Trent Lott

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, it would have to be on the list.

Mr. LOTT. I believe the Senator from New Mexico has two listed. I believe his amendment is one of these two that are listed.

Mr. LOTT. In light of the agreement, Mr. President, there will be no further votes tonight. The Senate will be considering the bill over the next couple of days, hopefully tomorrow as well as Monday, so that amendments can be offered and debated. The next votes will occur beginning at 11 a.m. on Tuesday. In addition, the lockbox votes are scheduled to occur at 2:45 p.m. on Tuesday. I urge Senators who have amendments to schedule floor time with the managers. Again, I hope there is no desire to try to drag this out through the week and not complete it. I do not think that would be fair to anybody. We have other work to do. Senator Daschle has assured me, as he just said, that he understands and wants to join in getting this done by next Thursday night or Friday morning. As we assess the situation, if it becomes necessary, I will be prepared to file cloture on Monday or Tuesday so we can finish this not later than Thursday night or Friday. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Rules Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 54, submitted by Senators Lott and Daschle, regarding committee expenditures, that the resolution become the pending business, it then be considered agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. Before the Chair rules on this request, I want to announce to the Senate that this resolution contains the entire committee expenditures for all Senate committees to continue funding through February 28, 2003.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I thank Senator Reid and staff on both sides of the aisle for making this possible. This really is an important achievement. We should understand that. It also guarantees our staff members will get their paychecks on time. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if I may respond to Senator Reid's inquiry, that was not part of the unanimous consent agreement, but that is the understanding on both sides of the aisle, that there should be a business meeting of the Rules Committee, and they should discuss matters that are pending and go forward from there. Yes, that is our understanding. I know the chairman will be accommodating that.

Mr. LOTT

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

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Armed Services Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Con. Res. 22 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

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 this resolution 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 10 a.m. on Friday, March 9. I further ask unanimous consent that on Friday, 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 resume consideration of S. 420, the bankruptcy reform bill. Let me say at this point I am serious about the desire for us to make some progress on the bankruptcy bill. There are amendments to be offered and debated during the pendency of the session tomorrow so that those matters can then be voted on next week. I do not believe that will happen, but I want to emphasize the opportunity is there. I am sure at some point next Wednesday we are going to hear hollering and complaining about the fact that there is not enough time to consider amendments that need to be offered. We are in session tomorrow. This is the business of the Senate, the business of the country. I hope Senators will take advantage of that opportunity on Friday and on Monday so that we can complete the work on this important legislation that has been considered repeatedly by the Senate. Nobody is surprised by what is in this bill. What we are going to have next week is everybody is going to dump out their baskets on this bill. That is unfortunate, but we will clean it up in conference and get this done because it is way overdue, and an overwhelming bipartisan majority of the Senate supports it. I further ask unanimous consent that at 12 p.m., Senator Lugar be recognized to speak for up to 30 minutes in morning business.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, all Senators should be aware that the Senate will convene on Friday on the bankruptcy bill. If amendments are available, they will be considered on Friday, but votes will be deferred over until Tuesday of next week. Amendments also can be offered or expect to be offered during the day on Monday. Under the previous order, votes ordered on Friday or Monday will occur on Tuesday at 11 a.m. and then there will be at least two votes at 2:45 p.m. after the weekly policy luncheons on Tuesday.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I now ask that the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order following the remarks of Senators Biden and Lieberman.

Mr. LOTT. I am happy to yield.

Mr. LOTT. Senator Reid, I appreciate you saying that. That is exactly what I was urging. There are over 100 amendments pending that have been suggested or listed by over 30 Senators. Some Senators may have other commitments tomorrow, may be in their States with legitimate and official business, but surely not all 30 Senators are gone. Friday would be a wonderful time to talk at great length on the great wisdom of any amendments that might be offered. I hope that happens. I thank you for urging Senators to do that. I yield the floor.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of H. Con. Res. 47, which is at the desk.

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 concurrent resolution be printed in the Record.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, today the Senate will consider Senate Joint Resolution 6, the ergonomics disapproval resolution. Under the provisions of the Congressional Review Act, there will be up to 10 hours of debate. A vote on the resolution is expected this evening or possibly during tomorrow morning's session. As a reminder, the Senate will recess from 12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. for the weekly party conference meetings. At the completion of the disapproval resolution, the Senate will resume consideration of the Bankruptcy Reform Act. I thank my colleagues for their attention and cooperation in this matter.

Mr. LOTT

Mr. LOTT. Pursuant to the Congressional Review Act, I now move to proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 18, S.J. Res. 6.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I understand the joint resolution is now pending and has up to 10 hours of debate to be equally divided in the usual form. I see there are Senators on the floor ready to go forward with this discussion. I yield the control of the majority's time to the assistant majority leader, the distinguished Senator from Oklahoma, Mr. Nickles.

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 am very pleased to see the Presiding Officer in the chair this morning. I ask unanimous consent that at 1 p.m. on Monday, March 5, the Senate begin consideration of an original bill reported out of the Judiciary Committee yesterday, S. 420, regarding bankruptcy reform. I further ask unanimous consent that consideration on Monday be for debate only, to be equally divided in the usual form.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I see no problem with that. I amend my request to indicate that we would begin at 2 p.m. on Monday, March 5 instead of 1 p.m.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, absolutely. I know the Senator from Minnesota has more than one amendment he would want to have debated and considered and voted on. I presume there will be other Senators who may have amendments they would like to offer. I hope we can set reasonable time agreements so that at some point we will get a vote on the amendments and that we will move through the amendments and not have just one or two amendments tie up a day or days. Certainly, I believe both sides will act in good faith and will be reasonable, and we want a full debate and votes. We intend to proceed in that way.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I also ask unanimous consent that all sponsors of S. 220 be considered as cosponsors on S. 420.

Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, let me respond in this way: At the beginning of a new session, particularly with a new administration, you do have to have time to get amendments or bills produced. They have to work through committees. The committees have to get organized before they can begin reporting bills, plus a lot of time is spent on confirmations. I am glad we are ready now, though, to go to serious legislation. Our colleagues should be on notice that the days probably will be long next week, and we will be having votes throughout the day Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, possibly even Friday. I can't project right now what will be required in that area. We may need to even go late in order to give Senators time to make their case on amendments and have votes. It is time to do that. I appreciate the help we have had in getting this bill ready for the floor.