Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 816, H.R. 3679.

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that the Senate stand in recess under the previous order, following the remarks of Senators Harkin, Landrieu, Reid, Dorgan, Durbin, and Lott.

Mr. LOTT. I am happy to withhold the final request.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I am happy to repeat it because I know we want to make sure all Senators have heard this. We have four appropriations bills that are in some degree of completion. I think two of them have been wrapped up and two are still being discussed between the House, the Senate, and the White House. It is possible the House will act on one of those appropriations bills on Tuesday, but it appears it wouldn't be until late in the afternoon or even early evening, so we wouldn't get it until late Tuesday or perhaps Wednesday morning. We also have a discussion underway involving a tax bill which would provide for FSC and the pension and IRAs that have been approved by the Senate Finance Committee, so that could be completed and be available late tomorrow afternoon. But both of those would also probably be done on Wednesday. Hopefully, with three or four votes, we would be able to complete the session for the year. That could be done Wednesday; hopefully it will be done not later than Thursday. Of course, that all is dependent upon final agreement between the two bodies and final comments we might get from the White House.

Mr. LOTT. I don't mean for that to be all inclusive. I assume we will be clearing bills right along as we did last week and this week. We also have a number of Executive Calendar nominations that we anticipate clearing. I started the process last week to get to a vote on bankruptcy. We hope that will also come up, probably Thursday, before we go out. With regard to the tax provisions, there is a bill to which they would be attached. I don't recall the number right offhand. It does relate to small businesses, small business tax relief, but I can't give an exact name.

Mr. LOTT. If I could respond, I understand there are two tax court judges, two trustees with the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, two Social Security advisory board nominees, and Assistant Secretary of Commerce. It is our intent to get clearance to discharge committee and confirm those before we go out--hopefully, maybe even tomorrow; certainly, Wednesday or Thursday. But we have the list and we are going to be working on that.

Mr. LOTT. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I object.

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Therefore, the Senate will be in a period of morning business on Tuesday. Following the morning business, the Senate will begin consideration of any available conference reports, if available from the House. It is more likely the Senate will not receive these Senate appropriations reports until either late on Tuesday or Wednesday morning. Votes are not anticipated during Tuesday's session. Senators will be notified when votes are scheduled.

