[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 11 (Thursday, January 19, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1140-S1146]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
UNFUNDED MANDATE REFORM ACT
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will now
resume consideration of S. 1, which the clerk will report.
The bill clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 1) to curb the practice of imposing unfunded
Federal mandates on States and local governments; to
strengthen the partnership between the Federal Government and
State, local and tribal governments; to end the imposition,
in the absence of full consideration by Congress, of Federal
mandates on State, local, and tribal governments without
adequate funding, in a manner that may displace other
essential governmental priorities; and to ensure that the
Federal Government pays the costs incurred by those
governments in complying with certain requirements under
Federal statutes and regulations, and for other purposes.
The Senate resumed consideration of the bill.
Pending:
Committee amendment No. 11, beginning on page 25, line 11,
pertaining to committee jurisdiction.
Gorton amendment No. 31 (to committee amendment No. 11) to
prohibit the approval of certification of certain national
history standards proposed by the National Center for History
in Schools.
Levin/Kempthorne/Glenn amendment No. 143, to provide for
the infeasibility of the Congressional Budget Office making a
cost estimate for Federal intergovernmental mandates.
Bumpers amendment No. 144 (to amendment No. 31) to
authorize collection of certain State and local taxes with
respect to the sale, delivery and use of tangible personal
property.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there shall now be
30 minutes for debate to be equally divided between the Senator from
Idaho [Mr. Kempthorne] and the Senator from West Virginia [Mr. Byrd].
Who yields time?
Mr. KEMPTHORNE addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.
Mr. KEMPTHORNE. Mr. President, I yield time to the assistant majority
leader.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.
Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished Senator from Idaho
for yielding this time to me. I want to again commend him for the work
he has been doing on this very important piece of legislation and for
the patience and diligence he has exhibited over the past several days
as we have crawled toward final passage of this unfunded mandates
legislation.
We have now spent 5 very full days discussing procedures and
unrelated matters on this very important legislation. That is the way
the Senate works. It is a very deliberative body, and that is the way
it has been historically.
I do want to urge my colleagues this morning to allow us to move
forward, to debate seriously this very important legislation and to
start dealing with germane amendments--amendments [[Page S1141]] that
really do relate to the substance of this bill.
A lot of charges have been made that this legislation was being moved
too quickly. This obviously is not the case. The distinguished majority
leader has exercised a lot of patience and has allowed all the time
that Members could possibly want to bring up amendments, even unrelated
amendments, and debate them at great length. We have spent 5 entire
days, and, yet, we are only beginning to discuss the serious parts of
the pending bill. This pace certainly could not be considered rushing
the bill through to judgment.
Further, this legislation is not a new concept. Senator Kempthorne,
Senator Roth, Senator Glenn, and others, have been working on this
legislation for 2 years. Senator Kempthorne has personally worked with
our Nation's Governors, mayors, and local legislators, as well as the
White House, to craft a bill that would accommodate all concerns. So
the document before us represents a carefully drafted and extensively
researched and debated piece of legislation.
It has been charged that we did not have a report on time when it was
brought to the floor. But now the reports are available. Members have
had time to study these reports: Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday,
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. So certainly there has been time now to
read and reread the reports and to study the bill.
I think it is time we begin to move forward toward final passage of
this very important legislation.
I hope that there will be a vote in support of the cloture motion
today so we can get to the consideration of germane amendments. Members
would not be prohibited from offering the amendments they have filed.
There will be plenty of time for extended debate on those amendments,
and then we could get to the point where we can finally consider final
passage.
One of the things I suggest to our colleagues today is to call home.
Check with your Governors, your county commissioners, your mayors, your
small business men and women. Ask them what they think about the
unfunded Federal mandates they have been dealing with. Ask them how
much it has been costing. Ask them about the harm unfunded mandates
have done--the tax burdens, the delays and the numerous other problems
these unfunded mandates have inflicted upon counties, cities, States,
and businesses.
The Washington Post reported today that 74.2 percent of State
municipal leagues cited unfunded mandates as the most vexing issue
local government faces, in a survey released by the National League of
Cities. Numerous government and business organizations have endorsed
unfunded mandates legislation, including the National Governors
Association, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Association of
Counties, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the
National Conference of State Legislatures, the National School Board
Association, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
These groups represent the men and women across this country who are
on the front lines, at the State and local level, fighting to do their
jobs. They are urging Congress to examine more carefully the mandates
that we place upon them. This legislation just establishes a process so
we can seriously consider what we should do with these unfunded
mandates and a way we can block them if they are not going to be
properly funded.
