T. Gorton

Mr. GORTON

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I note the presence of the senior Senator from Illinois, who has an amendment related to grazing. My inclination is, since he is here and ready to go, he should go next. I think it is important to inform our Members that we hope to accomplish more business during the course of the day. The particular large piece of business that we are closest to, an agreement on a collection of several amendments that do not relate to amounts of money in the bill, we hope shortly to have unanimous consent for. We are also working, of course, on a managers' amendment. Many of the amendments that have been reserved are likely to be the subject of a managers' amendment. I have discussed this matter with a number of individual Members. I say to the Senator from Illinois, whether we will be able to get to a vote on his amendment this afternoon I am not certain. I hope we will. He has cooperated in this connection. I would like to see a couple of more votes this afternoon, but I am not sure we will. But let's begin the debate and we will see what its dynamics are and determine how far we can go.

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

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President and the Senator from Illinois, I have been informed that my comanager, the distinguished senior Senator from West Virginia, will not be available until approximately 4 o'clock. There will be a motion to table, and I strongly suspect the Senator from Illinois will desire some time to reply. The motion to table should be made not earlier than 3:45, which means there is another 20 minutes for debate. For the information of other Senators, at least, we will be likely to vote on a motion to table the Durbin amendment at or some time shortly after 3:45.

Mr. GORTON. Certainly.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. GORTON. I thought she did. In any event, that is the agreement.

Mr. GORTON. Will the Senator from New Jersey yield?

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Hutchison amendment be laid aside and the Senator from New Jersey be recognized to propose an amendment.

Mr. GORTON. I will.

Mr. GORTON. I ask unanimous consent that a vote on or in relation to this amendment take place at 3:50 this afternoon, with the time between now and 3:50 equally divided between the Senator from Idaho and the Senator from Illinois.

Mr. GORTON. And there will be no second-degree amendments.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I make that request.

Mr. GORTON. That is correct.

Mr. GORTON. It seems to me to be appropriate to say, for Members, that there won't be another rollcall vote prior to 2 o'clock, and we hope by that time we will have completed debate on the Torricelli amendment and deal with it either by rollcall or voice vote at the necessary time.

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

Mr. GORTON. The Senator from California is correct.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, the present order of business, of course, is a continuing debate on the Hutchison amendment. There will be a cloture motion filed on that amendment that will ripen either Monday or Tuesday; I am not certain which. The Senator from California has justifiably, in defending her position, asked for assurances that there will not be a cloture motion filed on the whole bill, which could theoretically deprive her of her right to continue debate until some conclusion with respect to the Hutchison amendment. I assure her that will not take place. Her amendment will be disposed of one way or another--either by the adoption of cloture and the eventual vote on the amendment, or by a failure of cloture and its withdrawal before any cloture motion will be filed on the bill as a whole. In fact, I can say I don't see any reason or need that we should have to file cloture on the bill as a whole. We are making good progress on it. There are other amendments we can discuss and vote on today, and perhaps even on Monday, so it may very well be that the disposition of her amendment is the last significant matter. In any event, I assure her that her rights will be protected, and that, of course, is a necessary precondition to my asking unanimous consent to set the Hutchison amendment aside and go on to other amendments. The Senator from New Jersey, Mr. Torricelli, has such an amendment. So I hope with that assurance, it is sufficient that we can go forward on another subject.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, the effect of the Robb amendment would be to terminate all harvests on all public lands in the United States and much recreational activity that requires any kind of improvement. It requires between $5 billion and $9 billion worth of wildlife surveys beyond endangered species, surveys that are unnecessary and so expensive that it will not be wise to go ahead with any of them. The amendment does not require the Forest Service or the Secretary of the Interior to do anything. It simply authorizes them to conduct their business in the future as they have conducted it in the past. If they do not want to, if they want to go after these surveys, they still can. Section 329 is entirely discretionary and is entirely within the power of the administration to interpret as it wills.

Mr. GORTON. I have been informed that members of his party are in a policy meeting and would like to defer any vote on this amendment to a time certain--2 o'clock. Am I correct in that?

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, as manager I believe that is all of the business on the Interior appropriations bill that can be completed during today's session of the Senate. We are very close on two omnibus amendments, but we still have in addition to the debate on the Hutchison amendment and a cloture vote on that amendment on Monday several other--perhaps three or four--amendments that will eventually require rollcall votes. I regret that we haven't been able to go further today or to complete action on any of them. On the other hand, I think during the last literally 24 hours of the clock we have accomplished a great deal in connection with this bill. I hope that can be completed by the end of this Tuesday.

Mr. GORTON

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet on Thursday, September 9, 1999, at 9:30 a.m. in open session, to consider the nomination of General Henry H. Shelton, USA for reappointment to the grade of General and for reappointment as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Thursday, September 9, 1999, at 2:15 p.m. on two committee nominations.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem be permitted to meet on September 28, 1999 at 10 a.m. for the purpose of conducting a hearing.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on 9, September, 1999 at 2 p.m. to hold a joint subcommittee hearing.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, the Committee on the Judiciary requests unanimous consent to conduct a hearing on Thursday, September 9, 1999 beginning at 10 a.m. in room 226 Dirksen.