Paul Wellstone

Mr. WELLSTONE

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. WELLSTONE

Mr. WELLSTONE. Will the Senator yield for a moment?

Mr. WELLSTONE. The Senator is correct.

Mr. WELLSTONE. The Senator is correct.

Mr. WELLSTONE. The accompanying report that would come out of committee would actually deal with the impact on children, not just on hunger or just on homelessness, but its impact on children, more broadly defined.

Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I will be pleased to yield to the Senator from Ohio.

Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the names of the following organizations that support this amendment be printed in the Record: The NAACP, Children's Defense Fund, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Food Research and Action Center, the National Council of Churches, and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. I ask that their names and the statements of these different organizations be printed in the Record.

Mr. WELLSTONE. I thank the majority leader. Mr. President, first of all, I very much appreciate what the majority leader said. This morning I did make it clear that I knew the majority leader had made a commitment to bringing this up and talked about May 31 being the original date that we wanted this to be effective. I take the majority leader's word very seriously. I think he is a leader of his word. Second of all, I know that the majority leader had said last week that there would be some additional work that might be done. This does not spell out the specifics of what the comprehensive gift ban legislation would be, but it says we should consider it no later than May 31. I want to make it clear that I have no quarrel with the majority leader whatever. This amendment is not about that. What this amendment is, is an amendment to put the Senate on record. Since I have been working on this for several years I just thought it would be important for the Senate to be on record essentially confirming what the majority leader has said. That way I know as a Senator that we will all be behind what the majority leader has already proposed. I would like to have in that spirit, not in a personal quarrel whatever, a vote on this, and I would hope that the majority leader would support me. I think we are all in agreement. It just puts the Senate on record behind what the majority leader has already recommended.

Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, before I offer the amendment, could I ask for order in the Chamber?

Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, might I inquire of the Senator from Iowa and the Senator from Ohio whether or not they intend to take a vote on this amendment right now. If not, I would like to go ahead with an amendment. I have been waiting on the floor for a number of hours. If so, I wonder if I could ask unanimous consent that after the vote, my amendment be then up on the floor.

Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I also ask unanimous consent that a statement of Women Academics Concerned About Welfare be printed in the Record.

Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, parliamentary inquiry. I never yielded the floor. Do I retain the floor?

Mr. WELLSTONE. I thank the Chair. I wonder whether the Senator will grant me a moment to thank the Senator from Arkansas. I just say to my colleague from Arkansas that I deeply appreciate his remarks, and I think, one more time, that this amendment is really an amendment that will attract and should attract bipartisan support. This is an extremely important message that we can convey today on the floor of the Senate. I thank the Chair. Ms. MOSELEY-BRAUN addressed the Chair.

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

Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, let me thank the Senator from Iowa. There is no Senator who knows these issues better. There is no Senator who is a stronger advocate for children. It is my honor to have him out on the floor speaking in behalf of this amendment. Mr. President, first of all, let me now send the amendment to the desk.

Mr. WELLSTONE. Knowing the Senator from Iowa well, I wonder if we could plan on 6:15.

Mr. WELLSTONE

Mr. WELLSTONE. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, before I send my amendment to the desk, let me one more time thank my colleague, the Senator from Iowa, for his leadership on this Congressional Accountability Act. I think it is a very important piece of legislation. I am certainly confident that by the end of the day we will indeed vote on this important piece of legislation and it will be a very strong affirmative vote. Mr. President, before I send my amendment to the desk, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be laid aside.

Mr. WELLSTONE. I thank the Chair, and I thank my colleagues.

Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I renew my request for the yeas and nays.

Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?

Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I understood the Senator from Iowa to say there would be a vote.

Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I would ask for the yeas and nays. I do want to have a recorded vote on it.

Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues. I will ask for the yeas and nays, and would like to have a vote on this amendment, and that vote take place at a convenient time. Mr. President, let me right now ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, for the moment I yield the floor, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WELLSTONE. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, let me just briefly give some background and talk about the amendment. This amendment essentially says is that it is the sense of the Senate that the Senate should consider comprehensive gift ban legislation no later than May 31, 1995. At the end of last week, the Senate defeated a tough comprehensive gift ban amendment that was offered by Senator Levin, myself, and Senators Feingold and Lautenberg. I regret that my Republican colleagues were unwilling to move forward on this piece of legislation which I think had everything in the world to do with congressional accountability. My Republican colleagues who opposed that amendment, even though many had cosponsored the same language just a few months ago, contended that it was more an issue of timing. But it did seem to me then and it seems to me now that if we could be ready to move forward this week on an extremely important piece of legislation dealing with unfunded mandates, that goes to the heart of the interrelationship between Federal and State and local governments, and goes to the very heart of what Federalism is about, we should be able to address this straightforward issue without a lot of further consideration. And if, in fact, my colleagues are willing to amend the U.S. Constitution with a balanced budget amendment with just a couple of weeks preparation, then it seems to me astounding that we are not willing to move forward on a very simple amendment that has everything in the world to do with reform, which just simply puts an end to this practice of accepting the gifts, perks, lobbyist-sponsored vacation travel, and the like offered by special interests. This amendment, Mr. President, simply attempts to put the Senate on record formally in favor of returning to this issue promptly and acting on tough gift ban legislation no later than the end of May 1995, which the majority leader has indicated it was his intention to do. Mr. President, the nice thing about this amendment is that it is consistent with the debate and the discussion that we had on the floor of the Senate last week. At that time, Senator Cohen, who has again provided a tremendous amount of leadership on these reform issues, said on the floor: ``I intend to give Senator Dole an opportunity to bring it up in a relatively short time,'' the gift ban. ``He has not given me a specific timetable, but I would say within the next couple of months, I expect we will consider this legislation and any amendments that might be offered to it--and I suspect there will be amendments. There are people on this side that still do not agree with the provisions that we supported.'' But, again, there will be action on this; it will be considered within the next several months. Senator Dole, the majority leader, came to the floor and said: I certainly commend the Senator from Michigan, Senator Levin, for his leadership. But we believe there are some changes that could be made even in the gift ban. This amendment would not be effective in any event until the end of May 1995. It would be my hope that by that time we will have even a better package. So I really am essentially following the lead of the majority leader with this amendment. As he pointed out, our amendment would not have become effective until the end of May. I simply think that it is time now for the Senate to go formally on record that, in fact, we will take action no later than the end of May. Mr. President, let me give this amendment a little bit of context, a brief history. Almost 2 years ago, we started dealing with this problem of gifts being lavished on Members of Congress from outside sources. And I had an amendment which simply said lobbyists had to disclose specifically what these gifts were. I said at the time it was a first step, and I meant that. Mr. President, that lobbying registration bill, with the amendment that I had to that bill, passed the Senate by a vote of 95 to 2. Months of waiting took place for the House to act on strong gift ban provisions as a part of the lobbying bill. Then, Senator Lautenberg, Senator Feingold, and myself introduced a tough, comprehensive gift ban bill. We introduced a tough, comprehensive gift ban bill. Senator Levin's committee then held hearings and reported out a solid, comprehensive, more refined version of our earlier gift bans bill. Under Secretary Levin's leadership, we were able to beat back Senate amendments which would have weakened the bill. That bill passed last May by a 95-4 vote. Prodded in part by this action, the House then acted on a reasonably tough version. A strong version came out of a House-Senate conference committee. Then the lobbying registration gift ban bill to which the gift ban was attached was killed in the last days of the session--I think based upon unfounded complaints by lobbying groups that were concerned about the registration part. Legislation that we brought forward to the Senate floor last week was very similar to a Senate-passed version last year, and to the conference report; that is to say, the amendment that dealt with gift bans. Now, Mr. President, on the merits of the gift ban, 37 Republicans, including the majority leader, cosponsored the same legislation. In other words, the wording of the amendment that we brought to the floor dealing with gift ban was essentially identical to the wording that the majority leader and 36 other Republican Senators had voted for last session. Now, as I wrap up my remarks, and I am about ready to send the amendment to the desk, I make an appeal to my colleagues. I believe my colleagues when they say we are going to act on this. I believe them. But I want to ensure that we do not let this gift ban amendment, this gift ban legislation, slip by in the legislative rush of this session. Again, this is a simple amendment. It puts the Senate on record in favor of acting on a tough, comprehensive gift ban legislation no later than the end of May 1995, precisely what the majority leader has called for. Mr. President, I do not think I need to again rehearse the substantive arguments in favor of enacting a tough, comprehensive gift ban. We have debated this legislation and we have debated this amendment more than once on the floor of the Senate. I will simply say this: The evidence is irrefutable that the giving of these special favors to Senators and Representatives has only added to the deepening distrust that citizens have of this political process, of this congressional process. Despite assertions by my colleagues that we are completely unswayed by trips or fancy dinners, such gifts give the appearance of impropriety, and they erode public confidence in the Congress as an institution. Mr. President, they erode public confidence in each of us, personally, as representatives of our constituents. I am sure many of my colleagues will agree that in any town meeting Senators hold, Senators hear about this and other reform issues from people in the country. They want to put an end to this practice, and clean up the system. Public trust in the Congress is at a historic low and demand for political reform is very high. Banning outside gifts would be an extremely positive signal that we could send to people in this country that we are serious about making this political process more honest, more open, and more accountable. Mr. President, the amendment that I now send to the desk reads: It is the sense of the Senate that the Senate should consider comprehensive gift ban legislation no later than May 31, 1995. This is what the majority leader called for. This is what I believe we talked about last week. I am disappointed we did not act to approve the actual gift ban at the very beginning of the session. But I intend to come back at this issue until we are done. I think it is extremely important that the Senate now go on record that we shall consider comprehensive gift ban legislation no later than May 31. One final time, Mr. President, for my colleagues: There is no hidden agenda to this amendment. It is very simple. It is very straightforward. As a matter of fact, it simply is a confirmation of a commitment that I believe we made last week. Now, I call on all of my colleagues, I call on the U.S. Senate, to go on record that the Senate should consider comprehensive gift ban legislation no later than May 31, 1995. Mr. President, I send the amendment to the desk.