Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. As long as I am out of here at 6:30, everything will be fine. Once again, I know we have had to work late, but we have made good progress on the appropriations bills. This is a good bill. But I still think the Senate should work during the day and be home with their families at night. That is a novel idea that I still advocate, so I am going to be with my wife eating supper Monday night at 7 o'clock. Good luck before then. But we will try to accommodate everybody, including my favorite lady in the world.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if the Senator will yield, we would have to begin those votes a little earlier than that, probably at 5:30. It would be partially driven by how many votes we have. If we just had one vote lined up, for instance, we could begin about 5:45. If we have two or three, we would have to begin at 5:30 in order to get the voting sequence completed by 6:30. So that is what we are up against. We are trying to accommodate Senators coming in late and Senators who have to leave after 6:30. But the hope is that you would have two or three amendments ready to be voted on Monday afternoon beginning around 5:30, with the understanding that if we need to hold that first vote a little while for Senators coming in with a close plane connection, we would be prepared to do that, and then have the vote probably on the Shelby amendment and final passage Tuesday morning at 9:30. I discussed that with Senator Daschle, and he and I worked on trying to accommodate Senators' schedules on all sides. I believe, if you could go ahead and get debate on all amendments today and Monday, then we could have one or two or three votes Monday afternoon, sometime between 5:30 and 6, probably not later than 5:45, and then the last two votes Tuesday morning.

Mr. LOTT. A little bit, except Senators have to leave at 6:30, and I am one of them, and that is the schedule I am particularly interested in.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, we have notified all Members that we would like to complete action on the transportation appropriations bill. I believe our managers are ready to move in that direction. We have a list of amendments now that have been identified. I ask unanimous consent that the following amendments be the only first-degree amendments in order to the pending transportation bill, and subject to relevant second-degree amendments: Managers' amendments; Senator Lott, three relevant amendments; Senator Shelby, three relevant amendments; Senator Frist, regarding cemeteries; Senator Abraham, regarding name change, ITS; Senator Specter, regarding bond issue; Senator DeWine, regarding Coast Guard; Senator McConnell, regarding expedited review; Senator McCain, regarding Amtrak bookkeeping; Senator Leahy, regarding helicopters; Senator Byrd, two relevant amendments; Senator Levin, regarding commuter rail; Senator Bumpers, relevant; Senator Lautenberg, relevant in three instances; Senator Daschle, three relevant amendments; Senator Kerry, one amendment on Amtrak; Senator Feingold, relevant amendment; Senator Johnson, two relevant amendments; and Senator Durbin, regarding smoking on international flights.

Mr. LOTT. I thank the Senator. I thank the Chair. I yield the floor. I observe the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LOTT. I know the hour is beginning to get late and Members would like to know what they can expect tonight. We do have a list of amendments that the managers are working on right now. I believe most of those are going to be resolved without the necessity of extended debate, or even a vote. We should know in another 15 minutes or so exactly what that would be. I hope there won't be more than one or two amendments that require some time. Our intent would be to do those amendments that are necessary and final passage, and then Senator Daschle and I would like to go to the District of Columbia appropriations bill. Senator Coats and Senator Lieberman have an amendment that they are prepared to debate tonight, discuss tonight, and we hope to have all debate on that and other amendments, but the vote on the amendments and final passage we would propose would be done then Monday night at 5 o'clock in order to accommodate one of the managers. Tomorrow, while we will have a vote or two early in the morning, we will go to the credit union bill early in the morning. There are not expected to be any recorded votes on the credit union bill in the morning. So in summation, if we could get cooperation on the transportation bill, we could wrap that up here relatively shortly and that would be the final vote tonight, if the Members would cooperate with us. Senator Daschle has been working to get this amendment list identified. He agrees that this would be a good approach. The Members would have a decent night tonight, and we would be able to wrap up early in the morning and then go to the credit union bill. I ask Senator Daschle if that is his thinking on this process at this time.

