal to deem all Government employees essential so they can go back to work and not be in violation of anything, and also provided for pay for those Federal employees. So it is my hope that we do not have to wait until next week to resolve this. It is my understanding that we may be in session throughout the afternoon subject to the call of the Chair in the event the House should take some action on the measure we passed last week. Yesterday, in an effort to at least get some people back to work, the Speaker and I wrote a letter to the President of the United States. It was not intended to be critical. There is nothing critical in it, because we are in the midst of budget negotiations, and we agreed not to discuss the budget negotiations. But it was our thought perhaps if we passed Interior, and State, Justice, Commerce, and HUD-VA, that would put a lot of people back to work. There are some things the President does not like in those bills. We can resolve those differences in the budget agreement. He can sign the bill and we would not need a CR to cover most of the employees not working now. Then we have the Labor-HHS bill we have been unable to bring up because of objection on the other side of the aisle. We have had two cloture votes and lost on party-line votes. That leaves the D.C. appropriations bill. There is a continuing resolution for the District government until January 3. And then that leaves the foreign ops bill, which we still hope to resolve. I know the Senator from Vermont has been directly involved in that, along with the Senator from Kentucky, Senator McConnell, and others. It is still our hope maybe we can resolve that today if possible. I guess the point I want to make is, there is a 3:15 p.m. meeting at the White House with budget negotiators. I will certainly update the Senate as to the progress following that meeting. What we have agreed to do after each meeting is issue a joint statement so it will not upset anybody and somehow get it off track. It is my view that the American people want us to reach an agreement on a balanced budget regardless of party, and I am talking about people outside the Capitol, people out in the real world, like some would say. I have had an opportunity to meet with some of those people in North Carolina and Iowa in the past week. I think they want us to do this for the right reason, not that it is a game, or not that it is Republicans versus Democrats, but that it would, if we could get a balanced budget agreement, if the President was on board and it did pass the Congress, then we believe, based on experts, that interest rates would drop 2 percent, for example. That is 2 percent on a college loan, 2 percent on a car loan, 2 percent on a farm loan or home loan, and that would be in the interest of all Americans, certainly regardless of party or regardless of philosophy. So that is why I think there is a good-faith effort on the part of the President and on the part of the leadership, Republican and Democratic leadership in the House and Senate, and we will proceed this afternoon at 3:15. We are prepared to stay through the weekend, if necessary. Sooner or later we have to reach out and make some of the tough decisions on Medicare and taxes, but, in my view, if we are serious about this, we can do it, or if we cannot reach an agreement, we ought to disagree and Congress can do what Congress feels must be done and the President can do what the President thinks must be done. Having said that, I will also advise my colleagues hopefully in the next couple of hours what I anticipate the program to be for next week. We do start a new session of Congress on Wednesday of next week. I guess we have been in like this before a couple of times. I am advised we would come in at 11:55 next Wednesday, adjourn sine die, and then at noon, 5 minutes later, start the new session. But I will give all the other details. I am not certain how many of my colleagues will be present at that time.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Well, I am not certain there will be a CR, but something has to be done. That is my view. I cannot speak for all of my colleagues in the House and Senate. But I think there is some recognition--there are a couple of concerns that people have. First of all, as I have said before, the employees are sort of the pawns in this game. This is a struggle for whatever we hope will happen over the next 7 years. It is very important. But to somebody out there who is not working and only lives from paycheck to paycheck, it is not a very happy choice, and they should be paid, even though some are saying, ``Well, you are paying people for not working.'' My view is that if it was voluntary on their part, you should not, but it is involuntary. They cannot go to work. Some tried, in Baltimore, to show up for work and they were told to go home. That is a long answer, I guess, to saying there has to be some way around this. That is why I thought, yesterday, that maybe the appropriations bills--if the President would consent to that--then we can probably figure out a way to get Labor-HHS out of here. We have one little provision--and the Senator from Vermont knows more about it than I do--on the foreign ops bill. I will work with the Senator from North Dakota.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I will make one more unanimous-consent request. I ask unanimous consent that following the remarks of Senators Leahy, Dorgan, and Nickles--unless there are others wishing to speak--the Senate would stand in recess subject to the call of the chair.

Mr. DOLE

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

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Only to wish everybody a happy holiday season.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, let me thank my colleagues, particularly Senator Daschle, the Democratic leader. We did discuss it today at the White House. It is not a perfect solution as people will find when they get into it, because if the employee returns to work and there is an expenditure involved they may not be able to carry out their normal duties. But at least I think from the standpoint of self-esteem, whatever, the Federal employees can come back to work and if they are paid, that would be satisfactory to them and to others who object to Federal employees being furloughed and then being paid. When they come back, they will not have a problem because they will at least be reporting for work and they will be at work and they will be paid. It seems to me that in fairness to the Federal employees, this is not--as I said earlier, they are sort of in the middle. They are sort of the pawns in this exercise. I hope the House will take this and consider it carefully. Maybe they can improve upon it. They will be back on Tuesday. And I thank my colleagues on both sides for clearing this legislation. Mr. FORD addressed the Chair.

