Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I move to recommit the bill with instructions to report back forthwith, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, this cloture vote will occur on Friday of this week. The time will be announced after consultation with the Democratic leader, unless it is vitiated because of intervening agreements or decisions that are made. All Senators will be notified of that exact time. Call Of The Roll In the meantime, I ask consent that the mandatory call for the quorum under rule XXII be waived.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I call for regular order with respect to S. 557, and send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I associate myself with the comments of the Senator from Arizona. The bill before us is the Y2K liability legislation, which is time sensitive, which has bipartisan support, which would allow for a process for small business individuals and others who might be talked into Y2K computer problems, to deal with the problem without winding up with the typical lawsuits being filed. That is what this is really all about, trying to deal with the liabilities that could be facing a lot of people inadvertently, or because they don't have the ability to deal with this problem, to find a way to deal with the problem, and not just, as is the idea of a lot of people, just to provide an avenue for a lot of lawsuits. I had hoped we could have amendments on the subject and maybe substitute amendments by others. There are two or three different bills that are very close in this area. I thought we could deal with the subject matter and move forward. In a show of good faith, I wanted to leave those options open, and I didn't completely ``fill up the tree,'' as it is described around here, and offer a lot of amendments to block everybody, to see if we really had a good-faith intent of dealing with this important legislation. There are a lot of small business men and women, and businesses in general, who are very interested in this legislation and know it needs to be done, and they know it could be done in a bipartisan way. But my show of good faith has been rewarded with an amendment that is unrelated and is intended to change the subject to fulfill an agenda that has been developed on the other side. They had the opportunity and they took advantage of it. That, I think, is a tragedy, but that is the way it goes around here. I have learned a lesson. If we are going to pass legislation, whether it is on bankruptcy or financial modernization, FAA reauthorization, or this legislation, Y2K legislation, which is important, I am going to have to take actions to block irrelevant, nongermane amendments that are just part of a political agenda. Having said that, I move to table the motion to recommit the bill and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I regret that we have to use this procedure. But we are hoping that we can see an agreement reached with regard to Y2K. I know there is a bipartisan effort underway on this important issue. It is timely. I hope that Members will work together this afternoon and tonight, and that we can find a way to come to a conclusion on it. The Social Security lockbox also is an issue that we think is very important which we need to be talking about and find a way to actually achieve that goal. This will give us an opportunity to discuss that some more. I want to say to Senator Daschle publicly what I have been saying to him privately. It is not my intent, and I will not be used to prevent a discussion in a reasonable period of time--we talked about week after next--with regard to school violence, how you deal with that. I think it is appropriate after a reasonable period of time to have a debate and have votes on amendments. I suggest that we would do it on the Justice bill. If for some reason that bill is a problem, we will find some other vehicle, and I am sure there will be amendments with a lot of different ideas of how we try to deal with this problem. I am not sure we can solve what has happened in Colorado here. But we will have a chance to have a discussion and have a debate and have amendments. I said to Senator Daschle that we are going to do that, and he and I will work together to find a way to do it and to have amendments dealing with school violence. I don't want this to become a laundry list of all kinds of other issues. But the Senate needs to be heard, and needs to have an opportunity to debate and vote on those issues dealing with school violence. How we try to address that--we will find a way to get that done. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT. That is my intention. To give you an example of what might happen, though, it is possible that the supplemental appropriations bill would be ready that day. It depends on when the House acts and when the Senate is able to get to it. If we have to do it a day earlier, or a day later, I don't want the Democratic leader to think it would have to be something he and I agree on. Barring something that might happen, we will do it on that Tuesday.

Mr. LOTT. I yield the floor. Mr. DASCHLE addressed the Chair.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I regret having to file a cloture motion. I hoped we would not have to do that, that we could get an agreement on how to proceed, and that the amendments would be relevant. But since we have not been able to, with the objection just heard, I have no alternative. Therefore, I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all remaining amendments in order to S. 96 be relevant to the pending McCain amendment.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if I could make a couple of observations with regard to the schedule, I know Members are interested in a variety of very important issues they wish to be heard on. I have to be sympathetic to those requests. We don't have it worked out yet. But I am discussing with Senator Daschle the possibility of having some measure on the floor of the Senate later on this week which would be an opportunity for further discussion and perhaps votes with regard to the Kosovo matter. We wish it to be a bipartisan resolution that allows Senators to state their position and to allow the Senate to take a vote on exactly how they wish to proceed at this point with regard to Kosovo. We will have to work through that. Hopefully, we can take it up Thursday and complete it Thursday night, or Friday, or later, if the Senators so desire. On another matter, I know there are Senators who have a real desire to say something and have a policy discussion about what has happened in Colorado. I ask my colleagues, let's give this a moment. Let's allow a period of mourning and grief. Let's allow these families to bury their children. Let's all wait to see more about what happened and ask not only what but why. Then 2 weeks from today, if the Senate thinks well of it, we will look for a vehicle--and we have one in mind, perhaps a juvenile justice bill--that we could take up, and the Senate would then have an opportunity for debate, have amendments, and have votes. I think we need a period of time to think this through and allow our country, collectively, to have a period of mourning and then see if there is something we can do. I don't think the answer is here. I think the answer is out across America. I wanted the Senators to know I recognize their desires and I am trying to find a way to accommodate those desires. I ask, also, that we must continue to work on Y2K and find a way to complete it without getting into a myriad of subsidiary issues and complete our work by Wednesday.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I am happy to yield to the Senator.

Mr. LOTT. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, in response to the Senator's question, I think it is always incumbent upon the leadership to make sure we proceed in an appropriate way and that Senators have an opportunity to express their views and offer amendments on issues of policy. I think we are doing that. We have appropriately had a moment of silence and a prayer for the children and the families, and for our country. We are going to have a resolution this afternoon officially expressing our regret and sympathy. I have asked that we have a brief period of mourning where we don't rush to judgment before we start flinging amendments at each other. I mentioned the idea to Senator Daschle moments ago in which I said that 2 weeks from today we will look at bringing up a particular piece of legislation. I don't want to say it will be exactly that day or exactly that piece of legislation because Senator Daschle needs to confer with a lot of Members on that side. However, it is my intent, that 2 weeks from today we give Senators an opportunity to offer amendments, thoughts and policy issues they wish to have addressed. I think the timing would be appropriate and I think that the issue or the issues are appropriate for Members to debate and vote on.

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

Mr. LOTT. I send a second-degree amendment to the language proposed to be stricken.

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 send a first-degree amendment to the language proposed to be stricken.

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

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I send a second-degree amendment to the pending first-degree amendment to the desk.

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. I send a first-degree amendment to the pending amendment to the desk.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I know that a number of Senators do wish to express their concern, sympathy, and great regret with regard to the incident for which we are all so very sorry, and suffering. As Senators Allard and Campbell said, I think we can save that until we have the resolution up later this afternoon when Senators will have the opportunity to speak on this matter. I will be speaking with Senator Daschle and we will be talking about an appropriate way for the Senate to consider this matter for a reasonable period of time. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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