[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 141 (Thursday, October 3, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S12369]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         AUTHORIZING THE ACCEPTANCE OF PRO BONO LEGAL SERVICES

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed 
to the immediate consideration of Senate Resolution 321, introduced 
earlier today by Senator Byrd.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 321) authorizing the acceptance of 
     pro bono legal services by a Member of the Senate challenging 
     the validity of a Federal Statute in a civil action pursuant 
     to a statute expressly authorizing Members of Congress to 
     bring such a civil action.

  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. LOTT. Mr. President, I want the record to reflect I support this 
resolution. I worked with Senator Byrd in getting this clearance agreed 
to.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to 
and the motion to reconsider be laid upon table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The 
resolution is agreed to.
  The resolution (S. Res. 321) was agreed to, as follows:

                              S. Res. 321

       Resolved, That (a) notwithstanding the provisions of the 
     Standing Rules of the Senate or Senate Resolution 508, 
     adopted by the Senate on September 4, 1980, pro bono legal 
     services provided to a Member of the Senate with respect to a 
     civil action challenging the validity of a Federal statute 
     that expressly authorizes a Member to file an action--
       (1) shall not deemed a gift to the Member;
       (2) shall not be deemed to be a contribution to the office 
     account of the Member; and
       (3) shall not require the establishment of a legal expense 
     trust fund.
       (b) The Select Committee on Ethics shall establish 
     regulations providing for the public disclosure of 
     information relating to pro bono legal services performed as 
     authorized by this resolution.

  Mr. LOTT. At this point I yield the floor. Other Senators may want to 
comment on some of these resolutions. We will notify the President we 
have passed the adjournment resolution and we will return thereafter 
for some further brief action.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I congratulate and compliment the 
majority leader. We just passed the resolution congratulating him, but 
I personally would like to congratulate him for outstanding leadership 
since he has assumed majority leadership of the Senate. I believe this 
has been a very, very productive legislative session.
  There is an article in Rollcall today that talked about the Senate, 
this Congress, spending more time than any Congress since World War II. 
I think the record would show, for the last couple of months, this has 
been a very, very productive Congress, whether you are talking about 
welfare reform--historic welfare reform, or whether you are talking 
about reaching back and passing line-item veto. Whether you are talking 
about actually trying to rein in the growth of Government--we have seen 
the size of Government deficits actually declining, I think primarily 
because of some restraints on discretionary funds that passed this 
Congress.
  So, I add my accolades to those of others, to say I think Senator 
Trent Lott, as majority leader, has done an outstanding job, and also 
to say the minority leader, Senator Daschle--we have had a lot of 
conflicts. It has been a tough session, maybe a lot more partisan than 
a lot of us would like. Maybe we will be able to improve upon that next 
year. Certainly, I have enjoyed my working relationship with Senator 
Daschle and have always found him to be cordial. We have worked well 
together and, hopefully, the next Congress will be even more cordial, 
less partisan, and more productive.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina.

                          ____________________