[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 185 (Sunday, November 19, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S17469-S17470]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, let me tell the staffs that we do not 
normally have Sunday sessions. In fact, I think the most recent Sunday 
session was a few years back. We do not have the exact date. I 
apologize. But I think we have, hopefully, very important business to 
resolve today. I hope, in accordance with the message from the 
Chaplain, that we can find a way to reach out to one another. That 
process is going on as we speak.
  I understand that the President's Chief of Staff, Leon Panetta, is 
now meeting with the Democratic leadership, Senator Daschle and others. 
He will soon be meeting with Budget chairman, Senator Domenici, on this 
side, and the House Budget chairman, Mr. Kasich, in my office, room S-
230. Following that meeting, hopefully, I will be able to visit with 
the Speaker. I just hope there can be some resolution of this matter 
today.
  I am now advised that the last Sunday session was October 27, 1990. 
It has been a little over 5 years ago.
  In my view, we made a good faith offer last night. I think it has 
been received as such by the President, or at least his 
representatives, and hopefully, if there is a small difference, we can 
resolve that.
  We are prepared to act. We are prepared to stay here throughout the 
day, into the evening, if necessary. I know there is a human side to 
this, too. There are a lot of families out there who are very concerned 
and probably under a great deal of stress. I can assure them that, 
whatever happens, when they come back to work, they will be paid for 
the days they missed, because they were missed through no fault of 
their own. That we can assure them. So I hope they have that assurance.
  So we will be working this afternoon and, hopefully, with everybody 
with the same mindset; that is, to see if we cannot come together.
  I want to thank the Senator from Virginia, Senator Warner, for his 
efforts throughout yesterday, and the other Senators on the floor, 
Senator Cochran, Senator Gorton, Senator Coverdell, Senator Snowe, and 
Senator Hatfield, of course, the chairman of the committee. He would 
like to have us pass a continuing resolution. He would also like us to 
finish the other appropriations bills, and while I am at it, bring up 
the Labor-HHS appropriations bill and pass that, hopefully this 
afternoon, on a voice vote, so we can go to conference and have that 
one last appropriation bill disposed of if that is possible. Maybe we 
can accomplish that today.
  We will have a period for morning business with Senators permitted to 
speak up to 10 minutes each. As I said last evening, if the rollcall 
vote is necessary, we will make certain that if we should reach some 
agreement, if a rollcall vote is necessary, we will notify all Members 
so nobody is disadvantaged. Hopefully, if we can reach agreement on 
both sides of the aisle, there would be no need for a record vote if we 
can do it by a voice vote. Some of our colleagues, on both sides of the 
aisle, are on business matters far from here. So we will try to 
accommodate their concerns.
  If we are going to act before the next work week, we need to do it 
today so some of the workers will know they will be coming to work 
tomorrow or the next day.
  So I thank my colleagues for their patience, and I thank everybody 
for their indulgence in this Sunday session. But, in my view, it is 
important and we should be here. We should be trying to resolve this 
controversy. On the other side, obviously, it is very important.
  Everybody understands that the primary concern, at least on our side 
of the aisle, is that we have a 7-year balanced budget, a balanced 
budget by the year 2002. I guess I would say the major 

[[Page S 17470]]
problem is who is going to do the scoring. This is sort of inside 
baseball, but the question is whether it will be the Congressional 
Budget Office, or the President's scoring apparatus known as the Office 
of Management and Budget.
  So that is where we are. If we have any additional information, I 
will certainly pass it on to my colleagues as soon as it is received. 
After Members have spoken in morning business, then it would be my 
desire to have a recess subject to the call of the Chair, and we will 
see what develops in the next 30 or 40 minutes.

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