Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a resolution designating April 6 of each year as ``National Tartan Day,'' not only to recognize the outstanding achievements and contributions made by Scottish-Americans to the United States, but to better recognize an important day in the history of all free men, April 6. It was nearly 700 years ago, on April 6, 1320, that a group of men in Arbroath, Scotland, enumerated a long list of grievances against the English king of the day, asserted their independence in no uncertain terms, and claimed that they, the people of Scotland, had the right to choose their own government. They wrote, ``We fight for liberty alone, which no good man loses but with his life * * *'' These were daring words, because the Scots who wrote those words lived in dangerous times. Violence ruled the world. Wars were fought for property, for conquest, for great tracts of land in far away countries. But the Scots who met on that cold April day, perhaps in the rain, were not fighting for property or conquest or estates. They wrote, ``We fight for liberty alone.'' This was all they fought for. Liberty. These were daring words--dangerous words--words that could bring certain death to them and their families. These Scotsmen were claiming liberty as their birthright. They were claiming they were born free men--and no king, no baron, no landlord with his troops could take this liberty from the men in Scotland. These were words that lasted, long after kings and buildings had fallen into ruin. These were words that endured, like the mountains, hills and stones of Scotland. These were words that reached across the years, the centuries, across the ocean. Over 450 years later, a group of men stood in a building in the British colony of Pennsylvania, on a hot summer's day, debating and then signing their own declaration of independence. They used the Arbroath Declaration as the template for their own thoughts, their own words. This was natural--many of the men in that room in Philadelphia, almost half, were of Scottish ancestry. The draftsman of the document was Thomas Jefferson--one of his ancestors had signed the Arbroath Declaration, all of those centuries before. The words of the Arbroath Declaration meant something to those men--they were daring words--words that would not be quiet, that would not lie quiet and still on some forgotten Scottish hill. The men in Philadelphia that day remembered those words--``We fight for liberty alone''--and the men in Philadelphia signed their own declaration of independence. The words and thoughts of those long-ago Scottish patriots live on in America. Liberty, true liberty, has been good to their descendants in America. Scottish-Americans have helped build this nation since the beginning. Three-fourths of all American presidents can trace their roots to Scotland. The contributions of Scottish-Americans are innumerable: Some of the great have included Neil Armstrong, Alexander Graham Bell, Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Alva Edison, William Faulkner, Malcolm Forbes, Billy Graham, Alexander Hamilton, Washington Irving, John Paul Jones, John Marshall, Andrew Mellon, Samuel F.B. Morse, James Naismith, Edgar Allen Poe, Gilbert Stuart, Elizabeth Taylor, to name only a few. But beyond all of the accomplishments of Scottish-Americans, beyond all the wonderful inventions like the telegraph and telephone and electric light, all the works of literature, all the great businesses and charitable organizations founded by Scottish-Americans, beyond all of those accomplishments, are the words. ``We fight for liberty alone * * * We fight for liberty alone, which no good man loses but with his life.'' Those are haunting words. Those are words that haunted the men who passed them down for generations, wherever men dreamed of being free, words that haunted the men who rewrote them in Philadelphia on that hot, steamy day, words that have haunted generations of Americans. Words that have lived inside men, unspoken, as they marched to Yorktown, as they lined up quietly behind the cotton bales in New Orleans, marched to Mexico, sailed to Cuba and the Philippines, and Europe and the Pacific and Korea and the Persian Gulf. These are words that live inside all of us Americans, and especially inside our veterans: ``We fight for liberty alone, which no good man loses but with his life.'' And how many have lost their lives for our freedom. It is appropriate that we honor April 6 as National Tartan Day. The Scottish clansmen who met on that cold day and declared their independence were our clansmen, no matter what nation we hail from. They were our brothers. Mr. President, I ask all my colleagues to support this resolution, so that we may never forget, so that the world, in some small way, may never forget, the beginnings of freedom in far-away, long-ago Arbroath.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent the committee amendment, as amended, be agreed to, the bill be considered read a third time and passed as amended, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. LOTT

