Robert Dole

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I was going to ask the same question, if we could get some agreement on time, or get a voice vote. Some of these things could be disposed of on a voice vote, I think. Like an 80-to-20 vote, we could probably determine that by audible vote, if somebody wanted that. But if we could get a time agreement, that would be a start.

Mr. DOLE. Right.

Mr. DOLE. Child care is one thing we are working on. Maintenance of effort has already been taken care of. Job training. We have an agreement, if we have an overall agreement, to take the job training provisions out of this bill and have a freestanding bill. That agreement has already been reached between Senator Kassebaum and Senator Kennedy. We will take that up sometime after the appropriations bills are done. Contingency grant fund. That is in response to a request by Senator Daschle and the Governors and Senator DeWine, and certain things that must happen about matching and when it is triggered. Work bonus. That has been done. Some question about vouchers. We have not reached an agreement on that, but we have agreed to expand the current hardship exemption from 15 to 20 percent. Abstinence education; $75 million per year earmarked for abstinence education. Program evaluation was, I guess, a concern of the Senator from New York and others. We authorized $20 million. I think that is adequate. If not, it can be, I assume, adjusted. Then we have been working on a savings provision with reference to food stamps. That has not been agreed to yet. So those are the general areas. There are others that I do not--I know Senator Cohen and Senator Bingaman have an interest in SSI. The thing is, we need to find offsets for these. That is what we are trying to do this afternoon.

Mr. DOLE. It is still possible, I might add--I will certainly consult the Democratic leader. One way to eliminate some of the amendments would be with a cloture vote. Of course, you still have 91 amendments, but I think those would all be--there would not be any amendments to expand this program. They would be amendments to limit the program, so they might be good amendments. But we hope if we get some cooperation in the next hour or so that would not be necessary.

Mr. DOLE. 2503, as modified.

Mr. DOLE. Yes.

Mr. DOLE. 2503, as modified. No problem. And 2505.

Mr. DOLE. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I want to say that perhaps we can help resolve it, too, if we can get this consent agreement. Let me read it for my colleagues, and everybody can decide. I ask unanimous consent that the following amendments be the only amendments remaining in order, other than those cleared by the two managers; that they be debated this evening, and the votes occur on or in relation to the amendments tomorrow beginning at 9:30 a.m., with 10 minutes between each rollcall vote to be equally divided in the usual form: Bingaman, No. 2483; Bingaman, No. 2484; Simon, No. 2468; Wellstone, No. 2503 and 2505; Kennedy, No. 2564; Kohl, No. 2550; Graham of Florida, No. 2509 and 2568; Gramm of Texas, No. 2615, as modified, and 2617; Levin-Dole modification No. 2486. I further ask that following the votes, beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, the two leaders be recognized to offer the compromise modification Dole amendment, with 40 minutes for debate to be equally divided in the usual form, and that following the conclusion or yielding back of time, the amendment be so modified. I also ask that following the modification, it be in order for one amendment to be offered by the majority leader and one amendment to be offered by ten minority leader; and that following the disposition of the two leaders' amendments, if offered, the Senate proceed to the adoption of the Dole amendment 2280, as amended; and that following the disposition of the Dole amendment, the bill be advanced to third reading, and final passage occur at a time and day to be determined by the majority leader after consultation with the Democratic leader. Let me explain what this would do. This would mean that those who do not have amendments would not have to stay here for debate. Debate would be completed this evening, and we will start to vote tomorrow. That would also give additional time--because we do have a rather major drafting effort going on--to others to take a look at that tomorrow morning to see if it is satisfactory to people on both sides. I think I inadvertently asked for a Bradley amendment, which might create a new entitlement program. I might need to strike that out. I did not read it carefully enough. I thank my colleague from New Jersey. So I might do that tomorrow because they are going to score this, and I do not want to lose any additional money. We have lost a little today. But that would be the UC agreement. I think we have protected everybody's rights.

