[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.

                          ____________________