Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until the hour of 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 10. I further ask unanimous consent that on Thursday, immediately following the prayer, the routine requests through the morning hour be granted and the Senate immediately resume consideration of the Thurmond amendment to S. 104, the Nuclear Policy Act.

Mr. LOTT

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I understand that S. 543, introduced today by Senator Coverdell, is at the desk, and I ask for its first reading.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that there now 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 at 1 p.m. today the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 104.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, as a result of the recent recess of the U.S. Senate, I did not get the opportunity to come to the Senate floor and recognize Sunday, April 6, 1997, as Tartan Day. This day is set aside to honor the millions of Scottish-Americans who have made outstanding contributions to our great country. This date has a special significance for all those of Scottish heritage. It is the 677th anniversary of the Declaration of Arbroath-- the Scottish Declaration of Independence which was signed on April 6, 1320. This declaration of independence includes these inspirational lines: ``* * * we fight not for glory, nor riches, nor honors, but for freedom alone, which no good man gives up, except with his life.'' Mr. President, Scottish-Americans have left their mark as pioneers and innovators in the fields of science, technology, medicine, government, politics, economics, architecture, literature, the media, and the visual and performing arts. Their contributions to the history and development of the United States are invaluable. Some of these great past and present Scottish-Americans include: Neil Armstrong, Alexander Graham Bell, Andrew Carnegie, Julia Child, Hugh Downs, Thomas Alva Edison, Malcom S. Forbes, Katherine Hepburn, Billy Graham, Brit Hume, Washington Irving, Robert MacNeil, William Holmes McGuffey, Andrew Mellon, Samuel B. Morse, Grandma Moses, James Naismith, Edgar Allen Poe, Willard Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, Gilbert Stuart, Elizabeth Taylor, and James McNeil Whistler just to mention a few. Mr. President. Almost 11 percent of all the Nobel Prizes awarded have gone to people of Scottish ancestry. Mr. President. A Tartan provides an instant recognition of a family and its kinship. By recognizing Tartan Day we are commemorating all that is best in Scottish heritage. I believe it is important for the Senate to pause, even if it is belated, and to recognize Tartan Day. I firmly believe it will further emphasize the many Scottish contributions to the growth and development of the United States. Mr. President. As I look around the Senate Chamber I see many who can claim Scottish ancestry. I see my colleague and friend, John McCain. His family ancestry and my mother's actually goes back to four Scottish families who migrated to Carroll County, MS, back in the 1830's. I see others in this Chamber--Judd Gregg and Kay Bailey Hutchison, and there are many more. Every day the Scottish in this Chamber live by the words in the Declaration of Arbroath that I quoted--they are here to advance freedom. Mr. President. When our Nation was founded, almost half of the signers of America's Declaration of Independence were of Scottish descent. Throughout the history of our country three-fourths of our Presidents have been of Scottish ancestry. This tells me that despite the fact they are few in number, Scots tend to take seriously the word from the Declaration of Arbroath. Many organizations were involved in making the observance of Tartan Day on April 6 a success. There are clan societies, clubs, and fraternal associations and individual Scots-Americans representing literally millions of Americans nationwide that participated. They include the Scots' Charitable Society (the oldest charitable society in the United States), the St. Andrew's Society of the City of Charleston, SC (the first St. Andrew's Society in the United States), the Saint Andrew's Society of New York, (the second oldest society in the United States); Scottish Society of Martha's Vineyard, MA; the American-Scottish Foundation, Inc.; the Association of Scottish Games and Festivals; the Caledonian Foundation, Inc.; the Clans of Scotland, USA; Council of Scottish Clans and Associations; Scottish Heritage USA, Inc.; the Illinois St. Andrew's Society; the Tartan Education and Cultural Association, Inc.; Highland Light Scottish Society, Massachusetts; Scottish Historic and Research Society of the Delaware Valley, PA, and numerous individual Scottish Americans including those from my own State of Mississippi. Mr. President. I am proud to declare my Scottish-American ancestry and it is an honor to recognize the 677th anniversary of the Declaration of Arbroath. Tartan Day is indeed a significant day for all Americans.