Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Labor and Human Resources be authorized to meet for a hearing on confidentiality of medical information during the session of the Senate on Thursday, September 11, 1997, at 10 a.m.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, for 3 long years, the House Resources Committee has worked with the Department of the Interior to craft a statute that redefines and redirects the mission of the wildlife refuge program. After holding a total of eight hearings and countless legislative meetings with the administration, the House Resources Committee introduced and reported H.R. 1420. Thanks to the dedicated support of Chairman Young and Secretary Babbitt, this bill overwhelmingly passed the House by a vote of 407 to 1 on June 3, 1997. Mr. President, I am proud of the Senate's unanimous approval of this historic legislation. It proves that successful environmental policy can be crafted in a bipartisan manner. This legislation was endorsed by a coalition of diverse interests. It is rare to find an issue that captures the attention and collective effort of industry, sportsmen, and conservationists. These groups, ranging from the Wildlife Legislative Fund of America and the National Rifle Association to the Safari Club and the Audubon Society, have shown good faith in their efforts. I appreciate their perseverance and cooperation in finding a consensus for the public policy governing America's refuge system. In order to ensure that the bill would be considered and passed with as few changes as possible, it was held at the desk for consideration. Some may claim that this was an unusual parliamentary procedure, but I contend that this is an unusual bill. I was protecting the balance reached within the House-passed legislation in order to ensure a swift resolution of the legislative process. Senators' concerns and the jurisdictions of the committee process were respected and preserved. Mr. President, the result of these unusual proceedings is an outstanding product. Americans for generations to come will appreciate the wisdom and equity of this clear multiuse mission for our refuge system. As Mississippians go to the Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge, some will be there to hunt, some to enjoy the tremendous beauty of their surroundings, and others to appreciate the effort to preserve our natural heritage. All is possible because of H.R. 1420. Mississippians--and their many diverse interests--will be given the right to coexist within the refuge. H.R. 1420 will refocus the mission of the refuge system. It recognizes that hunting and fishing are important and legitimate activities on these public lands. Common ground was found--and it is high ground indeed. Again, I want to personally applaud Chairman Young and Representatives Dingell and Miller for their dedication to this legislative initiative. With the assistance of Secretary Babbitt, they have forged a new path for a refuge system with a clear multiuse mission. I thank my Senate colleagues for their participation and endorsement of this legislative proposal.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Sessions amendment be agreed to, and the Senator from Minnesota, Senator Wellstone, be recognized to offer a second-degree amendment, and there be 30 minutes for debate to be equally divided. I further ask that at the conclusion of the debate, the amendment be laid aside and Senator Durbin be recognized to offer an amendment, which would be in the form of a sense-of-the-Senate resolution, with debate limited to 5 minutes, and following that debate the Senate proceed to vote on or in relationship to the Wellstone amendment to be followed by a vote on or in relation to the Durbin amendment, to be followed immediately by a vote on or in relation to the Durbin amendment No. 1078, as amended.

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

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, therefore, there will be three back-to-back votes beginning in approximately 35 minutes. I thank Senator Daschle for his cooperation in working out this arrangement. It will allow us to complete this section of consideration on the Labor-HHS bill, and hopefully we can go on then with other amendments that can be agreed to, or accepted, or voted on, and hopefully we can complete this very important appropriations bill before the day is out. I yield the floor. Mr. DASCHLE addressed the Chair.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, are we ready to vote on the question?

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, in response to that reservation, I understand that the efforts are still underway to get agreement on the exact language. It is hoped that we will be able to get some agreement. I understand the White House is involved in that discussion, and Senators from both sides of the aisle are I think making some progress. But if that does not come to a head, I would modify then--let me put this part of the consent. I modify the consent to reflect that, if the Gregg amendment, as modified, is not the agreed-upon text between the two leaders, then this consent agreement will be null and void.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, then in light of this agreement, there will be no further votes this evening, and at 10 a.m. on Thursday, four back-to-back votes will occur. Also, for those Senators interested in the Gorton education amendment, that debate will be occurring this evening. The debate on the Teamsters issue and the testing issue will occur between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. followed by, of course, the stacked votes. I do want to say, Mr. President, that I appreciate the effort by Senator Gorton. I agree with the statements I heard being made by Senator Craig. And the idea is to get education back to the people, back to the local level, back to the parents, and the children, the teachers and administrators. Let them make the decisions of how best to spend their allocation of these Federal funds. I believe they will make the right decisions, and it will be a way to help improve education in America. It is one thing to test. But we know that our children are not doing as well as they should be. What we should be focusing on is greater parental involvement in education, and in the decisions affecting that education at the local level. This amendment would do it. I heartily endorse the Gorton amendment. I yield the floor. Mr. GRAMM addressed the Chair.

