Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, first, I commend the distinguished Senator from Texas for her remarks today and on several occasions with regard to the working mothers of this country and the women who would benefit from this opportunity, as well as her work on the spousal IRA last year. In so many ways she has raised our sensitivity to ways that we can help the working women and the moms of America. She was on the air this morning shortly after 7 o'clock, speaking up about this important legislation. I hear her often at all hours of the day. She is doing a great job. I commend her for her leadership. I also want to thank the Senator from Missouri, Senator Ashcroft, Senator DeWine from Ohio, Senator Jeffords, all of the Members who have worked to bring this legislation to the floor. S. 4 is probably one of the most important things we can do this year to help the workers of America have flexibility with their work schedules, to deal with the comptime issue in a different way that is more beneficial to them. This is very important legislation. I had hoped we could come together on an agreement on getting it completed and moving it through the Congress and on to the President for his signature. There were indications in the administration that they would like to do it, and from the Democratic leadership. So far, it has not happened. But we feel this is so important we must bring it to a foreseeable conclusion and make sure that the amendments that are offered are relevant.

Mr. LOTT. Therefore, Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. LOTT. For the information of all Senators, the cloture vote on S. 4 will occur on Thursday, May 15, and I ask unanimous consent the vote time be determined by the majority leader after consultation with the Democratic leader and that the mandatory quorum under rule XXII be waived.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, May 13, 1997, at 10 a.m. to hold a hearing.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent on behalf of the Governmental Affairs Committee to meet on Tuesday, May 13, 1997, at 1 p.m. for a hearing on the President's plan for the District of Columbia.

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 Tuesday, May 13, 1997, at 10:30 a.m. in room 485 of the Russell Senate Building to conduct an oversight hearing on Public Law 102-477, the Indian Employment, Training and Related Services Demonstration Act of 1992.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, May 13, 1997, at 10 a.m. to hold a hearing on chemical weapons implementing legislation.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Aviation of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on May 13, 1995, at 2:30 p.m. on barriers to entry.

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 Tuesday, May 13, for purposes of conducting a full committee hearing which is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. The purpose of this hearing is to receive testimony on S. 417, reauthorizing EPCA through 2002; S. 416, administration bill reauthorizing EPCA through 1998; S. 186, providing priority for purchases of SPR oil for Hawaii; S. 698, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Replenishment Act, and the energy security of the United States.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, in light of this vote on the supplemental appropriations bill, there will be no further votes this evening. The Senate will be in session tomorrow for general debate on the comptime-flextime bill. However, no votes will occur during Friday's session of the Senate. The Senate will be in session on Monday to consider the IDEA, the individual disabilities education bill, hopefully, under a time agreement that we are still working on. I urge that all my colleagues agree to be brief on the time agreement that we can reach so that we can complete this very important legislation that has very broad based bipartisan support. If that agreement can be reached, any votes ordered then will be stacked on Tuesday at the request of a number of Senators. I fear that if the Senate cannot consider this bill on Monday, that events then will cause--because of the budget and other bills that we do have to consider, including the Chemical Forces in Europe Treaty, it would be pushed off until after the Memorial Day recess and everybody would like to get the IDEA bill done. On Tuesday, the Senate will begin formal consideration of the flextime-comptime bill. Unanimous-Consent Agreement I now ask unanimous consent that we begin consideration of S. 4 at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, May 13.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the Government Shutdown Prevention Act is the right thing for us to do, and this is the right time for us to do it. If there's one thing we should be able to promise the American people, knowing we can keep that promise, it's that there will not be another Government shutdown, as there was in 1995. We all know what happened back then. President Clinton vetoed appropriation bills because the Congress would not give him all the money he wanted to spend. No matter what gloss my friends on the other side of the aisle want to put on that situation, that was the bottom line: He wanted more tax dollars than we wanted to spend, and he was willing to see much of the Federal Government close its doors rather than make do with less cash. But the President did a masterful job at handling the PR of the situation. In fact, he ran rings around us, so much so that, to this day, most Americans probably believe that it was the Republican Congress that shut down their Government. There's nothing we can do about that now. We have to leave all that to the judgment of the historians. But we should not leave the future to chance. We have the chance today to guarantee the American people that the departments and agencies and bureaus of their Government will remain open this year, even if the Congress and the President cannot agree on spending issues. We have a chance to redeem the reputation of Congress by placing the daily operations of Government--from our national parks to the FBI-- above politics and beyond political squabbles. All we are asking is that, if a department's appropriation bill is not completed by the start of the new fiscal year on October 1, 1997, that department can continue all its programs and services, spending at the rate of 100 percent of its current budget. Just so no one misunderstands, let me restate that. All we want to do is ensure that, if any part of the Government does not have its annual appropriation in place by October 1, it can continue all its operations at 100 percent of their current level. That is a reasonable, modest, prudent measure to safeguard the public interest. And yet, it seems to have provoked a considerable amount of opposition from both the administration and Senate Democrats. I can understand why, and the reason has nothing whatsoever to do with some of the procedural arguments that have been advanced against this legislation. No, the Government Shutdown Prevention Act does not abdicate Congress' responsibility to produce individual appropriation bills. The appropriations process will go forward, and I hope to be able to call up--and pass--every one of those 13 bills. But what if that process fails? What if its failure imperils the operations of the Department of Justice? Or the Department of Health and Human Services? Or the Defense Department? No, the Government Shutdown Prevention Act is not out of place on the supplemental appropriation bill. The indignation that has been expressed on this point in some quarters ignores the fact that it is not at all unusual for Congress to accomplish other important business in the context of a supplemental appropriation. No, the Government Shutdown Prevention Act is not imperiling or delaying emergency assistance to the victims of floods in several hard- hit States. The aid they need will be forthcoming, and it will come on time. The people of my own State of Mississippi have known, all too frequently, the force of natural disasters. Neither they nor I would tolerate efforts to play political games with the aid our neighbors need. So let's set that canard to rest. The only way emergency aid will be held up to the Dakotas, to California, and to other hard-hit States is if a large number of Senators deliberately freeze the legislative process. Under our Senate rules, a small minority can bring this place to its knees, can paralyze our most important activities. But I don't believe that's going to happen, not on this critical bill. There is, however, one procedural argument against this bill that is right on target. Enactment of the Government Shutdown Prevention Act will substantially reduce the ability of individual Senators, or a small group of Senators, to hold hostage the Nation's money bills. I admit it. With this legislation in place, no one in this Chamber-- and no one on any committee--will be able to threaten to shut down one or another part of Government unless he gets his own way with an amendment or a project. It is hard to give up power. It is hard to give up even a little bit of power. But I think that's what the American people want us to do this time. They don't want any of us to have the power to play chicken with Government shutdowns. And I don't blame them. So on this count, I plead guilty. I am, indeed, asking my colleagues to give up their ability to create a Government crisis by thwarting the appropriations process. I am asking them today to enter into a formal agreement with the American people--a legal enactment of our promise that there will be: No more legislated layoffs. No more concocted crises. No more administrative Armageddons. In short, once and for all, no more Government shutdowns.

