Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the resolution directs the Senate legal counsel to appear as amicus curiae, as friend of the court, in the name of the Senate in a case pending in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and ask for its immediate consideration. Mr. President, on April 9, 1996, President Clinton signed into law the Line Item Veto Act. This act was the product of years of legislative consideration and much protracted debate. Beginning January 1 of this year and through the year 2004, the Line Item Veto Act provides the President with the authority, under a set of carefully circumscribed limitations, to cancel particular items of appropriation, direct spending or limited tax benefit in any bill. The President must report any such cancellation to Congress by special message within 5 days after his approval of the bill containing such spending or tax provisions. Congress then has the opportunity to decide whether to pass a law disapproving the President's cancellation and mandating the spending or tax benefit. As I have stated, this Act was passed after much consideration and debate understanding the potential Constitutional implications. In the end, Congress determined to empower the President in this manner in recognition of the fact that strong tools are necessary if we are to achieve our goal of finally getting the Federal budget in balance. Mr. President, the distinguished Senator from West Virginia, Mr. Byrd, and three other of our colleagues, the former senior Senator from Oregon, Mr. Hatfield, the senior Senator from Michigan, Mr. Levin, and the senior Senator from New York, Mr. Moynihan, joined by two Members of the House of Representatives, have filed an action in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the constitutionality of the act. They assert in their lawsuit that the act violates the lawmaking provisions of article I of the Constitution by authorizing the President to nullify the effect of portions of recently enacted laws. The lawsuit at issue was commenced pursuant to a special judicial review provision, section 3 of the act, authorizing the filing of an action by any Member of Congress to seek declaratory or injunctive relief on the ground that the act violates the Constitution. This judicial review provision also gives each House of Congress the right to intervene in the suit in defense of the act. Further, the law provides for direct appeal from any decision of the district court to the Supreme Court and requires both courts to expedite their handling of the action. The Department of Justice will represent the defendants in the lawsuit, namely the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Secretary of the Treasury. As such, there appears to be no need for the Senate to intervene formally in the suit as a party defendant. Nonetheless, title VII of the Ethics in Government Act authorizes the Senate to appear as amicus curiae, or friend of the court, in this or any such legal action in which the powers and responsibilities of the Congress under the Constitution are placed in issue. Mr. President, appearance as amicus curiae in this lawsuit would enable the Senate to present to the court its reasons for enacting the Line Item Veto Act and the basis for its position that the law is consistent with the Constitution. This resolution I offer today will authorize the Senate legal counsel to appear in this case in the name of the Senate as amicus curiae to support the constitutionality of the Line Item Veto Act. The Senate, through the Senate legal counsel, would not take any position on the other issues, such as those related to the constitutional standing of the plaintiffs in the suit to bring the action, and the timeliness, or ripeness, of the issues before the court, that may be considered by the court in the case as such issues are not covered by the explicit terms of the resolution.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, again we thank our Chaplain for his words of wisdom in his morning prayer.

