J. Exon

Mr. EXON

Mr. EXON. Yes, I do find that strange. The committee report for last year's budget resolution cited ANWR as the major mandatory savings assumption for the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. indeed, it's inclusion in the final reconciliation bill was one of the major reasons why the President vetoed that bill.

Mr. EXON. Yes, I do believe that the Senator from Montana is correct in making that assumption. The Energy and Natural Resources Committee has a limited amount of mandatory programs under its jurisdiction to target for savings as part of a reconciliation bill. With the exception of privatizing the Power Marketing Administrations, a proposal that was soundly rejected during last year's debate, I might add with the Senator Montana's leadership. I can think of no other policy under their jurisdiction that could generate a $1 billion in savings.

Mr. EXON

Mr. EXON. You checked with the leader?

Mr. EXON

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I suggest the Senate is not in order.

Mr. EXON. Senators want to talk. We cannot hear what the speakers are saying. It is delaying things.

Mr. EXON. We have no objection.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, we are about to begin a series of what probably will be about 30 or more rollcall votes. These votes will occur in the order of the amendments as they were introduced and debated on the Senate floor. Each offerer of an amendment should be prepared to deliver a 30- second statement in favor of the amendment immediately prior to the vote on the amendment. This will require, if we are going to do it this way, the offerer of these amendments to make sure they are on the floor and prepared to go. Otherwise, the process is going to bog down. Under the unanimous-consent agreement and the Budget Act, the offerer of the amendment will control 30 seconds, and the majority manager, Senator Domenici, will control 30 seconds if he opposes the amendment. Only if the chairman favors the amendment will this Senator control 30 seconds in opposition. I urge Senators to prepare three crisp sentences that they want to say in favor of their amendment. It will be unlikely that Senators will have time to say more than that. I also urge Senators to make every effort, as has been said by the acting majority leader, Senator Lott, to be here on the floor at all times and, certainly as a priority measure, immediately before their amendment is scheduled for 1 minute, equally divided, of debate. Then we will go to a vote. I thank all Senators for their assistance in expediting the process. We have had good cooperation, and I hope that will continue today.

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

Mr. EXON. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I call for the regular order.

Mr. EXON. May I ask that the Senator not include we in that statement, just to clarify the record.

Mr. EXON. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 3987

Mr. EXON. I move to lay it on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. EXON. That is true. When the 30 seconds on the Dole amendment comes up on our side, I will yield 15 seconds to the two Senators from California, in any order they choose.

Mr. EXON. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. EXON. I will simply say that I ask for the yeas and nays on my amendment as offered.

Mr. EXON. Does the Senator's wife vote in New Mexico?

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I will take my 30 seconds to explain this amendment. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that repeal of the 1993 change, as proposed in the Gramm amendment, will move the insolvency date of the Medicare trust fund forward a full year. It is astonishing to me that the same Senators who claim to be concerned, even alarmed sometimes, about the solvency of the Medicare trust fund would sponsor legislation that will have the opposite effect. The second-degree amendment, thereby, assures that no action therein, as a part of that act, should worsen the solvency of the Medicare trust fund.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to proceed for 2 minutes on the procedures that we are about to begin.

Mr. EXON. Thirty.

Mr. EXON. We yield back the remainder our time.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I simply point out that this amendment will cost over $33 billion and does not say how we will pay for it. Another way of saying that is that this is a political amendment to make a political statement without saying how we are going to pay for this kind of reduction in revenue. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. EXON. What the amendment does, simply said, is we can do nothing in these considerations that will further weaken or hurt the trust fund. That is basically what it does. The amendment of the Senator from Texas hurts the solvency of the fund. This amendment corrects that.

Mr. EXON. Madam President, we have no objection. I yield the time we have on this side.

Mr. EXON. Madam President, there may be someone who wishes to talk on this side I did not know about. I yield 30 seconds to the Senator from Rhode Island.