Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Will the Senator yield briefly.

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent that this colloquy extend for not to exceed 10 more minutes.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration en bloc of the following reported bills by the Energy Committee: S. 366, Calendar No. 49; S. 501, Calendar No. 238, with amendment 2801; S. 244, Calendar No. 242.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I thank Senator Daschle for his work on this next group of bills. It involves a number of energy-related, water- related bills out of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. I also want to recognize Senator Murkowski, the chairman of the committee. These are quite often considered to be small bills, but to a number of areas or States or Senators, they are very big in importance. Senator Murkowski and Senator Bingaman have worked feverishly to try to get through a number of problems. It is one of those classic cases where you have one problem that develops with a bill; then it affects other bills. Senator Daschle took the time and the lead in working through some of these problems. I want to recognize the work he did. I also commit publicly on the record to proceed to S. 1051, the Northern Marianas bill, by February 15. We would have liked to have been able to go ahead and get a complete unanimous consent about the total arrangements for it being handled, but Senators who did have questions are now probably on airplanes headed halfway across the country. We will work together. I will make a commitment to bring this up by the 15th. Does Senator Daschle want to make any comment on that?

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the majority leader, following consultation with the Democratic leader, proceed to the consideration of S. 744, regarding conveying public lands to the University of Alaska, that immediately after the bill is reported, the committee amendment be agreed to as original text for the purpose of further amendment; and that the bill, as amended, be considered under the following limitations: That there be 4 hours for debate on the bill, equally divided and controlled between the chairman and ranking member, with the only amendments in order as follows: Bingaman, two relevant amendments; and Murkowski, one relevant amendment; that no second-degree or other first-degree amendments be in order, with debate time on the amendments limited to 60 minutes each, equally divided and controlled in the usual form; that upon disposition of all the amendments and the use or yielding back of all time, the bill be read a third time and the Senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the agreement relative to the Work Incentives conference report commence at 3 p.m. today and that the remaining parameters of the consent agreement remain in order. I further ask consent that the cloture vote relative to the appropriations conference report occur no later than 5 p.m. and that if cloture is invoked, adoption of the conference report immediately occur, without intervening action or debate.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration en bloc of the following reported by the Energy Committee: Calendar No. 138, H.R. 449: calendar No. 179, H.R. 459; calendar No. 198, H.R. 791; calendar No. 224, H.R. 15; calendar No. 250, H.R. 747; calendar No. 251, H.R. 1104; calendar No. 277, H.R. 658; calendar No. 313, H.R. 1665; calendar No. 333, H.R. 2140; calendar No. 347, H.R. 970; calendar No. 348, H.R. 1528; calendar No. 367, H.R. 20; calendar No. 368, H.R. 592; calendar No. 369, H.R. 1619. I further ask consent that H.R. 2079 be discharged from the Energy Committee and the Senate proceed to its consideration and H.R. 2889, which is at the desk. I ask unanimous consent that any committee amendments, if applicable, be agreed to, with exception of calendar No. 367, H.R. 20, in which the committee amendments be withdrawn, and further, any amendments mentioned be agreed to, the bills be read the third time and passed, any title amendments be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to any of these bills appear at this point in the Record, with the above occurring en bloc.

Mr. LOTT

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

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, what is the pending business?

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Under rule XXII, this cloture vote will occur on Tuesday, January 25, 2000. I ask unanimous consent that the vote occur at 12 noon on Tuesday and the mandatory quorum under rule XXII be waived.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the Senate has been considering this bankruptcy bill as the main Senate business since November 4, 1999, after a failed cloture vote in September. There have been dozen of votes conducted with respect to this issue, and yet there are still at least a dozen amendments pending to be offered, debated, and voted upon. It is with this in mind that I need to file this cloture motion on the bill in order to ensure we get a final vote, and that will be available when we come back after the first of the year. A lot of good work has been done on this bill on both sides, by the managers of the legislation and a number of Senators who have worked on it--Senator Grassley, Senator Hatch, Senator Sessions, on our side; Senator Torricelli, on the other side, has been involved; Senator Leahy has worked on this. So there is a lot of work that has been done and a lot of relevant amendments that have been voted on. I want to particularly note the good work of Senator Reid because he began with, I don't know, probably over 100 amendments.

