Jim Jeffords

Mr. JEFFORDS

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 16, 2001, at 10 a.m., in executive session to consider certain pending nominations. The PRESIDING OFFICER: Without objection, it is so ordered. committee on commerce, science, and transportation

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on the nominations of Maria Cine to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General of U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service; Kathleen Cooper to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs; Bruce Melman to be Secretary of Commerce for Technology Policy of the Department of Commerce; Sean O'Hollaren to be Assistant Secretary of Governmental Affairs; Donna McLean to be Assistant Secretary for Budget Programs and Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Transportation; and Tim Muris to be a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday, May 16, 2001, at 9:30 a.m.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 16, for purposes of conducting a full committee business meeting which is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. The purpose of this business meeting is to consider pending calendar business, as follows: Agenda Item No. 1, S. 230.--To direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey a former Bureau of Land Management administrative site to the City of Carson City, Nevada, for use as a senior center. Agenda Item No. 2, S. 254.--To provide further protections for the watershed of the Little Sandy river as part of the Bull Run Watershed Management Unit, Oregon, and for other purposes. Agenda Item No. 3, S. 329.--To require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a theme study on the peopling of America, and for other purposes. Agenda Item No. 4, S. 498.--Entitled the ``National Discovery Trails Act of 2001''. Agenda Item No. 5, S. 506.--To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, to provide for a land exchange between the Secretary of Agriculture and the Huna Totem Corporation, and for other purposes. Agenda Item No. 6, S. 507.--To implement further the Act (Public Law 94-241) approving the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America, and for other purposes. Agenda Item No. 7, S. 509.--To establish the Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area in the State of Alaska, and for other purposes. Agenda Item No. 10.--Nomination of Francis S. Blake to be Deputy Secretary of Energy. Agenda Item No. 11.--Nomination of Robert Gordon Card to be Under Secretary of Energy. Agenda Item No. 12.--Nomination of Bruce Marshall Carnes to be Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Energy. Agenda Item No. 13.--Nomination of David Garman to be Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy of the Department of Energy.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 16, immediately following the committee business meeting to conduct a hearing. The committee will consider the nominations of J. Steven Griles to be the Deputy Secretary of the Interior; Lee Sara Liberman Otis to be the General Counsel for the Department of Energy; Jesse Hill Roberson to be the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management of the Department of Energy; Nora Mead Brownell to be a Commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; and Patrick Henry Wood III to be a Commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 16, 2001, to consider the nominations of Claude Allen to be Deputy Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services; Thomas Scully to be Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration, Department of Health and Human Services; Piyush Jindal to be Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health and Human Services; Peter R. Fisher to be Under Secretary for Domestic Finance, U.S. Department of Treasury; James Gurule to be Under Secretary of the Treasury for Enforcement, U.S. Department of Treasury; Linnet F. Deily to be Deputy U.S. Trade Representative, with the Rank of Ambassador, Executive Office of the President; and, Peter Allgeier to be Deputy U.S. Trade Representative, with the Rank of Ambassador, Executive Office of the President.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 16, 2001, at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., to hold two nomination hearings as follows: at 10 a.m., in SD-419, the Honorable A. Elizabeth Jones, of Maryland, to be Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs and Stephen Brauer, of Missouri, to be Ambassador to Belgium at 3 p.m., in SD-419, the Honorable Thelma J. Askey, of Tennessee, to be Director of the Trade and Development Agency and the Honorable Peter S. Watson, of California, to be President of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be authorized to meet to hold a hearing on the following nominations for the Department of Veterans Affairs: Leo S. Mackay, Jr. to be Deputy Secretary; Robin J. Higgins to be Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs; Maureen P. Cragin to be Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs; Jacob Lozada to be Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration; and Gordon H. Mansfield to be Assistant Secretary for Congressional Affairs. The hearing will be held on Wednesday, May 16, 2001, at 9:30 a.m., in room 418 of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 16, 2001, at 2 p.m., to hold a closed hearing on intelligence matters.

Mr. JEFFORDS

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent Heather Smith, an American Planning Association congressional fellow in my office, be granted floor privileges for the duration of the debate on the bill.

Mr. JEFFORDS

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to the Murray amendment. The bill before us clearly states that Federal funds must be used for activities that will improve teaching and learning in the classroom, including the hiring of highly qualified teachers, if that hiring will improve student performance. The decision as to how Federal money is to be used is up to the local school district. Although there are teacher shortages in States and localities, there are also areas where teacher shortages are not prevalent. As you can see from this chart, which illustrates class size over the last 40 years, the recent trend in the mid to late 1990s indicates that class size is averaging around 17 students per teacher. I oppose the class size reduction amendment because I believe local schools are in a better position than we are to determine how best to distribute funding in regard to professional development and hiring practices. S. 1 gives local school districts the opportunity to make their own decisions about the expenditure of dollars for the purpose of improving their teacher corps, which, in turn, will hopefully lead to gains in overall student performance. I urge my colleagues to oppose this class size amendment. Mr. President, I yield back the remainder of my time.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, this amendment has been cleared on both sides of the aisle. We all agree that the Brownback-Kohl amendment, which would gather data on the use of violent entertainment by children through the National Assessment of Educational Attainment and require a joint National Institutes of Health-Department of Education study on the issue, is highly relevant to improving the educational performance of our children. It is my intention to keep this provision in the final version of the education reform package when it comes out of conference with the House of Representatives.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I do not believe there is any objection to the amendment. I yield to the Senator on his amendment.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I want to join in the accolades for the Senator's amendment. What we are doing in this bill is not something that is easily understood when you try to analyze the facts. But it is incredibly important that parents understand how their child is doing. The amendment that we have here will be very helpful in letting us understand what is an incredibly important move forward in making sure that we get changes and improvements in the system, but it does it in a way that we can fully understand how each child is doing. I thank the Senator for his excellent amendment.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I may have to object. We haven't seen a copy of it yet.

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

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

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, we have no objection to the amendment, as modified.

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, as I understand it, we are ready to vote on the Byrd amendment.

Mr. JEFFORDS. I ask for the vote.

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

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

Mr. JEFFORDS. I ask unanimous consent that at 5:30 tonight the Senate proceed to vote in relation to the McCain amendment No. 477. I further ask unanimous consent that no amendments be in order to the amendment prior to the vote.

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

Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I follow my good friend from Massachusetts in explaining that I, too, certainly agree with Senator McCain on the merits of his proposal and that we should send that very fine bill to the House, but I also made a commitment to oppose all nonrelevant amendments to the bill. Thus, I will vote against the McCain amendment, but I certainly support the advancement of campaign finance reform and was one of the principal sponsors and participants of that legislation of which I am very proud. I have made this commitment, and I will stick by it. Mr. President, I yield the floor. We are almost at the point of voting.

Mr. JEFFORDS. I suggest the absence of a quorum.