Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I like the sound of that. Good luck.

Mr. LOTT. The votes would occur on Wednesday morning, if any?

Mr. LOTT. Do you have any amendments where there would be a need for a vote in the morning?

Mr. LOTT. Can you give me an idea about how many nights might be involved here because we are already beginning to think about another bill next week.

Mr. LOTT. When you say you will present a list of amendments, and will try to work them through the process, that does mean, I take it, the amendments still would be debated, if they have to be debated.

Mr. LOTT. Tuesday night.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if the Senator would yield, I am not sure what that means. That means, I think, you are not going to be able to consider any amendments tonight.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I renew my unanimous consent request that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. LOTT

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

Mr. LOTT. I believe we are working to go forward tonight on the Defense authorization bill. I see the managers are on the floor, the chairman and ranking member, and I presume that will be something we can do around 6:30 or 7 o'clock. I will check with the managers of the Interior appropriations bill and see if there is any further business they need to do on that bill tonight before we go to Defense authorization. I see the distinguished Senator from West Virginia on the floor. As one of the managers, does Senator Byrd know if there is further business on the Interior appropriations bill tonight?

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, that was my understanding also, but I wanted to doublecheck. We will make one last check with Senator Gorton on that. We are hoping good progress can be made on the Interior appropriations bill tomorrow, hopefully even finish it tomorrow, if at all possible, and we will be glad to work with the managers on that. I yield to Senator Kennedy.

Mr. LOTT. I yield to Senator Kennedy.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I did ask consent, as a matter of fact. That is what the reservation is on: that we go to this bill, and we pass this bill tonight. I might also add, earlier I asked consent that we go to the bill and that there be five relevant amendments on each side of the aisle, that second-degree amendments be in order, which would have brought it to 20 amendments, and that was objected to on the Democratic side of the aisle. Even the idea of 10 amendments with second-degree amendments in order was objected to. First of all, I assume this is not controversial. I assume it has broad support on both sides of the aisle. I assume it is something the Senate wants to get done. That is all I am trying to do. I heard today the Democratic leaders saying they want to do this bill; that we were holding it up. I am trying to find a way to move it. Let me emphasize this, too. Some people say: Why don't you just call it up and let it go the way Senators would like to handle it, amendments and everything else. Here is what we have to do this week alone: The Interior appropriations bill; we are going to be doing the Defense authorization bill at night; we are going to have a procedure to finally eliminate the death tax; we are going to have a procedure to get a vote on eliminating the marriage penalty tax. That is all this week. Also along the way, we are going to try to get an agreement to take up the Thompson nonproliferation language with regard to China so that we can find a time to go to the China PNTR bill. We also have to do the Agriculture appropriations bill, the energy and water appropriations bill, Housing and Urban Development and Veterans appropriations bill, the Commerce- State-Justice appropriations bill, and the DC appropriations bill. We should do all of those before we recess for the August recess. We have done six so far, and that has been with a lot of cooperation on both sides and a lot of pushing and pleading because every time an appropriations bill is offered, 100 amendments appear. On the Defense authorization bill, I think there are 200 amendments. As far as this job of trying to coordinate all these different interests being a problem, I do not view it that way. It is just we have to have some reasonable understanding of how we are going to proceed to get four major bills done this week, to get five more appropriations bills done before the August recess, to get the Thompson nonproliferation language considered, and to get the China PNTR legislation considered as soon as possible. We would like to find a way to work in among that, maybe at night, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. I would love to pass that legislation just as it is or even after some more amendments, but we have to find a time. We can do that at night. We can work day and night for the next 3 weeks. I would like to do the H-1B. I tried to offer an agreement that could have led to 20 amendments. That was objected to on the other side. I am trying to find a way to get all these good things done. I will continue to try and hopefully we will be able to work out an agreement to consider them all. These appropriations bills are high priority. That is the people's business. If we do not get the appropriations bills done, Housing and Urban Development is going to have a problem with housing in which they are involved. The energy and water appropriations bill has a lot of very important energy-and-water-related issues. Certainly both sides of the aisle would like to see us get to the Agriculture appropriations bill at the earliest possible date, hopefully next Tuesday at the latest. Those are all the things we have to do. I want to make sure--I am willing to go to H-1B right away, pass it or to get some agreement that will not take 3, 4 days on one bill in among all these other urgent bills we have to do.