Mr. LOTT. Three hundred amendments. I do not understand how the fertile minds of the Senate can be so productive to produce 300 amendments on a bill such as this that has been already marked up in committee. Then we got it down to 36, and it continued to be narrowed. I hope when we come back after the first of the year something can be worked out where it will not be necessary to go forward with this. But I do believe there is a necessity to have this protection so that we will have this option of cloture so we can complete the bill, if there is no other way to do it when we come back after the first of the year. Cloture Motion

Mr. LOTT. So I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, let me observe one of the problems we had in not being able to complete it even this week. While the sponsors of some of the amendments had indicated--or maybe all the amendments-- indicated a willingness to have limited time agreements, we had, I know, at least a couple of Senators on this side who were not willing to agree to limit the time, therefore possibly tying up half a day or a day one a couple of these amendments. We may still be able to work out something where we could have a short time agreed to on both sides and get a vote after the first of the year. But you reach a point, in the final days of a session, where motions are such that you just cannot get that kind of agreement.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that all nominations received by the Senate during the 106th Congress, first session, remain in status quo, notwithstanding the November 19, 1999 adjournment of the Senate, and the provisions of rule XXXI, paragraph 6 of the standing rules of the Senate.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to recognize my Legislative Fellow, Steven Apicella, who will be leaving the Lott staff, my team, at the end of this session. I must admit, when Steven first joined us, I was not sure who he was or why he was lurking in my meetings. However, I quickly learned that thanks to the wisdom of my Chief of staff and then Legislative Director, the Department of Energy had lent me and Mississippi one of their best. Over the past twenty months, Steven has become an indispensable part of my legislative shop. He has worked hard on a broad range of issues-- each time jumping in feet first, soaking up knowledge, and moving legislation forward in this often complicated process. Steven began his Capitol Hill experience during the lengthy and grueling TEA-21 negotiations. He quickly realized my transportation priorities for my home state of Mississippi, and was helpful in making sure these issues were not ignored. During these long hours spent hammering out the details of TEA-21, Steven earned the respect of staff, as well as mine. Steven advised me on a variety of high-tech issues, and was an active participant of the team which formulated a focus for the Republican Technology Task Force. He worked with the staffs of several of my colleagues to reach a consensus--often not an easy task. Steven has also been very diligent in advancing a meaningful and updated encryption policy--one that balances national security, law enforcement and trade interests. He continually made sure that all parties realized that these are not mutually exclusive priorities. Steven detected this significant issue and was responsible for bringing it to my attention and guiding me as the bill worked its way through the Commerce committee. Digital signatures is another issue Steven has aggressively pursued. He played an active role in getting the government portion of the legislation enacted into law last Congress, and worked extensively toward today's Senate passage of this needed opportunity for the private sector. An important service on behalf of the State of Mississippi has been Steven's diligence on national parks legislation. This year Steven was very helpful in preparing two bills that I introduced in this area--one to add the battlefield at Corinth as part of the Shiloh National Park, and another to begin the planning for the designation of the Vicksburg Campaign Trail. On each of these bills, Steven worked effectively with the Senate committee of jurisdiction and was responsible for getting the funds authorized before introduction. I am happy to say that today those bills passed the Senate by unanimous consent. Finally, with Steven's help I again fought the uphill battle of Title Branding. Steven worked with and strengthened a large, bipartisan effort to draft and support legislation to brand the titles of severely damaged salvaged vehicles, so consumers will be able to identify potentially dangerous used cars before they are purchased. Steven searched for a compromise, and constantly pushed the envelope of consensus. Steven tirelessly championed this pro-consumer bill and his efforts brought it to the threshold of Senate passage. Although Steven was assigned areas which were outside the realm of his ``parent'' employer, Department of Energy--he has been an excellent ambassador. He has helped the staff understand the intricacies of the agency and appreciate its problems. As Steven returns to his duties at DOE, I hope his experiences and the skills and contacts he has developed while serving as a part of my staff will serve him well. Over the past several years, I have been privileged to have the services of legislative fellows, to provide stellar support for my efforts. Steven has been fantastic. I thank Steven for his dedication and determination, and I thank DOE for their patience--I'm sure they are ready to have him back, working his magic there. I wish Steven, and his son Jarrett, Godspeed in their future endeavors.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there now be a period for the transaction of routine morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the language will delay the rule for 90 days. That is what is required and that was my intent, from the date of enactment of H.R. 1180, in order to facilitate additional public review. It is not the intent of the legislation to cause any unreasonable delay in the formulation of necessary improvements in national organ transplant policies, but rather to permit constructive review of the information that will be available and for the Congress to review it. Furthermore, I make clear section 413 provides that the rule is not effective until the expiration of the 90-day rule beginning on the date of enactment of this act. During that 90-day period, the Secretary shall publish a notice eliciting public comments on the rule and shall conduct a full review of the comments. At the end of the period, section 413 allows, but does not require, the Secretary to make any revisions in the rule that she deems appropriate.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Pennsylvania, and the Senator from New York, Mr. Schumer, for working with me on this and for their devotion to this important public health issue. It is one which is important to our country and to the people that need the organ transplants. We have to try to find the best and the fairest way to deal with this issue. I am happy to clarify this issue contained in the legislative measure.

