Robert Dole

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. It was impressed on me, which is why I did not file cloture last night, that there would be two amendments offered today. More can be offered. If that is the case, I may get my cloture motion out. If we are going to shut the Government down by filibuster or offering amendments throughout the day, then do not blame this side of the aisle.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I will move to table the pending amendment at the conclusion of my remarks. Somebody sent me--in fact someone from Georgia sent me a fax. I have already written a note to thank him. He included in the comments a quote from Mark Twain. I thought--at least I have not heard it before--maybe some of my colleagues have. Let me quote it: In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, brave and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot. I must say, as I get into this debate again about a balanced budget, I think that quotation applies today. This is about change, it is about fundamental change. I am not an advocate of shutting down the Government. I have never been an advocate for shutting down the Government. But this is an unusual circumstance. We have a President in the White House who said he would balance the budget in 5 years, in 7 years, in 8 years, in 9 years, in 10 years. So we picked 7. Nothing in our balanced budget statement, if you read the language carefully, which is on the last page--in fact, I watched the debate last night on the House side, and I heard Congressman Hoyer--I have great respect for him--from Maryland say: There is nothing wrong with the first 14 pages of this amendment; it is the last page. Everything else was OK, all except title III, which is very brief, and let me read it, because we have talked about it, but I am not certain it has been read. All it says is: The President and the Congress shall enact legislation in the 104th Congress to achieve a unified balanced budget not later than the fiscal year 2002 as scored by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. (b) The unified balance budget in subsection (a) shall be based on the most current economic and technical assumptions of the Congressional Budget Office. I believe later today the Senator from New Mexico will quote colleagues on the other side who say we ought to use CBO to balance the budget, including the distinguished manager on the other side and the distinguished minority leader. That is all we have said. Mr. President, there is nothing in here about Medicare, nothing about Social Security, nothing about Medicaid. It is about balancing the budget in 7 years, which 83 percent of the American people support. There is nothing in this that should prevent the President from signing this bill. It says: The President and Congress shall enact legislation. * * * That means we are going to have a lot of discussion, a lot of negotiation or we cannot enact it, he can veto it. So I hope when final passage comes, we will have some bipartisan support. I watched last night on C-SPAN the House action. I watched as 48 Democrats voted with Republicans, a tremendous victory, a bipartisan victory. And I listened to one Democrat from Virginia, Congressman Moran, who said it is time we stop this foolishness, the American people want to balance the budget, the Federal employees want to go back to work. That is all we are asking. It is nothing unreasonable. There is no Medicare. Oh, they beat us up on Medicare, but I must say, I never thought I would be around to read an editorial like this in the Washington Post called ``The Real Default.'' In the Washington Post, believe me of all papers--well, the New York Times might startle me more--but the Washington Post, known by some of us as sort of The Daily Democrat Journal, talking about the real default, demagoguery, lack of leadership on the Democratic side, in effect setting back the cause of balancing the budget for years by trying to make Medicare a scare word with senior citizens. Somewhere we have lost sight of what we are here to do. Somewhere we have lost sight of what the American people expect of us, and somewhere we have lost sight of what is going to happen next week, next month, next year, and the next century. We have stepped up to make some tough decisions, and it is not easy. We are doing the heavy lifting, as my colleague from New Mexico said a few days ago. When you are not lifting anything, it is easy. I just suggest to my colleagues, I am one who would like to resolve this issue. I met with the President the other night. I thought he was one who wanted to resolve the issue. He told us in his first State of the Union Message that CBO numbers are the ones they are using in their budget. I remember Republicans laughed. He looked at us and said, ``All those Republicans laughing, remember, they have been more conservative most of the time,'' the CBO numbers, the Congressional Budget Office numbers. So I do not think we have done anything here that is so bad. We were told last night on the House floor in debate, ``If you just tear off the last page, the President will sign it in a minute.'' What is wrong with this last page? It does not say he has to sign a balanced budget today, or next week or next month. It says ``in the 104th Congress.'' And if you watched TV last night and you saw the President saying, ``I'm for a 5-year balanced budget,'' and then, ``I'm for a 7-year,'' ``I'm for a 10-year,'' ``I'm for a 9-year,'' ``I'm for an 8-year''--the American people are confused. So let us send this to the President. Let us not take all day in doing it. Let us get it down to the President of the United States. I believe after reflection, he will sign it. It is a commitment to a 7- year balanced budget. That is all it is. That is what it says in the title, ``commitment.'' It is not a law, it is a commitment. So I urge my colleagues to table this amendment and to table the other two amendments to be offered and, hopefully, have some bipartisan support on final passage. I move to table the amendment and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. DOLE. I move to table the motion. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. DOLE. Can we agree to vote on this amendment or on a motion to table this amendment, say, at 12:45?

