Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. So for the sake of discussions, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now resume consideration of the juvenile justice bill, and there be 10 amendments in order per side to be selected from the amendments in order pursuant to the previous consent of May 14, and passage occur by 12 noon, Wednesday, May 19.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Or perhaps earlier. That will be the last vote tonight. The next amendment in order will be the amendment the Senator from Iowa is concerned about. And if he would like to debate that tonight, that would be fine.

Mr. LOTT. Right.

Mr. LOTT. That is correct. If I could get recognition, if the Senator desires to have some debate on his amendment tonight, that will be fine and will be anticipated also. So we will do these two out of sequence, with the last vote occurring probably around 6:15 or so.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. It is anticipated that following those tributes, some time might be spent hearing further from Senators expressing their concern at and disappointment about the vote against cloture on the motion to proceed to the Y2K issue. Then we will work with the Democratic leadership and the managers of the juvenile justice bill to see how we can proceed on that bill after the policy luncheon hour or two hours. Hopefully, we could have some wrap-up debate on amendments that were offered Friday and Monday, because some of those amendments were offered and some debate was heard but the other side was not heard on that particular amendment, and it could have been from either side of the aisle. So some additional time might be needed for that, and I was thinking of maybe a series of stacked votes. We have some 13 amendments that are pending. Hopefully, we would not have to have a recorded vote on all of those, but whatever number would be required, and then see if we can work for a way to complete the juvenile justice bill in a reasonable period of time with a reasonable number of amendments on both sides, and then go tomorrow, hopefully, not later than noon, to the supplemental appropriations bill, assuming the House passes that this afternoon or tonight. I think it would be irresponsible for us to delay any longer than is absolutely necessary to take up this legislation. It has been pending too long. It is supposed to be an emergency, supposed to deal with disasters in Central America, in Kansas and Oklahoma, as well as the defense needs in support of our men and women who are flying bombing raids right now over Kosovo. It would be my intent, as soon as we receive it from the House, to go to that legislation. It is still my hope that we can complete juvenile justice in a reasonable period of time.

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent that during the tributes to Admiral Nance all staff of the Foreign Relations Committee be granted floor privileges.

Mr. LOTT. So that Senators will know how we would like to proceed for the next hour or so, we want to have a special order in honor of and tribute to one of the finest staff members I have ever known in the 26 years I have been in Congress, Adm. Bud Nance. Privilege Of The Floor

