J. Exon

Mr. EXON

Mr. EXON. That is correct. So that should be easily taken care of. Then we have the Hatch judiciary amendment that has not yet been disposed of and will likely require a vote. Is that the Senator's understanding?

Mr. EXON. I will not do so. Suffice it to say the Byrd amendment then, whenever it is called up, is one remaining. The Levin and Murkowski, two amendments, have now been combined into one, so we have that one left in addition to Byrd.

Mr. EXON. I will use at least 3 minutes, and then maybe we can move on.

Mr. EXON. May I inquire how much time is left on each side?

Mr. EXON. How much time do we have remaining on this side?

Mr. EXON. I grant 2 additional minutes, and then I would also like to follow up on and try to give my perspective of the very legitimate questions that are being asked. Two more minutes to the Senator from North Dakota.

Mr. EXON. I see the Senator from Georgia is on the floor. I would simply say at this time that his remarks last night and the remarks that he is amplifying today are so important that I have asked that the remarks printed in the Record last night be laid on every Senator's desk because I think every Senator should know about them. I now yield whatever time is required to the Senator from Georgia. Mr. NUNN addressed the Chair.

Mr. EXON. I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from North Dakota.

Mr. EXON. I am glad to yield on your time.

Mr. EXON

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

Mr. EXON

Mr. EXON. I thank the Chair. I yield the floor.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I wish to inquire of the distinguished majority manager if he is ready to proceed with the Feingold amendment regarding emergency spending that I understand has been cleared on both sides. Is that correct?

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

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, we have debated this amendment already so I will be very, very brief. This amendment would apply the line-item veto to tax loopholes that lost money in the 6th through the 10th years. I believe there is broad bipartisan support for this amendment and I urge its adoption.

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

Mr. EXON

Mr. EXON. I will be glad to yield.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I would like to yield to my colleague from Arizona. We have had some very brief preliminary discussion to try to expedite and move things along just a little bit. I propose to him that in order to move things along, I will be a cosponsor of the Bradley amendment. If the Bradley amendment is successful, then there is a backup amendment that I would like to withdraw, but I would like to have it pending in case the Bradley amendment should not prevail. My amendment simply says--and I will debate it briefly if I may have 5 minutes--basically that if the Bradley amendment fails, I would like to have a backup provision that simply says we should take a look at not just a 5-year but a 10 year-period with regard to what effect any kind of taxation would have on the overall budget proposition. There may be some pros and cons on that. It might be acceptable. I would simply like to suggest at this time that after we finish debate under the allotted time under the Bradley amendment, if I may have 5 minutes and my colleague maybe 5 minutes, we could make an agreement that we would have a vote on my backup amendment that would be withdrawn if the Bradley amendment prevails.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I will not insist on a rollcall vote. If that is possible, we could maybe voice vote.

Mr. EXON. That might be in order. I would not hesitate to do that if the Senator thinks this is the right time to do that.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, if I may for a moment, I thank my friend from Arizona. I simply use this opportunity to appeal to all Senators on both sides of the aisle to please come to the floor at this time, or sometime within the next hour, to consult with us. It is important, if we are going to expedite matters as I would like to do, and hopefully not have a cloture vote unless that becomes necessary--but I suspect we are going to have to go through the cloture vote unless we can come to some reasonable agreement on the number of amendments--how serious the Senators are in offering them. I place an appeal at this time to Members on both sides of the aisle who have amendments to please consult with the managers now so that maybe we can have a sense and eliminate some of the amendments that are duplicates, or duplicates to some degree, and maybe have an agreement by 2 o'clock this afternoon that would set a course of as definitive action as is possible with the conflicting debate that still might take place on some of these amendments.

