[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 96 (Wednesday, June 26, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6945-S6947]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 1997
The Senate continued with the consideration of the bill.
Amendment No. 4266
Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I urge the Senate to oppose the drastic
cuts proposed by the Wellstone amendment. Senator Nunn and I had
planned to introduce an amendment to cut the funding by $1.7 billion to
bring the bill into compliance with the budget resolution. However, the
Senator from Nebraska objected.
I want to put the Senate on notice that we will introduce our
amendment after Senator Exon completes his amendment.
I urge the Senate to support this amendment of the Armed Services
Committee to reduce the funding level of the bill by $1.7 billion.
[[Page S6946]]
Mr. WELLSTONE addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota is recognized for 2
minutes.
Mr. WELLSTONE. How much?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Two minutes.
Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, this amendment, which I offer with
Senator Harkin, Senator Dorgan, Senator Bumpers, and Senator Feingold,
simply says, look, we now have an authorization, roughly speaking, $13
billion above and beyond what the Pentagon has requested, what the
President has requested, and what the military leadership has
requested. Too much of it is add-on projects. There is a question of
whether or not these weapons systems are needed.
We voted 100 to zero for the Lieberman amendment which is an
important amendment dealing with force structure, dealing with
modernization. Let us go through with that study but let us not start
adding on projects. This is an amendment that really goes after some of
the pork and add-ons. We should not be doing this.
It is a deficit reduction amendment. It says this is a place where we
can take $13 billion and put it into deficit reduction. That is what we
should do.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question now occurs on agreeing to
amendment No. 4266 offered by the Senator from Minnesota.
Mr. THURMOND. 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 clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Arkansas [Mr. Bumpers] is
necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
who desire to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 34, nays 65, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 172 Leg.]
YEAS--34
Baucus
Biden
Bingaman
Boxer
Bradley
Brown
Bryan
Conrad
Daschle
Dorgan
Feingold
Glenn
Graham
Grassley
Harkin
Hatfield
Jeffords
Kennedy
Kerry
Kohl
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Mikulski
Moseley-Braun
Murray
Pell
Pryor
Reid
Rockefeller
Sarbanes
Simon
Wellstone
Wyden
NAYS--65
Abraham
Akaka
Ashcroft
Bennett
Bond
Breaux
Burns
Byrd
Campbell
Chafee
Coats
Cochran
Cohen
Coverdell
Craig
D'Amato
DeWine
Dodd
Domenici
Exon
Faircloth
Feinstein
Ford
Frahm
Frist
Gorton
Gramm
Grams
Gregg
Hatch
Heflin
Helms
Hollings
Hutchison
Inhofe
Inouye
Johnston
Kassebaum
Kempthorne
Kerrey
Kyl
Lieberman
Lott
Lugar
Mack
McCain
McConnell
Moynihan
Murkowski
Nickles
Nunn
Pressler
Robb
Roth
Santorum
Shelby
Simpson
Smith
Snowe
Specter
Stevens
Thomas
Thompson
Thurmond
Warner
NOT VOTING--1
Bumpers
The amendment (No. 4266) was rejected.
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the
amendment was rejected.
Mr. NUNN. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
Mr. LOTT addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Snowe). The majority leader.
Unanimous-Consent Agreements
Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the agreement
entered yesterday be modified to reflect that summaries of amendments
must be submitted to the two leaders no later than 3 p.m. today; and
further, that the two leaders now have until the hour of 4 p.m. today
to void this agreement, with all other provisions of the consent
agreement still in order.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent, with regard to
the pending legislation, that the pending amendments be set aside and
that Senator Exon be recognized to offer an amendment with respect to
funding; that there be 90 minutes for debate with the time equally
divided and controlled in the usual form, with no amendments in order
to the amendments or any language which may be stricken; that upon the
use or yielding back of time, the amendment be laid aside and that
Senator Thurmond be recognized to offer an amendment for himself and
Senator Nunn; that there be 20 minutes for debate with the time equally
divided and controlled in the usual form, with no second-degree
amendments in order, nor to the language which may be stricken; that
upon the use or yielding back of time, the amendment be laid aside and
Senator Wellstone be recognized to offer an amendment with respect to
funding, with 90 minutes for debate equally divided in the usual form,
with no second-degree amendments in order, nor to any language which
may be stricken; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the
amendment be laid aside and the Senate then vote on or in relation to
the amendments in the order in which they were debated, with 2 minutes
equally divided for debate on each amendment prior to the vote, with no
other intervening action in order.
I finally ask unanimous consent that upon disposition of the above
amendment, the Senate then resume consideration of the Kyl amendment
regarding underground nuclear testing; that there be 90 minutes for
debate prior to a motion to table, with the time equally divided and
controlled between Senators Kyl and Exon; and that upon the use or
yielding back of time, without intervening action, Senator Hatfield be
recognized to move to table the Kyl amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there an objection?
Mr. GORTON addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
Mr. GORTON. Reserving the right to object, I should like to inform
the majority leader that I have asked Senator Exon if he would be
willing to defer for 10 minutes, or so, for a morning business
statement on my part, if it is agreeable with the majority leader,
before further debate.
Mr. EXON. Madam President, I simply say to the majority leader, in
order to accommodate my friend and colleague, I will delay for 10
minutes.
Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I modify the unanimous-consent request to
provide for 10 minutes for Senator Gorton before we go to the lineup
that I have described here.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Mr. NUNN. Reserving the right to object, and I hope not to object, I
understand there is further wording on the unanimous-consent request at
the end of everything that the majority leader enumerated that would
add these words:
Provided further that Senator Hatfield is permitted to move
to table prior to the expiration or use of all time on the
motion to table.
Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I amend the unanimous-consent request to
include that additional sentence, whereby Senator Hatfield would be
permitted to move to table prior to the expiration or use of all time
on the motion to table.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. LOTT. I do want to say, I appreciate the cooperation of all the
Senators on this--the chairman, the Senator from Virginia, the Senator
from Georgia, Senator Exon and Senator Kyl. A lot of give and take was
involved here. This helps move major portions, for needed action on
this bill, forward. So I commend the Members. Now I hope we can get on
these amendments and stay with them until we get them completed.
Mr. WARNER addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
Mr. WARNER. Madam President, we commend the distinguished majority
leader. He has been on this floor since early this morning endeavoring
to help the managers, and this is clear evidence of the success he has
had. This will get this bill passed by tomorrow night. My understanding
is this is your goal, and it is our goal. I thank the leader.
[[Page S6947]]
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
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