[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 211 (Friday, December 29, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S19312-S19313]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ORDER OF PROCEDURE

  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, let me indicate that we have had a meeting 
all afternoon at the White House, and I will say, without violating our 
agreement on statements, afterward we had a good working session. We 
covered a lot of ground. We are going to meet tomorrow morning. We are 
going to be there all day, and probably through the evening. We will 
determine then whether or not we will be here Sunday or Monday. I think 
it is fair to say that we had a constructive session where everybody, 
in my view--regardless of party, regardless of being from the White 
House, Democrats or Republicans, the House or the Senate--had one thing 
in mind: trying to move the process along to get a balanced budget over 
the next 7 years.

  I think there is a recognition that most Americans, regardless of 
party, want us to do that. We are not there yet. We have a lot of work 
to do. But I would say that today has been a day of progress.
  I would also say that it had been my hope earlier that we could work 
out an agreement where Federal employees could go back to work. A week 
ago today we passed a measure in the Senate by unanimous consent that, 
in effect, deemed all Federal employees ``essential'' and also 
guaranteed that they would be paid. That bill went to the House, but it 
has not been considered.
  I was advised today by the majority leader in the House, Congressman 
Armey, and the speaker, Congressman Gingrich, that if we would send to 
the House the same measure we passed last week, and the so-called 
Mideast Peace Facilitation Act, and a third provision with reference to 
expedited procedures, so that once an agreement is reached there will 
be some expedited procedure in the Senate so that we will be certain we 
get a disposition of it, that they would be able to take that up today, 
Friday, by unanimous consent in the House. That was their best 
judgment. And so I was in hopes that we could work that out on the 
Senate side.
  I was advised at the White House by the distinguished Democratic 
leader, Senator Daschle, that they would have to object because of the 
expedited procedure language, which seems to me something we ought to 
be able to work out. If we want people to go back to work and we want 
to make certain they will be paid and we also want to pass another very 
important piece of legislation, we ought to be able to reach some 
agreement on how we are going to handle the bill if we have an 
agreement, or if we do not have an agreement, how would we handle the 
balanced budget amendment.
  I will ask that the text of this be printed in the Record after I ask 
unanimous consent, which will be objected to. But we have just taken 
the Budget Act, reduced the time to 10 hours, open to amendment during 
that 10 hours. Otherwise, we kept the Byrd amendment, for example. So 
we hope that the Democratic leader will have an opportunity between now 
and tomorrow to maybe come back with a counteroffer, because we are 
ready to act, put people back to work, and my view is that it is a very 
important matter that should be attended to.

[[Page S19313]]


                  UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--H.R. 2808

  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 2808, regarding Middle 
East peace facilitation, that there be one amendment in order, which 
contains identical text of H.R. 2808, identical text of S. 1508, the 
so-called back to work provision, and expedited procedure language with 
respect to Senate consideration of the Balanced Budget Act by 2002, 
that the amendment be deemed agreed to, the bill be read the third 
time, and passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, 
all without any intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. LEAHY. Reserving the right to object, Mr. President. There would 
be no objection to the passage of the Middle East Peace Facilitation 
Act, which I think the majority of Senators on both sides of the aisle 
would like to see passed and I think would be critical in the interest 
of the countries in the Middle East for peace, but also in our own 
national security interests.
  The back to work provision was passed, as the distinguished majority 
leader knows, with the support of the Democratic leader and all Members 
on this side of the aisle and on his side by unanimous consent last 
Saturday. And the other body had decided to take off and, I guess, go 
home on the Christmas vacation and not take it up. So we would have no 
objection to that.
  The last part is the part I object to, Mr. President, because what we 
are saying is we will change the Senate rules on the time of debate and 
all on a bill, which nobody--neither the distinguished majority leader 
nor myself--knows what is in it. We all know we have the same goal, and 
both he and I agree to have a balanced budget by 2002. But we do not 
know what is in it. I do not think I would be able to get consent of 
many Members to waive, basically, the Senate rules on a piece of 
legislation that we have not yet seen. But I certainly hope that some 
type of procedure can be put together, and I assume that at the time 
when the budget comes up, it will be under some form of expedited 
procedure.
  So I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, let me indicate that, of course, under one 
scenario, if an agreement is reached, it will be reached with the 
President of the United States and with the Democratic leaders of the 
House and the Senate. So it is not something that has not been 
discussed. I know they are doing--as we are doing--checking with every 
committee chairman on every issue that might affect anyone's 
jurisdiction. The Democrats are doing it and the Republicans are doing 
it. We want to make certain that as many people as possible can be 
consulted as we proceed to try to reach some agreement on a balanced 
budget over the next 7 years scored by the Congressional Budget Office 
which the American people by a large margin want.
  For the last couple of weeks, there has been this problem of Federal 
workers and whether or not they could go to work. Some tried to go, and 
they were turned away. There is a lot of gnashing of teeth by Federal 
workers through no fault of their own because the appropriations bill 
were vetoed--for example, whether it was the HUD-VA, or Interior, or 
the State, Justice, Commerce veto by the President. Those people are 
not working.
  The President signed the Agriculture bill. So the people in the 
Department of Agriculture are working.
  Labor-HHS is being held up on a party-line vote. We cannot bring it 
up on the floor. There are a lot of employees there who are not 
working.
  We did by unanimous consent cover the District of Columbia until 
January 3.
  That leaves one bill, foreign operations, which is hung up over one 
amendment, and we believe that could and should be resolved at an early 
date.
  But the point is now we are in the position where at least by deeming 
the Federal workers to be essential employees and by in effect 
guaranteeing pay, that they will get it right away, but once the budget 
agreement has been agreed to, it would happen. All that is holding us 
up now and everybody going back to work tomorrow, or Sunday, or Monday, 
or Tuesday after the holidays is whether or not my colleagues on the 
other side will help us expedite the passage of a balanced budget 
agreement.
  Now, it seems to me that we ought to be able to work that out. I am 
prepared to do that. I think the Senator from South Dakota, the 
Democrat leader, indicated after we left the White House that he was 
certainly willing to discuss it further.
  We will be in session tomorrow. The House is on call. They can be in 
session tomorrow. And it is my hope that we can figure out some way to 
pass this package, unless there is a modification that we have not 
thought of. We could put a time agreement on how long it would be in 
effect. So it would only be a temporary modification of the present 
rules maybe until February 15, whatever. But I hope that we will sit 
down and work it out.

