Pete Domenici

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. All right.

Mr. DOMENICI. I thank the Senator. I say to Senator Kennedy, before I use a couple minutes and yield for your couple minutes, I ask if Senator Enzi, who has been waiting patiently and has an amendment to be cleared right quick, if he could comment on it. We could adopt it, and then we will, just before our 11:50 time to offer all the amendments, be completed. Mr. ENZI addressed the Chair.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I am very pleased that a Governor occupies the Chair while I make this statement. Those Governors are friends of ours. The Republicans have been increasing the funding for special education. We do not need a lecture from the Governors about it. What we need is help from the Democrats who have resisted it every time. The President didn't even put an increase in his budget last year. We put the whole increase in. I don't remember if he did much this year, but it is mighty small. It is Senator Judd Gregg and others who have been leading the parade around here on IDEA. Now, frankly, we would like to ask those Governors who signed that letter, would you like us to cut the extra $3 billion in this budget that we put in and the extra $27 billion that we put in here? If you would like that cut, we will make room for more IDEA money for you. That is an increase in education, and it is left up to the committees to do what they would like, except we would like to make a sense-of- the-Senate resolution binding, adopted by us, that says, let's reform the Federal program and let's make sure that they are more responsive by focusing them in at the local level with local control. Now, we ought to pass that, because it is time we reform it. There is no IDEA issue in this amendment. They are going to raise IDEA in a later amendment. They are going to raise something on special education. So with that, I wish their amendment well when they bring it up. It is high time that they are for significantly increasing funding under special education, but for now we have raised it and we ask that the local control be attached to that with one of the qualities being that it be accountable, that there be accountability in those laws. I yield back the remainder of time so we can move on.

Mr. DOMENICI. We have no objection on our side. I think it has been cleared on the Democrat side.

Mr. DOMENICI. I think our next Senator with an amendment has arrived. We have agreed your amendment would be next, I say to Senator Gorton. But we have to finish the Kennedy amendment in just a minute here. Just give me a moment, I say to the Senator. First, as I indicated earlier this morning, something very significant happened, and I am sure it will be adopted when we vote later on. That is the introduction of a bipartisan amendment to this budget resolution whereby the chairman of the Finance Committee, Senator Roth, joined by Senator Frist, on our side, and two very distinguished Democrats, Senator Kerrey of Nebraska and Senator Breaux of Louisiana, indicated in an official way, for the first time, that the Senate is going to be asked, because of their amendment, to proceed in a bipartisan manner to reform and fix Medicare so that it will be effective for our senior citizens for decades to come. I must say that when we vote on that--and I believe it will be agreed to--we will have started down a path. But it will not be a long path; it will be a very short path. That path is going to lead, before the year is up, to a resolution in the Senate of the Medicare program for our senior citizens and for our children and for the taxpayers, all of whom have a very big stake in making sure this Medicare program is reformed and fixed. So I once again congratulate those four Senators. They have permitted me to join them, so I am the fifth man on the team. I hope, before the day is out, many others will join. But I am certain by our vote we will indicate that that is precisely the path we want to take. Some will get up and say it is very specific and precise. But ultimately, it lays down some markers. It says to the Finance Committee, let's get on with it; let's quit talking about it; let's fix it. It is interesting that as soon as that amendment got debated, a kind of a furor occurred, and it was not on our side of the aisle, it was on the other side of the aisle. That is because that was a significant amendment that people in this country are going to understand. It is not politics; it is not talking; it is a commitment to fix Medicare for our senior citizens. If there are new ideas beyond what the Commission--there are two commissions that are recalled in that amendment--if there are ideas beyond it, it is going to come out of that bipartisan committee, who are so committed to repairing and fixing and modifying that program. Having said that, the commotion got quick, and the Senator from Massachusetts arrived on the floor. Let me suggest, I have great respect for the distinguished Senator. I do know--I do know--that I am as concerned about Medicare people in America--our people, our friends, our neighbors, our relatives--as he is. I am just as compassionate and just as concerned. But I do believe--I do believe--we have to talk a little bit about reality. Let me tell you the first reality. When the vote starts and the Senator is through with his charts, I would like very much for the rule to be applied and they be taken down, because they are only supposed to be up for a little while. Frankly, whatever little while, they should not have been up at all, because those charts are not true. Those charts state things that are not true. Let me just tell you, ``Republican Plan Would Slash Medicare'' -- there is no Republican plan. We are waiting for the Finance Committee to produce a plan. We have given them latitude in the budget resolution, but there is none. It is a bipartisan plan. So he might have said that up there, ``The Bipartisan Plan,'' if it is that plan that he does not like. The chart says that cuts under the Democratic plan are zero. What does that mean? What in the world does that mean? There will be no reform that saves any money, that changes anything in Medicare under a Democratic plan--can't be, can't be. Everybody that is for fixing Medicare is going to have something in that column because they will repair it so it is more efficient. Some will legitimately call that a cut. The next column in the chart is really preposterous, ``Cuts under Republican plan, 1999-2020.'' We have not even been talking about the year 2020 on the floor. There is no budget resolution for 2020 and there is no Republican plan. How can it be that we have $686 billion in cuts by the year 2020? Perhaps that number is if you leave the program alone for 20 years, it needs $686 billion worth of resources--that might be the number. What does that have to do with our Republican plan, what we are talking about on the floor? Is the Senator suggesting we ought to put $686 billion into Medicare out of general taxes to America? It will never happen. That will not happen. Everybody knows that. We have debated this issue. I should stop debating it because I have done it three times, but every time they bring up an amendment I have to get up because they get up. I don't want anybody out there listening to this debate to think that is accurate because that is not accurate. We can put up charts and claim whatever we want, but that chart is not accurate. It does not adequately describe nor appropriately describe anything with reference to where we are. Having said that, we debated and voted an amendment very similar to this amendment. The only thing is it was subject to a point of order. Perhaps Senator Kennedy has doctored this up so it is not subject to a point of order. The Senate rejected by a majority a plan of Senator Conrad's which is very similar, except for one thing. It is a little better in terms of trying to protect Medicare than this one. It establishes a point of order of some kind which makes it difficult to spend this extra money that is sitting around, or this surplus that is sitting around. The Kennedy amendment does not even do that. I need no more time. I have used about 5 minutes; the Senator has used 2\1/2\ minutes. I hope we get on with the rest of this and let other Senators have a chance to debate.

