Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Surely.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I now ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. LOTT. It is interesting to note, Mr. President, that after a lot of concern or even complaints about the process of filling up the tree, here I am having to do that in order to go to conference. In this case, I am sure the Democrats and the Republicans support this effort so we can get this legislation to conference for its consideration. This is a perfect example of the majority leader sometimes having to use this type of technique.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I thank the Chair.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the Senate will immediately begin debate on the resolution to reinstate rule XVI. By a previous order, there will be 6 hours of debate on the resolution with one amendment in order regarding scope in conference. As a reminder, a cloture motion on the motion to proceed to the House-passed juvenile justice bill was filed also on Thursday. That vote, then, will take place in a series of stacked votes this afternoon at 5:30, along with the rule XVI resolution and the amendment regarding scope in conference. Further, it is the intention of the majority leader to begin debate on the Interior appropriations bill, and the reconciliation legislation will also come up this week, probably on Wednesday. Of course, under the rules, 20 hours of debate is permitted, and I am sure there will be a number of amendments, so we will have to begin on that promptly sometime early Wednesday morning. Senators should be prepared to vote throughout each day and into the evenings, although we probably will not go late into the evening today other than the three stacked votes. But on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday late evenings should be anticipated in order to get this important work done. Rule XVI This is a day I have been waiting for because we have needed for some time now to reinstate rule XVI which would make a point of order in order against legislation on an appropriations bill. More and more, the Senate has been abusing that process, making it very difficult to move the appropriations bills through the Senate, even though there is a lot of work done on both sides of the aisle by the leadership. For an example, last Thursday we would not have completed the State-Justice-Commerce appropriations bill had it not been for the dedicated efforts of Senator Reid in his position as whip on the Democratic side, working with the chairman of the committee and the ranking member of the committee to get that legislation through. This is a responsible thing to do; the Senate will run better and we will still have the opportunity to offer amendments on legislative issues. So I hope, when the day is over, we will have reinstated rule XVI, and we will all be better off because of it. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, in order to explain what is not happening now, I will use some leader time to advise Senators what our hopes are and why we are having a quorum at this time. First of all, we are respecting the request of the Democratic leader to not go forward to the conclusion of the statements and any action or votes on the pending resolution so they can have a conference to discuss how to proceed. What is involved here is my continuing effort to have the Senate correct a mistake that was made a few years ago with regard to rule XVI. Rule XVI prohibited legislation on an appropriations bill. A precedent was set, and I confess I helped set that precedent. I mistakenly voted to overrule the ruling of the Chair, and so did others, because we were so committed to the issue. It has certainly been a problem for the Senate ever since. Both sides of the aisle use appropriations bills for every legislative amendment or bill that they might be sponsoring or something they may be harboring to get a vote on. It has really gotten to be a problem in moving appropriations bills forward. The right thing to do for the institution, the right thing to do in terms of legislative sanity, and the right thing to do for the people of this country is to have that precedent established again which would say that Senators cannot offer legislation on appropriations bills without a point of order being in order. Keep in mind, if you get 51 votes, that could be overturned, but I think it will add additional pressure on Senators not to abuse that process. The matter pending is the Commerce, State and Justice appropriations bill, a very important bill. It provides the funds, obviously, for the Departments of Commerce, State, and Justice. A major portion of law enforcement money is in this appropriations bill. We need to move it forward. The Senate does not always move with dispatch, but sometimes we do. On an appropriations bill, obviously, involving billions of dollars, Senators want to have a chance to review it carefully and amendments will be in order. Amendments would be in order after the vote that we are about to have or could have reestablishing rule XVI. Senators could offer amendments that relate to the bill, that take money out or put money in, or strike out sections. All of that would still be in order. Senator Daschle and I have basically agreed--in fact, we have exchanged pleasantries on this rule XVI issue several times over the past few years--that this is a precedent we need to go back and correct. We had a colloquy a month or so ago in which we said, yes, this needs to be done, and we need to work together to get it done. There is concern that the way this was done, the minority had not been given notice. But earlier this summer, the minority was aware we were going to try to reverse this precedent, and 2 or 3 days were spent trying to block us from getting an opportunity. I don't necessarily feel we have to do it this way or do it on this bill or do it right now, but my question is, if not now, when? If not in this way, in what way?

Mr. LOTT

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I repeat my unanimous consent request and ask that the amendments identified by Senator Reid be included on the list.

Mr. LOTT. With this agreement in place, it is my hope that the bill can be completed yet this evening. I believe we have amendments that are in order, and Senator Lautenberg has one he may be able to go forward with. Work is still being done on the rule XVI issue. Additional votes will occur during this evening's session of the Senate. We usually can expect to go late into the evenings on Thursday. It looks as if that will be the case. If we can work with the managers and get this work done, this would be a very important achievement. And that, coupled with the fact that we know there is a memorial service tomorrow, we would not have to be in session tomorrow. I urge the managers to keep working and my colleagues to please work with them.

