[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 95 (Tuesday, July 8, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S6989]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             CLOTURE MOTION

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The cloture motion having been presented under 
rule XXII, the Chair directs the clerk to read the motion.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:


                             Cloture Motion

       We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     do hereby move to bring to a close debate on Calendar No. 88, 
     S. 936, the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 
     year 1998:
         Trent Lott, Strom Thurmond, Jesse Helms, Pete V. 
           Domenici, R.F. Bennett, Dan Coats, John Warner, Spencer 
           Abraham, Thad Cochran, Larry E. Craig, Ted Stevens, Tim 
           Hutchinson, Jon Kyl, Rick Santorum, Mike DeWine, Phil 
           Gramm.

  Mr. LEVIN. Would the majority leader yield?
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I yield to the distinguished manager of the 
bill on that side of the aisle.
  Mr. LEVIN. I want to thank the majority leader for yielding. I have 
had a brief conversation with the majority leader because we are in a 
rather unusual situation where there will be no rollcall votes, further 
rollcall votes, until late tomorrow, and that we will be then having a 
whole series of rollcall votes that could occur I believe as early as 5 
o'clock tomorrow afternoon, or whatever the UC reads.
  But in my conversation with the majority leader, I was led to 
believe--and I think this would be very helpful--that if we are making 
good progress on getting rollcall votes late tomorrow and the next day, 
that there is a possibility at least that there will be no need to 
proceed with the cloture vote on Thursday. And I want to thank him for 
that.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if I could respond.
  Of course you always have the option of vitiating a cloture vote. My 
only goal is trying to get this very important legislation moved 
through to completion this week. I know that that is the desire on both 
sides of the aisle. I am concerned about the number of amendments that 
have been suggested, as many as 150 first-degree amendments. I know a 
lot of those will fall very quickly once we start moving through the 
process and getting to the end of the week. But I certainly will 
consult with the Democratic leader, with the Senator from Michigan, and 
Senator Thurmond, to see how we are doing. And we can take that into 
consideration when we get to Thursday and see what the prospects are at 
that time.
  Mr. LEVIN. I thank the majority leader.
  Mr. LOTT. This cloture vote will occur sometime Thursday unless it is 
vitiated. I will consult with the Democratic leader for the exact time 
of the vote.
  I do ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule XXII 
be waived.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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