The American people are asking us to move this much needed
legislation. My prediction is that we will get to final passage of this
legislation sometime, if not later this week, next week. But why must
we delay the serious consideration of important and germane amendments
to this legislation? Especially when we all know this bill will pass
with overwhelming bipartisan support. Even President Clinton has called
for enactment of unfunded mandates reform legislation.
So I just thank the Senator for yielding me this time. I urge my
colleagues to vote for this cloture motion and allow us to move forward
toward completion of this important legislation.
I yield the floor.
Mr. KEMPTHORNE addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.
Mr. KEMPTHORNE. Mr. President, I appreciate greatly the comments of
the assistant majority leader. How much time is remaining on our side?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Eleven minutes.
Mr. KEMPTHORNE. Mr. President, I yield myself 7 minutes.
The vote Senators will cast today reflects their determination to
establish a new partnership with our State and local and tribal
governments and a better working relationship with the private sector.
Mayors and county commissioners, Governors and school board officials
and the private sector understand the significance of this vote.
This vote is the first test of Senators' commitment to reform
Washington's dominance of State and local government. For too long
Congress has been far too willing to merely pass the bill and then pass
the buck to the States and localities, but the ultimate billpayer is
the same weary American taxpayer.
This is a cloture vote on S. 1. S. 1 is nothing but a process to
address a rational commonsense way to the long overdue problem of
unfunded mandates. What this vote means is that Senators are willing to
start voting on key issues related to this legislation. We will get on
with the business of 30 hours of debate, debate on amendments that are
germane to S. 1, debate on the specifics of the bill, debate, if you
will, on what S. 1 is all about, which is unfunded Federal mandates.
Yesterday, Mr. President, as you know, we discussed for a number of
hours education standards and abortion clinic violence--very important
issues. But S. 1 is simply about unfunded mandates, and it is time to
focus our attention on this very important issue.
S. 1 has two simple concepts: First, the National Government should
know and pay the costs of mandates before imposing them on State and
local governments.
Second, the National Government should know the costs and the impacts
of mandates before imposing them on the private sector.
I support the decision of majority leader, Bob Dole, to have this
cloture vote. Senators on the other side, as has been pointed out, say
that Republicans are rushing this bill; that we are moving too quickly;
that we have not had a full debate; that there are serious issues to
resolve. But Governors, mayors, and county commissioners believe the
opposite is true. They say Congress has taken too much time and
mandated and forced them to raise local taxes and cut local services
and raise property taxes too much. I agree. I know from personal
experience as a former mayor what unfunded mandates do. Federal
mandates divert scarce local resources to Federal priorities, not local
priorities. Mandates raise property taxes.
Ben Nelson, a successful Democrat Governor of Nebraska, I think
summed it very well when he said:
I was elected Governor, not administrator of Federal
programs for Nebraska.
I also know from personal experience as a Senator the difficulty of
passing reform legislation. I know the months spent last year trying to
craft a bipartisan bill and then to see the delays that kept last
year's bill from coming to the Senate floor, the effect that nongermane
amendments had in preventing that bill from coming to the floor and
being voted on.
I know the efforts I extended to seek what ought to be routine Senate
approval of committee amendments, many offered by Democrats, that were
all adopted unanimously by the committees. But as late as last night,
we could not get agreement to adopt the remaining committee amendments.
I know the Senators I have talked with this week encouraging them to
bring their amendments to the floor so that we can debate them so that
we can vote on them. But I know there are many side issues that have
been at play and situations. These are important issues all on their
own, but debating those issues only slows down the effort to put in
place a process to identify the costs of mandates and have Congress pay
for them.
So it is time to move ahead and to focus debate on S. 1, a dynamic
and fundamental change in the process of reestablishing a working
partnership with our States and localities. S. 1 is bipartisan
legislation. S. 1 is supported [[Page S1142]] in this body and in the
House of Representatives. S. 1 is supported throughout the Nation. The
adoption of S. 1 can serve as a launching pad for other bipartisan
legislation in this Congress and, therefore, Mr. President, I urge
Senators to vote for cloture on S. 1.
I yield back the remainder of my time to our side.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time?
Mr. BYRD addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, how much time remains on the debate prior to
the vote?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia has 15 minutes.
Mr. BYRD. And the other side has?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. It has 6 minutes.
Mr. BYRD. I thank the Chair.
Mr. President, first let me compliment the managers of the bill on
both sides, each manager, both managers. They have been very courteous,
very understanding, and I have been impressed by those managers.
This cloture vote, may I say to my friends on both sides, is nothing
but a blatant attempt to shut the minority out of the chance to amend
this legislation. That is right, I say to the Senator from New Mexico.