Mr. LOTT. I believe I have the time and I will yield.

Mr. LOTT. I thank the Senator. Does the Senator from Alabama wish to speak?

Mr. LOTT. Yes, absolutely. I expect that and I believe she will do that.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I have at hand the printed text of the beautiful remarks by Richard Allen, National Security Advisor to Ronald Reagan during those eventful years of the Reagan presidency. Mr. Allen spoke last evening, November 18, in Greensboro, N.C. Mr. Allen's ``Tribute to Bud Nance'' was an assessment of the remarkable career of Admiral James W. Nance, a distinguished retired Navy officer. All of us knew and admired Bud Nance, who was a beloved and admired chief of staff of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Richard Allen's address be printed in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the second session of the 106th Congress will convene, then, at 12 noon on Monday, January 24. We do not yet have absolute certainty that there will be a State of the Union Address the next night, although it is preliminary indicated. I believe that is the date we would expect to have a State of the Union Address; that is, Tuesday, the 25th. That could be postponed upon a request from the White House, but we will need to be back and in business in order to be here for that date. So there will be a need for a live quorum to establish the beginning of the second session on Monday. A period of morning business will commence for the remainder of that day. And this 12 noon cloture vote on Tuesday, January 25, would be the first vote of the second session of the 106th Congress. Again, I thank my colleagues for their continued cooperation and wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season. Let me say, too, we have a number of bills that are in conference now. I had an opportunity to discuss the schedule for next year, or some of the bills for next year, with the President. We have a number of bills that are in a position where we could get early agreement out of conference, including the trade bill on which we worked so hard. We spent 2 weeks getting that out for Africa and CBI. We could have maybe even done it this week but we had so many things we were working on we could not get that completed. We have the FAA reauthorization bill that good work has been done on, and a series of bills, including the juvenile justice bill, which we hope we can get early in the session next year. So we will continue to work on that. I understand we are about ready to do a series of energy bills. I suggest the absence of a quorum, Mr. President.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, we have cleared a number of nominations on the Executive Calendar. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations on the Executive Calendar: Nos. 228, 273, 292, 326, 327, 329, 331, 332, 333, 366, 377, 394, 404, 405, 406, and all nominations in the Coast Guard on the Secretary's desk. I further ask consent that the HELP Committee be discharged from further consideration of the following nominations, and the Senate proceed to their consideration, en bloc: Magdalena Jacobsen, Francis Duggan, Ernest DuBester, and John Truesdale. I further ask consent that the nominations be confirmed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, any statements relating to the nominations be printed in the Record, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then return to legislative session, and that the Senator from Vermont be notified that Judge Linn is in this list for confirmation.