[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 51 (Thursday, April 30, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3906-S3907]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Order of Procedure

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the votes are final passage of the NATO 
enlargement treaty, and according to the rules of the Senate, Senators 
should be in their assigned desks and vote from their desks. That is in 
the rules. I have discussed it with Senator Byrd. We are all here. I 
think it would be an appropriate thing for us to do. The rules do 
require it.
  I also think it would help us expedite the vote. So, if the Senators 
would take their assigned desks, we will have a vote on the historic 
treaty.
  The second vote is final passage of the supplemental appropriations 
bill. Tomorrow, the Senate will debate the Workforce Development Act 
under a time agreement of no more than 4 hours. Several amendments will 
be offered. Consequently, those votes will be postponed to occur 
Tuesday, May 5, at 5:30.
  Monday, the Senate will begin consideration of the IRS reform bill. I 
know we will have a number of Senators who will wish to make opening 
statements. We will check with the managers and with the leadership to 
see about the possibility of amendments being offered. But if they are 
offered, they, too, would occur at 5:30 on Tuesday.
  Mr. President, I thank my colleagues for a productive week. I 
congratulate the managers of this legislation. I thank the Senators who 
made it possible for us to complete this action tonight. I know some of 
those who are opposed to it would have liked to have delayed it over 
until next week, but I believe the time is right for us to vote. I 
thank all Senators for their help, and I thank Senator Daschle for his 
cooperation and I yield to Senator Byrd.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished majority leader 
for yielding. I also thank the distinguished majority leader for 
calling to the attention of Senators the following standing order, 
which I hope that Senators will contemplate. And I congratulate the 
majority leader for enforcing this regulation. Any Senator may ask the 
Chair to enforce this regulation at any time. I have often thought 
about it. I think we ought to follow this regulation, Mr. Leader, and I 
hope that we will establish this as a practice and continue to do it.
  The Senate would make a much better impression, not only upon the 
visitors but also on Senators themselves, if they learn to sit in their 
seats to answer the rollcall. And they will take greater pride in this 
institution. I guarantee that, watching from the galleries, it would be 
a much more impressive sight during rollcall votes than what we have 
been accustomed to seeing down here in the well, which looks like the 
floor of a stock market. I have been to the stock market on a few 
occasions. It doesn't look any worse.
  Let me read this standing order of the Senate. It is on page 157 of 
the Senate manual. All Senators who wish to read it, here it is. It is 
only three lines. The heading, ``VOTES SHALL BE CAST FROM ASSIGNED 
DESK.''

       Resolved, that it is a standing order of the Senate that 
     during yea and nay votes in the Senate, each Senator shall 
     vote from the assigned desk of the Senator.

  This was by Senate Resolution 480 in the 98th Congress, the Second 
Session, October 11, 1984.
  This is a great day for me. I am glad to see the leader asking that 
Senators abide by this regulation, which we voted on, those of us who 
were here in 1984.
  I thank the leader.
  Mr. LOTT. Thank you, Senator Byrd. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Do the Senators yield back the time? The 
Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic 
endured nearly half a century of communist domination as a result of 
expedient and short-sighted policies of the West. Today, we have the 
opportunity to remedy that injustice while securing democracy in 
Central Europe for future generations.
  Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic have established democratic 
governments, each has built a market economy, and all three work with 
us in defense of liberty from Cuba to China.
  In my judgment, Mr. President, these three countries belong to NATO. 
I have met with the Foreign Ministers of all three countries. They 
understand the commitment and responsibilities that they undertake by 
joining NATO. I am confident they will meet all of their obligations.
  The Foreign Relations Committee held 8 hearings in the past six 
months, heard from 37 supporters and opponents of NATO expansion. 
Before the Committee hearings, I myself had concerns about NATO 
expansion, including what it would cost, how we could deal with Russia, 
and the future mission of NATO. The Committee's resolution addresses 
all of these points and passed by a vote of 16-2.
  Mr. President, NATO enlargement has been endorsed by countless 
distinguished individuals including Margaret Thatcher, Jeane 
Kirkpatrick, Caspar Weinberger, and Richard Perle. In addition, the 
Foreign Relations Committee has received endorsements of this policy 
from every living former U.S. Secretary of State, numerous former 
Secretaries of Defense and national security advisors, and more than 
sixty flag officers and general officers, including five distinguished 
former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
  Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to vote overwhelmingly in support 
of NATO enlargement. This is the right decision for the United States 
of America.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I will be very brief. A century ago, our 
predecessors in the U.S. Senate took a very bold step in ratifying the 
North Atlantic Treaty.
  It is easy for us today to forget what a break with the past that 
vote represented. For the first time, this country committed itself, in 
peacetime, to

