Robert Dole

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I now ask that the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order until 12 noon, Wednesday, November 15, 1995. Thereupon, the Senate, at 7:37 p.m., adjourned until Wednesday, November 15, 1995, at 12 noon. 

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Yes.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, as the Senator knows, we had a meeting last night at the White House. We all agreed when we left there, at least I thought we had, that it had been a good meeting, some progress was made, and we had not reached an agreement. And I, along with the Speaker, went out and dutifully reported that to the press. Then I later heard we were getting dumped on about Medicare. Then I watched ``Nightline,'' and we were getting dumped on about something else. Then the President this morning, right after negotiations ended, was saying it was all the Republicans' fault. It makes it rather difficult, to be very frank about it. I know people want to get up and speak and hammer away for another 2 hours. That will not happen. We will have a quorum call. I was trying to save from keeping the staff here. But if that is the desire of the other side, we will have a quorum call, a very slow quorum call, that may take hours. But my view is this: I have made the same speech that the Democratic leader made when we had Republican Presidents in the White House. I never prevailed, but I made the same speech, I made the same request. I asked unanimous consent that it be extended. Never got it; but I tried. So I am going to commend the Democratic leader for doing what he should do. And if he finds out a way to do it, then I missed something when I was trying to do the same thing. But the bottom line is that, if we cannot work it out--and this is a confrontation between a Republican Congress and a Democratic White House, and it has been reversed many times. We have stood on the floor while things were going back and forth. In fact, we have had Medicare proposals on CR's before. But I guess if the President wants to protect the rich, those who only pay 31.5 percent of their premiums even though they are millionaires, that is his prerogative. If he wants to sock somebody to pay it who is making $25,000, that is his prerogative. That is his prerogative. We are trying to make Medicare fair. I think once the American people understand he is talking about part B, part B, which is not means tested, and we just keep shoveling money out of general revenues, taking somebody's money out there making $25,000 or $30,000 and paying 68.5 percent of the premium for somebody who might be well off, it does not make any sense to me. We ought to means test part B premiums. I think everybody agrees. Just use the word ``Medicare,'' cut Medicare. Do not tell them that you are cutting, because they are going to find out you are not cutting anything. So I just suggest if the President wants to balance the budget, boy, he is right on track. He said balance the budget in 5 years when he was running. Since then, he has said balance it in 10, 9, 8, or none of the above. So take your pick. He is for 5 years when he is running; he is for 10 years when he is thinking about running for reelection; and he has been for 9 years, for 8 years, for 7 years, or for never. We are going to find out. The President said he wanted to balance the budget about 10 times in a press conference. We ought to give him that opportunity. We ought to send him a CR, and it ought to say in the CR we will balance the budget in 7 years--7 years--the year 2002, using updated CBO numbers which he asked us to use in 1993, as I recall, when he addressed the joint session of Congress, and then send that to the Congress. Then he can have the CR, and he can also tell the American people he is serious about a balanced budget amendment. But until that time, I do not know how we are going to resolve it, unless they can figure out something in the other room, because you have a question whether you use the CBO numbers, OMB numbers, whether it is going to be 7 years, 8 years, 9 years, 10 years. Most Americans do not understand why we are waiting 7 years. They think we ought to do it in a year, 2 years, or 3 years. We believe seven is the right number. In fact, we will have on the floor, hopefully on Friday, a balanced budget called the reconciliation package. We call it the Balanced Budget Act of 1995, which does balance the budget in 7 years. He will have a clean CR in it. He will have a clean debt ceiling in it. It will all go to the President of the United States, and he can get everything he talked about this past week: He can get a clean debt extension; he can get a clean CR; and he can get a balanced budget; and he only has to sign once. One time--not three times, but one time--and he gets the whole package. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, as we speak, they are meeting now in S-207. The President's Chief of Staff, as I understand; the Secretary of the Treasury; and the OMB Director, Alice Rivlin, are meeting with Republicans and Democrats, members of the Budget Committee, in an effort to see if there can be some resolution. I am not an advocate of Government shutdowns. I have been here when they have been shut down when we had Republican Presidents in the White House and a Democratic Congress and the Democrats were insisting on certain things, and the Government shut down. So this is not without precedent. But I have never thought it was the best way to do business, and I hope it can be resolved very quickly. I hope that while they are trying to negotiate, hopefully, some agreement, that we would not engage in debate on the Senate floor that might drive us apart. I do not have any quarrel with what the distinguished Democratic leader has said. I do not share every view he has expressed. And, again, I would say that when the President talks about Medicare, I hope that the people understand we are talking about part B; we are talking about that part of Medicare where the persons out there working every day making $15,000 $20,000, $30,000 a year are putting money into the general revenues to pay 68.5 percent of someone's part B premium, whether they are worth $50,000, $100,000, $1 million or $1 billion. If the President is trying to protect those people, then I fail to understand why in this case. All we want to do is just freeze that until we have a negotiated settlement, because sooner or later we are going to have to address Medicare in order to save it, protect it and strengthen it. That is what it was about, and that issue will not go away. But I think, as I watched the President today very carefully, he shifted his stance today. Yesterday it was Medicare, Medicare and Medicaid. Today it was balance the budget, balance the budget, balance the budget. I would again say, if the President wants to balance the budget, I am prepared to call up the motion to reconsider the constitutional amendment for a balanced budget. I just need one vote. One of those Senators, one of the six who voted ``no'' who voted ``yes'' previously, could change their vote at this moment and send a message across America that we want a balanced budget. And I call upon the President to get the six of his colleagues together and see if he cannot persuade one or two to vote for a constitutional amendment for a balanced budget. That, I think, would let the American people know that this is a bipartisan effort and that we do search for a balanced budget. Failing that, I think the only recourse we have on this side, and one we are certainly going to pursue, is to balance the budget by the year 2002, balance the budget by the year 2002. Eighty-three percent of the American people want to balance the budget. You cannot balance the budget by adding new programs. We are going to spend more, even with the balanced budget by the year 2002, spend more for Medicare, more for Medicaid, and more for all these programs. But I happen to believe that we are on the right track. We are doing the heavy lifting now. We are taking the hits on this side of the aisle. We know it is easy--we read the numbers-- it is easy to say, ``Let's keep hammering those Republicans.'' But sooner or later the President must recognize that he is the President, he has to provide leadership, he has to make tough choices. The tough choices are not to say, ``I'm not going to tolerate any tinkering with this program or that program or that program.'' That may be the political easy choice, but it is not going to solve our problem. Unless we balance the budget, we are not being fair to children, children who are 1 year old or 2 years old or 5 years old, who have to look at the future, where they are going to be when they are 20 years of age or 25 years of age. I really believe that it is in our mutual interest to try to work this out. We are talking about an 18-day CR. It is not the end of the world. I hope we can find some resolution. I am also sympathetic with reference to extension of the debt ceiling. I have seen that over the years used as a vehicle for riders. I remember managing a debt ceiling when I was chairman of the Finance Committee many years ago. We had foreign policy amendments offered and adopted by my colleagues on the other side. We had all kinds--I think we ended up with 19 amendments on the debt ceiling that we had to take to conference with the Ways and Means Committee. And most of it was, of course, completely outside the jurisdiction of the Ways and Means Committee. So, I do not want anybody to misunderstand this has never happened when we had Republicans in the White House and a Democratic Congress. It has happened. And it probably will happen in the future. Maybe it should not happen. Maybe we ought to do something to prevent it from happening, but we have not done that yet. I think on that basis, since they are, right within 20 yards of here, trying to reach some agreement, I hope that we will be permitted to stand in recess subject to the call of the Chair. And if we cannot reach some agreement--well, if we hear no agreement can be reached, then we will have to decide what to do for the rest of the evening. But if an agreement can be reached, I hope the House would take it up and send it over here tonight and pass it, and then do precisely what the Democratic leader wishes to do, and that would be to end the shutdown and get people back to work.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I now ask for its second reading, and I object.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I understand that S. 1410, introduced earlier by Senator Daschle, is at the desk.