Just as there was an attempt to shut the minority out of offering their
views in both the Budget Committee and the Governmental Affairs
Committee, now we see the same tactics employed on the Senate floor.
There is a supreme arrogance about operating in this manner. We are
being told by the majority: Do it our way or it will not be done at
all.
This is a massive, complicated bill. There are major questions about
its impact on the private sector, about its impact on the consideration
of future legislation in terms of points of order, its possible cost,
the ability of the Congressional Budget Office to make the required
estimates, constitutional questions, and agency bureaucrats making
decisions that elected officials ought to be making.
The people need to hear these things debated, and we Senators have a
responsibility to make sure that this legislation is understood, not
only by the American people but also by ourselves. How can we serve the
people if we give up our right to debate and amend? We came here to
represent our constituents. How does one serve those constituents if
one simply acts like a doormat, if the minority acts like a collective
doormat when it comes to the thorough consideration of legislation?
I for one cannot be a party to this slam-dunk process. I may vote for
the legislation in the final analysis. I do not have any doubt that it
will pass overwhelmingly at some point when it is fully debated and we
have had an opportunity to amend it. I do not have any doubts that it
will pass, but there are problems with this bill and those problems
need to be addressed. Blind justice may be fine, but blind legislating
is dangerous. And with this type of rush, this rush agenda, make no
mistake about it, we are flying blind.
I hear a lot of talk about the so-called Contract With America. Well,
apparently there is a lot of fine print in that contract that somebody
around here does not want to read. They want to rush it through. Do not
read the fine print. The American people need to know what is in that
hard-to-read fine print, and the American people's elected
representatives in the Senate and House need to know.
I wish to know a great deal more about this bill before I cast my
vote on it. Let us put some sunshine into this process by allowing
amendments and full debate on those amendments. Let us not pull down
the blinds, slam the doors, and shut the American people out of the
debate. They have had enough of the arrogance of power. They do not
want any more of daddy knows best. That is the attitude from
Washington, DC, the daddy-knows-best attitude. The American people do
not want that.
When the minority is denied their right to question, to amend, to
debate, then the American people are being denied their rights as well.
I have stood for the rights of the minority heretofore, as Senators
will know, when I was in the majority and when I was in the minority.
And when the minority is denied that right to question, to debate, and
to amend, then the American people are denied their rights as well.
They are being denied their right to have important legislation
thoroughly debated and debugged and made better.
That is all that we in the minority are asking. The Senate is the
only place where that kind of careful consideration can occur, but the
procedure of ramming legislation through the committees and through the
Senate is the very antithesis of what the Framers and our earlier
forebears in this Senate had in mind when they crafted the concept of a
Senate with unlimited debate.
Mr. President, I reserve the remainder of my time. How much time do I
have remaining?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has 8 minutes remaining.
Mr. BYRD. I thank the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. And the Senator from Idaho has 6 minutes.
Mr. KEMPTHORNE. Mr. President, I yield 3 minutes to the chairman of
the Budget Committee.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, first I wish to thank the Senator who is
managing this bill for the outstanding job he has done. I once again
commend him not only for the management but for his leadership.
Mr. President, I have great respect for the institution of the
Senate. Perhaps at this point in time I have too much. Some people
would say that I really like the Senate and I like what it does and how
it operates. Well, I do. But I say to my good friend, Senator Byrd, if
we are operating blind, it is not the fault of the majority. We have
been on this for the fifth day. If we are still blind, somebody is
causing us not to get to the issues.
I submit that the majority leader filed this petition because we have
been sidetracked. If the last election meant anything--and I do not
purport to be one who knows what it meant in great detail--I think it
meant a few things, and I believe honestly it meant that the American
people would like to see us get our job done and not to delay and
dillydally around when we know we ought to do something.
Now, that is what the majority leader's petition for cloture is all
about. I believe the issues raised by my good friend from West
Virginia, which he just cited, are important issues. I submit they
could have already been discussed.
Five days on the floor of the Senate, and I will not recap what we
have done, but I believe it is time, No. 1, that we stop the plethora
of amendments floating to the floor here. The staff and Senators are
bringing them up in bushels. If we do not impose cloture, the 123 that
we have will soon be 250. I would be surprised if very many of them, I
say to my good friend, have anything to do with what the Senator states
bothers him and should bother the American people. They are on all
kinds of issues. I think our people, the mayors, the Governors, the
county commissioners, and everyone they represent know that is undue
delay, to just offer amendments on any subject under the sun on a
clear-cut proposal that deserves debate.
