[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 34 (Tuesday, March 24, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S2481]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ORDER OF PROCEDURE

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, to notify all Members, we are working and 
getting very close, I think, to a unanimous-consent agreement being 
possible with regard to the education savings account issue, and other 
issues, but we are not quite there. So we think we can keep working on 
it and reach agreement hopefully early in the morning.
  Also, I remind the Senate that we do have this very important 
opportunity to hear from our former distinguished majority leader, Mike 
Mansfield, at 6 o'clock. I would like for us to be able to start that 
right on time in deference to his agreeing to be with us. I urge all my 
colleagues to come to this first in a series of lectures from former 
majority leaders and Vice Presidents. Therefore, I ask unanimous 
consent that the Senate stand in recess until 7:30 p.m. at the 
conclusion of the 10-minute remarks by Senator Wellstone.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Reserving the right to object, and I will not, but I 
would be pleased, when we go back in session tomorrow, to speak. So you 
can go ahead, as long as I have consent I will be able to speak for 10 
minutes when we go back in.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Reserving the right to object, I would like to be 
recognized following the remarks made by the distinguished majority 
leader and then preceding whatever remarks the Senator from Minnesota 
would care to make.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if the Senator would yield, I think that is 
a very generous offer by the Senator from Minnesota. We will make sure 
you get the 10 minutes tomorrow, hopefully, I guess, in the morning. 
That way we can recess before 6 o'clock and allow us to greet Senator 
Mansfield.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Reserving----
  Mr. WELLSTONE. If I could say, the understanding is I want a chance 
to speak before any vote on the IMF.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Further reserving the right to object, just to clarify 
the proposal made by the majority leader, I would assume there would 
then be no more votes tonight.
  Mr. LOTT. There will be no more votes when we come back in at 7:30, 
although we need to cooperate with the chairman of the Appropriations 
Committee and the ranking member to try to identify those amendments 
that will have to be disposed of, will have to be voted on. I urge, 
again, all Senators--I am not asking for amendments, but I am asking 
for cooperation in getting a limited number or identifying those 
amendments we are going to have to have a vote on so we can complete 
action on this emergency supplemental appropriations bill.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, again reserving the right to object for 
purposes of clarification, is it now the understanding of the Chair 
that I will be recognized following the remarks made by the majority 
leader?

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. STEVENS. Would the Senator just yield to me for one question of 
the majority leader?
  We have a series of amendments, when we come back in, that have been 
cleared and that we are in the process of clearing. I just want to 
notify all Senators, we will be working on amendments to the bill after 
the presentation of the former majority leader. So in particular, we 
wanted to stress the needs for FEMA and CDBG amounts that are part of 
the request.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. We want to debate them tonight?
  Mr. STEVENS. No. We want to see if there is objection. So if anyone 
has any objection, I would like to know before we go out. Thank you.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, in view of one development that just 
occurred--and I think we will have the answer in just 2 or 3 minutes--I 
want to withhold that unanimous-consent request that we stand in recess 
until 7:30. I expect to renew that in 2 or 3 minutes. But I would like 
to hold it at this time; and, therefore, the Senator could be 
recognized in his own right to speak if that is what he has in mind.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I have indicated to the distinguished 
chairman of the Appropriations Committee my frustration with the 
amendment process. The majority leader has noted the need for 
cooperation.
  I think we have been extraordinarily cooperative. I have encouraged 
my colleagues to withhold on an array of amendments that were proposed. 
Now we have an array of amendments here, including one now by the 
Senator from North Carolina having to do with school construction. If 
we want to get into a lot of these extraneous amendments, I have a 
whole pot load of amendments over here that we will begin offering.
  So, Mr. President, I call for the regular order under these 
circumstances so we can go back to the business at hand. The business 
at hand is to deal with the IMF amendment and to get on with resolving 
these matters once and for all so we can finally come to cloture on 
this legislation. I call for the regular order and hope that at long 
last we can begin dealing with these issues one by one.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The regular order is amendment No. 2100.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________