[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 74 (Thursday, May 23, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5510-S5512]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET
The Senate continued with the consideration of the concurrent
resolution.
Mr. DOMENICI addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
Mr. DOMENICI. We do not need the quorum call because Senator Thompson
is ready.
Mr. THOMPSON addressed the Chair.
Mr. EXON. I withhold my request.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator withholds his request for a quorum
call.
The Senator from Tennessee is seeking recognition?
Amendment No. 3981
Mr. THOMPSON. Mr. President, I call up amendment 3981.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The amendment is now before the Senate.
(The text of the amendment No. 3981 was printed in the Record of May
20, 1996.)
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
Mr. THOMPSON. Mr. President, this amendment reserves the Presidential
election campaign fund checkoff system as it is today. The budget
resolution instructions direct the Finance Committee to terminate the
current checkoff system which funds the Presidential campaign fund. In
its place, the Finance Committee is directed to allow taxpayers to make
a voluntary contribution to the fund out of their tax refund, should
they have one.
This provision in the budget resolution will effectively terminate
this post-Watergate reform. It is a system that has worked better than
any of the rest of our campaign finance system, which is of great
concern to many people. I do not think it is wise to single out the
system and the part of it that is working the best and do away with it.
It has been scandal free. It has made for a more level playing field.
Three out of the last four challengers to incumbent Presidents have
won.
The next question is, what do we replace it with if, in fact, this is
the demise of the current system? Do we go back to pre-Watergate?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time of the Senator has expired.
Mr. THOMPSON. I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kentucky.
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, how much time do I have?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kentucky has 30 seconds.
Mr. McCONNELL. I will take the same 30 seconds Senator Thompson had.
Mr. DOMENICI. I yield time in opposition, and we will be generous
with the 30 seconds.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. A long 30 seconds.
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, this is a vote about whether you want
to take roughly $300 million over a 4-year period out of financing
political conventions and political campaigns for President of the
United States and apply it to the deficit. The beauty of this proposal
of the Budget Committee is that it does not end the Presidential
checkoff at all. I personally would like to end it. I think it is a
terrible idea to have taxpayer funding of elections. But the proposal
of the Budget Committee does not do that. All it says is, when you
check off on your tax return every April 15, you really pay for it. It
is only $3, and I am confident that those who believe that taxpayer
funding of political campaigns is a good idea will be more than happy
to contribute $3 to this fund.
Under the current system the participation in the checkoff has gone
from 29 percent down to 13 percent, and that is when it does not even
cost the person checking off any money. This is just truth in
advertising. If you check off, you pay for it.
I close by saying it saves $300 million, adds that to deficit
reduction, and allows people to really pay for the voluntary checkoff.
I hope the Thompson amendment will be defeated.
Mr. DOMENICI. Does the Senator want the yeas and nays on this?
Senator Thompson will accept a voice vote.
Mr. THOMPSON. I will accept a voice vote.
Mr. McCONNELL. Yes.
Mr. THOMPSON. With the provision I could ask for a rollcall vote
subsequently.
Mr. DOMENICI. I think you have the right to a rollcall vote in any
event after a voice vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. That will be before the Chair announces the
result.
Mr. DOMENICI. If he does it before the Chair announces the result.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the amendment.
All in favor say aye. All those opposed, no.
The ayes appear to have it.
Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I call for the yeas and nays.
What was the ruling of the Chair? The ayes have it? I withdraw my
request.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
Mr. EXON. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. First of all, I have to announce the result.
The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it.
The amendment is agreed to.
The amendment (No. 3981) was agreed to.
Mr. COVERDELL. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
Mr. DOMENICI. I apologize, Mr. President, I thought you had already
ruled.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the motion to lay on the
table is agreed to.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arkansas.
Amendment No. 4014
Mr. BUMPERS. Mr. President, the yeas and nays have been ordered on
this amendment already.
