[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 35 (Thursday, March 24, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: March 24, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
The Senate continued with the consideration of the concurrent
resolution.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee [Mr. Sasser] is
recognized.
Unanimous Consent Request
Mr. SASSER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate
return to the Harkin amendment No. 1578 that had been temporarily laid
aside.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Mr. COHEN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, may I
inquire as I understand the Cohen-Kerrey amendment was the one pending.
I think we can resolve that rather quickly.
Mr. SASSER. I withdraw the unanimous consent request.
Amendment No. 1582
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question does occur on amendment No. 1582,
which is the Cohen-Kerrey amendment. There is 27 minutes overall that
remains for debate.
The Senator from Maine, Mr. Cohen.
Mr. COHEN. Mr. President, for a number of reasons, I have decided to
withdraw the amendment that was offered earlier with Mr. Kerrey, which
calls for expedited rescission.
We are advised by the parliamentarian that the amendment will be
considered to be nongermane and, therefore subject to a budgetary point
of order. I would, of course, propose to waive this point of order,
however, doing so will require 60 votes.
At tis time, it seems unlikely that we would prevail on a 60-vote
point of order. Senator Kerrey and I, however, have reached an
agreement with the chairman and ranking member of the Budget Committee
to withdraw the amendment in exchange for commitment that the committee
would hold a hearing on expedited rescission legislation that Senator
Kerrey and I will soon introduce, and that we would be permitted to
testify.
Under those circumstances we would be willing to withdraw the
amendment and go forward at a later time with hearings on a
freestanding bill.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska [Mr. Kerrey] is
recognized.
Mr. KERREY. Mr. President, the Senator from Maine laid the case out
very well. If it would have been judged nongermane, it would be prudent
and important that it be heard.
I appreciate the offer of the distinguished Senator from Tennessee,
as I understand, to hold hearings on this as a freestanding piece of
legislation.
Mr. SASSER. I thank Senators.
I think this would be an excellent resolution of this problem,
particularly this late in the evening.
We will be pleased to hold hearings. I would advise my friend from
Maine and my friend from Nebraska that the distinguished President pro
tempore has indicated he wishes to be a witness at these hearings. We
will be accommodating him, also.
Mr. COHEN. Will we be required to appear en bloc before the
committee?
Mr. SASSER. I would just leave that decision to the Senators
themselves.
Mr. COHEN. I thank the Senator.
Mr. DOMENICI. Let me say I concur and commend him and, to the extent
I have anything to say about the hearings, we will join in trying to
get them held. I will be there.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.
Mr. COHEN. I withdraw the amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. That will require unanimous consent. The Chair
construes that as a unanimous consent request?
Mr. COHEN. Yes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
The Chair hearing none, without objection the amendment is withdrawn.
So the amendment (No. 1582) was withdrawn.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee [Mr. Sasser] is
recognized.
Amendment No. 1578
Mr. SASSER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate
return to the Harkin amendment No. 1578.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I regret
but I must tell you I have a Senator who asked that we defer that to
another time. He is trying to determine whether he wants to ask for the
yeas and nays.
I urge that the Senator do that, just set it aside for a while. I
think it will work out if we give him a little time on it.
Mr. SASSER. We will withdraw the unanimous consent request relative
to the Harkin amendment.
Mr. DOMENICI. I thank the Senator.
Amendment No. 1577
Mr. SASSER. We have also an amendment pending by the distinguished
Senator from Arizona [Mr. McCain].
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate return to the
McCain amendment No. 1577 that has been temporarily laid aside.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair will inform the floor managers that
that is the pending question.
Mr. SASSER. Has all time been yielded back on that amendment?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time has expired.
The yeas and nays have been ordered.
The Senator from New Mexico.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I have been authorized to ask unanimous
consent that the yeas and nays be vitiated.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Without objection, the yeas and nays on amendment No. 1577 are
vitiated.
The question occurs on the amendment.
The question is on agreeing to the amendment.
The amendment (No. 1577) was agreed to.
Mr. SASSER. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
Mr. DOMENICI. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair will inform the floor manager the
question now occurs on the Harkin amendment No. 1578.
Mr. SASSER. Mr. President, a parliamentary inquiry.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator will state it.