Mr. DOMENICI. He has 2\1/2\ minutes.

Mr. DOMENICI. I am going to argue for 2 minutes and yield back the remainder of my time so we can get going. If Senator Harkin isn't here, I hope Senators will cooperate with me.

Mr. DOMENICI. I ask unanimous consent to have 1 minute to respond.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, how much time does Senator Kerry have?

Mr. DOMENICI. Senator Kennedy, I don't know if you were paying attention, but I did say to you that I compliment you on your compassion and your concern in this area. All I indicated was that you in your Irish way are compassionate; I, in my Italian way, am just as compassionate and I compliment you for trying to save Medicare. I now know where the $686 billion came from. So everyone will know--I was wondering where the figure came from--it came from the President's budget, the dollar number that he is going to transfer to the Medicare fund and take back IOUs. Let me tell Members what that is, I finally understand it. It is like postdating a check for all these billions and then saying to the American people, ``You are going to wake up one day when we have to pay them, but we are telling you now in advance you will pay them,'' and the only thing that can happen is we will pay a huge amount of new taxes, or we will have to cut the Medicare program dramatically. I don't think that is how we ought to do business. That is what the number represents. I yield the floor.

Mr. DOMENICI. Is it in order for the Senator to submit the Republican amendments?

Mr. DOMENICI. And 15?

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Senator Abraham, 227; 230, Senator Stevens; 185, Senator Durbin; 214, Senator DeWine, modification. I send the modification to the desk.

Mr. DOMENICI. Senator Chafee, 236.

Mr. DOMENICI. The following amendments are withdrawn: 226, 223, and 167.

Mr. DOMENICI. Senator Lautenberg, do you have your amendment?

Mr. DOMENICI. Can we accept it right now?

Mr. DOMENICI. We accept the Lautenberg amendment.

Mr. DOMENICI. That is it so far. Amendment No. 182

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I don't believe we should vote yea. We should not be required to follow a pay-as-you-go that was there when we had big deficits and require we have 60 votes when you have a surplus or to spend any money when you have a surplus. We should not do that. We will not support the amendment.

Mr. DOMENICI. We understand that amendment should be called a Rockefeller amendment. Is that correct?

Mr. DOMENICI. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. DOMENICI. Fellow Senators, this amendment sets up a reserve fund for any taxes that might be forthcoming from cigarettes without requiring any reform or any changes in the Medicare program. It just says that is out there to be used for Medicare. And whatever you want to call it, prescription drugs or what, it just doesn't seem to this Senator we ought to be doing that when we have a bipartisan Commission and many others saying let's reform Medicare and then let's see where we are. So I don't believe we should be doing this, and I move to table the amendment and ask for the yeas and nays.

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