Mr. LOTT

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

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I believe we are prepared to complete the debate on the nominee to be Secretary of State. I commend the committee members for the way they have handled this matter. Obviously, it was expeditious and a very pleasant experience. I thank the chairman for the way he has handled it. If he says the nominee is OK, that is very powerful in this institution. I thank the Senator from Delaware for his efforts also. Mr. President, today is a historic day for the Senate, for the Department of State, and for the United States. Today, we will confirm America's 63d Secretary of State. Madeline Albright will be the first woman to hold our country's highest diplomatic post. Most of our Members are aware of Ambassador Albright' compelling personal history. As a child, she was forced to flee her native Czechoslovakia from the century's two great tyrannies: Nazi Germany and Soviet Communism. First-hand, she learned that freedom is not free, and that resistance to aggression is imperative. Ambassador Albright is an American by choice. She has served her adopted land with distinction--at the National Security Council in the Carter administration, in politics and in the academic world, and most recently as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. When I met with Ambassador Albright last week, we had a good discussion about a range of issues. I expressed my concern over the gradual decline of the role of Congress in foreign policy--at least that is the way Congress is sometimes treated by administrations--a trend that is not in keeping with my reading of what the framers of the Constitution intended. Ambassador Albright told me she taught a course on ``Congress and Foreign Policy'' and that she very much understands and respects the role of the Congress in our power of the purse, our sole power to declare war, and the Senate's co-equal role in treaty making. As secretary of State, Ambassador Albright will face many difficult issues. Perhaps her greatest challenge will be articulating a vision of America's role in the post-cold-war era--a vision that is readily understood and supported by the American people and their elected representatives. Our leadership role in the world depends on the power of our ideals and the purpose to defend our interests. And it depends on the support of our citizens for a leadership role. I believe the American people know America must remain engaged in the world, and that they will be willing to support our engagement because it is ultimately to the benefit of each and every American. In just the coming months, Ambassador Albright will have a very full agenda--on Capitol Hill and around the world. There are continued concerns about Russia's future, the threats posed by rogue regimes from Iran and Iraq to Libya and North Korea, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, international crime, and narcotics trafficking, the United States relationship with Asia's emerging giant--China, pursuit of a lasting and secure peace in the Middle East, and serious attention to the problems and potential of our own hemisphere. Each of these will demand a very experienced and committed Secretary of State. The Ambassador's skills and wisdom will be challenged every day. Secretary Albright, assuming she is going to be confirmed here momentarily, will also need to spend much more time with the Congress. We have pledged to do what we can to move America ahead in a nonpartisan or bipartisan fashion. We will try to work together on arms control issues. We expect the administration to respect the Senate's role in providing advice and consent to the significant modifications they propose to the 1972 ABM Treaty. The administration has tried to make a case for more money for the United Nations and for international affairs spending in general. I do not believe in measuring American leadership by how many taxpayer dollars we send to the United Nations or to AID contractors--especially when our defense and intelligence capabilities have felt the impact of far more severe budget limitations. We are also awaiting the administration's request for funding their decision to extend the American troop presence despite the promise of a 1-year only deployment in Bosnia. On all budget issues, we will try to work together on funding the administration's priorities and our priorities in a manner consistent with the move toward a balanced budget. I expect to work closely with Secretary Albright to prepare the Senate and the American people for the historic expansion of the most successful alliance in history--NATO. We will work to support the historic progress toward peace in the Middle East, made possible because the enemies of Israel know that American support for our democratic ally is unswerving. Today, with what I expect will be an overwhelming vote, the Senate will confirm Madeline Albright as Secretary of State. The confirmation process moved rapidly and cooperatively, and I think it is indicative of what we can do in the months and years ahead. I want to offer my congratulations to Secretary-to-be Albright, her family and her friends on this historic occasion. I believe President Clinton made a sound choice, and I believe Secretary Albright will serve America honorably. With that, Mr. President, I have been asked to yield back time on both sides. I believe we are prepared to vote.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Today there will be a period for morning business until 12 o'clock noon, with Senators to speak for up to 5 minutes each, with the following exceptions: Senator Grassley for 60 minutes--and I see he is here and prepared to proceed--Senator Feinstein for 30 minutes, and Senator Daschle 30 minutes. At 12 noon today, following morning business, the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of Madeleine Albright to be Secretary of State. Under the order that has been agreed to, there will be 2 hours and 10 minutes for debate on the nomination, with the vote to occur at the conclusion or yielding back of the debate time. So I presume that will be around 10 minutes after 2 or so. It is my hope that some of that debate time will be yielded back so the Senate may vote on the nomination early enough to accommodate our colleagues who wish to attend the wake of former Senator Paul Tsongas. Following the vote on the Albright nomination, I expect an additional period of morning business to allow Senators to introduce legislation they have been working