Robert Dole

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Senator Graham from Florida, excuse me.

Mr. DOLE. We changed it about an hour ago. As I understand it, it is more than halfway to where the Senator was with his amendment the other day. We checked it with some others, and they think this is a very generous, responsible offer. That would be $8 billion over 5 years set aside for child care

Mr. DOLE. Without objection, we would say 2564, as modified.

Mr. DOLE. We have the agreement. So Senator Bingaman is up now.

Mr. DOLE. Yes. That is not part of the agreement in case somebody is ill or is not able to be here. I think we ought to make every effort to have everybody available.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I would like to offer my support of the comments made by Senators Mack and Simpson on this issue. children's ssi

Mr. DOLE. I will strike out the second part, then. [Laughter.] But we will work it out. We will not have any problem.

Mr. DOLE. On the bill itself, final passage?

Mr. DOLE. It is my hope--I have not consulted with the Democratic leader--if all Members are in town, following the luncheons on Tuesday, we would vote following the luncheons on Tuesday.

Mr. DOLE. We want to get to third reading, have a vote, and we can start on appropriations tomorrow and wrap those up in a few days. [Laughter.]

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. Ten minutes. If you do not want to stay tonight, there are 10 minutes between each vote tomorrow.

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

Mr. DOLE. It might be better to do it tomorrow. Is there objection?

Mr. DOLE. Let me just assure everybody, I think this is a very important vote. Nobody wants to miss this vote. I know that some people are necessarily absent tomorrow. Some are necessarily absent on Monday. I hope we could say, after the Tuesday luncheons, if everybody is in town.

Mr. DOLE. Right.

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

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. 2503, as modified.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, as I understand it, we are on the McCain amendment which I believe is acceptable on both sides. So I yield back the time on this side.

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. I think it is going to be more difficult to administer, too, if you make it absolute. But I want to stick to the principle. Maybe the Senator has an idea. He can offer an amendment later on. But in my view, this is a very simple straightforward amendment. It is in the bill. [[Page S 13565]] I do not have an answer to the Senator from Florida without checking, whether it might be a good idea or might not be a good idea. But let us vote on the amendment and then, if the Senator has some change he would like to make, I will be happy to entertain it.

Mr. DOLE. We might entertain a modification if the Senator has one.