[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 64 (Thursday, April 6, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5301-S5303]
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. DASCHLE addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The minority leader.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, last night, the majority leader and I 
announced that we had a tentative agreement with regard to the pending 
legislation. We had hoped that as a result of our negotiations, which 
have been conducted in good faith on both sides, it would lead, 
hopefully, to an opportunity to come to some closure in the not-too-
distant future on this important matter.
  Unfortunately, as a result of differences on both sides of the aisle 
with regard to the agreement, amendments are likely which would 
significantly alter the result of the negotiations that have been 
ongoing.
  As a result, the real prospect that the agreement could be 
successfully concluded in debate on the floor this afternoon becomes 
increasingly unlikely. I am disappointed because I feel it was an 
effort made on the part of many Senators--Republicans and Democrats--to 
bridge our differences to accomplish what we all want.
  The amendment that I have had pending has now been pending for a 
week. Unfortunately, we have not had the opportunity during these 
negotiations to vote on it or on any other Democratic amendment. We 
have been hopeful that over the course of the last several days, we 
could have come to some conclusion about the agreement or about at 
least a time limit relating to the amendments, and come to some 
conclusion this week in one way or the other. That now does not look 
possible.
  But the fact is, because we have not been given an opportunity to 
have votes on these amendments, we will come to the cloture vote this 
afternoon not having had one vote on one Democratic amendment. As a 
result, I urge my colleagues to protect our right to offer these 
amendments. I urge my colleagues to recall how important it is that the 
amendments that we have offered over the course of the last couple of 
weeks dealing directly with the concerns that have been raised on this 
floor now for more than 7 days, that we have the opportunity to have 
good debates about those issues prior to the time we come to closure on 
this vote.
  As I have said on several occasions, we really have three goals here:
  The first goal is to ensure the Federal Emergency Management 
Administration is adequately funded.
  The second goal is to ensure that we provide the necessary deficit 
reduction that this rescissions package will allow, and we are now at a 
point of $15 billion in the total deficit reduction package.
  And the third goal was one that all of us on this side of the aisle 
feel especially strongly about.
  That is, if we are going to do it, we should do it right. If we are 
going to do it, we should ensure that we do not eat the seed corn. We 
should ensure that as we remember our priorities, we remember our kids 
and working families who are struggling to ensure that they can be 
productive citizens in this country.
  Those are the three goals. Our whole effort, the amendment that we 
have pending, is designed to accomplish those three goals. Without that 
amendment, unfortunately, all we do is accomplish the first two goals. 
We provide adequate funding for FEMA. We provide for necessary deficit 
reduction, but we do it at the expense of kids. We do it at the expense 
of people who are counting on these investments so they can be the 
productive, working people that they want to be.
  That is what this debate was about. So this cloture vote is very 
important. It is a cloture vote that will allow Members the opportunity 
to accomplish all three goals. Without defeating cloture we will not 
have that protection.
  I want to emphasize as loudly and as plainly as I possibly can, our 
desire is not to hold up this bill. Our hope is that we do not have to 
hold up this bill. Our hope is that before we leave here, Democrats and 
Republicans can come to time agreements on amendments. We will have up-
or-down votes on the amendments that are proposed on this side and do 
so in a way that will allow Members to get our business accomplished.
  We will finish, we will have final passage, and we can all go home 
satisfied, however the votes may fall. We only hope we will be given 
the opportunity to have up-or-down votes on these issues because that 
is critical to the degree of enthusiasm, the degree of support that we 
ultimately will have for the bill itself.
  I think it is very clear that for a lot of different reasons, we have 
not been given a right today to offer those amendments, and it is 
equally as clear that, unless we block cloture this afternoon, we will 
not have that right after 2 o'clock today.
  So, Mr. President, I come to the floor to express regret. In good 
faith we have not been able to accomplish what I sincerely had hoped we 
could accomplish. Having said that, we now must accomplish what our 
original intent was, which was try to protect all three goals as we 
move toward final passage of this legislation.
  I urge my colleagues to weigh carefully their decision on this 
cloture motion. I hope that we can defeat it, not in the interest of 
extending debate, not in the interest of prolonging this issue any 
longer than we have to, but in the interest of accomplishing the three 
goals and protecting our rights to offer amendments and improve 
legislation as these occasions arise.