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, this Congress has an opportunity to build on the progress made in the 104th Congress to assist the Food and Drug Administration in meeting the needs of millions of Americans who are awaiting the advancement of new medicines. Over the years, I have known individuals who have needed medicines and medical procedures that they could not get because the FDA had not done whatever was necessary, in their opinion, to approve these procedures. I have known of examples of people going to Mexico for medicine or to England for a medical procedure because they could not get that procedure in America. Yet 20 years later, one of the procedures that Americans had to go to England to get now is so common it is almost done as an outpatient procedure. That is ridiculous, and it is time we make some progress in advancing these new medicines in a more expeditious manner. We also have an urgent need to act to extend the highly successful law that will expire later this year unless it is renewed in a timely fashion. Let me review last year's legislation that would enable the FDA to meet the demands of the rapidly approaching 21st century. This past year, we had wide bipartisan agreement on essential elements of FDA reform in both Houses of Congress. In the Senate, the Labor and Human Resources Committee approved S. 1477, the Food and Drug Administration Performance and Accountability Act, by a 12-to-4 bipartisan margin. In the House, H.R. 3199, the Drug and Biological Products Reform Act was cosponsored by more than 200 Members of both parties. It was unfortunate, Mr. President, that despite the best efforts of then Labor and Human Resources Chair Nancy Kassebaum, as well as my colleagues Senator Dan Coats and Senator Chris Dodd, we ran out of time last year before S. 1477 could be brought to the Senate floor. I wanted to do it. They wanted to do it. A bipartisan group wanted to do it. In the face of a threatened filibuster by some Senators, we were not able to bring it to the floor with that threat hanging over the legislation. However, as the urgency of this legislation becomes more and more apparent, I am confident that the Labor and Human Resources Committee under the able leadership of the distinguished Senator from Vermont [Mr. Jeffords], will undertake this worthy effort without delay. Congress must also consider another important law this year, the 1992 Prescription Drug User Fee Act which is scheduled to expire on September 30, 1997. The user fee law was the result of a historic agreement between Congress, the Food and Drug Administration, and the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Industry agreed to pay $347 million in user fees during the 1993-97 period, which enabled the FDA to speed up the approval process by employing an additional 600 reviewers. Unless this vital law is renewed, the advances made by the FDA will be interrupted and the progress will be damaged. As majority leader, I plan to do everything I can to ensure that PDUFA, the legislation I just referred to, is reauthorized for another 5 years, thus ensuring that our sickest patients will have fast access to life-saving products. Mr. President, Congress must meet these two challenges. We must act now for the patients all across America. I certainly commend Senator Jeffords for his efforts in this area, his leadership, and my good friend, the Senator from Maryland, Senator Mikulski. She has been a leader in getting this colloquy and getting these statements printed in the Record today. I commend her and urge my colleagues on the appropriate committee and on both sides of the aisle to support these two very important pieces of legislation. I yield the floor.

