[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 147 (Thursday, October 15, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S12608]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  OMNIBUS APPROPRIATIONS NEGOTIATIONS

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, negotiations are still ongoing with respect 
to the omnibus appropriations bill, but I think I can say that it is in 
its very final stages, and we should have a final conclusion before 2 
o'clock so that all of the drafting can be carried out. I emphasize, 
though, there are a few minor issues that have not been finally 
cleared, and there are a couple of big issues that are still being 
debated about exactly what the effective date would be, for instance, 
with regard to the census issue.
  I think it is a very important issue. The census is in the 
Constitution. And the Constitution says that the census shall be taken 
by enumeration; that means count, head count. No amount of modern 
manipulation or technology can replace what the Constitution says. 
Twice Federal courts have ruled 3-0 that the census must be done by 
enumeration.
  But rather than fight this out on and on and on, I think the logical 
order to do business is, let the Supreme Court rule, which they will do 
in March, and then we will proceed from there. That issue has not been 
finally resolved, but it will be in the next couple of hours, and then 
every Senator and House Member will have an opportunity to ask 
questions, to look at the language.
  There are hundreds--thousands--of issues that are in this 
legislation. But the legislation will be available. There will be staff 
and Senators and Congressmen who have been involved, who can answer 
questions about things as varied as education and agriculture and 
defense and the drug war and missile defense. It is all in this bill.
  I must say that while there are some great disappointments on my part 
about what is not in the bill and some disappointments about some 
things that are in the bill, on balance this is going to be good for 
America. I had a question a moment ago about who is the winner and who 
is the loser. The only question should be: Is America the winner? Are 
our children going to be better off, safer? Will there be a greater 
effort to fight the scourge of drugs in our schools and in our society? 
The answer is yes.
  We will have a stronger defense. For the first time since 1985, we 
have stopped the free-fall in spending for the necessary readiness and 
equipment for our men and women in uniform. We added some $9 billion in 
this legislation for the drug war, for defense of our country, for 
intelligence, and for missile defense.
  We also agreed to $690 million for a greater effort in the drug area. 
We did agree to the President's request for more funds for education. A 
lot of time has been spent this year in the education area, and we have 
made some progress. We have a better higher education bill. We are 
going to have a stronger vocational education bill. And that is an area 
where I think we should put a lot more emphasis.
  We did improve on some of the programs connected to Head Start, and 
we are going to have more teachers in our schools in America, smaller 
class sizes. But the decision of how it is going to be done will be 
made at the local level in the individual school districts; it will not 
be dictated by and run by bureaucrats here in Washington, DC. So I 
think that was a significant achievement on both sides of the issue.
  I will not go down the list of all the areas in this bill, but when 
you look at them all and you consider what we have done and what this 
can lead to next year, I think it is progress, and I hope the Members 
will believe that they can support it.
  There will be time for Members to review its content. If a rollcall 
is requested, it is expected to occur at either 10 o'clock in the 
morning on Friday or 5 o'clock in the afternoon, to accommodate the 
maximum number of Senators and give them time to review the language 
that is included in the final agreement. Certainly, we will make 
Members aware of any specific time for votes, if necessary. I will be 
consulting with Senator Daschle on that.
  I thank my colleagues for their attention and for their cooperation 
throughout the year.
  I do have a number of issues that we would like to do in terms of 
some tributes and resolutions on travel and other issues. So I would 
like to do that now.

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