  So, Mr. President, to accommodate my colleagues who have amendments 
to the bill, it is important at this point, from a parliamentary 
procedure motion only, to withdraw my amendment to allow others to 
offer the amendments that they will so offer. I will certainly come 
back at a later time and describe, as we intend to, the importance of 
the amendments that will make in the composite what our amendment was 
originally designed to do as it was laid down last Friday. We will do 
that at a date or at a time later, perhaps today.


                      Amendment No. 445 Withdrawn

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, at this time I withdraw my amendment.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The minority leader has that right. Amendment 
No. 445 is withdrawn.
  The amendment (No. 445) was withdrawn.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. As a result, the second-degree amendment No. 
446, which was pending thereto, falls.
   [[Page S5302]] Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, may I ask the Chair if we 
are in morning business at this time?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The pending business is H.R. 1158.
  Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I may speak as 
in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I thank the Chair.
  (The remarks of Mr. Pryor pertaining to the introduction of S. 687 
are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I just rise to really express my great 
disappointment that, after working for over a week, no agreement has 
been reached on this legislation. Now we will be going to a cloture 
vote at 2 o'clock. I certainly hope that cloture will be invoked. I 
remind my colleagues if that is done, we still will have lots of time 
to debate--30 hours, I believe. Germane amendments would still be in 
order. I think most of the key amendments that colleagues on that side 
of the aisle have been interested in would be germane.
  But as it stands right now, I believe there are some 72 amendments on 
one side pending and a number on the other side. We still have 100 
amendments at the desk. Many of them are obviously not germane and 
really nobody ever intended for them to actually be voted on, I 
suspect.
  But after a week of negotiations, we basically came up emptyhanded. I 
know there was a lot of good-faith effort. I thought a reasonable 
agreement had been worked out between the Daschle amendment and the 
Dole amendment that was pending, with an understanding there would 
still be a few amendments that would be offered on both sides--two, 
three, four, five, whatever--but that we would find a way to bring it 
to conclusion.
  Here we are Thursday afternoon. Presumably, we are going to go out 
tonight or tomorrow or Saturday or sometime for the Easter recess 
period. I just have to raise this specter. Are we now going to just let 
this die off, go off into the night with no results? No Department of 
Defense supplemental appropriations? No Jordan aid? No rescissions 
package? Is this the total white flag of our effort to begin to 
seriously deal with the needs for supplemental appropriations, 
commitments that have already been made and paid for in the Department 
of Defense, in disaster aid? And the first opening effort, the first 
shot to begin to deal with the deficit? Are we not going to be able to 
do any of that? Just collapse in a puddle of nothingness here in the 
Senate?
  I cannot believe my colleagues would want to allow this to happen. We 
need to find a way to begin to make some savings. This bill provides 
some savings. The distinguished Democratic leader just said he would 
like to see this bill passed. The President has said he would like to 
see this legislation passed. We want it passed. Everybody wants it, but 
we do not seem to be able to get it.
  I really think we need to work----
  Mr. KENNEDY. Will the Senator yield on that point?
  Mr. LOTT. To be able to find an agreement to bring all these issues 
to conclusion, one that I think would be basically satisfactory to both 
sides. Sure, we disagree on how we should get there. But maybe we 
should have just started voting, taking up issues and voting on them a 
week ago. But there was a feeling that we could reach an agreement, and 
that negotiating started I think last Thursday, and here we are a week 
later, emptyhanded.
  So I really urge my colleagues here this afternoon to vote for this 
cloture motion so we can limit the list of amendments to somewhat of a 
reasonable number, at least germane amendments, and begin to get some 
limit on the time so we can bring all these issues to a conclusion. 
That is all we are asking for. That is all we were seeking yesterday.
  I think it would certainly serve us well if we would invoke cloture 
here and then go forward.
  Failing that, let us see if we cannot enter into some time 
agreements, some understanding about the limit of amendments. There has 
been no reduction really in the number of amendments that are pending 
out there. So I will be glad to yield to the Senator from 
Massachusetts, if he would like for me to yield. We are going to have 
to vote here in a minute.
  Does the Senator want me to yield? I yield to the Senator from 
Arkansas.
  Mr. PRYOR. Does the Senator from Mississippi yield for a question?
  Mr. LOTT. Sure.
