Judd Gregg

Mr. GREGG

Mr. GREGG. The Senator is correct. And the expectation is that Senator Domenici will be addressing those, and the Senator will have the right to object when those amendments are brought forward.

Mr. GREGG. I must not be current on the situation, because my understanding was that we were going to be going with this report language--this is not report language--these additional views. If the decision has been made by the leadership of the committee to go with the report, I did not know it.

Mr. GREGG. I guess it gets to me.

Mr. GREGG. I do not have the floor.

Mr. GREGG. We have just received a report--ask and you shall receive--from the Governmental Affairs Committee. I do not believe there is going to be a Budget Committee report, as I understand it. There are, however, additional views which are available, which include views of members of the Democratic side of the committee. The opportunity obviously was not afforded, as I learned earlier in the colloquy, to present these views in the report.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I appreciate that point. If I may finish briefly, I will be happy to yield the floor to the Senator from West Virginia. That is obviously going to be an item that will raise considerable discussion as we go down the road. I think it is important to make the point that the Senator from Ohio made so eloquently, that the representation that the unfunded mandate, this bill, as a bar to unfunded mandates, creates an onerous event that this legislature cannot set aside or pass unfunded mandates is not accurate. I would rather have more of a majority before an unfunded mandate could occur. Under the terms of this bill, it is a 50-vote event in order to place in law an unfunded mandate. Second, the point of order can be passed or can be overruled with a 51-vote event on either the amendment or on the bill. So, as a practical matter, this will not, in my opinion, be an unyielding bar to the legislation itself. But I look forward to the presentation by the ranking member of the committee of the ways we can improve this language. I know Senator Kempthorne would also look forward to working on that matter. On the second issue which has been raised today, the matter of the report, I can appreciate the concern of the Senator from West Virginia because of his protection and commitment to maintaining the character of the rules of this Senate. But the reports were waived by a proper vote of the committees. In order to be somewhat responsive to the concern of the minority-- and I recognize that the minority feels it was not totally responsive and has expressed frustration--but there was a delay put into the period during which the bill would be brought forward. The bill was brought forward under unanimous consent, so any Senator who wished to object had the opportunity to object. The report, the language, will be published. As I understand, it will be available by 1 o'clock, and we will not move to any sort of amendments or votes on any amendments until 2 o'clock. So there will be time available for people to read those. There was an attempt, obviously, to use the Congressional Record as a process for information here, which was not pursued. I can understand the minority membership deciding not to pursue it. There was an attempt to be accommodating, although I appreciate the fact that the underlying decision to waive the report is one that the minority finds frustrating, but in this instance the majority leader felt it was important to move this bill forward. That is why the decision was made. It was done in the proper course. It was done in a correct manner through the votes of the committees of jurisdiction. I yield the floor.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, Will the Senator from Ohio yield for a question?

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, if I could just ask the Senator regarding the point of order issue which he has raised it against. Again, however, it is not a supermajority. It is a 50-vote point of order. So, essentially, if someone offers an amendment on the floor relative to this bill, relative to any piece of legislation, which amendment involved an unfunded mandate of $50 million for the public sector, $200 million for the private sector, then the point of order would be raised, but it would not create an extensive delay because the amendment would either pass with 50 votes or fail with 50 votes, and the point of order would pass or fail with 50 votes. So it would be a fairly simple event to get a vote on it and move that issue.

Mr. GREGG

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time until 9:30 be equally divided between the two leaders, and that at 9:30 we resume consideration of S. 2, the congressional coverage bill.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.