Don Nickles

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I wish to thank all of our colleagues for their cooperation. We did finish the budget resolution by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, as we committed to do. That would not have happened if it had not been for the cooperation certainly of Senator Conrad and his staff. I wish to thank Mary Naylor and their entire team, as well as Hazen Marshall, Stacey Hughes, Beth Felder, and our team. The staffs had to work extremely hard over the weekend. This lasted about 2 or 3 days longer than is usual for the budget process. I hope maybe we can streamline it next year a little bit more. I thank all the staff for their hard work. They put in a lot of hours. We produced a product that is not perfect but it is a significant improvement over no budget. Again, I thank my colleagues for their cooperation. I ask unanimous consent that a list of staff Democrats and Republicans be printed in the Record.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a judicial nominations hearing on Wednesday, March 26, 2003, at 2 p.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226. Panel I: The Honorable Paul Sarbanes, United States Senator [D-MD]; The Honorable Barbara Mikulski, United States Senator [D-MD]; The Honorable Jeff Bingaman, United States Senator [D-NM]; The Honorable John Breaux, United States Senator [D-LA]; The Honorable Mary Lendrieu, United States Senator (D-LA]; The Honorable Kay Bailey Hutchison, United States Senator [R-TX]; The Honorable John Cornyn, United States Senator [R-TX]; The Honorable Blanche Lincoln United States Senator [D- AR]; The Honorable Mark Pryor, United States Senator [D-AR]; The Honorable George Allen, United States Senator [R-VA]; and The Honorable Billy Tauzin, United States Representative [R-LA-3rd District]. Panel II: Edward C. Prado to be United States Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit. Panel III: Richard D. Bennett to be United States District Judge for the District of Maryland. Dee D. Drell to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Louisiana. J. Leon Holmes to be United States District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Susan G. Braden to be Judge for the Court of Federal Claims. Charles F. Lettow to be Judge for the Court of Federal Claims.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I urge our colleagues to vote in opposition to this amendment. I understand from the Armed Services Committee they are opposed to this amendment. This amendment portends that it would increase funding for this particular purpose, but it does not. All any amendment says is, for this one function, we will increase it. The Armed Services Committee has not requested this. The President has not requested this. As a former National Guardsman who served, one does not receive health care for basically serving one weekend a month. When they are activated, they receive health care services. This function would increase spending, as well as taxes. The cost is an estimated $7,000 or $8,000 per year per guardsman or reservist. I urge my colleagues to vote no on the amendment. I ask unanimous consent that the rollcall vote be limited to 10 minutes on all subsequent votes and that the 10 minutes be strictly enforced.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I inquire from the Presiding Officer, how much time elapsed on that rollcall?

Mr. NICKLES. Just for the information of our colleagues, we are going to be tightening down substantially. I don't want people coming up and being mad at Senator Conrad and myself or Senator Frist or Senator Daschle if they missed a vote, but we are going to start cutting off these votes, just for your information. I yield to my colleague to call up the next amendment.

Mr. NICKLES. The Budget Committee should not be trying to write the prescription drug bill. Our colleague from Montana is on the Finance Committee. That is where this bill should be written. I yield to the chairman of the Finance Committee.

Mr. NICKLES. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, parliamentary inquiry: How much time was spent on that vote?

Mr. NICKLES. For the information of our colleagues, I am going to try to tighten this down closer and closer to 10 minutes, and we are going to cut people off. I don't want people to be upset, but we are going to have to do this. We made a commitment to plow through these amendments. I told our colleagues that is what we are going to do, and that is what we are going to do. So I urge my colleagues to stay on the floor. Amendment No. 411 (Purpose: To provide a substitute) Mr. President, this next amendment is a very important amendment. It is the substitute proposal offered by my colleague, Senator Conrad.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I compliment my colleague for having a proposal. Last year, we did not get to vote on a Democrat alternative; today, we will. It greatly increases taxes and greatly increases spending. I call upon my colleague from Nevada.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I appreciate the cooperation of the Chair. We are going to have a lot of votes, so it is going to be important for us to keep order in the Senate at all times. We are ready to consider an amendment by the Senator from Michigan.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, we do not rewrite the Tax Code in this bill. A lot of people have implied we do, but we do not. We have no objections to the amendment of the Senator from Michigan.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I yield to my friend and colleague from North Dakota to call up an additional amendment.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, last year the Armed Services Committee did a lot of good work in this field, and I compliment my colleague from Nevada and also the chairman from the Armed Services Committee and the Senator from Michigan for the great work they did last year. Concerning the pending amendment by my friend and colleague from Nevada, we have no objection to accepting the amendment by voice vote.

Mr. NICKLES. I yield back the remainder of time.

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

Mr. NICKLES. I object.

Mr. NICKLES. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, we are making good progress. I am a little concerned about bouncing around on which amendment is next. I urge my colleagues to vote no on this amendment. We have only voted on this particular amendment two or three times, maybe four or five times if you go back to last year. This would double the program from a 13-week program to a 26-week program. It would cost billions, $16.6 billion, I believe, in probably a year. According to GAO, there is $6.6 billion of an $8 billion block grant we gave to the States that they have not used. This is a very expensive amendment, in my opinion, not well thought out, not coordinated with States. High unemployment States already get up to 65 weeks in benefits under present law. This would extend it. It is very expensive. I urge my colleagues to vote no.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I think we will offer an amendment now. It will be the second one we have offered today. It will be offered by the Senator from New Hampshire, the chairman of the Health and Education Committee.

Mr. NICKLES. Regular order.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, for the information of colleagues, we were prepared to offer a second-degree amendment, but at the request of the minority leader we will not do that. I ask unanimous consent that the second-degree amendment we have prepared be eligible to be considered as an amendment on or in relation to immediately following the Daschle amendment.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I urge our colleagues to vote against this amendment. I understand there are a lot of problems in Indian Health Service. We have some of those in my State as well. It doesn't solve it by saying we should have an 86 percent increase in growth in this function. I understand the demands and needs, but percentage-wise this is too great. The amendment to be offered by Senator Murkowski will have at least a 10-percent increase. We have increased this function by millions of dollars in the last couple of years. I understand the demand. I urge colleagues to vote no on this amendment and in favor of the subsequent amendment to be offered by the Senator from Alaska.