Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a markup on Thursday, April 26, 2001, at 10 a.m. in Dirksen Building Room 226.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Special Committee on Aging be authorized to meet on Thursday, April 26, 2001 from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. in Dirksen 562 for the purpose of conducting a hearing.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Communications, of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, be authorized to meet on Thursday, April 26, 2001, at 2:30 p.m. on spamming.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Forests and Public Lands of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 26, at 2:30 p.m. to conduct an oversight hearing. The subcommittee will receive testimony on the energy implications of the Forest Service's Roadless Area Rulemaking.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Seapower of the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, April 26, 2001, at 2 p.m., in open session to receive testimony regarding strategic airlift and sealift imperatives for the 21st century.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure be authorized to conduct a hearing to receive testimony on budget oversight on the Corps of Engineers program for FY02 on Thursday, April 26 at 9:30 am.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 77, submitted earlier by myself and Senator Daschle.

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 any statements relating thereto be printed in the Record.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations reported by the Foreign Relations Committee today: Paula Dobriansky to be an Under Secretary of State; James Andrew Kelly to be an Assistant Secretary of State; Andrew Natsios to be Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. I further ask unanimous consent that the nominations be confirmed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, 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 the Senate now proceed to the consideration of H.R. 256, which is at the desk.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until the hour of 2 p.m. on Monday, April 30. I ask unanimous consent that on Monday, immediately following the prayer, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate then begin a period of morning business until 3 p.m. with Senators speaking for up to 10 minutes each, with the following exceptions: Senator Durbin or his designee from 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., Senator Thomas or his designee from 2:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. For the information of all Senators, the Senate will convene at 2 p.m on Monday. Following 1 hour of morning business, we will begin debate on the motion to proceed to S. 1, the education bill. Cloture was filed on the motion to proceed to the bill on Thursday, today, with a vote scheduled to occur at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday. An agreement on the nomination of John Robert Bolton is being discussed, and it is hoped that debate and confirmation can occur prior to lunch on Tuesday. Senators should be aware that there will be no votes during Monday's session. Having said that, the remainder of the week will be extremely busy in an effort to complete action on the education bill and hopefully the budget conference.