Mr. DOLE. I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from North Carolina.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask that time not come out of the time of the Senator.

Mr. DOLE. I am not aware of any at this point.

Mr. DOLE. And equally divide the time. I will say, we will not offer a second-degree amendment. That will give each side additional time to debate. I understand there is one additional amendment.

Mr. DOLE. And that time is equally divided.

Mr. DOLE. I yield 10 minutes of that time to the Senator from Pennsylvania, Senator Specter, after the exchange between the minority leader and the Senator from North Dakota.

Mr. DOLE. I hope that is the case, because we would like to move to the Defense Appropriations conference report. Then, tomorrow, of course, we will have the Balanced Budget Act of 1995. I do not know what happens after the CR goes to the White House, if it is vetoed, where we are as far as the Government is concerned. But I will be happy to work with the Senator from Nebraska.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, let me say, I am a cosponsor of the bill, and I agree we ought to figure out some way to get it passed. I hope that we can resolve that tomorrow. I must say there is opposition, some on each side. I think the American people would feel better about it-- --

Mr. DOLE. I understand there may be some opposition on this side. We will try to see what happens tomorrow.

Mr. DOLE. Maybe there is none on that side. I will reserve that.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. We are now ready for final passage. I wonder if we might get an agreement on debate on final passage. Maybe 30 minutes equally divided, or we could vote and everybody could talk. By popular demand we will vote. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the joint resolution was passed.

Mr. DOLE. It is my understanding, also, that following disposition of this amendment, maybe after some debate, we will go to final passage.

Mr. DOLE. Prior to a vote or a motion to table in relation to the amendment.

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

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I will take a minute to thank the Senator from South Dakota. We had a miscommunication, and I will let it go at that. We have to work together. We do not surprise each other. I think we are on the right track. It is my understanding that the Senator from South Dakota would agree to 40 minutes equally divided, or more?

