Rick Santorum

Mr. SANTORUM

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

Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with.

Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I yield 3 minutes of time to the Senator from Texas, [Mr. Gramm].

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. SANTORUM. I understand there may be such cases that you mention. But I think the broader point is whether, when we have people who have violated their responsibilities to their children, we should now create a separate Government program to train them for jobs or create jobs for them. I understand there may be circumstances where people, well- meaning, could not pay their child support. But at the same time, you want to set up a program because they have done that, apart from someone else who may be paying their child support and working two and three jobs to make sure they keep up. We do not help them at all, or train them, or do anything for them. That is a bad precedent. We should not be providing this kind of money for people who are shirking the responsibilities of their children.

Mr. SANTORUM. I thank the Senator. I just say that in addition to the billion dollars this spends, I question the rationale behind this. What this amendment says is, if you are a noncustodial parent you are eligible to participate in the job training and employment programs of the State. And you are eligible, if your child is receiving welfare, or if you are a noncustodial parent that owes past child support, even if you are a deadbeat dad. So if you are a father who does not support his kids and they are on welfare, or you do not pay child support, we will put you in a job training program or give you a job. I question that we are going to spend $650 million of new money on providing job training for deadbeat dads. You can say we are going to bring families together. This is a nice benefit for someone who is doing something you do not want them to do. I do not think we should be rewarding people who are turning their backs on their children. I think that is questionable. The other portion of the bill--and I know this is a lengthy amendment and has many different sections. I know there is one here that has the $50 pass-through, which is the first $50 of child support paid by a father, who is in arrears on his child support, goes directly--excuse me, the mother is on welfare, goes directly to the mother, not the State, to offset the benefits the State is paying the mother. This is something that is in current practice. Every State child support agency tells us that this is not a good provision. It does not help fathers or encourage fathers to pay any of this child support. It is simply $50 that the State does not get that they are now paying as an offset for AFDC. This is not proven to be incentive. It does not work. It is something that we, at their suggestion, have dropped in the Dole amendment, and now they are trying to put it back in, and it costs money and does not provide incentive to pay back child support or child support to somebody on welfare. The cost is a billion dollars. We are going to be providing jobs and job training to deadbeat dads, fathers who allow their children to go on welfare. And there is the $50 pass-through. I think this, again, may be well-meaning. We may want to help fathers get back with their families and bring families together, but I do not think providing money to deadbeat dads for job training is the way I would go about doing it.

Mr. SANTORUM

Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, September 14, 1995, to conduct a hearing on the status and effectiveness of the sanctions on Iran.

Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Government Information of the Committee of the Judiciary, be authorized to hold a hearing during the session of the Senate on September 14, 1995, at 2 p.m. to consider the Ruby Ridge incident.

Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs Subcommittee of the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, September 14, 1995, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Energy Production and Regulation of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be granted permission to meet during the session [[Page S 13624]] of the Senate on Thursday, September 14, 1995, for purposes of conducting a subcommittee hearing which is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. The purpose of the hearing is to consider S. 1014, to improve the management of royalties from Federal and Outer Continental Shelf Oil and gas leases, and for other purposes, and S. 1012, to extend time for construction of certain FERC licensed hydro projects.

Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be granted permission to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, September 14, 1995, for purposes of conducting a full committee hearing which is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. The purpose of this hearing is to review S. 1144, a bill to reform and enhance the management of the National Park Service, S. 309, a bill to reform the concession policies of the National Park Service, and S. 964, a bill to amend the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 with respect to fees for admission into units of the National Park System.

Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be allowed to meet during the Thursday, September 14, 1995, session of the Senate for the purpose of conducting a hearing on public broadcasting.

Mr. SANTORUM

Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with.

Mr. SANTORUM

Mr. SANTORUM. Let me say there is always an excuse not to deal with this issue. If we do not adopt this amendment, there will be nothing on illegitimacy in this. We have heard great speeches, what an important problem this is. If we do not reject the Jeffords amendment, there will be nothing in this bill to deal with what everybody thinks is the most pressing problem that we have to face. We should quit finding excuses to do nothing.

Mr. SANTORUM. I yield back the remainder of my time.

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

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

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

Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I rise to say we accept the amendment, as modified, and allow the Senator to continue with the adoption of the amendment.

Mr. SANTORUM

Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I have heard some speeches on the floor of the Senate and this ranks right up there. I do not know how you say--when the leader here is negotiating, in good faith, to in fact add more money into the child care fund--that somehow or another we are denying the fact that we need child care, and have Members on the other side who insist on having their name sketched next to the child care money, to throw out an agreement to do just that. I think that is not cooperation by any stretch of the imagination. To also suggest that somehow we provide day care for workers here in the U.S. Congress and that we are not willing to do so in the welfare bill--maybe the Senator does not know it, but the people who have children in day care pay for that with the hard-earned dollars that they work for.

Mr. SANTORUM. We will and have been working. I object to the fact that the Senator from Massachusetts stands up and says we are giving free day care here in the Congress, and we are providing it for our folks when, in fact, they pay for that day care, and that we are unwilling to give it to people on welfare, when, in fact, we are going to be giving day care to people on welfare. I just think you are mixing who is paying for what. The fact of the matter is, people working here paying for their day care are paying taxes to subsidize the people that we want to provide day care for under the welfare bill. Let us get it straight. I am willing, as other Members on this side are, to put some more money in for day care so that people can get off of welfare. But do not try to suggest that somehow we are providing perks to Members here that we are unwilling to give on welfare. Exactly the opposite is the truth. I yield the floor. Mr. DOLE addressed the Chair.

Mr. SANTORUM

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

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

Mr. SANTORUM. My understanding is the two leaders are meeting. In fact, I believe they may be meeting as we speak, and we are trying to find an agreement on the legislation before the Senate.

Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the period of time for morning business be extended until 4:30 under the previous unanimous consent request.