[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 131 (Friday, September 20, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11108-S11110]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       UNANIMOUS-CONSENT REQUEST

  Mr. LOTT. I thank the Senator from North Dakota.
  I know he is going to be staying so we can go through these consent 
requests that we have. I would like to begin, Mr. President, by asking 
unanimous consent that when the Senate receives from the House a joint 
resolution making continuing appropriations for fiscal year 1997, the 
joint resolution be placed on the calendar and the Senate proceed to 
consider the joint resolution on Tuesday, September 24, or any day 
thereafter after consultation with the Democratic leader and it be 
considered under the following agreement: 1 hour equally divided on the 
joint resolution, third reading and adoption of the joint resolution 
occurring no later than 9 p.m. Wednesday, September 25.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection----
  Mr. DORGAN. Reserving the right to object--Mr. President, reserving 
the right to object----
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. DORGAN. Reserving the right to object----
  Mr. LOTT. I thought the Chair did a very good job.
  Mr. DORGAN.--And I shall object, I would observe this is one of the 
fastest Presiding Officers I have seen in some while in the Senate.
  Mr. LOTT. I was just commending him.
  Mr. DORGAN. As I understand the Senator from Mississippi, he suggests 
we agree to a piece of legislation not

[[Page S11109]]

yet written, agree to offer no amendments to a bill, the provisions of 
which we are not yet sure might or might not need amending, and agree 
to it at a time not yet certain. Is that the sum and substance of the 
proposal?
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if I could comment on that, I would like to 
begin by reminding my colleagues that one week from Monday, this coming 
Monday, is the end of the fiscal year. We have a job to do. We are 
working with the administration and with the appropriators on both 
sides of the aisle to get agreement on numbers and on language that 
would go in a bill that would be necessary to keep all of the various 
departments working, assuming we cannot get all the appropriations 
bills completed in advance of that date. And it appears we will not, 
although work is still being done on some of them.
  I believe the VA-HUD appropriations bill, for instance, will be 
ready. Everybody understands and expects that Labor-HHS and Education, 
Commerce-Justice-State Department, and Interior and probably Treasury-
Postal, at least those four would be in a continuing resolution.
  Having said that, with that deadline, the end of the fiscal year is 
one week from Monday. This coming Monday is a Jewish holiday. That 
leaves Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, 
and the fiscal year is over.
  We can stand around and wait for chaos and we will create it. We need 
a safety net under our military men and women and for our people that 
have had fires and disasters and for our children and our schools. We 
need to make sure that safety net is there and in place through a 
continuing resolution. In order to get that done, we have to get 
started.
  I have offered to the leadership in the Senate, Senator Daschle in 
particular, the Democratic leader, and have communicated these various 
ideas to a number of Senators, the appropriations chairmen, ranking 
Members in the House, a number of options how we could do this. Senator 
Daschle and I have spent a lot of time talking it through. I think he 
wants us to find a way to do it, but the problem is we have to do it. 
We have to find a way to do it. So I suggested that we would call the 
CR up and we will have available on Tuesday the basis of the CR that we 
could go forward with. The committees are coming to closure now. CJS--
Commerce, Justice, State--I think they are about ready. Interior is 
making good progress. We are going to have it by Tuesday.