Mr. LOTT. I thank the managers of this legislation. Senators Shelby and Lautenberg are on the verge of setting a very commendable record. I ask that they quickly go through this list of amendments and dispose of them and, as soon as possible, identify any needed votes, get a time agreement on those votes, and get it done as quickly as possible. It would help us be prepared to move on to other appropriations bills and be able to get out of here as scheduled next Friday. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT. And one last, Senator Gramm possibly, one amendment regarding Coast Guard. Mr. President, we deleted the Feingold relevant.

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, what is the situation now? Are we prepared to go to that vote unless I use leader time at this point?

Mr. LOTT. I give myself such leader time as I might use. I will be brief, because I know Members are expecting to vote right away. But I rise to speak against the Craig amendment. I have a long history of being interested in and concerned about the rights and guarantees that we have given Indian tribes. We have one in my home State that has been very industrious. They are really good entrepreneurs and good citizens. I enjoy working with them very much. But this is something beyond that. This would give them ability to get into Internet gambling in a way that it could go into every school and every home all across America. This is not about tribal rights on their reservation or within their tribal areas. This goes across America. To have a special carve-out for Indian tribes on gambling, I think, is just a fundamental mistake. I understand why the Senator from Idaho feels he must do that. I understand that there have been some court actions about it. But I also think there is a fundamental principle here. And this violates that principle. They should not be given an opportunity that nobody else in America would have. It touches all Americans. I am always hesitant to rise in opposition to my friend and my coleader in the Republican Party. But I think in this instance he is just fundamentally wrong. I urge colleagues to vote against the Craig amendment. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?

Mr. LOTT. I would like to say to the Senator that we would be glad to agree to have this debate and go forward with the Patients' Bill of Rights issue. I would like to begin thinking in terms of what we could work out as a unanimous consent agreement. Going back to June 18, originally it was suggested that Senator Kennedy's bill be up and we have an alternative, and that we have a good debate and vote. That is fine. Let's do that. Then I suggested, well, if we could get some time agreements on when we could complete it, with some limited amount of amendments, we could do that. I don't think 40 would be considered reasonable. But I am saying to the Senator that I would like to work something out. I am hoping that next week, Wednesday or Thursday, we are going to get to this and get it done before we go home for the August recess period. I just want to say that we are ready. We would like to do this. Beginning next week, I am going to start asking unanimous consent requests to actually get it done, because we are ready to go to a vote. But we also have other things. And Senator Kennedy has been cooperative. We have been working to get issues done. We need to try to do that and allow time for a full and fair debate on this issue. We would be glad to do that. I just wanted to make sure he was aware that we are willing to do that.

Mr. LOTT

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, yesterday, Senator Hutchinson presided his 100th hour of this Congress and, therefore, is the latest recipient of the Senate's Golden Gavel Award. Senator Hutchinson and his scheduling staff have consistently adjusted their schedule to assist whenever presiding difficulties have occurred. For these honorable efforts and for the Senator's continued commitment to his presiding duties, we extend our thanks and congratulations.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I had the impression we had cleared this on both sides of the aisle.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I think I hear additional amendments which would require second-degree amendments beginning to evolve here. The alternative is, we go ahead and keep voting tonight. We have had plenty of debate here. I would like to find a way that we can get this completed at a reasonable hour tomorrow. Does the Senator from California have something worked out that I could include in this request?