  Mr. PRYOR. I cannot figure out for the life of me who over here is 
slowing down the defense supplemental appropriations bill. Could you 
name anyone who is slowing down that particular bill over here?
  Mr. LOTT. They are all related, if I might respond to the Senator.
  Mr. PRYOR. We have been overly anxious to get that bill out and get 
it sent to the President. We are anxious to get this bill acted upon. 
All last week, we were involved basically with an amendment offered by 
a Republican Senator, our friend Senator D'Amato, from New York, 
relative to Mexican aid. We have been trying our very best to start 
voting on some amendments offered on this side, and we have yet to have 
been afforded that opportunity.
  Mr. LOTT. I will respond to the Senator, there has been an effort 
going on to try to work out a process where we could vote on the 
related amendments, a number of amendments, and bring it all to a 
conclusion. We have not had the Mexican amendment really before us for 
quite some time. That was set aside last week so we could move on to 
other issues. We are about 3 degrees down the line past that amendment.
  But in an effort to move this legislation, I think an agreement had 
been worked out that would have dealt with that and a number of other 
issues so we could bring it all to a vote. But they are related. All of 
these are related. We have to decide what we are going to do with the 
Jordan aid, where is it going to go? Of course, it is on this bill but 
it is not on the DOD appropriations bill, as I understand it, right 
now. So we are trying to get all these to positions where we can 
complete all this legislation.
  Several Senators addressed the Chair.
  Mr. SANTORUM. Will the Senator yield? I just wanted to follow up on a 
comment you made, which is the----
  Mr. FORD. May I say to the Senator that you go through the Chair.
  Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, of the 72----
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi has the floor.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I yield for a comment to the Senator from 
Pennsylvania; for a question to the Senator from Pennsylvania.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, is it not true, I ask the Senator from 
Mississippi, that 41 of the 72 Democratic amendments would be germane 
after this cloture vote? So 41 of the amendments that have been filed--
41 is hardly a paltry sum--would be germane after this cloture vote 
would have been acted upon?
  Mr. LOTT. I might respond, Mr. President, that is my understanding. I 
think most all of the portions of the pending Daschle amendment, with 
maybe one exception, could be offered under this cloture vote.
  Mr. SANTORUM. My second question would be, of the Daschle amendment 
add-backs that we have debated here for several days, is it not also 
the Senator's understanding that every single one of those add-backs 
would be eligible to be added back after cloture, with the exception of 
the Goals 2000 provision which is neither in the House nor the Senate 
bill?
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I might respond, I have not looked at every 
one of them on that list to make sure or find out if that would be 
true, but I understand there is--maybe the Goals 2000 would be the only 
one not open to be offered after the cloture vote.
  Mr. SANTORUM. I thank the Senator for yielding.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I yield the floor, in view of the time, for 
the cloture vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Thomas). The Senator from Kentucky.
  Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I hear all this blame put on us. In the last 
2 years, all the blame has been the other way. I wish some of the 
leadership on the other side would give me an hour 
[[Page S5303]] so they could explain to me how they provided for 
gridlock in the last session so I would be better at gridlock this 
session.
  You are now 6 days late on the budget. In the last 2 years, we have 
had the budget on time. It was due April 1. It is due out here, by both 
Houses, on April 15. We hear all this moaning and groaning and 
crocodile tears as it relates to we will not do that; we want to start 
saving; we want to start saving--but we have a budget that is due to 
put us on the track to 2002 and you are 5 days late, and we are not 
going to get it probably until May.
  I say to my friend, let us get a budget out here. Let us really start 
doing things.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time of the Senator has expired.
  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, if I could proceed for 1 moment--1 minute?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I still hope we can work this out. We were 
about that close, or closer. The Democratic leader and the Republican 
leader worked throughout the day with other Senators on both sides. We 
thought we had an agreement.
  We thought we had an agreement. I still hope it is possible to get 
the agreement. If that happens, we could finish our work very quickly 
today and there would be no votes tomorrow or Saturday. But if not, 
then I do not think we have any other choice other than to try to 
complete this bill tonight with or without cloture.
  So I still think there is a genesis of an agreement here. I would say 
to the White House, I hope that you will help us reach an agreement, 
because, until there is an agreement, there will not be any defense 
supplemental taken up in this body.

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