Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. On the day that the amendment was offered, the Senator from Oklahoma discussed a conversation he had with the EPA Administrator. I would appreciate a clarification of that conversation.

Mr. LOTT. Thank you for that clarification. I appreciate the Senator's willingness to work with the EPA and other federal agencies, and agree that it is the prerogative of the Senate to decide how and when to legislate. Mr. President, I appreciate the Senator's efforts and commend his success on this amendment. He has dedicated countless hours to this issue, both personally and in his subcommittee, and I thank him. I fully expect to see his clean air standards amendment--if not a stronger one--in the final bill reported from Conference. gramm-gorton amendment on section 1116(d)

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I know that congratulations have already been extended to the managers of this very important ISTEA bill. But I want to join again in expressing my appreciation for the leadership of the Senator from Rhode Island.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I am prepared now to move to a unanimous consent request with regard to the China human rights issue. I will yield to the Senator from Montana if he would like to make some further comment on the highway surface transportation bill.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I would like to commend my friend from Oklahoma for his leadership in educating me and my colleagues about the new air quality standards. Before we wrap up action on ISTEA, I would ask that he clarify a few issues regarding his amendment that was adopted earlier by the Senate.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, thank you. Mr. President, the Senator from Rhode Island, Mr. Chafee, did an outstanding job in managing this legislation. I think it is quite an achievement that actually in about 9 days we were able to get this bill through the Senate. There were some bumps along the way, but we were able to work them out without acrimony or regional bias. I think really they did a magnificent job. The Senator from Montana, Senator Baucus, worked very closely with the chairman of the committee, but it took cooperation with Senator Warner of the subcommittee, and Senator Gramm was involved in some key negotiations, and obviously Senator Byrd, who always provides direction and leadership that is very important. To all the members of the committee, I thank you for this. I think the Senate has really provided leadership and given a marker to our colleagues on the other side of the Capitol to take up this important legislation, get it to conference, and get it agreed to by May 1, when the extension will expire. So I think this was certainly a good couple of weeks' work, and I thank the Senate for its cooperation. This can be an example, I hope, of what we can do on other bills, how we can work together and work out problems that appear to be insurmountable. If we had taken this legislation up the first week we were back, it would probably have been a lot messier and we might not have come to the good result that we have fashioned here in this bill. So thanks to one and all. I appreciate it very much. I mentioned Senator Baucus. He has certainly been a very important part of this. Would the distinguished Democratic leader like to comment at this point?

Mr. LOTT. I thank my friend from Oklahoma. It is my understanding that the amendment you offered would not affect any pending litigation, nor would it ratify the new standards. Is that a correct assessment of the savings clause?

