Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, it is now my hope the Senate can consider trade related amendments to the underlying African trade/CBI bill. We have been encouraging Members throughout this process to be prepared to offer their amendments. I have stated previously it has always been our willingness to have Senators offer these trade amendments. I believe it is time to move forward on this important legislation and complete this bill as early as possible this week. So I ask consent it be in order for me to send to the desk a series of cleared amendments that I think are about equally divided on both sides. This will be the so-called managers' amendments to H.R. 434. I would say, we would offer these en bloc. There may be other amendments that may need to be offered that are not on this list. I ask this so-called managers' amendment be considered en bloc, agreed to en bloc, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, with that, I now call for the regular order with respect to the trade bill.

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I now withdraw amendment No. 2340.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, Senator Daschle and I have been working, really last week and early this week, to reach an agreement on the best way to have further consideration of the trade bill and also the bankruptcy bill. I want to say right up front that there has been a good faith effort on both sides. I certainly feel that way toward the Democratic leader. We are very close to reaching an agreement. I think it is basically a question of showing each other the actual amendments that would be involved. But I understand the Senator from South Carolina will not allow us to enter into any agreement with regard to the trade bill at this time. Having said that, we will continue to work to reach an agreement on the bankruptcy bill as well as trying to find a way to consider the pending trade bill.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, this resolution concerns a request for testimony in a civil action pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. The plaintiff in this case is a former sign- language interpreter for the Congressional Special Services Office. The case concerns injuries sustained by the plaintiff while a private passenger aboard a ferryboat. This resolution would permit former coworkers of the plaintiff's on the Congressional Special Services staff to testify about the effect of the plaintiff's injuries on her ability to perform her work at the Senate.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I rise today to honor a man who touched the lives of each person he came into contact with throughout his teaching and coaching career. Coach Ralph Tasker was a respected person, and a perfect gentleman. He always looked for the good in people and had that rare ability to bring out the best in others. Born and raised in Moundsville, West Virginia, Coach Tasker took up basketball when he was five years old. This was his common bond with most of his friends. In Moundsville, nearly everyone worked in coal mines except for Tasker's parents, who owned and operated a grocery store. He played basketball in high school, earning all-state honors in his junior and senior campaigns. From there he played four years at Alderson-Broaddus College, and this is where he met his wife, Margaret Elizabeth Marple. The two were married and devoted to each other for nearly fifty years until Margaret passed away in 1991. Tasker began his coaching career straight out of college at Sulphur Springs High School in Sulphur Springs, Ohio, in 1941. He spent less than a year at Sulphur Springs, but even then made an impact on his students and players. Tasker went beyond the role of coach and teacher, as he was always a friend to his students and players. From his first year in coaching, his students considered Coach Tasker a father figure. Those who knew Coach Tasker describe him as dedicated, sincere, and loyal to his players and community. After leaving Sulphur Springs, Coach Tasker served our country for three years in the U.S. Air Corps. He then accepted another coaching position in New Mexico at Lovington High School. After three years and one state championship with Lovington, Coach Tasker moved twenty miles south to Hobbs High School, where he would remain for the rest of his coaching career. Forty-nine years, eleven state championships, two perfect seasons, and two National High School Coach of the Year awards later, Coach Tasker decided to retire. In fifty-three years of coaching, Tasker had a remarkable collection of achievements. He finished with 1,122 wins and 291 losses, which ranks him as the third place coach in total number of wins in high school boys' basketball history. Among many honors, he was elected to four different halls of fame, won twelve state championships, and in 1991 was named the National Athletic Coach of the Year in the prestigious Walt Disney National Teacher Awards Program. Coach Tasker was slow to take credit, but quick to praise. He often said, ``When you've got players like I've got, they make a great coach out of you.'' He was uncomfortable in the limelight, and even chose to put his awards away in drawers, preferring to display artwork by his grandchildren. Coach Tasker always sought to uplift his children, grandchildren, students, and players. Mr. President, Coach Ralph Tasker passed away on Monday, July 19, 1999, after a brief bout with cancer. I trust the Senate will join me in honoring one of the greatest men in the sports history of New Mexico and this country. He will be missed by everyone. I believe my friend Senator Domenici put it best when he said, ``The passing of Ralph Tasker marks the loss of an institution in Hobbs and in New Mexico.''

