Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, today the Senate will be in a period of morning business until the hour of 1 p.m. to accommodate a number of Senators who have requested time to speak. That is 3 hours, but we have those requests that have been made, and we have a Senator waiting to begin speaking now. So we will accommodate those requests. It is my hope that an agreement will be reached this morning to begin consideration of H.R. 1003, the so-called assisted suicide bill. If an agreement is reached, Senators can expect to begin consideration of the bill at 1 p.m. with a 3-hour time limitation. Therefore, Senators can expect rollcall votes this afternoon. I would expect at least one and possibly two. As always, I will notify Senators of the voting schedule as soon as possible. I yield the floor, Mr. President.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if I could, I have a brief unanimous-consent request that I do not think will be a problem. I ask unanimous consent there now be a period for morning business with Senators to speak for up to 5 minutes each.

Mr. LOTT. For the information of all Senators, as I noted, there will be no further rollcall votes. We are working on a time agreement for tomorrow on the assisted suicide legislation that has already passed the other body. I would expect that rollcall to occur mid to late afternoon, and we are still working on the situation with regard to the nominee to be Secretary of Labor. So there could be at least one and maybe two votes tomorrow. We will give Senators the exact time once we have information. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Readiness of the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, April 15, 1997 in open session, to receive testimony regarding environmental and military construction issues in review of S. 450, the National Defense authorization bill for fiscal years 1998 and 1999, and S. 451, the military construction authorization bill for fiscal year 1998.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Employment and Training of the Committee on Labor and Human Resources be authorized to hold a hearing on innovations in adult training during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 15, 1997, at 9:30 a.m.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 15, 1997, at 10 a.m. to hold a hearing.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Acquisition and Technology of the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, April 15, 1997, in open session, to receive testimony on the trends in the industrial and technology base supporting national defense in review of S. 450, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1998 and 1999.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Rules and Administration be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 15, 1997 beginning at 9:30 a.m. to receive testimony from Senator Mary L. Landrieu, Louis ``Woody'' Jenkins, and/ or their counsels in connection with a contested U.S. Senate election held in Louisiana in November 1996.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 15, 1997, at 2 p.m. to hold a hearing.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I do not want to prolong this any further, but I must also join in congratulating the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Senator from Alaska. He has done a great job. He spent a lot of time on this bill, both this year and last year. He has been patient. He has done a magnificent job. I also commend the Senator from Idaho [Mr. Craig] for his work, and also again express my appreciation to the Senators from Nevada. I know it is a very difficult issue for them. They have been vigorous in their position on behalf of the people in their State to oppose this legislation but have also been gentlemen about it, and I extend my appreciation to them. Mr. DASCHLE addressed the Chair.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. In view of that, then, Mr. President, I am prepared to yield the floor. I advise Senators that we will renew our request again, probably within an hour or so after we have had a chance to check further into this matter.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, today is April 15, tax day. There has been a good effort underway between Senator Coverdell and Senator Glenn and Senator Roth and others to bring before the Senate very important legislation, S. 522, regarding the unauthorized access of tax returns. They have come to a bipartisan agreement. I think on this day it is very important that we have this legislation come before the Senate to be debated and voted on. The American people certainly feel that should be done. I think they will feel comforted by the fact that the Senate stepped up and has addressed these concerns. This idea of a snooping through taxpayers files is very offensive to all Americans. So we need to get this done today. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at 2:15 today, April 15, the Senate proceed to the consideration of calendar No. 37, S. 522, regarding the unauthorized access of tax returns and the bill be considered under the following limitations: That there be only 1 amendment in order to the bill, to be offered by Senators Coverdell, Glenn, and Roth, no other motions or amendments be in order, and further, total debate on the amendment and the bill be limited to 1 hour 35 minutes, divided equally between Senator Coverdell or his designee and Senator Glenn or his designee. I further ask consent that following the expiration or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to vote on the Coverdell amendment, the bill then be read the third time, and there then be 10 minutes for debate, to be equally divided, to be followed by the final vote on passage of S. 522, as amended, if amended.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, reserving the right to object to that additional unanimous-consent request. I might say that I am from a State that has been disaster prone, and I know that Senator Daschle's area has had all kinds of problems this year--drought, flooding, freezing flooding, the works. We have had similar problems in my State, from droughts to floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, freezing rain, which have caused terrible devastation. So I am sympathetic to the problem. However, this is asking for a change in the law that has been in place since 1968. Clearly, my constituents and the constituents all over America that have had to deal with disasters have complied with and have dealt with this 30-day requirement of the insurance coverage versus 15 days. Regardless of that, I think it is something we should consider. But we have just recently been aware of the language of the Senator from South Dakota in this area. We need to assess whether there is objection to it. Will there be a budget impact? What does it mean for people that had to deal with it in the past or will in the future? We are checking with the chairmen of the Budget Committee, the Banking Committee, and the Finance Committee. I think we should not leap to do it until we know for sure exactly what the impact would be. Again, I do think we should work with each other in a bipartisan way, always, when disasters are involved. But as good stewards of our constituents, we need to make sure we understand the ramifications, too. So I think that within, hopefully, a relatively short period of time, we will be able to get an assessment of any negative impact that might come from this. I hope we can get started with this legislation, which is so important with regard to snooping through IRS files. Everybody understands that it is wrong. People are outraged by it. There is a bipartisan commitment to it. So if we don't get an agreement to get started on this now, or shortly, we will not be able to get it done today, which is symbolically a very important day to do it. So I would not be able to agree to this change in the bill at this time, while we are talking it out. I have suggested another alternative to make in order as an amendment. There are a lot of options. We could either withdraw it, or accept it, or vote on it later in the day. We will work with the Senators that have the jurisdiction. We will talk with the Senator from South Dakota to see if we can work something out on the flood insurance provision. In the meantime, I do object to the addition at this time. I plead with the Senator to allow us to proceed with this legislation under our unanimous-consent request while we continue to work on this issue.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I thank the Chair.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that beginning immediately, at approximately 3:20 today, the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 37, S. 522, regarding the unauthorized access of tax returns, and the bill be considered under the following limitations: There be only one amendment in order to the bill, to be offered by Senators Coverdell, Glenn, Roth and Moynihan; no other motions or amendments be in order; further, total debate on the amendment and the bill be limited to 35 minutes divided equally between Senator Coverdell or his designee and Senator Glenn or his designee. I further ask unanimous consent that following the expiration or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to the vote on the Coverdell amendment, the bill then be read a third time and there be 10 minutes for debate at that point to be equally divided, to be followed at that point by a vote on S. 522, as amended if amendment. That would mean we would have 45 minutes of debate and have final passage shortly after 4 o'clock, probably 5 minutes after 4. That is my unanimous-consent request.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, we have a number of Senators that may be requesting time to speak after this. I think we can accommodate the Senator, but I would like to get a minute where maybe we can get all those wrapped up and we will get an agreement during the debate. So the Senator will get the 10 minutes shortly after the vote, if he would defer for now, and I will see what we have to do. We will certainly treat the Senator fairly in that context.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I will send an amendment to the desk. I do want to note, while this is going to the desk, we did work to accommodate the Senator and other Senators from the area where there have been floods. We have made a change in the time flood insurance is required to be covered by--we limited the times involved, so we could have time to assess, maybe, the impact and whether or not to put it on a permanent basis. But I want the Record to show that we worked to make sure that Senators' concerns, which were certainly understandable, were accommodated. Was there objection?

