Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I ask there be 4 hours equally divided in the usual form prior to a vote in relation to amendment No. 3599 and the Democrats' motion to commit with instructions.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I certainly understand that the Senator would want to consider the situation, where we are, and consult with a number of Senators. In fact, we need to do the same thing on our side. I ask my colleagues on the Democratic side to see if we can't come to an agreement that is suitable on both sides of the aisle with regard to the amount of time and that we get a direct vote on this very important issue of ergonomics. It is germane to this Department of Labor, HHS, and Education appropriations bill. We have had a good working relationship together over the past 2 weeks. There is no question we couldn't have made the progress on the appropriations bills if we hadn't had diligent work on the Republican side and a lot of cooperation on the Democratic side including, specifically, the Democratic leader, Senator Daschle, and the whip and assistant leader, Harry Reid. All have done good work. I worry now that we are into a situation where we have an amendment that Members feel very strongly about, that is going to have dramatic impact on business and industry in this country, which is germane, and that we are being told we can't give you a time agreement, we are not going to give you a direct vote. We have had direct votes over the past couple of weeks on the Patients' Bill of Rights issue, on hate crimes, on gun violence, on the Cuba commission, on abortion issues, on education class size--even though on some of the issues we would have preferred not to have voted or voted not on them with regard to that particular bill. It would also include, of course, the disclosure issue, which we think is a good issue, which should get voted on, but it was a problem being offered on the Defense authorization bill. We were able to work through that. We got a reasonable agreement. We got a direct vote, and we moved on. I have already talked with Senator Daschle. We are looking for a reasonable way to get this done. I hope we can find it because this is one of the biggest and one of the most important bills the Senate will consider this year. It is the funds for education, for the National Institutes of Health, for the Departments of Health and Human Services and Labor. I would hate for it to stop at this point. We can make progress this afternoon. We can make progress on Friday. We can make progress on Monday. We could be having votes. With a little focus, maybe we can even finish this bill by Tuesday night or Wednesday. That is what I want to see happen, but we need to get it done and then go on to the Interior appropriations bill, a bill that also is very important and a bill, by the way, Senator Gorton has worked very hard to keep off controversial issues. The so-called rule XVI points will be objected to. I urge Senator Reid and my friend, Senator Daschle, to think about this. This is not the end of the trail, but we can have a vote on this important germane amendment, and then we can move on to other amendments and get our work done. I know we will be working together in the next few hours to see what we can come up with. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT. I send an amendment to the desk to the pending motion to commit with instructions.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask consent that reading be dispensed with.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. LOTT. I send a second-degree amendment to the desk.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on the pending motion.

Mr. LOTT. 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. President, I again ask for the yeas and nays on the pending motion.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I move that the Sergeant at Arms be directed to request the attendance of absent Senators and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending motion to commit be withdrawn and amendment No. 3594 be withdrawn and the Enzi amendment No. 3593 be laid aside. I further ask consent that the Robb amendment to the instructions be drafted and offered as a first-degree amendment to the bill. I further ask consent that there be 1 hour for debate equally divided on both issues to run concurrently, and that at the conclusion of the time, the Senate proceed to vote on the Enzi amendment No. 3593, to be followed by a vote on the prescription drug amendment, without any intervening action or debate.

Mr. LOTT. Absolutely. That was the understanding that was reached.

Mr. LOTT. Some on both sides had reservations about that, but that was the only way we could bring it to a conclusion.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, just so we can have an understanding of this, on our side the time with regard to the Enzi amendment on ergonomics would be controlled by the Senator from Wyoming, and the time on our side against the Robb amendment would be controlled by Senator Roth. I presume Senator Robb would have the time on your side, I say to Senator Daschle. Who do you wish to control the time on the other issue?

Mr. LOTT. I believe we are ready to proceed with the debate. I yield the floor. Modification To Amendment No. 3598

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, in a moment I will put in another quorum call. I thought we should go ahead and conclude that vote. We have come up with a procedure that I think is fair which will allow the Senate to go forward on the two issues that are now pending before the Senate. We are working on both sides of the aisle to make sure Senators are aware of what we are proposing. If we are able to get that agreement, there would be a couple of votes stacked in an hour or so. If we cannot get it agreed to, then there will be a vote here in the next 15 minutes. I am sorry I cannot give a more certain answer right now. We hope to have some agreement in the next few minutes. We will then put in that unanimous consent request and proceed to have some debate agreed to and the two votes, or go straight to the point of order on the pending motion. 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. President, in a moment I believe we will be prepared to begin the vote on the second amendment in this series. I have discussed the schedule with Senator Daschle and the manager of the legislation. This will be the last vote of the night. We will be in session tomorrow. We urge Senators who have amendments to offer them tonight--I understand one is already prepared for tonight--and to be prepared to be here and have amendments in the morning so that we can make progress. We will plan on stacking those votes next week at a time to be determined, and we will let the Members know sometime tomorrow when that will be. But this will be the last vote for tonight and for the week. I yield the floor. Amendment No. 3598, As Modified

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I thank the managers of this very important legislation, the foreign operations appropriations bill. It has a lot of important provisions in it, funds that are critical to our foreign policy. We did have two very significant votes with regard to the Colombian aid. I think probably some Members were surprised by the show of support, with 89 votes against cutting the funds in one instance and maybe 79 in the other instance. This has been good work. It did take patience by the managers and some cooperation on both sides of the aisle. We were able to get it done in a very short period of time. I thank all concerned for their good work. I hope we can continue that and make real progress on the Labor, HHS, and Education appropriations bill this week. After the work we have already done, I think we can show we are doing the people's business. I commend Senator McConnell and I commend Senator Leahy for being willing to stay here last night and suggest we were going to have more votes last night. That helped get this done. I thank the Senators.

Mr. LOTT. I am happy to yield to the Senator.

Mr. LOTT

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

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, parliamentary inquiry. What is the situation now? Is there an amendment pending? Are we open for general debate on the foreign operations appropriations bill?