Arlen Specter

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. On the time of the votes that are about to occur, I remind my colleagues of what Senator Lott said earlier today in response to what the Senator from Nevada said, that Senators need to be prepared to have the time limits enforced. Vote On Amendment No. 3690

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the second vote be limited to 10 minutes.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. SPECTER. It is.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Nickles amendment be modified to be formatted as a first-degree amendment and that a vote occur on the Nickles amendment, to be followed by a vote on the Dorgan amendment, with no amendments in order to the amendments prior to the votes. I further ask unanimous consent that the debate prior to the vote be 45 minutes for Senator Nickles and 45 minutes for Senator Dorgan.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, it appears it will be faster to accept Senator Daschle's recommendation, so I do so.

Mr. SPECTER. Let us proceed with the vote, Mr. President.

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, has time expired for the other side?

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Conrad amendment and the Ashcroft amendment each be considered amendments in the first degree; that there be 30 minutes for Senator Conrad, 20 minutes for Senator Ashcroft, and that there be votes on both of their amendments with no point of order being permitted, and that the time of the votes be determined later in the day by agreement of the leaders.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I commend the Senator from Tennessee for this amendment. It is a worthwhile amendment. It is a relatively small sum of money. We are prepared to accept it, as we have accepted a number of amendments where the funds are not too high, and where we can offset it against administrative costs. I believe this one can be held in conference. I can't make an absolute commitment because we are going to have to balance this along with many others on the administrative cost line. But I think it is meritorious. We are trying to meet the leader's deadline of final passage by midafternoon, and in the interest of time and the value of the amendment, we are prepared to accept it.

Mr. SPECTER. What I would like to do would be to establish a parameter. This is the kind of subject which we could usefully debate for several days. I would like to see what our amendment is on this side. We can compare them. Then we are in a position to have a discussion as to how long we ought to spend. If we are to finish this bill this afternoon or even today, we are going to have to move through this amendment. We have other complicated amendments coming up.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, if I might interrupt the distinguished Senator from Missouri for a moment?

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

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, we have asked people on our side who have worked on this in the HELP Committee to come over. We believe this amendment addresses important considerations and the objectives are very valid: to stop discrimination in employment and in health coverage. What we would like to do is have an opportunity to propose a second- degree amendment and then to arrange an orderly debate and have the votes. That is going to take a few minutes for us to accomplish. In the interim, it is our hope that we can move along and get a short time agreement on the Ashcroft amendment, to present that and conclude it. By that time, our people will be in a position to present the second-degree amendment. We can figure out a time agreement and move ahead.

Mr. SPECTER. We just had an offer of 10 minutes.

Mr. SPECTER. I suppose we then have 30 minutes. I discussed 1 hour equally divided with the Senator from North Dakota, so you would have 30 minutes and 20 minutes on the other side?

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, might I inquire of the Senator from Nevada how long he would like to stay on it--for 15 more minutes?

Mr. SPECTER. On or in relation.

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

Mr. SPECTER. We would have two votes then on the two competing amendments: One on the Ashcroft amendment, and one on the Conrad amendment.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Missouri. We were conferring about the last amendment so I was unable to be on the floor when this debate started. We are interested in a time agreement. I have just discussed the matter with the Senator from North Dakota, who has the second-degree amendment. It would be in the managers' interest to see if we could limit debate to 1 hour equally divided on the first-degree and second-degree amendment, and then have votes on both amendments.

Mr. SPECTER. If it is acceptable to the Senator from North Dakota. I hadn't discussed that with him earlier.

Mr. SPECTER. I ask the Senator from Missouri, would 15 additional minutes satisfy you on your side?

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, if I might respond, we want to come back to the Daschle amendment with the second-degree amendment. We want to come back to the Dorgan amendment. We have a Helms amendment. I urge that we defer these votes until later when we can have 10-minute votes. Perhaps we can get the majority leader to crack the whip, and, as the Senator from Nevada suggested, stay on the floor and limit them to 10 minutes, if we are going to finish this bill by midafternoon.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I think we are now prepared to go ahead with the Ashcroft amendment and the Conrad amendment. We propounded a unanimous consent before, but I will repeat it. There will be two votes on amendments, each treated as a first-degree amendment. The first vote will be on the Conrad amendment in regular order. The second vote will be on the Ashcroft amendment. There will be no points of order raised. Senator Ashcroft will have 20 minutes because he already had time to speak. Senator Conrad will have 30 minutes to speak. I ask unanimous consent.