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Madam President, I submit a report of the committee of conference on H.R. 2126 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DOLE. Madam President, it is my understanding that this will not take any great length of time. I am also advised that about 400,000 civilians, who might be affected by the Government shutdown, are affected by this bill. Maybe we can pass this bill and get it down to the President. Unless I misunderstand it, it would be about half the total. It seems to me that it is something we should do as quickly as we can. I do not know the President's intentions with reference to this bill. At least it will be another major appropriations bill that we can send to the President. I also understand that we have the legislative appropriations bill and the Treasury, Post Office bill, which have been completed, which I think would be sent to the President if there was some indication that he would sign those bills. Again, that would help in some areas, and some of the people who are not essential could come back to work. In the meantime, I will be discussing the pending legislation with the Democratic leader.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I want to take just a moment to comment on the vote that we just had. It seems to me when the vote is 60 to 37, we pretty much replicated what happened in the House about midnight last night, where 48 Democrats joined Republicans in a bipartisan effort to open up the Government, take the lid off, put people back to work and balance the budget in the next 7 years. It seems to me that is the best of both worlds. I am very proud of that strong bipartisan majority of 60 Senators who stood up tonight for our Federal workers and for a balanced budget which will mean a brighter future for our children and our grandchildren. I think we keep losing sight of why we want to balance the budget and why should we be concerned. I must say, we [[Page S 17196]] have to keep reminding ourselves, the language we use does not resonate because we keep talking about balanced budget, CR's, debt ceiling extensions, and it does not mean a thing to many people, but their children mean a lot to people and their grandchildren mean a lot, and that is what this debate is all about. It is not about numbers, it is not about a continuing resolution, it is not about a debt ceiling extension, it is not about any of us in this Chamber; it is about trying to do something for a lot of our young people who are going to want to find jobs. I must say, as I read the Washington Post editorial again and again today--because I could not believe it; it was a good editorial--it talked about the real default, the default of leadership on the other side of the aisle. I must say, as the Senator from New Mexico said earlier, when you do a lot of heavy lifting, you get a lot of criticism. We have been doing a lot of heavy lifting. We believe the American people gave us somewhat of a mandate to make fundamental change last November, and we have kept our word and our promise. We have worked together, and we have had some bipartisan support, just as we have had tonight. So it is not just a Republican effort. We had a number of Senators join us earlier this year on a balanced budget amendment. We lost by one vote. We hope to bring it up again. Now, President Clinton says a lot of things at different times and in different ways. Yesterday, at a news conference or in a short statement, he mentioned the phrase ``balanced budget'' 16 times, by actual count. If the people who watched television last night saw the clips of what he has been saying in the last 2 years, he talked about a 5-year balanced budget when he was a candidate, then maybe 10 years, maybe 9, maybe 8, maybe 7. Now, I think the President could indicate that he is in good faith by signing this bill. There is nothing in this bill that is going to hamstring the President of the United States. Nothing commits him to do anything, except it says we shall enact a balanced budget amendment in the next 7 years, using CBO estimates--updated CBO estimates--the very estimates that President Clinton asked us to use. CBO is the Congressional Budget Office, for those who do not understand these initials all the time. But when he first spoke to a joint session of Congress, he boasted about using CBO--Congressional Budget Office-- figures in his budget and said they had been, as I recall, fairly accurate over the years. And they have been accurate over the years. So we are not asking too much of the President of the United States. I am not one who advocates shutting down the Government of the United States. I would like to find some resolution, and if we cannot do it with this continuing resolution, maybe we can figure out a way tomorrow to resolve the differences. What harm does it do the President of the United States to sign a bill that says we will have a balanced budget by the year 2002? He said today on television that he did not mind the 48 Democrats voting with Republicans last night because it was not binding. Well, if it is not binding on the 48 Democrats, why should it be binding on the President of the United States if he signs it? Again, I want to thank my colleagues tonight who said to our Federal workers that it is time to go back to work, and said to the President of the United States, it is time to balance the budget. Again, I say, as I said earlier today, I do not think it does a lot of good to have press conferences every day where we say one thing and the President says something else. Why do we not sit down together, without the press? We are all adults. I believe the American people are looking to all of us for leadership. So the Government has been shut down Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and it will be shut down tomorrow. Is that enough time? I think it depends on the leadership that we can produce in the next 24 hours. If not, we are going to go into the next week and then into the next week. I do not see much opportunity next week to have any resolution. So I say, first of all, Mr. President, sign this resolution. It is not a bad resolution. I am told that the only objectionable feature is the balanced budget language, which does not legally bind the President of the United States. It seems to me that we may be very close. If the President would sign that tomorrow, and we send it down tomorrow--and I assume we will--then everybody can come back to work on Monday, and we could go on about the Balanced Budget Act of 1995, which we hope to finish tomorrow night around 10, 11 o'clock, maybe a little later. And then on Saturday morning, we will take up a conference report or two, and then Members could be off with their families for Thanksgiving, as many would like to do.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I will just take a minute or two. The Senator from Delaware wishes to speak and then the Senator from Rhode Island, Senator Pell. Are there any other Members on that side who wish to speak? If not, I will put it on automatic pilot.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to include the Senator from Illinois, Senator Carol Moseley-Braun, who would like to speak for up to 5 minutes.