J. Exon

Mr. EXON

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I understand at this time we are trying to reach a unanimous consent agreement to have a vote at 8:30. Is that the Senator's understanding?

Mr. EXON. Go ahead.

Mr. EXON. Let me respond to the Senator from my perspective, and I cannot speak for the majority. We are now considering the Abraham amendment. We will vote on that. If this unanimous consent request is agreed to--and if I agree to it, I must say--immediately following that, we would be up for consideration of an amendment from the Democratic side. I have indicated to my friend from California that she would be first up with her amendment. So I will simply say, after the vote, you would, as far as I am concerned, be recognized to offer your amendment. If it is possible-- obviously it is not between now and the scheduled vote at 8:30--I would certainly recommend to Chairman Domenici that we proceed with the order which would allow you to follow the vote.

Mr. EXON

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, in keeping with what we have done several times today, I ask unanimous consent at this time that the Senator from Georgia be recognized for appropriate remarks on the tragedy that faced all of us today, especially the U.S. Navy.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, Senator Rockefeller is here. We are trying to move things along. He is ready to offer an amendment. We had a discussion here a few moments ago. As I understood it, the arrangement would be that there would be no more votes before 8 o'clock, and that, in the meantime, we had agreed to set aside, temporarily, the Exon amendment, which is before the body, to allow other amendments to be offered. I am pleased to see my friend from New Mexico here. Senator Rockefeller is here. I ask unanimous consent that the Exon amendment be temporarily set aside for the purpose of other people offering amendments. I simply say that, under the rules that are still in effect, it would be the Republican's turn to offer an amendment. If there is no Republican here and ready to offer an amendment, with the approval of the chairman of the committee, we could recognize Senator Rockefeller for his amendment.

Mr. EXON. I guess I was wrong on that, Mr. President. I was ready to offer an amendment. I would have gone next. Out of deference to the agreement we made, I am not offering that. So I guess the slot really would be on our side. I see nothing wrong if the Senator agrees that Senator Rockefeller will take the place of the Democratic slot I was prepared to take, and then the next amendment will be on your side. Eventually, sometime tonight, we will get back to the Exon amendment that is being temporarily set aside.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum and ask that the time be charged equally to both sides.

Mr. EXON. I yield as much time as is necessary to the Senator from West Virginia for the purpose of offering and explaining the amendment.

Mr. EXON

Mr. EXON. We will provide that amendment to you during the vote.

Mr. EXON. That is correct.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I think we should alert all--and I believe the managers of the bill would agree--that we, most likely, will start voting in about 5 minutes, is that right?

Mr. EXON

Mr. EXON. We are ready. That sequence, just to set the record straight, we would vote on the Exon amendment first and the amendment from the Senator from Missouri second. And I believe, if I remember correctly, the first vote would be a 15-minute vote, and the second vote, I believe it was stipulated by the Senator from New Mexico, is to be 10 minutes. Is that the Senator's understanding?

Mr. EXON. I yield 1 minute to the Senator from North Dakota.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that this time not be charged to either side, as we have been doing all afternoon.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I yield 2 minutes to the Senator from North Dakota.

Mr. EXON. The automatic trigger, we went through that earlier, did we not?

Mr. EXON. Once again I say, whether it triggers or not, this is an honest chart on honest numbers that has been verified by the CBO. Are you indicating there is something tricky about these numbers?

Mr. EXON. I have been advised this is the chart with the figures in it. If I find out differently, I will correct it for the Record.

Mr. EXON. I yield 1 minute.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. EXON. I will not yield. I would be fearful that the Republicans would bring out something like this and show me that what they are accusing the Democrats of doing is what the Republicans are doing. Essentially they are one and the same. I simply say that I will reserve the remainder of my time for my closing statement. But I just wish that we could keep our debates on something that is realistic, without going overboard and saying things over and over again, things that I do not know how many times I refuted. I reserve the remainder of my time.

Mr. EXON. I would certainly emphasize that the Senator from North Dakota is so right. I am so glad he has pointed that out.

Mr. EXON. How much time does the Senator wish?

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, let me thank my friend from North Dakota for his excellent remarks. His statement with regard to the savings that are talked about in discretionary programs is something that I intend to follow up on in my closing remarks. I will just say at this time that I have been here on the floor since this debate began. I have heard the same things over and over and over again--the Republicans seem to think if they say something enough times, it is true. They have said on many occasions that the President's budget does not balance in the year 2002. I do not know how many times I have refuted that point, and noted that the Republican- appointed head of the Congressional Budget Office says that the President's budget does balance in the year 2002. The same CBO office says that the Republican plan balances in the year 2002. So if the Republicans are trying to impeach the written word of their own appointed CBO office, then they impeach the source of their balanced budget as well. Why can we not be realistic? Both programs are estimated--and I use the word ``estimated'' with emphasis--by the Congressional Budget Office as reaching balance. I have heard another myth that is repeated over and over and over again and that is with regard to the terrible backloading, as alleged by the Senator from Wyoming. I refer to the chart behind me once again. We have had it out here before. I am going to drag this chart out every time I hear on that side of the aisle that there is backloading going on. This chart has been here before, but the red line on that chart is the President's backloading and the blue line on that chart is the GOP backloading. The years are below, and the numbers are up there. So suffice it to say, it is not accurate, nor is it fair, nor does it contribute to the debate for me to get up and say, ``Oh, boy, there's all kinds of backloading in that GOP budget.''