on or perhaps to make comments on bills that were introduced yesterday. Finally, I will announce that, if available later this week, the Senate may consider the nomination of our former colleague, Senator Bill Cohen, to be Secretary of Defense. We are not sure exactly how that will proceed. The committee is scheduled to have a hearing today. We are looking at the possibility of whether or not it could be taken up either later today or, if not today, then late tomorrow after our delegation returns from Massachusetts. I had indicated to the President our desire to cooperate with him in getting his foreign policy and defense Cabinet nominees in place as soon as possible. So I would really like to see us get that done this week. I know there will be support for that on both sides of the aisle. Therefore, additional rollcall votes may occur today or this week and Members will be notified accordingly. I think at this point there does not appear to be a necessity for us to have votes on Friday, although I am not making that commitment yet. Just be prepared to have more votes possibly today and tomorrow, on Thursday. I yield the floor, Mr. President.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if I could just briefly make some comments here about our good friend, the Senator from Maine, Bill Cohen, I know the Presiding Officer feels this way very, very strongly, and I know she is very proud of his confirmation. I must say that over the course of my tenure in the Congress I have often been very honored to know Secretaries of Defense. We have had some great ones. Still today I consider many of them personal friends but I have never known one that I have been more proud of than I am today of William Cohen in this new position. Bill Cohen and I came to Congress together at the same time in 1973. We served in the House together. We served in the Senate together. We didn't always agree. In fact, we fought or disagreed pretty strongly the first couple of years we were in Congress, and it took years to get over that disagreement. But over that period of time in the House and Senate we became close friends, and I grew to admire him and sought out his advice and counsel which I found always very good even when he didn't agree sometimes with what I was trying to do. He gave me advice and help that was invaluable. I will also be thankful for that. We have much in common. We both represent small coastal States which face similar challenges and interests. He has truly become a great friend to me and to our people in my own home State. He has my respect and my unqualified support as the next Secretary of Defense. I think also we should take note of the fact that this was a grand gesture by the President. The President indicated that he wanted to have a look at some Republicans for his Cabinet. I was not sure he would do it. I know he considered several. But certainly he made a wise pick here, and it did not go unnoticed by the Republicans that he made this decision. I hope he will take the advice of his new Secretary of Defense. I think he will find it interesting and on occasion challenging and sometimes advice that he will not find easy to accept. But it will be invariably good advice. Bill Cohen will have his hands full as the new Secretary of Defense. Perhaps the largest challenge of his illustrious career I think now looms before him. I think it is to his credit that he was willing to step aside from his goal of moving into the private sector to come back and to go into this very important, very difficult position. I have become, in the last few months, increasingly concerned-- actually, it has been moving in this direction for a number of years, but I am really to the point of being alarmed about what I see happening with our military, our military leadership in the Pentagon, and what we have been doing to the defense budget of our country. And so we are now reaching the point where we are, I think, developing serious problems in O&M and procurement, and so Senator Cohen is going to have a tremendous job in righting this military monolith that has now reached the point where it has problems and will have growing problems in the future. I know Bill Cohen has expressed those concerns as a member, a very distinguished senior member, of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Now he will be in a position to help really do something about that. Over the last 2\1/2\ years, I must say that I think Bill Perry has performed admirably in a very difficult environment. He has often been dealt a weak hand both by insufficient funds to do the job and multiple demands that had to be fulfilled with those limited funds. But he has performed always masterfully, with intellect and integrity, and I think he has artfully managed the Pentagon at a very difficult time. So as he departs, Secretary Perry should be recognized for the fine job he did, and he truly has the gratitude of the Senate and I believe all Americans for his service to the Department of Defense. As majority leader and as a long-time supporter of a strong national defense, I look forward to working with Bill Cohen as our new Secretary. Many people have voiced surprise that the President would make this decision, but I was not surprised. I knew that once he talked to Bill Cohen, he would have to be impressed, and in fact he was. He recognized him as an expert in defense and security policy. He is bright and capable. He will make an exceptional Secretary of Defense, and I am very proud of his confirmation today. I yield the floor, Madam President.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, let me thank the Democratic leader for his comments expressing his approval of the fact that we have moved these two very important nominees very quickly through the process. We had indicated to the President that we would try to do that and we would try to act immediately after his inauguration to confirm these nominees. We will continue to work on our nominations that we receive from the President in an expeditious manner. I am sure there will be some that will take a little longer. But we wanted to do these to make clear our good faith and our intentions to work with the President so he could have his Cabinet in place, particularly his foreign policy and national defense people. So thank you for your comments. We will continue to hopefully work that way.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Thank you, Madam President. I also want to thank the distinguished Democratic leader for his recognition of Senator Byrd of West Virginia.