How much debate? How many amendments? We are totally recognizing the
minority rights. Some of us have been more times than not on the
minority side. We are merely urging that we get on with the bill.
If the cloture does not pass, I hope we have sent a signal. And
perhaps by the minority side's own analysis, maybe you have received a
signal. Maybe you all want to get on with this bill. Maybe my friend
from West Virginia is saying that when he says we deserve the right to
tell the American people.
Do we deserve the right to tell the American people about small
business and businesses that cannot collect sales tax because they are
in some kind of catalog business? Do we deserve the right to have that
debated on this bill? I think the Senate has the right to say we are
not going to do that.
That is what this debate is about. Get to the point. Get your
amendments if they are relevant. Come to the floor and let us get the
questions answered. How much time do we need to get this bill analyzed
and answered? We have already had enough. We ought to have cloture
today. If we do not get it today, then we are going to get it pretty
soon. And sooner or later, we are going to [[Page S1143]] pass this
bill by an overwhelming majority, and that point should be made. When
that is the case, we are just causing delay because it is going to pass
by a lot of votes.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time?
Several Senators addressed the Chair.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, does this Senator control time?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia controls the
time.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I yield 2 minutes to the Senator from Ohio.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio is recognized.
Mr. GLENN. Mr. President, I think it was only about 100 days ago, as
I recall, that we were on the floor and the shoe was on the other foot.
We were trying desperately to get something through and there was a
scorched-earth policy on the other side and everything that came up
attracted amendments like flies to honey and so bogged things down with
supernumbers of amendments and filibusters and we could not get
anything through.
I submit this. The congressional coverage bill and the S. 939, which
is this bill expanded a little bit, were ready for floor action. We
could not get them out and get them taken up because there were
authorization and appropriations bills that still had to be dealt with.
So we put them over to this year.
What happened this year? Well, what happened in committee the other
day was: We submit the bill in committee 1 day, we want markup the next
day, and passage on the floor the next day. We tried in the committee
to make amendments to the bill--good amendments, substantial
amendments, genuine things we had concern about--and we were told no,
we cannot have that. We will have a party-line vote--and we did. They
came out as party-line votes on a number of amendments and we were told
that, no, we will take those up on the floor. We will be able to take
up any amendments on the floor.
What happens when we get to the floor? There is no report along with
this. We tried to vote that in committee and get a report. We could not
get it. Senator Byrd, to his credit, brought this up on the floor and
insisted that we have it. That delayed this. It delayed things for
quite some time.
We have not been the only ones delaying things. I submit the
amendment of Senator Gorton yesterday afternoon took up about, what, 3,
3\1/2\ hours, I believe. So that was on the other side of the aisle, as
far as the delay goes.
When we came out on the floor, then I--I am a sponsor of this bill. I
am part coauthor of this bill. Parts of it, S. 993, we worked on last
year. So I am a proponent of this. I want to see this get through. But
when we say we are going to put things on such a fast track that all
the rules are going to be set aside and we are somehow going to just
bring this out on the floor and we will all agree to it, we cannot
accept that over here. I think due process on something that is
changing----
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time of the Senator has expired.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I yield the Senator 1 more minute.
Mr. GLENN. When we have something as important as this bill, which I
think is truly landmark legislation--this starts defining the new
relationship that is going to exist from here on, as opposed to what
has existed since the days of Franklin Roosevelt and the Federal
programs that came in when local communities and States could not take
care of their own problems. That set of rules and that set of
legislation that has gone through all these years now is going to be
reversed.
Will the States pick this up? Will they pick up the responsibilities
they either did not or could not assume at this time? I think we have
to see on that. But this is the first piece of legislation that really
starts defining that new relationship, and as such it is going to be
effective for a long, long time. I think to hustle it through because
somebody set an artificial 100-day limit or whatever it is, I think
just is not realistic.
I hope we will not vote cloture so we can consider this bill and make
it as good as we possibly can. It is going to be around for a long
time, affecting Federal-State relationships for a long period of time.
I thank my friend from West Virginia for yielding time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time? Who yields time?
The Senator from Idaho.
Mr. KEMPTHORNE. Mr. President, I yield 1 minute to the chairman of
the Governmental Affairs Committee.
Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, as chairman of the Governmental Affairs
Committee I want to urge my colleagues to support the cloture motion. I
cannot emphasize too much how critically important this legislation is.
What the American people want is action and not merely talk.
