Robert Dole

Mr. DOLE

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. I ask unanimous consent there be an hour equally divided.

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, 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, 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. I just want to say I think we had a fair discussion of this amendment, and we indicated to the Senator from Florida this morning we would have that discussion. He did have access, as he indicated, to the information at about 6:27. So, I believe we had adequate time to take a look at it. We made a lot of changes. Changes are always made in a big, big package like this by either party, both parties, whatever. I believe the Senator from Maine and the Senator from Delaware and others pointed out these have been very constructive changes. We always have these formula fights. And there is always someone running around with a sheet of paper saying how much one State got over the other State. I can name a State with two Republican Senators where they are getting $500 million less than they had in the middle of the week. They were not very happy about it, but that is the way the formula worked. Florida gets $1 billion more, California $700 million more than we had in the committee. Minnesota gets $508 million more than we had on the House side. So we believe we are making progress. We are going to go to conference. We discussed this with the Senator from Minnesota, I might add. He is aware of it. He was concerned we were going to adopt a House formula which was $508 million less. So, I say to my colleagues, it is time, I think, we wrap it up around here. And I hope that we will have every--all the votes. Everybody ought to vote for this amendment. This is a very constructive amendment, whether it is nursing homes, whatever it is. I know there is a lot of politics about nursing homes. I know the liberal media bought into the spin put on by the Democrats. But the Senator from Maine would not be standing up here making these statements if they were not accurate. If anybody wants to question the integrity or the credibility of the Senator from Maine, they ought to stand up and do it. They are not going to do it because he has total integrity and total credibility on this issue. I believe that we have made constructive changes. I hope we will have, if not any support from that side, solid support on this side of the aisle for this amendment.

Mr. DOLE. I yield.

Mr. DOLE. I ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with.

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

Mr. DOLE. The Chair is not going to rule.

Mr. DOLE

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

Mr. DOLE. The last item?

Mr. DOLE. As quickly as we can.

Mr. DOLE. Wait a minute. There has already been an objection. I want to be sure the Senator from Florida has a right to object to this request.

Mr. DOLE. Right. We would hope they would cooperate with the managers and let the managers give a very short explanation. I think the managers are prepared to do that. We are just trying to move the bill along. This will accommodate those who feel strongly about their amendments.

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

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. 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

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I, too, am concerned about the Treasury Department's interpretation of the FSC rules with respect to computer software and do not believe that the FSC statute precludes the application of the FSC provisions to computer software in the case described by the Senator from Utah. Given the Treasury's unwillingness to resolve this issue, I agree that we should address this issue in conference.

Mr. DOLE. Midnight.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, as the Congress moves toward final action non budget reconciliation legislation for this year, I want to call special attention to an initiative by Gov. Pedro Rossello of Puerto Rico which seeks to establish a wage credit-based economic program as an alternative to the current law section 936 tax credit. Neither the House nor Senate was able to give the Governor's proposal an extensive examination before either body adopted revisions to the section 936 credit. Together with my colleague from New York, Senator D'Amato, I was pleased to ensure that the Senate version more appropriately recognizes the positive impact that many U.S. companies have on the Puerto Rican economy and the jobs they provide. I commend Governor Rossello's efforts to enhance economic opportunity in Puerto Rico through the creation of new jobs, and I would hope that the Congress will continue to give serious consideration to the Rossello program as an alternative to programs such as under section 936. It is important to ensure that any program focused on Puerto Rico will create new jobs and encourage self-reliance and economic growth.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Then second-tier amendments. And then third-tier amendments, which we hope will find a way to the wastebasket.

Mr. DOLE. They will occur after the Kassebaum amendment or her designee. So it will be Kassebaum or her designee, then Bumpers, then Baucus.