Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. If we could complete comments on this, and then you will have an opportunity to do that. You have put me on notice, but let us try to do this.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I yield to Senator Dodd for a question.

Mr. LOTT. Was that supposed to be humorous?

Mr. LOTT. Thank you all very much. It is a joyful day. I resented when Senator Daschle came over and told me he was only about 50, reminding me of his youth. Then Senator Strom Thurmond welcomed me into his range of age. I don't know quite what that meant. Actually, in spite of all the things we have working, it has been a great day. Actually, I enjoy every day here and I appreciate the friendship of all of you on both sides of the aisle.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Yes.

Mr. LOTT. I appreciate that attitude of the Senator from Vermont. He has been very helpful, and he continues to remind me of the need for these judges.

Mr. LOTT. I have been working diligently to get some of the more controversial judges done. We did have a couple votes. I was trying to get Paez done today. The time is going to be consumed by reading the Treasury/Postal Service conference report and now the appearance of having to read the Bankruptcy Reform conference report. So that has been pushed aside. I tried to move three nominations last night. It was objected to. We are in the usual last days of the session where everybody is holding this one on the basis of that one. I think where we are is, over the next few days as we make progress, if we can get agreements on some things, then we will probably get agreements on all things. They are all interrelated. We will have to see how that plays out.

Mr. LOTT. Yes.

Mr. LOTT. That's correct. We have discussed that with administration officials this morning. They indicated that they understood it was just a physical problem in terms of getting final agreements and getting paperwork ready, and a short-term CR would be no problem from their viewpoint. I discussed that with you. We anticipate a CR that would take us until Monday at midnight. So there would be no question that we are still working, and there is no threat of a Government shutdown, while we continue to count on our appropriators to do their work, and we hope to get it completed this weekend.

