Bob Graham

Mr. GRAHAM

Mr. GRAHAM. Was that in the form of a unanimous-consent request?

Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Arkansas be given an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. GRAHAM. The question is, When will we have an opportunity to review the Finance Committee amendment?

Mr. GRAHAM. If the Senator will yield for a question, does he have any idea when we will have an opportunity to get to review the Finance Committee amendment?

Mr. GRAHAM. The point I was making, if I could, Mr. President, is that I am going to object strenuously if the 10-minute rule is attempted to be applied to the Finance Committee amendment. We have not had an adequate opportunity to evaluate and to understand [[Page S 15980]] its significance. I am alerting the manager to my intention to protect the rights of those who have been waiting now for almost 18 hours to get a copy of this amendment. We have been denied that opportunity, and soon we will be asked to vote upon a stealth amendment which will quite likely be the most significant amendment on this most significant legislative enactment.

Mr. GRAHAM

Mr. GRAHAM. To any attempt----

Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I think I have the floor, and I wish to announce that I am going to object strenuously----

Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I want to--I continue my reservation of objection. I am going to object strenuously if--I would like the floor manager's attention.

Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I would like to ask a question. We have been waiting since late yesterday afternoon to receive a copy of the Finance Committee amendment. Could the manager indicate when that might be available?

Mr. GRAHAM

Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, could I respond to the--do you wish further debate on the point of order?

Mr. GRAHAM

Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for 10 seconds in order to have items printed in the Record.

Mr. GRAHAM. The vote on Senator Pryor's amendment off until tomorrow?

Mr. GRAHAM. The difficulty is we are going to get this sometime in the morning and then be expected to vote on it. We are going to vote on this amendment tonight; correct?

Mr. GRAHAM. I agree with what you just said. I would like to be able to compare the specifics of what is going to be offered with what Senator Pryor and others have offered. When will we have that opportunity?

Mr. GRAHAM. Will the Senator from Rhode Island yield?

Mr. GRAHAM. If there is any prescription for abuse, it is a 35- percent cut in funds and no Federal standards.

Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to be listed as an original cosponsor of the amendment. I point out that the arguments against this amendment are going to be that we ought to let the States have unbridled responsibility, discretion as to how to set these standards. I should point out that in the year 2002 in my State, which has the highest percentage of persons over 80 in the country, that we are going to have 35 percent less funds than is currently projected to meet the needs of our elderly, our frail elderly.

Mr. GRAHAM. In an earlier debate I mentioned this is legislation filled with risk. We have now identified another one of those areas of risk. Have we forgotten so soon? It was just a matter of a few years ago when we were having pension plans across America fail because they were underfunded. In many cases, they failed because they had been used by corporate raiders as a means of financing mergers and acquisitions which then destroyed the jobs of the very people for whom the pension fund was intended to protect. I cannot believe in 1995 we are about to not only make it easier but, I am going to suggest, positively encourage this type of behavior. Why would we encourage this behavior? If a chief financial officer of a corporation failed to take advantage of this program, he or she ought to be fired for corporate malfeasance. Here is what we are about to do. We allow a corporation in profitable years to overfund their pension, to put in more than is required in order to meet that year's annual pension amount. Then, when the corporation in a business cycle has a not-so-good year, we are allowing them to reach in and withdraw those funds. What is the significance to the U.S. Treasury? They take a full deduction when they put the money in the pension. They pay no taxes when they take it out, because they had planned to take it out in a year in which they owe no taxes. This is an outrage, Mr. President. It is a disgrace that it is part of this legislation. It has no part in a bill which is intended to balance the budget, to balance the budget of the Federal Government off the security and hard work of working men and women who depend on these funds for their well-being, and to turn it over to corporate raiders. I urge adoption of this amendment.

Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to be listed as an original cosponsor of the amendment.

Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I would like to have printed in the Record various documents, including a letter from the inspector general of the Department of HHS and statements by the Secretary of the Department and the Attorney General. They all go to the point that we need to have as strong an antifraud position as possible in the Senate version of the Medicare bill, because the House version is woefully weak. I support the joint efforts of my colleagues from Iowa and Maine in assuring that goal. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the documents be printed in the Record.

Mr. GRAHAM

Mr. GRAHAM. We will all gather.

Mr. GRAHAM. It would be my intention to resist those efforts until such time as we can be assured that there is adequate opportunity to be informed of and knowledgeable about the provisions in the Roth amendment. I think it is an outrage that now, at 12:22 a.m., we are yet to be provided with a copy of what will probably be the most significant proposal on this most significant legislation.

Mr. GRAHAM. I will object until some provision is inserted that either provides for adequate time to consider the Roth amendment, or a statement that no motion to waive the reading of the Roth amendment would be in order.

Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I am still compelled to object, unless as part of this unanimous-consent request some unanimous consent provision is inserted which will deal with the Roth amendment, either a unanimous-consent request to expand the time for consideration of the Roth amendment or a unanimous-consent request that no motion to waive the reading of the Roth amendment would be in order. Either of those two would be acceptable, the first being much more preferable. When we adopted this unanimous-consent agreement that set up the procedure for the three-tier system of consideration, I did not contemplate that at this late moment we were going to receive a major Finance Committee amendment with no opportunity to know its contents, understand its implications and be in a position to cast an informed vote as to its acceptability. I am particularly concerned, Mr. President, about the provisions that might relate to Medicare and Medicaid, which I understand are going to be two of the areas covered by the Roth amendment. These have great importance to all of the citizens of America, and especially to the citizens of my State. I intend to fully understand what the implications of any changes are before the matter is brought before the Senate for a vote.

Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I object. Mr. President, let me take a moment to explain. I am extremely distressed, concerned and apprehensive about what is going to happen tomorrow. All night I have been asking to see the amendment that the Finance Committee is going to offer as its final amendment in the so- called tier two. And now at 12:17 a.m., we have yet to receive a copy of this amendment. Under the agreement that was reached previously, we are going to be placed in a situation which this amendment of undetermined length but, I anticipate, significant length and complexity, is going to be offered with 10 minutes to debate equally divided, and then ostensibly a vote. I object to that procedure, and until a satisfactory resolution can be achieved, either in terms of agreeing to extend the time of debate so there can be reasonable opportunity to understand what is in that Finance Committee amendment or, if there is an unwillingness to provide for that extended debate, then at a minimum, a reading of the Finance Committee amendment, so that we will all have an opportunity to know its contents before we are called on to vote on it, will be insisted upon or at least will be a condition of granting consent to the request which has now been made. Mr. DASCHLE addressed the Chair.