Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I further ask unanimous consent that at 5:15 p.m., the time prior to the previously scheduled cloture vote on H.R. 2646, the Coverdell A+ education account bill, be equally divided in the usual form between Senator Coverdell and Senator Daschle.

Mr. LOTT. I also ask unanimous consent that at 11:30 a.m. the Senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of treaty document 105-36 dealing with the NATO expansion.

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, before closing I ask consent that when the Senate completes its business today it stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 19; immediately following the prayer, the routine requests through the morning hour be granted and the Senate then begin a period for the transaction of morning business until the hour of 11:30 a.m. with Senators permitted to speak up to 5 minutes each with the following exceptions: Senator Coverdell or his designee, 30 minutes from 9:30 until 10:00; Senator Reid, 30 minutes from 10:00 until 10:30; Senator Hagel or his designee, 30 minutes from 10:30 until 11 a.m.; Senator Torricelli for 10 minutes; Senator Bryan for 10 minutes; and Senator Graham of Florida for 10 minutes.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I ask consent the resolution be deemed agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the consideration of H. Con. Res. 206, which was received from the House.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the resolution appear at this point in the Record.

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 324, S. Res. 171.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the following Senate Documents be reprinted in the usual number: Senate document 99- 33, Senate document 98-29, and Senate document 97-20.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I would like to recognize the professional dedication, vision and public service of Lieutenant Peter Olson who is leaving the United States Navy to join the staff of Senator Phil Gramm. Lieutenant Olson, has served with distinction for the past 9 years in Naval Service. It is a privilege for me to recognize his many outstanding achievements and to commend him for the superb service he has provided this legislative body, the Navy and our great Nation. Lieutenant Olson is a graduate of Rice University and the University of Texas School of Law. After passing the Texas Bar Examination, he attended the Navy's Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Florida, and was commissioned an Ensign in May 1989. He proceeded to flight training where he received his ``Wings of Gold'' and was designated a Naval Aviator in March 1991. Lieutenant Olson received training in the P-3C ``Orion'' Maritime Patrol Aircraft with Patrol Squadron THIRTY-ONE, at NAS Moffett Field, California. He reported for duty with the ``White Lightnings'' of Patrol Squadron SEVENTEEN (VP-17) stationed at NAS Barbers Point, Hawaii, where he made deployments to Misawa, Japan, and Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territories. Among his shore assignments, Lieutenant Olson has served with distinction at the Navy's Bureau of Personnel in the Enlisted Advancements Division and as an intern with the Logistics Directorate of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Lieutenant Olson joined the Navy's Senate Liaison team in March 1996. During his service as a Navy Liaison Officer, he provided members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and personal staffs, with timely support regarding Navy plans, programs and constituent casework. He has helped maintain the best trained, best equipped, and best prepared Navy in the world. Madam President, Peter Olson, his wife Nancy, and daughter Kate, have made many sacrifices during his 9-year Navy career. He has served proudly with a dedication and enthusiasm that only comes from our Nation's best and brightest. Among Lieutenant Olson's many awards and decorations are the Joint Service Commendation Medal and the Navy Commendation Medal. He is a great credit to both the Navy and the country. The Nation and our military are indebted to Lieutenant Olson for his many years of distinguished service. As he now departs to begin a new career with Senator Gramm, I call upon my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to wish him `fair winds and following seas'.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that there now be a period for morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up to 5 minutes each.

Mr. LOTT

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. We made a motion to proceed to executive session to consider the NATO treaty. I believe the question will be on the motion, Mr. President.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I believe----

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I move that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the NATO treaty.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, just two final observations with regard to Senator Daschle's comments. I feel very strongly about this Coverdell A+ bill. I think it is going to be helpful for children in America. My mother was a schoolteacher. I went to public schools all my life. I worked in placement and financial aid. I think it is high time we give parents and grandparents and people who care about kids in elementary and secondary education an opportunity to save for those kids and help them get an education. That is one of the reasons why I think education is not as good as it ought to be in elementary and secondary. So I am determined we are going to get this bill up. We are going to consider it without a lot of extraneous matters. And I do want to observe that, as majority leader, I do still think the majority sets the agenda. I get to call up the bills, not somebody else. It has been developed over a period of many years that majority leaders call bills up, and I am not going to be dictated to by others who have a different agenda. You can say you are going to do this and you are going to do that. If you want to have a fight over it, we will meet and fight on this one, because I am standing with children in elementary and secondary education in America. And I might also just say now I am willing to do what is right for our country. I have stood at this point and taken some tough stands when I thought it was important that it be bipartisan, nonpartisan, for our country. And I won't even repeat them, because I received a lot of flak. But right now I have Senators saying, don't go to NATO enlargement, delay it, delay it until after the Easter recess, delay it until June; do it never. I do not think that is right. I am willing to cooperate and work on some of these issues that must be bipartisan. But in return, from this administration and from my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, I am going to look for a little help and a little cooperation on issues that I think are important also. So I hope that we can find a way to do that, and I believe we will. But it does take cooperation as we get through these difficult shoals on education, on NATO enlargement, on the budget for the year, on the emergency funding, the supplemental appropriations bill for Bosnia, the Persian Gulf, for disasters, and maybe even for IMF. Some of these issues I don't even agree with, but I feel an obligation to call them up. So since there has been an objection, I now move that the Senate----

