[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 34 (Tuesday, March 24, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2451-S2452]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ORDER OF PROCEDURE

  Mr. STEVENS. For myself, let me say this, Mr. President. If we do get 
cloture on the Coverdell bill, that will mean we cannot finish this 
bill, the supplemental, until the cloture time has expired. We believe 
that we are very close to having cloture on the Coverdell bill, and it 
is imperative that we finish this supplemental bill so that when the 
House passes its bill we can go immediately to conference. It is our 
intent to take this bill through third reading and have it ready for 
immediate action without any further requests, based on a unanimous-
consent agreement, to send the bill to the House for conference as soon 
as we are aware that the House bill has been received in the Senate.
  That means it is imperative, if Senators believe, as I do, that our 
first job must be to assure we do not take money from the defense 
accounts to repay the costs of the deployment that has already been 
made in Bosnia, already been made in southwest Asia. If we cannot get 
this bill passed before April 1, that money is going to start coming 
out of the readiness accounts that apply to the men and women in the 
armed services who are still deployed in the continental U.S. and 
throughout areas other than Bosnia and the Iraq area.
  The consequence of not passing this bill before April 1 is that the 
people who may have to be sent over to replace those already deployed--
and we are making our rotations every 6 months--might not have the 
readiness and the edge that they need to go into a combat area. It is 
just imperative that we pass this bill before April 1. I have said that 
before on the floor. I again urge Senators to realize there is a 
timeframe problem on this bill and we do not want it to get involved in 
waiting for the cloture period on the A+ bill to expire.
  I hope Senators will contact us. We are more than willing to consider 
any amendment. I hope Senators will listen to us with regard to time 
limits on their amendments. And we do have a pending amendment. Senator 
Ashcroft is here to present his amendment. As soon as that is over, we 
really have a schedule of amendments ready to proceed, and I hope 
Senators will come as we call them and assist us by entering into time 
agreements. The time we will be taking off for the period of the 
luncheons is certain.

  I remind Senators, tonight we start a new routine--the leader's 
seminars that are going to take place, with the distinguished former 
majority leader coming at 6 p.m., in the Old Senate Chamber, for 
Members only. A chance to listen to the former majority leader,

[[Page S2452]]

Senator Mansfield, I think is something we must all make time for. It 
is a memorable thing. We are starting, I think, a great new tradition 
in the Senate from today.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I have just a question of the floor 
manager. I have no amendments. I am quite prepared to vote at any time 
on this particular measure. I am just wondering if we are going to have 
any time prior to the 5:30 vote so we could discuss the Coverdell 
amendment. I want to accommodate the floor manager. I don't want to 
interrupt the orderly procedure. It is 9:40 now. I note we do have an 
issue before the Senate which is not directly related to the 
supplemental which will be taking up some time. So I am just wondering 
if there is any time that is preferable to the Senator, or whether 
there might be a designated period of time before a vote on the 
legislation of Senator Coverdell, and maybe those that oppose it--not a 
lengthy time, but maybe there is a time that we could address it prior 
to 5 or 5:30 that would be convenient?
  Mr. STEVENS. The Senator makes a good request, and I will consult 
with the majority leader on that. As the Senator knows, we took almost 
2 hours yesterday on that bill. But I do think it would be a fair thing 
to have a period prior to the vote at 5:30 so both sides might state 
their positions.
  It is not our intention this morning to have any morning hour time. 
We have Senator Ashcroft's amendment pending. Senator Hutchison is 
waiting to bring up an amendment, and there are other amendments 
waiting in line behind that. So it is our hope that we can dispose of 
many of those this morning if possible. And if we can, that will mean 
we can open up some time later in the afternoon for a period for the 
discussion of the Senator from Massachusetts. I hope that is agreeable.
  Mr. KENNEDY. I appreciate the cooperation and courtesy of the 
Senator. I see Senator Ashcroft on the floor now. I know he wants to 
address the comptime issue, which is not directly related. I am 
prepared to respond to that. But, again, I have no interest in taking 
us off the measure which we have before us. I just want to cooperate 
with the floor manager on it. I was unaware that this amendment was 
coming up, but that's life around here.
  But I want to cooperate with the Senator from Alaska in any way, so 
they can move the process forward. As I say, I am ready to vote on the 
supplemental now. I do not intend to either speak or offer amendments 
on it.
  Mr. STEVENS. This amendment was offered last evening and is the 
pending amendment. It needs to be disposed of. I hope as soon as 
possible we will dispose of this amendment and move on to another 
amendment that Senator Hutchison also discussed last night, and that is 
the amendment pertaining to some conditions on the Bosnia deployment. 
That is relevant to the money in the bill. We expect to get to that as 
soon as possible.

  But I commit to the Senator from Massachusetts, we will notify him if 
there is a lull in activities here and try to accommodate his request 
for some morning hour time. Senator Coverdell still has about 20 
minutes coming under the agreement we reached yesterday for equal time, 
under the discussion that took place yesterday, but now that has to be 
accommodated, and we will do our best to do so.
  I yield to Senator Ashcroft.

                          ____________________