  So I said to Senator Daschle, why don't we call this up on Tuesday 
and let us get an agreement that we will have 6 amendments in order on 
each side, a total of 12 amendments, but that we would complete the 
debate on amendments and pass it by Wednesday night.
  He had some concerns about that. He said, I don't know about trying 
to limit it to six. Of course, we would all have to try to find some 
way of agreeing on our side and your side what the six would be, and 
that would probably befall your lot to try to help your side.
  He was not comfortable with that. I said how about plan B. Let's 
begin Tuesday. Let's not have any limit on amendments, any limit on 
time. Let's get started. We offer an amendment; you offer an amendment, 
second degrees, sort of a jungle route, no limitations. Let's get 
started. Let's finish our work. But we would finish it Wednesday night 
at 9 o'clock.
  I think Senator Daschle would like to do that but apparently there 
was an objection on that side. I do not quite understand why.
  Another option is that we bring this over attached to the Department 
of Defense appropriations bill. To be perfectly honest, there are some 
potential problems with that.
  But, I mean, remember now, we are proceeding on the assumption that 
we are going to be basically in agreement. Basically, on numbers and 
language, we are coming together, and we think we are going to get an 
agreement. The problem is, how do we, mechanically, get it done?
  What is magic about 9 o'clock Wednesday night? Once we do our work 
here in the Senate on that, on the CR, and get it done Wednesday night, 
then it has to go to conference. It will take, I am sure--no matter 
what happens, there is going to be a little difference between the 
House and the Senate. That has to go to conference. Should we not give 
them at least a day, Thursday, maybe until Friday morning, to get the 
conference agreement?
  Then we would have to take the conference agreement up Friday 
afternoon or Saturday or Sunday. In order to get our work done, we 
would have to complete it, I presume, sometime Friday night or Saturday 
so it could go to the President and he could sign it, and, you know, 
everything would be under control.
  If we do not get started Tuesday, if we do not complete it Wednesday, 
when does it go to conference? Does it go to conference Thursday? Are 
they going to take all day Friday? Are they going to be in conference 
over the weekend? Are we going to, then, go home 3 days before the end 
of the fiscal year and see our constituents while we are on the verge 
of running out of time on the fiscal year? I am not sure that is smart.
  So here is what I am trying to say. I am flexible. I will work with 
you. Give me an idea. But I want to make it abundantly clear that, as 
majority leader, I am committed to getting this work done and that I am 
offering multiple avenues to get there to the Democratic leadership. 
But at some point we are going to have to get an agreement.
  So, I just wanted to go through that. If this is not an acceptable 
arrangement, we need some kind of an agreement. I thought this was a 
good one to get started, that there be some time, equally divided time; 
we have amendments that could be offered. But there is going to be 
objection. We are going to get started on Tuesday morning--Tuesday--on 
this issue. We will just go forward. If we cannot get it done 
Wednesday, maybe we will get it done Thursday. But I want to make it 
clear to the American people that I am worried about making sure we 
have a safety net under our people so that we do not get into this game 
at the end of trying to squeeze one last drop of additional spending 
out of the Federal Government and have a potential problem next Monday 
at the end of the fiscal year.
  So, I am agreeable to work with the Democratic leadership, but this 
is a way to get it started, and that is why I made the request.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, continuing the reservation to object, and 
I shall object here, the Senator from Mississippi, of course, knew that 
there is not an agreement here and that we are constrained to object at 
this moment. I might say that the House of Representatives indicates to 
our appropriations staff that they intend to be going to the Rules 
Committee on Thursday and taking up the bill on Friday. And you are 
proposing a unanimous-consent request that we bring up a House product 
that apparently is not going to be done until Friday on the floor of 
the Senate on Tuesday.
  Mr. LOTT. Will the Senator yield on that point?
  Mr. DORGAN. I will be happy to yield.
  Mr. LOTT. I just double checked on that. They will have a document 
ready on Tuesday, and my information is they will be done with this by 
Wednesday. Maybe just physically it may be later, but there is nothing 
rare about the Senate going ahead and getting started, provided we do 
not complete it before they do their work. But we can do a lot of work 
while they are working and complete it after they finish.

  Mr. DORGAN. I understand. But my point is, we do not have any 
intention of delaying. By the same token, a unanimous-consent request 
that says, ``By the way, let us take something that is not yet created 
and agree to bring it up on Tuesday at a point when it won't be done,'' 
suggests that none of us will be able to offer any amendments to what 
likely will be an enormously bloated product, not necessarily with 
things that will get vetoed, but with things that those in a position 
to stick them in do stick into this particular piece of legislation.
  So we want to work with the majority leader. I think Senator Daschle 
and you have talked a great deal on this. We have no interest in 
delaying the business of the Senate. By the same token, we have no 
interest in agreeing to a process that will not allow an opportunity to 
amend circumstances in this piece of legislation that may well cry out 
for amendment.

[[Page S11110]]

  So I am constrained to object to the unanimous-consent request the 
Senator is now offering.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.

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