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. This morning the Senate will be in a period for morning business until 10:30 a.m. Following morning business, the Senate intends to consider and complete action on the following: A continuing resolution which continues funding through Friday, November 14; adoption of the foster care conference report--I am very pleased that we have been able to bring that very important matter to a favorable completion because it certainly needs to be done, and I think it is going to be a great help in getting children in foster care into adoption--and any other Legislative or Executive Calendar items that we can get cleared. However, no rollcall votes will occur in today's, Tuesday's, or Wednesday's session of the Senate. Of course, that is in observance of Tuesday, which is Veterans Day. Members will be given sufficient notice if any votes will occur on Thursday. At this point there is a possibility of a couple of votes on Thursday, that is, Thursday, November 13, and there are some items that we would have to deal with yet, either an omnibus appropriations bill or the appropriations bills separately, if they wind up coming back to us in that way. But those would be the final items that we probably need to do before we adjourn for the first session. The House has recessed until Wednesday, November 12, with the intention of concluding the appropriations process on that day. It is hoped that a few other remaining items can be considered by voice vote during Wednesday's session of the Senate, although I emphasize again no recorded votes. Unfortunately, I cannot say at this time exactly what we can expect on Thursday. As the Members are finding out now, the House did not get to a conclusion on fast track. While we have not had enough time yet to discuss what happens next on that issue with the House leadership or with the administration, Senator Daschle and I have talked this morning. I have talked to the President's Chief of Staff. They will be having meetings this morning, and we would have some further announcement to make perhaps today or later on this week on what further will happen on the fast-track trade issue, if anything. Also, because of the energy and time that went into the fast-track efforts to come up with the votes in the House late last night, the House was not able to take up, of course, and deal with the appropriations bills. We will be working on that today and Wednesday.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I yield the floor, Mr. President.

Mr. LOTT. That is absolutely the case. But the problem they had in the House--we both served in the House; we know what it is like-- highway infrastructure and transportation funds are very, very important in every State. This is not a partisan issue. This is an issue that divides us, some not really even by regions; States side by side can have a different view of the formula. And I think they pushed the 6-month proposal because they could not get the votes for anything else right then. But I think if the Senate does not show leadership and keep the pressure on them, we will never get this issue resolved. That is why I had not wanted to do anything akin to 6 months. I wanted us to have some basic flexibility so States could reprogram, move funds around and make sure we had the safety fund but keep the heat on. But I think the best thing that we could do on that right now is to make sure there is not a short-term problem with availability of funds, realizing that in the colder States you need to do contracting in December and perhaps early January to have those programs underway in the spring. But again, it is my intent for the Senate to go ahead and take up this issue and address it early to put pressure on the House and also so that whenever they do get their act together and vote, we will be ready for conference. But I do think it is irresponsible for a Member on either side of the aisle, whether he or she be a chairman or not, to say they are not going to go to conference with the other body if the other body doesn't pass a bill that they like. We have feifdoms around here, but I believe we should not have that type of attitude or we will never bring this important issue to a reasonable conclusion. That is all I am pushing for. That is why I have tried to push this bill all this year. Frankly, in our own body I think our colleagues made a mistake by letting it drag out to this fall. I thought it should have been done last spring. I had a tentative schedule for the Senate to take it up in April of this year, last April. I know they had a hard time working it out in committee, but to their credit they worked it out and brought out a good, broadly bipartisan bill. It will be a focus that we need to work on and we need to do it earlier in the year, because if we wait until next September right before elections, there will be no way we can do it.

Mr. LOTT. I will be glad to yield.

Mr. LOTT. Absolutely. Do I have time? If the Senator will allow me to respond--and I will yield the floor if you would like me to--the Senate, I believe, has acted very responsibly on this in terms of the package we had before us, the 6- year package within the budget. Obviously, there will be some important amendments to be offered. As the Senator is aware, it got tangled up on an unrelated issue, but that issue will not be hanging over us on this bill when we come back. What has me worried is I believe there are people really kind of interested in dragging this out because they want to keep the formula as it now is. I think the existing formula is fundamentally unfair to States like my own, and so I am very anxious for the Senate to keep the pressure on to move a 6-year bill that comes up with a fairer formula but also lives within budget constraints.

Mr. LOTT. Right.

Mr. LOTT. I am not sure. As I said, I don't know what they came up with, but necessary actions to provide for safety, transit funds, and flexibility over some additional funds depending on what they agreed to, which I assume would take us to May 1. But I do think, again, it is very important we have some deadline on this. Otherwise, we will never bring this very important but very difficult issue to a conclusion.

Mr. LOTT. Throughout the day yesterday, meetings were occurring between the House and Senate leadership on the highway bill. We had passed in the Senate, as the Senator will recall, a fix which allowed flexibility so that some funds could be moved between accounts, if necessary, to keep the Department of Transportation employees working. I think there was a transit accommodation. So I think it had about four parts. During the day yesterday, they were meeting with their counterparts in the House. I was led to believe last night that they had come to an agreement and that agreement, whatever it is--I just can't give you the total outlines of it now--would be attached to either the omnibus appropriations bill or one of the appropriations bills that would be going to the President for his signature.

