Don Nickles

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I believe the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Mr. Lugar, has an amendment.

Mr. NICKLES. Education.

Mr. NICKLES. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, the amendment offered by the Senator from Massachusetts would not only gut the growth package, it would gut the amended growth package, the Breaux bill. It cuts it in half. I urge our colleagues to vote no. I yield the remainder of our time to the Senator from New Hampshire.

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

Mr. NICKLES. Madam President, as Senator Conrad and I both stated a couple times, we do not write the tax bill. That is going to be up to the Finance Committee. That being said, we have no objection and are happy to accept the amendment by voice vote.

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

Mr. NICKLES. I object.

Mr. NICKLES. Madam President, we already dealt with whether we should tax Social Security. I call upon my colleague from Kentucky.

Mr. NICKLES. Madam President, the pending amendment offered by our colleague from Indiana, Mr. Bayh, proposes to create a sense of the Senate which is precatory and thus not germane. This language is not germane to the measure now before the Senate. Therefore, I raise a point of order under section 305(b)(2) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

Mr. NICKLES. Madam President, for the information of our colleagues, I thank all Members of the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, for working together. Senator Conrad should be complimented as well. We worked hard to finish the resolution under the agreement we made to finish it by 4 o'clock tomorrow, and we will finish it by 4 o'clock tomorrow. We may well finish it before 4 o'clock. I thank all colleagues for their cooperation in doing so. For the information of colleagues, we will have one additional rollcall vote tonight, an amendment by Senator Cantwell. That will be the last rollcall for tonight. We will announce the schedule tomorrow after consulting with the majority and minority leaders. But I do thank all our colleagues for their cooperation. It has been a very productive day.

Mr. NICKLES. Madam President, this amendment would increase spending by $678 million. I might mention, we have $6.6 billion of $8 billion in a block grant that has not even been used yet by the States. Madam President, I yield the remainder of my time to the Senator from Pennsylvania.

Mr. NICKLES. Regular order.

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, Senator Conrad and I would now like to see if we can clean up a couple other amendments that we have basically agreed to. I believe the Senator from Ohio, Mr. DeWine, has a couple sense-of-the-Senate amendments that we are willing to accept.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, we have no objection to the amendment. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of it.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I compliment my colleague from Ohio for his amendment. I urge my colleagues to accept it.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk on behalf of Senators Hatch and Levin.

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

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, this is a sense-of-the-Senate amendment stating that $20 million in drug interdiction funds shall be used for drug addiction treatment programs that utilize substances that block the craving for heroin and that are newly approved for such use by the FDA.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

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

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I might later go into what the amendments were. I think right now I would like to complete this day. It has been a long day, but a productive day at least, working our way through the amendments. For the information of our colleagues, I believe there are eight amendments still pending on the Democratic side. We worked through 32 amendments. We still have a few amendments pending on the Republican side. I am not sure if any of those will require a rollcall vote-- possibly one or two, maybe more, but I doubt it. So we are well positioned to complete action, as we committed to do, by 4 o'clock tomorrow afternoon. I thank all of our colleagues. I think the tenor of the debate was positive. I did not agree with the outcome on one or two of the amendments, but that is part of the legislative process. Amendment No. 425

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period for morning business.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, March 26. I further ask that following the prayer and the pledge, the morning hour be deemed to have expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and there then be a period for morning business until 11:30 a.m., with the time equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. I further ask that at 11:30 a.m., the Senate resume consideration of S. Con. Res. 23, the budget resolution.