Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, Senators McCain and Hollings have a technical amendment at the desk, and I ask for its immediate consideration.

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I send an adjournment resolution to the desk calling for a conditional adjournment of the first session of the 105th Congress until Tuesday, January 27, 1998. I ask unanimous consent that the current resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, all without further action or debate.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I yield the floor. Mr. FORD addressed the Chair.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.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, there are a couple of matters yet to be completed tonight, including the Amtrak reform package that should be coming momentarily from the House. Senator Daschle and I want to notify the President we are moving toward completion of our work tonight. Later on, when we have the final announcement, we will advise the Senate that it would reconvene, the 105th Congress, second session, following a live quorum the morning of January 27, and there would be a live quorum which would proceed morning business until 2 p.m. on that day, and on Tuesday night, January 27, at 9 p.m., we would have the President's State of the Union Address. So the Senate will convene, then, that night at 8:30 in order to proceed to the body of the Hall of the House of Representatives to hear the address. There will be no legislative business on Tuesday, January 27 except for those actions that may be cleared for unanimous consent. Therefore, no votes will occur during the session on that Tuesday. Senators should be aware that the following items are expected to be considered during the early days of the second session of the 105th Congress: The ISTEA transportation infrastructure bill; juvenile justice; the nomination of Margaret Morrow of California to a judgeship; and the nomination of Ann Aiken, prior to the end of the first week. I do want to thank my colleagues for their cooperation throughout this session of Congress, and especially on the Executive Calendar. I know there has been a lot of effort made there on both sides of the aisle and we leave just a very few on that calendar. I note we have confirmed this year 36 judges. I believe we will act on at least four or five others very quickly in the beginning of the next session. We had three reported today by the Judiciary Committee, all of which I understand were noncontroversial, but it was late in the afternoon and we did not have the time to give Senators proper notice that we would proceed. So I expect that we will do those the first week back, also. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, if there is not objection by the Democratic leader

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I will take a moment here to say I do enjoy and appreciate the relationship that I have with the Democratic leader. We have developed a relationship that is based on trust. Our word has been good to each other. While on occasion we disagree on substance and sometimes we are a bit testy in our remarks, I think overall over the past year and a half since I have had the honor of serving as a majority leader our relationship has been a healthy one and good for the overall atmosphere in the Senate and I hope we can continue that relationship as we go into the second session of the 105th Congress.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate now proceed to Senate Resolution 159, introduced earlier today.

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 the Chair lay before the Senate a message from the House of Representatives on the bill (S. 476) to provide for the establishment of not less than 2,500 Boys and Girls Clubs of America facilities by the year 2000. The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate the following message from the House of Representatives. Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 476) entitled ``An Act to provide for the establishment of not less than 2,500 Boys and Girls Clubs of America facilities by the year 2000.'', do pass with the following amendment: Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I move that the Senate concur in the amendment of the House.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 607, which is at the desk.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, Senator D'Amato has a substitute amendment at the desk, and I ask for its consideration.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I note--while I don't have the exact numbers here before me, I will insert in the Record later the numbers that are involved--during the first session of the 105th Congress we have now confirmed over 3,500 civilian nominations, both judicial and other executive branch nominations. That does not include military nominations. The total number, I think, comes to over 20,000 nominations that we have confirmed during the first year of the 105th session of Congress.

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent the Senate go into executive session and immediately proceed en bloc to the following nominations on the Executive Calendar: No. 327, No. 350, No. 386 and No. 465. I further ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed en bloc to the consideration of two nominations reported by the Armed Services Committee today. I ask unanimous consent that the nominations be confirmed en bloc, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, and any statements appear in the Record, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then return to legislative session.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, on Tuesday, January 27, when the Senate reconvenes the 105th Congress, second session, following a live quorum, the Senate will proceed to morning business then until 2 p.m. Tuesday night at 9 p.m. is the President's State of the Union Address. Therefore, the Senate will reconvene Tuesday evening at approximately 8:30 p.m. in order to proceed as a body to the Hall of the House of Representatives to hear the address of the President. There will be no legislative business on the 27th except for those items that may be cleared for action by unanimous consent. Therefore, no votes will occur during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, January 27. Senators should be aware that following that day, on the 28th and after, we will be expected to call up early in the session the ISTEA transportation bill, juvenile justice, the nomination of Margaret Morrow, and the nomination of Ann Aiken, both to be considered for judicial positions, and the nomination of Ann Aiken will be taken up prior to the end of the first week. Again, I thank my colleagues for their cooperation during this session of Congress.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Now, Mr. President, before any other bills come to our attention, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in adjournment sine die of the 1st session of the 105th Congress under the provisions of S. Con Res. 68 and S. J. Res. 39 until Tuesday, January 27, 1998, provided that the House adopts S. Con. Res. 68 and does not alter the text of the State-Justice-Commerce Appropriations Conference Report. If either action occurs, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate reconvene on Friday, November 14, 1997, at 10 a.m.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I would now ask for its second reading, and I object to my own request on behalf of the other side of the aisle.

Mr. LOTT. I understand H.R. 2709 has arrived from the House, and I ask for its first reading.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 167, which is S. 493.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until the hour of 12 noon on Wednesday, November 12. I further ask unanimous consent that on Wednesday, immediately following the prayer, the routine requests through the morning hour be granted and that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business for not to extend beyond the hour of 12:30 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I thought we spent that much time on the Food and Drug Administration reform. Mr. President, I do want to congratulate the Senator from Massachusetts. While we exchange views and quite often disagree, he certainly is a hard-working legislator that does good work for the positions he advocates and for his State. I congratulate him on his anniversary and for his service to the State of Massachusetts and to our country.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I know others perhaps have already spoken about this, but I want to recognize the service of the Senator from Massachusetts. I understand he is the longest serving Senator in the history of the State of Massachusetts and that, as a matter of fact, this week was an anniversary. How many years has the Senator served?

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I yield the floor.