Mr. LOTT. I further ask that, following the passage of S. 1061, on Thursday the Senate begin consideration of S. 830, and there be 1 hour under the control of Senator Kennedy and 1 hour under the control of Senator Jeffords, and, following the filing of a cloture motion by the majority leader, S. 830 be placed back on the calendar.

Mr. LOTT. That is fine.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, certainly we should do that. I should have included that in our unanimous consent, as is always the case when we stack votes like that. We will have 2 minutes equally divided before each vote so that Members will know exactly what the substance is.

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent that following the debate on the Gorton amendment, No. 1122, the amendment be laid aside, and, at 10 a.m. on Thursday, the Senate proceed to vote on or in relation to the Gorton amendment, to be followed by a vote on or in relation to the Nickles amendment, to be followed by a vote on or in relation to the Gregg amendment, to be followed by third reading and final passage of S. 1061. So we have stacked votes beginning in the morning at 10 on the amendments that are listed here, and on final passage.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, there has been a concerted effort on all sides to work out a unanimous-consent agreement. I think it is a fair one in view of the time--and the amendments--that we have spent on this important appropriations bill, the Labor-Health and Human Services and Education bill. We have an agreement here now that I think will allow us to complete all action on the bill before noon tomorrow. Then it would be our intent at that time to go to the Interior appropriations bill. In the middle of the afternoon we would probably go to FDA reform. There would be at least an hour of debate by Senator Kennedy, followed by others certainly, and then we would have probably a cloture motion, and we would return to Interior appropriations. That is not a part of the UC. There are a lot of contacts still being made on behalf of Senators on both sides of the issues involved in Interior appropriations. But I believe we have the FDA reform time, and general understanding of what we will do there. But I just wanted to give Members some idea of what we hope our schedule will be tomorrow beyond this agreement. I ask unanimous-consent that time on the Nickles amendment, No. 1081, be limited to 30 minutes equally divided in the usual form, and following the debate the Craig second-degree amendment, No. 1083, be agreed to, and that no other second-degree amendments be in order. I further ask that the time on the Gregg amendment, No. 1070, as modified, be limited to 30 minutes, equally divided in the usual form, and, following the debate, the second-degree amendment, No. 1071, be withdrawn, and no other second-degree amendments be in order.

Mr. LOTT. Have the yeas and nays been ordered?

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I think we are making some good progress now. Those three votes move us much closer to being able to get to final passage. I see the manager of the bill is here. I have been talking to the Democratic leader and I need to converse a few moments more with the manager of the bill. We are hoping maybe we can take up another amendment and get a vote in a relatively short period of time, and then after that we are working on getting some time agreement on a couple of issues. Depending on how much time is needed, then we would probably-- if it is going to be a lengthy period of time, we would probably have those votes in the morning, at 9:30, one or two of them, as we come in. But we are still working through how much time is needed for debate and the time agreements. As soon as we get that all worked out we will notify the Members. It is our plan now, I think it is safe to say, that the next major amendment we would like to take up is Senator Daschle's amendment and have a vote. I assume that would not take too long. At that point we hope to be able to give the Members an idea about what the remainder of the night would be and what would be the votes, if any, tonight or the first votes in the morning. I believe we have a 20-minute time agreement on the amendment of Senator Daschle. Before we begin on that, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I would accept that in the unanimous-consent agreement, without second-degree amendments, and then a vote on or in relation to the Daschle amendment.

Mr. LOTT

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I would like to note for the Record that Senator Bennett is on official business in Moscow, Russia until September 10. Senator Bennett is meeting with members of President Yeltsin's administration and Members of the Duma on the matters relating to religious freedom in Russia.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I also ask consent that from 12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. the Senate stand in recess in order for the weekly policy meetings to occur.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate complete its business today it stand in adjournment until the hour of the 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, September 9. I further ask that on Tuesday, immediately following the prayer, the routine requests through the morning hour be granted and the Senate immediately resume consideration of S. 1061, the Labor-HHS appropriations bill.

