Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, this morning, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until noon. Following morning business, under a previous order, the Senate will begin consideration of S. 1723, the Abraham of Michigan immigration legislation. Any votes ordered with respect to the Abraham bill will be postponed to occur beginning at 5:45 this evening. We have modified the time of the vote just a little to accommodate some Senators who will be coming in close to that time. So it will be 5:45 instead of the earlier indication of 5:30. It could involve one, two, or three votes, depending on how the amendments go during the day. Following those votes, the Senate will begin consideration of S. 1415, the tobacco bill. Members should expect busy sessions every day this week as the Senate considers this important issue. Also this week, the Senate may consider the ISTEA transportation conference report. I understand that the conferees have basically reached an agreement on the broad parameters, broad issues of the ISTEA transportation bill. They are running the numbers to make sure they have numbers that reflect what their agreements were. We hope to have a vote on that Thursday, or Friday at the latest. We may also consider the Coverdell A+ savings account conference report, if available. The cooperation of all Senators will be necessary so that the Senate can complete its work prior to the Memorial Day recess. There will be ample opportunity for Senators to be heard this week, and there will be ample opportunity for Senators on either side of the aisle on the issues involved to be frustrated or to lose their temper perhaps. But I hope everybody will remain calm and be thoughtful in their debate. I believe we can proceed and get to a conclusion that will be acceptable to, hopefully, a large number of Senators in a bipartisan way. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. The Senator from Massachusetts is speaking under reservation. Let me assure him that I have looked at all of the alternatives. I have looked at the best possible way to bring this up. I didn't know it was going to wind up having to be done this way. We didn't know 2 weeks ago that we would have the Finance Committee angles. I have said all along that Senator Lugar, chairman of the Agriculture Committee, was going to have a fair shot, along with anybody else, to offer his amendment and win or lose by majority vote. I am surprised that some people are surprised by this. But I understand. But I just say that I have been having people on this side of the aisle complain about this, too. There are a lot of people on my side of the aisle who do not want this brought up under this concept, or any other. But I will say this to Senators on both sides of the aisle: Anybody who wants to stand in the way of this bill, if you don't want us to try to find a way to deal with children's porn, and drug abuse by children, if you don't want us to find a way to try to deal with the health problems caused by tobacco--all I am trying to do is get a 51-vote majority for an amendment--go right ahead. There are people on both sides of the aisle threatening to do just that. Now, I know the Senator from Massachusetts is trying to contribute by saying let's keep calm and can we find a way to work this out. I think this is a fair way, and I admonish everybody to stay calm, too, and keep our eye on what is the target here. It is bigger than the sum of its parts, and we ought to keep that in mind. We may not be able to do it this week. We may never be able to do it. The odds are very strong that this thing is going to implode by the weight we are placing on it. Every time we tested it, it has gotten bigger, fatter and more difficult to get through. So it is OK with me however it works out. But I believe we have here a reasonable way to begin this process, and I urge my colleagues, hold your fire. Let's go ahead with the opening statements by the Senators. Let's get some amendments going. Who knows for sure how it is going to work out?

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I had a request pending, but if I have the time----

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I renew my request with respect to the subcommittee substitute.

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

Mr. LOTT. We have a series of things we need to do in a row, if I could get through those. The Chair needs to rule, I believe.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, on behalf of the chairman, the ranking member and a majority of the members of the Commerce Committee, I wish to modify the Commerce Committee substitute. Before the Chair declares the amendment is modified, I announce to the Members that this is the text of the so-called managers' amendment that the chairman and ranking member have been working on for the last few days. The modification also incorporates the Finance Committee reported amendments as part of the new Commerce Committee substitute.

Mr. LOTT. On behalf of the chairman and a majority of the members of the Commerce Committee, I wish to further modify the Commerce Committee substitute. Again, before the Chair declares that the amendment is further modified, I announce to the membership this modification would delete some of the Finance Committee amendments from the text of the Commerce Committee modification.

Mr. LOTT. Finally, again on behalf of the chairman and a majority of the members of the Commerce Committee, I further modify the committee substitute. Again, before the Chair announces the modification, this last change would incorporate the Lugar Farmer's protection amendment as part of the Commerce Committee substitute.

Mr. LOTT. For the information of all Senators, as a result of this action, the pending Commerce Committee Substitute contains the following: The so-called managers' amendment; all of the Finance Committee reported amendments, except the $1.50 increase; Title 14, with respect to declaring the price increase a tax increase; the three deletions with respect to the LEAF Act; the lookback and the compliance fund and tobacco tax trust fund; and the Lugar-Farmer's protection amendment. Finally, I ask unanimous consent that the modified committee substitute be printed as a Senate amendment and the final version incorporating all of the modifications only be printed in the Record.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, there was a unanimous consent request that the next votes be reduced to 10 minutes each.