Mr. LOTT. Yes.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, I know there is a lot of interest in trying to determine what the schedule will be for the balance of the day and perhaps even the weekend. It is obvious because of the feelings of the Senator from Nevada, Senator Reid, with regard to the Treasury and Postal Service appropriations conference report, that he does not intend to allow the Senate to have a vote on the conference report itself anytime soon. Therefore, as we approach the end of this session, we will probably have a vote, if we can get some accommodation here--I think we may-- within a couple of hours, on or in relation to the bankruptcy bill. So we should expect another recorded vote in about 2 hours. We will need, hopefully, to get that locked in here in the next few minutes. The main point is we will have one more vote. Then, other than unanimous consent requests or voice votes, the only votes we would expect for the balance of this year would be on a continuing resolution, if necessary, and the omnibus appropriations bill. Now, I will need to confer further with Senator Daschle. We will certainly keep Members informed as to what the schedule may be. Negotiations are continuing with regard to all of the different issues that are pending on the omnibus appropriations bill. We expect to work this weekend. We hope we will have this completed to possibly vote on Monday. If that is not possible, we will let Members know as soon as some determination is made. For now, we will expect a vote in a couple of hours, and then we would go to the vote on the bankruptcy bill. That would be it as far as recorded votes for tonight.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, we do have another move we will need to make in a few minutes, but Senator Daschle has indicated he would wish to have an opportunity to use some leader time at this point and, depending on how things go, I may want to do the same. But we worked on these things in a cooperative way, and he is entitled to take leader time. And we have assured each other that nobody is going to try to take advantage of this time. I yield the floor so that Senator Daschle can use leader time on his issue. Mr. DASCHLE addressed the Chair.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on the pending committee substitute.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I will say at the beginning that I agree with Senator Daschle that this is something we should address and I believe we will address because there are some legitimate concerns and problems in this area that need to be dealt with. I am very hopeful we can do that next year. I want to thank Senator Nickles and our task force that worked on this issue. I want to thank Dr. Bill Frist, a Member of the Senate, who worked on this issue. I think it is great that we actually have a doctor involved that understands what happens in this area. I have told people, you can take your choice here of which bill is really the best bill--the one proposed by the Democratic side, led by Senator Kennedy, or the one proposed over on the Republican side led by Dr. Bill Frist. I think the choice is pretty clear. But thank you for your work. I do believe that we are going to address this next year. I believe we will do it in, hopefully, a responsible way and, eventually, it can be a bipartisan bill. This effort today was clearly a planned PR effort because we were able to accidentally come across some e-mail that indicated that this was in preparation for a big hoopla down at the White House. We have tried to get this issue up in a fair way--on June 18, three different times; on July 15, twice; on June 25, and on other occasions, I had offered a very fair process to bring this up. The Democratic proposal, sponsored by Senators Daschle, Kennedy, and others, would have been offered. Our alternative proposal, the Republican proposal, would have been offered. We could have debated them both, with three amendments on both sides. It could be small amendments or big amendments--that is up to either side--and we could have had the votes and been done with it, and sent it to conference with the House. We could have completed this in June or July. But, no, the Democrats objected. They didn't want to have the two bills head to head and amendments in order because they knew what the result would be. We had a good proposal; it was going to pass. By the way, we might actually have gotten something done. They don't want this issue to pass. They want a political issue. We could have done this in June or July, but they objected, saying, no, we must have 20 amendments on each side. Twenty amendments; forty amendments total--days. The whole plan was to try to find a way to have the Members have to cast repeated votes on an issue that would obfuscate the difference between the two bills in reality. So we have made an effort. We are ready to go. We would have been happy to do it in June or July. We are going to be looking for a way to do it next year. When the time comes, it won't be the Kennedy-Daschle bill. The American people don't want or need that. What we need is a fair bill. We need access. What we don't need is something that will lead to more costs and more lawsuits--hallelujah. Is this about the patients and the doctors and health care, or is this so my brother-in-law can file another lawsuit? I have the answer. The answer is that we ought to be worrying about the patients and the health care providers in America. We have a good bill. I am proud to have supported it and to have been willing to bring it up in a fair way. We will do it, I hope, early next year. I would be glad to yield to the assistant majority leader, Senator Nickles, who has done great work on this.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Let me just say again, a lot of work went into this important legislation involving water resources. It affects States throughout the country. I am very pleased that we got this done. We worked on it in a bipartisan way. And we are hoping now that the House will act expeditiously and we can complete this legislation.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I further ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. 2131, and ask that the substitute amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to, the bill be read a third time and passed, with the motion to reconsider laid upon the table. I note that this legislation passed last evening, and this is a housekeeping matter to allow this matter to be received by the House quickly.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I now ask for the yeas and nays on the pending committee substitute.

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed, en bloc, to the immediate consideration of the following bills: Calendar No. 622, S. 2133; Calendar No. 637, S. 2401; Calendar No. 704, S. 2513. I further ask unanimous consent that amendment No. 3800 to S. 2133, amendment No. 3801 to S. 2401, and amendment No. 3802 to S. 2513 be considered as agreed to, en bloc, to the respective bills. I finally ask unanimous consent that any committee amendments be considered agreed to, the bills, as amended be read a third time, passed, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to these measures appear at the appropriate place in the Record.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent that passage of S. 2131 be vitiated.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of the following bills, en bloc: Calendar No. 368, H.R. 1021; Calendar No. 447, S. 1752; Calendar No. 526, S. 2087; Calendar No. 639, S. 2500; Calendar No. 701, S. 2402; Calendar No. 702, S. 2413; and Calendar No. 703, S. 2458. I ask unanimous consent that any committee amendments be agreed to; that the bills, as amended, be read a third time and passed; that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; that any title amendments be agreed to; and that any statements relating to the bills appear at the appropriate place in the Record, with the above occurring en bloc. I should note that this has been cleared with the Democratic side.

Mr. LOTT

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

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. There is objection. Therefore, I now move to proceed to the conference report. Several Senators addressed the Chair.

Mr. LOTT. I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the Treasury-Postal Service appropriations conference report and that the conference report be considered as having been read. Mr. REID addressed the Chair.