[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 137 (Saturday, September 28, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S11660]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         END-OF-SESSION LOGJAM

  Mr. FORD. I listened to my counterpart on the Republican side as he 
has talked about the parks bill. I have not been in the negotiations, 
but I know something about the negotiations. I understand several 
offers have been made in an effort to work out this piece of 
legislation. However, it has always come back, it is all or nothing.
  I know it is very easy to pull on the strings of emotion here saying 
that these items for our retiring Members need to be done and that you 
are trying to get them done for retiring Members, but it is what kind 
of meat you put on that skeleton of projects for retiring Members. Now, 
you can use this all you want to. Hopefully, we will be able to work 
out something, but when you say it is all or nothing at all, I have 
been very concerned about the number of bills that have come out of the 
Energy Committee in the last 2 years. We have not been very productive, 
I think, and then all of a sudden at the end, next to the last day, we 
get a humongous bill.
  And so the offers have been made. The struggle is still available. 
And if it is not all or nothing, I think we may be able to sit down and 
work out a little Henry Clay. Henry Clay was the great compromiser. 
Henry Clay said compromise was ``negotiated hurt.'' Well, let us sit 
down and hurt a little bit and get a bill out here that is in the best 
interests of the country instead of saying, if you do not take this, 
you do not get anything.
  Mr. DORGAN. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. FORD. I will be happy to yield.
  Mr. DORGAN. I was listening to the discussion about the parks bill, 
and I listened to the discussion yesterday about the bill. I listened 
to the discussions about the continuing resolution and appropriations 
bills, about the FAA bill. And the common issue with respect to all of 
them is we find ourselves here right at the edge of the midnight hour 
on this legislative session and in a circumstance where, as I 
understand it, four appropriations bills were not even brought to the 
floor of the Senate. We have a circumstance here the Senator from 
Kentucky would know more than most about where the FAA bill was not 
able to be resolved and finally got here, and now obviously an 
amendment has been offered. But the reason we find ourselves in a time 
crunch on these things is because they did not get here until right 
near the midnight hour.
  Mr. FORD. I say to my friend, they are not here yet. They are not 
here yet.
  Mr. DORGAN. That is true. In terms of trying to reach some 
agreements, I hope very much that those who want to advance the parks 
bill will understand that all of the interests that are involved in 
this, including the White House and both bodies here in the Congress, 
need to be involved in the discussions.
  My understanding is that recommendations and negotiations have been 
offered, and that bill can be resolved. But I am also concerned about 
our finding ourselves at the end of a session once again with a CR, a 
continuing resolution which simply throws all of the appropriations 
bills that are not completed into one big pile, completed at 3 o'clock 
in the morning. There is not one Member of the Senate who has read it. 
I do not even know where it is. I do not suspect it is available. But 
if it is available, no one has read it. When it is available, no one 
will read it. Maybe the Senate will be forced to read it. I do not 
know.

  But in any event, we should not find ourselves at the end of a 
session like this up against the wall on critical pieces of 
legislation. The reasonable way to do completion is earlier in the year 
to start the pieces of legislation through the process so that you can 
have back and forth negotiations.
  I ask the Senator from Kentucky who has been involved integrally in a 
couple of these situations, is that not the case? We have seen a 
legislative logjam self-created, and then people express surprise that, 
gee, I do not understand why this is not being greased through here. 
Well, because they created a logjam themselves. We ought to resolve at 
least never to do this again. I hope we will.
  Mr. FORD. I say to my friend, the continuing resolution is nothing 
new. Sometimes it is for a short period of time; sometimes it is for 
longer. I think this is the first time we have had a continuing 
resolution with appropriations bills that have never been to the 
Senate. There are four of them.
  So we do not have to leave here. As I said last night, we do not have 
to leave here. We are still getting paid whether we are up here or not. 
You still draw your salary. So we do not have to leave here. We are 
being paid. I do not think we are earning our keep if we do not do our 
job. And so here we are with a continuing resolution with 
appropriations bills that are a must. Throw everything else aside. 
Appropriations bills are a must to operate government. The Defense bill 
conference report I do not think is here yet. We are going to try to 
wrap all that CR in that so we cannot amend it.
  What kind of game are we playing here? And so everybody is checking 
their list to see if they have their little project in the CR. If they 
did not get it in the CR, they are fussing. So let us get it out in the 
Chamber and start looking at it.
  I tell you one thing we might do to stop all this. Have a 2-year 
budget. I have been trying to get it for 8 or 10 years now. We now have 
a 1-year budget process and 1-year oversight. You can make all the 
changes in a 2-year budget you can make in a 1-year budget. If you have 
an emergency, you can correct it. If you have a flood or earthquake or 
hurricane, whatever it might be, you can have a method by which you can 
change that.
  So let us have some oversight in 1 year. We have a budget for 2 
years. We would not be up here with this logjam backed up to the wall 
and trying to go home, trying to go home without doing the people's 
business.
  I know we are not in the majority, and so therefore we have very 
little control. So the majority wants to get out of town. With their 
record, I would want to get out of town, too.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. MURKOWSKI addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.

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