Judd Gregg

Mr. GREGG

Mr. GREGG. I move to table the Kerry amendment and ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. GREGG. I ask unanimous consent the next vote on the Bingaman amendment, No. 3273, be passed over and put at the end of the list.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I believe the next vote will be on my motion to table.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I make a point of order a quorum is not present.

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

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the amendment be agreed to.

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

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I send to the desk an amendment on behalf of Senator DeWine and ask that it be reported.

Mr. GREGG. I ask unanimous consent to vitiate the yeas and nays on the underlying amendment.

Mr. GREGG. Regular order.

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

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the underlying amendment be agreed to.

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

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk on behalf of Mr. Bumpers.

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

Mr. GREGG. I ask unanimous consent that the amendment be agreed to.

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

Mr. GREGG

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, July 23, 1998 at 2:30 pm to hold a business meeting.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the full Committee on Environment and Public Works be granted permission to meet to continue markup of S. 2131, the Water Resources Development Act, Thursday, July 23, 10:45 a.m., Hearing Room (SD-406).

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be granted permission to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, July 23, for purposes of conducting a full committee hearing which is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. The purpose of this hearing is to receive testimony on S. 2109, a bill to provide for an exchange of lands located near Gustavas, Alaska, and for other purposes; S. 2257, a bill to reauthorize the National Historic Preservation Act; S. 2276, a bill to amend the National Trails Systems Act to designate El Camino Real de los Tejas as a National Historic Trail; S. 2273, a bill to amend the boundaries of Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site in the State of Montana; S. 2284, a bill to establish the Minutemen Missile National Historic Site in the State of South Dakota, and for other purposes; and H.R. 1522, a bill to extend the authorization for the National Historic Preservation Fund, and for other purposes.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem be permitted to meet on July 23, 1998 at 9:30 a.m. for the purpose of conducting a hearing.

Mr. GREGG

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, last night Alan Shepard died. Alan Shepard is a huge figure in the lives of those of us who are in that postwar baby boom generation which went through the Sputnik experience and the early days of our space program. He is a huge figure especially for those of us who come from New Hampshire, because he was born and raised in Derry, NH, a small town. In fact, a while after he went into space, for many years, Derry sort of changed its name and called itself Space Town in honor of Alan Shepard. He was really an extraordinary American, embodying so much of what makes our country a special place. He came from a small, rural community. It has gotten quite big. In fact, it is a city now. But when he grew up, it was still a small, rural community. He committed his life to service of this Nation and, of course, he was one of those exceptional people who was in the early test pilot program which transitioned into the early astronaut program. We have the great benefit of having another one of those exceptional people in the Senate with us in Senator Glenn. Alan Shepard was the first to go into space as an American, and his impact on our country was extraordinary because of that. I can recall very vividly--I must have been 9 or 10 years old --that our whole class in school met in the evening in order to watch this thing called Sputnik go through the sky. And it threw a great scare into our Nation at the time because we, at that time, having come out of World War II and the Korean war, viewed ourselves as a nation of extraordinary strength and really a nation of at least scientific leadership that was unparalleled, and suddenly the Soviet Union, which was a clear and present threat of proportions which cannot even be appreciated today, had launched a satellite which made it clear we were not maybe as far ahead as we thought we were. In fact, in the area of space we were behind. And so the commitment was made to overtake the Soviet lead in space technology, but, more importantly, to make America the preeminent space explorer of the world. That commitment was made first by President Eisenhower and followed aggressively by President Kennedy, President Johnson and President Nixon. But the personification of the success of that commitment was Alan Shepard, because not only did he go into space as the first American, but then after overcoming significant physical restrictions--he had a very severe inner ear problem which he went back and had operated on--he went back into space and landed on the Moon. Of course, who can forget his hitting a golf ball on the Moon. I think he used a 6 iron and hit it 300 yards--almost a Tiger Woods drive. Alan Shepard was a person who believed totally in the American dream and who lived the American dream. He was an icon of our culture and clearly a dominant figure of our time. We will miss him. In New Hampshire, we will especially miss him because we are very proud of him. We are a small State. At that time we had less than 1 million people, and here it is, with less than 1 million people, we sent the first person in space and he was from New Hampshire. Great pride. I express my sorrow to his family and join with all Americans in thanking him for what he did for our Nation, to restore our pride in ourselves and to establish once again that we are a nation that is unique, filled with people who are unique, who, when we pull together to take on a task, no matter how daunting, such as putting a person on the Moon and putting a person in space, will always succeed. Mr. President, I yield the floor. Mr. President, I make a point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. GREGG

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a minute be granted to the Senator from Delaware and a minute to the Senator from Nevada.