Mr. LOTT. Actually, it is five on each side, which would be 10, plus second-degree amendments would have been in order, which could have brought it to 20.

Mr. LOTT. Seven amendments on H-1B or seven amendments on estate tax.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if I could respond to Senator Kennedy's question, first of all, I, too, would very much like to see us complete the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The committee did very good work on that legislation. The Senate spent a week, over a week perhaps, having amendments offered and voted on. With regard to the underlying Elementary and Secondary Education Act and other nongermane amendments that were offered, that delayed our ability to complete that legislation. But I feel very strongly about getting it done. I am very pleased with the condition the bill is in. I think it might be a good idea that we workout an arrangement on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act for next week, perhaps similar to what we have done with the DOD authorization bill, hoping to work on that bill tonight and having votes on amendments, if any are ordered, in the morning; the same thing tomorrow night with votes occurring the next morning. We could do the same thing on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. But there is a key thing here. On the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, some nongermane amendments were offered delaying our ability to complete our work on that, and some that were germane. But we reached a point where we needed to try to find an agreement to complete our work. After being abused severely by both sides of the aisle, perhaps, depending on your point of view--the Defense authorization bill had all kinds of nongermane amendments offered to it--after a period of time, there was an agreement that we needed to see if we could complete action on this very important Department of Defense authorization bill; it provides very important changes in the law, things that cannot be done just with the Defense appropriations bill, including improvements in the health care benefits for our military men and women and their families, and our retirees. We have to do this bill to get it done. Therefore, under the persistent leadership of the Senator from Virginia and the Senator from Michigan, the managers, we came to an agreement last week, a unanimous consent agreement, that nongermane amendments would not be offered any longer and all amendments had to be offered by the close of business Friday. While they have a long list of amendments they have to work through, I am satisfied they can get it done now that they are focused on amendments related to the Department of Defense authorization bill. I would be glad to pursue a similar type arrangement with the Democratic leadership, with Senator Kennedy involved, where we could maybe get a list of amendments by the close of business Friday, work on the bill at night but limit it to germane amendments that could be debated and voted on and complete action, hopefully, in a relatively reasonable period of time.

Mr. LOTT. I yield to Senator Kennedy.

Mr. LOTT. As I say, we will work with the Democratic leadership and see if we can work out an agreement similar to the one we have on the Department of Defense authorization bill. Let me make it clear. Being the son of a schoolteacher--in public schools, I might add--I know the importance of safety. I also know the importance of discipline because I have been the beneficiary of discipline from my mother, the schoolteacher. I also know Americans all over this country, in every State, would like to have our schools be safe and drug free. So the idea that we would have metal detector devices where that is called for in certain schools, and where we would have other efforts to make sure the schools are safer, that is something, certainly, we should all work toward. Hopefully, we could do that when we take up the legislation. I understand there was a suggestion earlier that there had been some delay in calling up the legislation referred to generally as H-1B legislation, that is, S. 2045, which would allow for certain high-tech workers to come into the country on a limited basis and for a limited period of time, and that, for some reason, had not been called up because of something that we had not been doing. Let me emphasize that I want this legislation to be considered. I would like us to move it as quickly as possible. The problem we got into earlier when we were trying to work out an agreement was we were told there would have to be numerous amendments--I don't know, six or eight amendments, that were nongermane that would be in order for us to consider this very important legislation that I think has bipartisan support and that many people in this country, in business and industry and high tech, say addresses a major problem because the number that is allowed is now being reached and we need this legislation. I want to make it very clear we are not only willing to move it; we are anxious. I ask unanimous consent the Senate now proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 490, S. 2045, the H-1B legislation, and I further ask unanimous consent the committee substitute be agreed to, the bill be read the third time and passed, the title amendment be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill appear in the Record.

