Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I will have a unanimous-consent request momentarily with regard to calling up Calendar No. 84, S. 924, the Department of Defense authorization bill. We have been in communication with the Democratic leadership and Senators on both sides about our desire to call up this legislation. We do have some concerns on both sides about some provisions that are in or not in it. But I want to withhold on making that request just for one moment. I had, also, as a second consideration, hoped that we could get up the intelligence authorization bill this afternoon. We are asking the Armed Services Committee to continue to work on that and consider that as something we would like to try to do this week if at all possible. But we are still working to get that cleared. We will ask consent later on this afternoon to go to S. 923, which would deny veterans benefits to persons convicted of Federal capital offenses. I believe we can get that done this afternoon. Senator Specter has been working on that. I understand there are Senators on the other side of the aisle having some input. I believe we can get something worked out on that this afternoon. It is something certainly we should do.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Labor and Human Resources be authorized to meet in executive session during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, June 18, 1997, at 9:30 a.m.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent on behalf of the Governmental Affairs Committee to meet on Wednesday, June 18, 1997, at 9 a.m. for a hearing on S. 314, the Freedom From Government Competition Act, and opportunities for competitive contracting.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Wednesday, June 18, 1997, at 10 a.m. on Asia trade II.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, June 18, 1997 at 10:30 a.m. in room 106 of the Dirksen Senate Building to conduct a joint hearing with the House Committee on Resources on S. 569/H.R. 1082, to amend the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be granted permission to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, June 18, for purposes of conducting a Subcommittee on Forests and Public Land Management hearing which is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, a resident of California has, for the second time in the past several years, filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the constitutionality of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate. Under rule XXII, debate on a pending matter may be limited by a vote of three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn or, in the case of an amendment to a Senate rule, a vote of two-thirds of the Senators voting, a quorum being present. The plaintiffs has named as defendants in this action all Members of the Senate, together with the Secretary of the Senate, the Sergeant at Arms, the Parliamentarian, and two executive branch officials. He seeks a declaration that rule XXII is unconstitutional and a court order rewriting rule XXII to permit a simple majority of a quorum to limit debate in the Senate. With respect to a prior action filed by the same plaintiff also challenging rule XXII, Senate Resolution 150 of the 103d Congress authorized the Senate Legal Counsel to defend Senators named as defendants in that action. With respect to the plaintiff's prior challenge, the district court dismissed the suit for lack of standing. On appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the appellate court vacated the district court's decision and ordered the plaintiff's complaint dismissed as moot. In his complaint, the plaintiff had sought to present his alleged injury as frustration of the majority party's legislative program by the minority. The appellate court noted that the intervening change in the control of the Senate after the 1994 election had mooted his allegations of injury. The plaintiff's new action alleges an injury independent of party control, as well as adding non-Member defendants. The new action is subject to the same grounds for dismissal as was the previous action. Over the years, the Senate has vigorously debated the merits of rule XXII. That debate has included the question that the plaintiff seeks to present to the court in the instant action of whether a majority of the Senate should be permitted to end debate. The resolution of this issue under our constitutional system, Mr. President, is best decided in the Senate and not in the courts. The resolution at the desk would authorize the Senate Legal Counsel to represent the Members, officers, and an employee of the Senate who have been named as defendants in this case and to move to dismiss the complaint.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I want to say how much I appreciate the good work that has been done on this legislation. It is truly a bipartisan compromise. The distinguished chairman and ranking member, the Senator from Delaware, have really worked hard and have come together, I think, on a good bill. It is obvious that the bill is going to be supported by the overwhelming votes that we have seen here today. It is important that we finish this bill tonight. There are not a lot of amendments left. I hope that the Senators who have amendments they are seriously interested in will come to the floor right away and talk to the chairman so that we can finish this up in the next hour and a half or 2 hours. I thank the Senator from Kentucky, who is acting as leader in the absence of our good friend, Senator Daschle. Let's really stay behind this and see if we can't finish in the next couple of hours. I wanted to make that point. Several Senators addressed the Chair.