  I think the White House has an interest in trying to resolve this 
issue. And they have copies. I have given a copy of this to the 
President. I discussed it with the President myself before I left the 
White House. Mr. Panetta has a copy. Hopefully there will be enough 
ideas and thoughts on it overnight so that early in the morning we can 
reach some agreement, get it passed, and let people go back to work--
the people who are caught in the middle, so to speak--and let them go 
back to work knowing that they will be paid.
  So I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill I proposed be 
printed in the Record so my colleagues may have an opportunity to study 
it tomorrow.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

     SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF THE BALANCED BUDGET 
                   BILL.

       (a) Introduction and Consideration of the Balanced Budget 
     Agreement.--
       (1) Introduction.--The balanced budget bill, described in 
     (a)(3), shall be introduced in the House of Representatives 
     by the Chairman of the Budget Committee of that House and, in 
     the Senate, by the Majority Leader, after consultation with 
     the Minority Leader. In the Senate, the balanced budget bill 
     shall not be referred to committee but shall be placed 
     directly on the Calendar.
       (2) Consideration.--In the Senate, the balanced budget bill 
     shall be considered as if it were a reconciliation bill 
     pursuant to section 310 of the Congressional Budget Act of 
     1974, with the following exceptions:
       (A) Debate in the Senate on the balanced budget bill, and 
     all amendments, thereto and debatable motions and appeals in 
     connection therewith, shall be limited to not more than 10 
     hours.
       (B) Upon expiration of the 10 hours of debate, without 
     intervening action, the Senate shall proceed to vote on the 
     final disposition of the balanced budget bill.
       (3) Balanced budget bill.--As used in this section, the 
     term ``balanced budget bill'' means the bill that achieves a 
     balanced budget not later than fiscal year 2002 that is 
     introduced pursuant to subsection (a).
       (b) Revised Aggregates and Allocations.--
       (1) Revision.--The chairman of the Committee on the Budget 
     of the House of Representatives and the chairman of the 
     Committee on the Budget of the Senate shall each submit to 
     its House--
       (A) revised levels of total new budget authority, budget 
     outlays, and Federal revenues set forth in House Concurrent 
     Resolutions 67 (One Hundred Fourth Congress) as required by 
     section 301 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974; and
       (B) revised allocations of new budget authority and total 
     outlays and in the House entitlement authority set forth in 
     the joint explanatory statement accompanying the conference 
     report on that concurrent resolution as required by section 
     602 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974,

     consistent with the balanced budget bill introduced pursuant 
     to subsection (a).
       (2) Adjustments.--The adjustments required under (1) shall 
     be made upon the introduction of the balanced budget bill 
     pursuant to subsection (a).
       (3) Effect of revised allocations and aggregates.--In the 
     House of Representatives and the Senate, revised levels and 
     allocations submitted under paragraph (1) shall be deemed as 
     the levels and allocations for purposes of sections 302 and 
     602, and 311 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
       (4) Upon the enactment of a bill referred to in subsection 
     (b), the chairmen of the Committees on the Budget may make 
     necessary technical revisions to the revised allocations made 
     under subsection (b).

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