Mr. LOTT

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I know there have been a number, more or less, of opening statements or statements with regard to education in America in the hope that we can move forward on a very important education reform bill that has been requested by President Bush and has been worked on in our Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. The bill was reported out overwhelmingly some months ago. At that point, negotiations began between Republicans on the committee, Democrats on the committee, and the administration. I had the impression that good progress had been made. That is as it should be. Education is a very high priority in America with the President and with the Congress but, most importantly, with the American people. I have stated in this Chamber many times before how importantly I view education. In my State of Mississippi, we are struggling mightily to improve the quality of our education to make sure that quality education is available to all of our students. We are truly working on the idea that no child should be left behind. We had a $100 million contribution from Jim and Sally Barkesdale for fourth grade reading only in my State. We are now at a point where we have 50 schools that have been approved for the Power-Up Program where students from the fifth grade to the eighth grade have access to privately donated computers with specifically trained teachers on how to teach these children to use them to learn to read. This program allows them to become computer literate and improve their reading skills. Now we have unique programs in my State for fourth graders, and fifth through the eighth grade for reading alone. We are focusing on where there is a tremendous need. That story can be replicated all across America. In addition to that, I am a son of a schoolteacher. She taught for 19 years before she got into bookkeeping and eventually into radio announcing. So I care a lot about education. I worked for the University of Mississippi in placement and in the financial office for the alumni association and for the law school placement bureau. I have been involved in working with guidance counselors and teachers and promoting education generally. I care mightily about this. As a Member of Congress for 29 years, I have watched us try to have a constructive role from the Federal level with the States and local school officials. We have put billions of dollars into trying to be helpful from the Federal level. The number is well over $130-plus billion for title I since I think 1965. As we poured more and more money from the Federal level into local education, the test scores have continued to slide downward. There is something missing. Money alone is not the answer. Money is part of the answer. We need to put more funds at the local, State, and Federal level into education, but we need more than that. We need fundamental reform. We need flexibility. We need accountability. We need to make sure the children are learning to read and to do math. We need to know we are getting results for the efforts that are put into this important area of education. We need to make sure teachers have the training they need to do the job, and that there are more and better programs to make sure we have teachers who have been taught how to teach the use of computers. We have computers in backs of classrooms and in hallways that aren't being used because they do not have teachers who are trained or qualified to teach their usage. We need more progress for our teachers. We need accountability for teachers. Testing is something I have struggled with a little bit. We need to have a way to know how our students are doing. I worry about a national testing system. But the President has convinced me that there must be some sort of testing mechanism with a lot of local discretion, and it must occur regularly, not just sporadically. There is much we can do in this area. I had been prepared to and have been under the impression that we were going to be able to move on the education reform package on Monday of this week. But there was an objection to the motion to proceed. My attitude was, fine, we will begin talking about the issue and emphasize its importance, and surely we can go to the bill on Tuesday. Tuesday came and went. Even though great progress was made on negotiations and reform and movement on the money issue, there was still no agreement to go forward on the bill. Now here we are on Wednesday. Each time I have called and talked to the Democratic leader, I have had the impression that he would like to move forward, but, he was just not quite ready yet. I understand what is occurring. Leverage is being applied on the President to try to get more money, and to get a commitment to spend more and more money. It is obvious what is happening. But I don't think that is the responsible thing to do. I think we should go forward with the bill. In the past I have been criticized because I wouldn't move to a bill and just said let's let the Senate work its will. Let's have amendments. Let's have votes. Some amendments win; some lose. In the end, you have a product, and then you vote and go forward. I am being told until a total agreement is reached, we cannot go forward. I do not understand. Education is the highest priority in America with the President, the legislative branch, the States, the Governors, local school officials--everybody--and here we are. We stand, and we wait. We are ready to go to the bill. Let's take it up. Let's have a free- flowing debate. Let's have amendments. Let's have votes. Let's do our job. Yet I am told we cannot even proceed to the bill. Well, I am going to be patient. I am hoping that by this afternoon we can at least proceed to this bill. It was reported unanimously out of committee. Let's go to the underlying bill. We can have some amendments offered. Then, if there is agreement between all the parties, the manager can offer an amendment, and we can amend that. So I say to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, let's begin. Let's do our job on education. We have had enough time. We should have done the bill in February. But I was told by the committee it was not ready. Then I was told we were making progress. And then it was reported out overwhelmingly. Everybody was happy. We are ready to go, and yet here we are and we cannot go forward. So rather than just at this point mark time, I thought it was important that we go forward and try to take up another bill while we hope that some agreement can be reached and we can move forward on the education bill. I talked to the chairman of the committee that has jurisdiction over the brownfields legislation. I had thought maybe there would be a need to go to this legislation as we were getting ready to go home for the Easter period. I indicated to the chairman I thought it would be necessary for him to be prepared to go forward. He is ready to do so. So I think I am going to ask for an agreement I believe the Democratic leadership is agreeable to this that we would go forward with this legislation which affects all of our States, a lot of communities. This is some reform legislation that hopefully will allow more of these brownfields to actually be cleaned up and not just be a lawyers' enhancement act. This will be a plus for the institution and it will get us some results. I believe we can do this in a couple hours and we would be prepared to have a vote at about 2 o'clock or so. I inquire of the chairman of the committee, is your counterpart ready?

Mr. LOTT. I see the Senator from Nevada.

Mr. LOTT. I thank the chairman and the ranking member for the work they have already done and for being ready to go to this bill on short notice.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at 11:15 today the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 19, S. 350, the brownfields legislation, and it be considered under the following limitation: There be 2 hours of debate equally divided between the two managers, and no amendments be in order to the bill other than a managers' amendment. Finally, I ask unanimous consent that following the use or yielding back of time, the managers' amendment be agreed to, the committee substitute be agreed to, the bill be read a third time, and the bill then be temporarily set aside with a vote occurring on passage at 2 p.m. today, with no intervening action or debate. Mr. REID addressed the Chair.

Mr. LOTT. I modify my request so that we would begin then at 11:25, to allow Senator Byrd to go forward with his statement between now and then.

Mr. LOTT. Yes.

Mr. LOTT. I am not sure I understand what the request is.

Mr. LOTT. That would be fine.

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

Mr. LOTT

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