J. Exon

Mr. EXON

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, under the previous order, all points of order must be raised today before the 2 o'clock deadline, or under the extended time that we have agreed to. Pursuant to that order, I now address amendment No. 4935, offered by the Senator from Texas, Senator Gramm. Mr. President, the amendment is not germane, and I raise a point of order that the Gramm amendment violates section 305(b) of the Congressional Budget Act.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, also pursuant to the previous order, I now address amendment No. 4901, offered by the Senator from North Carolina, Senator Faircloth. The amendment is not germane, and I raise a point of order that the Faircloth amendment violates section 305 of the Congressional Budget Act.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, on behalf of the Senator from Massachusetts, Senator Kennedy, I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I yield back time on the amendment.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, at this point, I move to waive all points of order against the pending amendment. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. EXON. We have no objection to this amendment.

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, the request from the Senator is entirely in order. I had anticipated that they would have some time to look at the list because we have just completed it ourselves and sent it to the desk. Therefore, I have no objection to the request just made and would agree to it.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a letter stating the administration's position on the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I thank the chairman for his consideration. I will say, there are several matters that I must, as manager of the bill on this side, have very limited and short debate on, things I need to enter. I might be able to do that between now and 2 o'clock, but if not, in order to protect the interests of those I represent, I ask unanimous consent that the 2 o'clock hour be extended by 10 minutes, to 10 minutes past 2, if necessary, to accommodate the Senator from Nebraska to carry out the duties that I must address.

Mr. EXON. I thank my friend for his usual good cooperation. There are two amendments I will offer. They have been cleared on both sides. I think we can dispose of them quickly. Amendment No. 4953 (Purpose: To allow States to choose the most appropriate agency to assist abused and neglected children, by enabling them to choose proprietary as well as non-profit or government agencies to care for children in foster care, as provided in report number 104-430 (the conference report to H.R. 4 as passed during the 1st session of the 104th Congress), and S. 1795, as introduced in the Senate during the 2d session of the 104th Congress, and before the Finance Committee Chairman's modifications to such bill)

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, on behalf of the Senator from Louisiana [Mr. Breaux], I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, in similar fashion, on behalf of the Senator from Nebraska [Senator Kerrey] I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I yield back time on the amendment.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I move to waive the point of order and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, on behalf of the Senator from Massachusetts, Senator Kennedy, I send another amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, in 1986, the Congress enacted the so-called ``Byrd rule,'' named for our esteemed colleague, Senator Byrd, now incorporated into the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 as section 313. Although it may seem arcane to those not immediately involved in the budget process, the Byrd rule has become a very important tool to curb provisions in the reconciliation bill that are extraneous to the purpose of deficit reduction. It helped close Pandora's box of reconciliation abuse, of which Senator Byrd so eloquently warned more than 10 years ago. The Byrd rule provides six definitions of what constitute extraneous matter, but the term generally applies to provisions unrelated to the reconciliation deficit reduction goals. For example, a provision in reconciliation could be challenged by a Senator if it produces no changes in revenue or spending or if such changes are merely incidental. Sixty votes are necessary to waive a point of order raised under the Byrd rule. Last year's reconciliation bill contained numerous Byrd rule violations. This year's bill is also brimming with violations. I will shortly present a full list to the Chair and raise a point of order, but I want to highlight two of them. First, there is a provision that deletes a requirement that the Secretary of Agriculture promulgate rules so that school lunch contracts comply with the applicable meat inspection laws. Second, there is a provision that strikes the requirement that positive efforts shall be made by service institutions to use small business and minority-owned businesses as sources of supplies and services for these school lunch programs. Mr. President, once again, these are simply other add-ons that we should look to. Once again, this is not an all-inclusive list, but it gives the Senate a flavor of the violations that I will shortly raise. With that, Mr. President, I send a list of provisions to the desk that I have referenced, and pursuant to section 313(d) of the Congressional Budget Act, I raise a point of order that these provisions violate section 313(b)(1) of that act. The list follows:

Mr. EXON. We have one other matter. It is simply something to offer into the Record, a letter from the President on the matter that I think you will have no objection to. Other than that, I have nothing further, after the motion that I have just made.

Mr. EXON. The Senator is correct.

Mr. EXON

Mr. EXON. I am certainly pleased to respond to my friend.