Mr. DOLE. I send a bill to the desk with respect to Federal employees on behalf of myself, Senator Warner, and Senator Stevens, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, we will immediately begin 30 minutes of debate on the veto message on H.R. 1058, the securities litigation bill. Following that debate, we will begin 30 minutes on the welfare reform conference report. At approximately 11:15 we will begin two consecutive rollcall votes, first on the veto message, to be followed by a vote on the welfare reform conference report. Following those votes, the Senate will turn to consideration of the START II Treaty. Additional votes are therefore possible today on that treaty or any other matter that may become available, including a CR, if one is received from the House--I do not think that will happen--a Veterans' continuing resolution, which is at the desk, and any other available conference reports. I will just indicate that the leaders will start their meeting with the President at 12 o'clock today in an effort to make progress on the balanced budget over the next 7 years. That meeting will last approximately 3 hours. I do not have any idea what may develop during that session, but at least it is another indication that some progress is being made. We are negotiating. I hope that we can come to some agreement soon. I yield the floor. Mr. DASCHLE addressed the Chair.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate turn to House Joint Resolution 136, a continuing resolution just received from the House; that the joint resolution be read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I was very surprised and disappointed yesterday when I heard that President Clinton had vetoed the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Two weeks ago the Senate passed this bill by a bipartisan vote of 65 to 30 and until 30 minutes before the deadline Tuesday night, President Clinton indicated that he would support this bill. As I pointed out when the Senate was debating the conference report to this bill, President Clinton had a clear choice. If he supported this bill, he supported creating jobs for Americans by reducing frivolous, costly lawsuits on businesses. If he opposed it, he only supported enriching the pockets of wealthy trial lawyers at the expense of consumers and investors. It's too bad he chose the latter. President Clinton talks a lot about being concerned about middle- class Americans. It is my understanding that he invited some wealthy trial lawyers over for dinner the other night to thank them for a million dollar contribution. It's unfortunate that he decided to come down on their side, instead of the side of ordinary working Americans and small investors. These wealthy trial lawyers devote their professional lives to gaming the system by filing ``strike'' suits alleging violations of the Federal securities laws--all in the hope that the defendant will settle quickly in order to avoid the expense of drawn-out litigation. Of course, these strike suits are often baseless. If a stock price falls, these lawyers will file a class-action suit claiming that the company was too optimistic in their projections. If the stock price soars, these same lawyers will file suit saying that the company withheld information that caused shareholders to sell too early. In effect, the lawsuits act as a litigation tax that raises the cost of capital and chills disclosure of important corporate information to shareholders. The high-tech, high-growth companies of Silicon Valley, CA are particularly vulnerable to these fraudulent and abusive lawsuits because of the volatility of their stock prices. Over 50 percent of the top 100 businesses in Silicon Valley have been sued at least once. And the $500 million in so-called damages, the majority of which goes to the wealthy trial lawyers, is money that could have been used to create jobs and pay higher salaries to the working-class in the high-tech industry. Mr. President, the Senate has been working for years in a bipartisan manner to pass legislation on this issue. Yesterday, the House, in an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion, voted 319 to 100 to override President Clinton's veto. This is a good and fair bill, and I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to do likewise and support it.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I think the Democratic leader and I want to be in a position to announce that there probably will be no more votes today. I think on the START II Treaty, which is now pending under an agreement, I promised the Senator from New Mexico a couple of weeks ago that we would try to do this before we left. It is my understanding--in fact, the Presiding Officer is one of the principal players--the bill will be managed on this side by the distinguished Senator from Indiana, Senator Lugar, and he advises me that it may not be necessary to have a rollcall. There may be one amendment in the process of being resolved. Senator Thurmond has suggested that we go only as far as presentation of the resolution of ratification--that would be satisfactory with me if it is satisfactory with the Democratic leader--because he would like to have the President sign the Defense authorization bill and not finally dispose of the START II until the President has made a determination. But I think, based on what I have been able to find out in the last few minutes, if it is satisfactory with the Democratic leader, I think we could announce that there will no more votes today.

Mr. DOLE. We are working on that. The two leaders have discussed not only that provision, but the District of Columbia, foster care, and AFDC. It is our hope that before we leave here today, we can reach some accommodation. I have also discussed that with the distinguished Senator from New Hampshire, Senator Smith, who is very interested particularly in the veterans part having had a phone call this morning from a veteran friend of his. So, hopefully, we can resolve that. The Senator from Massachusetts has an interest in that, too.