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the managers of the legislation are trying their best to move this bill along. Senator Daschle and I have been working trying to keep extraneous amendments off of this bill, amendments that are not really related to it, strictly legislating on this appropriations bill. We have had some success over here, and, obviously, there has been an effort and success on the Democratic side. As usual, the longer we go, the longer the list of amendments. We need to get some finite list of amendments and work on this bill to get it completed. It is my intent, after discussion with Senator Daschle and the managers, Senator Gregg and Senator Hollings, that we complete this bill tonight and that we have votes tonight, as late as is necessary. Everybody needs to know that this is not going to be a night where we all leave at 7 o'clock and the managers try to make things happen and nothing happens. We are going to be voting into the night. If it takes going to 11, 12 or 1 o'clock, I think it is time we have to do that in order to complete this work. In that vein, I ask unanimous consent that the following amendments be the only remaining list of first-degree----

Mr. LOTT. Senator Daschle is aware we are going to try to lock in the list. I must say, the list is 70 amendments, not exactly a great achievement.

Mr. LOTT. I will be glad to yield to the Senator from Vermont.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, why don't we do that. We will withhold while we can run our checks then. The Senator from Vermont can comment and, hopefully, we can get it worked out.

Mr. LOTT. We are ready to go. We have our bill. I think we have a good bill. Senator Kennedy has his bill. I would like for us to just have a vote on his bill and a vote on our proposal. I understand that you feel you have solutions we need in this area. We feel very good about our bill. The problem has been last week, for instance, it was suggested, ``Well, we will need 40 amendments.'' If we have these bills that have just been sent down on both sides, why don't we vote on what we have instead of going on for days and weeks trying to reach a conclusion? Having said that, Senator Daschle and I have continued to talk to try to narrow down exactly when would be the best time to do it. We are talking about how we can get an agreement with which both sides can be satisfied. Obviously, the Senator from Massachusetts, Senator Kennedy, wants to be involved in what the final unanimous-consent request will be, and a lot of Senators on this side, including Senator Gramm, will have an interest in it. I think we can come up with a reasonable proposal. I have been sending proposals since June 18, for a month. I continue to say, ``OK, how about this?'' And Senator Daschle has responded. I know he is negotiating in good faith. Both of us have a difficult time trying to satisfy Senators on both sides of this issue on both sides of the aisle, but we are narrowing them. If we can get an agreement to a time certain that it will come up, with a couple of days for debate and for discussion of amendments or a limited number of amendments on both sides, that will be perfectly reasonable. But I know of no bill in the history of mankind that needs 40 or 50 or 70 amendments. Why do we want to go through that process? A reasonable number can be agreed to. All I have to say is, just say yes. We are ready to do what the Senator from Massachusetts asked for a month ago. You get a vote, we get a vote and we move on. Yes; just say yes, we will do that.

Mr. LOTT. It is certainly my hope. We are working to try to get that agreed to. In fact, it has been my plan to do that, and I am going to be disappointed if we can't get it agreed to. I know there is good faith on Senator Daschle's part; there is on mine. We will just keep working until we get it done.

Mr. LOTT. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I know the Senators are trying to get some idea of how this will go from here on. I have been working with Senator Daschle. Mr. President, we have four more votes in this stacked sequence, which will take us a good portion of the next hour. We are trying to work an agreement whereby we would then, at the conclusion of this series of votes, go back to the Kyl amendment and have the debate on that concluded tonight, with a vote occurring at 9 in the morning. Then we would get an agreement that all other amendments and final passage occur by noon tomorrow. I think that is reasonable. Senator Daschle is working with me to see if we can get everybody to agree to that. We are trying to find a way to give you some reasonable night tonight and get this to a conclusion. I do not want to prejudge amendments that are being offered, but I really think we have reached a point where we need to get a conclusion. If we do not put an end to it, it will go on and on and on, on this bill. The alternative is to go back to Kyl and vote on that and to have other votes. I still have the luxury of going to the Executive Calendar, if all else fails, and have some votes on that. We need cooperation so Senators can make progress so the rest of us can get a decent night's sleep and so we can complete this bill tomorrow. I am not going to ask that right now, to give both of us time to work with those who have amendments, but I think that is a very reasonable arrangement, so I hope all of our colleagues will help us by talking to other colleagues who might have amendments, and I hope we can get this worked out by the next vote. I yield the floor.