Mr. LOTT. I thank my colleagues for their cooperation. I now ask there be a period for the transaction--Mr. President I withhold. Does the Senator have further business?

Mr. LOTT. I will withhold that request at this time, and I yield the floor for the time being, Mr. President.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I observe the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Has a quorum been put in place, Mr. President?

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Then, Mr. President, I thank my colleagues for their cooperation on the agreement we just reached on S. 4, and I now ask there be a period for the transaction of morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up to 5 minutes each, with the exception of Senator Byrd, who will speak on Mother's Day.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that S. 104, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1997, as passed by the Senate on April 15, 1997, be printed.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, Senate Resolution 84 recognizes suicide as a national problem, and it has been submitted by Senators Reid, Murray, Wellstone, and Coverdell.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, before I go to the closing statement, I want to talk a little bit about where we are on the supplemental appropriations bill. We began the debate on the supplemental appropriations bill on Monday, yesterday, and we have been on it today. We did have one recorded vote at about 2:30 this afternoon, I believe it was, and I expected that we would continue then to work through the amendments, with some recorded votes being required throughout the afternoon and even now late in the afternoon. I understand some of the amendments are efforts to strike language in the bill. Perhaps they have been worked out and we will have some accommodation, perhaps, on the census issue. I understand the amendment of Senator Wellstone was worked out in some way or the other, and he is not going to offer his. Then I received word that the Democrats decided they were not going to offer any more motions to strike, amendments to strike, or any amendments, until something was worked out with regard to the emergency continuing resolution. Mr. President, I say to the ladies and gentlemen of America, this is supposed to be emergency supplemental appropriations. This is a piece of legislation, appropriations, to provide funds for our troops in Bosnia--and the funds that are involved there have been offset in this bill--and to provide disaster assistance to States all across America that have disaster needs. What has happened? No. 1, the Democrats say, ``We're not going to offer any more amendments until we get our way. We want to change the bill that was reported out of the Appropriations Committee, and unless it is changed to suit our desires, we won't come forward with any more amendments.'' Then, we have before the Senate 109 amendments--109 amendments. Now, are we serious about this supplemental emergency appropriations or not? I do not believe there are 109 problems existing in this supplemental appropriations bill. That is certainly not the way to get this legislation moving quickly. We will have a vote in the morning on cloture, I guess at 10 o'clock, to accommodate a request from the Democratic side. If we get cloture, then there will be 30 hours left on the supplemental. Under the rules of the Senate, you can have up to 1 hour on an amendment. That is only 30 amendments. There are 109 pending. I presume some of those will be wiped off the board if we get cloture. I want to move the legislation. I am willing to work with the Democrats and with the White House on the issues where they have concerns, as we have on the census issue that has been before us. But I want to serve notice now--and I am sending word to the Democratic leader--that we are going to have a cloture vote in the morning, but I am not filing another cloture motion tonight. I am not going to try to cut off debate on this supplemental. We need to get this work done. If we do not get the cloture motion passed tomorrow, if we do not invoke cloture and stop what appears to be sort of a slowdown filibuster, then we will just go to other issues or we will stay on this bill as long as it takes. I have been told that we need to pass it right away because there are thousands of farmers and other people, small businesses in States in the Midwest and in the Dakotas, and my own State of Mississippi, that are going to need this help. It is throughout the country--in the Midwest, in the South, in the Far West. And yet now we are ready to go. It has been reported out of the Appropriations Committee last Thursday--or maybe it was Wednesday--but we only had 1 day go by legislatively before we brought this bill to the floor. I want to emphasize, Republicans are ready to move this disaster relief bill now. We can complete it tomorrow. We should complete it tomorrow so that we can then go on to the comp time/flextime bill and do a little something to help the working mothers of America before we have Mother's Day. But we are prepared to work on the disagreements. The way it works is the Senate acts, the committee acts, and then the Senate acts. The House, by the way, has to complete their work before we can pass the supplemental anyway. We go to conference and we continue to work out the disagreements. The way it does not work is, if you do not get your way you