Mr. LOTT

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Tomorrow the Senate will immediately resume consideration then of S. 1061, the Labor-HHS appropriations bill. As Members are aware, under the order, all amendments had to be offered today in order to be considered as part of this legislation. Therefore, the Senate will continue debating amendments in order throughout Tuesday's session of the Senate. It is hoped that all debate and votes on amendments to S. 1061 can be completed on Tuesday. The next rollcall votes will occur beginning at 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday. In addition, the Senate will recess, as I got permission just a moment ago, between 12:30 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. for the weekly luncheons to meet. As indicated earlier, it is hoped that the Senate can complete this work on the Labor-HHS appropriations bill. We will then go to the FDA reform legislation, and our intent is to complete that work this week also. Once we have completed the appropriations bill that we have approval for here, plus the FDA, then we would go to the Interior appropriations bill. Members can anticipate votes throughout the day each day of this week, including Friday as it now stands. And, also, depending on what happens with regard to committee meetings, we may have to go into the night. I hope that is not necessary. I think it is better for us to do our work in the daylight, and I will do everything to try to make sure that happens.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I take this opportunity to recognize and say farewell to an outstanding naval officer, Capt. Robert C. Klosterman, who served with distinction for 41 months as commanding officer of the U.S.S. John C. Stennis nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, named for the great Senator from Mississippi. It is a privilege for me to recognize his many outstanding achievements and commend him for the superb service he has provided the Navy and our great Nation. A native of Cincinnati, OH, Captain Klosterman graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1969 and was designated a Naval Aviator in 1970 at NAS Kingsville, TX. He flew over 440 combat missions in Vietnam, piloting UH-1B gunships with Helicopter Attack (Light) Squadron 3. Following his service in Vietnam, Captain Klosterman returned as a flight instructor with VT-9 at Meridian, MS, where he served as Director of Flight Training and Operations Officer through 1973. Captain Klosterman's service at sea includes junior officer and department head tours in VA-86 (U.S.S. Nimitz) and two instructor pilot tours in VA-174. He joined Attack Squadron 46 (VA-46) as executive officer in June 1984 and took command in January 1986. During his tour, VA-46 participated in combat operations against Libya from U.S.S. America, and was awarded the 1986 COMNAVAIRLAN Battle ``E.'' Captain Klosterman completed naval nuclear power training in 1988 and was executive officer of U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) from June 1989 to April 1991. He is a veteran of Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm, as well as Operations Restore Hope and Southern Watch. During his naval career, Captain Klosterman has accumulated over 5,800 flight hours and made over 1,000 carrier arrested landings. His decorations include the Legion of Merit, 3 Meritorious Service Medals, 15 Air Medals, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and the Combat Action Ribbon. He was also the recipient of the 1986 COMLATWING ONE Pat Anderson Award for weapons delivery excellence. As commanding officer of the U.S.S. John C. Stennis, he delivered to the Nation and the U.S. Navy the most modern and technologically advanced nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the world. He did this while realizing over $75 million in savings to the taxpayers, for which we owe him a debt of gratitude. Mr. President, Robert C. Klosterman, his wife Rebecca, and son Todd have no doubt made many sacrifices during his 28-year naval career. They have made significant contributions to the outstanding naval forces upon which our country relies so heavily. Captain Klosterman is a great credit to both the Navy and the country he so proudly serves. As this decorated combat veteran now departs the Navy, I call upon my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to wish him fair winds and following seas. He is a sailor's sailor.

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, today, the Senate will resume debate on the motion to proceed to S. 830, the Food and Drug Administration reform bill. Under the previous order, there are 4 hours of debate remaining on the motion to proceed equally divided between Senator Jeffords and Senator Kennedy. I believe Senator Jeffords is on the floor ready to use his share of the time. Following the expiration or yielding back of time, the Senate will resume consideration of S. 1061, which is the Labor-Health and Human Services appropriations bill. Also under the order that was agreed to, a vote on an amendment relating to S. 1061 is expected around 5 p.m. today. In addition, Members are reminded that under the consent, all amendments remaining in order to the Labor-HHS appropriations bill must be offered by the close of business today. Any further votes ordered on amendments to the bill, S. 1061, or other votes, will be stacked to occur on Tuesday at a time to be determined. And we will consult with the Democratic leader about what those amendments will be or other votes and what time they will actually occur. In addition, under the previous order, the Senate will begin consideration of the FDA reform bill following the disposition of S. 1061, but not before 4 p.m. on Tuesday, although it is my hope that certainly by 5 o'clock on Tuesday we will be working on the substance of the FDA bill. Members can expect then that the Senate will complete the Labor-HHS bill, the FDA reform bill, and we will begin then with the Interior appropriations bill this week. Whether we will be able to finish that, how late we will have to go on Wednesday night or Thursday night or whether or not we will have votes on Friday will depend on what kind of progress we make during the day Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The next rollcall vote then will be at 5 o'clock today on an amendment related to the Labor-HHS appropriations bill or other vote that we may get worked out.