Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I renew my request with the present conditions: Bingaman amendment for 20 minutes; Baucus amendment for 20 minutes; McConnell amendment for 30 minutes; Glenn amendment for 30 minutes; Harkin amendment for 30 minutes; And Senator Wellstone, two amendments, 20 minutes each.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, Senator Daschle and I have been working to identify the remaining amendments and the time that will be necessary to debate those amendments. I thank Senator Daschle, again, for the time he spent on that. I ask unanimous consent that the following amendments, as previously identified on the consent agreement, be limited to the following times, to be equally divided: Senator Bingaman with regard to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, 20 minutes; Senator Baucus regarding post office closings, 10 minutes; Senator McConnell regarding the Federal Elections Commission, 10 minutes; Senator Glenn regarding FEC, 10 minutes; Senator Harkin regarding drug control, 30 minutes; And Senator Wellstone regarding naming of a post office, 10 minutes. We will continue to work with the Senators on this list to see if we can work them out and get them accepted, but we need to get this order lined up and identify what those amendments are to be.

Mr. LOTT. I would modify that request, then, so we will have 15 minutes on each side?

Mr. LOTT. Now we are talking 30 minutes.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I believe this is sprouting wings here. I think I am going to at this point withdraw this agreement and notify Members I will move to table all amendments when offered. Unless we can get reasonable time agreements--we are now talking 1 hour, 2 hours, 3\1/2\ hours. What the heck, I will just move to table, and we will have a vote on each one of them.

Mr. LOTT. I will be glad to yield.

Mr. LOTT. That would take unanimous consent. You might get my agreement, but I am not sure you will get the rest of them.

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

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if I am going to stay around here and we are going to have these 30-minute discussions and then the amendments are going to be taken, I am going to move to table them and we are going to have votes and I am going to fight every one of them. Senators, get serious. You have an amendment. Give a very brief explanation and let's dispose of it. This is ridiculous. I am going to start insisting on recorded votes. If we have an agreement to take an amendment, take it. Don't take the time and then not have a vote. I yield the floor. Amendment No. 3377 (Purpose: To express the sense of the Congress that a postage stamp should be issued honoring the 150th anniversary of Irish immigration to the United States that resulted from the Irish Famine of 1845-1850)

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if the Senator from Ohio will yield momentarily, I know he is up next, but I think we have an agreement that will help us bring this to conclusion. Amendment No. 3378

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

Mr. LOTT. We will make sure that occurs, Mr. President.

Mr. LOTT. Five minutes or so?

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. For the next 20 minutes, the floor would be open for discussion on the pending amendment, or Senators could speak on other issues. I yield the floor.

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

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I call for the regular order with respect to the Daschle amendment and ask that there be 20 minutes, equally divided, prior to the motion to table, and I then be recognized to make the motion to table and with no second-degree amendments in order prior to the vote.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, with regard to the Treasury-Postal Service appropriations bill, I know there are amendments that are pending. They are trying to work out something on that. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to agree to reasonable time limits, and let's have a vote. But I am directing my remarks now more to other Senators who are not on the floor who may have amendments. We need to make it clear that we are going to finish this bill tonight. We should be able to be through by 6 o'clock. But we still have a number of amendments that have not been resolved and haven't been worked out, or accepted, or offered. We are going to have to just keep going. That could mean another late night. The managers of the bill would like cooperation to get this completed. But we are either going to be having votes at 11 or 12 o'clock, or we are going to agree to some process whereby we can finish the amendments that are still out there and get final votes on them in the morning in a stacked sequence. We can agree to that. But one of the things that is required is that Senators who do want to offer amendments have to come over here and offer them. I am going to talk with Senator Daschle. I believe that he will support me in supporting the managers. If at a certain hour tonight Senators have not offered their amendments and have not come over here to debate those amendments, we will go out of session, and all amendments that have been agreed to would be stacked in sequence if they have to have votes in the morning. Once again, while this week has been a difficult week because of the sadness we have all experienced, everybody has tried to be understanding of that, but now we are beginning to get back into the old routine. We have far too many amendments left on the bill that really shouldn't be that difficult to finish. I plead again with my colleagues to come over here and offer their amendments. Let's get an agreement on how we are going to handle them and get votes on those amendments. If we don't get amendments, I can force votes tonight at all hours of the night. I don't want to do that. But it is going to take some cooperation again. Mr. President, do we have an agreement on how to dispose of the present amendment? Do Senator Thompson and Senator Harkin have something worked out in terms of a time agreement on this, or do I just need to move to table everything right where we are?

Mr. LOTT. I am glad to yield.

