Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Yes. How much time does the Senator require?

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I should note that the principal sponsor of this legislation is the venerable Senator Thurmond of South Carolina. But I also want to note on behalf of my own State, where we have some outstanding historically black colleges and universities, I think it is appropriate that we have this week for Alcorn State University, Jackson State University, and Tougaloo in my own State, and we have outstanding academic institutions which have done a wonderful job over a long period of time. I commend Senator Thurmond for doing this.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I thank the Senator from California for her comments and her willingness to do that. I don't make that sort of request ordinarily, but Members have extraordinarily difficult problems in their families and we have to try to be cooperative. We thank Senators for doing that. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, let me explain where we are. Except for some wrap-up time and another vote on the Hutchison amendment, I believe we are about ready to conclude the Interior appropriations. It will take some time to do wrap-up. As I understand it, there could be as many as two more votes in addition to final passage. After the presentation by the Senator from Wisconsin on East Timor, we are going to go to S.J. Res. 33 with regard to the Puerto Rican terrorists. There will be a vote on that resolution sometime this afternoon but not before 2:15 or 2:30. We will work on a specific time and advise the Members when that will be. When that is complete, it is our intent to go to the Transportation appropriations bill. I have discussed this with the Democratic leader. We are in agreement on that. We will do this resolution and a vote, and then we will go to the Transportation appropriations bill and complete that as soon as we can. That could be tonight or tomorrow night but however long it takes. Then we will come back and wrap up the Interior appropriations bill. That will be determined at a time we will notify the Members of, after we have had further discussion with the Democrats and the manager of bill.

Mr. LOTT. I yield.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, I have a unanimous consent request, and then I will go over the schedule as it appears to be at this time. I ask unanimous consent the text of S.J. Res. 33 be modified with the changes I now send to the desk, and I ask consent that no amendments or motions be in order and debate be limited to 2 hours equally divided between the two leaders or their designees at a time to be determined by the leaders. I ask that a vote occur on adoption of the joint resolution at a time to be determined by the majority leader, after agreement with the Democratic leader, but no later than close of business on Tuesday September 14, 1999.

Mr. LOTT. I have no objection.

Mr. LOTT

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the yeas and nays be vitiated on the nomination of Maryanne Trump Barry.

Mr. LOTT. I understand the Chair will now put the question on this nomination.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I also indicate that we will be prepared to confirm two further judicial nominations by consent before we close business this evening. Therefore, there will be no further votes this evening, and the next vote will occur at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday in relation to the Bryan forestry amendment.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I enter a motion to reconsider the vote by which the Senate failed to invoke cloture on the pending Hutchison amendment.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I have suggested that to the chairman. He has indicated, while he understands and will be working toward that, he has these other issues into which he wants hearings. But I expect next week to get some feel from him exactly what the schedule would be. When I do talk to him, which will be, I presume, early next week, I will be glad to get back to Senator Dorgan and give him that information.

Mr. LOTT. I cannot wait to hear how Jim Schlesinger describes the CTBT treaty. When he gets through damning it, they may not want more hearings.

Mr. LOTT. It is a very good article. He basically says that the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is disarmament, unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United States, because we would not be testing our aging nuclear weapons and saying to the rest of the world: We have been good guys, so we're going to have faith that you're going to be good. I am not prepared to put my grandson's future at risk in this way. So that is how I wanted to respond. I do think hearings could be and should be scheduled in a variety of ways. I hope the chairman will be working on that. I will be talking to him about it, one. Two, I do think this is a dangerous time to rush to judgment on such an important issue. Three, I do think it is the wrong thing to do. And four, if it is called up preemptively, without appropriate consideration and thought, it could be defeated. I think that the advocates need to weigh the ramifications and the implications of such an action. So I know the interest of the Senator. I have already talked with him about it. I will be glad to work with him and to work with the chairman to see what an appropriate time is and what an appropriate process is for having hearings of these critical areas.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, at least Dr. Charles Krauthammer signed his editorial. We do not know who wrote the editorial in the Washington Post. But I would be willing to guess that Dr. Krauthammer knows more about the subject than whoever at the White House wrote the article for the Washington Post editorial page. If we want to compare capabilities and knowledge, I would be glad to get into that. I put my money with Krauthammer against anybody who writes an editorial in the Washington Post. Having said that, I have done what I can do at this point in terms of suggesting that hearings be in order.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if I could respond, who has the time now? Is this under a reservation?

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, first of all, I emphasize, obviously this is a very important issue. I think it is an extremely dangerous issue in a dangerous time. We see now uncertainty with regard to Russia and their economic condition and what is happening with loans that have been made to them I guess through the IMF. We are concerned about their continuing nuclear capability. So it is an uncertain time. They have not ratified SALT II in the Duma of Russia. And we have not determined what we are going to do about revisiting the ABM Treaty. I talked to the President's National Security Adviser, Sandy Berger, this past week about that event. I believe very strongly we are going to have to take another look at the ABM Treaty. Then, in addition to that, you have the very dangerous situation with Iraq. In today's newspaper, we have an indication that Iran may have the capability to deliver nuclear weapons beyond what most people are aware. And there is the ``scary,'' I believe is the way it was described in the newspaper today, situation with regard to North Korea. The countries that have signed that treaty, for the most part, are countries that do not have nuclear capability, so they are perfectly happy to sign it. But when you look at Russia, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, and India, the world is still very dangerous. The chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee has indicated very strongly there are a number of treaties that are necessarily tied together; what is going to be the situation with regard to the ABM Treaty; what is the situation with regard to Kyoto, the global warming issue; and the third leg of this stool is the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. I think the chairman has indicated he is willing to get into these three areas. He will be taking a look at hearings. I have encouraged him to do so, but I think everybody needs to understand that it would involve all three of these issues. And they are going to be dealt with. I commend for the reading of the Senate today's editorial page article by Charles Krauthammer. I ask unanimous consent that a copy of that article be printed in the Congressional Record.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I appreciate the comments of Senator Dorgan with regard to the possibility of trying to work out some language on which there can be agreement. Even though I will proceed to file a cloture motion, if we can come up with some language that expresses the outrage of the American people and the feelings of the Senate on both sides of the aisle, we will withdraw that cloture motion and will go to the vote. I note that just yesterday the House of Representatives debated a resolution on this issue. Over 300 voted for the resolution expressing criticism of this clemency; 41 or so voted no; 70 voted ``present,'' which I think is a very curious thing. I do not recall the last time I have seen as many as 70 vote ``present.'' The House has shown leadership in this area in a bipartisan way. I hope the Senate can do the same.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, again, so Senators will know when to expect the vote, it will occur Monday, September 13. So on Monday, with the two cloture votes and a vote or two on Federal judicial nominations, we can expect three or four votes in a stacked sequence on Monday afternoon beginning at 5. I ask unanimous consent that this vote occur immediately following the cloture vote regarding S.J. Res. 33 and the mandatory quorum under rule XXII be waived.

Mr. LOTT. What is the pending business now, Mr. President? Amendment No. 1603

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I now withdraw the motion to proceed.

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

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, this cloture vote will occur on Monday, September 13. I ask unanimous consent that the cloture vote occur at 5 p.m. on Monday and the mandatory quorum under rule XXII be waived.