Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, today the Senate passed the Intellectual Property and Communications Omnibus Reform Act of 1999. This bill makes many needed and timely reforms to the Satellite Home Viewer Act which originally passed almost 12 years ago. I have said for many months I believed this was a measure that Congress should enact before adjourning this year, and am pleased that we have been able to move forward on this important piece of legislation. For a number of years, great strides have been made by providers of direct broadcast satellite to compete for customers with cable, the traditional provider of multichannel video services. Congress recognized this marketplace development and the necessity to update the rules of the road to advance such competition. Satellite television providers have a unique product to offer, and more and more consumers are opting for television via satellite, including my own son Chet. During a visit in his home, I learned firsthand just what this debate is all about. So I disagree with those who say this is just a broadcaster bill or this is just a satellite bill. Clearly, both sides had to compromise, and the end result is one that is fair to the various industry segments. As always, when dealing with such contentious issues in the legislative process as were confronted in this measure, the competing interests of several parties had to be balanced. A number of compromises were reached, and the bill considered by the full Senate today will be good for consumers and good for competition. This bill allows, for the first time ever, satellite providers to offer local signals in local markets. Consumers value their local signals. They want to see their local news, their local weather, their local sports. Promoting localism was a goal of the conferees, while at the same time giving the satellite industry the tools it needed to grow its business. This provision will go a long way toward freeing satellite providers to compete head-on with cable for customers who want their local signals, or to provide service in many areas where cable is not even an available option. This measure will not only boost competition in the multichannel video marketplace, but will also ensure that consumers are not stranded in a catch-22, without service. I know many of my colleagues, myself included, heard from literally hundreds of thousands of constituents across the country. Constituents who had, in good faith, subscribed to satellite television. Constituents who were about to lose, or had already lost, their distant network programming channels, through no fault of their own. S. 1948 includes a reasonable, balanced approach to restore eligibility for many of these subscribers, while preventing further pending shut-offs. Other consumer friendly provisions were adopted. An improved model to more accurately predict eligibility to receive distant network signals from a satellite provider. Increased certainty in the waiver process when dealing with their local broadcasters. I feel very strongly that consumers should not be put in a bind again by being sold a service, only to have it taken away. The revised rules of the road will help level the playing field for the direct broadcast satellite industry as well. Copyright rates are slashed. Existing satellite copyright compulsory licenses are extended for 5 years. A 90-day waiting period to begin serving current cable customers who want to switch to satellite is eliminated. And the FCC will be required to review the distant signal eligibility standard and recommend improvements to Congress. The compromise also allows for a phase-in period for obtaining permission to bring local signals into markets, so that consumers and local stations benefit from local-into- local as soon as possible. Mr. President, the offering of local-into-local is an expensive undertaking. Many of my colleagues in Congress, particularly those who represent rural states, recognize that economics will drive local-into- local into larger, urban markets first. They wonder whether rural and small markets will receive this service. While debating the merits of the overall bill, this legitimate concern was raised. A concern that I share as well. I want my constituents to be able to choose a satellite provider for television without having to sacrifice watching their local broadcast stations. The largest designated market area in my home state of Mississippi is Jackson, which ranks number 89 out of more than 200 designated market areas. Satellite providers have clearly indicated they are likely to offer this new service in the top 60 to 70 markets. This translates into a lack of comparable choices for my constituents, and for millions of other Americans across the country. So this is an important issue that deserves the attention of Congress. From the beginning, Senator Burns has been the champion of the idea of a loan guarantee program to foster the development of systems to deliver local-into-local in rural and small market areas. Although a number of Senators have stood up to talk about how important this program is for their respective states, it has been Senator Burns who has stood firm and fought for this program. It is Senator Burns who is responsible for establishing the process for the full Senate to consider the loan guarantee proposal early next year. I also want to thank Senator Gramm, the distinguished Chairman of the Senate's Banking Committee, for his cooperation in moving this legislation forward. Based on my conversations with him and other Members, I was pleased that a unanimous consent agreement was reached. This agreement requires that a loan guarantee bill be reported to the Senate by March 30, 2000. It is my intention to get this provision enacted into law soon thereafter. Mr. President, I want to be clear. This unanimous consent agreement does not delay the implementation of the loan guarantee program. In fact, Senator Burns' proposal, if passed today, would still be subject to Fiscal Year 2001 appropriations anyway. So the earliest this program could take effect under any scenario is in Fiscal Year 2001. The agreed upon schedule for consideration of the loan guarantee authorization is consistent with the appropriations timetable. So, I believe the right incentives are in place to timely act on this matter when the Senate reconvenes next year. And I hope we can all work together, from both sides of the aisle. Without this kind of incentive, millions of Americans could be left behind. Mr. President, the participation of Members was integral in bringing this bill to fruition. I want to commend Senator Hatch, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, for his leadership and determination to complete the Senate and House negotiations on this legislation. He worked diligently for weeks, dealing with major competing interests to achieve a balanced policy. Senator Hatch, Senator McCain, Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, Congressman Bliley, Chairman of the House Commerce Committee, and Congressman Hyde, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, along with all of the other Members of the conference, contributed greatly to the process, and I am grateful to them for their service. This bill would not have been completed without the dedicated efforts and countless long hours of negotiation among staff. Their hard work is very much appreciated, and I want to take a moment to recognize who they are: Monica Azare, Ed Barron, Pete Belvin, Renee Bennett, Shawn Bentley, Benjamin Cline, Tony Coe, Manus Cooney, Colin Crowell, Troy Dow, Jon Dudas, Julian Epstein, Paula Ford, Doug Farry, Bob Foster, Mitch Glazier, Jim Hippe, Tim Kurth, Jon Leibowitz, Peter Levitas, Andy Levin, Justin Lilley, Garry Malphrus, Maureen McLaughlin, Mark Monson, Ann Morton, Al Mottur, Mitch Rose, Jim Sartucci, Jonathan Schwantes, and Alison Vinson. Mr. President, this bill is an improvement over the current state of play in today's multichannel video marketplace. It is not perfect, but it is a positive step forward in advancing competition among industries and choice for consumers.

