[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 46 (Thursday, April 23, 1998)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D394-D395]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                           Thursday, April 23, 1998

[[Page D394]]


                              Daily Digest


HIGHLIGHTS

      Senate passed Education Savings Act for Public and Private 
      Schools.


                                 Senate


Chamber Action
Routine Proceedings, pages S3469-S3559
Measures Introduced: Eleven bills and three resolutions were 
introduced, as follows: S. 1971-1981, S.J. Res. 45, S. Con. Res. 90, 
and S. Res. 215.
  Pages S3534-35
Measures Reported: Reports were made as follows:
  S. 1360, to amend the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant 
Responsibility Act of 1996 to clarify and improve the requirements for 
the development of an automated entry-exit control system, to enhance 
land border control and enforcement, with an amendment in the nature of 
a substitute.
  S. 1504, to adjust the immigration status of certain Haitian 
nationals who were provided refuge in the United States, with an 
amendment in the nature of a substitute.
Page S3534
Measures Passed:
  Education Savings Act for Public and Private Schools: By 56 yeas to 
43 nays (Vote No. 102), Senate passed H.R. 2646, to amend the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 to allow tax-free expenditures from education 
individual retirement accounts for elementary and secondary school 
expenses, and to increase the maximum annual amount of contributions to 
such accounts, after taking action on amendments proposed thereto, as 
follows:
  Pages S3469-95, S3499-S3528
Adopted:
  By 58 yeas to 42 nays (Vote No. 96), Kempthorne Modified Amendment 
No. 2302 (to Amendment No. 2301), to provide for student improvement 
incentive awards. (By unanimous-consent, the amendment, as further 
modified, was considered as an amendment in the first degree.) 
                                                         Pages S3470-73
  Coverdell (for McCain) Amendment No. 2298, to provide for a study of 
multilingualism in the United States.
Pages S3484-85
  Coverdell (for Dorgan) Amendment No. 2307, to amend the Gun-Free 
Schools Act of 1994 to promote school safety.
Pages S3484-85
  Levin/Bingaman Amendment No. 2299, to replace the expansion of 
education individual retirement accounts to elementary and secondary 
school expenses with an increase in the lifetime learning education 
credit for expenses of teachers in improving technology training, as 
amended.
Pages S3473-76, S3492-93
  Subsequently, the amendment was modified.
Page S3494
  Coverdell Amendment No. 2309, to make grants available to early 
childhood reading, to improve reading skills of students, to expand 
high-quality family literacy programs, and reduce the number of 
children who are referred to special education due to reading 
difficulties.
Pages S3488-92, S3494
  By 74 yeas to 26 nays (Vote No. 101), Bingaman Amendment No. 2308, to 
provide assistance to address school dropout problems. 
                                                  Pages S3485-88, S3494
Rejected:
  By 46 yeas to 54 nays (Vote No. 95), Coats Amendment No. 2297, to 
provide an additional incentive to donate to elementary and secondary 
schools or other organizations which provide scholarships to 
disadvantaged children.
Pages S3469-70
  By 34 yeas to 66 nays (Vote No. 97), Landrieu Amendment No. 2301, to 
provide funding to carry out a program that recognizes public and 
private elementary and secondary schools that have established 
standards of excellence.
Pages S3470-73
  Levin Amendment No. 2303 (to Amendment No. 2299, as amended), to 
replace the expansion of education individual retirement accounts to 
elementary and secondary school expenses with an increase in the 
lifetime learning education credit for expenses of teachers in 
improving technology training. (By 61 yeas to 39 nays (Vote No. 99), 
Senate tabled the amendment.)
Pages S3473-76, S3492-93

[[Page D395]]


  By 49 yeas to 51 nays (Vote No. 100), Boxer Amendment No. 2306, to 
improve academic and social outcomes for students by providing 
productive activities during after school hours. 
                                               Pages S3479-84, S3493-94
  During consideration of this measure today, Senate also took the 
following action:
  By 46 yeas to 53 nays (Vote No. 98), three-fifths of those Senators 
duly chosen and sworn not having voted in the affirmative, Senate 
rejected a motion to waive the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 with 
respect to consideration of Dodd Amendment No. 2305, to provide funding 
for part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 
Subsequently, a point of order that the amendment was in violation of 
Section 302(f) of the Congressional Budget Act was sustained, and the 
amendment thus fell.
Pages S3476-79
  Northern Ireland Peace Agreement: By a unanimous vote of 97 yeas 
(Vote No.103), Senate agreed to S. Con. Res. 90, to express the sense 
of the Congress in congratulating the participants in the negotiations 
resulting in the Northern Ireland Peace Agreement. 
                                               Pages S3495-99, S3528-29
  Request of the House: Senate agreed to S. Res. 215, directing the 
Secretary of the Senate to request the House of Representatives to 
return the official papers on S. 414, and to make a technical 
correction in the Act as passed by the Senate.
  Page S3559
State Department Reorganization Conference Report-Agreement: A 
unanimous-consent agreement was reached providing for the consideration 
of the conference report on H.R. 1757, to consolidate international 
affairs agencies, to authorize appropriations for the Department of 
State and related agencies for fiscal years 1998 and 1999, to ensure 
that the enlargement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) 
proceeds in a manner consistent with United States interests, to 
strengthen relations between the United States and Russia, and to 
preserve the prerogatives of the Congress with respect to certain arms 
control agreements, on Friday, April 24, 1998, with a vote on the 
conference report to occur on Tuesday, April 28, 1998, at 2:25 p.m. 
                                                     Pages S3499, S3559
NATO Enlargement Treaty-Agreement: A unanimous-consent agreement was 
reached providing for the consideration of Treaty Doc. 105-36, 
Protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949 on Accession of Poland, 
Hungary, and the Czech Republic, on Monday, April 27, 1998. 
                                                             Page S3499
Appointment:
  Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem: The Chair, on 
behalf of the President pro tempore, and upon the recommendation of the 
Democratic Leader, pursuant to the provisions of S. Res. 208 of the 
105th Congress, appointed the following Senators to the Special 
Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem: Senators Dodd, Moynihan, 
and Bingaman.
  Page S3559
Nominations Received: Senate received the following nominations:
  Nikki Rush Tinsley, of Maryland, to be Inspector General, 
Environmental Protection Agency.
  Robert A. Freedberg, of Pennsylvania, to be United States District 
Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania vice Thomas N. O'Neill, 
Jr., retired.
  David R. Herndon, of Illinois, to be United States District Judge for 
the Southern District of Illinois vice William L. Beatty, retired. 
                                                             Page S3559
Messages From the House:
  Page S3533
Measures Referred:
  Page S3533
Communications:
  Page S3534
Executive Reports of Committees:
  Page S3534
Statements on Introduced Bills:
  Pages S3535-44
Additional Cosponsors:
  Pages S3544-45
Amendments Submitted:
  Pages S3546-54
Notices of Hearings:
  Page S3554
Authority for Committees:
  Page S3554
Additional Statements:
  Pages S3554-59
Record Votes: Nine record votes were taken today. (Total--103) 
                              Pages S3470-73, S3479, S3493-94, S3528-29
Adjournment: Senate convened at 9:30 a.m., and adjourned at 8:27 p.m., 
until 10 a.m., on Friday, April 24, 1998. (For Senate's program, see 
the remarks of the Acting Majority Leader in today's Record on page 
S3559.)