Orrin Hatch

Mr. HATCH

Mr. HATCH. 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. Amendment No. 365

Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I move to table the amendment and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, if the other side is prepared to yield back, I am prepared to yield. If not, we will reserve the remainder of our time. Mr. WELLSTONE addressed the Chair.

Mr. HATCH. This is not the vote. I am just putting the order together.

Mr. HATCH. We have to agree on this. We are not setting time limits.

Mr. HATCH. I want to set a time----

Mr. HATCH. I am asking unanimous consent that the order of the next group of amendments to be voted upon be Frist-Ashcroft, Harkin, Wellstone and then Lautenberg and then one from our side.

Mr. HATCH. You would object to having yours put into the appropriate order?

Mr. HATCH. It is locked in, but it is locked in in a way that protects you--that is what I am trying to do here--so everybody knows what the matter is. I am putting in an order so that you can immediately follow the Frist amendment.

Mr. HATCH. Then you have a right to call up your amendment.

Mr. HATCH. That is what I am saying.

Mr. HATCH. No, there will not be votes before Frist.

Mr. HATCH. Why? This protects you.

Mr. HATCH. We can do that. This is to benefit you. You don't give up one thing other than you get in line; you are not in line now, behind the Frist amendment. To be frank with you, my purpose is to give you a shot at your amendment. If theirs happens to be adopted, you have a shot at yours which does away with theirs.

Mr. HATCH. I think everybody is trying to get this bill over with at this point. At least I hope so.

Mr. HATCH. But it puts you in a position, and you don't lose a thing.

Mr. HATCH. With the same understanding that Senator Harkin has the right to the floor, that is just not acceptable. The Senators from Missouri and Tennessee want a vote on their amendment. They are willing to go ahead with Senator Harkin's amendment immediately following, if I understand it, and let the chips fall where they may. I just want to move this ahead. I am trying to protect you so you are in order to come in at that point. If you don't want to, that is fine with me. It is an advantage to you.

Mr. HATCH. It keeps the thing focused so people know what you are talking about. To me, that is a reasonable request.

Mr. HATCH. Let me withdraw it then. I don't care. What I am trying to do, I say to Senator Harkin again without you losing the right to the floor, I am trying to move this ahead. I am making a legitimate good- faith effort to move it ahead. It is apparent that we are not going to have a vote until we have the Ashcroft-Frist, Frist-Ashcroft amendment voted on. I would like, then, to give you the opportunity to have your amendment called up, which modifies their amendment. Then we will have a vote on your amendment. Then we go and just keep going down the line, as we have done. We are not going to move ahead until we vote on this amendment. If you are going to filibuster, that is another matter.

Mr. HATCH. That is a right the Senator has.

Mr. HATCH. Sure.

Mr. HATCH. Amendments or an amendment?

Mr. HATCH. Parliamentary inquiry. I do not think the Lautenberg amendment is next on that list.

Mr. HATCH. Could I have that parliamentary inquiry? I just want to know, what is the order? I do not think Lautenberg is next.

Mr. HATCH. What I propose does not change that at all. If we put these amendments in order, the Frist-Ashcroft, Harkin and Wellstone and Lautenberg, that still does not take away your right to move to table and then file a second-degree amendment, if you desire to. We would have to dispose of the Frist-Ashcroft amendment first. And you would have every right to do that.