Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. That's correct.

Mr. LOTT. Having said that, I now send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. LOTT. I move to table the Gramm motion, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, it appears that the Senator from Texas, Senator Gramm, is not prepared at this time to give agreement on the DOD authorization conference report. In an effort to try to resolve the depot issue, it seems to me that having endless motions to postpone consideration of the conference report is not constructive at this time. Cloture Motion

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 Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent that, prior to the motion to table vote, there be 45 minutes of debate only, equally divided between the time controlled by Senator Gramm and Senator Inhofe, or their designees.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I know there is a lot more debate that we will hear on this subject. We would like to start a process that would get us on the DOD authorization conference report.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there now be a period for the transaction of morning business for the next 30 minutes with Senators permitted to speak for up to 5 minutes each.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. For the information of all Senators, we are now in the process of taking a look at D.C. appropriations bill papers on both sides of the aisle. We hope that within the next hour or so we will be able to go to the D.C. appropriations bill. Also, it is our intent, as I have advised the Democratic leader, this afternoon to call up the DOD, Department of Defense, authorization conference report and begin the process on that bill. So those two bills will consume the bulk of the time this afternoon. There is the possibility of recorded votes, and Senators should be aware of that. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. There will be a recorded vote at 6:15. Until then, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I yield back all time for debate on these nominations.

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if the Senator will yield further on his reservation, if there are some gaps, we could have more talk about these nominees or other nominees later on this week. There may not be the large gaps that there might appear because we do have a number of appropriations conference reports that we think are going to be ready this week, plus the DC appropriations issue we believe we can resolve, although it will take a little time, 2 or 3 hours on that, plus Senator Byrd and Senator Stevens have indicated they would like to have the line-item veto disapproval which could take 10 hours. And that does not count regular bills. We have to do something about the Amtrak strike this week, one way or the other. So I think we are going to have a good bit of time that will be used. But I know the Senator will be glad to talk when the time comes, and I appreciate his comments. I renew my request.

Mr. LOTT. I know he could talk at great length on this and other subjects, and there may be other Senators who would like to talk on them who are not here today. Quite frankly, I am not impressed that they are not here. We are in the final 2 or 3 weeks of the session, and when Senators say they can't be here on Monday and they can't be here on Friday, it sure makes it awful hard to do the people's business. But the Senator is within his right; certainly these are important nominees, but I believe that on these nominees as well as the FCC nominees and hopefully maybe even others, if the holds are continued on them, I need to call them up. If there is objection, as apparently the Senator from Iowa intends, I just want to make it clear why they are being objected to and who is objecting to them and we will move on. But I do want to make it clear to one and all that in view of the lateness of the hour in the session, the odds of being able to spend a great deal of time or to get these nominees called up again is not very likely because we have a number of urgent matters that are pending that we are going to have to take up this week and next week. And so I just wanted to put that on the Record so that the Senators here will know this is probably not a temporary delay; this is probably a delay until next year.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. With that in mind, I now ask that following the remarks of Senator Harkin and Senator Hutchinson, who is on the floor also, the Senate stand in recess until 4:30 p.m. today.

Mr. LOTT. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT

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

Mr. LOTT. Those will be the final two votes of the night. Senator Daschle and I discussed this last week. This will give us time to have some brief statements in behalf of these two nominees to be ambassadors. I feel it is very important these actions be taken. I also note that tomorrow, or not later than Wednesday, if we have not cleared them, we will also have votes on the five FCC nominations. We had discussed the need to do that, and we believe we will be able to move them tomorrow. If necessary, we will call for a recorded vote on those nominees also. Mr. President, I yield the floor. If no Senator seeks recognition, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, it is my understanding that Senator Harkin does expect to address this subject on the Federal Reserve System nominations for a further 30 minutes at this time. It is also my hope the Senate could consider and confirm the nominations of our former colleague Senator Wyche Fowler and Thomas Foley for ambassadorial positions immediately following the previously scheduled 5 p.m. vote. I anticipate rollcall votes being necessary on these two ambassadorial nominations. Therefore, additional votes can be expected following the scheduled 5 p.m. vote.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Let me confirm again, we have cleared this with the Democratic side of the aisle. This vote will be tomorrow, not tonight, and it will be after the cloture vote on the highway infrastructure bill. I have set out the times of debate before that vote.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that, immediately following the cloture vote, if not invoked on Tuesday morning, the Senate then turn to the Interior appropriations conference report; that the conference report be considered as having been read, and that it be limited to the following time constraints: 60 minutes on the conference report, to be equally divided between Senators Gorton and Byrd; 15 minutes for Senator Murkowski; 10 minutes for Senator Ashcroft; 10 minutes for Senator McCain; that following the conclusion or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to vote on the adoption of the conference report without any further action or debate.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, too often the media reports about a terrible mistake made or a crime committed by one of America's young people. But there are millions and millions of young people who we never hear about--young people who are doing the right things, young people avoiding the mistakes often made by their peers, young people working hard in school, young people participating in the civic activities of their town or city, and, sometimes, young people doing remarkable things. Mr. President, I want to tell my Senate colleagues about one special young person, Andrew Montgomery, from Crystal Springs, MS. On August 19, 1995, when he was only eleven years old, Andrew first proved himself. He came upon a crowd of people who had surrounded an unconscious woman near the seawall in Galveston, TX. No one in the crowd was taking action, so Andrew stepped forward and administered CPR and treatment for shock. Eventually, an emergency medical team arrived and transported the woman to a local hospital, where she recovered. Mr. President, 2 years later, Andrew Montgomery was again confronted with an emergency situation. On August 10 of this year, Andrew was riding with his family near Lafayette, LA, when they came upon a multivehicle wreck. A car and a pickup had collided, and the car came to rest in a ditch, with a heavy metal sign collapsed upon it. Andrew quickly rushed to the scene. The car was smashed and on fire. The driver of the car was dead, and a baby in the back seat, covered with blood, was in danger. Unable to immediately pull the baby out of the wrecked car, Andrew wrapped the infant in a beach towel, and protected the baby from the smoke and flames of the car fire. Andrew was then joined by his parents, Ann and Bill, Kenneth Puckett, a truckdriver, and Dr. Thomas Dewey. The group rescued the child and lifted the baby hand-over-hand out of the ditch in which the car settled following the collision. Mr. President, how many of us would have had the presence to do the same? Mind you, we're talking about a young boy. Andrew, I might add, knew what to do because he received training from both the American Red Cross and the Boy Scouts. Andrew's reactions were a direct result of this training. It saved two lives, and speaks volumes about how important organizations like the Red Cross and the Boy Scouts are to all Americans. Mr. President, as I said, too often we hear about the ``bad eggs'' among America's youth. And, we worry about America's future. But the story of Andrew Montgomery should remind us all how many of our youth are out there doing the right thing. We too often also hear about the broken families in America. But Andrew's story should remind us how many of our families are still out there doing the right thing. His parents, Ann and Bill Montgomery have good reason to be proud of their son. They raised a boy who is willing to make sacrifices, willing to work hard, and willing to act courageously. I want to also recognize his parents for setting a good example for their son, by being active in their community--as Scout leaders. Mr. President, I personally want to recognize Andrew Montgomery for being an outstanding example of America's youth.