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I thank the Chair.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. For the information of all Senators, the Senate will be in a period of morning business today until the hour of 12:30 p.m. Following morning business, by previous consent, the Senate will begin consideration of the State Department reauthorization bill. Senators who intend to offer amendments to that legislation should be prepared to offer and debate their amendments today. I understand we do have a couple of amendments that may be offered. We have announced earlier that any rollcall votes ordered on those amendments will not occur today but, instead, will be stacked to occur at a time to be determined in the morning by the two leaders. We do hope to open with some early votes so we can get on toward completion of the State Department reauthorization hopefully by tomorrow night. Senator Daschle and I discussed that last week before he left, and we agreed that we would try to complete action by Tuesday night, since we have bipartisan agreement on this legislation. Senators will be notified accordingly exactly when the rollcall votes will be scheduled, and we hope that we can finish the State Department reauthorization so that we can move on to other bills. We now have scheduled the Defense authorization bill for Wednesday and the remainder of the week. We have some other issues that we might try to get up, including the intelligence authorization bill. So I remind Senators again that there are only 2 weeks remaining prior to the July 4 recess. The next 2 weeks will certainly be very busy, and I hope Senators will continue to be cooperative as we schedule legislation and votes. I thank our colleagues for their cooperation in the Chamber. We may have to go into the night some the next 2 weeks in order to get through the State Department authorization, the Defense authorization, maybe even the intelligence authorization and the two reconciliation bills next week, one on the spending side and, of course, the tax bill. That is a big order, but the Finance Committee will be meeting most of the day tomorrow and Wednesday and Thursday to complete action on those two important reconciliation bills that will carry out the directions of the budget resolution that we agreed to.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, on behalf of all Senators, I extend our sympathy to the family of Senator Daschle. His father, Sebastian ``Dash'' Daschle, passed away this past weekend in Aberdeen, SD. I talked to Senator Daschle on Sunday afternoon and expressed our sympathy to him and to his family, offered our condolences and our assistance in any way we might be helpful. I understand Senator Daschle will probably be in South Dakota for the remainder of the week, but he has already talked to Senator Wendell Ford, and we will work together to carry out the legislative agenda we agreed to this week. Mr. President, I yield the floor. I believe Senator Breaux is in the area and wishes to make some morning business statements, but I observe the absence of a quorum until he is available.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Let me say, Mr. President, that I appreciate the cooperation of the Senator from South Dakota. He has been willing to work on a number of different approaches to resolve this matter. This is clearly not the way I thought we should proceed. Apparently, the House-passed bill will be at the full funding level of about $8.6 billion. I think that is inappropriate, uncalled for. I think it is important that we get the disaster funds through and the funding for the Department of Defense Bosnia activities, but this bill has grown like Topsy. There is no need for it to be $8.6 billion. There has been a lot of add-ons on both sides of the Capitol, both parties, and the administration even made an additional request apparently in writing the other day with regard to forward funding. It seems to be everybody has found a way to add more money here and there, and while enumerated on the floor and put in on the floor, some of the things that have been added--and, again, this is not partisan or it is not aimed at just the Senate or just the House; it is a bicameral, bipartisan exercise--but as the effort has gone forward to try to reduce this funding, basically what this Senator has found is everybody said: No, not mine. Don't take this out. Don't take that out. There is a good reason for that, good reason for this, good reason for everything--always wanting to spend more of the people's tax money. So I am very unhappy with the amount of money involved here. But I think, as majority leader, it is incumbent upon me to work with all the various parties involved here to find a procedure to get this work done. We have done that, and so now I think we are ready to go forward with the debate. I believe the chairman, Senator Stevens, is here to give some more details about what is included in this bill.

