Pete Domenici

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Fifteen.

Mr. DOMENICI. May I make a further announcement? A while ago I listed the amendments as we are going to consider them, starting with Senator Santorum, Senator Reed. We had two Republican amendments listed, Ashcroft-Gorton 242. That is an error. We had already accepted that amendment. So what we would like to do is put, in lieu of Ashcroft- Gorton, which had been accepted, it was already adopted, Fitzgerald 217. Then if we go down on our list, Dorgan is next. Then Grams-Roth, we had also accepted that, and somebody on our staff put it on here. So we are going to substitute Ashcroft 240. So everybody should be on notice, including the proponents of those amendments, when they come up. I will try to announce the list just before the vote as to who is next, maybe two in advance, so everyone will know. I think we are prepared. Have the yeas and nays been ordered?

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, has all time expired on the Cuba resolution?

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, with reference to the matter that is not part of our budget resolution, S. Res. 57 regarding Cuba, Senator Dodd, is supposed to speak; Connie Mack on our side, Senator Dodd on your side. Mr. President, we are going to wait just a little bit. Before Senator Mack and Senator Dodd begin their 10 minutes equally divided, might I repeat again, the first Senator up is Senator Santorum with amendment No. 212, Senator Reed with No. 162. I have stated the rest of them. If anybody needs it, we have the list here. We need the Senators to be here and now they are going to have to just as well stay because there are going to be 15 or 16 votes in a row. I yield the floor.

Mr. DOMENICI. Let's see if we have our first Senator here. We are going to do Cuba and that Senator is here.

Mr. DOMENICI. I never was going to have one.

Mr. DOMENICI. Right.

Mr. DOMENICI. Ten hours.

Mr. DOMENICI. Now, as we understand here, when we start with Santorum 212, this will mean Senator Santorum should be on the floor if he desires to speak to his amendment. And he will get 1 minute, and Senator Lautenberg or his designee on the other side, if they oppose it, will be given 1 minute, and so on down the line. Now, we have already indicated previously that the first vote tonight will be a 15-minute vote, and the amendments after that will be 10 minutes each. I do not know what we are going to do about dinner, but perhaps we will reconsider dinner at 6:30 or 7 and see what we do. But in the meantime, we are going to proceed with that format, and I urge Senators to stay in the Chamber if they have amendments because if we want to get out of here at a reasonable time, we can't take 20 minutes on each rollcall. We just agreed it would be 10. That is very hard to do. We have timed it. Some people say, why don't you make it 7\1/2\? Remember last year. You cannot even get it done and get the Senators up to vote in 7\1/2\. Ten is the best we can do. But we have to work at it. We still don't know whether we can finish tonight, but we are working very hard to do it.

Mr. DOMENICI. I thank the Chair. I thank Senator Lautenberg. Mr. President, we are getting close to what we have nicknamed around here votorama. The only thing is that sounds like a movie picture with a big screen where everybody can see everything. I am afraid it is going to be sort of the opposite because there is going to be 1 minute after a while on each amendment, and I don't know how many there is going to be yet. But unless and until we change our process, that is what we are going to go through for a while. Unanimous Consent Agreement Pursuant to the previous consent agreement, I ask unanimous consent that the first vote in the voting sequence be on the adoption of S. Res. 57 regarding Cuba--that is extraneous to our Budget Act, but we are getting consent to take care of that very soon--with 10 minutes equally divided between Senator Mack and Senator Dodd just prior to the vote. I further ask that pursuant to the previous agreement, the succeeding votes in the sequence begin with and continue as follows: Senator Santorum, amendment No. 212; Senator Reed, amendment No. 162; Senator Craig, 146; Boxer, 175; Senator Voinovich, 161; Kennedy, 192; Crapo, 163; Dodd, 160; Ashcroft-Gorton, 242; Dorgan, 178, as modified; Grams-Roth, 231; Lautenberg, 166; Snowe, 232; Kennedy 195.

Mr. DOMENICI. I move to waive the Budget Act under the appropriate waiver provisions of the Budget Act, and I ask for the yeas and nays on the waiver.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, could we have the yeas and nays on the amendment that was just proffered?

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I believe Senator Crapo is here. He is ready with his amendment. Amendment No. 163

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I will use 1 minute and yield back my time so the Senator can have the rest of the time. Frankly, many years ago I came to the floor--Senator Nunn helped me; he wasn't even on the Budget Committee--and I did something like this for entitlement programs. I said, if the projections in the outyears are that it is going up so high that it creates a bigger deficit, then maybe we ought not spend the money, having programs that we spend money on automatic pilot. Maybe when we come around and say we are going to do that to taxes, we are going to do that to entitlements, we are going to do that to everything we spend on, we are going to trigger them all and, if we get a deficit, we cut them all so we are right back down to zero and incurring no debt. Why should we do this to the taxpayer on the most important thing they can ask of their Government, and that is that they not be taxed too much? That is what they are looking up here asking us for. The big broad base that keeps America going and pays for all these programs, they would like some tax relief. We say, we will trigger you, we will give you some, but in case the deficit goes up, we will take it away from you, or at least it won't continue to grow, even though we passed it and it is in the law. I think maybe that would be a great idea so we could stay in balance forever. Let's apply that to everything. Just think of that. We are in balance. Nothing could ever grow, if it puts us in the red again. Everything would get stopped that year. No entitlements could grow, nothing could. That would be treating everybody kind of fairly. We would never do that. We shouldn't do that to the taxpayer. Mr. President, I yield my time.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, has all time been yielded back on the Kerry amendment?

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, there was an amendment which was known as Ashcroft-Gorton, No. 242. We understand that it is acceptable on the other side. We do not think it ought to be held in the package here. No vote is needed. I ask unanimous consent that it be in order that the amendment be accepted by the Senate without objection.

Mr. DOMENICI. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. DOMENICI. I thank Senator Lautenberg for clearing the amendment. Now we can proceed to the next amendment, Senator Craig's amendment.

Mr. DOMENICI. I say to Senator Craig, I made a mistake. Senator Hollings was next. It is 3 and a half minutes. Would you let him proceed?

Mr. DOMENICI. He was listed next.

Mr. DOMENICI. On our side Senator Crapo was next. He will be here in 3 minutes. We can go to Senator Sessions, and then Senator Crapo will be last. Is Senator Sessions ready? The Senator has 3\1/2\.

Mr. DOMENICI. Will the Senator yield for a question?

Mr. DOMENICI. Do I understand this is a sense of the Senate that we add to that list of tax changes that might be used by the Finance Committee when they set about to draw the bill, that this is just an additional one? There is nothing mandatory about it. It is merely suggesting that it is a good one that ought to be there, and they ought to look at it. Is that it?

Mr. DOMENICI. Can I be added as a cosponsor.

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