Mr. LOTT. That would be very helpful. Mr. President, unless somebody seeks the floor, I observe the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LOTT. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, Senator Daschle and I are working with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to identify the remaining serious amendments. I have here a list that looks like it is about 20, but I think that we can probably identify half a dozen or so amendments. Senator Daschle, do you have some information on that?

Mr. LOTT. I thank Senator Daschle. We have, it looks like, probably no more than two amendments left on our side that might require a vote. With regard to one of the four you identified, I believe Senator Baucus has an amendment. We are working very hard to see if we can't get some agreement on that right now. For the information of Senators, with regard to schedule, we think the best thing to do is just keep going and not have a break for the mealtime because we think that actually might wind up wasting time. If we would stay on the floor and focus here, we could finish this by 8 o'clock and would be through with this bill and then could decide-- Senator Daschle and I need to discuss further--then, exactly whether we are going to go to health care or go to the DOD appropriations bill. We could get on that tonight, and then that would be the final business for the week. We need your cooperation. When you do offer an amendment, agree to a short time so we don't have to go straight to a motion to table. We want everyone to have a chance to explain their case. With your cooperation, we can finish this at 8 o'clock. I also note there are some Senators who would like to be able to go to the funeral in the morning. If we could finish this at a reasonable hour tonight, we wouldn't have to have stacked votes in the morning. We tried very hard to not have a lot of late nights, but we are going to have to in order to finish this, but with your cooperation we could finish it in a couple of hours. I urge Members to do that. I thank Senator Daschle. Let's keep this working and see if we can't get this down to no more than two or three votes.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if I could, I ask Senator Bingaman to allow Senator Daschle and I to bring up an issue we have been wanting to do, and also say we are working with a number of Senators to see how we might deal with this, see if it can be handled without having to go to a recorded vote. We need a few more minutes. In the meantime, Senator Daschle and I would like to do an exchange here with regard to a unanimous consent. Mr. President, we need to try to clear up what we are going to do for the balance of the week. Senator Daschle and I have been working, back and forth, since the middle of June, trying to come to a unanimous consent agreement on how to handle the health care Patients' Bill of Rights issue. We have had a number of suggestions back and forth. We have not been able to come to agreement. There are ways that legislation could be brought to the floor anyway. But I am sure there would be objections if it were done in a way where there could not be amendments or, from this side, if there were unlimited amendments. But we need to try to see that there is one final opportunity for us to get a way to bring up the health care issue. I ask unanimous consent the majority leader, after notification of the Democratic leader, shall turn to S. 2330 regarding health care. I further ask, immediately upon its reporting, Senator Nickles be recognized to offer a substitute amendment making technical changes to the bill, and immediately following the reporting by the clerk, Senator Kennedy be recognized to offer his Patients' Bill of Rights amendment, with votes occurring on each amendment with all points of order having been waived. I further ask that three other amendments be in order on each side, for a total of six, to be offered by each leader or their designees, regarding health care. Following the conclusion of debate and following the votes with respect to the listed amendments, the bill be advanced to third reading and the Senate proceed to H.R. 4250, the House companion bill, all after the enacting clause be stricken, the text of S. 2330, as amended, if amended, be inserted, and the Senate proceed to vote at no later than 3 p.m. on Friday, July 31. To sum up, what I am asking is we would have debate on the two underlying bills, six amendments, three on each side, and of course the votes that would be ordered as a result of that, and finish, then, by 3 on Friday, the 31st. I think we could have a good debate, have some votes, and complete that debate. I further ask that following the vote, the Senate bill be returned to the calendar.

Mr. LOTT. Would that be with the agreement that we finish it and have final passage on the two underlying bills by a time certain on Friday?

Mr. LOTT. That would be our concern, then. There would be no way of knowing how many amendments or how long it would go on. As the Senator knows, this year we have attempted some bills and we never could quite bring them to a conclusion. I really want to be able to get the Senate to actually vote on a bill that goes to conference. I believe Senator Daschle wants that, too. I am afraid, if we just go into it with relevant amendments with no limits--we only had 18 amendments, as I recall, on the tobacco bill. We stayed on that for 4 weeks. We only have 5 weeks and 2 days left, so I don't think we could do that. Let me say to Senator Graham, I know he and others are working on another bill. What we could do, we do have, under my proposal, three amendments on each side. We could make their substitute one of those three amendments. I presume that would be what we would probably do on our side, if there is one that is developed as an alternative. Alternatives would have an opportunity under that proposal. Since we couldn't get any kind of guarantee that we will get it to a conclusion, I have to object to the addition that Senator Daschle proposed.