Mark Hatfield

Mr. HATFIELD

Mr. HATFIELD. Because the author has a right to bring this up, as other amendments have been brought up that may not be relevant.

Mr. HATFIELD. It is not to shift that responsibility. Will you agree to some kind of a time to set this matter aside when we have one side, the author, willing to do so?

Mr. HATFIELD. But, Senator, you have now joined the issue, so you are a part of this problem we face.

Mr. HATFIELD. If the Senator will yield, I have the assurance from the author of the amendment to temporarily lay it aside. So one can say, sure, it takes a joining of two groups or two adversaries to an issue to make a filibuster. He is willing to stop this matter and get on with the other business of this bill, and to return to it at whatever hour is necessary to return to it. I am only getting a resistance to cooperating with getting this bill underway and getting to other amendments before us from the speakers at the moment.

Mr. HATFIELD. I understand the Senator's position. Perhaps we could work out a matter whereby we set it aside and then let this minifilibuster, if that is what I hear being stated, continue on. I will remain and let it happen, say, from 12:01 a.m. tonight until 5:30 a.m., or whatever hour tomorrow afternoon, and then we will come back and have a vote. Why keep everybody here on the floor of the Senate throughout the night while a few engage in a minifilibuster? That is all I am asking, to be considerate of our colleagues, and then move this bill on through.

Mr. HATFIELD. Will the Senator yield a moment?

Mr. HATFIELD. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. HATFIELD. Will the Senator agree to a time agreement?

Mr. HATFIELD. Since this amendment came to the floor.

Mr. HATFIELD. Three hours and 15 minutes.

Mr. HATFIELD. I understand the Senator's position. I am not suggesting we dispose of this amendment at this moment. If we could set it aside temporarily, it means it comes back at a certain time, too, for final disposition. I am not suggesting to the Senator that we have final disposition at this moment. Give us a breather, is what I am asking, so that we can take up these other amendments. Because we are going to be here. We have probably 30, 40 amendments. Again, I cannot be more forceful than to say we are going to stay here. And when it comes to be 1 a.m. tomorrow morning, everybody is going to be wondering why we are here. I am just saying that, this morning I made the comment and I am making it again at 2:20, no one has to question at 1:30 tomorrow morning, if we are here: Why are we here? We are here because we have been stalled on this particular amendment at this time. We have had time agreements on every other amendment we have had on this floor. We are going to be paying the price at 1:30 tomorrow morning. I merely want to make that clear. I am not asking the Senator to just to set this aside to dispose of it, but to set it aside temporarily. Maybe at 2 a.m. tomorrow morning we will dispose of it faster, if we are here. But I do say that we have to get on with the business. I am trying to now chair a conference committee with the House on the first appropriations bill. We are trying to manipulate our chairmen, who are meeting with their chairmen, back here on the floor to take care of these particular amendments. It is no easy task. But, nevertheless, we have to have the cooperation of all the Members of the body to dispose of the business.

Mr. HATFIELD. My question is to the Senator from Connecticut as to this colloquy that is being engaged. Could I get some idea about how much longer the Senator will hold the floor? I ask the question in order to move this bill. I would like to be able to ask for unanimous consent, and receive unanimous consent when I do have that chance, to temporarily set this amendment aside, that other amendments may be taken up. I only want to put that in the total context. The Senator from Connecticut was here a few years ago when I chaired this committee and we had a humongous continuing resolution. We started at 10 a.m. one day, and I stood here until 2:30 the next afternoon, but we finished it. And I have now the backing of the Republican leader that we are going to stay here today and tomorrow, for however long, to finish this bill. We have been over 3 hours on this issue, and I think we have had aired an awful lot of the parts of this very complex issue. I would like to be able to temporarily lay it aside in order to get Senator Murray of Washington State into the next amendment in preparation for an amendment of the minority leader, Mr. Daschle, that deals with more precisely the details of this particular bill. So I am asking for this kind of cooperation. By the same token, I must add, I think if I get that opportunity for unanimous consent, I will ask for 3 minutes on Senator D'Amato's behalf to respond to these most recent comments made by the Senator from Connecticut and others on that side, and then get this set aside, if the Senator will yield for that purpose.

Mr. HATFIELD. Will the Senator yield for a question?

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from New Mexico. I yield the floor.

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the amendment was agreed to.

Mr. HATFIELD. I say to the Senator that there is a pattern in handling a bill of this kind that you have seen operate on the floor; that is, to move to table amendments. I do not know how that vote will turn out. But that is sort of our option. I would much rather see this amendment merged with the bill giving us further leverage with the House in terms of our conference and trading and what have you that has to go on to find a consensus, and I do not want to make a motion to table such an amendment because I think it has validity.

