Robert Dole

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. I yield to the Senator from Pennsylvania.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I know the Senator feels very strongly about this amendment. Let me just say, we have tried to accommodate a number of major amendments--child care. We have lost some savings on this bill, and our savings are not nearly as much as the House side. This amendment would cost $920 million over the next 7 years. That is almost $1 billion. There is no offset. It would come right out of the savings. I hope it will be rejected.

Mr. DOLE. Naturalization and deeming?

Mr. DOLE. Ten minutes. That will be four amendments by my colleagues on the other side. I assume we can have an equal number on this side.

Mr. DOLE. I thank the Chair.

Mr. DOLE. As I understand, there are two amendments.

Mr. DOLE. I yield to the Senator from West Virginia, Senator Byrd.

Mr. DOLE. I send amendment 2614 to the desk.

Mr. DOLE. I think amendment 2614, as drafted, is acceptable.

Mr. DOLE. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, as I understand, the Senator from Alabama is prepared with an amendment, 40 minutes equally divided; the Senator from Maryland, Senator Mikulski, is prepared to offer her amendment, 20 minutes equally divided; the Senator from California would follow the Senator from Maryland. Amendment No. 2614

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

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. I want to thank the Senator from North Dakota for his leadership and hard work on this issue. Children with disabilities are certainly among those most at risk in our society, and we want to make sure we are doing the right thing by them. He and Senator Chafee have worked extremely hard to bring the Senate to this point. As for the Senator's question, I understand that the Senator from North Dakota was concerned that the term ``pervasive'' included in the earlier definition implied some degree of impairment in almost all areas of a child's functioning or body systems. That was not the intent of the earlier proposed change to the statute. It is expected that the children's SSI program will serve children with severe disabilities. Sometimes children will have multiple impairments; sometimes they will not.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I have just had a discussion with the distinguished Democratic leader, Senator Daschle, and we would like anybody here who feels compelled--I underscore the word compelled--to offer an amendment tonight or sometime during the night to let us know during this next vote. We would like to wrap up this bill. We are working on a major amendment that we think will be acceptable. And I know some people think they need to offer every amendment, and some of these amendments are not really germane to this bill. But we would like to have some idea of how many amendments we have left. So if you would either let me know, if it is a Republican amendment, or Senator Daschle know, or the managers know, between now and the time the next couple of votes end, we would appreciate it. Amendment No. 2669

Mr. DOLE. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. DOLE. I may not be duty bound to accept it. We will see what happens here. My view was we were trying to speed up the process. It is now 20 minutes of 9 o'clock. We have been working in good faith all day. I do not know who requested the vote. I wish they were there. We spent an hour on the amendment. We could have had three or four votes. We will reserve judgment on the amendment.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I have been trying to work out the amendment. I thought if we worked it out on the basis we would accept it and not be required to have a rollcall vote. As far as I know it is unanimous. I thought that is what part of the package was.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I am going to propound a unanimous-consent request as soon as it has been cleared by the Democratic leader. I intend to finish this bill today one way or the other, even if there is not going to be a welfare bill. We have been at this for several hours in good faith. In the offer we made, which was rejected by the Senator from Connecticut, there is, over 5 years, $3 billion. I think his amendment was 5----

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. I think by 3:30 we will be in a position to make an announcement. If we can come together on an agreement it seems very likely that we can finish this bill fairly quickly. If not, we would have a cloture vote, and even under a cloture vote if cloture were obtained it is my understanding that 91 amendments would qualify if cloture were invoked, which is not too exciting from my point of view. It would take a while to dispose of 91 amendments. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, if any Member wants to come over for morning business, I now ask unanimous consent we have a period for morning business from now until 3:30.

Mr. DOLE

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

Mr. DOLE. Let me indicate to my colleagues that the reason we are not doing anything on the floor is that we are having some negotiations. It is my understanding--I know we will present to Senator Daschle, the Democratic leader, a proposal here in the next few moments.

Mr. DOLE

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