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, seeing no Senator seeking recognition at this point, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, it is a pleasure to be back on this spring day and to hear the Chaplain's prayer and to see the distinguished Senator from South Carolina here ready for business. I know we are going to have a productive season as we go into April and May. This afternoon there will be a period for morning business until the hour of 1 p.m. Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 104, the Nuclear Policy Act. As I announced prior to the recess, no rollcall votes will occur during today's session of the Senate. Under the order, a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to S. 104 will occur on Tuesday. I had planned to ask unanimous consent that the vote on the motion to invoke cloture occur at 5:15 on Tuesday, with the time between 2:15 and 5:15 to be equally divided between the proponents and opponents. I understand that the Democratic leader may have a little bit of a conflict, where we may try to move that toward 5:30, although we have other Senators who have conflicts at that time. So we will get a definite unanimous consent request here shortly. The vote will be sometime between 5 and 5:30, I presume, and I believe we can get that worked out just as long as we have a minute more to confer with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. All Members should be aware that the next rollcall vote will occur, then, on tomorrow at either 5:15 or 5:30, something like that. It is my hope the Senate will invoke cloture tomorrow, which will enable us to begin consideration of this very important legislation, which is the nuclear waste legislation. I think there is no more important environmental issue pending in America than to make the decision of what we are going to do with nuclear waste that is sitting in sites across this country, from South Carolina to Vermont, from the banks of the Mississippi to the shores of the Pacific. We cannot ignore this. We cannot wait another 15 years for studies to be completed. We have spent billions of dollars. We have been working on this for years. It is time for action. The Senate voted by a wide margin last year to make a decision on this issue, to pass this nuclear waste repository legislation. The House did not act. I have been assured this year the House will act, this matter will go to the President, and we hope that it will go to him in such a way that he recognizes that Senators and Congressmen and the American people all across this country feel that this decision must be made. So, I am looking forward to our beginning the debate. If cloture is invoked, Senators can anticipate debate and rollcall votes during every day of the session this week so we may complete action on S. 104 as soon as possible. I remind my colleagues that this will be a busy period legislatively prior to the Memorial Day recess. I think all Senators should be aware that bills are beginning to be reported out of committees. We have had 3 months to have the hearings to mark up legislation. We have a number of bills that have now been reported, including the TEAM Act and the Comptime and Flextime Act, which can be very helpful to families and working mothers who need time to be with their children. That legislation is ready. Sometime late this month or early next month we will, as I have said, have a vote on the partial-birth abortion ban legislation. So we are beginning now to enter a period where we will have a lot of legislation. Obviously, we need to have a vote on the budget. I had hoped we could come to a grand agreement that would be in the best interests of all Americans with the President. So far, that has been fruitless. I have committed basically 3 months, along with the chairman of the Budget Committee, the time and the meetings, to try to see that something happened in this budget area, but we have not been successful with that. I had asked the President not to oppose the balanced budget constitutional amendment. He did. In fact, he and the leadership on the other side of the aisle twisted arms, and two Senators switched their positions, and we lost that by one vote. But every Republican and 11 Democrats had the courage of their convictions and voted for it. Then I asked the President and his people to send us a real budget, a budget that showed courage, showed leadership, that would have some restraints in the entitlements area, that would preserve and protect Medicare, that would give some tax relief to working Americans, that would have some restraint and controls on the rate of increase on nondefense discretionary spending and would do what needs to be done in the defense area; show some leadership. They did not. They sent a political document. Since that time, we have tried to encourage some movement with the suggestion that we have a commission to decide on the accurate, honest number of the Consumer Price Index. The President indicated preliminarily he thought maybe we could get a commission on that. To his credit, the Democratic leader indicated he thought that was a move in the right direction. But then they backed away from it. Other suggestions have been made by the Republican leadership, but there has been no reciprocation, no action. The President needs to lead in this area. If he does not, we are moving on. We are moving on. We have to do this budget. We will do a budget in the Senate in the next few days. I think we have to get action in the Budget Committee here in the next couple of weeks. We have to get some decision made so the Appropriations Committee can begin to move forward. We hope it will be a bipartisan agreement. We would like to have the President's help, but the time is over for waiting. We must move forward. I will be talking later today to the chairman of the