Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I now ask the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. For the information of all Senators, at 9:30 tomorrow morning we will have 30 minutes of debate to be followed by a vote on the nomination of William Daley to be Secretary of Commerce. We should then expect a rollcall vote around 10 a.m. on Thursday. Following that rollcall, there will be no further rollcall votes this week. We are moving forward with the nominations of the President to his Cabinet. This will be the fourth one that has been confirmed. Of course, committees are meeting and acting on other confirmation hearings and other issues. Those will begin to come to the floor of the Senate next week. Next week will certainly be a busy period because we will have the President's State of the Union, we will begin debate on the constitutional amendment for a balanced budget, and on Thursday we receive the President's budget for the year. So we will have his information on that then, and we can really begin to proceed with business that needs to be acted on this year. There will be a period of morning business tomorrow for Members to make statements, and the Senate may consider other legislative or executive matters that can be cleared. So I remind my colleagues once again, they should expect a vote at 10 a.m., and that will be the final vote of the day.

Mr. LOTT

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, before I ask for some unanimous-consent agreements and do the close, I want to commend, also, the remarks of Senator Dole that were just printed in the Record by the distinguished Senator from Idaho. I attended the ceremony where Senator Dole received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I must say, it was one of the most inspiring events I have ever attended. First of all, I think the President deserves credit for presenting this very deserving leader of our country the Medal of Freedom. Second, I think I have probably never been to an event where there was more of a combination of a feeling of good will, appreciation for our veterans, patriotism and humility and humor, all wrapped in one event. It was really an inspiration. Bob Dole's remarks, which are in the Record, are typical of Bob. He said almost nothing about the fact that he was receiving this honor, other than the fact that he would cherish it. He, instead, chose to talk about American soldiers and the service they gave and the American experiment, Government, history--magnificent remarks. Also, he had that special moment of history where I thought for a moment he was going to be sworn in to be President of the United States instead of being given the Medal of Freedom. It was a tremendous occasion. I am very proud that Bob Dole received this recognition, and I am delighted we put his statement in the Record for all Americans to read it.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, January 30, the Senate proceed to executive session for consideration of the nomination of William Daley to be Secretary of Commerce. I further ask unanimous consent there be 30 minutes of debate on the nomination, equally divided between the chairman and the ranking member, and immediately following the expiration or yielding back of debate time, the Senate proceed to a vote on the confirmation of the nomination. I finally ask unanimous consent that following the vote on this issue, 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 note that this is the chairman, in the case of Senator Thompson, and the ranking Democrat, in the case of Senator Glenn, of the Governmental Affairs Committee. These members have been charged with leadership of the Governmental Affairs Committee, which will be looking into questions of possible violations of campaign finance laws. They will set out, I am sure, here this afternoon at this designated hour how they intend to proceed and give us some idea of what timeframe might be involved in that. So I know all Senators will want to watch and listen. I think this will be a very important and a very interesting presentation.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at 4 p.m. today, Senator Thompson be recognized to speak for up to 20 minutes, to be followed by Senator Glenn for up to 20 minutes.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that at 9:30 a.m., on Wednesday, January 29, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of Andrew Cuomo to be Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development; further, that there be 30 minutes of debate on the nomination, equally divided between the chairman and ranking member, with a vote to occur on the nomination at the expiration or yielding back of that time; further, immediately following the vote the President be notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then return to legislative session.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, at 9:30 tomorrow morning the Senate will begin 30 minutes of debate on the nomination of Andrew Cuomo to be Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Therefore, all Senators should expect the rollcall vote on the nomination to begin at approximately 10 a.m., on Wednesday. Following the vote, I expect a period for the transaction of morning business to allow Senators to make statements and to introduce legislation. It is also possible on Wednesday that the Senate will debate the nomination, at least for a while, of William Daley to be Secretary of Commerce. However, the vote on the nomination may occur on Thursday of this week, and it will not occur tomorrow. Once again, all Members will be notified when this vote is scheduled for a time certain.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that the injunction of secrecy be removed from the following treaty transmitted to the Senate on January 28, 1997, by the President of the United States: Taxation Treaty with Thailand, Treaty Document No. 105-2; I further ask unanimous consent the treaty be considered as having been read the first time; that it be referred, with accompanying papers, to the Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be printed; and that the President's message be printed in the Record.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, January 28, 1997, to conduct a markup of the following nominee: Mr. Andrew M. Cuomo, of New York, to be the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. In addition the committee will consider certain organizational matters.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the full Committee on Environment and Public Works be granted permission to meet to organize and adopt committee rules, Tuesday, January 28, at 9:30 a.m., hearing room (SD-406).

