Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Let me say in answer to the Senator's comments, I have learned from past experience that you should never say exactly what you are going to do until you have seen the details of an amendment or a bill because it could be different or it could be something that, in the end, you find would be acceptable. I have a suspicion I might not use that approach, but I had to reserve final judgment until I saw its content. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. LOTT. I now send a cloture motion to the desk to the pending amendment No. 2325.

Mr. LOTT. I am glad to yield.

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

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

Mr. LOTT. I send a second-degree amendment to the desk and ask for its consideration.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

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

Mr. LOTT. I now move to commit the bill with instructions and send the motion to the desk. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. LOTT. I say to the Senate, I would be willing to withdraw the last amendment pending. I will be glad to come back in an hour and withdraw that, allowing Members' amendments to be offered if they were relevant to the trade bill, and this would allow us to make some progress on the bill. I would offer that idea to the minority leader when he returns, and I am glad to yield to the Senator from Minnesota if he would like to ask any questions or make a comment.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I think it is unfortunate we have to take this step. I have discussed it with the Democratic leader. Let me emphasize he did not agree with this at all, but we did discuss our situation and our mutual concerns and our mutual desires to try to find a way to move this trade legislation forward. Filling up the tree is not a new practice. It is one I haven't used, I don't think, this year--maybe once. It is a practice that has been used in the past by majority leaders when it is necessary to try to get to a conclusion. I do not know exactly when our adjournment for the year will come, but it is obvious we do not have a lot of time left. We do have some other issues we would like to have a chance to consider. Again, that is on both sides of the aisle. The cloture motion vote will occur on Friday, October 29. I will notify all Members of the exact time, after consultation with the Democratic leader. In the meantime, I ask consent the mandatory quorum under rule XXII be waived.

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

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that during the Senate's consideration of the trade bill, all first-degree amendments must be relevant to the trade bill or the filed amendment No. 2325, and any second-degree amendment be relevant to the first-degree it proposes to amend.

Mr. LOTT. I truly regret the objection to a reasonable consideration of this very important pending trade bill. This is obviously a vital piece of trade legislation. As I indicated last week on the floor, this is something in which the President has been very interested. He discussed it with me personally last week on, I think, Tuesday and twice since we have discussed it in telephone conversations. I am not doing it just because the President asked for it. I am doing it because I think it is the right thing to do. I think it would be good for our country, help to create jobs. This is very carefully crafted legislation that the chairman of the committee and ranking member have worked on. I think it would be just vitally important to our friends in Central America and the Caribbean, as well as a major step symbolically and other ways to have African free trade. I want to get this bill done. There are legitimate objections to it. The Senator from South Carolina is going to use every rule in the book that he has access to, and there are lots of them. He has staff members who will make sure he knows them all. I understand that. But I am sure everybody can understand I have to take advantage of the rules available to me also because I do not want this to become a debate about farm policy, sanctions policy--one Senator just suggested we should offer fast track on this bill. I agree; I think fast track should be done. That is another very important trade policy. But it will completely bog down this bill. I think we need to be serious about this bill. I plan now to fill up the tree and file cloture. The cloture vote will be Friday. We will see if the Senate wants this trade bill or not. If we do not get cloture, then it is clear what is going on and we will just have to move on to something else. My consent would simply keep the Senate on the subject of the African trade and trade benefits for the Caribbean Basin countries. Obviously, with objection from the Democrats, they do not want this subject matter to be the pending issue. I think it is unfortunate, but I understand. Amendment No. 2325 (Purpose: To provide a substitute amendment)

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Roth and others, I call up amendment No. 2325 and ask for its consideration.

Mr. LOTT. I send a first-degree amendment to the substitute to the desk and ask for its consideration.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. LOTT. I am not sure when that might occur. I told the Democratic leader just a few minutes ago, if it were just an amendment by Senator Wellstone on agriculture, I would be prepared to have that discussion, that debate, and a vote. But that is not the end of the string. We have a lot of innovative thinkers here on both sides of the aisle who are now working feverishly with their very competent staffs to develop other amendments. If it were just an amendment by the Senator from Minnesota, I think probably that could be done. I think if we would open the door, there would be no end to it.

Mr. LOTT. First of all, I will be willing to discuss that with the Senator. I would have to also discuss it with the chairman of the Agriculture Committee and its members. I could not just unilaterally reach an agreement. But, again, I personally would not have a problem with that. I do not know what his amendment would be, but I am sure I would vote against it. But we could have a discussion. I would need to check with both sides and I will talk with the Senator to see if it is possible, to see if we can do that in some freestanding way. Having said that, I want to be sure the record has been made at this point. Last Friday, the President of the United States signed the Agriculture appropriations bill--I believe last Friday. It provides funds for agricultural needs all across this great land, in my State and that of the Senators from Minnesota and New York. We have lots of agriculture in New York. I don't know if you are aware of that, but I have been very impressed when I have been up there, some of the areas outside of Long Island. I found there is a lot of agriculture up there and all across this country. We did get the Agriculture bill. In that bill was a very significant amount of funds for disaster-related problems. Some of them have been caused because of the depressed prices, some because of drought, some because of floods--all the different problems we have. Others say it was not enough; it should have been more. Some others would say it was not targeted in the right way. We can debate that endlessly, I believe. But the President, upon review--and I believe he took the full 10 days--decided the right thing to do was go ahead and get this bill signed and get that disaster money to the farmers, the men and women who live on the farms in this country, as quickly as possible. It is not as if this is an issue we have not addressed and we will not address next year.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. LOTT

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