Mr. LOTT. Yes, that is correct.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the NOAA budget includes $51.56 million in funds to procure the first of four state-of-the-art fishery research vessels to conduct critical research on our Nation's fishery resources. This is an important step in providing for sustainable fisheries for our fishermen, U.S. trade, and U.S. consumers. It is my understanding that these ships will be some of the most technically complex research vessels in the world. It Is critical that the procurement of thee ships reflect this complexity, and that all U.S. shipbuilders with technical expertise in oceanographic research ships will have the opportunity to offer their expertise to the Government. Is it the Senator's understanding that this solicitation will be open to all U.S. shipbuilders, without set-asides that limit competition?

Mr. LOTT. Yes. I would be happy to work with the Minority Leader and the Senator from Arkansas early next year to pass a technical correction to this legislation to achieve this goal.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, for many years I have been working with the Minority Leader, Senator Daschle, to develop and enact legislation to provide liability relief for recyclers of scrap metal and other material, under the Superfund program. I am pleased that we have been able to work together to reach a successful resolution on this issue, and that the legislation incorporates the agreement of a broad spectrum of parties.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, today concludes a grueling debate on the state of the dairy industry. Though the process was long and often times quite confusing, I think the Senate has come to an agreement on a package that will prove to be beneficial to most interested parties at this time. Mr. President, I must say this process would not have been possible without the diligent work of one of my former staffers, Congressman Chip Pickering. I have always said ``once a Lott staffer, always a Lott staffer.'' Although Chip has moved on to represent the people of the third district of Mississippi, he continues to constantly be of great help to me, and to always keep the best interest of the entire state of Mississippi at heart. Chip believes that Option 1A is absolutely essential for allowing most dairies in Mississippi and outside the upper Midwest to remain in business, and he worked with me to see that this legislation was put into law. He organized House members from across the country to fight in order to see that the crucial dairy language we needed became law this year. Chip realizes Option 1A is the only way the interests of Mississippi's dairy farmers can be protected. Having grown up working on his family's dairy farm, meeting with dairy farmers across Mississippi, and working with Mississippi Farm Bureau, Chip knows the importance of this legislation to the survival of dairy farms and to the continued fresh supply of milk for all Mississippians. I thank Congressman Pickering for his relentless efforts on behalf of Mississippi dairy farmers.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, let me observe one of the problems we had in not being able to complete it even this week. While the sponsors of some of the amendments had indicated--or maybe all the amendments-- indicated a willingness to have limited time agreements, we had, I know, at least a couple of Senators on this side who were not willing to agree to limit the time, therefore possibly tying up half a day or a day one a couple of these amendments. We may still be able to work out something where we could have a short time agreed to on both sides and get a vote after the first of the year. But you reach a point, in the final days of a session, where motions are such that you just cannot get that kind of agreement.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, we have cleared a number of nominations on the Executive Calendar. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations on the Executive Calendar: Nos. 228, 273, 292, 326, 327, 329, 331, 332, 333, 366, 377, 394, 404, 405, 406, and all nominations in the Coast Guard on the Secretary's desk. I further ask consent that the HELP Committee be discharged from further consideration of the following nominations, and the Senate proceed to their consideration, en bloc: Magdalena Jacobsen, Francis Duggan, Ernest DuBester, and John Truesdale. I further ask consent that the nominations be confirmed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, any statements relating to the nominations be printed in the Record, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then return to legislative session, and that the Senator from Vermont be notified that Judge Linn is in this list for confirmation.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, once again, I thank Senators on both sides for their cooperation and for their good work this year and wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I believe I have the time and I will yield.