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, January 28, 1997, beginning at 9:30 a.m. until business is completed, to hold a hearing and mark-up session.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, January 28, 1997, at 2:30 p.m. to hold a closed business meeting.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I do want to announce at this point also for the information of all Senators, there will be no recorded votes for the remainder of the day. There will be opportunity for Members to attend committee hearings, confirmation hearings and begin to have hearings on legislation, but there will be no recorded votes this afternoon. It is our hope that we will be able to have debate this afternoon on the nominee to be head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Mr. Cuomo. We have not been able to get a time worked out on that, an agreement where we would be able to have a vote in the morning, but we would like to be able to get the debate done this afternoon. So any Senators who would like to speak on that may want to do that, and then maybe we can complete it in the morning, hopefully get a vote sometime early in the morning between perhaps 9:30 and 10. We have run into a couple little bumps in the road. We may not be able to get that agreement worked out, but we are still working on it. We also expect to be able to vote on Thursday morning then, probably again between 9:30 and 10 o'clock, on Mr. Daley to be the Secretary of Commerce. So we will definitely have one vote on Thursday, and we may have a vote on Wednesday on the other nomination. We will let Senators know later in the day if that is worked out. With that, Mr. President, I would be glad to yield the floor to the Senator from Virginia.

Mr. LOTT. We did not factor that into our thinking, but we would like to do that tomorrow if we could, I believe. Do we need a recorded vote on that?

Mr. LOTT. Let us check and see what the precedents are on whether or not a recorded vote is necessary. I know we have come up with a very strong nominee----

Mr. LOTT

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I thank the Senator.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Virginia for being here, Johnny-on-the-spot and ready to proceed with statements. I wish to say again how much we appreciate the great work he did as chairman of the Rules Committee in the inauguration. It was the best I have seen. I got very excited at one point; I thought the Senator from Virginia was going to take the oath of office. But I think he should be commended along with his friend and colleague, the ranking member, Senator Ford. It was an excellent effort and everybody was very blessed.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent, Mr. President, that S. 3 and S. 10 be star printed with the changes that I understand are at the desk.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, there are those moments as we navigate through life's journey in which our path crosses with people of genuine character and compassion. When we come about one of these persons, it is as if a window is raised allowing the spring breeze to enter our very soul. On these rare occasions, our spirit is lifted causing us to believe anew in the goodness of God and the magic of his gift to mankind. Mr. Albert Colmer Weeks of Pascagoula, MS, is one of these rare people. Known as ``Skeeter'' to his friends--who are many--his life is a testament of service, love, and dedication to his family and community. While Skeeter counts Pascagoula as his home, he was born in Ponchatula, LA, and moved at the age of 3 to Perkinston, MS, where his father served as a coach, athletic director, and later vice president and dean of men at Perkinston Junior College. After completing high school in Perkinston in 1944, Skeeter was appointed a page in the U.S. House of Representatives by his uncle and former Congressman, Hon. Bill Colmer. As many of my colleagues know, I also worked for Representative Colmer as his administrative assistant for 4 years. The fateful year in which I crossed paths with Skeeter in a large and substantive way was 1968. By that time, Skeeter had been working for Ingalls Shipbuilding for 9 years as director of public relations. As director of public relations at Ingalls Shipbuilding, Skeeter was the one individual most responsible for planning, directing, and coordinating the launching, christening, and commissioning of hundreds of ships for the United States Navy. Skeeter is a big part of the reason Ingalls is today known as America's Shipyard. His professionalism, attention to detail, and customer oriented service ethic has endeared him to many of our nation's political leaders--from President's to Cabinet Secretaries to Secretaries of the Navy--over the span of almost 40 years. On January 31, 1997, Skeeter will be retiring from Ingalls Shipbuilding. Behind he will leave a legacy of 38 years in service to Ingalls, the city of Pascagoula, Jackson County, the State of Mississippi, and indeed, the country as a whole. Skeeter is a veteran of the United States Navy, a 1951 graduate of Mississippi State University, and a man of honor. To his wife, Janet, and his children Leah and Alice, I say thank you. We have all borrowed Skeeter's time and talent for years, a gift he has freely given us. Beginning Saturday, February 1, 1997, you have him all to yourself. It is your gain, and with this gain we give you our gratitude and envy. As Skeeter turns the page and begins this new chapter in his life, I am reminded of a verse penned by Robert Louis Stevenson: So long as we love we serve; so long as we are loved by others, I would almost say we are indispensable; and no man is useless while he has a friend. In celebration of this special event, I am proud to declare to the U.S. Senate, Albert Colmer Weeks is my friend. Enjoy your retirement, Skeeter. You have richly earned it.

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 9:30 a.m., Wednesday, January 29; further, immediately following the prayer, the routine requests through the morning hour be granted and the Senate then immediately proceed to executive session as under the previous order.

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