stop, you know, offering amendments and you slow down the process. So we will have the cloture vote tomorrow, and hopefully we will have an agreement to cut off the filibuster and we can move this bill through. But I want to talk a minute about what the problem is. The President has indicated that he does not want legislation included in the bill that would prevent or avert another Government shutdown. This is not something that just was discovered last year. We have had problems over the years of getting to the end of the fiscal year and Presidents or Congresses not being satisfied with the state of the situation, and the President would veto a bill or the Congress would not send a bill to the President. We would run out of funds, and you would have these shutdowns. We had them during the Reagan years. We had them during the Bush years. And now we have had them during the Clinton years. I think this is an irresponsible way to do business. We need to work through the process, but we should not endanger the people with the threat of a manmade disaster, which is what happens at the end of the fiscal year. It does not have to be in this bill and it does not have to be a specific way, but what we need to do is to make sure that the American people know that we are working together on a budget agreement, we are going to be working together on the appropriations, each one of the 13 that comes through, and that they will know what they can count on. If you are in education, you want to know what part the Federal Government is going to pay on it; if you want to visit a national monument, you would like to know that it is going to be open; if you are a private business man or woman, and you do business with some Federal facility, you would like to know that it is going to be open. So all we want is some process that makes sure when we get to the end of this fiscal year that the numbers we have agreed to will be honored. But in the process we are not going to go through these, what I consider to be very irresponsible games, whether or not the Government is open or shut down. So I hope that when we have--I am not going to file a cloture motion. I reiterate that. Generally speaking, if I do not have to file a cloture motion, that is well received. What I am saying is, we are ready to go. We need to work on a number of amendments that are still pending--amendments to change the bill, amendments to pay for the cost of the bill, amendments to strike various and sundry sections in the bill. I think we have a good supplemental here the way it came out of committee. Probably nobody would say it was perfect. But it is time that we work out the disagreements, have debate, have votes, and move to final passage. We can do that tomorrow, or we can do it Friday, or we can do it some other time. But I want to make it clear that we are ready to go and we are ready to have the debate and have the votes, and then we will go on from there. Mr. President, before I go to the closing script, would the Senator from South Dakota like to make some comments on these eloquent remarks I have been trying to deliver on this occasion? Mr. DASCHLE addressed the Chair.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I now ask unanimous consent the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. If I could comment briefly on that. I have said here before, last year, and I actually started working on that a couple of months ago, and as the Senator is probably aware, I met resistance on both sides of the aisle, on both sides of the Capitol, to a large extent from the appropriators, members of the Appropriations Committee. I do not want to put the blame just on them, but I, personally, think this has been abused over the years and is being abused now. This legislating on appropriations bills is not the way to do business. However, as long as it is allowed under the rules, unless we can find some way to modify or change that, I am sure it will be used with great vigor on both sides of the aisle. That is not the way I think business should be done.

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until the hour of 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 7. I further ask unanimous consent that on Wednesday, immediately following the prayer, the routine requests through the morning hour be granted, and the Senate then proceed to consideration of S. 672, the supplemental appropriations bill, and that there be 30 minutes equally divided between the chairman and ranking member. I further ask unanimous consent that following the 30 minutes of debate, the Senate then proceed to a vote on the motion to invoke cloture on S. 672, with the mandatory live quorum waived.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that the injunction of secrecy be removed from the following two treaties transmitted to the Senate on May 6, 1997, by the President of the United States: Agreement with Hong Kong on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, with Annex, Treaty Document No. 105-6, and Agreement with Hong Kong for the Transfer of Sentenced Persons, Treaty Document No. 105-7. I further ask unanimous consent that the treaties be considered as having been read the first time; that they be referred, with accompanying papers, to the Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be printed; and that the President's messages be printed in the Record.

Mr. LOTT

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