Wendell Ford

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. amendment no. 3973

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Arkansas [Mr. Pryor] is necessarily absent.

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Arkansas [Mr. Pryor] is necessarily absent.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Arkansas [Mr. Pryor] is necessarily absent.

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Arkansas [Mr. Pryor] is necessarily absent. The PRESIDENT OFFICER (Mr. Burns). Are there any other Senators in the Chamber who desire to vote?

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Hawaii [Mr. Inouye] is necessarily absent.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Delaware [Mr. Biden], the Senator from Nebraska [Mr. Kerrey], and the Senator from Rhode Island [Mr. Pell] are necessarily absent. I further announce that the Senator from Rhode Island [Mr. Pell] is absent on official business.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. Elvis is not dead.

Mr. FORD. Add coal to that. That is energy.

Mr. FORD. Would the Senator say that includes collective bargaining and wages and hours worked and things of that nature under your proposal?

Mr. FORD. Reserving the right to object, I am considering modifying that to go to the Kennedy minimum wage amendment. What the Senator has done here--and I need to confer with the leader. I am sure you have not conferred with Senator Dole as to your unanimous consent.

Mr. FORD. OK. Unanimous-Consent Request

Mr. FORD. Will the Senator yield on that point?

Mr. FORD. The Senator says this is the first time that we have ever used gasoline taxes for the general fund.

Mr. FORD. I object.

Mr. FORD. I object.

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, will the Senator yield for a question? Unanimous-Consent Request

Mr. FORD. Will the distinguished Senator yield?

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey [Mr. Bradley] and the Senator from West Virginia [Mr. Rockefeller] are necessary absent. I also announce that the Senator from Vermont [Mr. Leahy] is absent due to death in the family.

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, a couple of items. The Senator from Texas [Mr. Gramm] talked about the payment at the pump, the taxes collected at the rack. That is what I thought. I was not sure. I got the information. So the wholesaler or the distributor collects the tax, and it is not the dealer that would be able to give or reduce his price. I thought that ought to be brought out here now. I do not want my service station operator to be jumped on when we say you did not get the 4.3- cent reduction tomorrow or next week. It is at the rack. So I am trying to protect them. My colleagues, as they make these speeches, they leave the floor. I have to give the Senator from Texas a compliment because he stayed here and we had a little back and forth. The Senator from Texas is going to the budget meeting, I understand. My figures--and I always stand corrected because somebody will find a way to get at me with words--but under the Republican Budget Committee's mark yesterday, taxes will increase more over the next 6 years than they did over the past 6 years. Think about that: $415 billion. Under the Republican budget chairman's mark advertised yesterday, taxes will increase more over the next 6 years than they have over the past 6 years. That is $415 billion, if I figure that right. Everybody will say, well, the economy is increasing and all that stuff. If it is increasing, give this administration some credit. I understand the criticism. This has become a Presidential campaign Chamber. It is not a Chamber dedicated to the people of this country, trying to do the best job we can for them. If we could stop the Presidential campaign in the Chamber, I think the overwhelming majority of U.S. Senators could get together and pass something in the best interests of the people. We just cannot continue to have the Democrats shut out with a gag rule on us. The principle here is not whether we are for or against a 4.3-cent reduction in gasoline tax. That is not the question. The question is, we are being eliminated from having the opportunity to debate it and offer amendments. The Senator from Texas said that he could not guarantee they could give them 4.3, or the big oil companies could keep it, or the wholesaler at the rack could keep it. It does not have to pass this price on. We just want to have the opportunity. The point of being for or against removal of that tax is not the question. Fairness is the question, and the ability to have an up-or- down vote and to offer amendments. We have offered stand-alone amendments and a time agreement on each one of those three. We have been turned down. We will consider an amendment to get this, but we want to put it in our package. We do not want it outside that package. So the gag rule still is extended. Nowhere, nowhere--we may have filed cloture, but we did not say you could not file amendments. I quoted from the Senator from Texas in 1993 where he said that he had his rights. That is the same thing I am talking about. Nothing different. When he was fussing then, he had the ability to offer four amendments under that tree. He had a right to offer four amendments. We never excluded anybody from offering amendments, as is happening to us now. Where is the fairness, Mr. President? All we are asking is for a little fairness. The gag rule is being applied to the minority. The gag rule is being applied to the minority. As long as I have the ability and breath in me, I am going to speak out against that, as the Republican side of the aisle did for so long. I listened to it. We can quote and quote and quote what they said and what statements they made, and now we are trying to say the same thing. We never instituted a gag order on the minority in all the 22 years I have been here. I yield the floor.

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that order No. 374, H.R. 2337, be immediately brought to the Senate floor and taken under consideration.

Mr. FORD. Then I object.

Mr. FORD. He is quoting me as all I wanted to do was to add an amendment. That is not true. I said--and I regret that he misunderstood me--that we have the right to offer an amendment or amendments--I said plural--and that we wanted to be sure that the consumer received the 4.3 cents and not the big oil companies that he represents.

Mr. FORD. I have a question about that.