Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the amendment be considered as having been read.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

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

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I now send a perfecting amendment to the desk to the underlying bill.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. LOTT. I ask for the yeas and nays on my amendment, Mr. President.

Mr. LOTT. I now send an amendment to the desk to my amendment.

Mr. LOTT. I send to the desk a motion to commit the bill to the Commerce Committee with instructions to report back forthwith.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. LOTT. I now send an amendment to the desk to the instructions.

Mr. LOTT. I ask the amendment be considered as having been read.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. LOTT. I now send an amendment to the desk to my amendment.

Mr. LOTT. I now send a final amendment to my amendment to the desk-- --

Mr. LOTT. I yield for a parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, the Senate is now in a posture where the tree is filled with respect to the pending campaign finance legislation. Senator McCain has offered his substitute amendment and we have had a very good discussion about the issue prior to the motion to table, and the time for the vote was agreed to and that occurred, of course, at 4 o'clock. The motion to table did fail, although I think we should note that it was the identical vote that we had on this same issue last year. Now our colleague, Senator Snowe, has offered her version of paycheck protection to the McCain-Feingold amendment, and I intend to file a cloture motion on that today. However, it is my hope that cloture votes on the Snowe amendment could occur Thursday morning, but after we have had debate tonight. She is prepared, I believe, to talk about her amendment. There also are a number of Senators who are very interested in talking about the second-degree amendment, or the amendment I offered to her amendment. I know Senator McCain feels very strongly that the FCC should not impose the requirement of free broadcast time. Senator Burns had indicated he wanted to speak on this. We had been hoping he would be here momentarily, and I am sure he will be, and he will want to speak on that issue, too. So, after a debate on this issue, we expect to have a time set for a vote. But I will consult with the minority leader and also with the sponsor of the amendment and the second-degree amendment before we announce a time on that. I ask for the yeas and nays on amendment No. 1647.

Mr. LOTT. I ask for the yeas and nays on amendment No. 1646.

Mr. LOTT. Let me discuss this with you, Senator McCain, and with Senator Snowe. I want to make sure we had considered all of the ramifications to that. I think probably the answer may be yes, but I would like to make sure we have had a chance to talk it through. I am not making a commitment at this point. I think it is important that we have a full discussion on the FCC effort and we have a full discussion on our amendment. That will give us time. I presume she is not interested in having a vote this afternoon, so we will have some time tonight to talk about that and then tomorrow, after the funeral services for Senator Ribicoff, and then after the vote on the military construction appropriations bill, we will come back to this issue around, I guess, 3:30. Then, hopefully, we will have a vote sometime tomorrow afternoon, probably around this time or a little earlier. We will talk about what order that would be in prior to that.

Mr. LOTT. I agree with the chairman of the committee. I feel very strongly the FCC should not be doing this. I would like to inquire, does the chairman of the committee intend to have some hearings on this and maybe move this as an amendment or as a part of another bill at some point? Perhaps this year?

Mr. LOTT. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Thank you, Mr. President.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, this morning the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 10:30 a.m., as under the previous consent order. At 10:30 a.m., the Senate will resume consideration of S. 1663, the campaign finance reform bill. Also, under the previous unanimous consent order, the time from 10:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. will be equally divided between the opponents and proponents of the legislation. In addition, by consent, from 12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m., the Senate will recess for the weekly policy luncheons to meet. Following those luncheons, at 2:15 p.m., the Senate will resume consideration of the campaign finance reform bill, with the time then going until 4 o'clock being equally divided between the opponents and proponents. Following that debate, at 4 p.m., the Senate will proceed to a vote in relation to the pending McCain-Feingold amendment. Therefore, the first rollcall vote today will occur at 4 p.m. Senators can also anticipate the possibility of additional votes after that vote on the McCain-Feingold amendment. But we do not have a definite time agreement on that presently. Before the 4 o'clock vote, we will notify Senators about the schedule for the remainder of the day. I yield the floor, Mr. President.