Mr. LOTT. I thank the Senator. Does the Senator from Alabama wish to speak?

Mr. LOTT. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Mr. LOTT addressed the Chair.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the language will delay the rule for 90 days. That is what is required and that was my intent, from the date of enactment of H.R. 1180, in order to facilitate additional public review. It is not the intent of the legislation to cause any unreasonable delay in the formulation of necessary improvements in national organ transplant policies, but rather to permit constructive review of the information that will be available and for the Congress to review it. Furthermore, I make clear section 413 provides that the rule is not effective until the expiration of the 90-day rule beginning on the date of enactment of this act. During that 90-day period, the Secretary shall publish a notice eliciting public comments on the rule and shall conduct a full review of the comments. At the end of the period, section 413 allows, but does not require, the Secretary to make any revisions in the rule that she deems appropriate.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Pennsylvania, and the Senator from New York, Mr. Schumer, for working with me on this and for their devotion to this important public health issue. It is one which is important to our country and to the people that need the organ transplants. We have to try to find the best and the fairest way to deal with this issue. I am happy to clarify this issue contained in the legislative measure.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the voting schedule occur no later than 5 p.m. this evening, and that it be reversed so that the first vote will now occur on the adoption of the Work Incentives conference report, to be followed by the cloture vote, and finally adoption of the appropriations conference report.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Will the Senator yield briefly.

Mr. LOTT. We do need to have a colloquy now, before we begin the final debate on this very important work incentives legislation on the matter of dairy and the dairy language in the appropriations bill. There is no use at this point of me going back and recounting all that has gone on in us reaching the point where we are in the language in this bill. There are a lot of Senators on both sides of the aisle who believe that the Northeast Dairy Compact should have been included. There are Senators who think that portions of the bill H.R. 1402, known as the 1- A, should have been included. There are other Senators who believe equally as strongly that neither of those should have been included in this bill. I must say, I am in that group. I do not think what we have come up with on dairy is where we should leave it. It was something that was laboriously worked out. I tried my very best to find some way that we could come up with something that was in the best interests of dairy, the consumers, something that was acceptable to Senator Grams, Senator Jeffords, Senator Kohl, Senator Wellstone, and Senator Feingold, but there was no way to find a solution with which all sides could be content. Regardless of how this agreement was reached, we are here, and it will be in law. But I do not think we should leave it on this line. I do not think compacts are the answer, personally. I believe it very strongly. I do not think that trying to expand it--more compacts--and have the kinds of controls you have now by the Government, or will have in this by the Government, is the answer. So I find myself philosophically very sympathetic to Senator Grams and Senator Kohl and Senator Domenici and Senator Fitzgerald, but I also know of the position of the Senate on this issue, and Senator Jeffords and Senator Leahy were able to produce a majority of the Senate, although neither side could produce a 60-vote margin to break a filibuster. So all I want to say today is that while this legislation, I believe, is going to pass, we should not stop at this point. We should look for a better way to do this. We should look for a way to get away from compacts and a way to get away from the type of Government controls we now have. Do I have a magic solution? Can I guarantee by the first week in February this will be resolved? No. I have been wrangling around with this for 20 years, as the Senator in the Chair, who was chairman of the Agriculture Committee, tried mightily and could not find the solution. But I am committed here today to work with those who believe we should not be doing this to find a way to do it better. I know the Senators on the other side will fight tenaciously against that, but I want the Record to reflect my true feelings on this and reflect my commitment that we are not going to leave it on this line. I yield the floor. Mr. DASCHLE addressed the Chair.

