John McCain

Mr. McCAIN

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk on behalf of Senator Coverdell.

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I thank Senator Dorgan for this amendment. Senator Dorgan has been, for at least 10 years I know, deeply concerned about this whole issue of essential air service. Although essential air service has increased funding, still we are not having medium-sized and small markets being served as they deserve. I thank Senator Dorgan for the amendment. It has been agreed to by both sides. I don't believe there is any further debate.

Mr. McCAIN. Thank you, Mr. President. All we have now remaining is the managers' amendment, which will be arriving shortly. Then I will have a request on behalf of the leader for FAA passage, and the parliamentary procedures for doing so.

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, there is no further debate on the amendment.

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I know of no further amendments to be offered to S. 82 other than the managers' package. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the debate and vote in relation to the Robb amendment. I further ask unanimous consent that following the vote in relation to the Robb amendment, the managers' amendment be in order, and following its adoption, the bill be advanced to third reading.

Mr. McCAIN. According to the previous unanimous consent amendment, there was 5 minutes for Senators Bryan, Warner, Robb, and 5 minutes for me. I don't intend to use my 5 minutes because I know that the Senator from Nevada can far more eloquently state the case.

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order to ask for the yeas and nays on passage of the House bill.

Mr. McCAIN. I now ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, therefore, two back-to-back votes will occur within a short period of time, the last in the series being final passage of the FAA bill. I thank all Senators for their cooperation. Before I move on to the debate on the part of Senator Bryan, Senator Robb, Senator Warner, and myself, I will ask that the Chair appoint Republican conferees on this side of the aisle as follows: Senators McCain, Stevens, Burns, Gorton, and Lott; and from the Budget Committee, Senators Domenici, Grassley, and Nickles. I hope the other side will be able to appoint conferees very shortly as well so that we can move forward to a conference on the bill. I understand the Democratic leader has not decided on the conferees. But we have decided ours. I see the Senator from Nevada. I yield the floor.

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, in light of the fact that Senator Warner just arrived and Senator Robb has not arrived, I ask unanimous consent that we stand in a quorum call for approximately 5 minutes, and that will give Senator Warner time to collect his thoughts. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Hatch and others, I send an amendment to the desk.

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

Mr. McCAIN. I yield 3 minutes of my time to the Senator from West Virginia, Mr. Rockefeller.

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time be counted against my time under a quorum call.

Mr. McCAIN

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Roth, I send amendment No. 1925 to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, that amendment has been accepted by both sides, and there is no further debate.

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Connecticut for his usual perspective on an important issue that had escaped the attention of this committee, and it is an important issue. His involvement in the Y2K issue clearly indicates he is qualified to discuss this issue, and this amendment will be extremely helpful. I thank the Senator from Connecticut. I believe there is no further debate on the amendment.

Mr. McCAIN. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, for the benefit of my colleagues, we are working through most of the amendments. We are close except for a couple. We have a number that have been agreed to. I would like to clear some that have been agreed to by both sides. Amendment No. 2256 (Purpose: to establish a commission to study the airline industry and to recommend policies to ensure consumer information and choice)

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I send to the desk an amendment on behalf of Senator Burns and Senator Ashcroft.

Mr. McCAIN

Mr. McCAIN. If the Senator will yield, he knows full well that for the last several months--in fact, ever since he came to this body--the Senator and I have been discussing this issue. It has nothing to do with any Presidential campaign or anything else. The Senator should know that and correct the record.

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I won't go through them all. This is a very important bill. In this very contentious and difficult time concerning balanced budgets and funding for other institutions of Government, this authorization bill has been brought up by the majority leader, not by me. I hope it is fully recognized. I repeat, the Senators from Virginia, Senator Warner and Senator Robb, Senator Mikulski, Senator Sarbanes, Senator Durbin, and Senator Fitzgerald's predecessor, all worked together on this issue. We need to work this out and we need to have this authorization complete. I hope we can get that done as soon as possible. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, it is my understanding that there is now some 304 amendments that are germane that have been filed by the Senator from Illinois. Obviously, that is his right under the rules of the Senate. I would like for the Senator from Illinois to understand what he is doing. This is a very important piece of legislation. It has a lot to do with safety. The Senator from Illinois should know that. He is jeopardizing, literally, the safety of airline passengers across this country, perhaps throughout the world. I will relate to the Senator what he is doing. Before I do, I think he should know there are strong objections by the Senators from Virginia, the Senators from New York, and the Senators from Maryland, concerning this whole issue of slots and the perimeter rule--but particularly slots. We have been able to work with the Senators from these other States that are equally affected. It is very unfortunate that the Senator from Illinois cannot sit down and work out something that would be agreeable. I want to tell the Senator from Illinois, again, this is very serious business we are talking about. We are talking about aviation safety. This is the reauthorization of the Aviation Improvement Program. It requires fixed-wing aircraft in air commerce to be equipped with emergency locator transmitters; it provides broader authority to the FAA to determine what circumstances warrant a criminal history record check for persons performing security screening of passengers and cargo; it extends the authorization for the Aviation Insurance Program, also known as war risk insurance, through 2003; it requires all large cargo aircraft to be equipped with collision avoidance equipment by the end of 2002; it gives FAA the authority to fine unruly airline passengers who interfere with the operation or safety of a civil flight, up to $10,000 per violation; it authorizes $450,000 to address the problem of bird ingestions into aircraft engines; it authorizes $9.1 million over 3 years for a safety and security management program to provide training for aviation safety personnel. Mr. President, I have three pages. I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the Record.

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.