[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 19 (Thursday, February 13, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S1339]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY LEADER

  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The able majority leader is recognized.
  Mr. LOTT. Thank you very much, Mr. President.


                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. LOTT. Today the Senate will be in a period of morning business 
until the hour of 3 p.m. this afternoon. This will accommodate a number 
of Senators who have requested time to speak on various matters.
  Following morning business today, there will be a number of items 
that are possible for Senate consideration. Due to several scheduling 
conflicts, I am uncertain at this time exactly whether or not we will 
be able to make further progress on Senate Joint Resolution 1, the 
constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget. But it is my hope 
that at some time today the Democratic leader and I will reach an 
understanding as to the number of amendments that are expected to 
Senate Joint Resolution 1 as well as an indication as to when we might 
be able to complete action on this important constitutional amendment.
  We have worked very hard at trying to accommodate all Senators' 
schedules, and, of course, this morning we have a funeral service for 
Ambassador Harriman and other problems in that area we tried to 
accommodate. We have taken up a few amendments and voted, but earlier 
my conversations with the Democratic leader were that he did not see--I 
believe this is a fair statement--any reason why we could not complete 
this work by the end of this month. So we have today and then 5 days 
when we come back after the Presidents' Day recess. I hope we can get a 
list that would have a reasonable amount of serious amendments and then 
get an agreement on a time to complete that action.
  We want to make sure we have a full debate, everybody feels that they 
have been treated fairly, but there needs to be a limit on how long 
this goes on. We have been acting so far this year in good faith. We 
have been trying to accommodate each other's schedules, but when we 
come back we are going to have to move these amendments through the 
process and get a final vote because we do have other work we would 
like to bring to the floor.
  I remind my colleagues that we have scheduled a rollcall vote on the 
pending amendment offered by Senator Byrd. That vote will occur at 5:30 
p.m. on Monday, February 24, the day we come back. It is also possible 
the Senate will vote today on a resolution submitted by Senator Specter 
regarding milk prices. If an agreement can be reached, we will have a 
short period of debate on that resolution followed by a rollcall vote.
  We are also still attempting to clear consideration of a resolution 
relating to the American Airlines strike which was submitted by Senator 
Hutchison. This is timely, obviously. We are looking at the possibility 
of a strike which could cripple that airline and impact jobs in the 
thousands all over the country. So I am hoping that we could pass a 
resolution expressing our concern and urging the President to use his 
powers to find a way to avoid this threatened strike.
  Finally, there are a couple of nominations that were reported from 
committee yesterday. We may be able to clear those nominations for 
action. I am not sure that they would even require a vote, but we will 
have to work through it here in the next 3 or 4 hours. This is the last 
day of the session prior to the Presidents' Day recess, so I thank my 
colleagues for their cooperation as we try to finish business at a 
reasonable hour today. We will notify all the Senators when we may have 
actual rollcall votes. And, again, we have had good cooperation, but we 
have not had a lot of pressure in terms of schedule, and when we come 
back we really have to begin to make some progress on these amendments, 
and I hope we will be able to do that.
  I yield the floor, Mr. President.

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