Mr. LOTT. First of all, I want to congratulate the Senator from Michigan for his efforts on this very important legislation. I also appreciate the cooperation of Senators on the other side of the aisle that worked through the day, including Senator Kennedy, so that we could get to a conclusion on this important legislation. I think it is good for the country. It is the fourth of the high-tech bills that we worked on last week. I thought the combination of those four bills were important and will make a difference in our high-tech community and having the workers and the opportunity for workers to be able to do these important jobs in the high-tech sector. I congratulate Senator Abraham for his work, and Senator McCain, who came up with the suggestion that we try to do several of these high-tech bills in a row.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 370, S. 1415, and send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. LOTT. I now withdraw the motion I made.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I want to announce, for the information of all Senators, that the vote will occur on this cloture motion Monday, May 18, at a time to be determined by the majority leader after consultation with the Democratic leader, and the mandatory quorum under rule XXII be waived. It is anticipated this vote will occur at 5:30 Monday afternoon. We have, in the past, over the past month, tried to make Senators aware of Mondays and Fridays, that we would not be having votes. This Friday we will not be having any votes. We notified the Members of that, I think at least 3 weeks ago. But we have been saying all along on Monday, the 18th, they should expect a vote. But we will try to have it late in the afternoon, so we could conduct some business during the morning and afternoon, so Senators will have time to get back here from their respective States. We do expect that vote probably around 5:30, but we want to check with all the Senators to see if that is the best possible time. We may need to move it a little bit one way or the other.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I want to recognize and honor Rear Admiral Kendell Pease, United States Navy, as he prepares to retire upon completion of more than 34 years of faithful service to our great nation. A Boston native, Rear Admiral Pease grew up in Natick, Massachusetts, enlisted in the United States Navy in 1963 and was selected to attend the United States Naval Academy. Upon graduation in 1968, he was commissioned an Ensign and began a distinguished career as a Public Affairs Officer. He initially served in the Republic of Vietnam and had follow-on public affairs assignments in Charleston, South Carolina; Naples, Italy; and Norfolk, Virginia. He served as the Public Affairs Officer for the Navy's Atlantic Fleet, the Naval Academy, and was assigned to multiple tours in Washington including the Department of Defense, the On-Site Inspection Agency and the Department of the Navy. Since 1992, Rear Admiral Pease served as the Navy's Chief of Information. In this capacity, he has been instrumental in educating the American public about the Navy's role in protecting American interests around the world. During his watch, he led hundreds of successful efforts to communicate Navy operations in areas from A to Z, Albania to Zaire, including Bosnia, the Persian Gulf and Somalia. He also deserves tremendous credit for his efforts to communicate the need for very important Navy programs such as the SEAWOLF and NSSN submarine programs; CVN 77 and CVX; DDG 51 and DD 21; and Super Hornet. He accomplished all of this while navigating the Navy through a number of contentious issues, earning deep respect for his style of aggressively and honestly communicating all of the facts. Most significantly, Rear Admiral Pease served as a passionate advocate for the Sailors in the Fleet--the men and women who serve far from home anywhere, anytime, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Their welfare was always his number one priority, for he truly understood that Sailors are the backbone of our nation's strategy of forward presence, and providing them with better internal communication would make for a more successful Sailor. He focused on improving the Navy's internal communication tools and methods--including improvements to the fleet- wide internal magazine (All Hands), the television program ``Navy and Marine Corps News'' shown each week aboard ships at sea, and a new program to take satellite television direct to Sailors at sea. Rear Admiral Pease made it his mission to ensure that opinion leaders and decision makers understood the special needs of Sailors and their families. An individual of exceptional character and uncommon vision, this great Nation and our military are indebted to Rear Admiral Pease for his many years of outstanding service. I am proud, Mr. President, to thank him for his honorable service in the United States Navy and to wish him ``fair winds and following seas'' as he closes his distinguished military career. Mr. KEMPTHORNE addressed the Chair.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the Senate is now considering the WIPO Copyright Treaty which has up to 1 hour under the consent agreement that was reached on May 12. Therefore, the next vote will occur shortly--hopefully in less than an hour--on passage of the WIPO copyright bill, and that will be the last vote of the day. I know there are some Senators here who have worked on this issue who do want to be heard briefly--the Senator from Missouri, and, of course, the Senator from Utah has been working on this assiduously. We had a little problem we ran into yesterday, but we are going forward with this and we will try to work it out with the House, and I will certainly try to be helpful with that. This is important legislation. A lot of effort has been put into it. Some of the problems have been resolved, thanks to the courtesy and leadership of Senator Hatch, working with Senator Ashcroft. So I think we need to go ahead and do it today and we will have had, really, an incredible week on these high-tech bills. Again, the next vote will occur on Monday--there will be no further votes after the WIPO vote tonight--and I will notify all Members as to the time of that vote. With regard to the DOD authorization matter, I will be talking with the managers of this legislation to see what their wishes are, and we will have some further announcements of when that legislation will be brought up again. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask the Senate turn to Calendar No. 358, S. 2037, regarding the WIPO treaty, which is the treaty dealing with digital copyright.

Mr. LOTT

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I now ask that the routine requests through the morning hour be granted.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I now move that the Senate stand in adjournment for 1 minute.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to Calendar No. 370, which is S. 1415, the tobacco bill, just reported from the Finance Committee.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent the Senate turn to S. 2057, the DOD authorization bill.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the Select Committee on Intelligence has received a request from the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Justice for copies of committee records relevant to the Inspector General's pending inquiry into the handling by the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation of certain foreign intelligence and counterintelligence information obtained in the course of the Department's ongoing campaign finance investigation. This resolution would authorize the chairman and vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee, acting jointly, to provide committee records in response to this request, utilizing appropriate security procedures.

Mr. LOTT

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