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Connecticut for his very kind and heartfelt comments. I know Senator Helms appreciates it very much also. In case it hasn't been announced, I want all Senators to be aware that Admiral Nance's graveside services will be at Arlington National Cemetery at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, tomorrow. For any Senators who would like to be there and participate, I am sure it will be a beautiful and appropriate ceremony. I served 4 years as a staff member on the House side, working for the chairman of the Rules Committee. Now I have served 26 years in the House and the Senate. I have a very enduring appreciation for the importance and the loyalty, the dedication and the fine service that we receive from our staffs, both in this Chamber, in our committee work, and on our personal staffs. Admiral Nance was one of those unique staff members, though, who had a very close personal relationship, beyond a normal staff relationship, with the chairman of the committee, but also with a lot of Senators. When I first came to the Senate, I found myself more than once back in the back room seeking the advice and counsel of Admiral Nance, and he always took the time to try to explain the situation and try to make clear what was in the country's best national interests. And so I feel a personal sense of loss. When you go through life and then you sort of get to the end of your road and you look back, I think there are really at least three things you hope for: a good name, good friends, and, hopefully, a little good fortune. But very important on that list is good friends. I have had the privilege of having some great friends, going back to my childhood days at Duck Hill, MS, people I still stay in touch with from high school and college years. We still get together. In less than 2 weeks, we are all going to be together at the marriage of my daughter. My friends from high school and college will be there. I know that when you are in the greatest need of comforting, the greatest need of counsel, there are few friends that you turn to. So we have had this unique relationship with Rear Admiral James W. ``Bud'' Nance and our beloved chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, the senior Senator from North California. He was born in Monroe, NC--most folks probably have never heard of it, or certainly have never been there--a small town, one block from the home of Jesse Helms. I wonder how many blocks there are in Monroe--probably not many. But this son of the South from North Carolina went to the Naval Academy, a 1944 graduate. He was a gunnery officer on the U.S.S. North Carolina at Iwo Jima. He was a combat pilot in Korea and Vietnam. He was a test pilot. He was commander of the U.S.S. Raleigh, a cruiser, and commander of the U.S.S. Forrestal, one of our great carriers in history. I had the pleasure one time of landing on the deck of that carrier. It was a tremendous experience. My attitude ever since has been: I have done that. I don't want to do it anymore. To be commander of that great vessel is the height of success in many people's lives. But he went beyond that. He went on to be Deputy National Security Adviser in the Reagan administration. And then, of course, for the last 6 years, he was staff director of the Foreign Relations Committee. His wife, Mary Lyda, and their two sons--I know Phil--are grateful to have had this man as husband and father. We all have been enriched and are better off because of his service to our country and to this institution and to his friend. Bud Nance, sailor, public servant, patriot. God rest his soul. I yield the floor, Mr. President.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, will the Senator yield briefly? I don't know the time situation.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I yield myself some of the leader time if necessary. I thank Senator McCain for his continuing effort on this important legislation. I wonder how many people or how many Senators think the solution to the year 2000 computer problem is litigation, lawsuits. I don't believe most Senators believe that is the answer. I know the American people don't believe that is the answer. What they want is a solution. They want us to do everything we can to help small business men and women and the computer industry, everybody, address the problem. If we don't get it done by the year 2000, they certainly don't want lawsuits to be the solution. That is what is at stake. I have acted in good faith. I know Senator McCain has. I was assured last week by Senator Dodd of Connecticut that they were ready to go forward, that a number of Democrats would join the overwhelming Republican vote to support getting cloture. I want to emphasize this is on the motion to proceed. People need to understand that. This apparently is going to be an effort by the Democrats to block even taking up the bill to deal with this Y2K litigation problem. This is the second time in 3 weeks political games are being played with a very serious issue. If that is the way it is to be, I want the American people to understand the Democrats do not want a solution. They want to play games with this bill and they want litigation. That is what really is at stake. As majority leader, I have to try to deal with a lot of important issues, including the juvenile justice bill, supplemental appropriations for disasters, the situation in Kosovo, bankruptcy legislation, Department of Defense authorization, a whole long list of bills. We can't keep bringing up this bill or other bills. So this is it until somebody shows me that there is a good-faith effort. As far as having votes on alternatives, I think Senator McCain and other managers would be glad to do that. If somebody has an alternative proposal--by Senator Kerry, Senator Daschle --fine, let's vote on that. But to just block even the consideration of this bill I think is very questionable action. I hope the Senator will find a way to deal with this. At some point, if somebody shows me they are ready to go and we go to the substance and we have the votes to pass it, fine. Otherwise, the Democrats have on their shoulders the fact they have killed the Y2K legislation. Let them explain it to the businesspeople of this country, the men and women who have small businesses and to the computer industry, because that is where the problem is. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, let me say again how disappointed I am that it appears the Senate did not want to deal with the question of the year 2000 computer liability problem. I think that is a devastating blow for business and industry in this country, big and small, as well as the computer industry. If we do not do this, I predict by this time next year our courts will be clogged with lawsuits. I do not believe that is the answer to the problem.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, how much time do we have?