[[Page S3907]]

the defense of democratic Europe. The Senate recognized by its far-
sighted action that our future--indeed our own freedom--is inextricably 
bound to Europe.
  The success of the fledgling NATO was by no means certain. Western 
Europe was made up of a jumble of nations, several of which had only 
recently been at each others' throats. Germany and France alone had 
fought each other three times in 74 years. The three western zones of 
Germany, which were not the Federal Republic and, in fact, were not 
invited to join NATO.
  The countries of Western Europe were economically weak, not yet 
having recovered nearly fully from the devastation of World War II.
  Several European NATO members had strong Communist parties whose 
loyalty and commitment to democracy were suspect.
  Mr. President, our predecessors took a gamble. Fortunately for us and 
our children--and I hope for our grandchildren--NATO succeeded beyond 
the Senate s fondest expectations.
  As we all know, for 40 years, it kept Soviet imperialism at bay, 
thereby providing the security umbrella under which democratic Western 
Europe could recover socially and economically, and thrive.
  In the process, NATO expanded its membership three times to welcome 
Greece and Turkey, West Germany, and Spain. With each expansion the 
Alliance was strengthened.
  Largely thanks to NATO's persistence, communism in most of Europe 
crumbled, including in the Soviet Union.
  Now, nearly 50 years after our predecessors met the challenge of 
their time, we are called upon, once again, to take up the torch.
  Three highly qualified democracies that chafed under the Communist 
yoke for four decades are now candidates for membership in NATO. 
Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic have already rejoined the West 
politically and socially. Tonight we can vote to readmit them to the 
West's security framework.
  In a larger sense we will be righting a historical injustice forced 
upon the Poles, Czechs, and Hungarians by Joseph Stalin.
  Mr. President, NATO enlargement is squarely in America's national 
interest. It is in Europe's interest. And yes--by stabilizing a 
historic crucible of violence in East-Central Europe--it is in Russia s 
interest.
  I am proud to be able to play a small part in this historic occasion. 
I will cast my vote with conviction to ratify the Resolution of 
Ratification, and I urge my colleagues to join me. I yield the floor.
  Mr. WARNER addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I shall cast my vote in opposition for the 
reasons that I have stated over the past several days in what I regard 
is an excellent debate. But if it is the will of two-thirds of the U.S. 
Senate that this ratification go forward, then I commit, and I hope 
others will commit, who have been in opposition, to do our very best to 
make it work.
  I think it is going to pose a mighty challenge to make it work, but 
if that is the decision of this body, for which I have infinite 
respect, then I commit as a member of the Armed Services Committee, 
where I will have some special responsibilities, to make it work.
  But I also say that I shall be among others who will maintain a vigil 
as to the future with an open and objective mind but still predicated 
in my own thoughts on what I have expressed on this floor about future 
additions of other nations in a manner that would be untimely to make 
this treaty last another 50 years. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is all time yielded back on both sides? If so, 
the question is on agreeing to the committee amendment, as amended.
  The committee amendment, as amended, was agreed to.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the resolution 
of ratification with certain conditions and declarations to the 
Protocols of the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949 on the Accession of 
Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The yeas and nays have been 
ordered. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Kyl) is 
necessarily absent.
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 80, nays 19, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 117 Ex.]

                                YEAS--80

     Abraham
     Akaka
     Allard
     Baucus
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Brownback
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Chafee
     Cleland
     Coats
     Cochran
     Collins
     Coverdell
     D'Amato
     Daschle
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Domenici
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Faircloth
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Ford
     Frist
     Glenn
     Gorton
     Graham
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hollings
     Hutchison
     Inouye
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McCain
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Moseley-Braun
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nickles
     Reed
     Robb
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Roth
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Torricelli

                                NAYS--19

     Ashcroft
     Bryan
     Bumpers
     Conrad
     Craig
     Dorgan
     Harkin
     Hutchinson
     Inhofe
     Jeffords
     Kempthorne
     Leahy
     Moynihan
     Reid
     Smith (NH)
     Specter
     Warner
     Wellstone
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--1

       
     Kyl
       
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 80, the nays are 
19. Two-thirds of the Senators present having voted in the affirmative, 
the resolution of ratification, as amended, is agreed to.
  The resolution of ratification, as amended, was agreed to.
  (The Text of the Resolution of Ratification, as amended, will be 
printed in a future edition of the Record.)
  Mr. BIDEN. I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. STEVENS. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

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