Let me point out, as far as this piece of legislation was concerned
last year, 993 was not held up by the then-minority side. It was a fact
that amendments were offered from the majority side, amendments that
were not relevant to the legislation before us that prevented
consideration of this bill. In fact, the then-minority sought unanimous
consent that this legislation be considered without amendment, but that
proved impossible because of the action on the other side.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has used 1 minute.
Mr. KEMPTHORNE. Mr. President, I yield another 30 seconds.
Mr. ROTH. But, as I was saying, the important thing is for us to move
ahead. The public, I might say every level of State and local
government, have supported this legislation and have asked that we
enact this legislation as quickly as possible, without major change.
This is true of the Governors' Association, the legislatures, the
mayors, the county commissioners.
Mr. President, I urge we act on this legislation and for that reason
I hope cloture is voted in the immediate future.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time of the Senator has expired. Who
yields time?
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I yield myself 3 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, Senate rules do not require that amendments
be germane except under rule XVI dealing with appropriations bills. We
are hearing all this hue and cry the last day or so that some of the
amendments are not germane. I hope Senators will continue to offer
amendments that they feel will improve the bill, remembering that
amendments that were not germane have been offered many times by those
now in the majority when they were in the minority. There is no Senate
rule against nongermane amendments, except under cloture, under rule
XVI, and when barred by unanimous consent.
Mr. President, I have no doubt we will see a solid party-line vote on
my right. Our Republican friends are going to vote solidly. If minority
rights mean anything in this body, I hope that the minority will stand
up for its rights. We are in the minority and the American people--talk
about what the American people want--the American people want to know
what is in this bill. They also want their Senators to know what is in
the bill. They want their Senators to take the time to understand it.
We are not up against a fiscal year deadline or an adjournment sine
die or a deadline that the debt limit has to be raised. This is not an
emergency bill. It does not provide moneys for earthquakes or other
disasters. This is a bill that is up here on the 19th of January and we
have all this rush to go to immediate judgment.
What is in the bill that the majority is afraid of? Why not put it
under the microscope? Why not give it the strongest scrutiny? That is
what we owe to the American people. We also owe it to ourselves.
So, Mr. President, I am not concerned about a Contract With America.
Here in my hand is my contract, the Constitution of the United States.
And I have some constitutional questions about this legislation.
Our forebears in this Senate did away with ``the previous question.''
They have provided for us, since the year 1806, no ``previous
question'' in the rules, no immediate shutting off of debate.
We have the cloture rule and we are given an opportunity to shut off
debate. I hope we will not shut off debate on this measure until we can
have some votes on amendments that the [[Page S1144]] minority feels
are important. We have that right and we ought to demand it.
I know that my good friend on the other side----
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has used 3 minutes.
Mr. BYRD. I will take 1 more minute.
I know the majority leader on the other side, Bob Dole--he is my good
friend. I am fond of him. But he probably thinks we are going to fall
apart here in the minority. We have a duty to stand up for the rights
of the minority and the rights of the American people to understand
what is in this legislation before we buy into it.
I hope every Member of the minority will show some guts and stand up
for the people's right to know. That is what this is all about. What is
all the rush? We have plenty of time.
It is only the 19th of January. Let us take the time to understand
what we are voting on.
Mr. President, I reserve the remainder of my time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia has 37 seconds
and the Senator from Idaho has 27 seconds.
Mr. KEMPTHORNE. Mr. President, in summation, may I just say that this
vote on cloture does not close off debate. It says we will now have 30
hours of debate but the amendments will pertain specifically to the
legislation before us. That is what the American people would like.
They would like us to deal with unfunded Federal mandates. Our partners
are in the public and private sector. There would be 30 hours of debate
on amendments specific to S. 1. That is what the American people are
asking for. We are prepared to deliver.
I yield the remainder of my time.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, this bill does not even take effect until
next January. Why can't we take a few more days here and have a closer
look at this legislation that is included in the so-called ``Contract
With America?'' I may favor the final bill. It does not take effect
until January. We have plenty of time, and if the minority has any
spine, any steel in their spine, and fire in their bellies, they will
stand up against this effort to stampede and run over the minority. It
was done in the committees. It is being tried on the floor. Now is the
time, Mr. President, for the minority to take a stand on behalf of the
people's right to know.
I thank all Senators.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time has expired.
Under the previous order, the question is on agreeing to the
amendment of the Senator from Michigan, amendment No. 143. On this
question, the yeas and nays have been ordered, and the clerk will call
the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Louisiana [Mr. Johnston]
is necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
who desire to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 99, nays 0, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 26 Leg.]
