[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 64 (Thursday, April 6, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5298-S5300]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT
The Senate continued with the consideration of the bill.
Mr. DOLE addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the majority leader.
Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, we had hoped that we might have an agreement
reached on the rescissions bill. But apparently that will not be
possible. So there will be a cloture vote at 2 o'clock. We will file
cloture again today for a vote on Saturday because we intend to finish
this bill before we leave for the Easter recess; spring recess.
I would hope that our colleagues on the other side would understand
that we, this Senator and the Democratic leader, worked in good faith
most of yesterday into the evening until 9 or 10 o'clock. So did other
Members on our side of the aisle, the Senator from Pennsylvania, and
both Senators from Arizona. And we believe we gave up a great deal to
get an agreement. I thought there was an agreement until I read it in
the morning paper.
So I was surprised when I later learned that our colleagues on the
other side did not agree to the agreement we thought we had agreed to.
Having said that, I hope we can invoke cloture. If we do that, a lot
of these amendments will disappear. I do not know how we can deal with
100-and-some amendments that are out there. But if cloture is obtained,
that will shorten the process a great deal.
I do not know where the hot buttons are on the other side. I maybe
know of one or two of them. But it seems to me many of the so-called
``cuts'' were in effect funny money and many of the add-ons are not
going to be spent either. But if both sides felt they had a good
position, I fail to understand what may have derailed the whole
process.
But there will be a cloture vote at 2 o'clock. The second-degree
amendments must have been filed by 1 o'clock. So it is too late to file
second-degree amendments.
It is still my hope that Senator Daschle and I can bring everybody
together here. I think we are pretty much together on this side. What
we want is an agreement with no amendments. We do not want an agreement
and then have everybody say we have 10 amendments here and 10
amendments there. If you have an agreement, you have an agreement.
Right now we do not have an agreement.
So I just urge my colleagues to be patient, to take two aspirins,
take a nap, whatever. If we finish this today, we
[[Page S5299]] will finish some conference reports, and hopefully we
will be in session tomorrow but no votes. If we do not finish today, we
will be in session tomorrow with votes and we will be in session on
Saturday with votes.
Mr. BUMPERS. Will the majority leader yield for a question?
Mr. DOLE. Certainly. I yield.
Mr. BUMPERS. The announced consent agreement has not been propounded
yet has it?
Mr. DOLE. Only with respect to the adoption of the Jordan amendment.
Mr. BUMPERS. How many amendments do you anticipate would be allowed
under an agreement?
Mr. DOLE. We thought we had narrowed it down to about four on each
side. We thought some of those were acceptable. Some who had problems
with the CPB, said, ``Well, give us $20 million somewhere else in
spending restraints.'' So they have to be ``this or nothing.''
I think, as has been the attitude certainly of the Democratic leader,
Senator Daschle, as we both know, it can still come together, and I
hope it would because we could finish late afternoon and that would be
probably the last vote until we come back from recess.
Mr. BUMPERS. I thank the leader.
Mr. SANTORUM addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Thompson). The Senator from Pennsylvania.
Mr. SANTORUM. Thank you, Mr. President.
Mr. President, I am incredibly disappointed at the outcome of this
negotiation. I had hoped that the good-faith effort of the majority
leader who stayed here late last night and worked on this bill late,
and diligently, and I think more than bent over backward to accommodate
leadership on the Democratic side to help them restore some of the
money that they felt was so desperately needed for programs that they
have long fostered and supported in this institution.
We have been working with the majority leader, several members of the
freshmen class, Senator Kyl from Arizona, Senator Ashcroft from
Missouri, Senator McCain from Arizona, and myself have been working to
try to craft an amendment that recognizes the concerns of the minority
and at the same time preserve some of the objections that we had to the
bill. Frankly, we thought we were pretty generous.
The minority leader came in and asked in the original amendment, the
amendment that was pending, for almost $1.3 billion in more spending,
more spending on almost all social programs; just more social program
spending. These were not, just so you understand, the bill that came to
the floor of the House--the Hatfield substitute was not--had increases
in these programs. Every one of these programs that the minority leader
asked for already had an increase from last year. They already had an
increase, and in many cases huge amounts of increases. But they cut
back a little bit on the rate of the increase with the Hatfield
substitute.
The Democratic leader did not like that. So he jacked it back up. OK.
We said, fine. You want to jack up some programs and put them back to
the level that they were before, which was a dramatic increase over
where we were last year, you think those are the most important, we
understand the sensitivity you have, we are willing to work on that.