This amendment, I say to my colleagues, is one with which you are all
familiar. It is called the defense firewalls. What it says is, no
matter how many epidemics, floods, typhoons, earthquakes, no matter how
much of anything you have in this country, you may not take a dollar
from the defense budget with less than 60 votes to put it over in
something that is of a much more dire need.
In 1991, and 1992, we had defense firewalls. We took them down in
1993 and 1994. Nothing untoward happened. I am just offended what this
does. It says that no matter what happens that defense may not be
touched. No matter how bloated the defense budget may be, it says you
cannot take a penny out of defense for any other purpose, no matter
what the emergency is.
We are saying we do not trust the Senate; we do not trust the Senate
with a 51-vote majority. If you want to take something out of defense,
you have to get 60 votes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time of the Senator from Arkansas has
expired.
Mr. DOMENICI addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, since the Senator says this offends him,
I
[[Page S5511]]
might say, one man's offense is another man's exhilaration. I think the
firewalls are the best thing we have ever done for the defense of our
country. I think we ought to vote the amendment down.
Clearly, it is not as the Senator said. The Senate votes on whether
it wants the defense budget. After you voted it, you cannot take away
from it when you have pressure for domestic spending. That is the
issue. For typhoons and disasters, it is another issue. The Budget Act
clearly says you can break the budget for those kinds of items. If you
have natural disasters, it does not mean you can take the money from
the men and women in the military.
I move to table the amendment and ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion to
lay on the table amendment No. 4014. The yeas and nays have been
ordered. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. LOTT. I announce that the Senator from Kansas [Mr. Dole] and the
Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. Santorum] are necessarily absent.
The result was announced--yeas 57, nays 41, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 147 Leg.]
YEAS--57
Abraham
Ashcroft
Bennett
Bond
Brown
Burns
Campbell
Chafee
Coats
Cochran
Cohen
Coverdell
Craig
D'Amato
DeWine
Domenici
Faircloth
Feinstein
Ford
Frist
Glenn
Gorton
Graham
Gramm
Grams
Grassley
Gregg
Hatch
Heflin
Helms
Hutchison
Inhofe
Jeffords
Kassebaum
Kempthorne
Kyl
Lieberman
Lott
Lugar
Mack
McCain
McConnell
Murkowski
Nickles
Nunn
Pressler
Robb
Roth
Shelby
Simpson
Smith
Snowe
Stevens
Thomas
Thompson
Thurmond
Warner
NAYS--41
Akaka
Baucus
Biden
Bingaman
Boxer
Bradley
Breaux
Bryan
Bumpers
Byrd
Conrad
Daschle
Dodd
Dorgan
Exon
Feingold
Harkin
Hatfield
Hollings
Inouye
Johnston
Kennedy
Kerrey
Kerry
Kohl
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Mikulski
Moseley-Braun
Moynihan
Murray
Pell
Pryor
Reid
Rockefeller
Sarbanes
Simon
Specter
Wellstone
Wyden
NOT VOTING--2
Dole
Santorum
The motion to lay on the table the amendment (No. 4014) was agreed
to.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I
move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
amendment no. 4015
Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, yesterday the Senate began voting on
amendments to the budget resolution at 9 a.m. and for the next 8\1/2\
hours, we cast 27 votes and voice-voted 7 other amendments. Out of the
34 amendments considered, 28 amendments--83 percent--were sense-of-the-
Senate amendments. And 7 of the 27 rollcall votes--more than one out of
four votes were unanimous 100-0.
Mr. President, these amendments are not binding; they do not shift a
single dollar from one program to another. They merely allow both
Republicans and Democrats to engage in strategies of gamesmanship which
deceive the American people about our legislative business.
Enough is enough.
My amendment simply states that it shall not be in order for the
Senate to consider sense-of-the-Senate resolutions during debate on the
budget resolution.
I think we have reached the point where all of us would agree we have
to abandon these unending, and meaningless, sense-of-the-Senate
resolutions or at least require Senators to state on the floor and tell
the American public that these amendments have no binding effect.
End this charade on the American public and vote to eliminate these
amendments on budget resolutions.