YEAS--99
Abraham
Akaka
Ashcroft
Baucus
Bennett
Biden
Bingaman
Bond
Boxer
Bradley
Breaux
Brown
Bryan
Bumpers
Burns
Byrd
Campbell
Chafee
Coats
Cochran
Cohen
Conrad
Coverdell
Craig
D'Amato
Daschle
DeWine
Dodd
Dole
Domenici
Dorgan
Exon
Faircloth
Feingold
Feinstein
Ford
Frist
Glenn
Gorton
Graham
Gramm
Grams
Grassley
Gregg
Harkin
Hatch
Hatfield
Heflin
Helms
Hollings
Hutchison
Inhofe
Inouye
Jeffords
Kassebaum
Kempthorne
Kennedy
Kerrey
Kerry
Kohl
Kyl
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lott
Lugar
Mack
McCain
McConnell
Mikulski
Moseley-Braun
Moynihan
Murkowski
Murray
Nickles
Nunn
Packwood
Pell
Pressler
Pryor
Reid
Robb
Rockefeller
Roth
Santorum
Sarbanes
Shelby
Simon
Simpson
Smith
Snowe
Specter
Stevens
Thomas
Thompson
Thurmond
Warner
Wellstone
NOT VOTING--1
Johnston
So the amendment (No. 143) was agreed to.
Mr. GLENN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the
amendment was agreed to.
Mr. KEMPTHORNE. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
Mr. DASCHLE addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Shelby). The Democratic leader.
Mr. DASCHLE. What is the pending order of business?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, we would go into the
cloture vote.
Mr. LEAHY. May we have order, Mr. President, so the Democratic leader
can be heard?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct. The Senate is not in
order.
Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I would like to use a couple of minutes
of my time, if I could, to talk about the pending vote.
Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, may we have order, so the distinguished
leader can be heard?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Senators will take their seats.
The Senate is still not in order.
The Democratic leader.
Mr. DASCHLE. I thank the Chair.
Mr. President, I will not delay the vote very long, but I want to
make a couple of points, if I may.
The vote that we are about to cast is not a vote on the bill, nor is
it a vote on a filibuster. There is no filibuster occuring at this
time. In fact, many of us on this side of the aisle support the intent
of this legislation and very much want to work with our colleagues on
the other side in an effort to achieve a resolution to this bill at
some point in the not too distant future.
There essentially are two issues that relate directly to upcoming
vote. The first issue relates to the process of considering this bill.
There appears to be a rush on the part of the Republicans to pass
this legislation. It was rushed through committee. Amendments offered
by Democrats were defeated on a party-line vote. We were told in
committee, both in the Budget Committee as well as in the Committee on
Governmental Affairs, that we would have the opportunity, ample
opportunity, to consider amendments here on the floor. And thus the
bill was rushed through two committees in the course of a few days.
The bill was then rushed to the floor. Despite objections by our
Democratic colleagues, the decision was made by the Republicans not to
file committee reports. Ultimately, reports were filed after the fact,
once the bill had been brought to the floor. Now, we are about to vote
on cloture, having only disposed of three Democratic amendments.
And, I might say, those amendments were agreed to overwhelmingly. I
do not know that there was a negative vote on any of the amendments
that were offered on our side. There was one nongermane Republican
amendment on which we spent more time than all of the three Democratic
amendments put together.
Yesterday, I offered to the distinguished majority leader a list of
specific amendments, a finite list of amendments, that we would like to
have considered. We discussed the possibility of considering his list
and our list. Despite our efforts to reach an agreement, and, as is his
right, he chose to go forward with the cloture petition we are voting
on today.
The problem is simple. If cloture is invoked today, there are many
Democratic amendments, relevant amendments, amendments that ought to be
considered, amendments that in good faith we have offered in committee
and again now on the floor, that we will not be allowed to offer. I am
very concerned about that.
Under this bill, as it exists, future legislation designed to protect
people from age discrimination could be held up by the procedures
established by this bill. We have had assurances from the other side
that they would like to correct this. Yet the distinguished Senator
from Michigan has tried now on several occasions to correct it, to no
avail.
The distinguished Senator from Ohio, the ranking member, would like
to offer a substitute. If cloture is invoked today, he will not even be
allowed to offer a substitute--a bill that is very similar, if not
identical, to the bill that was passed on the floor last year.
[[Page S1145]]
If cloture is invoked, we will not have the right to offer relevant
amendments that, in some cases, may not be germane to the bill. We do
not know.
As every Senator knows, there is a difference between relevancy and
germaneness. There are a number of relevant amendments that will be
precluded from consideration by the Senate if cloture is invoked. That
is the first issue.
