Richard Lugar

Mr. LUGAR

Mr. LUGAR. The request that we made to the Chair is that they be relevant to the legislation before us.

Mr. LUGAR. I have to respond to the Senator, on behalf of our leader, Senator Lott, that it needs to be relevant to the legislation. The Chair might be asked to rule on that or might not be asked to rule on that. I understand the Senator, and I am attempting to be accommodative. The importance of what he has to say is obvious. But if the Senator could achieve both of his objectives within an hour of time, perhaps we could proceed on that basis.

Mr. LUGAR. I pledge to the Senator not to raise a point of order. To reiterate, I ask unanimous consent that we have a Kohl amendment with a limit of 30 minutes; a Kennedy statement with a limit of 30 minutes; and the Senator from Minnesota, with a total of 1 hour for either a statement or an amendment, or a motion, as the case may be.

Mr. LUGAR. All right. Three elements: the sense of the Senate for 1 hour, the Kohl amendment for 30 minutes, and the Kennedy statement for 30 minutes. Mr. President, these would be the only permissible amendments.

Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, further, I ask unanimous consent that these amendments have equal division of time and be considered in the usual form, and that no motions to commit or recommit the bill be in order, and following disposition of the above amendments, or the yielding back of time, the bill be advanced to third reading. I further ask consent that following third reading of the bill, the Senate proceed to the House companion bill, H.R. 2559, and all after the enacting clause be stricken, the text of S. 2551, as amended, if amended, be inserted, the bill be advanced to third reading, and passage occur, all without any intervening action or debate.

Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, before I ask for the ruling, let me ask the leave of my colleagues and that Senator Jeffords be recognized for 30 minutes on an amendment on our side. I have just been advised that the Senator may have an amendment.

Mr. LUGAR. The amendment would be relevant.

Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, finally I ask unanimous consent that following passage of the bill, the Senate insist on its amendments and request a conference with the House.

Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I am advised by the distinguished minority leader that, of course, I will be in a position to name conferees on our side, and he also will be in a position to do so. My hope would be, as I am certain it is his, that we could proceed to conference with the House as rapidly as possible. Mr. President, I thank the Chair. I thank the distinguished minority leader and all Senators who have helped us in this. We are now prepared to offer the managers' amendment;

Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I send the managers' amendment to the desk.

Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I know of no debate on the managers' amendment. I ask the Chair to pose the question.

Mr. LUGAR. I thank the Chair. The bill is now open for the amendments that have been designated in the unanimous consent agreement.

Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, let me say that I appreciate very much the words of the Senator from Minnesota. I think his tribute to the farmers who came is certainly appropriate and very moving. The Senator has obviously worked to make certain that meeting was constructively successful. I assure the Senator that the voices in the meeting have been heard and, clearly, we were prepared to move on this legislation. But it is a part of the action that we must take to provide a stronger safety net. I feel that we will do so today. I am confident we will move this bill appropriately. Very clearly, there is much more we need to do. I say to the Senator from Minnesota and my colleague from North Dakota that I know from the income on my own farm last year that it was down. It was down the year before from the year before that. I suspect I am one of the few Members who keeps the books, who tries to settle with the family members. I understand prices and difficulties. I am looking at this from the standpoint of a 604-acre farm, and that is not untypical of many farms in my State and the Senator's State. Our problems are profound but not beyond solution. I look forward to working with the Senator. At this moment, I am prepared to say on our side we accept the amendment, and we certainly want to see it approved by acclamation. Before I make a further comment on that, may I take a moment to say that I am hopeful that the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts, Mr. Kennedy, is approaching the floor, and likewise, the Senator from Wisconsin, Mr. Kohl, who have statements or amendments for which time has been provided, so we might proceed. I have received word from the majority leader that he proposes that any rollcall votes that might occur with reference to this legislation happen tomorrow morning. At some point, he will be offering a unanimous consent request or make an announcement that would be appropriate on that point. So I am hopeful we will have further debate soon. But for the moment I commend the Senator and I indicate support on our side. I hope his amendment will be taken by acclamation and with praise.

Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I ask that the vote on the amendment be postponed until tomorrow. My understanding is that the majority leader will be prepared to add provisions for the debate the Senator has suggested--perhaps 2 minutes to a side--and I will offer assurance to the Senator that I will make that recommendation to the leader.