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, in response to the question, I urge the Senator not to follow that procedure on the basis that we can expedite these amendments, especially ones like Senator Wellstone's amendment yesterday on his priority for children. We reached an agreement on that. I think I can base that on the fact that this bill we have before us has made some major changes as to what we received from the House of Representatives. We have spent less dollars in this bill, and we have rescinded fewer dollars. But we have moved those rescissions from some programs of less personal need of character to programs of need. We demonstrated that as a part of our creation of this bill--everything from children's needs to homeless needs to low-income energy assistance to student aid. So I say to the Senator that the amendment fits compatibly to the basic structure of this particular bill. Any Senator can ask for a rollcall. I am not suggesting that I can prevent that. I could not if I wanted to. But nevertheless I urge the Senator let us accept this amendment as a part of a Senate version of a rescission and supplemental for FEMA.

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I am very happy to accept the amendment. question to the Chair for information from the chairman of the committee? I would just want to know. My main concern--and I appreciate the offer and willingness to accept the amendment very much--I am anxious that the Senate prevail in the conference with the House. And for that reason, it has been my intention to go ahead and have a rollcall vote on this matter so as to make clear that the Senate feels strongly about this. I ask the Senator from Oregon if he thinks that is the appropriate course to follow.

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, let me just briefly outline the status of this bill, where we are. I need not say that there are many amendments that we are aware of that have been indicated that many wish us to consider. I will say to the authors of each of those amendments that we are ready to consider those amendments and will be happy to do so. I have checked with the Republican leader and the Republican leader has indicated support for the matter of pushing this bill to completion today. I say today, and possibly tomorrow--but tomorrow will be 12:01 a.m. onward, not beginning at 10 o'clock tomorrow, if we have to push it over. We are going to continue this bill through the night, if necessary into the a.m., in order to complete this bill. So, consequently I think everyone ought to be on notice that the time agreements that everyone has been so cooperative on thus far, in reaching time agreements--we would like to be able to consider every amendment and we will consider every amendment, hopefully with some time agreement for each one. I just make that comment because we must complete this bill tonight. We are, at the same time, I say to my colleagues, functioning on about eight subcommittees in conference on the first appropriations bill. We are doing that right now. So we will accommodate each Member if we can have a little ``heads up'' as to the content of your amendments, so we may have the subcommittee chairmen present on the floor when you offer your amendment in order to engage in discourse. Those subcommittee chairmen are now with the House committee chairmen, working out the first supplemental appropriations bill. So give us a few moments in order to secure their presence on the floor to take up and discuss your particular amendment. If it would be possible, I would like to have the listing, so we can get a little ``heads up'' ourselves, of what to expect opportunity to know the content and therefore identify the subcommittee. We have our staff of these subcommittees here to assist, to expedite the whole process. We are happy to work with them. So with that, I yield the floor.

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that be vitiated at this moment, on the basis that Senator Daschle would like to take another opportunity to present his amendment.

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I believe we were proceeding under a unanimous-consent agreement reached yesterday relating to the Daschle amendment being laid down at this time. Has that been vitiated?

Mr. HATFIELD

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I would like to announce my support for the substitute amendment offered by Senator Nickles and Senator Reid and offer my name as a cosponsor of this amendment. This amendment starts the Senate down the road toward regulatory reform. While I view our action today as an important step, I look forward to a more comprehensive regulatory reform bill which is working its way through the Senate. I would like to take this opportunity to highlight the fact that the Federal local governments as well. Often times these regulations tie the hands of these governments in their attempt to address the needs of their citizens. That is why I introduced S. 88, the Local Empowerment and Flexibility Act of 1995, on the first day of this Congress. The need to provide flexibility to local and State governments is enormous. While I intended to offer S. 88 as an amendment to the legislation on the floor, I did not want to delay passage of this bipartisan bill. However, I will continue to offer the Local Empowerment and Flexibility Act as an amendment to legislation which comes before the Senate. I will also work with other Members to push this legislation forward as I believe it addresses regulations which are often overlooked and are as burdensome as those that this amendment addresses.

Mr. HATFIELD

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Subcommittees on Housing Opportunity and Community Development and HUD Oversight and Structure, of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, March 29, 1995, to conduct a hearing on HUD reorganization.

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet on Wednesday, March 29, 1995, beginning at 10:30 a.m., in room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building on S. 325, a bill to make certain technical corrections in laws relative to native Americans, and for other purposes; S. 441, a bill to reauthorize Public Law 101-630, the Indian Child Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act; S. 349, a bill to reauthorize appropriations for the Navajo-Hopi Relocation Housing Program; S. 510, a bill to extend the reauthorization for certain programs under the Native American Programs Act of 1974, and for other purposes; and to approve the Committee's Budget Views and Estimates.

Mr. HATFIELD

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I will yield time to the Senator to conclude his subject.