Mr. SASSER. I was under the impression that the Harkin amendment had
been laid aside. Did we not propound the request to do that?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee is partially
correct. It had been requested to be laid aside, but by virtue of the
disposition of the previous amendments it now is the pending question.
Mr. SASSER. Mr. President, I would ask that the Harkin amendment be
temporarily laid aside, and we will follow our usual rotation here,
which would mean it would be the minority side's turn to bring up an
amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the request?
Without objection, the request by the Senator from Tennessee is
agreed to.
The Senator from New Mexico.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I say to Chairman Sasser we have three
amendments: Senator Gramm of Texas on immigration, Senator Specter on
drugs, and Senators Jeffords, Ford, and Brown on special education.
We thought they were each going to have 10 minutes. I am not sure
there are 10 minutes remaining for each of those amendments.
I wonder if we might inquire how much time, and the Senator might
agree to some lesser time so they each have an opportunity to offer the
amendments.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair will inform the Senator there are 20
minutes remaining.
Mr. SASSER. I would be pleased to agree to less time in order to
accommodate those Senators.
Now, on our side I think Senator Nunn has an amendment that is
dealing with the entitlements, Senator Graham also has an amendment
dealing with entitlements, also, a sense-of-the-Senate resolution
dealing with entitlements.
Senator Pryor and Senator Simon have an amendment dealing with the
Internal Revenue Service.
I believe those are the only amendments on our side.
How much time is remaining, I might inquire of the Chair?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair would inform the Senator from
Tennessee that there are 19 minutes and 45 seconds remaining.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, might I ask, the Senator said somebody
had an IRS amendment. Is that treating the funding for IRS outside the
budget? Is that the amendment?
Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, if I may respond on behalf of Senator
Simon, who I do not see on the floor, I think Senator Simon's amendment
is the amendment the Senator from New Mexico was referring to. I have
worked with Senator Simon on some amendments that I believe will be of
a safeguarding nature.
Mr. DOMENICI. I understand.
Mr. MITCHELL addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.
Unanimous-Consent Agreement
Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate
resume consideration of Senate Concurrent Resolution 63 at 10 a.m. on
Friday, that the following be the only amendments remaining in order to
the concurrent resolution, and that each of the amendments be limited
to 10 minutes for debate, with all time equally divided in the usual
form, with relevant second-degree amendments limited to the same time
limitation as the first-degree amendment to which it is offered: an
amendment by Senator Harkin, a sense of the Senate regarding Department
of Defense; an amendment by Senator Gramm of Texas regarding
immigration; an amendment by Senators Jeffords and Brown regarding
education; an amendment by Senator Specter regarding drugs; an
amendment by Senator Nunn regarding entitlement caps; an amendment by
Senator Nunn regarding walls; an amendment by Senator Graham of
Florida, a sense of the Senate regarding control of entitlements; an
amendment by Senators Simon and Pryor regarding the Internal Revenue
Service; an amendment by Senator Dorgan, a sense of the Senate
regarding Canadian wheat; that upon the disposition of these
amendments, Senate Concurrent Resolution 63 be temporarily laid aside
and the Senate then proceed to Calendar Order No. 387, House Concurrent
Resolution 218; that all after the resolving clause be stricken; that
the language of Senate Concurrent Resolution 63, as amended, be
inserted in lieu thereof, and that all time on the resolution be
yielded back; that upon the adoption of House Concurrent Resolution
218, the Senate insist upon its amendment and request a conference with
the House on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses; and that the
Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Rockefeller). Is there objection?
Mr. DOMENICI. Reserving the right to object, I think Senator Nunn is
willing to strike one of his two amendments, an amendment identified as
the walls amendment.
Mr. NUNN. That is correct. I will take that off.
Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. President, I modify my request to delete the Nunn
amendment regarding walls.
Mr. DOMENICI. Further reserving the right to object, I did not
understand what the Senator said about a wheat agreement?
Mr. MITCHELL. There is an amendment by Senator Dorgan, a sense of the
Congress regarding Canadian wheat.
Mr. DOMENICI. I understand I have to inquire about that. If the
Senator will take that off and do the rest, I will inquire right now.
Mr. MITCHELL. The problem is, if I take it off and the agreement is
approved, I could not put it back on.
Mr. DOMENICI. You could inquire about it.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Rockefeller). The clerk will call the
roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. President, I renew my request.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Mr. DOMENICI. I have no objection.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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