Mr. DOLE

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

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, just for the information of my colleagues, following the meeting today at the White House, we issued a joint statement. I will just read the joint statement. We have agreed that we will issue statements from now on so we do not have any problem about somebody saying something that might be misinterpreted. And the joint statement reads: Today we had good meetings which built on the progress made in yesterday's discussions. Staff will prepare further analysis to clarify options for the budget advisory group, which will then advise the principals on outstanding issues. Following the meeting of the budget advisory group, the principals will meet again next Friday afternoon. So there will be a meeting with the President and the Vice President, the chief of staff, Leon Panetta, and the leaders of the House and the Senate. On Thursday of next week and Wednesday of next week, staff and the advisory committees will meet. So without much elaboration, I will say, in my view, we had a good session, very positive. I felt people wanted to get something done. We discussed some very difficult issues. The hard decisions have not been made yet, but I guess without being too specific, it is fair to say, at least right now, the attitude of everyone is very positive, and I hope that we can do what the American people want us to do, and that is come to some agreement which will balance the budget over the next 7 years, using Congressional Budget Office numbers. If we can do that--it may be painstaking, it may interrupt holiday schedules for some, but it will be worth it in the long run. So I certainly want to thank all of my colleagues and members of our staff who have been working this past week and will be working next week in an effort to bring about a balanced budget over the next 7 years.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I want to take a moment to pay tribute to a friend and a former NBC correspondent, Tom Pettit, who passed away today in New York. For more than a generation, Tom gave millions of viewers a front-row seat to a world of news and politics. As NBC news vice president Bill Wheatley noted: His work was always distinctive: There was never any doubt that it was a Tom Pettit report. Truly, he was among the very best in the profession that he so loved. Having interviewed every President since Harry Truman, Tom certainly earned his stripes in broadcast journalism. He preserved many moments of history, including the tragic assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas. I know I speak for all of my colleagues in sending our thoughts and prayers to his wife, Patricia, and his children: Debra, Anne, James, and Robert.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, while we are waiting, I will just say we have been trying to find some way that would permit Federal employees around the country to come back to work without enacting another continuing resolution. It is costing $40 million a day because we are going to pay the Federal employees. It is no fault of their own they are not working. It seems to me--at least I am getting a lot of calls from taxpayers around the country saying, ``Why are you paying people for not working?'' My view is they ought to be able to go back to work, but under the law, they cannot even volunteer to go back to work, because if they volunteer, their supervisor might be in violation of some criminal statute. There is a purpose for all this, because if you do not have any money in the agency, it is pretty hard to say we are going to pay salaries. But in this case, in fact we agreed to say, it is safe to say, this afternoon--it should have been in that joint communique--the principals agreed those who are furloughed will be paid because it is no fault of their own. As the Washington Post said in an editorial, they are the victims, they are the pawns in this struggle for a balanced budget, and if you are in the Agriculture Department, we passed that appropriations bill, as the Presiding Officer knows because he is chairman of that Appropriations subcommittee, and they are working and they are getting paid. But if you work for the Interior Department, you are not getting paid because we have not passed a CR--we passed the Interior bill. Unfortunately, the President could have put people back to work, but he vetoed it. So we have been trying to find some way out of the impasse because there are Federal workers--in fact, I heard this morning on the radio representatives of the Federal employees union saying that it is giving the Federal employees a bad image; that many believe they are out there shopping in the shopping malls knowing they are all going to get paid, and they are just getting more time off. So I discussed in general the concept with Senator Daschle while we were at the White House and have been working with Senator Warner throughout the day. We believe we have found a way that would permit Federal employees to come back to work and they would be paid on the assurance given by not only the principals in today's meeting, but a letter signed by myself and the Speaker of the House last Thursday directed to Senator Warner and to Congresswoman Morella, Congressman Tom Davis and Congressman Frank Wolf. Let me read it: Section 1342 of title 31, U.S. Code, is amended, (1) by inserting after the first sentence ``for the period December 15, 1995, through February 1, 1996, all officers and employees of the United States Government or the District of Columbia Government shall be deemed to be performing services relating to emergencies involved in the safety of human life or the protection of property and, (2) by striking out the last sentence. Hopefully by then we will have completed our balanced budget and everybody will be back to work in a normal fashion. I am going to try to clear this on the Democratic side and send it to the House. I have had a brief discussion with the Speaker, and I am not certain if he has had a chance to analyze this. But this does two things, we are told. First of all, it permits Federal employees to go back to work without getting somebody in trouble, and, second, it assures they are going to be paid. So I hope we can clear this before the evening ends. I am not certain the House could take it up today, but they will be back on Wednesday. I know there is a lot of stress and unrest among Federal employees who are not working, but they will be paid, which means there is a lot of stress and unrest with the general taxpayers who wonder why they are not working if they are going to be paid. So this would permit Federal employees to do what I guess nearly everyone wants to do in the first place. I wish to thank my colleague from Virginia, Senator Warner, who has just come to the floor, for his assistance. We are trying to clear this at this point with the Democratic leader. If we cannot do that, at least I will have the bill printed in the Record and perhaps we can bring it up again next Wednesday when we are back in session. Mr. WARNER addressed the Chair.

Mr. DOLE. I will be happy to yield.