Mark Hatfield

Mr. HATFIELD

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I make an observation that the amendments on the list that we have are all legislation--matters relating to legislation on an appropriations bill. We have indicated that in cases of emergency and timeframe problems, if they are cleared by the authorizing chairman and the authorizing committee ranking member, we would accept them. But we will not accept legislation on this appropriations bill. Our leadership, both Republican and Democratic, has already stated that we would try to resist all riders on appropriations bills, which held us up a great deal in the last fiscal year and caused us to go, in part, into that situation where we had five appropriation bills that we had to incorporate in an omnibus package 7 months into the fiscal year. We are very desperately trying to avoid that this year. I am proud to say that by the end of this week we will have passed nine appropriation bills here in the Senate. I have already signed, today, the conference report on the agricultural appropriations bill. We are hoping to have five bills passed in the conference, ready for floor action, at the end of this week. So we are making very significant progress. We will report out the number 12 appropriation bill from our committee, State, Justice, Commerce, on Thursday of this week. We will report the last bill on the first week in September, Labor-HHS. That would give us a schedule that the Republican leader has put together, by which we would be able to meet that October deadline a week to 10 days before the expiration of this fiscal year. What a contrast to last year, and one that I would like to be able to achieve. So, again, I want to say that we have been here now for about a half- hour waiting for amendments. I informed the Republican leader about 15 minutes ago that we were in this situation, waiting for some kind of action, and that I wanted to consider third reading at an appropriate time, which, to me, would be right now. But I am not the leader and, consequently, I will confer with the leadership on that kind of a decision. But I have to, again, assure our colleagues that we want to do business with them. We want to consider their amendments that have been cleared by both the chairman and the ranking member of authorizing committees, because most all of them are authorization actions. And that is a bipartisan policy that our leadership has established and which this committee leadership has also agreed to. I do not know what more we can say to require some action.

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, this is one of those examples of a legislative action that has been cleared by the ranking member and the chairman of the Commerce Committee, so under the exigencies of the situation in Nebraska, it has been cleared on both sides to be adopted here today on our bill. I urge its adoption.

Mr. HATFIELD. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 5130 (Purpose: To allow funds previously appropriated for a highway safety improvement project in Michigan to be used for construction of a highway that is part of the project)

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I send to the desk an amendment on behalf of Senator Levin of Michigan.

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

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, this is an amendment by the Senator from Michigan, Mr. Levin, that would move some money from one account to another account to handle a situation in Michigan. This is not legislation on an appropriations bill, and there is a zero budget impact. I believe it has been cleared on both sides of the aisle. So, therefore, I urge its adoption.

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

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, we are now approaching 50 minutes that we have waited here for Senators to arrive to offer amendments--50 wasted minutes. I really think we have approached the time for calling of third reading on this bill and vote this bill out, since we have not had response from Senators. Is the Senator from North Dakota awaiting to present an amendment? I refrain from asking for third reading at this point.

Mr. HATFIELD. I move to table the McCain amendment, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. HATFIELD. The Senator from Arizona indicated to me he would be willing to yield back his time.

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, has the Senator from Arizona yielded back his time?

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

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I would just like to report to the Senate we have a few amendments yet, perhaps about 20, that we have to dispose of tonight. We will have rollcalls on some of them. There is no window. We are going to complete them. We had the window this afternoon for an hour and 10 minutes when Senator Lautenberg and I were ready to do business and nobody appeared. That was our window. So we will continue straight through now until we finish. Mr. President, I would ask now that I may yield to Senator McCain for 2 minutes and then the Senator from Ohio, [Mr. DeWine], has an amendment.

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I wonder if the Senator from Ohio will yield for a question?

Mr. HATFIELD. As the Senator knows, we have a strict position, known here, that we do not accept legislation on appropriations unless it is cleared by the authorizing committee chairman and ranking member. We have accommodated Senators where they have cleared that with the authorizing committee, but this is not in our jurisdiction. I am asking the question as to whether or not the Senator has had clearance from the Environment and Public Works chairman and the ranking member.

Mr. HATFIELD. I agree the amendment is very meritorious, but it does not comply with our rules. I will have to move to table this and reject it as such. I would prefer to have, maybe, the amendment temporarily set aside until you can confer with our two colleagues who are the authorizers. If they clear it, we will accept the amendment.

Mr. HATFIELD. I thank the Senator. Has the Senator made the request to temporarily lay aside his amendment?

Mr. HATFIELD. The request was to temporarily lay aside the amendment until the Senator from Ohio conferred with the authorizing leadership, and then to turn to the next amendment to be offered once it is temporarily laid aside, which is the Exon-Dorgan amendment.

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

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to temporarily lay aside the Dorgan amendment so we can clear the DeWine amendment that is being cleared by the authorizers.

Mr. HATFIELD. I ask unanimous consent that the DeWine amendment, which has now been cleared by the authorizers, both the chairman and the ranking member, now be accepted.

Mr. HATFIELD. There was a Senator who was planning to be here, but he is not able to be here. I yield to the Senator to withdraw the amendment.

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I am checking on some other matters here. But I believe that it is now the Democratic side of the aisle that is going to offer an amendment. We are alternating back and forth.

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

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk on behalf of Senator Pressler and ask for its immediate consideration.