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. An interesting sidelight, if the Senator will yield.

Mr. LOTT. Postcloture, for instance, there might be some amendments with regard to African trade. I wonder if there might be some way we could get an agreement. I worry about it getting agreed to, because I am not sure the Senator from South Carolina would agree to it, where some of those amendments, while they are not germane, would not be in order postcloture, they certainly relate to what we are trying to do. I would certainly like to have some way found for amendments such as that, if they exist. I could think of a couple I have heard of that ought to be offered. I will be glad to work with the Senator to try to find a way to see if we can at least do that and get it cleared. But we do have a problem with objections. We can see if we can get it agreed to, and we can try to get it agreed to, if we can get something worked out that we can offer. Then if it is objected to, we just have to deal with that.

Mr. LOTT. In response to his question, I was in the hopes that if we could get agreement on the bankruptcy bill and the unrelated amendments that would be made in order under the agreement, that would help resolve the problem. The difficulty is, in going through this process where we would in fact both vote to table, first of all, there is a lot of opportunity for mischief in terms of what amendments are offered, objections to time agreements, and how long would it take. That is one thing that worries me. If we do not get cloture and we go through a series of amendments where we have to vote to table them, I worry about the image of us voting to table, even if we could explain it procedurally. But if you vote to table fast track or vote to table agricultural sanctions or you vote to table some of these other things, I would prefer that the Senate not be recorded as having defeated or tabling some of these issues. But the further problem is, if we go through and hold a number of these on this bill, how do we get it done in somewhat of a foreseeable period of time and then be able to get to bankruptcy? I am also worried about what in fact happens if we move to table or try to table or not table. I think the Senator has been right in saying that is where leadership has to weigh in and we have to make sure we get it done. I think one of the issues that would have been the greatest problem would have been minimum wage, but I believe we are going to address the minimum wage on bankruptcy, therefore relieving the pressure, the need to put it on this particular bill. So that is what we are up against. I have learned around here you never say never. I am just worried about being able to get this job done. Also, I have not been able to clear on our side an arrangement that would go through a repeated number of votes on trade. We have had this discussion privately. I think it is appropriate that we have it publicly, too.

Mr. LOTT. Are you talking about doing it during the period of time when we may be discussing, as on Monday, the Labor-HHS bill? Are you talking about postcloture? Also, what do we do in terms of getting time agreements if the Senator from South Carolina objects to that? Maybe we will just have to--that is a lot of ifs--what if, what if. We will have to work through that. It would take a lot of delicacy in trying to get it to a conclusion. But that is my concern. Are you talking about trying to do it Monday, or are you talking about trying to do it during the day Tuesday or Wednesday? And how do we, in terms of time--even postcloture, a lot of amendments are in order.

Mr. LOTT. It was my thinking that--I believe the way this is set up-- we would complete trade and then we would go to bankruptcy when we complete the trade bill. We are also hoping we can get some way to consider the nuclear waste bill, but it is my plan and my hope--we will have to get agreement, obviously, to do all these--to complete the trade bill and do bankruptcy and try to do the nuclear waste bill before we go out. Obviously, we have some hoops through which we have to jump in order to achieve that. It is my thinking at this time we will complete the trade bill if we get the cloture. We can enter into a UC on bankruptcy before we do that. We will talk to you about that, exactly when we need to do it, and we can go to bankruptcy before we go out. My intent would be to go to it next, after consultation with both sides.

Mr. LOTT. If we get these agreements worked out and in order to accommodate the time that has been requested for the D.C./Labor-HHS appropriations bill, then there will not be any recorded votes on Monday. The next recorded vote will be, I presume, at 10 o'clock on Tuesday, which is the D.C./Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill, and then hopefully sometime in short order after that, we go to votes on the two cloture motions.

Mr. LOTT. Right.

Mr. LOTT. I believe it is going to be acceptable. I have not cleared it completely on our side. I just had an opportunity to read over it in the form on which our staffs worked. I see a couple of little problems that are really clerical in terms of how the three amendments would be handled. The way I read it, it looks as if there could be as many as 12 amendments, but really what we are talking about is 3 and 3, side by side. Once that is clarified, unless there is something else I see that is a problem, I think we can get this done.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, these cloture votes will occur on Tuesday, November 2. I will notify Members of the exact time after I have had an opportunity to consult with the Democratic leader about the appropriate time for that. In the meantime, I ask unanimous consent that both quorums which are mandatory under rule XXII be waived and the previously scheduled vote regarding the D.C./Labor-HHS legislation occur notwithstanding rule XXII.