Mr. DOLE. I ask for its first reading.

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

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I respectfully object.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from South Dakota.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I respectfully object.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President; I know I speak for all Members of the Senate in extending our condolences to the family of Alex Bing, who passed away on September 28, 1995. At the time of his death, Alex had worked for the Senate for 10 years as a valued employee of the Sergeant at Arms' environmental service operation. In 1992 and 1993 Alex was selected as the environmental services' Employee of the Year, in recognition of his outstanding performance and attendance record. Alex's primary responsibility was the care and maintenance of the Minton tile floors located throughout the Senate wing of the Capitol Building. Alex was a dedicated and loyal employee who took great pride in his work. As a result of his dedication, many visitors to the Capitol have been provided the opportunity to view this historic building at its very best. All those who knew Alex knew him as a kind, quiet, and caring person. He will be missed by all. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, we will have morning business until the hour of 12:30 today, and then we will recess from 12:30 to 2:15 for the weekly policy conferences. At 2:15, we will begin 2 hours of debate on the conference report to accompany S. 395, the Alaska Power Administration bill. There will be a rollcall vote on that conference report, and at that time we may be able to announce additional items to take up. If not, we will stand in recess subject to the call of the Chair, in hopes that we can work out some agreement on a continuing resolution. I might say, at this very moment, there is a meeting in Senator Domenici's office with a number of representatives of the President and the chairman of the House Budget Committee, Congressman Kasich, Congressman Sabo, Senator Exon, and Senator Domenici. We will see what happens or what the results of that meeting may be. Hopefully, we can come to some resolution so that we can pass a continuing resolution and end what has been described as a shutdown of Government. I think, on the other hand, we should keep in mind that, as pointed out today in the Washington Post, the issue here is not Medicare, Medicaid, welfare reform, the issue is a balanced budget-- balanced budget. That is what this confrontation and conflict is all about. Will we balance the budget by the year 2002? Will we keep our word to the American people? Will we get sidetracked with all these little sideshows going on about Medicare part B, not an issue. Keep in mind, the taxpayers are picking up the 68.5 percent of everybody's premium--the people working in the kitchens, working everywhere, are putting money in the general revenues to pay part B Medicare premiums for people who have $100,000 a year income, or $1 million, and the President is trying to defend that. It is very hard to defend. So it is not about Medicare. Medicare is a very sensitive word. We want to strengthen Medicare and preserve it. But this debate and this conflict between the White House and the Congress is about a balanced budget amendment, and about whether or not we will keep our word to the American people to balance the budget by the year 2002. All the rhetoric, and everything else that has been spoken about on the Senate floor, may resonate well with some people. But most Americans are worried about the future. They are worried about their children's children. They are worried about what future they will have, and they know that unless this Congress--all of us--are willing to make tough decisions and balance the budget, we can talk back and forth about all these words that frighten people and all the rhetoric, and we can call people terrorists or refer to Republican leaders as guilty of terrorism and extremism and all these things. That is not going to change a thing. Right now, we are doing the heavy lifting on this side of the aisle. It is easy when you do nothing but criticize. We are trying to balance the budget. We are going to get it done, and I am very optimistic. I believe the American people see this happening, and we hope to pass the balanced budget act of 1995 either late Thursday night or early Friday morning of this week--this week. We will send it to the President, and he will make a choice. Hopefully, he will sign it, because in that reconciliation package, called a Balanced Budget Act of 1995, will be a long-term extension of the debt ceiling. [[Page S 17010]] We will also take care of the continuing resolution problem. I am optimistic. I hope if we work on this in a bipartisan, nonpartisan way today, we can come together with some agreement. We left the White House last night and we agreed we would be very positive in our statements to the media. I must say some of us were and some of us were not. I was a little disappointed in comments from some of my Democratic colleagues after we said, very honestly, we had a very candid meeting, we had a very candid discussion and were trying to work something out. We have made some progress, and I think we have. We will see what happens after the meeting with Chief of Staff Panetta, Senator Domenici, and others, and hopefully we will be able to announce to our colleagues sometime tonight or sometime this afternoon or late evening that we have reached some agreement and we can pass a temporary continuing resolution. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DOLE

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

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Let me advise Members, this is the last of the four votes on the instructions. I would recommend you take a beeper with you because if we do work out something on the CR, the vote could come any time between now and tomorrow morning.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, while awaiting the arrival of the Democratic leader, in the meantime, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until the hour of 12 noon, Tuesday, November 14; that following the prayer, the Journal of proceedings be deemed approved to date, no resolutions come over under the rule, the call of the calendar be dispensed with and the morning hour be deemed to have expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and then there be a period for the transaction of morning business until the hour of 12:30 p.m. with Senators permitted to speak for up to 5 minutes each.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. If I may proceed for 5 minutes.

Mr. DOLE. Even though the President still has some objections to the continuing resolution now pending in the Senate, the point is a number of cases here that a freeze was not acceptable, and that they had other objections--which they have a right to have--so I am not certain what the offer to meet with the leadership really amounted to. We have been saying all weekend, people should understand we are talking about part B Medicare; part B Medicare, where all the money that is not paid by the beneficiary is paid out of general revenues, paid by taxes by people that work at McDonald's, people that work right here on the Senate floor. You are asked to pay 68\1/2\ percent of some millionaires' part B premium or someone making $100,000 a year. It does not make a great deal of sense to me. All we were talking about, we were just keeping the 31.5 percent in place long enough until we negotiate some agreement, hopefully, with the President of the United States on an overall balanced budget over the next 7 years. So, we made our case. The President has made his case. I think they have overstated the case. And today they admit that it is not just Medicare; even the freeze would not be satisfactory, because they have other objections, other objections in the continuing resolution. So, it seems to me we have no other choice. We passed the resolution. I thank my colleagues on the other side for clearing the resolution, and we hope that as we speak it is on the way to the House and will soon be on the way to the White House. If the President should deem it necessary to veto it, that then he would be willing to sit down with us. We are the leaders, and we would be happy to try to work it out before midnight to avoid a shutdown. [[Page S 16979]] As I have said earlier, the Senate will be in session and the House will be in session until midnight. We are prepared to act up until midnight or after, if necessary, to prevent a shutdown of the Federal Government.

