Robert Dole

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. I will use my leader's time. We are now ready to proceed to the third tier. So we have some order and know what we are voting on, I will request that the two managers each have 30 seconds to explain their amendment, or maybe they do not need explanation. The votes on the pending amendments will be 7\1/2\ minutes in length.

Mr. DOLE. Probably the time we get to see the list of tier 3 amendments on that side.

Mr. DOLE. Under my leader's time, we will postpone action on that, and we have talked to the Democratic leader and the manager of the bill, and that gives everybody a chance to look at it, study it, and bring it up sometime later.

Mr. DOLE. As quickly as we can.

Mr. DOLE. That the two managers have 30 seconds to explain the amendments and then have 7\1/2\-minute votes.

Mr. DOLE. If I could inform my colleagues where we are and where we are headed.

Mr. DOLE. That is another amendment.

Mr. DOLE. I thank the Chair.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, we are prepared to accept the amendment without a rollcall, if we want to speed up the process.

Mr. DOLE. I ask unanimous consent to vitiate the yeas and nays.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the first vote be 15 minutes and thereafter votes be limited to 7\1/2\ minutes.

Mr. DOLE. I move to lay that motion on the table. [[Page S 15989]] The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. DOLE. It is not possible for the clerk to do it any more quickly than 7\1/2\, plus there is always one or two that never get the message and are rolling around out here somewhere.

Mr. DOLE

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

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, we are still examining the different items of the package, the so-called Byrd-Exon package on the Byrd rule. I wonder if we might proceed on the Finance Committee amendment. Senator Roth I think is prepared to proceed on that amendment. We would be prepared to enter into some lengthier time agreement than the 10 minutes we were allotted under yesterday's unanimous-consent agreement. We would like to keep it as tight as possible, but we understand the Senator from Florida in particular wanted some additional time. Mr. DASCHLE addressed the Chair.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, we have now had 34 amendments considered today. And I have an amendment. I am going to ask I be permitted to yield to the Senator from West Virginia, and that he may proceed for 10 minutes.

Mr. DOLE. The estate tax provision of the bill has strong bipartisan support. I think 20 to 30 Senators--we had this discussion in committee. We believe we are on the right track, trying to save farms, ranches, small businesses held by one family, two families or three families.

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

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I wonder if we can take a short reading on what may be happening tonight or tomorrow. I have had a discussion with the distinguished Democratic leader, Senator Daschle, and I think he is prepared to give us a fairly optimistic report on amendments left on that side. I will be happy to yield to the Democratic leader.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I think on this side we have just the Finance Committee amendment. As I have indicated, there would be some additional debate on that--probably not more than 10 minutes will be allotted--because it is a 46-page amendment. I know the Senator from Florida was suggesting additional debate time. I say to my colleagues, if we can move as quickly as we can here and finish this bill at a reasonable time tonight, we will not be in tomorrow and we will be not be in on Monday. I think it would depend on how quickly we can complete action on the bill. In addition, we are now looking at the Byrd-Exon package on different matters that have been subjected to the Byrd rule. We have not had that list very long, but we have people working on it now to match it against our list to see why some are left out and some are put in. It is a rather selective list. I suggest that may require some additional votes. I am not certain.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I had a discussion with the Democratic leader, Senator Daschle. We have had discussions here with Members on both sides. It is my understanding we can now, maybe shortly, propound a list of amendments and only those amendments would be in order. Hopefully, they will not all be offered, but that is where we are right now. I think, in the meantime, I am prepared to consent to the request of the Senator from Maryland, Senator Mikulski, who made a unanimous- consent request that we might have a vote on a motion to instruct before passage rather than after passage. I have no objection to that request. We are trying to work out the motion itself.

Mr. DOLE. The Senator has always been patient. But I would ask that the Senator be permitted to offer it before the vote rather than after the vote. I make that unanimous-consent request.

Mr. DOLE. We will try to work it out so maybe it will go very quickly.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, how long was that last vote?

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 3017 (Purpose: To require the President to include a generational acounting in the President's budget)