Mr. LOTT. Will the Senator yield so I can bring him up to date on that?

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, it would be my intention. Of course, we would need to confer on that with the committee leaders. But I believe that Senator Chafee and Senator Baucus would like to take it up early. I talked with Senator Daschle about it. That is something I would like to maybe begin on the next day after the State of the Union but right at that first part. So we can go ahead and do our work and, hopefully, the House will follow our leadership. One other issue that could come up early next year would be the juvenile justice bill reported out of the Judiciary Committee. I believe there is some language in the omnibus bill that we passed that would provide funds for it, but those funds are fenced until we do authorization. So that is something that could come up. And before we go out for the President's Day recess, we would also take up the Morrow nomination for a judicial position.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT. We do have the continuing resolution and so I would just like to take 1 minute and go ahead and move that. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now turn to House Joint Resolution 105 making continuing appropriations through Friday, November 14; that the joint resolution be considered read the third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, all without further action or debate.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I will be glad to yield to the Senator.

Mr. LOTT. Two other comments. We will announce to Members a time for a vote, if any, on Thursday as soon as we can get information. That may not be, though, until Wednesday or Thursday. Finally, it is our intent, serious intent, that we be finished for the year on Thursday of this week with adjournment at that time.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I object to further consideration of the bill at this time.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I understand there is a bill at the desk due for its second reading.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I thank the Chair. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the bill be considered read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 281, S. 222.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to this bill appear at the appropriate place in the Record.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, in the dozen or so weeks between the end of this congressional session and the start of the next, members might profitably encourage their staffs to pursue a matter of great importance to the preservation of the Senate's institutional memory. I refer to the archiving of senators' noncurrent office files and personal papers. I recognize that most of us have enough to engage our attention thinking about the demands of today and tomorrow, without worrying a great deal about the records of yesterday. That's why the intersession recess offers a useful opportunity to address this important housekeeping matter. Our records deserve professional attention--not just in the final days of our Senate careers--but throughout our entire service here. The current proliferation of records in electronic formats makes this updating particularly urgent. Whether on disks, tapes, or paper, these records, if properly managed, will take their place as vital historical resources in the decades ahead. By planning now, senators can minimize preservation costs while maximizing research value at the time these records are opened for research and other educational purposes. Many senators have already made commitments to home-state educational institutions for staged transfer of their non-current records. For those who have not, I urge you to seek the assistance of the Senate Archivist within the Office of the Secretary of the Senate. What better way could there be to join those who have come before us in preserving and enriching the documentary resource of this great institution.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I have used those exact words, I might say, ``fish or cut bait.'' I will note again, we made tremendous progress in the past week on appropriations bills and other issues. I mentioned Amtrak, the highway bill, FDA, adoption and foster care, and I believe even on appropriations bills basically everything has been worked out but one issue. Obviously, we concluded an acceptable compromise on the Labor- HHS appropriations conference report involving the testing language. I believe we have an agreement worked out with regard to the census language that would be incorporated in the Commerce, State, Justice appropriations bill. I believe the two remaining issues for the year boil down to this: Can the House get the votes for fast track, since the Senate has already spoken overwhelmingly with votes of 68 and 67 for cloture motions to limit the debate so we can get to final passage, and the other one is the foreign operations bill, which includes a number of very important issues. Obviously, it involves the funds for our foreign operations; it involves the agreement with regard to how much would be paid for the U.N. arrearages; it involves the State Department authorization and reform and reorganization bill; it involves funds for the International Monetary Fund. But the one issue that is holding it all up, basically, boils down to whether or not the taxpayers' dollars will be used to promote and encourage foreign governments to encourage abortions. The bill that I thought we had agreed to provided a waiver where the President could waive that, but it would affect the funds. It has gotten down to a very narrow issue. You are right, we are not going to come to an agreement that every Senator will agree to, but I think we are close enough on that issue that we ought to be able to reach agreement and bring the foreign operations appropriations conference report to a conclusion. And if we can get that agreement and fast track, we will have completed the year on a very high note and one that the American people, I think, will be proud of and of which we could be proud. The taxpayers of the United States have had a pretty good year. We would like to end up with agreements on these important issues. Certainly, it won't be perfect, as the Senator has said, but we have tried compromise after compromise after compromise. So far, none of them have taken hold. But I have faith that on Sunday, we will find a way to do that. Certainly, I do think that senior Members and leaders have to step up to these challenges and get the job done.