[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 25 (Wednesday, March 9, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 9, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      NATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS ACT

  The Senate continued with the consideration of the bill.
  Mr. HOLLINGS. Let me thank the distinguished Senator from Kansas for 
her cooperation and leadership, even though I happen to be on the 
minority side here. My only wish is that she had been handling this 
bill today instead of me. Then there would not be any amendments and we 
would have long since had this bill over to the House and our work 
would be through. All Senators have the highest respect for the 
distinguished Senator from Kansas.
  I thank Senator Metzenbaum, Senator Heflin, and other members of the 
Judiciary Committee for their cooperation and forbearance and 
understanding on this particular matter, and I do thank the leadership 
on both sides of the aisle for working this out.
  Once again I commend my distinguished colleague from Kansas on her 
excellent work, even though I regret it.
  Mr. President, I understand perhaps on the pending amendment right 
now by the distinguished Senator from Mississippi there is some kind of 
work being done with respect to that amendment. I emphasize again my 
gratitude to Senator Lieberman, the junior Senator from Connecticut, 
for his outstanding work and help in fashioning this particular 
measure.
  If you remember, we have had more bills than you can think of 
relative to competitiveness. There has been a general frustration 
boiling up within the Congress itself over the past 15 to 20 years, 
actually, because we could see we were losing out in the productivity 
of the United States--not by the individual industrial worker, still 
the most productive in the entire world, but by the Government in the 
system as found in our deficit in the balance of trade over the past 12 
to 15 years. As a result, we have all tried to come in with a separate 
initiative relative to Sematech, we have come in with trade measures 
relative to Super 301.
  But we thought within the Government itself, watching our competition 
where, in the Pacific rim where the Governments pay for all the 
services--that is not our intent here. Our intent is to take at the 
initiative of industry for advanced technological research to support 
it only on the approval of the best of peer review organizations and 
the National Academy of Engineering.
  Within it all, and the leadership relative to competitiveness on both 
sides of the aisle, the Senator from Connecticut [Mr. Lieberman] has 
been nothing less than outstanding. So I appreciate his contribution in 
trying to get us back on track to the major bill. I am going to do my 
best to talk to the Senator from Kansas and see if she will replace me 
here and start moving this bill so we can get it on over to the House 
side.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  Mr. LEAHY. Will the Senator withhold?
  Mr. HOLLINGS. Yes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont [Mr. Leahy].
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I know that efforts are underway to try to 
reach some type of accommodation with the distinguished senior Senator 
from Mississippi and his amendment. I discussed it briefly with him 
this morning. As chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, I share 
his concerns, but I have a feeling these are things that are workable.
  I could not support the amendment in the way that it was originally 
placed. I feel it is not germane to S. 4. The distinguished Senator 
from Mississippi knows my concerns on that. I will just note for him 
and for the distinguished chairman of the Commerce Committee, Senator 
Hollings, that in the Agriculture Committee, to whatever extent this 
may help, I am happy to work with him.

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