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I thank the Chair.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I thank the Chaplain for, as usual, a very appropriate and wonderful prayer.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Today, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 1 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. It is expected the Senate will resume debate on the juvenile justice bill this afternoon. Senators who have amendments on the list with respect to the juvenile justice bill should be prepared to offer their amendments today. I understand at least three Senators are prepared to offer one or more amendments, so that will take up, I am sure, a considerable amount of time. I understand that Senator Santorum and Senator Wellstone and Senator McConnell have amendments they will be prepared to offer this afternoon. No rollcall votes will occur during today's session. Also, today it is the intention of the leadership to debate the Y2K legislation for an hour or so at the end of the day, which would then, of course, take us over into tomorrow, when, under a previous unanimous consent agreement, there will be a cloture vote on a motion to proceed to Y2K at 9:45 a.m. For the remainder of the week, the Senate will, hopefully, complete action on the juvenile justice bill and the Y2K legislation. Also, the Senate will turn to the supplemental appropriations conference report. I understand that may not be available until late tomorrow afternoon or perhaps even Wednesday. Exactly when that will be brought up will depend, in part at least, on the disposition of these other two bills. Senators should expect rollcall votes throughout each day and into the evening, if necessary, although I would not anticipate a late night on Tuesday, but we could have to go into late nights Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday, we will not have any legislative business even though we may have a pro forma session. There is a Democratic retreat similar to the one the Republicans had last month, and that is scheduled for Friday. So we will not have any recorded votes so that they can attend this meeting. Mr. President, I want to again ask for cooperation by Senators in offering amendments and also trying to complete action on these two very important bills. The Y2K liability issue is one of growing concern. If you read the newspapers Friday and Saturday, you learned that there is a growing problem with small businesses trying to become Y2K compliant. There is a great deal of consternation about the liability exposure, and this bill provides a way for these problems to be addressed without leading to a myriad of lawsuits. I have even seen one statement that the Y2K litigation costs could exceed the cost of asbestos, breast implants, and tobacco litigation. That is massive. I do not know whether that is accurate or not, but it is a problem with which we need to try to deal. Also, on juvenile justice, this underlying bill has been in the making for 2 years. We have had amendments, and we will have other amendments offered with regard to violence in the schools, how you deal with that, with the impact of certain laws that we already have on the books as to schools and, of course, gun amendments. I hope we can come to a reasonable agreement of how we can complete both of these bills this week and then go to the supplemental appropriations bill and be prepared late this week or early next week to turn to the defense authorization bill. At a time when we have our men and women engaged in combat, we need to go ahead and move this very important piece of legislation. So those, along with the DOD appropriations bill, I hope to have completed by a week from Thursday night before the Memorial Day recess. With that, I yield the floor, Mr. President, and I observe the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. That's correct.

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent passage of the juvenile justice bill, S. 254, occur no later than 6 o'clock p.m. on Tuesday, May, 18, 1999. Let me emphasize that this is the third request I have made to try to find a way to have fair debate on amendments and votes and a conclusion at some point. Last week, I had suggested we take Friday and Monday to have a number of amendments offered and debated, as we are doing. We asked that the votes on amendments occur on Tuesday morning and that final passage occur by noon. That was objected to. So I said we could have votes on Tuesday morning on the amendments, continue on amendments with votes throughout the afternoon, and complete it by 5 on Tuesday. That was objected to. This now moves it another hour. Before there is a reservation or objection, let me emphasize why I am doing this. We had thought we could take up this juvenile justice bill that has been in the process for 2 years, have debate, amendments and votes, and complete it by last Thursday night, since we started on Monday. We had Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. That turned out not to be practical because there were other amendments still pending, even though we had taken up 15 amendments, and I think now we have taken up probably 20 or more. We thought about trying to continue on Friday and Monday and then complete it on Tuesday. This week, we don't have a Friday session because there is a Democratic retreat, so we won't be able to have legislative business or votes on Friday. Let me emphasize that is not intended to be critical because we had a similar Friday last month for Republicans. We each take one Friday during the year to do that and it makes sense to do that. During this week, we have a vote or votes on the Y2K liability issue, which is very important to small businesses, to industry people trying to comply with the Y2K bill. The computer industry in general has a tremendous liability problem that should be treated as finding a way to solve the problem rather than just trying to find a way to have a whole lot of lawsuits. We also have a supplemental appropriations bill. Unlike some supplemental appropriations bills that go through here lickety-split in an hour or two, this one very well may take some time. It is large and has a lot of moving parts. It needs to be explained completely. In order to complete Y2K, the juvenile justice bill and supplemental appropriations, we have Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday--3 days. We will have to find some way to get some time agreements and move these bills through to completion. That is my request.