Budget Committee and interested Republicans and Democrats to see how we can proceed. We still would like to have the President's involvement and help, but he does not seem, so far, to be ready to do that. Our staffs were meeting during the past 2 weeks. They were supposed to be making progress. From what I understand, they had a grand time meeting and saying how wonderful it was they were meeting--but that is about all. It was my understanding, from what the President said, that he would meet with the leadership of Congress when we returned from the Easter recess period to discuss, hopefully, the final decisions on the budget--this week. But I understand now, that meeting is not going to occur this week. It is next week. Yet, as we wait for leadership from the White House, we see some people saying, why doesn't the Congress act? We have been trying to confirm the President's Cabinet. We have been trying to work with the administration and to work off of his budget agreement so we could move to a final agreement. It has taken time. But that time is gone. We have to go ahead and do our job. And it will be our intent to do so. So, I thank all Senators in advance for their cooperation as we begin what I hope will be a productive couple of months. We have a lot of good legislation we can take up, we will take up, and I think when we go out for the Memorial Day period we will have several bills that we can point to with pride that we have voted on.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there now be a period of morning business.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the routine requests through the morning hour be granted.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I understand that there is a bill that is due for its second reading this morning.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I object to further proceedings on this matter at this time.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Under the order from last night, the Senate convened today because the House has not yet passed the adjournment resolution. They are in session now and in fact have been having a vote just in the last few minutes. So I expect that they will complete work before too long this afternoon. I understand that in fact the House will pass Senate Concurrent Resolution 14 at approximately 1:30 or 2 p.m. today. I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in adjournment until the hour of 12 noon on Monday, March 24, unless the House adopts the adjournment resolution, in which case the Senate will then automatically stand in adjournment under the provisions of Senate Concurrent Resolution 14 until the hour of 12 noon on Monday, April 7.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I thank the Chair.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent on behalf of the Governmental Affairs Committee to meet on Thursday, March 20, 1997, at 9:30 a.m. for a hearing on the role of the Department of Commerce in the U.S. trade policy, promotion and regulation, and opportunities for reform and consolidation.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Labor and Human Resources be authorized to meet for a hearing on Higher Education Act reauthorization, during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 20, 1997, at 10 a.m.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet at 10 a.m. on Thursday, March 20, 1997, in open session, to receive testimony on the fiscal year 1998 budget request for Department of Energy national security programs and review environmental management activities.

Mr. LOTT. The Committee on the Judiciary would request unanimous consent to hold an executive business meeting on Thursday, March 20, 1997, at 10:30 a.m., in room 226 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. If the Senator from Illinois will yield, I will be glad to respond to his comments. They have certainly been very good ones. We all understand and appreciate and agree with the remarks about the tremendous service and the quality of man that Pete Peterson is. I am satisfied that he would be a great representative for our country in any position, whether it be an easy one, great luxury, or a tough one, as this one will be when he is confirmed. The Senator is right that there are those of us in the Chamber and in America who doubt the wisdom of going forward with this normalization with Vietnam for a variety of reasons. Particularly, the Senator from New Hampshire, Mr. Smith, has raised a lot of questions and concerns over the years about POWs and missing in action, accounting for those POWs. He is very concerned about those servicemen that have not been identified, have not been accounted for. He has made that very clear. He has serious doubts that Vietnam is actually doing all that it can do or all it has said it would do in moving toward normalization and accounting for those POW/MIAs, and he has asked me as majority leader in a very good, strong letter, lengthy letter to give him an opportunity to ask some questions and get some answers. I try to honor that kind of request for any Senator on either side of the aisle whenever I can within reason. And I have also joined him through my staff that deals with the Intelligence Committee to work with the intelligence staff to try to get a report or reports in response to the questions that Senator Smith has asked. Those reports may not be sufficient or they may not be good, but Senator Smith has indicated he has no desire to hold this nomination up at length. In fact, I think he would agree with me and the Senator that this is an excellent choice for any position. So it is my intent, barring some unforeseen complication, that this nomination would be brought up on Tuesday or Wednesday the week we come back. I believe that would be the 8th or 9th. I do not think it would be appropriate to hold it up beyond that. And again, barring something that I cannot imagine right now--and, of course, assuming that over the next 2\1/2\ weeks we will get these reports--we would call that nomination up. I think we would be able to do that, and I certainly want to. I do not see any reason why we would not be able to based on my conversations with Senator Smith. We appreciate the interest of the Senator in his former colleague from the House, and look forward to working with the Senator on this and other issues.