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the NATO treaty.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, again, I would like to indicate that this is a bipartisan package. The Finance Committee reported it out by a substantial vote. We have already included three major Democrat proposals in this package. In fact, there are only four components to it. Three of them were principally sponsored by Democrats. In fact, I think probably the cause of the bill is probably well over two-thirds-- 80 percent--based on the Democratic amendments. But it didn't make any difference. They were Democrat, or Republican, if they made sense. If they will help with education in the elementary, secondary, or higher education level, they deserve serious consideration. And if they are meritorious, the committee added them. We considered other issues, I might add, in the Finance Committee. Point No. 1. No. 2, with regard to not wanting to delay things, I should note that the discussion on this package began with a filibuster on the motion to proceed. I had to file a cloture on the motion to proceed--and not getting to the substance of even proceeding to consider the bill. It took us, I guess, 3 days to get that, although when we got to the vote, to the credit of both sides, it passed overwhelmingly. Seventy-five Senators said, Yes; we should cut off the filibuster on the motion to proceed. With regard to the other issues, I did not want to spend 5 days on the Reagan Airport; 5 hours or 5 minutes would have been fine. But I thought that it was something we ought to think about. Some Senators had reservations, you know. It looked like we were having a filibuster on that. It shouldn't have taken 5 days. It should not have taken 4 days on cloning. I think that is an issue that has consequences serious enough that we ought to think about it carefully. It didn't have the votes. We pulled it back. We will see what the committee comes up with. But a doctor, Bill Frist, the Senator from Tennessee, is working with others to come up with a package on this very important cloning issue. I thought that deserved some thought and some concerns, especially when you have a doctor saying we will start cloning human beings. I don't know whether I am all that excited about that prospect. But, at any rate, I understand Senator Daschle's position. He has to be responsive to his Members, and I have to be responsive to mine. We have to work together to try to find a way to get to a conclusion on the education savings account bill, with the additions, and also to begin to continue to have debate on the NATO enlargement. A lot of Senators want to talk about that. We understand maybe a Senator has a key amendment that he would be willing to offer this afternoon. I am not sure that that is true, but I think maybe Senator Warner would be willing to go ahead and offer his amendment, which is one that is a critical amendment, on the NATO enlargement. So this time will not be wasted. This is good time. And I invite Senators to come forward to talk about and think about in a public forum with the American people this very important question of enlarging NATO. And by the way, with regard to double-tracking these issues, this is something that is done all the time. I used to watch Senator Byrd do it, Senator Mitchell do it, Senator Dole do it. So the idea is, while we are letting the procedures go forward, we can take up another very important subject. So as a reminder to all Senators, under the provisions of rule XXII, all first-degree amendments must be filed at the desk by 1 p.m. on Thursday and all second-degree amendments must be filed 1 hour prior to the cloture vote.

Mr. LOTT. I want to reiterate again, first of all, Mr. President, under the proposal that I have suggested of a substitute amendment, any or all of these proposals could have been offered. We even thought about the possibility of having some agreed-to limited number of amendments that were educationally related. But Senator Daschle indicated, I believe, that he didn't think that was the way that he would like to proceed. With regard to postcloture, assuming cloture is invoked, it depends on, I guess, how the amendment is offered. There certainly would be a debate on the contents of this package. That does include the school construction bond issue for public schools. And it is conceivable that germane amendments could be offered to that to strike it. But, if you tried to strike it and add a new program under the rules, I presume that would not be possible under the cloture arrangement. Again, with regard to other issues, including the Boxer amendment that the Senator described, in postcloture that probably would not be eligible. But I emphasize again. We could have worked, or could work, out an agreement where a limited number of amendments, or a substitute, could be considered. With regard to the California issue, I want to emphasize that Senator Feinstein was very interested in getting the language included--that could be helpful in any State, but particularly in States like Florida and California--and in providing additional new public school construction. She had quite an interest in a provision that was eventually added to the bill. I might add it was a close vote in the Finance Committee. I think I cast the deciding vote to provide for that. So I think it is important that we find a way to get to the substance of this bill without it being indefinitely delayed so we can have a full debate about education but not have it get off into all kinds of other unrelated issues that would tend to dilute, I think, the debate on a discussion on education and the very important provisions that we have put together in this package in a bipartisan way. Senator Daschle has come to the floor. We have been having a discussion about how to proceed. Senator Moynihan on his behalf has indicated that he didn't think the minority would be prepared to agree to my offer to have a substitute amendment, or some limited number of education amendments. And we were responding to questions from Senator Kennedy. I have filed a cloture motion and indicated that we would talk about whether or not we would have those cloture votes on Friday morning, or even Thursday afternoon, at the request of some Senators on both sides of the aisle. I want to talk to the minority leader about that. We were, quite frankly, hopeful that the Senator would be able to arrive and respond to the present situation. I would be glad to respond to questions or comments from Senator Daschle. Mr. DASCHLE addressed the Chair.

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

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if the Senator will allow me to reclaim my time to respond, I believe that this provision applies to public schools. There is a package that was very carefully drafted at the urging of Senator Graham of Florida. But to make sure that I have an accurate understanding of this content, would the Senator from Georgia, Senator Coverdell, like to comment further on that provision?

Mr. LOTT. I would be glad to yield to Senator Kennedy.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the action just taken will result in a cloture vote occurring on Friday, March 20, or Thursday, if a consent agreement can be reached for an earlier vote. I know some Senators are hopeful that we can have this vote Thursday afternoon, late, instead of Friday morning. We would be willing to work to see if we can get an agreement with the minority leader on getting that vote on Thursday afternoon. If the first cloture vote is not successful, then a second cloture vote would occur on Friday, or on Thursday, if we can get that arranged. I will, of course, notify all Members as to exactly when these cloture votes would occur. However, in the meantime, I ask that the mandatory quorum under rule XXII be waived for both cloture votes.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I send a second cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, in order to keep the focus on the education measure, I now send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. LOTT. I thank the Senator from New York. I regret that we can't agree on what I think would be a fair and orderly way to move into the bill that is very important for the discussion of education in America. Cloture Motion