[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 164 (Monday, October 23, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15492-S15493]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        JERUSALEM EMBASSY RELOCATION IMPLEMENTATION ACT OF 1995

  The Senate continued with the consideration of the bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time?
  Mr. ROTH addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, here we go again. It is not enough that 
President Clinton has admitted that he and his allies have raised taxes 
too much, but here his allies in Congress are already seeking to 
undermine real tax relief for middle-class Americans.
  These folks cannot have it both ways. What Senator Dorgan's amendment 
amounts to is little more than business as usual. At home and on the 
campaign trail, the President and his allies talk about change--real 
change--but here in Washington they continue a game that has been 
playing out for three decades, a game that has led our Nation into a 
debt that is almost $4.9 trillion, a game that has run us into $200 
billion deficits, and a game that has done little, if anything, to 
improve the conditions of the most vulnerable among us.
  Why do they persist? Because they want it both ways. In some quarters 
this is called talking out of both sides of the mouth. Even the 
Washington Post has identified this symptom. According to the Post, the 
Democrats have fabricated the Medicare tax cut connection because it is 
useful politically. In an earlier editorial, the Post opined that

       The Democrats are engaged in demagoguery, big time. And 
     it's wrong. . . . [The Republicans] have a plan. Enough is 
     known about it to say it is credible; it's gutsy and in some 
     respects inventive--and it addresses a genuine problem that 
     is only going to get worse. What Democrats have, on the other 
     hand, is a lot of expostulation, TV ads and scare talk.

  What my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will not tell the 
American people is that under the plan we are proposing, using Medicare 
savings for tax cuts would be illegal. The law requires that money 
saved on the Medicare Program will stay in the Medicare Program. 
Remember, these are trust funds, the assets of which may not be used 
for any other purpose. And to say otherwise, as the Post points out, is 
little more than politically motivated scare tactics.
  The sense-of-the-Senate amendment completely undermines the progress 
we have made toward saving Medicare. Without our plan, the trust fund 
is bankrupt in 2002. It is that simple. Without our plan, the 
Government will not be able to live up to its obligations. We assure 
solvency of the program until the year 2020. This gives us a sufficient 
time to focus on the needs that will arise when the baby-boom 
generation reaches the age of eligibility.
  It is important to note that Senator Dorgan's plan is not even based 
on the 

[[Page S 15493]]
Senate Finance Committee proposal. It is based on the Clinton 
administration assessment of the House plan. How in the world are we 
supposed to make an intellectual judgment call when the amendment 
Senator Dorgan asks us to vote on mixes apples and oranges, citing what 
only can at best be called partisan economic data.
  Let us restore intellectual honesty to the debate. According to the 
Joint Committee on Taxation, 70 percent of the benefits of the Finance 
Committee tax bill will go to families making under $75,000 a year. 
Seventy percent. Our bill provides a $500 per child tax credit to our 
hard-working families. It eliminates the marriage penalty for many, 
creates a credit for adoption expenses, and helps with student loan 
payments. We also provide much-needed incentives for savings and 
investment. These are all middle-class provisions that go to help the 
people President Clinton has admitted to raising taxes on. What we are 
doing is trying to help the President and his allies correct a mistake. 
Let us make it right for the American people.

  Mr. President, I move to table the pending Dorgan amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time under the unanimous-consent agreement 
has expired.
  The question now occurs on agreeing to the motion to table the Dorgan 
amendment numbered 2940.
  Mr. ROTH. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be. There is a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. LOTT. I announce that the Senator from North Carolina [Mr. 
Faircloth], the Senator from North Carolina [Mr. Helms], and the 
Senator from Kansas [Mrs. Kassebaum] are necessarily absent.
  Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey [Mr. Bradley], 
the Senator from South Dakota [Mr. Daschle], the Senator from Hawaii 
[Mr. Inouye], the Senator from Nebraska [Mr. Kerrey], and the Senator 
from Georgia [Mr. Nunn] are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cochran). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 51, nays 40, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 495 Leg.]

                                YEAS--51

     Abraham
     Ashcroft
     Bennett
     Bond
     Brown
     Burns
     Campbell
     Chafee
     Coats
     Cochran
     Cohen
     Coverdell
     Craig
     D'Amato
     DeWine
     Dole
     Domenici
     Frist
     Gorton
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hatch
     Hatfield
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Jeffords
     Kempthorne
     Kyl
     Lieberman
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McCain
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Nickles
     Pressler
     Roth
     Santorum
     Shelby
     Simpson
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Warner

                                NAYS--40

     Akaka
     Baucus
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Bryan
     Bumpers
     Byrd
     Conrad
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Exon
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Ford
     Glenn
     Graham
     Harkin
     Heflin
     Hollings
     Johnston
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Mikulski
     Moseley-Braun
     Moynihan
     Murray
     Pell
     Pryor
     Reid
     Robb
     Rockefeller
     Sarbanes
     Simon
     Wellstone

                             NOT VOTING--8

     Bradley
     Daschle
     Faircloth
     Helms
     Inouye
     Kassebaum
     Kerrey
     Nunn
  So the motion to lay on the table the amendment (No. 2940) was agreed 
to.
  Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 5 
minutes as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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