[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 122 (Wednesday, July 26, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10713-S10714]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  RYAN WHITE CARE REAUTHORIZATION ACT

  The Senate continued with the consideration of the bill.
  Mr. WELLSTONE addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota [Mr. Wellstone] is 
recognized.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, parliamentary inquiry.
  Are we back now on the Helms amendment?
  Mrs. KASSEBAUM. We would be. My understanding, Mr. President, is that 
there are some negotiations on the Democratic side of the aisle that 
are ongoing.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. At the present time the Chair announces the 
Helms amendment No. 1854 has been set aside.
  So we are simply on the bill.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I thank the Chair.
  Mr. President, I wanted to speak briefly.
  First of all, in transition, let me thank the Senator from Virginia 
for his remarks. I did not mean to make such an abrupt transition from 
your very personal and powerful remarks. I apologize. Sometimes we rush 
so much we are impolite. I hope I was not.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I was unaware. I was totally absorbed in 
what I was saying. But I thank the Senator.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. I thank the Senator from Virginia.
  Mr. President, this amendment, which I gather has been set aside, and 
I gather there are some negotiations going on, would set a prohibition 
on the use of Federal funds. And, as I look at this, community-based 
organizations--part of the definition would be the promotion or 
encouragement of certain activities--``No funds authorized to be 
appropriated under this act may be used to promote or encourage, 
directly or indirectly, homosexuality, intravenous drug use.'' Let me 
talk about ``encourage, directly or indirectly, homosexuality.'' We 
went through this debate before, Mr. President, when we were talking 
about any activities in schools that would promote directly or 
indirectly homosexuality. 

[[Page S10714]]

  Mr. President, with all due respect to my colleague from North 
Carolina, I do not know--I have to believe that this is not the 
intended effect--but what the effect of this amendment would be, the 
effect of this amendment would be very cruel and mean spirited and 
harsh and beyond the goodness of the vast majority of people in this 
country, because the way this amendment reads--and I certainly hope 
there will be some change--if you had community-based clinics, say you 
have the Minnesota AIDS project, and some young man came in and he was 
talking to some of the people there and he said, ``Look, I am gay, and 
my family is ashamed of me and a lot of my friends shun me. And I do 
not want to live. I am thinking about taking my life. I feel 
worthless.'' If those men and women that are working at that community-
based clinic said to that young man, ``The fact that you are gay does 
not make you any less of a human being. You are a person of worth, 
dignity and substance. And, for God's sake, you do not want to take 
your life. You can live a life of contribution to community. You can 
live a life of contribution to country, a contribution to world. And 
you certainly do not want to take your life,'' by the wording of this 
amendment, those individuals that were working at this community-based 
clinic would be encouraging homosexuality as a way of life.
  We cannot have amendments worded like this on the floor of the 
Senate. This is just too cruel. I am not going to say that the intent 
of it is too cruel because I do not want to believe that. But the 
effect of it would be cruel and harsh. It goes beyond the goodness of 
people in the country and it goes beyond the goodness of Senators 
regardless of their political party. And this amendment as now worded 
should be defeated.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. KENNEDY. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Gorton). The absence of a quorum has been 
suggested.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. HELMS. May I ask a question before the Senator asks for the 
quorum call?
  Mr. KENNEDY. I withdraw the request.
  Mr. HELMS. What is up? We are supposed to be working on this bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Excuse me. We are under a quorum call.
  Does the Senator from North Carolina ask for it to be dispensed with?
  Mr. KENNEDY. I withdraw it.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the quorum call is 
dispensed with.
  The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. HELMS. Certainly. Please explain to me. We were trying to be 
through, finished with this bill at 6. And I, as a matter of courtesy 
to the Senator from Massachusetts, permitted him to enter a quorum 
call.
  I had the floor. I did not have to do that.
  When can we expect some action on these amendments and the bill? I 
understand the Democrats have a problem with something else that I have 
nothing to do with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I welcome working out a process and 
procedure by which we can get a determination and a judgment on these 
measures. I have been told that there will be objection to having the 
votes this evening, that we would not be able to move toward the votes. 
But we could work out an agreement which would permit a vote up or down 
on the Senator's amendments, and also other amendments as well, that 
would be related to the Senator's amendments. I was consulting with the 
chairman of the committee to try and see how that process could be 
realized.
  Obviously, I have no objection to the Senator talking or speaking or 
debating these matters. What I was trying to do was work out with the 
floor manager at least a process and a procedure so that we could get 
votes on the amendments of the Senator from North Carolina and also on 
amendments that are related to the similar subjects and do that in a 
way which will accommodate the greatest number of Members.
  Mr. HELMS. But the Senator just said they were not going to permit 
any more votes tonight. Who is not?
  Mr. KENNEDY. There is objection to moving towards the conclusion of 
the votes, to having votes this evening.
  Mr. HELMS. So what the Senator is saying then is that the 
announcement I made that we would attempt to have two more rollcall 
votes and then finish the debate on the remaining amendments and go to 
a vote tomorrow morning on two remaining amendments and final passage 
of the Ryan White bill, that is being objected to, now, is that it?
  Mr. KENNEDY. I want to say to the Senator, the Senator made that 
request at 5:30 without us getting a chance to review those amendments. 
As far as I am concerned, we ought to get a judgment, and I am quite 
prepared to stay here to get a judgment. But there has been an issue 
and question in terms of the scheduling, as a result of the requests 
that have been made by the acting majority leader. Those matters are 
being discussed by the leadership, and they believe that if we could 
work out at least a process by which we could debate or discuss these 
matters tonight with a judgment so that we could vote on these matters 
and matters related to those issues tomorrow, that that would be a way 
of proceeding.
  Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, I wonder if the Senator from North 
Carolina will yield to me just for a moment to pose a question.
  Mr. HELMS. Certainly. I hope you can clear it up. I do not understand 
what he is saying.
  Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Maybe I can try. I think that the minority leadership 
was concerned about the cloture motions that were filed and how that 
would affect scheduling. It has nothing to do with the Ryan White CARE 
legislation. It does, unfortunately, pose a problem for us. And it is 
my understanding there would not be an objection if we could put down a 
listing of all of the amendments yet to be debated. We can debate some 
tonight and then the votes would be tomorrow; is that correct?
  Mr. KENNEDY. That would be it.
  Mrs. KASSEBAUM. I wonder if we can suggest the absence of a quorum at 
this point and see if we can put together a UC agreement which all 
parties could support.
  Mr. HELMS. I will agree to that if I may ask unanimous consent that 
when I choose to ask that the quorum call be rescinded, that I be 
recognized to do so and that it occur.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Did the Senator from North Carolina ask not 
only that he be recognized to call off a quorum call but that the 
calling off of the quorum call be guaranteed?
  Mr. HELMS. Absolutely, 100 percent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is a request that cannot be granted, as 
each Senator has the right to object to the unanimous consent request.
  Mr. HELMS. I will retain the floor. We will stand in limbo.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Will the Senator yield? Can we ask unanimous consent 
that the Senator be recognized after the quorum call is terminated?
  Mr. HELMS. That would be all right.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at the 
termination of the quorum call, the Senator from North Carolina be 
recognized.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk 
will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SIMON. 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. SIMON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I may speak 
for 2 minutes, then I will renew the quorum call and Senator Helms will 
be recognized immediately following the rescinding of the quorum call.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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