The second issue is a much larger one. The second issue relates to
something our Republican colleagues certainly appreciate, and that is
the rights of the minority--the right to be heard, the right to offer
amendments, the right for them to be considered as we raise these
issues one by one on the Senate floor. That issue is at stake here
today.
All we want is an opportunity to be heard and for our amendments to
be considered in a meaningful way. That is all we are asking.
Again, let me reiterate, this is not a filibuster. Ultimately, I hope
that on a bipartisan basis, we will have a vote on this bill. I hope
our colleagues on the other side of the aisle will take into account
our sincere intention to proceed ultimately to a vote on this bill,
vote ``no'' on the cloture motion, and allow us to offer our
amendments.
Mr. DOLE addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
Mr. DOLE. Was leaders' time reserved?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. It was.
Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I appreciate what the distinguished
Democratic leader has had to say. It may not be intended to be a
filibuster, but this is their fifth day. We spent 5 days on the bill
before that that took the House 1 hour and 20 minutes to pass on
congressional coverage. That was not intended to be a slowdown either,
but we had all these amendments.
The next amendment is not germane. It has to do with catalogs;
nothing to do with unfunded mandates. It has nothing to do with this
bill, but we will spend probably 2 or 3 hours on that.
We spent about 4 hours yesterday on violence at abortion clinics.
Nobody quarrels with that, but it has nothing to do with this bill. We
spent most of the afternoon either in recess or negotiating what to do
with that amendment. It was not germane, not even relevant to this
bill.
I am a very patient person. Of course, you have to be a little
patient in the Senate, because there are certain things you cannot do.
You cannot just say, ``Well, that's it. It's over. Move on to something
else.''
We have a letter signed by a number of Governors supporting the
cloture motion today. They know what is happening. The American people
know what is happening.
We are on the 11th committee amendment. Generally, it is routine to
adopt all the committee amendments. We are on No. 11. We have had votes
of 99 to zero, 98 to 1, wasting time with votes of this kind on
amendments that ought to be accepted. Anything to take up time.
Anything to delay this process. A bill that everybody supported on that
side of the aisle last year suddenly has become very controversial
because we have had a change of management, apparently.
But I notice that Governor Dean from Vermont, Governor Thompson, and
Governor Nelson of Nebraska all suggest that we ought to move ahead
with this bill and support the vote on cloture.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that that letter be made part
of the Record. It is signed by at least 20-some Governors in both
parties.
There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the
Record, as follows:
U.S. Conference of Mayors, National Association of
Counties, National Conference of State Legislatures,
International City Management Association, National
Governors' Association, National League of Cities,
January 18, 1995.
To Senators Not Cosponsoring S. 1, The Unfunded Mandate
Reform Act of 1995:
We are writing to urge your support for S. 1, legislation
that will relieve state and local governments from the
burdens of future unfunded federal mandates. As you know, the
bill is pending on the Senate floor. The first few days of
consideration have been plagued by parliamentary delaying
tactics and ongoing, unlimited debate. To expedite action on
pending amendments and final passage of S. 1, Senate Majority
Leader Bob Dole filed a motion to invoke cloture on January
17 and a vote is expected on January 19.
As the elected leaders of State and local governments, we
strongly urge your support for the Senate Majority Leader's
motion to invoke cloture to allow Members to proceed with
consideration of amendments and final passage of S. 1,
Senator Dirk Kempthorne's mandate relief bill.
Again, thank you for your support. The collective members
of our organizations stand ready to assist you in any way we
can to ensure the immediate passage of this important
legislation.
Sincerely,
Howard Dean, M.D., Governor of Vermont; Chairman,
National Governors' Association.
Tommy G. Thompson, Governor of Wisconsin; Vice Chairman,
National Governors' Association.
George V. Voinovich, Governor of Ohio; Co-Lead Governor
for Federalism, National Governors' Association.
E. Benjamin Nelson, Governor of Nebraska; Co-Lead
Governor for Federalism, National Governors'
Association.
Victor Ashe, Mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee; President,
U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Norman B. Rice, Mayor of Seattle, Washington; Vice
President, U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Richard M. Daley, Mayor of Chicago, Illinois; Chair,
Advisory Board, U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Jane L. Campbell, Assistant Minority Leader, Ohio House
of Representatives; President, National Conference of
State Legislatures.
James J. Lack, Senator, New York State Senate, President-
Elect, National Conference of State Legislatures.
Michael E. Box, Representative, Alabama House of
Representatives; Vice President, National Conference of
State Legislatures.
Carolyn Long Banks, Councilwoman-at-large, Atlanta,
Georgia; President, National League of Cities.
