[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 154 (Thursday, November 6, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11844-S11845]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INTELLIGENCE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 1998--CONFERENCE REPORT

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate turn 
to the conference report to accompany the intelligence authorization 
bill, and the conference report be considered read, and under the 
following time restraints: Twenty minutes equally divided between the 
chairman and ranking minority member; 10 minutes under the control of 
Senator Torricelli.
  I further ask that following the conclusion or yielding back of time, 
the conference report be agreed to, and the

[[Page S11845]]

motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, and I shall 
not object, I would like to inquire of the majority leader his 
intention with respect to the pending business, which prior to this 
unanimous-consent request was the fast-track legislation. I understand 
that the conference report is privileged and you are seeking a 
unanimous-consent request with respect to a time agreement. I shall not 
object to that. But I want to inquire about the intentions of the 
majority leader with respect to the fast-track legislation--when we 
might expect to get to amendments on that.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if I could respond, we have some business we 
need to go through here with regard to some nominations, also another 
piece of legislation, the PUHCA legislation, some statements that will 
be made.
  As I mentioned, we are trying to work out something to where we can 
move to the D.C. bill and Amtrak. It is our intent to return to fast 
track, so that there will be time for further debate and, I presume, 
amendments, as we go on into the afternoon and into the night and 
tomorrow. We are trying to get some of these other bills agreed to and 
moved today. We will try to do it before we get back into the debate.
  We, of course, ask for your cooperation as we try to get consent to 
move some of these bills.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, further reserving the right to object, the 
majority certainly will have my cooperation. I share his interest in 
moving these----
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. If the Senator will withhold. The Senate is 
not in order.
  The Senator from North Dakota.
  Mr. DORGAN. The majority leader certainly will have my cooperation. I 
share his interest in making progress on a number of the items he has 
just mentioned.
  I am concerned, however, that we not get into a corner of the 
legislative time period and discover that some say there is not time to 
offer amendments on the fast-track legislation. A number of us have 
amendments that would require some debate, and we want very much to be 
assured by the majority leader that we will not be precluded from 
offering those amendments. So as we proceed, I want to have some 
assurance that that will be the case.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, before I respond, can I inquire, are these 
germane amendments the Senator is entertaining to the fast track?
  Mr. DORGAN. Some are germane, some are nongermane. They all relate to 
fast track and to trade. We are not under a cloture motion, so all the 
amendments would be in order.
  Mr. LOTT. Let me just say that there are Members on both sides of the 
aisle that have amendments. I know they want an opportunity to offer 
them. We will return to that bill. There will be an opportunity to 
offer amendments. But I can't say exactly what time it will be at this 
point. It very well could be tonight. We will need to work with the 
Democratic leader and talk about the time and how we are going to 
handle that.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I shall not object to the request made by 
the majority leader. I will seek further inquiry upon request later in 
the day because we do want to find time for those amendments.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the majority leader's 
request?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will state the conference report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The committee on conference on the disagreeing votes of the 
     two Houses on the amendment of the House to the bill (S. 858) 
     to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 1998 for 
     intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the 
     United States Government, the Community Management Account, 
     and the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability 
     System, and for other purposes, having met, after full and 
     free conference, have agreed to recommend and do recommend to 
     their respective Houses this report, signed by a majority of 
     the conferees.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the Senate will proceed to 
the consideration of the conference report.
  (The conference report is printed in the House proceedings of the 
Record of September 16, 1997.)

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