Mr. LOTT. I yield to the Senator from Utah.

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I regret the objection by our Democratic colleagues. This juvenile justice bill is critically important. Just last night here in the Washington suburbs, two 15-year-old young men were charged with murder and charged as adults. This is not new. This is a pattern that has evolved not only here in this metropolitan area but across the country. I think this juvenile justice legislation is very important and is long overdue. As a result of the objection from the minority, I have to say it looks as if at this point it will be difficult to get this bill done this week without this sort of concept of final passage. I am trying to get some way to identify how to get this bill done. I want this juvenile justice bill done. It has been in the mill for 2 years. I think we need it. We had good debates, we had some amendments, and I presume we will have more amendments. If we can't get some sort of time agreement, we will never reach a conclusion. There is a finite number of amendments, but I think it must be 40 or 50 amendments that are still pending. None of the three consents I propounded has been cleared by the minority, and I do find this very disturbing. Having said that, I realize that the Democratic leader is not here. He will be coming in later on this afternoon and we will, I am sure, confer together. I assume my colleagues want this bill completed. Let me state where I am. Give me some practical suggestion. What are we talking about here? Hours? Days? Weeks? Months? I think the Democrats think they found a good issue, but I don't think it's a good issue if we don't deal with the problem of juvenile crime in this country, if we don't deal with the problem of violence in our society and the cultural decline in our country, and with the gun amendments that have already been debated. So I think we ought to find a way to get it done. Let's find a way to do it, because we have other legislation we have to deal with: a great big liability problem with Y2K, a tremendous problem with the need for disaster supplemental appropriations, and funds for our military men and women who have been doing bombing raids right now. I think we ought to try to get that done. All I am trying to do is find a way to do those three bills this week. And with your help, we will keep looking for it and hopefully we will find a way to get it done. I yield the floor. Several Senators addressed the Chair.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Then the argument is, why aren't we doing more bills? You can't have it both ways. Give it a reasonable time, give it full debate, have reasonable amendments, and then vote. I, frankly, feel used and put upon. I thought we were going to have a good debate, have amendments, and complete this by Thursday night. I understood there was good effort being made. We said, OK, we will be in on Friday, debate all day on Friday, and debate all day on Monday, with votes Tuesday, and all day Tuesday. There has to be an end to this. There has to be some reasonableness. But look, we made our point, and now that we have the amendments locked in, hopefully the managers and others can find a way to figure out how to end this. When they do, give me a call.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I rise to thank the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators for hosting a demonstration of the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS) today in Arlington, Virginia. Staff representing Senators from both sides of the aisle were shown how the national titling information system will allow participating states to track a motor vehicle from essentially birth to death. NMVTIS will let DMVs and consumers know where a vehicle was previously titled and which, if any, brands have been associated with the vehicle. It will also let law enforcement know if a vehicle being registered or titled is stolen. Again, this is crucial disclosure information for states, car buyers, and police forces across the country. It is a system that is consistent with advances in technology. One that allows states to share information over the wire. NMVTIS makes a great deal of sense as state governments move to paperless systems and greater use of the Internet to share information with their citizenry. Mr. President, Congress directed the establishment of NMVTIS as part of the Anti-Car Theft Act of 1992. In part, to curtail motor vehicle theft, but also to allow states to share ``real time'' up-to-date vehicle information. It is clear though, that the effectiveness of a national titling information system depends on maximum state participation. Congress knew this when it authorized incentive grants to encourage states to use the system. A minimum of $300,000 is available to a state to offset its implementation costs. Virginia, often a technology leader, embraced NMVTIS early and agreed to be the first state to pilot test the system. It will have the system online at all DMVs this June. Indiana, Massachusetts, Florida, and Arizona are also in the process of implementing NMVTIS. Kentucky and New Hampshire are not far behind. Both states submitted formal grant applications to the Department of Justice which oversees NMVTIS. Additionally, a number of states have also sent letters of interest and are hopeful to obtain startup funding this year. These include: Alabama, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. It is expected that 21 states will be full partners in the national titling system by 2000 and that all states will choose to participate in the system by 2003. Mr. President, I congratulate Virginia and the other participating states for leading the way. NMVTIS is one significant tool that will be used to combat title fraud and vehicle theft. With NMVTIS, and appropriate and workable uniform salvage vehicle titling definitions and standards, consumers across the country will have the kind of disclosure detail they need to make informed purchase decisions. Somewhere down the road, consumers will be able to conduct vehicle queries and get ``real time'' vehicle history information from their home computers. Mr. President, the 106th Congress does not need to put roadblocks in the way. My colleagues must reject any proposal that would jeopardize full nationwide implementation of this much needed system. Instead, this Congress must do everything it can to maintain the vitality of NMVTIS. For America's motorists, for car purchasers, and for all 50 states. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record an AAMVA news release and other background information on NMVTIS.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. On that particular point, I do not know what the vote would be on the cloture on the motion to proceed on Y2K. I suspect it may pass, maybe even pass unanimously. At that point we are on that unless we can get an agreement to come back to the juvenile justice bill, which I assume we could do, but with the understanding we get something worked out as to how we proceed. I have been signaling all week that we wanted to go back to Y2K especially, and we need to get started early since we had to file a cloture motion on even the motion to proceed. But you know, if we can get a solid, overwhelming vote on that, rather than spending 30 hours on it, hopefully something could be worked out on that as to how we would proceed to that, maybe right after the juvenile justice bill, and that we could get agreement to come back to juvenile justice at that point. It is just that I had to get that ball rolling. And I assume and I hope maybe that is just one vote in what could be a series of votes. But hopefully we will get something worked out on that. But I wanted to make sure that--I am certainly amenable to trying to work out an agreement to go back to juvenile justice after we have that vote Tuesday morning.