As Senator Dole, and other freshmen, came forward with an amendment,
we said we believe we should offset these expenditures not with money
from a year or two down the road--which is what the minority leader,
the Democratic leader--they pulled back money out that was funny money
from years down the road. You want to spend money this year, let us
take money out this year. That is the way we should do things around
here, not spend more money this year and find funny money down the road
to pay for it.
We have been doing that a long time around here. Let us get serious.
And so we got serious. We made a serious compromise. And we thought
we had a serious compromise agreement that would have accomplished
three major things. No. 1, it would have given the minority leader,
Senator Daschle, and folks on his side almost all of what they wanted
in this increase in social spending--almost. Instead of $1.3 billion,
we give $800 million in more spending--$800 million in more spending on
many programs that are not exactly well received on this side of the
aisle, like the AmeriCorps Program. We gave them an increase in the
AmeriCorps Program from what the Appropriations Committee had
suggested. We allowed an increase of $100 million in a program that in
our amendment we wanted to cut by $200 million.
So from where we started, we gave them a $300 million increase. That
was not good enough. We gave them all the money they wanted in WIC,
school-to-work, child care, Head Start, $60 million of the $67 million
they wanted for Goals 2000, title I, impact aid, safe and drug-free
schools, Indian housing, housing modernization, community development
banks--every social program, all the way down, they got almost all of
what they wanted. We took some of their cuts. Some of the things they
used in the original Daschle amendment to pay for this bill we
accepted, we accepted as ways to pay for this.
And we said, OK, in exchange for not getting all that you wanted, we
will not take all that we wanted. We will get rid of a lot of the
proposed reductions that we wanted. And we put on the table some pretty
minor things, folks--reducing the foreign operations, foreign aid by
$25 million--$25 million; libraries by $10 million--and by the way, the
libraries money was the President's rescission; that is the President's
suggestion to us to take this money out, said it was not needed--
Federal administrative travel, something that they agreed to, that they
suggested we increase, we increased to a cut of $225 million. By the
way, that is out of a $107 billion budget we are taking out $225
million for Federal travel, hardly something that the public is
concerned about, that we are not traveling enough around here; water
infrastructure; and, oh, the sticking point. We took out of their
sacred little cow $21 million of $312 million. We took $21 million out
of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
In the end, we would have had savings of $1.6 billion. They had
additional spending of $800 million which would get us a net deficit
reduction out of this amendment of $800 million. So we both win. They
get $800 million more spending, we get $800 million in deficit
reduction, so everybody sort of stands even.
I always thought that is what compromises were all about. And so I am
hopeful that in the next 45 minutes, the other members of the
Democratic caucus who seem to be holding up this compromise take a look
at this and realize it is in the best interests of this body and this
Congress and this country to move forward with this compromise piece of
legislation and get this enacted.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a paper entitled
``Possible Compromise'' be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Possible Compromise
[Dollars in millions]
Cost
Add-Backs:
Women, Infants, Children........................................$35.0
School to Work...................................................25.0
Child Care........................................................8.4
Head Start.......................................................42.0
Goals: 2000......................................................60.0
Title I Education................................................72.5
Impact Aid.......................................................16.3
Safe and Drug-free Schools......................................100.0
Indian Housing...................................................80.0
Housing Modernization...........................................220.0
Americorps......................................................105.0
Community Development Banks......................................36.0
________
Total.......................................................800.2
========
Savings
Offset:
Foreign Operations..............................................$25.0
HUD Section 8 Project Reserves..................................500.0
Airport Improvement.............................................700.0
Libraries........................................................10.0
Federal Admin. and Travel.......................................225.0
Water Infrastructure.............................................62.0
IRS..............................................................50.0
Corp. for Public Broadcasting.................................\1\21.6
________
Total......................................................1597.0
Deficit Reduction.................................................796.8
Addendum: Items in Dole amendment used in Defense Conference:
Foreign Ops...................................................$40.0
Legal services.................................................15.0
\1\$3.4 million in 1997.
Mr. SANTORUM. I yield the floor.
[[Page S5300]] APOLOGY FOR RADIO REMARKS
Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, two mornings ago I gave a radio interview
on the Imus talk show program.
I am here on the Senate floor to give a statement as it relates to
that episode.
It was a sorry episode.
Mr. President, as an Italian-American, I have a special
responsibility to be sensitive to ethnic stereotyping. I fully
recognize the insensitivity of my remarks about Judge Ito. My remarks
were totally wrong and inappropriate. I know better. What I did was a
poor attempt at humor. I am deeply sorry for the pain I have caused
Judge Ito and others. I offer my sincere apologies.
Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as if
in morning business for 7 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________