[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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