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate now proceed to the consideration of calendar No. 325, S. Res. 187, and that the resolution be considered under the following limitations: That there be 1 hour for debate on the resolution and preamble, with no amendments or motions in order thereto, with the time divided as follows: Senator Grams controlling 20 minutes and Senator Mack controlling 10 minutes, Senator Wellstone controlling 30 minutes, or their designees; and, upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to a vote on the adoption of the resolution, and, if the resolution is adopted, the preamble be agreed to, with the above occurring without intervening action.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I yield the floor. Senators then can proceed under the time agreement that we have entered into.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I would like to recognize the professional dedication, vision, and public service of Mr. George T. Singley, III. He is retiring after 33 years of military and civilian service in the Department of Defense, most recently, as Acting Director of Defense Research and Engineering [DDR&E]. A native of Delaware, and a long time Virginia resident, Mr. Singley is a nationally and internationally renowned technology leader. As both Deputy and Acting Director of Defense Research and Engineering, he has guided our nation's Science and Technology (S&T) defense effort for several years. His extraordinary vision and strong leadership have dramatically enhanced the defense S&T program. This contribution significantly improved our efforts to field a force whose technological superiority remains unchallenged, now, and well into the next century. He has focused the defense S&T program on developing capabilities necessary to achieve the goals of future joint warfighting, as expressed in the Chairman's Joint Vision 2010. Before coming to DDR&E, Mr. Singley served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research and Technology. He was responsible for the Army's entire S&T program. This program, spanning 21 laboratories and centers with approximately 10,000 scientists/engineers had an annual budget of $1.4 billion. Mr. Singley also was the chief scientist to both the Secretary of the Army and the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research, Development and Acquisition. As a Program Execution Officer in the Army, he led five helicopter program offices. He pioneered the Light Helicopter Experimental (LHX) program, better known as Comanche, which became the Army's first stealth helicopter program. A truly remarkable career. Mr. Singley is Chairman of the Executive Board of the American Helicopter Society. He served as their President from May 1996 through April 1997. He is a past Vice President of the Army Aviation Association of America, and a member of the Association of the United States Army. His numerous awards include: Meritorious Executive Presidential Rank Award (twice); Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Awards; Secretary of Defense Award for Excellence; Distinguished Executive Presidential Rank Award; American Defense Preparedness Association Firepower Award; University of Delaware College Distinguished Engineering Alumnus; Exceptional Civilian Service Award; Meritorious Civilian Service (twice); Department of Army Staff Badge; and American Helicopter Society Grover S. Bell Award for Rotorcraft Research; He has more than 20 technical publications and numerous technical articles to credit. I know that Mr. Singley's wife Maxine, and his children, George, Kristine, and Dean, and the Department of Defense are proud of his accomplishments. My colleagues join me in wishing George `fair winds and following seas' as he pursues many new and exciting challenges in the private sector. The Nation and our military are indebted to you for your many years of distinguished service.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I appreciate Senator McCain's position on this. I understand how he feels about it. I also appreciate the fact that he is willing to bring it up in such a fashion where he can make this points and we can move on to a vote on a motion to table. A number of Senators on both sides could come over and speak at great length on this subject. But in the interest of trying to begin to move toward a conclusion and getting within, hopefully, a short period of time, the final votes before we would have the cloture vote so we can see what is exactly left to be done on this bill. In order to get that accomplished, I move to table amendment No. 1968 and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from New Hampshire for raising this important issue on the ISTEA bill. I completely agree with his statement about the need to reform the NEPA review process as it pertains to transportation projects. In fact, the National Environmental Policy Act as a whole needs to be looked at for possible improvements. I fully support the goals and intent behind NEPA, but I also believe that States are capable of carrying out NEPA's requirements when planning and reviewing various transportation projects within their borders. While I agree with my friend that S. 1173 makes good progress toward streamlining the environmental review process, I share his concerns that it might not go far enough in resolving this problem. It is clear we need a more effective environmental coordination process that results in less staff time and expense for all the agencies and stakeholders in the NEPA process. If we are successful in this effort, we will hopefully reduce the time it now takes in reaching final decisions and receiving project approvals and permits, saving resources and lives. Therefore, I congratulate my colleague on his efforts thus far and encourage him to pursue additional improvements to the current NEPA review process. At this time, Mr. President, I yield back to my friend from New Hampshire.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I would like to recognize Senator Burns for his efforts in obtaining passage of the Utility Service Vehicle amendment to the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act. Senator Burns' support and leadership on this issue has been instrumental in reaching an important compromise that provides state and local officials with much needed flexibility in emergency situations. Essentially, the emergency can be dealt with at the discretion of the appropriate local official who has first hand expertise in understanding the needs of their communities. More importantly, this clarification enhances public safety. It is our hope that the U.S. Department of Transportation will take advantage of the flexibility provided by this amendment and fully implement the transportation pilot programs authorized by this legislation. Again, I want to commend Senator Burns for his efforts in coordinating the bipartisan compromise needed to ensure that the public's well-being in emergency situations is fully protected.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, pursuant to the consent agreement on March 10, I will ask the clerk to report the cloture motion. But before he does that, I want to announce to all Senators that this will trigger the cloture vote that was postponed from Monday's session of the Senate. Assuming cloture is invoked then, all Senators will have an additional 4 hours to file with the clerk any additional first-degree amendments. Due to the lateness of the hour, we will amend the request in the closing remarks to reflect a new time of 10 a.m. tomorrow morning for the deadline on filing the amendments. I thank all Senators for their cooperation, and I particularly congratulate and thank the Senators managing the bill, Senators Chafee and Baucus. They have made good progress. I think maybe when we get this cloture vote, we can begin to see what amendments we have to consider and we can begin to bring this to closure. This will be the last vote of the evening. There will be another vote in the morning. This one will be on the McCain amendment, probably sometime between 10:30 and 11 o'clock. Therefore, I make that request. Cloture Motion