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent that this colloquy extend for not to exceed 10 more minutes.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Thank you, Mr. President. And I thank the Senator from New York.

Mr. LOTT. I know we have this very important legislation involving work incentives for our disabled citizens that--

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Let me just say, Mr. President, if I might, Senator Daschle and I will work with Senator Kohl and Senator Reid and Senator Lugar and others and will be prepared to do our colloquy when the debate is concluded on this very important piece of legislation. Thank you for allowing us to interpret at this point. If you will complete your work, we will be ready to go.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the agreement relative to the Work Incentives conference report commence at 3 p.m. today and that the remaining parameters of the consent agreement remain in order. I further ask consent that the cloture vote relative to the appropriations conference report occur no later than 5 p.m. and that if cloture is invoked, adoption of the conference report immediately occur, without intervening action or debate.

Mr. LOTT. In light of this agreement, there will be three back-to- back votes that will occur a few minutes before 5 o'clock this afternoon, the first being the cloture vote relative to the appropriations conference report, the second being passage of the appropriations conference report, and the third being passage of the Work Incentives conference report. There are two very important colloquies we must have this afternoon before the votes, one with regard to understandings with regard to the Work Incentives bill and another colloquy we will have with the leadership on the Democratic side, and I will participate in, along with Senator Lugar and others, to discuss the overall dairy situation. We will fulfill that commitment. I thank Senator Daschle, Senator Kohl, Senator Feingold, and everybody who has been involved. I know how emotional and how strongly held these feelings are. I also share those feelings, and I will make that clear in a colloquy here in a few minutes. Senator Daschle, do you want to do that now or in a few minutes?

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if I may take a moment of my leader time to join Senator Daschle in those remarks. This is a very important committee. It is a committee that operates in the best tradition of total bipartisanship, nonpartisanship. Chairman Shelby has been doing an outstanding job. It really makes the leaders feel good when we see two Senators of two parties work together for our national interests and our intelligence community. Senator Kerrey certainly has been just outstanding, the way he has handled that job. He has been cooperative, nonpartisan. These two Senators, Senator Shelby and Senator Kerrey, have worked together the way it is supposed to be done. I hope your successors will only do as well. I thank you for your service.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the second session of the 106th Congress will convene, then, at 12 noon on Monday, January 24. We do not yet have absolute certainty that there will be a State of the Union Address the next night, although it is preliminary indicated. I believe that is the date we would expect to have a State of the Union Address; that is, Tuesday, the 25th. That could be postponed upon a request from the White House, but we will need to be back and in business in order to be here for that date. So there will be a need for a live quorum to establish the beginning of the second session on Monday. A period of morning business will commence for the remainder of that day. And this 12 noon cloture vote on Tuesday, January 25, would be the first vote of the second session of the 106th Congress. Again, I thank my colleagues for their continued cooperation and wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season. Let me say, too, we have a number of bills that are in conference now. I had an opportunity to discuss the schedule for next year, or some of the bills for next year, with the President. We have a number of bills that are in a position where we could get early agreement out of conference, including the trade bill on which we worked so hard. We spent 2 weeks getting that out for Africa and CBI. We could have maybe even done it this week but we had so many things we were working on we could not get that completed. We have the FAA reauthorization bill that good work has been done on, and a series of bills, including the juvenile justice bill, which we hope we can get early in the session next year. So we will continue to work on that. I understand we are about ready to do a series of energy bills. I suggest the absence of a quorum, Mr. President.