[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 43 (Wednesday, March 8, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3671-S3672]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS AND RESCISSIONS ACT

  The Senate continued with the consideration of the bill.
  Mr. HATFIELD. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to temporarily 
lay aside the Bumpers amendment.
   [[Page S3672]] The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. HATFIELD. Madam President, I now ask unanimous consent to 
temporarily lay aside the committee amendments.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mrs. KASSEBAUM addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas [Mrs. Kassebaum] is 
recognized.
  Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Madam President, if I may ask a parliamentary 
question, Is the Bumpers amendment the pending business? Is that 
correct?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.
  Mr. HATFIELD. Madam President, if the Senator will yield, I may have 
gone too far in setting aside the committee amendments because I knew 
the Senator from Kansas wished to amend one of the committee 
amendments. Therefore, I ask to withdraw that unanimous-consent request 
of laying aside both committee amendments.
  Will the Chair please instruct us which committee amendment we would 
lay aside in order to make it clear for the Senator from Kansas?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The first excepted committee amendment is pending.


      Amendment No. 331 to the First Excepted Committee Amendment

 (Purpose: To limit funding of an executive order that would prohibit 
  Federal contractors from hiring permanent replacements for striking 
                                workers)

  Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Madam President, I send an amendment to the desk 
which is a second degree to the first committee amendment, and ask for 
its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Kansas [Mrs. Kassebaum] proposes an 
     amendment numbered 331.

  Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that further 
reading of the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:
       At the end of the first excepted committee amendment insert 
     the following:
       Sec. 110. (a) Congress finds that (1) it is the role of 
     Congress, as the representative body of the people, to decide 
     the policy of the United States with respect to relations 
     between management and labor; and (2) the executive branch 
     should not use the Federal procurement process to initiate 
     major changes in the labor-management relations of the United 
     States.
       (b) The purpose of this Act is to ensure that the Congress 
     decides important labor-management relations policy by 
     prohibiting the executive branch from spending any 
     appropriated funds for the purpose of implementing an 
     executive order that would debar or in any way limit the 
     right of Federal contractors under common law to use 
     permanent replacements for workers engaged in a strike.
       (c) None of the funds made available under any 
     appropriations Act for fiscal year 1995 may be used to 
     implement, administer, or enforce any executive order, or 
     other rule, regulation, or order, that limits, restricts, or 
     otherwise affects the ability of any existing or potential 
     Federal contractor, subcontractor, or vendor to hire 
     permanent replacements for lawfully striking employees.

  Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Madam President, if I may just explain for a moment. 
I believe it is going to be the expressed wish of the chairman and the 
managers on the floor to bring this amendment up again tomorrow, but I 
would like to briefly talk about it yet this evening.
  I am offering an amendment which would prohibit the executive branch 
from spending any money to implement the Executive order limiting 
Federal contractors from hiring permanent striker replacements. This 
legislation assures that the Congress, rather than the executive 
branch, decides major labor-management relations policy.
  Federal labor law permits workers to strike. It also permits 
employers to continue to operate during a strike, if necessary, by 
hiring permanent replacements for striking workers. This has been the 
law of the land for 60 years.
  Madam President, as my colleagues may recall, during both the 102d 
and the 103d Congress, the Senate rejected legislation that would have 
amended our Federal labor laws to prohibit employers from hiring 
permanent striker replacements. In fact, more Senators voted against 
the measure in 1994 than in 1992.
  In an attempt to make an end-run around the Congress, the 
administration today has issued an Executive order that would debar 
Federal contractors that hire permanent striker replacements. I view 
this as a direct challenge to congressional authority.
  Congress makes the laws, not the administration. We have the 
responsibility, as the representative body of the people, to decide 
labor-management policy through legislation. The executive branch 
should not attempt to use the Federal procurement process to make major 
changes in our labor laws.
  The amendment I am offering today prohibits the administration from 
spending any appropriated funds during the 1995 fiscal year to 
implement or enforce any Executive order that would limit Federal 
contractors or subcontractors in their use of permanent striker 
replacements. This amendment assures that the Congress, rather than the 
administration, establishes Federal labor policy.
  Madam President, I understand that the administration contends that 
the striker replacement Executive order is no different than previous 
Executive orders issued by past Republican Presidents. This argument 
has no merit.
  If I may just for a moment comment on those previous Executive 
orders. The Reagan and Bush administrations issued Executive orders 
requiring Federal contractors to post a notice informing workers of 
their rights under Federal labor law, prohibiting Federal contractors 
from signing agreements that they would hire only unionized work 
forces, and prohibiting the illegally striking air traffic controllers 
from being rehired into Federal jobs.
  None of these Executive orders that I mentioned--and there were 
three--dealt with a subject that the Senate had debated and rejected. 
None of these Executive orders was an attempt to make wholesale changes 
in the balance of labor-management relations. Clearly, these previous 
Executive orders differed significantly from the striker replacement 
Executive order.
  Madam President, I suggest this action is without precedent. I urge 
my colleagues to give support to this amendment.
  Madam President, if there is no further debate at the moment on this 
amendment, I ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business 
for a few moments.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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