Mr. EXON. I thank my colleague from Arizona. Briefly, for the benefit of the Senator from Arizona--and we have talked about this, and other parties--I clearly state I am a cosponsor of the Bradley amendment which I think is a very good one, a very timely one. But, as is well known, I have a backup amendment at the desk. The Bradley amendment would ensure that the tax loopholes covered by the bill would be a broad class of tax loopholes. His amendment will also allow the item veto to apply to tax loopholes that lose money after 5 years, and that portion of his amendment and only that is what my backup amendment, that I have just referenced that is being held at the desk, would address. My amendment would apply to the line-item veto to a 10-year window rather than 5. As I stated earlier, if Senator Bradley's amendment succeeds I will not call up my amendment, as his amendment would already have addressed the issue. But if the Bradley amendment fails, then I think the least we should do is to proceed with the consideration of the backup amendment that is at the desk, that I think has probably a pretty broad-based support on both sides of the aisle. I thank my colleague from Arizona. I reserve the remainder of my time if any and yield it back to him.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, reserving the right to object to that, there has been no clearance of that on this side.

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I simply respond to the question posed by my colleague from Illinois--as I said just before I yielded to him, I strongly support the Bradley amendment and most of the arguments that have been made for the Bradley amendment, and I am a cosponsor--that would be taken care of if the Bradley amendment prevailed. Basically the thrust of this--and I will be glad to talk individually with my colleague from Illinois--the Bradley amendment strikes not just a 5- year reference. It strikes any reference whatsoever. That would simply mean that forever we would have to do this. It probably is the right way to go. My backup proposal would be to extend the 5-year provision to 10 years, and that is what we have been talking about. Therefore, it is a compromise that might be accepted on the other side and, I think, would be much better than the 5-year amendment, not as good as what I think is implied in the Bradley amendment. But mine is a compromise. I would be very glad to listen to further statements or reasoning on what I am sure are well-intentioned remarks made by my friend from Illinois. If I might very briefly, I would simply say, as I have talked with my colleague from Arizona, the floor manager on this on the other side of the aisle, it seems to me that all of the basic thrust for doing this has been covered very well on the Bradley amendment. I think it would be repetitious for me to go through a whole new argument on this. I am sure this is fully understood by my colleague from Arizona. I would simply say that I would incorporate in the support of my amendment all of the arguments that have been made in a very articulate fashion by my colleague from New Jersey on his amendment, and at an appropriate time today, after the majority leader decides after consultation with the minority leader when we should begin voting, my intention is to call up the Exon backup amendment only until a decision is made by the body on disposition of the Bradley amendment, understand it, and we will be glad to take it up at that time. Mr. McCAIN addressed the Chair.

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

Mr. EXON. Mr. President, in order to conserve time and move briskly ahead, I would like to make a few brief remarks on an amendment that Senator Hollings of South Carolina will be offering very shortly. I would like to address the Hollings amendment which incorporates the pay-as-you-go system on the Budget Act. The amendment to be offered by my friend and colleague from South Carolina was offered in the Budget Committee during markup on the measure we are now addressing on the floor of the Senate. This amendment would codify and strengthen one of the most important provisions of the budget process law--the pay-as-you-go rule. It simply codifies into the Budget Act section 23 of the 1995 budget resolution, which sets forth the 10-year pay-as-you-go rule. This rule has been a resounding success. The amendment also makes two worthwhile additions to the provisions that exist in the current law. First, it applies the pay-as-you-go rule to budget resolutions. This is a position that the Budget Committee chairman, Senator Domenici, advocated in his substitute budget resolution in prior years. Second, the amendment would require Congress to use a CBO baseline in calculating whether the pay-as-you-go rule has been violated or not. Current law requires us to measure against the budget resolution baseline. Most years, these two are one and the same thing. However, this year, there is much talk about pumping up the numbers for reasons of the so- called dynamic scorekeeping, or some rosy scenarios regarding the changes in the Consumer Price Index. This amendment would help to ensure that we cannot play games with the baseline, which I think is absolutely critical if we are going to be up front and honest. The bottom line is that the pay-as-you-go rule has worked extremely well. Under the pay-as-you-go rule, Congress has restrained its appetite for new entitlement programs and has gone without wasteful deficit-increasing tax cuts. Congress can still create entitlements or cut taxes. This rule simply requires that we pay for what we do. This is the essence of sound budget policy. Mr. President, while awaiting the return to the floor of the Senator from Arizona and, hopefully, the appearance on the floor very shortly of Senator Hollings of South Carolina to offer the amendment I referenced, I suggest the absence of a quorum.