Arlen Specter

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. We are ready to proceed on the votes on the two amendments pending by the Senator from Massachusetts when Senator Reed concludes. I thought perhaps we should notify the Members that the first vote will start at approximately 4:55. I thank my colleague from Rhode Island for yielding. I thank the Chair.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, a few minutes ago we gave notice to Members we would have a vote at 4:55 and it is now 4:57. I move to table the Kennedy amendment on teacher enhancement, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Abraham be recognized to offer his amendment, that immediately following the reporting by the clerk the bill be laid aside until 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, and at that time Senator Abraham be recognized to make his opening statement on the amendment.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I have been authorized by the leader to say that in light of this last agreement there will be no further rollcall votes this evening.

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, on behalf of the leader, I ask unanimous consent the Senate now proceed to a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up to 5 minutes.

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet at 9:30 a.m., on Wednesday, October 6, 1999, in open session in SH-216 and in closed session in SH-219, to receive testimony on the national security implications of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the full Committee on Environment and Public Works be granted permission to conduct a hearing Wednesday, October 6, 3 p.m., to receive testimony from Skila Harris, nominated by the President to be a member of the board of directors, Tennessee Valley Authority; Glenn L. McCullough, Jr., nominated by the President to be a member of the board of directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority; and Gerald V. Poje, nominated by the President to be a member of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, October 6, 1999, at 10 a.m. and 2:15 p.m., to hold two hearings.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, the Committee on the Judiciary requests unanimous consent to conduct a hearing on Wednesday, October 6, 1999, beginning at 2 p.m., in Dirksen Room 226.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Wednesday, October 6, 1999, at 9:30 a.m., on the Cruise Ship Tourism Development Act of 1999.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, the Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism and Government Information requests unanimous consent to conduct a hearing on Wednesday, October 6, 1999, beginning at 10 a.m., in Dirksen Room 226.

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I congratulate the distinguished Senator from Maine, Ms. Collins, for offering this amendment. I agree with her that the amendment will appropriately focus attention on the problems of diabetes, especially among the young people in America. I thank Senator Collins for noting the work of the subcommittee and the full committee in moving ahead with funding on this important ailment and, as she noted, with the very strong language that is present in the bill encouraging the National Institutes of Health to move forward. I think it appropriate to note for the record that on June 22 of this year we had a special hearing on diabetes. At that time, we had testimony from officials at the National Institutes of Health, the Director, Dr. Harold Varmus; Dr. Phillip Gorton, the Director of the Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; as well as a number of others. It is very important to put a human face on the issue, as Senator Collins did with the specific reference in her speech to the youngsters. At that time, we had coming forward the celebrity, Mary Tyler Moore, a juvenile diabetic; Mr. Tony Bennett, the famous singer, the grandfather of a child with diabetes; Mr. Alan Silvestri, a composer and father of a child with diabetes; and also our distinguished colleague, Senator Strom Thurmond, who has a daughter with diabetes. It is a curious factor, but a fact of life nonetheless, that when people of celebrated stature come and testify, there is more public understanding of the ailment and more willingness to face up to it in the appropriations process. In order to carry forward on what this sense-of-the-Senate resolution requests--and I feel confident in predicting it will pass 90-something to nothing; the only open question is how many Senators will be present to vote for it; I think it will be a unanimous vote, but our ability to carry that forward depends upon what we appropriate. In the bill currently pending, we have an increase in NIH funding of $2 billion. That is a tremendous sum of money. We have a bill which is $4 billion higher than last year's bill, with the funding coming largely for education, where we have an increase of $2.3 billion. In assessing the priorities in education, we have put in more than $500 million more than the President's request. We have in excess of $35 billion for education. When it comes to health care, Senator Harkin and I have taken the lead in adding $2 billion, as we did last year. When we have assessed those priorities, it has made it necessary to reduce funding on some other proposals. I found myself in a very unique position in managing this bill. I have voted against amendments I never voted against before. I voted against an amendment to add $200 million on class size, which I would like to have supported. The bill continues the funding at $1.2 billion. If we added the $200 million on class size, in addition to the $1.2 billion, there would not be room for funding for NIH, for programs such as diabetes. Then we had an amendment come up on afterschool programs, again, a request for $200 million more. There is $200 million in the current budget, and Senator Harkin and I took the lead of adding $200 million to bring it to $400 million. I would like to have more for afterschool programs, but I had to vote against that amendment, because if we add $200 million more to afterschool programs, it has to come from some place. And NIH is a big target out there. The amendment adding the $200 million for afterschool programs was offered by the Senator from California, Mrs. Boxer. Then Senator Dodd offered an amendment to add about $900 million more to day care. I have always supported. But again, when you have a bill of $91.7 billion, which is at the breaking point as to what this body will pass--and I think there is a question as to whether we will have 51 votes for that because it is a lot of money, although staying within the caps--again with great reluctance, I could not support Senator Dodd's amendment on day care. Then we had a very important social service block grant, again where it is a matter of priorities. When it comes to health, I believe there is no higher priority. I have said with some frequency that the National Institutes of Health is the crown jewel of the Federal Government--perhaps the only jewel of the Federal Government. In my position as chairman of the subcommittee, which has the baseline responsibility to fund the National Institutes of Health--and Senator Harkin has the same consideration--we receive requests constantly from people who have Parkinson's--we had a hearing this week on Parkinson's disease. We had a hearing on prostate cancer, a special concern on breast cancer, heart ailments, a very large number of unknown diseases. I said on the floor yesterday that Senator Harkin is very frequently lobbied when he gets on the plane between Washington and Des Moines. I find a lot of people with unique ailments on the Metroliner between Washington and Philadelphia. As Senator Collins has brought forward the issue this morning, I think it is a very profound message. But to accomplish what Senator Collins seeks, we have to appropriate the increase of $2 billion. Even then, if there are 10 doors with research projects behind them, 7 of those doors will not be opened, even with funding NIH at a level of $17.6 billion. So again, I thank my colleague from Maine--carrying on the great tradition of Maine Senators. I yield the floor, leaving her the remainder of the time before 9:30 to close. Ms. COLLINS addressed the Chair.

