[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 147 (Tuesday, October 28, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11251-S11252]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        INTERMODAL SURFACE TRANSPORTATION EFFICIENCY ACT OF 1997

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I would just like to say a few words about 
where we are on the highway bill. It is due to internal political 
discussion and confrontation that we have not been able to move on the 
highway bill. There has been a bipartisan effort to try to get an 
agreement on campaign finance reform. We are still at loggerheads.
  Mr. President, it is imperative that we in the Senate find some way 
to get a highway bill passed. It has been a month now since the 
authorization expired. It expired on September 30. We in the Senate are 
derelict by not passing highway legislation.
  I say that because there are many States that are going to run out of 
money very soon. My State of Montana will run out the first part of 
February. It takes a long time to let contracts, to bid on contracts, 
to get the pipeline lined up so dollars are out to the States for jobs. 
I have been in favor of the 6-year bill. It only makes sense that we 
have some continuity in our highway program.
  This is not some abstract theory, Mr. President. This is jobs. This 
is local people, cities and counties and States, that very much depend 
upon this multibillion-dollar program. So I urge us to find some 
pragmatic, practical way to get some form of a highway bill passed. I 
hope it is 6 months. It may not be 6 months. I hope it is 6 years. It 
may not be 6 years. But we have to pass something so when we go home 
over the holidays we will at least have built a bridge so next year we 
take up a full 6-year bill and find a way to get that passed.
  I urge my colleagues to find some way to solve this impasse now so we 
as a practical matter do our duty to get highway legislation passed.
  Mr. DASCHLE addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader is recognized.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I will use my leader time to comment on 
the remarks just made by the senior Senator from Montana. I share his 
view.
  Obviously, this is a very significant concern for all of our States 
and for a lot of Governors and those who are making decisions in their 
departments of transportation.
  There are really two approaches. The first approach is for us to 
reach an agreement to allow campaign finance reform to be set for a 
certain date early next year. I think there are good-faith negotiations 
continuing, and I am hopeful they will produce the desired result.
  But that is the first option. Then we can take up the 6-year bill and 
complete our work, as I know many of our colleagues, including this 
Senator, would like to do.
  The second option is the one that the Senator from Montana alluded 
to. We can do what the House has already done. We can take up a 6-month 
bill. We can improve upon the 6-month bill that the House has proposed. 
I think we could use our allocation, our numbers and be in a much 
better position to go to conference. But certainly no one should object 
to moving a 6-month bill if we can't get agreement on a longer bill.
  So either way, Mr. President, we have an option. We can take up the 
6-year bill--hopefully, that is still possible--only if we can get 
campaign finance reform. Who knows what will happen in conference even 
with a 6-year bill. But at least the Senate will have acted. Short of 
that, there is absolutely no reason why we cannot take up a 6-month 
bill. We could do it on a unanimous-consent basis if we wished, and I 
hope we could do that as a second option should we not resolve the 
first.
  However, I do believe we must act. We must resolve this matter prior 
to the end of this session. I am confident that, working together, we 
can find a way to do that.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. CHAFEE addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island is recognized.
  Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I would ask that I might proceed for 4 
minutes as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I point out we have been on this highway 
bill, the surface transportation legislation, for nearly 3 weeks. This 
was, I believe, the fourth cloture vote so that we could move on and 
deal with the bill.
  We could not get cloture. The other side didn't want us to have 
cloture. So that's why we are in this jam. This legislation before us 
is a 6-year bill. It came out of the committee unanimously. There may 
be variations and amendments. That is fine. We ought to have a chance 
to bring them up and vote on them.
  But we could not do that, Mr. President. I think that is very 
regrettable. Now people are backing off and saying let's possibly have 
a 6-month bill. I think that is a disaster; nobody can do any long-
range planning with a 6-month piece of legislation.
  So I think it is very unfortunate the way this has worked out. I am 
not sure what the next order of business is or what the next step in 
connection with this highway legislation will be, but I feel very badly 
that we did not get cloture so we could go ahead and deal with a good 
bill, bring up the amendments and vote on them one way or another. But 
we were unable to do that, and I regret it.
  Mr. KERRY addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts is recognized.
  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be permitted 
to proceed as if in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I would like to respond briefly to the 
Senator from Rhode Island and make it as clear as I think it can be 
made clear that this is about one issue. It is not about ISTEA. It is 
not about the transportation needs of the country. It is about campaign 
finance reform.
  That is all this is about. We have been pressing for months to be 
able to get the ability to debate and have a full-fledged legislative 
effort on campaign finance reform. We have been denied the right to 
have one vote on the substance of real campaign finance reform, not one 
vote.
  The reason we are in this predicament is exclusively the resistance 
on the part of the Republicans to permit us to have a date certain and 
the ability to be able to legislate on campaign finance reform.
  That is all this is about. There are as many Members on the 
Democratic side of the aisle who want to vote for ISTEA as there are on 
the Republican side. ISTEA will ultimately pass the Senate, and it will 
pass overwhelmingly. This is about whether or not we are going to face 
one of the most important issues the people in this country want to 
face, that a group of people are resisting and will not allow the 
democratic process to work. It is that simple. I hope no one will 
confuse it in the days ahead. This could be resolved in a matter of 
hours by reasonably permitting those of us who seek campaign finance 
reform to know that we can return after the recess and be able to vote 
in February or March and have the Senate properly discuss the issue of 
campaign finance reform.
  This is an issue that, on the Republican side, Senator McCain has 
said and on our side the leadership has said and a number of us have 
said, is not going to go away.
  If there is any lesson we have learned in the Senate, it is that when 
there is the kind of issue that has a sufficient number of votes for 
the underlying bill, they do not go away. We have seen that on the 
minimum wage. We have seen it on a host of other issues through history 
here. I am confident that we can come together around some reasonable 
approach to campaign finance reform.
  We have acknowledged to Senator McConnell and others that this is an 
issue which will take 60 votes. We know that. We are not suggesting 
that this can be resolved other than by coming together with some kind 
of consensus that will resolve the capacity of either side to 
filibuster. We know that.

[[Page S11252]]

  But until we get to the business of legislating, of actually 
proposing amendments and working with that kind of energy, we are never 
going to know if we can reach that kind of consensus, and that is what 
this fight is about.
  So I hope no one confuses it as somehow surrogate or secret 
opposition to ISTEA. It is not. It is about the unwillingness of the 
Republicans at this point in time to set a date certain for campaign 
finance reform and to permit us to come back and do the business of the 
Senate. I yield the floor.
  Mr. WELLSTONE addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota is recognized.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Might I ask colleagues whether or not there would be 
an opportunity to speak 5 minutes in morning business? Is that all 
right with my colleagues?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? The Chair hears none, and 
it is so ordered. The Chair recognizes the Senator from Minnesota for 5 
minutes.

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