[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 138 (Tuesday, October 6, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S11533]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             SENATE AGENDA

  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, as we move into the final week of the 105th 
Congress, I am reminded by everything that is going on around us of the 
importance of our work here. Most Senators would agree that this will 
be a closing unlike what the majority of Senators have ever seen. It 
will test each and every one of us and will remind Members just why we 
are here.
  It will test our patience and stamina regarding each and every piece 
of legislation that we have toiled on throughout the 105th Congress in 
the last 2 years. We have worked on legislation that has been in the 
pipeline, and now we are coming down to the small end of the funnel. 
Just as air, when compressed, picks up velocity, legislation picks up 
movement in the last week of a session.
  The agenda of this Congress has been and should be simple. I gather 
it has been a simple one. We responded to emergencies all across the 
land and, yes, beyond the shores of our great land. We responded to the 
needs of people within our borders, attended to the needs that were a 
part of circumstances beyond anybody's choosing or control. Basically, 
that is what we do best.
  There is a quality of statesmanship that is a part of each and every 
one of us who serve here. It will be tested as reality sets in. Some 
highly important issues to us all will need to be laid aside for 
another day. Believe me, there will be another day. There will be 
another battleground.
  The decisions that are now before the Senate, should government be 
placed above all else in the average lives of all Americans? My answer 
is, hardly. I think it is during these times that we must reassess the 
role of the Federal Government and the role each of us must fill. 
Competition is keen among all who serve the American people at each 
level of government. Can we forget that we are not a true democracy and 
remember that we are a Republic? Each State of this great Union plays 
their important role in the day-to-day business of public service.
  The agenda for this week is appropriations, funding the important 
part of our Government, which could include national security, our 
relations with the world community, and the economic well-being of our 
citizens. In other words, ensuring each and every American is not 
denied the American dream.
  As we close the Senate and the 105th Congress, it may be asking 
something out of the ordinary, but it is not impossible that we lay 
aside the issues that cloud and delay and wait for another day. This 
Nation has survived for the past 200 years and will survive another 200 
years. Yesterday, we heard announcements coming from both sides of the 
aisle and many other sources that the other side would risk shutting 
down the Government should we not fulfill the agenda of 
appropriations. If the Government is shut down because of a lack of 
funding, it will be the fault of the other person or party. That was 
the message this weekend and all day yesterday.

  It is time that we reassess what has happened to get us where we are. 
We have been using delaying tactics either to block or slow progress of 
the appropriations process--nothing but delaying tactics, pure and 
simple. Now that we are at this point, someone must be to blame. Do we 
blame somebody else, or do we blame ourselves? Is there a mindset that 
the responsibility or the lack of responsibility does not fall on each 
and every one of us, whether we serve in the legislative arm of this 
Government or the administrative arm? Are we really saying we don't 
have the courage to accept the responsibility and suffer the 
consequences of our own actions? How can we ask our younger Americans 
to develop a sense of responsibility if we do not do it? Are we a 
nation of laws or a nation of self-satisfaction and the impulses or 
emotions of the day?
  What we do here matters. It matters more than any one of us can 
imagine. Now is not the time for posturing. It is time to let the 
statesmanship that lives in each and every one of us come out and 
complete the Nation's business. I think the folks who sent us here will 
appreciate that, the Nation would be better off for it, and so will you 
as an individual. Then you will have earned and deserve the title of 
U.S. Senator, serving the people of the greatest nation ever 
established on this planet.
  Mr. President, that is just a reminder, as we move into the closing 
days, of some problems that we have to deal with before we all go home.
  I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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