Mr. SPECTER. I do, Mr. President. The hour is 9:30. I think we are set for the vote.

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. On behalf of the leader, I have been asked to announce that we will now begin 30 minutes of debate on the amendment offered by the distinguished Senator from Maine, Ms. Collins, regarding diabetes. Following that debate, the Senate will proceed to a vote on the amendment at approximately 9:30 a.m. The Senate is expected to continue consideration of the Labor-HHS bill during today's session. Senators who still intend to offer amendments to the bill are encouraged to work with the managers to schedule time for those amendments. Following the Labor-HHS bill today, there will be a period of morning business. The leader advised me last night that the Senate will be proceeding to other business on Monday and Tuesday and that we will return to the Labor-HHS bill on Wednesday. There are a great many amendments pending. As the chairman of the full committee announced yesterday, it is his intention, and for that matter, mine, too, to challenge any amendments which violate rule XVI; that is, to offer legislation on an appropriations bill. I encourage all Senators to consult with me or have their staffs consult with committee staff to work out time agreements and sequencing so that when the amendment is called we can move to it as promptly as possible. The leader called my attention to the fact that following next week's session, we will be on the holiday for Columbus Day, so there may be some motivation for people to want to get the Senate business in order to be concluded as promptly as possible before the start of that 3-day weekend. I thank the Chair.

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. I thank the distinguished President pro tempore.

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, let me comment at the outset what a great pleasure it is to see you opening the Senate again this morning, looking hale and hardy. We keep moving the time earlier and earlier; but no matter how early it is, you are always here first.

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I commend the Senator from Oklahoma for the sense-of-the-Senate resolution. I think it is meritorious. It has been cleared by the ranking member on the Democratic side.

Mr. SPECTER. Then in our sequence, we have an amendment by the Senator from Oklahoma. Mr. INHOFE addressed the Chair.

Mr. SPECTER. I thank the Senator from Nevada.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, will the Senator from Nevada, Mr. Reid, give me his attention? We have a sense-of-the-Senate resolution to be offered by Senator Inhofe; and then we have 10 minutes for an amendment to be offered and then withdrawn. We need consent to set aside your amendment. Or perhaps you are ready to withdraw that amendment? Amendment No. 1807, Withdrawn

Mr. SPECTER

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I think the bill in its present form has the appropriate balance between conciliation and enforcement. In the last 5 years, enforcement has declined $3 million, from $145 million to $142 million; conciliation has grown from $3l.5 million to almost $41 million, an increase of 30 percent. I think the bill as written is proper. I might add that it does not unduly prejudice the case on the merits, and if the Enzi amendment is not tabled under the unanimous consent agreement, Senator Wellstone has leave to file a second-degree amendment with 15 minutes to argue it, to be followed by another rollcall vote.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, reluctantly, I am opposed to the amendment, which would add some $900 million to this bill. There have been substantial increases on child care and on child care entitlement. If we have $900 million added to this bill--which is now at $91.7 billion--it is the log that breaks the camel's back. I think it is a very good program, but in establishing priorities, we have already allocated very substantial funds to this line. Therefore, I am opposed to the amendment and I move to table.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, in order to save time, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the motion to table.