[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 137 (Saturday, September 28, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S11642]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 IMPLEMENTING PROVISION OF THE CONGRESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 1995

  Mr. NICKLES. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of Senate Resolution 304, 
submitted earlier today by Senator Lott.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 304) approving certain regulations to 
     implement provisions of the Congressional Accountability Act 
     of 1995 relating to labor-management relations with respect 
     to employing offices of the Senate and employees of the 
     Senate, and for other purposes.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the immediate 
consideration of the resolution?
  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. NICKLES. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the 
table, and that any statements relating to the resolution appear at 
this point in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 304) was agreed to, as follows:

                              S. Res. 304

       Resolved,

     SECTION 1. APPROVAL OF REGULATIONS.

       (a) In General.--The regulations described in subsection 
     (b) are hereby approved, insofar as such regulations apply to 
     employing offices of the Senate and employees of the Senate 
     under the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 
     1301 et seq.) and to the extent such regulations are 
     consistent with the provisions of such Act.

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I would like to compliment the Senate 
and the leadership for acting on these resolutions today approving 
certain Congressional Accountability Act regulations. The first bill 
passed in this Congress was the Congressional Accountability Act. With 
great fanfare we stood together in this Chamber and announced to other 
Americans that we, as Senators, are no better than they are. We are not 
special, we are not different, and we will no longer make laws just for 
other Americans. Rather, we will make laws for all Americans, including 
ourselves. And with my bill, the Congressional Accountability Act, we 
applied 11 laws, including the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Americans 
With Disabilities Act, and so on, to ourselves.
  Now the Office of Compliance, created by the Congressional 
Accountability Act, has promulgated regulations that require our 
approval. The resolutions before us approve the so-called 220(d) 
regulations. These regulations address the collective bargaining rights 
of nonlegislative offices. I am very pleased that the Senate is acting 
on these regulations today.
  Unfortunately, neither of these resolutions contain the 220(e) 
regulations, which address the collective bargaining rights of 
legislative offices. The House Oversight Committee recently voted to 
send these regulations back to the Office of Compliance and asked that 
they be redrafted. And last week, the Office of Compliance's Board 
responded with two separate letters addressing the committee's actions. 
Due to these recent events, it seems pointless to push the Senate to 
consider these regulations at this time. However, I plan to ask the 
leadership to make the 220(e) regulations one of the first items of 
business for the 105th Congress.
  If we are to be honest with the American people, we must not escape 
fully implementing the Congressional Accountability Act. For now, I ask 
that the Senate act on the 220(d) regulations by voting on these 
resolutions.

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