Jim Jeffords

Mr. JEFFORDS

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, on rollcall vote No. 191, Senator Warner voted ``nay,'' which was not his intention. He meant to be recorded as ``aye.'' I ask unanimous consent that he be recorded as an ``aye.'' This would in no way affect the outcome of the vote.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, the pending amendment, I believe, is the Wellstone amendment. I move that we return immediately to the Wellstone amendment and relinquish any time that was available. Mr. WELLSTONE addressed the Chair.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I have no other speakers on this side. It is my understanding the yeas and nays have been ordered, and I believe we are ready to vote.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Yes.

Mr. JEFFORDS. There is no point of order, so we are ready to go to a vote.

Mr. JEFFORDS. That may have prompted my question.

Mr. JEFFORDS. If I can inquire, if the information required to go to a vote is obtained, will the Senator mind being interrupted?

Mr. JEFFORDS. It is my understanding that an amendment will be offered by Senator Santorum. He believes he will take 10 minutes or less. I know of no one that wants to speak on the other side. I ask that Senator Santorum be recognized.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the pending Wellstone amendment be set aside for a period not to exceed 20 minutes.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Virginia, who has been a tremendous help to me on the committee. I just point out that since he has been on there, the ability to get a consensus has grown immensely. A lot of it is through his savvy way of being able to pull people together to walk in the same direction. I deeply appreciate that. I assure him that this is a critical area, which all of us happen to be deeply concerned about. I will work with the ranking member of this committee to find a solution.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, if I could ask the indulgence of the Senator, I think we are both willing to accept the Warner amendment, if we could have that offered and accepted, if that would be all right with the Senator from Iowa. Amendment No. 3117

Mr. JEFFORDS. It is acceptable.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Yes. It is our intention to finish tonight and to have the vote on final passage tomorrow morning at 9:30. I just urge everybody to take Senator Sessions' example by getting a time limit and disposing of the amendments. I think this side is nearing completion. I don't believe we have any controversial amendments that will take a great deal of time. So I am really expecting that we can finish tonight, with the cooperation of all Members. Certainly, I look forward to Senator Byrd's comments.

Mr. JEFFORDS. That is fine.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, it has come to my attention that the official CBO scoring of the Graham amendment adopted earlier today shows a slight mismatch in outlays relating to the new spending and offset contained in the amendment. This technical drafting error has resulted in a small paygo problem for this legislation. It is my intention that this bill be in full and complete compliance with all relevant budget rules and I intend to ensure that the bill as it comes out of conference will meet this standard. section 632 of title vi

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, first of all, I want to thank both of my colleagues from Maine and from Ohio, Senator Collins and Senator DeWine, for a very eloquent and pertinent statement and for all the work they did in committee in helping us to put together this bill. Mr. President, I now believe that, under the previous unanimous consent order, Senator Bingaman is to be recognized. I don't believe there is any time agreement. Would the Senator be willing to accept an hour equally divided?

Mr. JEFFORDS. We will wait on that. Amendment No. 3116 (Purpose: To ensure that secondary school teachers are sufficiently prepared during their pre-service training to have sufficient academic knowledge to be able to help their students reach high academic standards)

Mr. JEFFORDS. I yield the Senator an additional minute.

Mr. JEFFORDS. I move to lay it on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

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

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I thank all my colleagues. This has been a long day, and we have a very important bill and we are about 2 minutes away from final passage. We just have a few little housekeeping things to do and then we can all go home. Amendment No. 3120

Mr. JEFFORDS

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I yield to the Senator from Kentucky for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Mr. JEFFORDS

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary, be authorized to hold an executive business meeting during the session of the Senate on Thursday, July 9, 1998, at 9:00 a.m., in Room 226, of the Senate Dirksen Office Building.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, July 9, 1998 at 2:00 p.m. in Room 226 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building to hold a hearing on: ``The Nomination of Beth Nolan, of New York, to be Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel.''

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent on behalf of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Governmental Affairs Committee to meet on Thursday, July 9, 1998, at 9:30 a.m. for a hearing on the topic of ``The Safety of Food Imports: From the Farm to the Table--A Case Study of Tainted Imported Fruit.''