T. Gorton

Mr. GORTON

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

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk on behalf of Senator Thomas and Senators Campbell, Burns, Kempthorne, Bennett, Simpson, Murkowski, Craig, Dole, Pressler, Hatch, Brown, Kyl, and Baucus. I ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. GORTON. Yes.

Mr. GORTON. That is correct. The Senator's ability to amend the National Endowment will remain intact.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee amendments be agreed to en bloc, with the exception of the amendment on page 95, lines 19 to 21; the amendment on page 9, line 23; the amendment on page 10, line 12; the amendment on page 16, line 4 through page 17, line 14; the amendment on page 21, line 24 through page 22, line 2; and the amendment on page 22, line 5 through page 23, line 19; and that the bill as thus amended be regarded for the purpose of amendment as original text, provided that no point of order shall have been considered to have been waived by agreeing to this request.

Mr. GORTON. There has been an objection, so I will ask unanimous consent that there be 30 minutes equally divided on the Craig amendment, with 5 minutes of the proponents' time to be allocated the Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid].

Mr. GORTON. It is the hope of the manager of the bill that a single vote [[Page S 11874]] on the Craig amendment will settle this issue and that by voice votes we could, if it were to succeed, move to have it as a part of the bill. So under those circumstances, I would hope that the unanimous consent request for 30 minutes equally divided on the Craig amendment will settle this issue. Mr. BUMPERS addressed the Chair.

Mr. GORTON. But the subsequent amendment would be identical to the present Craig amendment in its language?

Mr. GORTON. The manager of the bill is not certain he can provide that explanation and will ask the Chair to correct him. As the manager understands it, if the Craig amendment is passed, the Bumpers amendment is then identical to the Craig amendment, and one would presume that that would be able to pass by a voice vote. But then in order to have the Craig language be the language of the bill, I ask the Chair, I believe the Craig amendment would then have to be further changed or turned into a different form in order to be the judgment of the Senate with respect to mining patents? May I make that parliamentary inquiry of the Chair.

Mr. GORTON. That question could not possibly be more in order. I, in turn, was going to ask the sponsor of the amendment whether or not he and his cosponsors would agree to come to a time agreement on this amendment. The majority leader does want this amendment to be completed and disposed of, and it will require a rollcall vote before the evening is over. So if we can find out how long it will take to debate the amendment, we can answer the question of the Senator from Maryland.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, we have had a fairly extensive debate on this general issue of mining patents. We now have a second-degree amendment before us in behalf of Senator Craig. I wonder if I could ask the principals whether or not we could have a relatively short time agreement on the second-degree amendment.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, what is now the pending business? Amendment No 2294

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the motion was rejected.

Mr. GORTON. I thank the Senator from Arkansas. Mr. REID addressed the Chair.

Mr. GORTON. Does the Senator have any idea how long he wishes? Can we enter into a unanimous consent agreement on the time?

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, before he begins, will the Senator from Arkansas yield for a question?

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I believe I should offer the committee amendment found on page 19, lines 8 through 14, as I suspect this is an amendment to that committee amendment. Mr. President, I call up the committee amendment on page 19, lines 8 to 14.

Mr. GORTON. Will the Senator withhold? Does the Senator now have the amendment he was speaking about with the Senator from Alaska?

Mr. GORTON. The chairman can do so with respect to the Columbia Gorge provisions, which are a part of an ongoing project that was involved in the creation of the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area in, I believe, the year 1986, which at that time authorized various visitors centers and the like on both the Washington and Oregon sides of the Columbia River within that area, which is almost a form of national park. All moneys, to the best of my knowledge, have been appropriated for facilities on the Washington side of the river. This is either the end or close to the end of the appropriations that had been authorized for centers on the Oregon side of the river. I suspect when the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Hatfield, is on the floor, he may be able to provide more details. But to the best of my knowledge, this is the culmination of projects authorized by a bill in 1986 and passed then in connection with the Columbia Gorge. In connection with the Missouri facility--I may have to supplement my answer to this, but I cannot give an answer that is much better than the text itself--that funds have already been appropriated for the Forest Service's share of the research facility at the University of Missouri, and this simply turns whatever that original appropriation was into a grant, provided that the Forest Service will have room in the building when it is completed. [[Page S 11866]]

Mr. GORTON. I would assume that to be the case.

Mr. GORTON. I note the presence of the Senator from Alaska.

Mr. GORTON. In attempting expeditiously and efficiently to organize the debate, I asked the Senator from Arkansas, Mr. Bumpers, whether or not he would put up his annual amendment on mining patents, and he has agreed to do so. I understand he is on the way to the floor. When he does that, I will move the committee amendment to which that would be an amendment. In the meantime, I would yield the floor for any remarks the Senator from Arizona would like to make.

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

Mr. GORTON. Fine. Then, Mr. President, I urge the adoption of the amendments en bloc.

Mr. GORTON. Whichever is earlier. The Senator from Arizona is here. I do not know whether he wanted to comment on the trust fund or not or is ready to accept these amendments en bloc.