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. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the President be immediately notified that the Senate has given its consent to the nomination and that the Senate then return to legislative session.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. I thank the Chair.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now return to executive session to consider the nomination of William Cohen, to be Secretary of Defense, and that the time on the nomination be limited to 20 minutes under the control of the chairman, Senator Thurmond, and 15 minutes under the control of the ranking member, Senator Levin, and following the conclusion or yielding back of the time, the Senate proceed to vote on the confirmation of Senator Cohen.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I ask that there now be a period for the transaction of routine morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each, noting that a number of Senators had hoped to speak before the vote on behalf of this nominee's confirmation. I know a few would like to get their remarks in the Record at this point. Others will want to introduce bills and speak on their legislation.

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I amend that consent to allow the Senator from Ohio to take 25 minutes, with the understanding that we have a few Senators who would like to speak first for not more than 10 minutes on behalf of this nomination.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, for the information of all Senators, we are pleased to announce that there will be no further votes today. The Senate will be in session tomorrow, Thursday, January 23, for a period of morning business, to continue the opportunity for Senators to offer bills and make statements on behalf of those bills. The Senate then is expected to recess over until Monday, the 27th, for a pro forma session only. No business will be transacted during Monday's session. The next time the Senate will be in session to conduct business will be on Tuesday, January 28, when we hope and expect that we will have another nomination ready to be voted on. It hasn't been completed yet, but we hope to continue next week with confirmation votes. After meeting with the Democratic leader, we will begin to also notify Members as to when we hope bills will be coming up and will be ready for vote.

Mr. LOTT

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

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LOTT. I ask unanimous consent that yesterday's proceedings of the inauguration of the President be printed in today's Congressional Record.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I yield the floor at this time.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. In order to put into perspective the concerns of the U.S. shipbuilding industry, it may be helpful to review some of the background leading up to this agreement. In 1981, the U.S. Government terminated its subsidy program to the U.S. shipbuilding industry. Thus, in 1989, the United States went to the negotiating table as the only nonsubsidizing shipbuilding country. The U.S. shipbuilding industry had already lost all of its commercial shipbuilding market share and was bracing itself for a dramatic decrease in Navy shipbuilding orders.

Mr. LOTT. When an agreement was finally reached in 1994, major U.S. shipbuilders expressed their objections with the terms of the OECD Shipbuilding Agreement before it was signed by the U.S. and other parties. These builders articulated to the Administration their concerns with the very generous transition concessions granted to the foreign signatories, the changing market conditions with the growing prominence of China, and the ineffective ``injurious pricing'' or anti- dumping provision--especially in light of South Korea's massive expansion of its shipbuilding capacity throughout the negotiations.

Mr. LOTT. Almost every signatory to this agreement--except the United States--was granted special transition subsidy authority for a period of 3 years. Many members of the House of Representatives and Senate do not understand why the title XI program should not continue under its current terms and conditions for a 3-year period given the agreements's special deals, exemptions, and transition programs in the billions of dollars for Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Germany, France and South Korea. This inequity in the transition rules is extremely detrimental to U.S. builders were disadvantaged for 15 years while they received no government subsidies in the face of billions by foreign governments. Moreover, without a 3-year continuance of title XI, U.S. shipbuilders would be three years further behind their foreign competition. This is unacceptable to the majority in Congress.

Mr. LOTT. As negotiations dragged on for over 5 years, the marketplace was changing dramatically and rapidly, while the objective of the negotiators seemed to remain static. There was a failure on the part of our negotiators to recognize these changes and the activities of the various participating parties during the negotiations. China, which had no commercial shipbuilding market in 1990, began to target shipbuilding to industrialize its economy. China now ranks third in the world for commercial shipbuilding, and it is not a signatory to this agreement. Other countries, such as the Ukraine and Poland, are also not covered by this agreement and have displayed a renewed interest in their shipbuilding sectors.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Madam President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that at 12 noon on Wednesday, January 22, the Senate proceed into executive session to consider the nomination of Madeleine Albright to be Secretary of State; further, that there be 2 hours of debate equally divided in the usual form on the nomination with an additional 10 minutes under the control of Senator Specter; that immediately following the expiration or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to a vote on the confirmation of the nomination; and, finally, that following the conclusion of the vote, the President be notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then return to legislative session.