Mr. DOLE. First, let me state that the Senate will remain in session until midnight tonight in the hopes we can get this to the President very quickly and that if he should veto the continuing resolution, which I hope he will not, there still might be time for the President and the leadership to work out some agreement that would prevent a shutdown of the Federal Government. I am not an advocate of shutting down the Federal Government. I think there ought to be some way to come together. I think the American people expect us to do that. This will be on its way to the House within a minute or two and will go directly from the House and we will see it is expedited and over to the President and hopefully the President will have it a little after 5 o'clock. That would still give us 7 hours to resolve the difference. There has been some discussion today of maybe changing one of the provisions on Medicare, just writing in the figure $46.10 which would amount to a freeze. That was raised by the distinguished Senator from New Mexico in a talk show over the weekend and also by the Senator from Oklahoma, Senator Nickles, and discussed by the Senate leadership at 12:30 today, and then discussed with the Speaker maybe an hour or so ago, along with a number of other things we are also looking into-- items of disagreement on the total reconciliation package, and we are about to wrap that up. Before we concluded our discussion, we understand Mr. McCurry resolved the matter for us at the White House, indicating in addition to the Medicare provision they had other substantive problems with the continuing resolution. So it underscores that all this weekend was a smokescreen on Medicare, and the truth of the matter is there were other objections-- not just Medicare. So they are playing the Medicare scare card all weekend, so we were working on maybe a softer version just to freeze at $46.10 and that, again, Mr. McCurry indicates was not satisfactory. In fact the quote reads, ``Explain what's wrong with the freeze, just explain what's wrong with the freeze.'' Mr. McCurry. Well, because the President prefers current law. Current law is very clear on what premium increases should be. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have the entire transcript of the White House Press Secretary's remarks printed in the Record. [[Page S 16978]]

Mr. DOLE

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

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, let me indicate that at 10 o'clock the Democratic leader, Republican leader in the Senate, and our counterparts in the House, the Speaker and I assume the majority leader and the minority leader, will go to the White House to meet with the President to see if there is something we can do yet this evening to work out a continuing resolution. If we are going to do that, we ought to be doing it in good faith and not be engaged in a brawl up here on the Senate floor. I therefore would hope that we could recess until the hour of 11 p.m., if that is satisfactory with the distinguished Democratic leader.

Mr. DOLE. So I ask unanimous consent we stand in recess until 11 p.m.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. I think the Democratic leader, Senator Daschle, accurately reflected the meeting. It was a frank discussion. I, too, regret we could not come to some agreement tonight so we could rush through a 1- day or a 2-day CR, but I think it would not have been possible. The first meeting tomorrow will be with the chairmen and ranking members of the Budget Committees in the House and the Senate, with the Chief of Staff, Leon Panetta, and I think also Alice Rivlin, the Budget Director--I am not certain--Senator Exon and Senator Domenici on this side. And that will be followed, hopefully, by a meeting with the principals who were there this evening--myself and Senator Daschle on this side. Obviously, we have had these problems before with CR's and debt ceilings, and we have had the Government shut down for short periods in the past. I hope this will be a very short period. I am not an advocate of shutting down the Government. I just hope that by tomorrow afternoon or tomorrow evening, we will be able to say that we have reached some agreement and that we can pass a continuing resolution and maybe a debt ceiling. I am not certain we can do both tomorrow. I think it is fair to say we talked not only about the continuing resolution, we talked about the debt ceiling, we talked about reconciliation, some discussion of how we proceed, whether you go through a veto process first with reconciliation, whether you start negotiations now on the budget package. I think the President's concern primarily, and our concern, is keeping the Government going while we are negotiating some of these very important issues. Balanced budget is very important--very important--on this side of the aisle. I am sure it is important on the other side of the aisle. It is particularly important to many Members on the House side where it is very difficult--some of us have served in the House--to pass a debt ceiling and pass a continuing resolution, and there are some things added to it. I do not care if we have a Republican or Democrat in the White House and Republicans control the Congress or Democrats, continuing resolutions and debt ceilings have always been vehicles for extraneous amendments. That is how the famous Boland amendment was adopted on a continuing resolution or debt extension. We have had all 13 appropriations bills put on continuing resolutions. So it is not unprecedented. But notwithstanding, I still hope we can come together very quickly tomorrow, if possible, and be able to tell everybody in Government this will be a 1-day affair. It may not happen. But at least I think we made some progress this evening, and I thank Senator Daschle and the others who attended the meeting.