Mr. EXON. Mr. President, the Murkowski amendment would create a new
point of order that would deprive the minority of its right to amend
with the sense-of-the-Senate language. Under the amendment, the
majority could report out any sense-of-the-Senate language it wanted,
but no Senator could offer a sense-of-the-Senate amendment to change
that language or add to it.
Mr. President, I yield back the balance of my time. I raise a point
of order that the pending amendment is not germane and it violates
section 305(b) of the Congressional Budget Act.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I move to waive section 305(b) of the
Budget Act for the consideration of the Murkowski amendment 4015.
Parliamentary inquiry. Do I get an opportunity to speak on my motion?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Thirty seconds.
Mr. DOMENICI. Fellow Senators, I seldom move to violate the Budget
Act, but it does say if you can get 60 votes you can do it. I believe
the time has come to send a signal that we ought not have 40, 50, 60
sense-of-the-Senate resolutions on a Budget Act. That is what this will
do. This will say we are not going to have them in the future. It
treats everybody the same. We will just not have that kind of a
spectacle on the floor.
Mr. EXON. I have 30 seconds. Mr. President, as I understand the
procedure, it would require 60 votes to do what the Senator from New
Mexico has just requested.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. To waive the Budget Act requires 60 votes.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I want to report to all Senators about
the ongoing episode of my statement yesterday about the dinner last
night and my wife's position. So you will all know, my wife arrives,
she wanted to be there very much and she brought a purse. In the purse
was a bar of Dial soap. She suggested that maybe I should wash my mouth
out with Dial soap. I have done that. I hope I have set everything
straight. I misstated my wife's position, but it was all in fun, and
she did the Dial soap for fun, too.
Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There is a
sufficient second.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion to
waive the Budget Act. The yeas and nays have been ordered.
The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. LOTT. I announce that the Senator from Kansas [Mr. Dole] and the
Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. Santorum] are necessarily absent.
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 57, nays 41, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 148 Leg.]
YEAS--57
Abraham
Ashcroft
Bennett
Bond
Burns
Byrd
Campbell
Chafee
Coats
Cochran
Cohen
Coverdell
Craig
D'Amato
DeWine
Faircloth
Frist
Glenn
Gorton
Gramm
Grams
Grassley
Gregg
Hatch
Hatfield
Helms
Hollings
Hutchison
Inhofe
Jeffords
Johnston
Kassebaum
Kempthorne
Kyl
Lieberman
Lott
Lugar
Mack
McCain
McConnell
Murkowski
Nickles
Nunn
Pressler
Reid
Robb
Roth
Shelby
Simpson
Smith
Snowe
Specter
Stevens
Thomas
Thompson
Thurmond
Warner
NAYS--41
Akaka
Baucus
Biden
Bingaman
Boxer
Bradley
Breaux
Brown
Bryan
Bumpers
Conrad
Daschle
Dodd
Domenici
Dorgan
Exon
Feingold
Feinstein
Ford
Graham
Harkin
Heflin
Inouye
Kennedy
Kerrey
Kerry
Kohl
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Mikulski
Moseley-Braun
Moynihan
Murray
Pell
Pryor
Rockefeller
Sarbanes
Simon
Wellstone
Wyden
NOT VOTING--2
Dole
Santorum
Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I ask for the regular order.
Mr. President, I ask for the regular order.
Mr. President, I ask for the regular order.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. We will proceed.
Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I ask for the regular order.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any Senators still wishing to vote?
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I change my vote from ``aye'' to ``no.''
[[Page S5512]]
The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the ayes are 57, the nays are
41. Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn, not having
voted in the affirmative, the motion is rejected.
Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I enter a motion to reconsider the vote
by which the motion to waive the budget act for the consideration of
the Murkowski amendment was defeated.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion is entered for future
consideration. However, the motion having failed to be approved at this
time, the Chair will rule on the motion--on the point of order. The
rights of Senators are reserved to move in the future to proceed to the
motion to reconsider.
The Chair will rule at this time that the amendment is not germane.
The point of order is sustained. The amendment falls at this time.
____________________