Mr. LUGAR. I thank the Chair. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I have been advised that in our colloquy obtaining unanimous consent we indicated that additional language from Senators Leahy, Torricelli, Schumer, Rockefeller, Reed, and Kennedy would be made part of the managers' amendment. Apparently, some further editorial work needs to be done to incorporate that language in the managers' amendment. I ask unanimous consent that we have an opportunity and the right to add the language that fulfills the obligation we made.

Mr. LUGAR. This will tidy up the housekeeping regarding the managers' amendment. I mention for the record, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the managers' amendment before us brings the crop insurance bill into compliance with the budget resolution in that spending in the bill is below $6 billion. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LUGAR

Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, a beloved gentleman, Herman Wells, the former president of Indiana University, has passed away. We are thoughtful about Herman Wells in our State of Indiana, as are all Americans who were touched by this remarkable man. I have mentioned the legion of Hoosiers who have talked about the profound and inspirational influence of Herman Wells on Indiana University and on individual student lives. Herman Wells made a big difference in my life. He chaired the Indiana Rhodes Scholar Selection Committee in 1953, which included, at the same time, President Fred Hovde of Purdue and Byron Trippett, the president of Wabash. This committee sent me to the scholarship finals in Chicago, where ultimately I was successful. During the past 46 years, I visited frequently with President Wells about that selection committee, about our first meeting. He wrote about it in his memoirs. He has been extraordinarily supportive throughout that period of time in all of my aspirations. I thank President Wells for all the opportunities we had to work together for Indiana University and for my State. I thank him for the extraordinary vision he had for this country. I counted on his counsel and his generous enthusiasm. I will miss him very much, as will all Hoosiers.

Mr. LUGAR

Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, let me simply respond quickly to the very specific points the distinguished Senator has made. Hunger relief continues to be a top priority for the Agriculture Committee. That will always be the case. One priority should be that States should have the flexibility they need to determine how vehicles are counted under the Food Stamp Program since States know best about the transportation needs of the families. The Senator has mentioned that is one of the points he has. We strongly commend that idea. We look forward to working with the Senator and with others. I wish to take advantage of this opportunity simply to say that in my own State of Indiana I have been visiting food banks, four very substantial efforts in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Evansville, and in Lewisville, serving nine Indiana counties. The reason for my doing that is that the demands for food from these food banks and from the food pantries that they serve have increased very substantially during the last year. This is counterintuitive to many Americans, but not to the Senator from Massachusetts who has highlighted that in his remarks today. In part, it comes because of a transition from welfare to work. A number of individual Americans--and a 7-State survey pointed out--these individuals have, in fact, accepted jobs. A majority of those who were on welfare rolls in Indiana have moved into jobs. But for most of these people, the incomes, on an annual basis, are somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000 to $15,000. Many have substantial families. They have moved from welfare but not out of poverty. The survey found that 50 percent of these families had extended families. They went, as we would, to their kinfolk. They were able to gain food during desperate periods. The other half essentially went to food banks; thus the increased demand. I have offered a modest piece of legislation, which the Finance Committee is now considering--I hope they will consider it carefully-- that further codifies the tax exemption given to companies that already are given an exemption for food contributed to food banks but extends that to partnerships or proprietorships, to individual entrepreneurs, restaurants and others, as well as to farmers and ranchers, many of whom make these generous contributions now. It is in recognition of a very substantial need. There has been great support, at least in my State, for meeting the needs of those who have them. Clearly, reforms of the Food Stamp Program are very important in the same regard and for the same reason--the many Americans who face problems of hunger. The Senator is certainly correct; the distribution problem, the equity problems, are profound. But those are ones we must deal with, and I thank the Senator for taking the floor today for this important colloquy.

Mr. LUGAR. I fully agree with my friend from Massachusetts that hunger relief needs to be a top priority for the Agriculture Committee, and resources should be found to address the problem. I am especially concerned that states have the flexibility they need to determine how vehicles are counted under the Food Stamp Program, since states know best what transportation families need to work and to safely transport their children.

Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts for that colloquy. In completing at least the unanimous consent list of amendments, the distinguished Senator from Wisconsin, Mr. Kohl, has offered an amendment which is in the form of language he has presented to me. I ask unanimous consent that the Kohl amendment be made a part of the managers' amendment.

Mr. LUGAR. I further ask unanimous consent that Senator Grams of Minnesota be added as a cosponsor to the Kohl amendment which is now part of the managers' amendment.

Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, this completes the amendments list. At this point, I yield the floor to Senators who wish to speak on the bill.