[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 207 (Friday, December 22, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S19233-S19234]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   FEDERAL EMPLOYEES WORK AND PAYMENT

  Mr. DOLE. I send a bill to the desk with respect to Federal employees 
on behalf of myself, Senator Warner, and Senator Stevens, and ask for 
its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 1508) to assure that all Federal employees work 
     and are paid.

  The bill (S. 1508) was considered, ordered to a third reading, read 
the third time, and passed, as follows:

                                S. 1508

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SEC.   . ALL FEDERAL EMPLOYEES DEEMED TO BE ESSENTIAL 
                   EMPLOYEES.

       (a) In General.--Section 1342 of title 31, United States 
     Code, is amended for the period December 15, 1995 through 
     February 1, 1996--
       (1) by inserting after the first sentence ``All officers 
     and employees of the United States Government or the District 
     of Columbia government shall be deemed to be performing 
     services relating to emergencies involving the safety of 
     human life or the protection of property.''; and
       (2) by striking out the last sentence.

  Mr. DOLE. I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. WARNER. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. 
  
[[Page S19234]]

  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, let me thank my colleagues, particularly 
Senator Daschle, the Democratic leader. We did discuss it today at the 
White House. It is not a perfect solution as people will find when they 
get into it, because if the employee returns to work and there is an 
expenditure involved they may not be able to carry out their normal 
duties. But at least I think from the standpoint of self-esteem, 
whatever, the Federal employees can come back to work and if they are 
paid, that would be satisfactory to them and to others who object to 
Federal employees being furloughed and then being paid. When they come 
back, they will not have a problem because they will at least be 
reporting for work and they will be at work and they will be paid.
  It seems to me that in fairness to the Federal employees, this is 
not--as I said earlier, they are sort of in the middle. They are sort 
of the pawns in this exercise. I hope the House will take this and 
consider it carefully. Maybe they can improve upon it. They will be 
back on Tuesday. And I thank my colleagues on both sides for clearing 
this legislation.
  Mr. FORD addressed the Chair.
  Mr. DOLE. I will be happy to yield.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. FORD. One item we tried to add to the continuing resolution 
earlier today was a clean CR so that we would not have any question.
  Mr. DOLE. Right.
  Mr. FORD. And the distinguished majority leader said in the Chamber 
yesterday he did not approve of closing Government down. And I 
appreciate what he is trying to do here. I think this needs some work 
on it.
  Mr. DOLE. Right.
  Mr. FORD. I believe the majority leader agrees with that, because if 
the others are not being paid, how does that Federal employee perform 
the service that he is there voluntarily doing until such time as a 
continuing resolution is passed for them to be paid?
  So I thank him for trying here, but a clean CR would have been much 
better than what we are trying to do. We are monkeying with the 
statutory provisions now, and I am not sure that we are doing 
everything that we ought to do. A clean CR would have accomplished the 
end result, and I think it is unfortunate that we are furloughing 
Federal employees by statute and then paying them for not working by 
continuing resolution at the rate of $40 million a day.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I say to my distinguished colleague, this 
is a clear effort by the distinguished majority leader and, indeed, 
with the consent of the distinguished minority leader to take this 
process a step further.
  Mr. FORD. I understand that.
  Mr. WARNER. Let us make it clear that this is a step forward, and it 
puts all Federal civil servants in one category and not two classes, so 
to speak.
  Mr. FORD. I understand that, I say to my friend. And I say to him, a 
clean CR would have taken care of everything, and now we send what we 
think is compassionate in our clean CR to the House and they take out 
Medicaid and send it back to us and recess.

  These sorts of things just do not ring well outside the beltway.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, the Senate included the Medicaid provision 
and the House seems to think that there are other sources of funding 
available. A signature pen on a lot of these bills would have obviated 
many of the problems. So I do not suggest at this time, this late at 
night we ought to reopen what has been thoroughly debated this week.
  Mr. FORD. I understand.
  Mr. WARNER. This is a substantive, concrete step forward by the 
distinguished majority leader, and I am privileged to have been the 
cosponsor of this legislation.
  Mr. FORD addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kentucky.
  Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I do not argue with my friend from Virginia 
at all. I have had a call from my State as it relates to the Medicaid 
payment. They are very concerned about it. That is a quarterly payment. 
It ends this month. The January, February, and March quarter for 
Medicaid is vitally important to them. And then when we have the, I 
think, good judgment to include that in the continuing resolution and 
the House said there are other means of paying it, well, if there are 
other means of paying it, let us not fuss at the Secretary of the 
Treasury trying to keep the Government open and keep it afloat with 
money when he finds other ways to make ends meet around here.
  So I just wanted to make the point, and I do not want to offend my 
friend from Virginia. I understand what the Senate is trying to do and 
I applaud Senator Dole for saying he does not want to shut the 
Government down. So the blame now is where it ought to be. The blame 
now is where it ought to be, not on the Senate.

                          ____________________