Mr. LOTT

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, one of the more glaring disappointments of the 106th Congress has been the recent rejection by the House of Representatives of comprehensive pipeline safety legislation. This legislation, S. 2438, the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2000, passed the Senate unanimously on September 7, 2000. It is the result of months of an extraordinary bipartisan effort by Senators John McCain, Patty Murray, Slade Gorton, Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici. Significant contributions to the legislation were also made by Senators John Breaux, Fritz Hollings, Sam Brownback, Ron Wyden, John Kerry, Kay Bailey Hutchison and Byron Dorgan. I also feel some ownership of this effort. I serve on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which prepared the bill for the Senate's consideration, and my home state of Mississippi hosts many, many miles of pipelines. These issues are important to me. Mr. President, S. 2438 is an excellent bill. It is probably the most significant rewrite of our pipeline safety laws in more than a decade. It is a tough bill. It comes on the heels of horrific accidents in Bellingham, Washington, Carlsbad, New Mexico, and in locations in Texas, that resulted in the deaths of a total of 17 people. The authors of this bill were determined to put the necessary specific requirements into the pipeline safety statutes that would prevent these kinds of accidents from happening in the future. They were successful. The bill represents a watershed change in the types of requirements on pipeline operators for inspection, pipeline facility monitoring and testing, employee training, disclosure of information, enforcement, research and development, management and accountability. It is as comprehensive, tough, and complete as to be expected of a bill that emerged from a thorough process of hearings, both here and in the field, data gathering, and working with the Administration, states and local groups. It is the kind of legislative work product to be expected from the experience, independence and determination of the Senators who worked on S. 2438. The pipeline industry had no choice but to submit to this legislation. Ultimately it received the affirmative vote of more than three-fourths of the Congress--all of the Senate and just under two-thirds of the House. It received the written praise of the Secretary of Transportation and the Vice President of the United States. However, this comprehensive bill was opposed bitterly by a minority of the House, a minority who was still of sufficient number to prevent the bill's passage by the House under suspension of the rules. The Administration did not lift a finger to help pass the bill in the House. The motivation of this opposition may have been to prevent enactment of good legislation so the 106th can be called a ``do nothing'' Congress. It may have been aimed at keeping an issue unresolved so it can be exploited in the future. There may have been other motivations. Whatever the motivations were, admirable or not so admirable, the result is another form of tragedy--there will be more accidents resulting in more deaths because thus far the 106th Congress has been prevented from implementing this improvement of public safety. Mr. President, there is no question that this bill would make much needed improvements in pipeline safety. The Administration and the pipeline industry could have begun work on these improvements--and could still if the bill were yet to pass in the waning days of the 106th Congress. But if, on the other hand and as is likely, this minority in the House gets its wish, and the bill does not pass, these safety improvements will not be made. They will not be made until that time in the future when we have returned to this issue and overcome this minority's opposition. In the meantime there will be pipeline accidents. I would not want to be the one to have to explain to the victims of such an accident that I sacrificed the protections of this good bill so that a future Congress could enact protections too late. I say shame on those in the House and in the Administration who are letting these protections die. Mr. President, the protections of S. 2438 should be put in place now. If additional protections are shown to be needed, they should be added by the next Congress. Senator McCain and his coalition in the Senate have pledged to continue their good work on pipeline safety in the future. However, Congress should not adjourn empty-handed. To do so with such an excellent bill in our hands now makes no sense. The most powerful source of cynicism about government is the suspicion by our citizen's that politicians put political advantage above doing the work of the public. In looking at the House minority's actions on pipeline safety, I find much justification for that cynicism. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I thank the chairman of the committee and the ranking member, Senator Mikulski, for the work they have done on this bill. It has been a long process, and they both have done excellent work. We appreciate their leadership.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I now withdraw my motion to proceed to S. 2557 regarding America's dependency on foreign oil.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I move to proceed to the conference report containing the bankruptcy reform bill, H.R. 2415, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the conference report containing the bankruptcy bill, H.R. 2415, and the conference report be considered as having been read.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I now move to proceed to S. 2557, regarding America's dependence on oil.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent when the Senate receives from the House the continuing resolution, the resolution be immediately considered, advanced to third reading and passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, all without intervening action, motion, or debate.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, then, the Senate will have conducted its last vote for the day. We will adjourn shortly, although I understand there is one bill that is going to be taken up with some brief debate, and also there will be some debate on the bankruptcy issue. The Senate will not be in session on Friday, but the appropriations negotiators and others who are negotiating some policy decisions will be meeting tomorrow and throughout the weekend, if necessary. The Senate will be in session on Monday, and I expect that there will be a period for morning business. Unless some procedural step is necessary regarding the bankruptcy bill, I do not expect any further announcements with regard to the schedule. The Senate will next be in session after that on Tuesday. Therefore, votes could occur on Tuesday in an effort to wrap up the session of Congress. We do have four appropriations bills that need to be completed, and, one way or another, we also are looking at a tax package and, of course, bankruptcy, with a vote on cloture if necessary. Later on, either tomorrow or Monday, we will notify Members jointly as to exactly when votes could be expected, but it will depend on when agreements are reached, when the conference reports are filed, and when the House acts because I think in each of these four instances the House would have to act first. We will move on the bankruptcy, depending on what is happening on these appropriations bills and the tax package.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I say to Senator Reid, we had to make a decision last Monday. Unfortunately, we did not immediately communicate with both sides of the aisle because it was late in the afternoon. We need to be in close touch. I will be here Monday. I know the Senator from Nevada will be. Once we see when the reports are filed and when these votes will be ready, we will be prepared to notify everybody as to when they can expect a vote. It appears to me it is possible we could have one or more of these conference reports ready late Tuesday, but if it becomes apparent the House is not going to get it until late Tuesday or even late in the afternoon, we may want to make a conscious decision to go ahead and announce Monday those votes may not occur until Wednesday. I think we need another day or perhaps the weekend to see if these agreements can be worked out between the House and Senate Republicans and Democrats and the White House and get the reports filed. It is impossible to say right now. I assume all Senators would like to get this work completed as soon as possible. If we can do it Tuesday and Wednesday, I presume that is preferable, but if it is going to be Wednesday or Wednesday/Thursday, then obviously Senators want to know that. I will stay in close touch with Senator Reid, and we will make those decisions and those announcements jointly, not later than Monday afternoon.

Mr. LOTT. I will be out here. I will see the Senator from Nevada on the floor. We will make those calls at that time and notify everybody so they at least have 24 hours' notice. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent the Energy Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 2984 and H.R. 3986. I further ask consent the Senate proceed en bloc to their consideration.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.