Mr. LOTT. Would the Senator yield?

Mr. LOTT. First of all, Senator Hatch and Senator Leahy, the managers of the bill, are not on the floor at this time. I assume they are still in the area. And I have a call in to Senator Hatch so he will come back. And we can discuss how we might proceed and see what amendments we are talking about. Because you can certainly understand, it is hard to have the debate go forward without the managers knowing what amendments we are talking about, and that they are sort of in an order. I understand the Kohl amendment, for instance, was next in order, and maybe even pretty much has been worked out. But I need to make sure that that is the case. And then, secondly, there may still be somebody opposed to it and have indicated they want to be able to be heard on the other side. So we have to make sure that Senators both for and against bills are protected in their desire to speak on an amendment. And that is basically it. Senator Kohl is here. If there is no particular problem, then maybe we could go to that one and have him present it and make his statement. If there is a Senator opposed to it, he or she could come over. If not, we could go on. But there is a need to make sure that everybody knows what is happening. And both sides are aware that they should come to the floor and express themselves if they desire to. The problem is, it is 12:15; it is Friday afternoon. As you know, it is very hard to work down this list of amendments when--once Senators realize basically the votes are over, they have commitments, and they are gone. But I will talk with Senator Hatch as soon as we get in touch with him and see if there is any problem with going forward with Senator Kohl. Then, of course, we need to go back and see if there is another amendment on this side. We will work through that. But we have to make sure everybody is notified we are going to be trying to do it. I yield the floor. Mr. DASCHLE addressed the Chair.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I regret the objection has been heard from our Democratic friends. This is an important issue all over America. The clock is running. Cloture Motion I move to proceed to S. 96, and I send a cloture motion to the desk.