[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 211 (Friday, December 29, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S19302-S19303]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ORDER OF PROCEDURE

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I wonder if I might make a comment. I 
understand the purpose of both objections. The majority leader, I know, 
recognizes that the passage of a clean CR would mean that everyone 
would go back to work immediately. It is true that it would be only as 
long as the CR lasted, but it would end the shutdown.
  I understand the circumstances which required the Senator from Kansas 
to object to that at this point. I wish them well in the discussions 
with the President this afternoon. In the event this were to go on for 
several more days, can the majority leader foresee circumstances under 
which a clean CR might be accomplished so that all Federal workers 
might go back to work immediately?
  Mr. DOLE. Well, I am not certain there will be a CR, but something 
has 

[[Page S19303]]
to be done. That is my view. I cannot speak for all of my colleagues in 
the House and Senate. But I think there is some recognition--there are 
a couple of concerns that people have. First of all, as I have said 
before, the employees are sort of the pawns in this game. This is a 
struggle for whatever we hope will happen over the next 7 years. It is 
very important. But to somebody out there who is not working and only 
lives from paycheck to paycheck, it is not a very happy choice, and 
they should be paid, even though some are saying, ``Well, you are 
paying people for not working.'' My view is that if it was voluntary on 
their part, you should not, but it is involuntary. They cannot go to 
work. Some tried, in Baltimore, to show up for work and they were told 
to go home. That is a long answer, I guess, to saying there has to be 
some way around this. That is why I thought, yesterday, that maybe the 
appropriations bills--if the President would consent to that--then we 
can probably figure out a way to get Labor-HHS out of here. We have one 
little provision--and the Senator from Vermont knows more about it than 
I do--on the foreign ops bill. I will work with the Senator from North 
Dakota.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, if the majority leader is still on the 
floor, I hope that he realizes--I am sure he does--that there are many 
of us--I would say the majority of both Democrats and Republicans--who 
do want to come together on this issue and get it here in the Senate 
and get this finished. He mentioned the foreign ops bill, which is one 
where the distinguished Senator from Kentucky [Mr. McConnell] and I had 
the bill on the floor. We had, I believe, 193 items in disagreement 
with the other body. We settled 192 of the 193, and I think it is 
unfortunate that it is held up.
  It is beginning to create a problem in the Middle East peace process 
with the Camp David countries. I think that is of some significance. I 
know all of us on the floor support the help we give those countries, 
especially at this critical time. I hope we might work that out. I 
think we can go through dozens of other issues, where it seems that the 
solution is so close and so within our grasp. Frankly, Mr. President, I 
wish the majority leader, the Speaker, and the President all the best 
in their negotiations, and the distinguished Democratic leaders in both 
the House and the Senate, who will join with them.

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