[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 126 (Friday, September 13, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10511-S10512]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, this morning the Senate will begin 
consideration of H.R. 3662, the Interior appropriations bill.
  As announced last night, there will be no rollcall votes today to 
accommodate Members who have a special holiday today. However, I hope 
that Members will have amendments to the Interior bill, that they will 
come over and offer them, and that they will be germane. These will 
only be debated during today's session. But if votes are required then 
we will stack those votes on Tuesday morning.
  It is also possible that the Senate will consider S. 39, the Magnuson 
fisheries bill, as under a previous consent agreement. We reached the 
point last night where we could not go any further with the Treasury-
Postal appropriations bill. We would like to get the Magnuson bill up. 
We did not have time at that time of the night to consult with all the 
various Senators who are interested in that. We will be doing that this 
morning if we can get an agreement this morning, or perhaps even for 
Monday morning. We will make every effort to move this legislation that 
has been cobbled together with a lot of difficulty. But I think it is 
ready for us to take up now.
  Following legislative business today, there will be a period for 
morning business to accommodate a number of requests from both sides of 
the aisle, after which we will adjourn over until Monday.
  During Monday's session the Senate will continue with the 
consideration of the Interior appropriations bill. Again, no rollcall 
votes will be held so that Members who are celebrating the Jewish 
holiday will be able to get back to town.
  It is possible the Senate will consider the Federal Aviation 
Administration authorization measure. The Democratic leader and I 
talked about that last night. We believe we are about ready to go. We 
keep being told by the managers that they have it all agreed to. But 
when we look at the agreement, it still looks pretty long. So we have 
to look at that. We will try very hard to see if we can get that done.
  Senators should be prepared for rollcalls to begin on Tuesday as 
early as 9:30. But it will depend on what we have pending, and a lot of 
other considerations. But we will have stacked votes early sometime on 
Tuesday morning.
  I anticipate busy sessions of the Senate all of next week as we 
attempt to complete our business before sine die.
  I am glad we are going to the Interior appropriations bill now. We 
have two managers who have worked together beautifully; certainly two 
of the most

[[Page S10512]]

experienced legislators that we have, the Senator from West Virginia, 
Senator Byrd, and the Senator from Washington, Senator Gorton. They do 
great work. But they have a bill that has some issues that will be 
controversial and should be debated. And they should be. But I hope 
that Senators will cooperate better on this bill with the managers and 
with leadership on both sides of the aisle than what we saw this week 
on the Treasury-Postal appropriations bill. That was a big 
disappointment and a very poor exhibition by the Senate. We spent 25 
hours 38 minutes on a bill, basically an appropriations bill that is 
relatively small and should not have been controversial. The problem 
was there were over 100 amendments offered, most of them nongermane. In 
a couple of instances the managers withheld going to a vote so that 
Senators could come over and speak on their amendment and the Senators 
never showed up. That is disrespectful of the process, the managers, 
and the institution. We should not do that.
  I have tried to keep the focus on getting our work done. The best 
thing for us to do now, or any other time of the year, is just do what 
needs to be done under the rules of the Senate and for the American 
people. I have been playing it straight. I have been trying to 
discourage amendments that could be considered political or blow this 
place up. But I reached the conclusion last night that that might not 
be possible. We spent all day yesterday, we spent the last 10 hours on 
that bill basically with partisan political positioning amendments 
being offered for TV spots.
  I refuse as majority leader to: first, accept amendments that should 
not be accepted on a continuous basis; second, to ask responsible 
Senators to walk the plank on obviously blatant political amendments 
one after another. I mean my attitude is, OK, a little bit of that. You 
do a little yourselves, and we do a little ourselves. You score your 
points, and we score our points. Let us move on, and do the business.
  It was obvious to me by late last night that the Senate was not being 
serious and that this was politics. I have in my hand exhibit A, the 
proof of what was being done on the Treasury-Postal Service 
appropriations bill. Here is the political plan for the Democrats for 
this year. They have their parts, and in their components under these 
three main titles, there is an issue here, like health care. Then they 
have the amendments they have planned to offer in that area. I mean it 
is just pure politics. I am not going to play that game. We are not 
going to have it on Interior. If the Senators start playing blatant 
politics on the Interior bill, it will meet the same fate that 
Treasury-Postal Service did. I am not going to have that. I do not 
think Senator Byrd or Senator Gorton will allow it. I urge them for 
every amendment of that type that is offered to move to table it right 
away.

  I also want to serve notice that, if there are going to be blatant 
political amendments put out here, we will have a second degree to 
every one of them. It will ball this institution up. That is not right. 
These Senators have done good work, important work, on a bill that 
America wants and needs.
  Let us do our business. Let us do it in a bipartisan and as 
nonpolitical way as possible realizing this is a political institution. 
If we do, it will reflect well on all of us. We will all benefit 
politically.
  I yield the floor, Mr. President.

                          ____________________