[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 111 (Thursday, July 31, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8480-S8481]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             BILL HOAGLAND

  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, while we all mention many people who had 
a lot to do with our success, I believe if you were to ask the White 
House staff, all the way to the Chief of Staff, and ask all the staff 
that work for us here on both sides, who was most responsible for 
getting this job done, they would not say the Senator from New Mexico 
or the Senator from New Jersey or the distinguished Senator from 
Delaware. I think they would all say, ``Let's be honest about it. Bill 
Hoagland, staff director for the Senate Budget Committee''--the man 
without whom we could not have done this.
  I just want the Record to reflect that. I am sure they would agree 
with me--those whom I have mentioned. It is just an obvious fact.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. LOTT addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. LOTT. Thank you, Mr. President.
  I want to thank all the Senators for their cooperation. I know this 
is kind of like ``school's out'' for a break, and we are taking 
advantage of the opportunity to say good-bye to each other and enjoy 
the district and State work period. But I want to thank all the 
Senators for the tremendous cooperation we have seen here in the last 2 
weeks. I do not know that I have seen it any better since I have been 
in the Senate.
  We have already moved 10 appropriations bills. We are going to try to 
get lined up to start on the 11th one right when we come back. We have 
passed these two very important bills, the Balanced Budget Act and the 
Tax Relief Act. It took a lot of cooperation on both sides of the 
aisle.
  I want to thank my counterpart on the Democratic side of the aisle, 
Senator Daschle. He is a pleasure to work with. I think we have a 
relationship that is important for the Senate; that we be able to talk 
to each other and work with each other in honesty and frankness. We are 
going to continue to do that.
  Before we leave, we are going to work on doing as much as we can, and 
I think it is going to be substantial on the Executive Calendar. So I 
just want to thank Senator Daschle and our colleagues on both sides of 
the aisle for their good work.
  If we could keep this pace going, I think the American people would 
be very pleased, and maybe they would feel very good about our Senate 
and what we are trying to do.
  So thank you very much for your cooperation.
  I would be glad to yield to the Democratic leader.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I know there are Members who wish to 
leave. I will be very brief.
  Let me just commend the majority leader for his leadership in 
bringing us to this point. As he has indicated, we have the good 
fortune to have a good relationship, and we work very closely together. 
I think, in part, the results are very clear. That relationship has 
been productive.
  Let me also commend the chairmen of the Finance Committee and the 
Budget Committee, and our ranking members on both the Finance Committee 
and the Budget Committee, for the extraordinary job they have done. 
Obviously, you cannot lead if there are not those who are willing to 
follow. We have followed, and we have worked in good faith on both 
sides of the aisle.
  This is a great day for the Senate and a great day for America. I 
appreciate very much the opportunity, once more, to express our 
gratitude to all Senators.
  Mr. LOTT. I thank Senator Daschle. I do want to also take a brief 
opportunity, without naming names--and I think their names should be 
put in the Record--to thank a lot of staff people who worked extremely 
long hours, all night several times over the past few weeks, on both 
sides of the aisle. You know who we are talking about. We extend our 
appreciation and thanks to those staff members for their great work. 
This was a monumental accomplishment. I don't know how you physically 
got it done. I thank you for that.
  Mr. KERRY. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. LOTT. I am glad to yield to the Senator from Massachusetts.
  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I congratulate the majority leader. He is 
correct, there has been a significant amount of progress made in the 
last 2 weeks. I ask the majority leader publicly on the record what he 
and I have talked about a number of times privately, and that is an 
issue of enormous concern to some of us. We have written a letter to 
the majority leader regarding a campaign finance reform debate. While 
we leave here in good spirits and have cooperated, when we come back, 
many of us are adamant about having the opportunity to debate campaign 
finance reform. I ask the majority leader whether he has a sense of 
when that might take place or if he could give assurance that it will 
take place.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I expected that I would get this question, 
and I don't have a time that I could give. I must say that the 
Governmental Affairs Committee is working right now and looking into 
potential campaign violations, and what happened in the last election. 
I think for us to proceed before we even get the completion of that 
work would be premature. Regarding the last election, we ought to know 
what laws have been broken and how they were broken. I don't have a 
date in mind.
  I am sure I have been told by several Senators that this issue will 
come up sometime soon. I understand that. I hope that we will be 
patient and take our time and maybe even see at some point if we could 
not do something in this area in a bipartisan way. But I understand 
what the Senator from Massachusetts has said. He indicated he is going 
to bring it up at some point. I am sure that will happen. We don't have 
any time scheduled on that at this point.
  When we come back, the focus will be on the three remaining 
appropriations bills that we have not passed, the conference reports 
that we must pass, and pending legislation we must pass, including 
ISTEA, the highway transportation legislation, which expires at the