Mr. LOTT. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. LOTT. I have the list here. I believe the Senator from Minnesota is on here for four amendments--not one, not two, not three but four. We have the list.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the managers of this legislation have been working diligently throughout the day and have made a lot of progress in dealing with a number of amendments, accommodating those amendments. Senator Daschle and I have been working with Senators to find ways for Senators to perhaps have their legislation considered on other bills. We are trying to get a list of amendments outstanding so they will know exactly what they are dealing with.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. With that, I move to proceed to H.R. 1501 and send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I regret the objection. I understand, though, the Senator's feeling on this. As a result of the objection, I have no other alternative than to move to proceed to H.R. 1501 and file a cloture motion on that motion to proceed. Having said that, this will be the first of many steps necessary to send this important juvenile justice bill to conference.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I have a unanimous consent request with regard to the appointment of conferees on the juvenile justice bill. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of H.R. 1501, the House juvenile justice bill, and all after the enacting clause be stricken, the text of S. 254, as passed by the Senate, except for the Feinstein amendment No. 343, as modified, be inserted in lieu thereof, the bill be advanced to third reading and passage occur, without any intervening action or debate. I further ask unanimous consent that the Senate insist on its amendment, request a conference with the House, the conferees be instructed to include the above described amendment No. 343 in the conference report, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Right.

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

Mr. LOTT. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LOTT. Amendments thereto would have to be protected in the same way in order for that to go forward. We can't have one amendment in order and not have amendments thereto be in order also.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I have consulted with the Democratic leader on the unanimous-consent request I am fixing to propound. I think it is a reasonable solution to deal with a couple of very important issues. I ask unanimous consent when the Senate convenes on Monday, July 26, it proceed to an original resolution, to be placed on the calendar by the majority leader immediately following the acceptance of this agreement, and the resolution be considered under the following restraints: That the resolution be limited to 3 hours for each leader or his designee; that there be one amendment in order for the Democratic leader regarding restoring the point of order on exceeding the scope of conference, which debate time shall come out of the resolution time; and that final adoption of the resolution must occur prior to close of business of the Senate on Monday, July 26; Provided further that when the Senate considers the agricultural disaster relief amendment to be offered by Senator Daschle, or his designee, to the agriculture appropriations bill, no rule XVI point of order lie against the amendment.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, now I understand the reservation that the Senator from Wisconsin has, and we can clarify that. Let me read the last paragraph again. I think it will make it clear: Provided that when the Senate considers the agricultural disaster relief amendment to be offered by Senator Daschle, or his designee, to the agricultural appropriations bill, no rule XVI point of order lie against the amendment or amendments thereto relating to the same subject.

Mr. LOTT. To the agricultural appropriations bill.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if I could, this just provides for a fair opportunity for debate on the restoration of the rule XVI issue that we talked about earlier today which would allow Members to have a debate on that and a vote. If rule XVI is put back into place, of course, legislation on appropriations bills will be limited, unless there is a rule by the Chair and it gets 51 votes. We also have to debate and vote on the question of scope issues coming back out of conference. When we do bring up agriculture appropriations before the August recess, there will be one amendment relating to disaster relief by Senator Daschle or his designee, and we will have an opportunity to have our amendment on the same subject. It will not relate to dairy, I make that clear.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, with regard to tonight, we need to just keep going forward. Senator Reid, as usual, is doing good work. The managers, Senator Judd Gregg and Senator Hollings, have been working. I think if we will be serious--and I don't think a lot of Senators are on either side--in trying to get this completed, we still have a raft of amendments that either need to be accepted or withdrawn. I tried to see if we could do the work in the daylight, and I tried to see if we could do it on Mondays or Fridays. None of that seems to suit the Senate. I think we ought to keep going as late as it takes to finish this legislation. That way, we can get it completed. So it is at your pleasure. I live on Capitol Hill, so I will be at home watching you all on TV and wishing you the best. When the votes are ready, I will come back and vote. It is up to the Senators. Do we get rid of this long list of amendments that Senator Reid and Senator Gregg have been working on and keep going on into the night, or we can come in tomorrow. I am flexible either way. We have to get this bill done. I think we ought to keep going. I hope Senators will get serious about getting rid of some of these amendments. There is no reason we shouldn't have another vote or two and final passage. I hope we can get that done. This is not aimed at one side or the other. It is on both sides. Let's get serious and complete this bill. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the Millennium Digital Commerce Act provides a baseline national framework for conducting online business to business transactions. It is vital to interstate electronic commerce because it would provide legal standing for electronic signatures on contracts and other business transactions. This common sense and timely legislation will help promote continued growth in electronic commerce. It is good for business, consumers, and the overall American economy. While more than forty States have laws on the books concerning the use of authentication technology such as electronic signatures, the States have not yet chosen to adopt the same approach. This hodgepodge of State laws will undoubtedly have a chilling effect on e-commerce. This Congress cannot and should not sit by and wait until the States coordinate this milieu of laws on electronic signatures. This delay would unnecessarily restrain the growth of our Nation's economic well- being. The Millennium Digital Commerce Act is an interim step that will help facilitate interstate and international commerce. It is a necessary precursor to state-by-state adoption of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA). Mr. President, my colleagues on both sides of the aisle strongly agree that it is now time to move S. 761 to the floor. It has broad support and I hope we can work together to move this bipartisan pro-technology, pro-electronic commerce legislation forward as soon as possible.