[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 11 (Friday, January 26, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S391-S392]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I apologize to the distinguished Senator 
waiting to speak but, with reference to the schedule, I would like to 
make a couple of comments, if I could.
  Also, of course, there will be conversation today about the START II 
bill.
  I want to commend the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, who 
is here on the floor, for his effort to get a quick turnaround on this 
conference report agreement. It is bipartisan. Several of the problems 
that existed in the previous conference report have been removed and a 
compromise has been worked out. I am sure it is one that neither side 
is 100 percent happy with, but it is one that I think we should 
support, and we should move quickly today. I know we have indications 
that the President will sign this bill. I believe the ranking member of 
the Armed Services Committee will support it.
  So, I hope we can get a quick agreement to move forward on this 
Department of Defense conference report. We hope to be able to announce 
something on that in the next few minutes.
  Also, there has been an understanding with regard to time that will 
be used on START II. Hopefully, we can take that time and move forward 
on that bill, also.
  On the continuing resolution, I would like to point out to our 
colleagues here in the Senate that there has been a lot of work done on 
this continuing resolution. Again, there has been a lot of give and 
take. The proof of that is the fact that it passed the House of 
Representatives last night by an overwhelming margin of 371 to 42. Only 
42 voted against this continuing resolution. So truly it was a 
bipartisan effort. I have had some contact with the negotiators on that 
package. They certainly worked very hard, and they came up with what is 
good for now. It will take us to March 15 and give us additional time 
to get agreement on the appropriations bills that have not passed this 
body. Hopefully, the Labor-HHS and Education appropriations bills can 
be moved through the Senate. I remind my colleagues once again that 
this is where that issue languishes--right here in the Senate.
  The White House has indicated its support for this continuing 
resolution until March 15. So, it is bipartisan in 

[[Page S392]]
the House, it is supported by the administration, and we need to act on 
it because we do have the deadline of today, January 26, of the present 
continuing resolution. If we do not act this afternoon and get an 
agreement to move this continuing resolution to the President, then we 
have looming before us the possibility of another Government shutdown. 
The headlines last night on the television news reports and this 
morning were very positive. An agreement is reached to open the 
Government.
  Now the Senate should act quickly to follow the example set by the 
House. We should not delay this continuing resolution. We should move 
it through following the example set this time by the House of 
Representatives. Yet, we are being told that, oh, well, there may have 
to be several votes. There may need to be some amendments. Certainly 
any Senator has a right to offer amendments, but I urge them to think 
very carefully about what could happen here this afternoon. If we start 
amending, or trying to amend, this continuing resolution, if amendments 
are not laid on the table, then we could have a real problem. If we 
amend that continuing resolution, it could mean that the shutdown of 
the Government would begin over the weekend. We would have a real 
problem.

  The House of Representatives acted responsibly. They have done their 
work. And they have recessed until next week. So I urge my colleagues 
here in the Senate to think about this. If you do start offering 
amendments and some of them, in fact, do pass, then you are flirting 
with real danger. And the blame will be on the Senate. It will be on 
those who offer these amendments which should not be considered in this 
forum and should not be considered on this bill.
  So, I hope that we will get an agreement on all three of these 
issues, take them up in speedy order, and complete our work this 
afternoon.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Several Senators addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina.

                          ____________________