Mr. LOTT. Obviously, I have to know what the three are on the other side. I know one would have to do with education, one of them would be the counterpart to minimum wage, and I am not now sure of the third one. Obviously, before we do get a final agreement on this, we will get that information to you. If there is a problem, obviously, we will have to work through that. I do not think it will be a problem. We will definitely get that to you; hopefully this afternoon, if the Senator is going to be around a little while. We are working on it, and I think we are very close.

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

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

Mr. LOTT. Thank you.

Mr. LOTT. I call for regular order with regard to the trade bill.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, having witnessed the vote earlier today, I am very concerned about our ability to complete action on the African and Caribbean Basin Initiative free trade legislation. This is important legislation. I believe it is good for the United States. It will be good for Central America, the Caribbean, and Africa. This bill is supported by Senators on both sides of the aisle and by the President. I understand that maybe some Senator or Senators have gotten the idea, since we did not get cloture today, that was the end of it and this bill would just be set aside permanently. We are still very hopeful we can find a way to get this job done. We have a problem in that it takes a lot of time to get through the cloture motions and complete it, but I have not given up yet. I am going to file cloture on the pending substitute, and if cloture is not invoked on Tuesday, we will have to move on to other issues. I emphasize I am filing two cloture motions, so we can hopefully get cloture on the substitute and on the bill itself and allow us to get to the substance, have amendments that are important, and bring it to a conclusion. As a part of all this, I emphasize that Senator Daschle and I are working on an apparently unrelated issue but one that is related in fact, and that is an agreement as to how we can handle the bankruptcy bill and allow amendments, amendments that relate to bankruptcy, the credit cards issue, but also would have a number of agreed-to, nonrelevant amendments that would be in order. I hope we can get that worked out. We are getting very close. That would relieve some of the pressure in opposition, and if we can get both bills done, it will be a monumental achievement, if we can go out this session having done the free trade bill for the Caribbean Basin Initiative and Africa and a bankruptcy bill that allows votes on which the Senate has indicated it wants to vote. Cloture Motion

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Will the Senator from Arkansas allow me to proceed briefly with a unanimous consent request?

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I agree with that. I might say that there are some permanent provisions in the House Ways and Means version of this bill. They would make permanent the extender with regard to the alternative minimum tax and how it affects the low- and middle-income people and others. Also, I have a bill at the desk to express my strong feeling on this subject that would make the R&D tax credit permanent. I think to come back every year, 2 years, or even every 5 years, causes concern and insecurity with regard to those tax credits. I hope we will make it either permanent, or as long as possible, in the conference. I know there is at least one Senator who has provisions he hopes will be considered in the conference, and I think they should be. On our side, I have one Senator who feels very strongly that there are three parts of this bill that affect permanent law, which is not extenders. I agree. I think those permanent law issues should be dealt with by the regular committees. One has to do with brownfields, one with a rum provision, maybe in the Virgin Islands--not that you might want to be for them; I am just questioning whether or not they should be in a bill that is supposed to be tax credit extenders. We have other good provisions in here, a welfare-to-work tax credit, and others. So I am glad we are going to get this done before we leave. I thank Senators for the cooperation on both sides.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask consent that following the conclusion or yielding back of time, the bill be advanced to third reading and passed and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. I further ask consent that the bill remain at the desk, and once the Senate receives the House companion bill, the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration and all after the enacting clause be stricken, the text of the Senate bill be inserted, the bill be advanced to third reading and passed. I further ask consent that the Senate insist on its amendment, request a conference with the House, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate, and passage of the Senate bill be vitiated and it be placed back on the calendar.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, we have some very important extenders in the Tax Code that need to be acted on before the end of this year or they will expire. The Finance Committee, in a broad bipartisan way, reported out the bill. We have now cleared it on both sides. So this is very important to get it into conference with the House quickly so we can get this legislation completed before the year's legislative end. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now turn to the consideration of Calendar No. 346, S. 1792, the so-called Finance Committee extenders bill, and there be 10 minutes for debate, with no amendments or motions in order.