Mr. DOLE. Two by the majority and two by the minority. I make those modifications. I take out the following words: ``With 40 minutes for debate to be equally divided in the usual form.'' So the modification reads: To offer the compromise modification to the Dole amendment, and that following the conclusion or yielding back of time, the amendment be so modified.

Mr. DOLE. We hope to go to third reading this evening. We hope it is this evening. It may be tomorrow morning.

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

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

Mr. DOLE. We are prepared to accept the amendment of the Senator from Arkansas.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I have been in discussion with the distinguished Democratic leader and other colleagues on both sides. I think we have the framework of an agreement. We do not have it drafted. Nobody has signed off on it finally. But I think in the interest of time it has occurred to me and the Democratic leader, Senator Daschle, that maybe those who have outstanding amendments could come to the floor now and offer those amendments, hopefully in a very short period of time because we hope to go and will go to third reading hopefully by midnight tonight. But we are going to go to third reading on welfare reform between now and sometime, and we would rather do it by midnight if we could. I know there are a number of amendments we have looked at people can accept. We will try to be as accommodating as we can with our colleagues. But I think that is the view of the distinguished Democratic leader; is that correct?

Mr. DOLE. The fencing will be but I am not sure about anything else. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. DOLE. I will say that the Democratic leader, Senator Daschle, gave me a list of six or seven items yesterday, and we have been able to accommodate part of each of those, with the exception of one where there was a time limit. Even there, we increased the percentage on exemption, hardship exemption, from 15 to 20 percent, which would cover that concern. If the Democratic leader wishes to speak, I am happy to go over this with the Senator from Connecticut. We believe it is a responsible, reasonable effort. I might point out that we only save $5 billion in AFDC over 5 years and only $9 billion over 7 years. Total savings in the Senate bill, which are going to be reduced because of some of the things we have agreed to do, over 5 years, is $44 billion; the House bill is $75 billion. Over 7 years, ours is $71 billion; the House is $122 billion. So there is a vast difference between this and the House bill, as far as savings are concerned. We would like to complete action on this bill and go to conference.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. If I may use 2 minutes of my leader time.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, let me speak to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. I think there is a tendency for amendments offered by Democrats being voted for by Democrats, and maybe the other way, too. This amendment makes a great deal of sense, not the amendment of the Senator from Vermont but the amendment in the bill. It was worked out very carefully after a lot of consultation by a lot of people to make certain that we were not doing some of the things that have been stated here. It is up to the States; it is up to the Governors. We have talked about returning power to the Governors, power to the States. Democrat or Republican Governors--we have not made any distinction. Everybody has railed about illegitimacy. Mr. President, one out of three births is out of wedlock. This is a very important amendment. It is in the House bill. We do not see any reason it should not be in this bill. That is why we put it in the Dole amendment to start with. I would hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle would take a look at what we are trying to do. Why not reward a State? Why not reward a Governor, Governor Edgar from Illinois or Governor Thompson or Governor Romer, whoever it may be, if they can devise a plan to reduce the illegitimacy rate? That is what this amendment is all about. It is straightforward. I do not see any pitfalls described by the Senator from Wyoming or the Senator from Vermont. I hope we could defeat the amendment of the Senator from Vermont and keep this provision in the bill. I can tell you, I will be a conferee when we ever go to conference on this. This is going to be very important. If we are serious about illegitimacy, this is an opportunity to demonstrate it. It is not partisan; not Democrat, not Republican, not conservative, not anything, as far as I know, except an honest effort to deal with a very serious problem. Several Senators addressed the Chair.

Mr. DOLE. Yes.

Mr. DOLE. That is correct.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, in an effort to protect the rights of the Senator from North Dakota [Mr. Conrad], I ask unanimous consent that in the event of a cloture vote, if cloture was invoked, his amendment would still be in order under the same conditions, the same time limit as previously ordered.

Mr. DOLE. The amendment has been cleared on this side.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I happen to agree with the Senator from Ohio and the Senator from North Dakota. We ought to find out what it costs, whatever impact it may have. I am prepared to accept the amendment. I yield back my time.