Nancy Kassebaum

Mrs. KASSEBAUM

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, if the Senator from Massachusetts would yield, there may be some amendments offered that will be withdrawn--not all have been agreed to or cleared. I think we are moving forward. We wish to complete this by 9:30 or 10 o'clock tonight at the latest. We need to know exactly who will be wanting a rollcall vote on their amendments. I think that is what everyone would like to know. Senator Domenici's amendment will be next. There will be a rollcall vote I believe. At that point, we should know how many more votes would actually be ahead of us.

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. I am happy to.

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. We thought not. We thought it best to move forward. After the next vote, we will be able to tell you exactly how many more rollcall votes there will be.

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, I know that many here would like to vote in favor of this amendment offered by Senator Domenici, and Senator Wellstone is one. It has been carefully crafted. There is no greater dedication to this legislation than from those who have spoken to us, as well as Senator Kennedy who, for a long time, has been a great supporter. So it is with real disappointment, if all debate is over, that I will have to move to table, as it is not an amendment that has consensus of support. And so for that reason, I only hope we can find some other avenue later through which we can address this. I move to table the Domenici-Wellstone amendment, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, I say to the majority leader, on our side, I understand that Senator Specter would like to have a vote. He has two amendments.

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. I would assume we could vote en bloc.

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. All right. I am not sure about Senator Thomas, whether he will want a vote on his, and Senator Gramm. I believe those are the only amendments that I have listed that would require--Senator Burns, I believe, has one on telemedicine.

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. I thought we were going to try to work that out.

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. As long as there are so few left.

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, is the Senator from Pennsylvania going to offer a second-degree amendment at this time?

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Is the Senator going to wait until quarter of 10 to speak on that? We are stacking the votes.

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, I stated the reasons why we have an objection. It is a program that has had some success. That is very true. And healthy start is very important. It is part of other programs in the public health sector to which that is directed. As I say, I think it should be really reviewed in oversight so we can analyze what is being done and what should be done. I just feel strongly that in this instance it needs to be handled through the authorizing process rather than an amendment.

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, just so I understand, I thought the majority leader asked that votes would be stacked until 9:45. Did I misunderstand?

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, I am speaking somewhat on behalf of Senator Cohen from Maine. He has worked many years on this issue, and has worked with Senator Harkin as well, trying to address the issues of fraud and abuse. The language that Senator Cohen had worked on is now part of the bill. It is an important issue, and the very things that Senator Harkin raised are issues Senator Cohen raised. But there have also been some concerns, and we have to be careful, if there are some problems, to see if we cannot get them worked out or else it poses a problem for the underlying bill. I yield time to the Senator from Maine.

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. There is very little time we need, Mr. President. My guess is, if Senator Cohen says 5 minutes, that is fine.

Mr. KASSEBAUM

Mr. KASSEBAUM. We are accepting it. So if the Senator wants to proceed--Senator Coats has been waiting too, but that is fine. It is acceptable.

Mrs. KASSEBAUM

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. I suggest at this point perhaps we could go an extra half hour, which I think will then take care of every amendment that is there to everyone's satisfaction.

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, I ask if we could delay this for 15 minutes. There are a couple more amendments that need to be offered.

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, I wish the Senator from Pennsylvania might wait until we worked out the order here.

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. I respond, if I may, Mr. President, to the Senator from Indiana. I am a cosponsor, as a matter of fact, of the Senator's Medical Volunteer Act. I think it is a very positive step forward. It encourages medical voluntarism and brings some small measure of relief to the current liability system. There are objections that have been raised to this on the Democratic side, principally, and because of our need to try and get as strong a consensus as possible for the underlying measure I have to object. At the appropriate time, after all debate is concluded, I would move to table the amendment of the Senator from Indiana.

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. If not, I ask for the yeas and nays and ask that the amendment be set aside.

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, I recognize it is just a sense-of-the- Senate resolution. But it is about 6 pages, and it is a fairly extensive direction for the next Congress. While there would be certainly a great deal of support for health care coverage for pregnant women and children, we are having a hard enough time in this Congress figuring out what we want to do, let alone applying some issues and directions to the next Congress. For that reason, Mr. President, I would have to oppose.

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, I move to table and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, I have here a study request that I cosponsored with Senator Helms which would ask HHS to study options on point of service. It has been agreed to on both sides.