Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent the committee substitute amendment be agreed to and the bill be considered read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider laid on the table, and any statements relating to the bill appear at this point in the Record.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I yield myself leader time so I may speak briefly on this. It will be briefly. I have been talking to Senator Daschle about this and working with Senator Byrd. I think we had a good start last night on how to address this problem, and it has been improved today. I think we are close to having something that would really make this process fairer and better. I suggest that we accept this on a voice vote, and we go to conference with it and continue to make sure we have thought through every possible exigency of this change. I think it is real progress. And I suggest we accept it and take it to conference. Mr. DASCHLE addressed the Chair.

Mr. LOTT. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 571 (Purpose: To establish an enforcement mechanism in the Senate to ensure a balanced budget beginning with fiscal year 2002 and to require the President to submit balanced budgets)

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I can respond to that question. I was just fixing to say that the 10 minutes be strictly enforced. Please don't leave the Chamber. We just had a couple of Senators that didn't make that vote because it had been beyond the normal time. When the 10 minutes is up we are going to turn it in.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the remaining votes in sequence be limited to 10 minutes in length.

Mr. LOTT. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Mr. LOTT addressed the Chair.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Tuesday, July 1, committees have between the hours of 10 and 2 p.m., in order to file reported legislative and executive matters.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate of Senate Resolution 105, submitted earlier today by Senators Lieberman and Mack.

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table and that any statements relating to the resolution appear at this point in the Record.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the loss of child is probably the greatest heartache that any parent can experience or could conceivably experience. Last fall, Senator Santorum and his wife, Karen, faced that tragedy. Most of us, I am sure, had occasion to speak with them then and were impressed by their faith and their courage. Senator Santorum talks about his family's experience in an article in the May 23 issue of ``National Right to Life News.'' Its title is ``A Brief Life That Changed Our Lives Forever.'' It is very powerful, and I urge my colleagues to take the opportunity to read this article, because I think it will affect their lives also. I ask unanimous consent that this article be printed in the Record.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to consideration of Calendar No. 78, H.R. 649.

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent the bill be considered read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, and any statements relating to the bill appear at this point 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 under the provisions of House Concurrent Resolution 108 until the hour of 12 noon on Monday, July 7. I further ask unanimous consent that on Monday, immediately following the prayer, the routine requests through the morning hour be granted and the Senate immediately resume consideration of the defense authorization bill.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Coverdell and Senator Daschle, or his designee, each be recognized for up to 1 hour during Monday's session of the Senate.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, again, I remind all Senators, when the Senate returns from the July 4th recess, we will resume consideration of the defense authorization bill. As announced earlier, no rollcall votes will occur on Monday, July 7. However, Senators should be prepared to offer their amendments to the defense bill so that progress can be made on that important legislation. A cloture motion was filed to the defense bill this afternoon, and under that order, a cloture vote will occur at 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday, July 8.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in adjournment under the provisions of House Concurrent Resolution 108.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Calendar No. 92, S. 949, be placed on the calendar.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. No. Under this agreement, if a Senator has not had the opportunity to offer his amendment today, he or she would be able to offer their amendment in the morning with time equally divided between those for and against it, 2 minutes each--the usual 1 minute on each side to explain that amendment and a vote.

Mr. LOTT. For the information of all Senators, then, there will be no further votes tonight. Following debate on the three amendments, any Senator wishing to discuss an amendment that may be offered tomorrow may do so. The Senate would then begin voting at 9 a.m. on Friday, on or in relation to the three listed amendments and any amendments offered tomorrow. If Senators do intend to offer amendments tomorrow, I urge them to please give a copy to the managers, since there will be no debate time other than the 2-minute-equally-divided time. It will be very helpful to all Senators to have these amendments available so they can be given to interested Senators. I yield the floor. We have approximately 1 hour and 5 minutes left of time on the bill. Mr. NICKLES addressed the Chair.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I appreciate Senator Gorton's kind words, and recognize his right to continue to advocate for the confidentiality provision. However, I am convinced that any further reduction in service contract reporting provisions would erode the broad consensus achieved by the Committee for this bill. Mr. President, we must remember that when the Committee set out to develop this legislation, we agreed to move forward incrementally and work to keep a broad consensus. And, I want more reform, but I also want a bill. I look forward to a vigorous debate on the service contract reporting provision if Senator Gorton decides to bring an amendment to the floor. Let me be clear. I will not support such an amendment because I believe that in the end, it would erode support for final passage of this important maritime legislation. Mr. President, I want all our colleagues to thank Senator Gorton for his fine work on this bill. He has challenged us to improve the bill, and in doing so, he has expanded the reforms it provides. This is good for America. This is good for America's container shipping industry. This is good for the great state of Washington. Mr. President, I ask our colleagues to support our bill to accomplish meaningful reform in this important maritime industry. Mr. President, one final comment, I pledge to bring this bill to the floor in this session of the 105th Congress. It is overdue. It is bipartisan. It is supported by all stakeholders of the maritime industry.

Mr. LOTT. I appreciate Senator Gorton's candor and his support for both the process and the bill. And, I appreciated Senator Gorton's willingness to accept compromise in order to reach a consensus which enables this bill to move forward. Mr. President, I know that during the markup, Senator Gorton expressed strong reservations about the bill. He made it clear that three issues needed to be addressed prior to a vote on the floor. And, a collaborative effort was used to try to accommodate these changes. Mr. President, two of the three issues were incorporated into the bill. The negotiations were tough, but all stakeholders worked together in an open and honest fashion to reach a consensus on this reform legislation.

Mr. LOTT. The stakeholders wanted more. I wanted more. I know my colleagues wanted more. My friend Mr. Gorton was explicit in his desire for more reform.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1997 is a continuation and extension of work initiated in the last Congress by Representative Bud Shuster and former Senator Larry Pressler. Their goal was to build a fair and responsible balance in America's international container shipping maritime policy. The purpose was to better reflect the modern maritime marketplace. Unfortunately, it was not achieved because we ran out of time. In the 105th Congress, a bipartisan group of Senators from the Commerce Committee introduced a modified version of the Ocean Shipping Reform bill. It addressed many of the concerns with last year's bill identified by affected stakeholders. Our plan to move this shipping reform legislation forward has been inclusive, simple, and direct. Under the leadership of Senator Hutchison, and working in a bipartisan way, we have developed a bill that reflects a broad consensus. Most stakeholders in this industry are comfortable with it. This doesn't mean they each got everything they wanted. It does mean that a balance was achieved between what they desired and what the other stakeholders would accept. A real compromise. In this Congress, we have worked hard to achieve a consensus, and we will work even harder to keep it. This bill is not perfect. But the process has been excellent. The Commerce Committee held a hearing and a markup, and innumerable meetings with all affected parties. And throughout the process Senator McCain's staff has made the various iterations of the legislation publicly available. This transparency was important to reaching the compromise. Mr. President, I believe that it implements real change that will benefit America's ocean shipping industry. When passed and signed into law, S. 414 will help foster the many benefits of increased competition that this industry sorely needs and wants. Mr. President, it will also merge the Federal Maritime Commission with the Surface Transportation Board to create the United States Transportation Board (USTB) which will ultimately provide an independent federal transportation regulatory board which thinks and acts on intermodal issues.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of H. Con. Res. 108, the adjournment resolution, which was received from the House. I further ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.