Pete Domenici

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Business Rights and Competition be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on Wednesday, April 4, 2001 at 10:00 a.m. The hearing will take place in Dirksen Room 226. THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, April 4, 2001, at 2:00 p.m. to hold a closed hearing on intelligence matters. THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be authorized to meet to hold a hearing on the nomination of Tim S. McClain of California to be VA General Counsel. The hearing will be held on Wednesday, April 4, 2001, at 9:30 a.m. in room 418 of the Russell Senate Office Building. THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. select committee on intelligence

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Small Business be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, April 4, 2001, beginning at 9:30 a.m. in room 428A of the Russell Senate Office Building to hold a roundtable entitled ``A Tax Agenda for Small Business''. THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. committee on veterans' affairs

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet on Wednesday, April 4, 2001 at 2:30 p.m. in room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a Business Meeting on S. 211, the Native American Education Improvement Act of 2001. THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. committee on small business

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be authorized to meet for a hearing on States Rights and Federal Remedies: When are Employment Laws Constitutional? during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, April 4, 2001, at 9:30 a.m. THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Committee on Indian Affairs

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Wednesday, April 4, 2001 at 2:00 p.m. for a hearing regarding the State of the Presidential Appointments Process.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, April 4, 2001 at 9:30 a.m. to hold a hearing.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, April 4, 2001 to hear testimony on International Trade and the American Economy.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. We will wait for that and follow after it.

Mr. DOMENICI. Madam President, I was going to ask the distinguished ranking member if he has somebody now to continue, and then we will complete it in about 15 or 20 minutes when the Senator is finished.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I thank all Senators who supported the Grassley amendment. Now we consider another amendment. For those who are worried about how much we are going to spend on agriculture, this amendment would increase the spending on agriculture to a total of $98 billion, all of which will come out of the taxes we intend to give back to the American people. We have done the numbers. We don't touch the Medicare trust fund. I will give Senators the numbers. The total contingency fund is 845. Take off the Medicare trust fund, you have 453 left. Of that, the Grassley amendment uses $59 billion. We don't touch Medicare in any year, nor do we touch it over the 10 years. Actually, I believe we have done the right thing. We ought to turn this amendment down. We have had a good vote. We ought to leave it as a good vote and make sure that what is passed is what we do for agriculture. Mr. Grassley, who knows more than the average Senator, put this together with the distinguished Senator from Georgia. They worked hard on it. It is a good amendment. Thanks for adopting it. Don't undo what you did by voting for the pending amendment.

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

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, frankly, I do not have a lot more to say. It seems as if we are adopting a policy of, if we have any time, we ought to use it, so I am going to use it. I remind everyone, if they want a farm bill that adds substantial money to the program over the next decade, it is my recommendation they vote for the first amendment, the one Senator Grassley has put together with Zell Miller. If my colleagues do not, we will have no agricultural bill, it seems to me, looking at how things are. For those who do not want to vote for the Grassley-Miller amendment and hold out, just remember: You may get no agricultural bill if you do that. The better approach is in the Grassley amendment. I believe it is fair; it is reasonable; it is rational. And clearly a new farm bill built around these numbers might, indeed, pass the Congress. If my colleagues think they are going to pass one with much more than that, they are just dreaming. I yield the floor.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I have 1 minute?

Mr. DOMENICI. Five minutes. How much time do they have?

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I yield 5 minutes of the remaining time to Senator Gramm.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I yield 10 minutes to the Senator from New Hampshire.

Mr. DOMENICI. The problem is we don't have any time because of the circumstance that occurred this morning. That time was used up by a distinguished Senator who was speaking on a subject unrelated to this. He had authority to do that. He spoke for quite some time, so we ended up very short in time. My friend got some time this morning, and I wonder if the Senator would object to a request on my part that we be given an additional 15 minutes.

Mr. DOMENICI. How much time do they have remaining?

Mr. DOMENICI. The Senator wants our side to finish debate in 7 minutes, and he has 33.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for 15 minutes off the resolution and I give 3 minutes of that to the Senator.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senators Hagel and Hutchinson be added as cosponsors.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. I object. I don't know why we ought to do that. Then I get 2 minutes, too. You have been arguing for about an hour more than we have on this amendment. I just think, being fair, we are finished. I yielded back my time. That is why we still have some time left. I could have still been talking.

Mr. DOMENICI. I surely don't want to use much time. You have answered with the authority of the majority leader. I just wanted to say to you, Mr. Leader, and to you, Senator Byrd, I never in my wildest dreams thought we would finish this budget resolution without your spending an hour on a subject you think is most important; namely, reconciliation. We have already spent a lot of hours debating. Frankly, in my opinion, although the debates were luxurious, I think it would have served us well if you would have already taken an hour and I would have taken an hour and Senator Conrad taken an hour and we discussed reconciliation. I don't intend to get finished without that hour of debate about what it is all about and what it means taking place. As soon as we can, I would be for working it out. Our leader thinks we should work it out on an issue that is formulated before the Senate. I do want to comment, since you have indicated two things. One, we should have the President's budget first. That is OK. That is a good wish. I would suggest that when we had a new President named Bill Clinton, we didn't have a budget before we approved the budget resolution, including the conference report on the budget resolution. Then we got a budget. I think there is precedent for a new President for us to proceed. Secondly, I think you did do more than, as much as anyone present here, of course, in drafting this 25-year old Budget Impoundment Act. Frankly, you have one version about reconciliation that the Senator from New Mexico, who has now used your product you developed with others--I have used it as chairman or ranking member or member for 25 years. So while you drew it, I have watched it implemented. I will present to the Senate my strong conviction that there is nothing in this act that precludes using reconciliation for a tax decrease bill. I just wanted to make sure I amplified to that extent.