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate receives from the House legislation which provides for the continuing of Government funding at a level of 100 percent of the fiscal year 1997 for those fiscal year 1998 appropriations that have not been signed by October 1, 1997, the majority leader may proceed with that legislation after consultation with the Democratic leader. I did not read that smoothly. This is the continuing resolution, Government shutdown prevention language. We assume we will receive it in this 100 percent form of 1997 levels for those 1998 appropriations that have not been signed. There will then be one relevant amendment in order for each leader, limited to 1 hour each, to be counted against the overall 8 hours, and no other amendments or motions be in order to the bill, there be 8 hours for debate on the bill equally divided between the two leaders or their designees, and finally, following the expiration or yielding back of the time, the bill be read a third time and the Senate proceed to a vote on passage, all without intervening action or debate.

Mr. LOTT. Oh, yes, absolutely. Only that substance. Not other unrelated matters. I can think of lots of things they might try to attach to that. No, not at all. We want this to be considered upfront in the daylight and a sincere effort to work out a way to avoid the fun and games at the end of the fiscal year. I think this will give us that shot. And if the House adds extraneous to it, it will never come up in this form. I would work with the Senator to make sure that does not happen.

Mr. LOTT. Reserving the right to object--I will not object--my only hesitancy was I was wanting to make sure I understood the ramifications of the Senator's request. I think I do, and based on that I do not have any objections.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I am prepared to ask for some unanimous- consent agreements here momentarily. I believe that the Democratic leader will be here. In the meantime, I thought I might just give the Senators some idea of what the time could be for the balance of the afternoon and then some thought about next week. If we get the agreement we have here before us entered into and agreed to, we would begin debate, I believe, then at about quarter until 4 on the supplemental appropriations, with a vote occurring 1 hour from then. So that vote could occur around quarter of 5. We are looking at the possibility of, of course, getting agreement for committees to keep working, because we have a number of committees that are in very crucial markups--the Armed Services Committee, the Foreign Relations Committee, and the Finance Committee is meeting in a walk- through, although it is not a markup. We are also looking at the prospect of calling up again the birth defects bill, which has broad bipartisan support, and we believe we could get a limited time agreement on that. We are contacting the principal sponsors, Senator Bond and perhaps others who are interested in that, and we could take that up somewhere around 5 o'clock and hopefully complete that early in the evening or late this afternoon, because we think we are only going to talk about 30 minutes to an hour, perhaps with the possibility of a recorded vote that could come, I presume, about 6 o'clock. With regard to the consent agreement that we are about to ask for here, we would begin as soon as we get the agreement on the supplemental appropriations bill. Basically, it is the bill that the House is now considering, or is about to consider. It may be before the Rules Committee and will be going to the floor of the House shortly after that. We would ask unanimous consent that our agreement only apply if the text has been received from the House and is identical to the bill that we are sending to the desk for the Record. We also have worked out a process to consider the very important issue that we feel very strongly about, and that is the Government Shutdown Prevention Act. And we are going to ask for consent that would allow for a process for it to be brought up, full debate with one relevant amendment for each leader. I think it is a fair way to consider this issue, and the Democratic leader has indicated he thinks that would be the way to proceed. With regard to the census issue, I understand that they have worked out some language on census with the administration, which is in the document that they are going to be taking up. I do not know the details of the agreement, but I understand that language is in there, for the information of all Senators. Would the Senator like to comment before I enter the UC request?

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent then that at 3:45 the Senate proceed to the supplemental appropriations bill and no amendments or motions be in order, there be 1 hour total for debate on the bill to be equally divided between the chairman, Senator Stevens, and the ranking member, Senator Byrd, of the Appropriations Committee, and finally, following the expiration or yielding back of the time, the Senate proceed to vote on passage of the supplemental notwithstanding the arrival of the papers, and once the Senate receives the papers, the bill be advanced to third reading and passed, all without further action or debate.

Mr. LOTT. I further ask unanimous consent that the above-mentioned agreement only apply if the text received from the House is identical to the bill I now send to the desk to be printed in the Record.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet in executive session to markup S. 450, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1998 and 1999.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent on behalf of the Governmental Affairs Committee to meet on Thursday, June 12, at 4 p.m. for a business meeting.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I yield the floor.

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I yield the floor so the Senator can begin the time on this bill.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Labor Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 419, a bill to prevent birth defects by developing and implementing new prevention and surveillance strategies, and that the Senate now proceed to its immediate consideration under the following limitation: One substitute amendment in order to be offered by Senator Bond, no other amendments be in order to the bill, and there be 30 minutes equally divided for debate with Senator Bond in control of 15 minutes and the ranking member in control of 15 minutes; and, further, following the disposition of the amendment and the expiration or yielding back of time, the bill be read a third time and the Senate proceed to a vote on final passage of the bill, as amended, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I think most Senators have been made aware of this by now. But that will be the last recorded vote of today. I have discussed having a voice vote on the birth defects legislation with the principal sponsor, Senator Bond. He agrees that there is no need for a recorded vote. So we will just pass that on a voice vote.