Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, we intend to have 10-minute votes after the first vote.

Mr. LOTT. I amend the UC to make it clear to have, what has become customary, 2 minutes for a final explanation of what is in the amendment.

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I would like to see if we can get a unanimous consent agreement, and if we can, we can tell the Members we will not have any further votes tonight. I have discussed this with the distinguished Democratic leader. I do have one other amendment I have to put in the stack. We may work something out on it, but in case we cannot, we need to have the vote in the morning. I ask unanimous consent that the vote occur on the Bingaman amendment No. 896 at 9:30 a.m.--let me modify that. Let's put that at 10 o'clock on Thursday--to be followed immediately by a vote on the Hutchinson amendment, to be followed immediately by third reading of the bill and final passage, all occurring without action or debate.

Mr. LOTT

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. LOTT. Therefore, there will be no more votes this evening. It is my understanding that the managers will be able to wrap up the Energy and water appropriations amendments this evening, and the Senate will begin the foreign operations appropriations bill at 11 a.m. on Wednesday. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, before I propound this unanimous-consent request, I want to confirm again that we have discussed this with the minority leadership. Mr. President, I want to commend the good work and leadership we have seen today again by the chairman of the energy and Water Subcommittee of Appropriations. Senator Domenici has done an excellent job, with the able help of the Senator from Nevada. The fact that they have gotten this bill basically ready for final passage and that we will have the vote tomorrow morning is a real credit to the good work they have done. I ask unanimous consent that the vote on final passage of the Energy and water appropriations bill occur immediately following the first vote tomorrow on or in relation to the foreign operations appropriations bill.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.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 Democratic leader, we can announce that this was the last vote for today. We are working on a unanimous-consent agreement that we think we will have no problem having agreement to. Basically, we would have the vote on final passage of the energy and water appropriations bill tomorrow after the first vote on the foreign ops bill. We don't know an exact time, but we presume some time after 11 o'clock or early afternoon. We are trying to accommodate Senators' schedules. Momentarily, we will ask for that unanimous consent. That is the gist of the request we will make.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, today the Senate will begin consideration of the DOD appropriations bill. I urge all Senators who have amendments to notify the chairman and the ranking member. They are here, and they are ready to proceed with this very important legislation. So we need to know what amendments will be offered in order to make substantial progress today. Under the previous order, at 6 o'clock this afternoon the Senate will proceed to executive session to conduct a cloture vote on the nomination of Joel Klein to be an Assistant Attorney General at the Justice Department. In accordance with the consent agreement, if cloture is invoked, there will be an additional 3 hours for debate on the nomination before the Senate votes on the nomination of Mr. Klein. That vote may occur tomorrow; therefore, following the cloture vote at 6 p.m., the Senate will resume the Department of Defense appropriations bill. As previously announced, it is the hope that the Senate will complete action on three or possibly four major appropriations bills this week. Therefore, late sessions can be expected and votes should be anticipated throughout each day of the Senate this week. We hope to conclude the Department of Defense appropriations bill on Tuesday. We would like to then move to the energy and water appropriations bill. I believe next we would try to go to the foreign ops appropriations bill, and then perhaps Friday we would be ready to go to legislative appropriations. In the interim, we also have a couple of bills that we may want to call up for consideration. One of them is a wildlife refuge bill reported overwhelmingly from the House of Representatives and held at the desk; and another one is having to do with dolphin legislation which has been reported from the Commerce Committee. We may look at an opportunity to begin consideration of that legislation on Friday of this week. I thank my colleagues for their cooperation. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Thank you, Mr. President. I thought since it is going to be 100 degrees outside today I should wear my all-cotton outfit so it would be a little bit more comfortable inside the Chamber.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, 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. 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, it sounds to me as if good progress has been made here, and we are about ready to come to final passage on this very important legislation. I think it is a monumental achievement to be able to move a Department of Defense authorization bill in the way this has been moved and in the time it has been moved. Therefore, after this vote, then, it will be the last vote of today. Following the disposition of the DOD authorization bill, the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of Joel Klein to be an Assistant Attorney General. I expect some debate at the very minimum on that nomination today. The Senate will begin the DOD appropriations bill at 12 noon on Monday and at 3 p.m. on Monday conduct a cloture vote on the Klein nomination. Therefore, the next rollcall vote will occur at 5 p.m. on Monday. I encourage all Members who intend to amend the DOD appropriations bill to be prepared to offer their amendments on Monday. We hope to complete that bill by the close of business or afternoon Tuesday. This will be the final vote this week until Monday. I yield the floor, Mr. President.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, on Monday, the Senate will debate the DOD appropriations bill. I urge all Senators who have amendments to be present on Monday to offer their amendments. I know the distinguished Presiding Officer is very anxious to get this legislation up and the amendments will be considered and disposed of so we can complete action on this bill as early as possible on Tuesday. Under a previous order, at 6 p.m., the Senate will proceed to executive session to conduct a cloture vote on the nomination of Joel Klein, to be an Assistant Attorney General. Therefore, the next rollcall vote will occur at 6 p.m. on Monday, July 14. Following that vote, the Senate will resume consideration of amendments to the DOD appropriations bill. Senators should be aware that next week, the Senate hopes to complete action on four major appropriations bills. That would be perhaps a record if we could complete four, but I think we can do that. If we can get through the Department of Defense appropriations bill at a reasonable hour on Tuesday, we hope to go to energy and water appropriations, and we are hopeful we can maybe take up foreign operations and legislative. In some order, we will work on those bills next week. We will expect to be in session and have votes throughout the day and perhaps into the night next week, because we are committed to completing all the appropriations bills, if at all possible, before the end of the fiscal year. I have a commitment from the Democratic leader to work with us in that effort, and we have the support of the administration to complete action on these appropriations bills. There is no need for these bills to be amended endlessly. There is no need for us to delay action on them. We already reached agreement on the overall number, and I know that the committee chairman, Mr. Stevens, from Alaska, is going to be very diligent in his work. These are going to be good bills when they come out of the committee, and there is no need for 100 amendments per bill. I ask my colleagues for their cooperation.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there now be a period for the transaction of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate return to legislative session.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 95, S. 231.

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 97, S. 669.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, 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. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 98, S. 731.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be deemed read a third time and passed, 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. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 2018, which was received from the House.

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 that any statements relating to the bill be placed at the appropriate place in the Record.

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 Monday, July 14. I further ask unanimous consent that on Monday, immediately following the prayer, the routine requests through the morning hour be granted, and the Senate begin consideration of the Department of Defense appropriations bill.