Gregory Lashutka, Mayor of Columbus, Ohio; First Vice
President, National League of Cities.
Sharpe James, Mayor of Newark, New Jersey; Immediate Past
President, National League of Cities.
Randall Franke, Commissioner of Marion County, Oregon;
President, National Association of Counties.
Doug Bovin, Commissioner of Delta County, Michigan; First
Vice President, National Association of Counties.
Michael Hightower, Commissioner of Fulton County,
Georgia; Second Vice President, National Association of
Counties.
Carl S. Nollenberger, Chief Administrative Officer,
Duluth, Minnesota; President, International City and
County Management Association.
Mr. DOLE. Now, I assume that if it is a party-line vote, we will not
get cloture. Maybe not today; maybe not tomorrow; maybe not Saturday. I
do not know when we will get cloture.
If the other side of the aisle, the minority, is sincere about
amendments, why not give Members a list? We were negotiating yesterday
about 38 amendments. We got a list last night of 78 amendments. We
thought we were going to cut them down. We doubled it, and added two
for good measure. There are 117 amendments filed at the desk, and there
has been cloture invoked.
We can do trimming on this side, too; we have too many amendments,
30. That is a total of 108 amendments. The way we are grinding along,
we would not finish this bill before the Easter recess, or there would
not be any Easter recess. Nobody is in a hurry to pass this bill. They
do not want to do it before the President gives a State of the Union
message.
I say, Mr. President, we have been trying to be helpful on Mexico,
and we have heard a lot of silence on the other side of the aisle. But
Mexico comes up right after unfunded mandates, after it is completed,
if it is a week from now or 2 weeks from now. That is up to the
President of the United States and the Democrats in Congress. Maybe it
is not important to anybody there. This is important to the President,
and we have made a commitment to the President to try to be helpful.
However, it is fairly difficult for me to stand here as a Republican
leader to try to help the President of the United States and the other
party, when the other side in this Chamber has done everything they can
to prevent a vote on unfunded mandates.
Call it what you will. I have learned a lot about delay. In fact, we
taught a course in the last 2 years. We got A's, good grades. We
stopped a lot of things. So I am not here to suggest we should not do
it, because we have not used the rules, because we have. I have
learned--I forget most of it--but everything I learned, I learned from
my [[Page S1146]] friend from West Virginia, Senator Byrd. He knows
more than all of us put together, which is dangerous, in a way. I asked
him for advice before I talked to him. Can I do this or can I do that?
I do not want to be embarrassed, and I know he would not do that.
In any event, I just suggest as the Republican leader that I know
that we want to accommodate our friends on the other side of the aisle.
So if there is an effort to give Members a real list of relevant
amendments, maybe we can do business. But do not give me a list of five
amendments for this person, five for this person, everybody take five.
We had 78. Give me a list of relevant amendments, relevant to this
bill, and germane amendments. I bet they would not total over 15 or 20.
We will do the same on our side of the aisle, and maybe by 2 or 3 p.m.,
we will have it down to 30 amendments. Then we might do business. But
not with 100 or some.
We may never get cloture, but we will continue to try. Maybe the
Governors and the mayors and the county commissioners and the taxpayers
of America will understand, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, maybe
not next week, but sooner or later, we need to pass this bill. There
are not that many amendments. We will have every nongermane,
nonrelevant amendment anybody has ever thought of. They are cleaning
out their wastebaskets trying to find amendments.
We are prepared to do business. We urge our colleagues on both sides
of the aisle to support this cloture motion. That will reduce the
number of amendments drastically, but they would all be relevant. They
would all be germane to this bill. They would be important amendments.
We will probably spend an hour and a half or 2 hours on the catalog
amendments. We spent an hour last night. It has nothing to do with this
bill. So we are a little bit frustrated. The American people are
frustrated.
We promised the American people we would listen to them, and we have
not listened to them. We listened to everybody else. The American
people want Members to pass this bill. The Governors, Democrats,
Republicans, mayors, commissioners, you name it, want the Senate to
pass this bill. We are not going to do it because the minority party
says, ``No, we don't want to do it.'' There is no hurry; we do not
normally do work in January.
This is not a normal year. We are trying to deliver on the message
the voters gave us last November, all of us on both sides of the aisle;
not just Republicans.
However, if we are thwarted from our effort to deliver, they will not
blame us. So we will stand here every day, at every opportunity, and
tell the American people why we could not pass unfunded mandates. Two
days would have been plenty for this bill; 2 days.
So I hope we will invoke cloture and move on to pass this bill, and
then try to accommodate the President's wishes on Mexico, and following
that, the balanced budget amendment.
____________________