Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Senate Resolution 49 submitted earlier today by Senators Hutchison and Gramm.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that 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, I ask unanimous consent that when the joint session is completed this evening, the Senate stand in adjournment until the hour of 11 a.m. on Wednesday, February 5. I further ask unanimous consent that on Wednesday, immediately following the prayer, the routine requests through the morning hour be granted. I further ask unanimous consent that there then be a period of morning business until 3 p.m. with Senators permitted to speak for up to 5 minutes each, except for the following: Senator Collins for 30 minutes; Senator Thomas, or his designee, 60 minutes; Senator Daschle, or his designee, 60 minutes; and Senator Roth, or his designee, 45 minutes.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I now ask that the Senate stand in recess until the hour of 8:30 p.m.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent, pursuant to Senate Resolution 49, as a further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased Honorable Frank Tejeda, late a Representative from the State of Texas, that the Senate stand in adjournment until 11 a.m. tomorrow.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, the Senate will automatically adjourn following the conclusion of the joint session this evening. Tomorrow, following the morning business, at 3 p.m., the Senate will begin consideration of Senate Joint Resolution 1, the constitutional amendment for a balanced budget. By a previous agreement, only opening remarks will be in order to Senate Joint Resolution 1 on Wednesday, and I would not anticipate a late night session. Also, I remind my colleagues that the Senate may consider any additional nominations that become available this week. I understand there is still a possibility that we would have one or two that could be available on Thursday. We are hoping that is true. Finally, I ask that all Members be present in the Senate Chamber tonight promptly at 8:30 p.m. so that we can proceed over as a group at 8:40 to the House of Representatives for the President's State of the Union Address.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Thank you, Mr. President.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, today the Senate will be in a period of morning business until the hour of 12:30, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. At 12:30 today the Senate will recess until 2:15 to allow the weekly policy conferences to meet. Following the conferences, the Senate may consider a Senate resolution regarding mammograms, which was submitted by Senator Snowe. It is my hope we will be able to enter a short time limitation for debate and then have a rollcall vote on the adoption of that resolution. All Members will be notified when that agreement is reached as well as when the rollcall vote can be expected. We hope that we will have that vote probably not later than 4 o'clock or so this afternoon, but we will give the specific time a little later in the morning. As expected, yesterday the Judiciary Committee did file their report on the constitutional amendment on the balanced budget. The report became available this morning and, therefore, under the rule, the Senate may begin consideration of that joint resolution on Thursday. It is possible that we may begin opening statements on the balanced budget amendment on Wednesday, tomorrow afternoon. I will notify all Members of that schedule after I confer further with the democratic leader. In addition, several committees are expected to complete their work on some of the pending nominations during this week. Once again, I will alert all Members as to the Senate schedule with respect to these nominees. We have at least a couple that are close to being reported. We hope to have a vote on those Thursday, if at all possible. Of course, on Thursday morning we will also be notified of the President's budget proposals, and we hope to have a quick meeting with the President up here on Capitol Hill in the President's room certainly within the next week. We are still working on the specifics and details of that meeting, so we can begin to actually roll up our sleeves and begin work on items where we think there is a good possibility for agreement so that we can move things, like the balanced budget agreement, some tax relief for working Americans, improvements in education at the local level with parents being involved on behalf of the children's interests, safer streets, safer neighborhoods, and toxic and nuclear waste cleanup. These are areas where we have a lot of common interests, concerns, and we should go to work on these big issues as quickly as we possibly can. Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LOTT

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

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, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Rules and Administration be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, January 30, 1997, beginning at 9:30 a.m. to hold a hearing on FEC Authorization and Campaign Finance Reform.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, January 30, 1997, at 10 a.m. to hold an executive business meeting.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet for an executive business meeting to take up committee business, and to mark up the S. Res. 1, the Balanced Budget Amendment, during the session of the Senate on Thursday, January 30, 1997, at 10:00 a.m.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet at 11 a.m. on Thursday, January 30, 1997, in executive session, to discuss committee organization and rules.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be granted permission to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, January 30, 1997, for purposes of conducting a full committee hearing which is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. The purpose of this oversight hearing is to consider the nomination of Federico F. Pena to be Secretary of Energy.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the full Committee on Finance be permitted to meet to conduct a hearing on Thursday, January 30, 1997, beginning at 10 a.m. in room 215-Dirksen.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Tuesday, the Senate recess from 12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. for the weekly policy conferences to meet as usual.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. 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 Monday, February 3, for a pro forma session only. I further ask unanimous consent that immediately following the pro forma session on Monday, the Senate stand in adjournment until the hour of 11 a.m. on Tuesday, February 4; that on Tuesday, following the prayer, the routine requests through the morning hour be granted; further, that there then be a period for morning business until 12:30 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations on the Executive Calendar: No. 4, Alan Hantman, to be Architect, all routine military nominations reported by the Armed Services Committee today, and all nominations placed on the Secretary's desk in regard to the Coast Guard. I further ask unanimous consent that the nominations be confirmed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, any statements relating to these nominations appear at the appropriate place in the Record, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then return to legislative session.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Monday, February 3, committees have from the hours of 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. to file legislative or executive matters.

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. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar Nos. 9 and 10, Senate Resolution 31 and Senate Resolution 32.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Good to see the Senator presiding this afternoon. Shall we begin the closing process, now, Mr. President? Would that be all right?

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