Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, Senator Murkowski has an amendment at the desk, and I ask for its consideration.

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

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment be agreed to.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 2472, which was received from the House.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there be a period for the transaction 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 the hour of 10 a.m. on Wednesday, October 1. I further ask unanimous consent that on Wednesday, immediately following the prayer, the routine requests through the morning hour be granted and the Senate immediately begin consideration of the Treasury-Postal Service appropriations conference report as agreed to under the previous consent agreement.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I should note, Mr. President, that all these unanimous- consent requests have been discussed with and cleared by the minority leader's staff.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to; that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; and that any statements relating to the resolution appear at the appropriate place in the Record.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 126, which was reported by the Rules Committee today.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I observe 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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.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, after consultation with the minority leader, I ask unanimous consent that the vote occur on passage of House Joint Resolution 94, the continuing resolution, at 2:15 today.

Mr. LOTT

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 Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I believe the Senator from Oregon would like to now move to the consideration of his amendment. We have an agreement there will be up to 20 minutes of debate on that amendment and we will engage in a colloquy. I am glad to yield the floor so the Senator from Oregon can carry this out.

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, first and foremost, I want to apologize to the Senator from Oregon for not being able to respond last week to his request that we engage in a colloquy regarding his amendment which is pending to the D.C. appropriations bill. He was generous enough to be understanding that we had a number of other issues we were dealing with late last week, including the campaign finance reform issue, as well as a number of other issues that are very pressing at the end of the fiscal year with the appropriations bills. So I am glad he was willing to allow us to do the colloquy now instead of last week. I appreciate his attitude on that. I think also I should note that he has been talking with me over the past year and 4 months that I have been majority leader about his concerns in this area. I appreciate the fact that you noted, Senator, I have tried to be more open and more communicative with Senators about the procedures around here, trying to open up, trying to make them clearer and more understandable. As a matter of fact, I sent out a long letter clarifying to Members what is the process and what is the proper way to exercise a hold. I did feel that it had sort of evolved into a situation that was not fair and was not intended. I continue and want to continue working to have a fair system around here and one that everybody understands. I am sure the Senator also has learned to appreciate, as a Senator, the importance and the significance of the hold. It is a unique creature in the Senate and it is one that is used, I think reasonably and responsibly most all of the time, and can serve very positive purposes. For instance, I believe you noted in your comments that you used it earlier, or last month, with regard to the confirmation of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to get an issue addressed that was important to you. You didn't do it secretly. You were pretty open about your hold. It led to some accommodations that I believe will be helpful to the families there in Oregon and satisfied the Senator. We want to be careful how we change things around here. When you come over from the House to the Senate you really have a lot of questions about how this place operates: What are the rules? This seems like an archaic way to do things. Then you begin to understand it better, then you begin to think to yourself, no, I don't want the Senate to be the House. You begin to appreciate the traditions and the rules and the procedures around here. You have an opportunity to talk to Senator Byrd, as the Senator from Oregon has, or in my case, to Senator Stevens or Senator Helms. If you go to them and say, why is this important? Why has it been done that way? Then you begin to have a whole different view about the institution and the tradition and how things are done. So, I will continue to move in the direction, I think, that the Senator is seeking. I want a clearer understanding and I like doing things in the daylight, not in the dark of night. I don't like secrecy generally on anything, as a matter of fact. I like sunshine. But it is a problem for the majority leader and for the Senate to make this kind of change on the D.C. appropriations bill. I think to change the standing orders of the Senate in this way is something that is troublesome to some Senators. For instance, I have not had an opportunity yet to sit down and talk with the minority leader about this. I had thought that the better place to do this would be at the beginning of a session when we meet, between the two leaders of the two parties, and we have knowledge and input from both sides of the aisle and that you do it at the beginning of a Congress when you have the organization of the Senate. I think that path would have been much preferable or is preferable to this approach. I assume that the minority leader has some reservations of the use of any Senator to effect the so-called standing orders with an amendment on an appropriations bill. So I say to my colleague, then, that I understand what he is trying to do and I am not unsympathetic to that, but I do have problems with doing it in this way on an appropriations bill. I will continue to listen to all Senators. I will sit down. This has caused me to find a time--and I am not complaining--to sit down and make sure that senior Senators understand what we might be thinking of doing. Are there problems with it? I don't know that there will be. I really think that any Senator who feels strongly enough about an issue to put a hold on it ought to be prepared to come to the floor and explain it. I have indicated to Senators on both sides of the aisle, sometimes when holds have been placed and have not been removed in a reasonable period of time that they better be prepared to come to the floor and object and debate because I was prepared to call up the issue. However, I also feel a real appreciation for the way the Senate is considerate of every single Senator--if she or he has a problem, I like to give them time to work through it, whether they are Republican or Democrat, regardless of philosophy, religion, or anything else. Sometimes there may be a good reason why they would not want, in a specified period of time, 2 days, for instance, to explain all of what is going on. I guess that is a long explanation to the Senator's comments and questions, but I understand what he is trying to do. I hope we can find a way to continue to work on it and come to a conclusion that would benefit the Senate as a whole.

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 the majority leader, after consultation with the minority leader, proceed to consideration of the conference report accompanying H.R. 2378, the Treasury-Postal Service appropriations bill. I further ask unanimous consent that the reading be waived and the conference report be limited to the following debate time: The two managers, 15 minutes each; Senator McCain, up to 10 minutes; Senator Brownback, up to 10 minutes; Senator Wellstone, up to 10 minutes. I further ask unanimous consent that immediately following the expiration of time, the Senate proceed to a vote on the adoption of the conference report with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask the Chair lay before the Senate a message from the House of Representatives on (S. 996) to provide for the authorization of appropriations in each fiscal year for arbitration in U.S. district courts. The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate the following message from the House of Representatives: Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 996) entitled ``An Act to provide for the authorization of appropriations in each fiscal year for arbitration in United States district courts.'', do pass with the following amendments: Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate concur in the amendments of the House.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 177, H.R. 1948.

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, tomorrow morning, the Senate will begin 60 minutes of debate on the Treasury-Postal Service appropriations conference report. Senators can, therefore, expect rollcall votes Wednesday morning at approximately 11 a.m. or earlier if debate time is yielded back, and it could be yielded back, so the vote could be shortly before 11 o'clock. Following that vote, the Senate will resume consideration of the DC appropriations bill. It is the intention of the majority leader to finish action on the final appropriations measure. In observance of Rosh Hashanah, no recall call votes will occur after 1 p.m. tomorrow. Therefore, all Senators' cooperation will be appreciated in allowing the Senate to conclude action on the pending bill. I should note that we will continue to try to get an agreement to clear conference reports, and we probably will be in session until about 4 o'clock tomorrow afternoon, but there will be no recorded votes after 1 o'clock.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Agriculture Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 394 and, further, that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

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