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, this involves two appointments to the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, a nominee to be a U.S. district judge for the District Court in DC, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, and Rose Ochi to be Director, Community Relations Service, Department of Justice. nomination of judge colleen kollar-kotelly

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations on the executive calendar: Calendar Nos. 39, 40, 61, and 62.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I take this opportunity to recognize and say farewell to an outstanding staffer and dear friend of mine, Sam Adcock. For the past 7 years, Sam has served not only as my national security advisor, but as one of my most-trusted and able advisors. Sam is moving on to other challenges, but it is my privilege to commend him for the service he has provided me and the Senate as a whole. The youngest of four children born to Pat and Larry Adcock, Sam was born in Baton Rouge, LA, and although Sam was not a native Mississippian, he assured me he had relatives in the Magnolia State. I am not sure what effect being the youngest in such a large family had on Sam, but I think it must have played some part in cultivating his competitive nature. It is this, combined with a gut instinct for effective legislation, which has made Sam Adcock such an important part of my team. Sam joined my staff as a full-time employee in 1990, after serving for a year as a military liaison. He served as my legislative assistant while I was a member of the Armed Services Committee, and quickly sank his teeth into the complicated process of military appropriations. Mississippi's shipyards and military bases owe Sam Adcock a debt of gratitude for the countless hours he spent arguing on their behalf. During the 1991, 1993, and 1995 Base Realignment and Closure [BRAC] procedures, due in large part to Sam's hard work, Mississippi was the only State that had no bases closed. Among the many areas where Sam's expertise was invaluable to me were the development of the LHA and LHD programs. Perhaps one of our greatest legislative triumphs was working in 1995 to help Ingalls Shipbuilding of Pascagoula, MS, win the $1.4 billion contract for LHD 7. Sam worked around the clock to help Ingalls win this contract so important to the men and women of Jackson County, MS, but that was not unusual for him. I know Mississippians would be proud to know how relentlessly Sam pursued what was in their State's best interests. The country, too, should be proud to have had such a champion of strong military ideals fighting to preserve our Nation's military prowess. I could always count on Sam to go into a meeting for me and come away with the best possible deal for Mississippi and our country as a whole. In addition to his service as my armed services advisor, Sam was promoted to the position of legislative director. He has always been a take-charge kind of guy, and he ensured that my office's legislative staff was prepared and proactive. As effective as Sam's leadership was, he was also one of the most well-liked members of my staff. While those who have worked against Sam know what a formidable opponent he is, those who have worked with him know what a pleasant and approachable man he can be. As Sam Adcock moves on to a new and exciting position as vice- president for government operations at Daimler Benz, I wish him, his wife Carol, and their young son Austin, the best of luck. Sam exemplifies all that is good in the congressional staffers who work so hard here on Capitol Hill. He is honest, industrious, intelligent, and talented. My office will be poorer for his departure, but the people of this country are richer from his time as a Senate staffer. For his loyal and dedicated service, I thank him. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, just in conclusion, I want to recognize the Senator from Arkansas, who is in the Chamber at this time. I thank him again for his courtesy in allowing me to do this and recognize that he is a member of the Committee of Energy and Natural Resources that reported this legislation. I think it is very important legislation. I understand that the Senators from Nevada will have to make their points in opposition to what it would do, but I do think it is just absolutely essential that this country face up to the need to deal with our nuclear waste. There is no easy way to do it. There is no perfect solution for all 100 Senators. But we passed it last time through the Senate and it died aborning in the House. I am told this time that we will, when we pass it, the House will also pass it, and this time we hope we can get it to the President. And we hope we can get it to the President in a way that he feels he can sign it. We must do this because it is an issue that will not go away. Nuclear waste is sitting in cooling pools and barrels all over this country from South Carolina to Vermont, from the banks of the Mississippi River to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. We must deal with this problem, and so that is why I take this procedure to make sure that we get it up for consideration and for debate when we return from the Easter recess. I thank the Chair. I thank the Senator from Arkansas. Mr. BUMPERS addressed the Chair.