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until 9 a.m. on Wednesday, March 11, and immediately following the prayer, the routine requests through the morning hour be granted and the Senate begin a period for the transaction of morning business until 11 a.m. with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each with the following exceptions: Senator DeWine for 10 minutes, Senator Faircloth for 10 minutes, Senator Conrad for 30 minutes, Senator Leahy for 20 minutes, and Senator Thomas for 30 minutes from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. I also ask unanimous consent that at 11 a.m. the Senate resume consideration of S. 1173, the surface transportation bill.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, tomorrow morning the Senate, as I said, will be in morning business for 2 hours because of requests we have had from Senators to speak, and also so some drafting can be done with regard to an amendment that will be offered later on in the day. At 11, the Senate will go back to the highway bill. It is hoped that the donor amendment will be offered at 11 a.m., to be followed by the finance title. Following the adoption of the Finance Committee title, it will be the majority leader's intention--and I have consulted with the minority leader and he agrees--that we should move to the cloture vote that had been postponed by consent from Monday afternoon. So we could have the three issues dealt with then in the morning: the donor amendment, the Finance Committee title, and then a cloture vote. In order to ever get to a conclusion on this legislation, we do need the cloture so we can identify what amendments are serious and are pending out there. We are still hopeful we can complete this legislation either Wednesday at some point or Thursday--certainly this week. But we will not have a true feel of what the prospects are on that until we get a cloture vote and we identify the amendments that are then pending that are serious. So Members should anticipate a busy day voting tomorrow, with votes all during the day, in the afternoon and into the early evening with the probability of at least three votes, and it could be four or five before the day is out.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. If there is no business to come before the Senate, I now ask unanimous consent the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order, following the remarks of the Senator from Maine, Senator Collins.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate immediately proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 534 on the Executive Calendar. I further ask unanimous consent the nomination be confirmed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then return to legislative session. Just for the information of all Senators, this is the confirmation of Brian Scott Roy, to be U.S. Marshal for Kentucky.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, today I have the pleasure to announce that Senator Susan Collins of the great State of Maine, the current Presiding Officer, is the latest recipient of the prestigious Golden Gavel Award. Since the 1960s, Senators who preside over the Senate in excess of 100 hours are recognized with the Golden Gavel. The Golden Gavel has long served as a symbol of appreciation for time these dedicated Senators contribute to presiding over the U.S. Senate--a privileged and important duty. With respect to this particular Presiding Officer, two words describe Senator Collins as she presides over this Chamber: reliable and punctual. Senator Collins takes her presiding responsibilities seriously and is someone who can always be counted on to serve. We now take the opportunity to extend our thanks to her for her commitment to the fine way in which she presides. I must say, she has received one of the highest compliments that can be received from the Senate itself. Senator Byrd has commented about what a good job she does in the chair and that she presides fairly and she pays attention to what the Senators are saying. I congratulate her and thank her on behalf of the U.S. Senate for her time. (Applause, Senators rising.)

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. The first of May.

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture vote scheduled to occur today now occur at a day and time to be determined by the majority leader after notification of the minority leader.

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I further ask unanimous consent that all first-degree amendments, as provided under rule XXII, now be filed up to 4 hours following the cloture vote and second-degree amendments to be filed within 24 hours after the cloture vote.