[[Page S8481]]

end of September. We have a lot of very serious work to do of interest 
to the Nation's Capital, to the people in America, including the 
Interior appropriations bill, the Labor-HHS appropriations bill, as 
well as the ISTEA bill. But there is time to look at these matters. I 
am sure they will be considered appropriately as we move into the fall.
  Mr. KERRY. Will the majority leader yield further?
  Mr. LOTT. I yield for a further question.
  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I thank the leader for that answer. I 
understand where he is heading with respect to that.
  If I could ask further, I had wanted at this time, Mr. President, to 
be able to introduce a bill. I don't know what the intentions of the 
leader are regarding time to be able to proceed and do that.
  Mr. LOTT. We have some unanimous-consent requests and then Senator 
Domenici has an issue, but there will be time for brief remarks.
  Mr. THURMOND addressed the Chair.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I yield to the Senator from South Carolina.
  Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I just want to commend Senator Lott, the 
majority leader, for the outstanding leadership he is providing here in 
the Senate. Many things here have been accomplished. I don't recall, in 
the 43 years I have been here, fine leadership shown that has gotten so 
much done in such a short time. I am proud of you. And I want to 
commend Senator Daschle for his fine cooperation and leadership, too.
  Mr. LOTT. Thank you very much.
  Further, I want to say that we are going to have a period for morning 
business.
  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, would it be appropriate at this time to ask 
if I could proceed after the Senator from New Mexico?
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I see a number of Senators that wish to 
speak. I believe Senator Domenici has something he needs to do, and I 
have a couple unanimous consents, and then the Senator may speak. 
Within a very few minutes, he can get recognized.
  Mr. SARBANES. If the Senator will yield, Mr. President.
  Mr. LOTT. I yield to the Senator from Maryland.
  Mr. SARBANES. First of all, I join with my colleagues who have 
commended the majority leader for the very efficient way in which the 
Senate has conducted itself over the past month. We have, obviously, 
processed a great deal of business.
  I just want to say that I was very heartened to hear the majority 
leader state that it was his intention to address this Executive 
Calendar before we go out, I gather, with the anticipation of clearing, 
if not all of it, most of it, as I understand it.
  I want to underscore how important that is. If we do it now, these 
people can move into their positions and be functioning within the 
week. If we don't do it now, then it obviously has to carry over into 
September, and you are talking about losing 5, 6, 7 weeks before we get 
people on the job.
  I just want to thank the majority leader for his indication that he 
is going to address that issue before we depart.
  Mr. LOTT. Maybe before we go out tonight.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, if the leader will yield further. As a 
member of the Appropriations Committee, I commend the distinguished 
majority leader, the Democratic leader, and the chairman and ranking 
member of that committee for pushing us this far on the appropriations. 
It is highly commendable.
  I join my friend from Maryland in saying there are many of these 
nominations on the calendar that need to be cleared as soon as 
possible--especially the judges that are there. We have new vacancies 
in our courts. Again, once a person has been confirmed, it still takes 
weeks before they get out of whatever life they are in--private 
practice, or whatever--to get out of that and get set up and get their 
law clerks hired, and on and on, and with all that it means with their 
families and lives and all. So if some can be cleared now, we know it 
will be 5 weeks sooner.
  Mr. BIDEN. Will the majority leader yield?
  Mr. LOTT. I yield to the Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. Leader, on the matter of the legislation we just 
passed, I want to make one comment. It is obvious that the Senator from 
New Mexico is recognized as an effective chairman. It is obvious that 
the Senator from New York [Mr. Moynihan] is viewed as articulate and as 
one of the brightest people here. It is obvious that everybody knows 
how effective the ranking member of the Budget Committee is.
  I want to make a personal comment that I never thought I would make, 
or need to make. I think the single-most underestimated person in this 
body is one of the single-most effective people, and that is my senior 
colleague, Bill Roth. He has a style that is so low-key and so quiet 
that I don't think he gets the credit he deserves. I just want to 
remind everybody, notwithstanding the fact that everyone sees and hears 
more about the able leaders I mentioned, this deal would not have been 
done without Bill Roth. Bill Roth. People in my State love him, but 
they don't even realize that.
  I just want everybody to be reminded that this quiet guy from 
Delaware, who has a very different political view on a lot of things 
than I do, is one of the single-most effective people we have. On last 
year's welfare reform bill, and every major thing we have done in the 
past 18 months, he has been at the helm, or has played a major part.
  I want to personally recognize the contribution he makes and state 
for the record, I think he gets--not intentionally; I think 
unintentionally--less credit than anybody in this place, and I think he 
plays the most significant role in all of what we are rightfully 
celebrating here, which is the passage of the tax bill and the reforms 
that have taken place in welfare, et cetera. So I want the Record to 
reflect that the man from Delaware, my senior colleague, deserves a 
heck of a lot of credit.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Delaware for making 
that comment. That is the kind of recognition that we should give more 
of around here, especially between colleagues of opposite parties.
  Let me assure you that, without Senator Roth, the IRA provision and 
many other provisions in this bill would not be there. He was dogged 
and determined and did a great job. I thank the Senator for what he 
said and the recognition he gave.

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