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I now send a resolution the desk dealing with the same subject and ask that it be appropriately referred.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent then that an individual with a disability who has or is granted the privilege of the Senate floor may bring those supporting services, including service dogs, wheelchairs, and interpreters, on the Senate floor, which the Senate Sergeant at Arms determines are necessary and appropriate to assist the disabled individual in discharging the official duties of his or her position until the Committee on Rules and Administration has the opportunity to properly consider the matter.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I have been working this morning with all Senators, including the distinguished Democratic leader, to resolve a matter that emerged yesterday with regard to permitting access to the Senate floor of guide dogs and other equipment needed by disabled individuals. The resolution I am about to offer will allow the Sergeant at Arms to work immediately with staffers who have the need for guide dogs to be able to access the floor on a case-by-case basis. The resolution also calls for the Committee on Rules and Administration to consider a formal change in the Senate rules to address the situation. A permanent resolution is expected to be brought out of the committee before the full Senate so that we can have a formal rule on how matters of this nature will be handled. Again, I thank all Senators involved for their thoughtfulness in addressing the matter immediately. I think it is the right thing to do, and I am pleased that with today's action, assuming we can get this agreed to, the Senate will address an inequity that has been brought before us and we will remove roadblocks in the way of individuals helping us to serve the American people in the Senate. The chairman of the Rules Committee has been involved in this discussion, the ranking member. I believe we have touched bases on both sides, and I believe this is an appropriate resolution to an immediate problem but also one that can be addressed by the appropriate committee so that the rules will be a little clearer as to how this type of situation will be addressed in the future. Before I ask unanimous consent, I wonder; I see the Democratic leader, if he wanted to comment. Would the Senator like me to yield for comment before we get unanimous consent?

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I suggest 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, I would like to announce officially--as most Senators know, but in case they missed it--that that was the last recorded vote for the day. We are discussing some other issues that we hope to get agreement on today and tomorrow. We will keep the Members informed on that.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I would like to now propound a unanimous- consent request that the Senate proceed immediately to the consideration of a Senate resolution submitted by myself regarding the sense of the Senate relating to tax relief for the American people. I further ask unanimous-consent that there be 10 minutes for debate on the resolution equally divided in the usual form, and following that debate the Senate proceed to a vote on the adoption of the resolution to be followed by a vote on the preamble, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. I might take just a moment so that there can be a response to that unanimous-consent request. This is a sense of the Senate which just declares a need for tax relief for the American people, and condemns the abuses of power and authority committed by the Internal Revenue Service. We have discussed this with a number of Senators. We have provided it to the other side of the aisle. So I propound that unanimous-consent request.