Mr. LOTT. So the record will be clear, I am trying hard to find a way to get this considered. I won't insist on my unanimous consent request, but since we are working night and day and looking for ways to get these things done, if you are down to seven, if you can get it down to five relevant amendments, and we can continue to work on this, maybe this would be a bill we could do at night the third week, but we are willing to see if we can find a way to get it done.

Mr. LOTT. No, no. It was 5 and 5.

Mr. LOTT. You are headed in the right direction. Just keep working. You are making progress.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I withhold that UC request I made, but I object to the one that was just made.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, today the Senate will immediately begin consideration of H.R. 4578, the Interior appropriations bill. I see that the chairman of the subcommittee is here and ready to proceed. Opening statements will be made and amendments are expected to be offered during today's session. At 3:30 today, however, it will be my intention to turn to the executive nomination of Madelyn Creedon to be Deputy Administrator of the National Security Administration. This was included in an earlier agreement, that we would complete debate and have a vote on this nomination prior to Wednesday of this week. I thought it was best we do it today. The vote will occur on her confirmation at 5:30 p.m. today. During the Senate's consideration of the Interior bill, those Senators who have amendments should work with the bill managers in an effort to complete action on the bill as soon as possible. I commend the Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior for the work they have done on this legislation. Many areas could have been added that would have been controversial and would have made it difficult to complete the bill. They were not included. I hope, therefore, that in a relatively short period of time we can complete action on this very important Interior appropriations bill. Members should be on notice that it will be the leadership's intent to debate amendments to the DOD authorization bill during the evening sessions this week. That was agreed to before we went out for the Fourth of July recess. There was a unanimous consent agreement entered into that limits Senators to relevant amendments to the Department of Defense authorization bill. I believe all amendments had to be filed by the close of business that day, which was Friday of the week before last. Any amendment votes ordered during the DOD authorization bill will be postponed to occur the next morning. We are hoping we can proceed under that agreement so that Monday night, Tuesday night, and Wednesday night, if necessary, we can go to the Department of Defense authorization bill around 6:30 or 7 o'clock each night so we can complete action on this very important bill. I emphasize again that this Department of Defense authorization bill has been pending in one form or another before the Senate for quite some time. A number of nongermane amendments were offered and voted on that are connected to this bill. They have been dealt with in one way or another now. We are ready to complete action on the underlying Defense authorization bill itself. It has a lot of very important items for the future of our military. Included among those are significant improvements in the health care provisions for our military men and women and their families and for our retirees and their families. This is important legislation. Hopefully, we can complete it under this procedure of taking up amendments each night and having votes at the beginning of the session the next morning. As a remainder, cloture was filed on the motion to proceed to the death tax legislation prior to the July recess. Pursuant to rule XXI, that cloture vote will occur 1 hour after the Senate convenes tomorrow, unless an agreement is reached where we don't have to have a recorded vote on the motion to proceed, that we can pass that by voice vote and move straight to the bill itself. We haven't worked that out yet. That is always a possibility. Otherwise, though, we will have that vote 1 hour after we come in on Tuesday morning. The Senate is expected to return to the reconciliation bill, which has a statutory time limitation of 20 hours, the latter part of this week. Of course, that is the reconciliation bill for the marriage penalty tax relief. Votes will occur each day of the Senate's session, with late nights and possibly a late Friday or Saturday session in order to complete the reconciliation bill. I thank my colleagues for their attention. I emphasize that point again. It is our hope to go to the reconciliation bill on the marriage penalty tax Thursday, and complete action on that bill before the end of the session this week. Since we could take up to 20 hours under the reconciliation provisions--and of course amendments at the end of that process don't count against the 20 hours--we could very easily go into the afternoon on Friday, Friday night, or Saturday. I hope Members are aware of that and prepare their schedule accordingly. Since we only have 3 weeks before we recess for the August period for the national conventions, I think it is safe to say we will be having votes throughout the day, and we will have votes on Monday and Fridays for the 3 weeks we have remaining. We have a lot of work to do. I appreciate the support and cooperation of all Senators. I hope Members had a good Fourth of July recess period in the Nation's Capital or back home with constituents. We are prepared to work hard and get a lot of the people's business done. I yield the floor.