[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 1 (Wednesday, January 6, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9-S10]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             SENATE AGENDA

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I want to welcome all the Senators to the 
106th Congress. We have had an all too brief and somewhat overwhelming 
interlude since the last day of the 105th Congress in October. That 
interval turned out to be dramatic and eventful in more ways than one, 
and because of events that occurred therein, the Senate's agenda for 
this year will be more important than ever.
  We will soon be considering charges brought by the House of 
Representatives against the President of the United States. I cannot 
think of a more serious subject. Yet the Senate has its well-
established procedures to deal with this situation. While it is not 
exactly routine, neither is it totally unique.
  We have our responsibilities under the Constitution, and we will meet 
those responsibilities in an orderly fashion. That is why I have met 
several times and talked by phone other times with Senator Daschle, the 
Democratic leader, and why the two of us have met with the Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court, whose duty it is to preside over a Senate 
trial involving the President. We have both consulted and are still 
very actively involved in consulting with fellow Senators, with 
constitutional scholars, with officers of the Senate, in terms of the 
law and the rules of the Senate.
  Our duty is clear: To demonstrate anew our national commitment to 
justice and fair play. That is what the public expects from us, 
regardless of their individual opinions concerning the President. That 
is why I am confident that is what they will receive. No Senator in 
this Chamber needs to be reminded that we are here first and foremost 
to serve the American people. Americans today look to the future with 
the same hopes that have inspired and sustained this country for more 
than 200 years. They want a better life for themselves and, more 
importantly, for their children. Not just economically, but also in 
terms of a decent future and a just and caring society.
  I want to emphasize now that I have not gone to the media and 
outlined exactly how this impeachment process will go forward because 
no final conclusion has been made. This is not something that can be 
reported in an evolutionary way because there are too many things that 
have to be considered, too many different parties--Senate Republicans, 
Senate Democrats, House Members, the White House--and we have had to 
continue to consider the opinions of all to try to develop a fair way 
to have an expeditious trial that gets justice based on the rule of 
law. I think that it is more important that we hear from all parties 
and come to, hopefully, a conclusion that sets an outline of how we 
will proceed from beginning to end than it is to always be reporting on 
the current developments.
  Never before have I had so much reported about what I was thinking, 
doing, or saying when I have said so little. I have been accused of 
being ``holed up'' in my hometown of Pascagoula, MS. Where would you 
expect me to be during the holidays? How about at home with my family 
and with my constituents, enjoying that precious season of the year.
  However, I had no moss growing under my feet. I was talking with my 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle, listening and thinking and 
developing and evolving a process that I think will get the job done. I 
believe we can very well achieve that goal within the next 24 hours--
one that neither the House nor the White House will necessarily think 
is wonderful--giving all parties a fair chance to make the case and 
reach a conclusion that is equitable. We will get that done. And we 
will get it done, hopefully, in a relatively short period of time, 
without limiting it to a day or 3 days, or 3 weeks for that matter. It 
could very well take longer than that. But it will be a fair trial.
  Then we have other very serious responsibilities that we must deal 
with. It has been said as long as we are dealing with this issue that 
we can't deal with any other substantive issue in the Senate. Wrong.
  We have responsibilities that go forward, and we will do our very 
best to have a dual track. Now, we may not be having debate and votes 
on the floor of the Senate on bills or on changes in the budget 
procedures around here, but we will begin to prepare. We will have our 
committee assignments all completed today. There will be committee 
hearings this week before the Judiciary Committee, before the Armed 
Services Committee, before the Education and Labor Committee--although 
it has a different name here in the Senate, I prefer to call it the 
Education Committee because it has that very important jurisdiction 
under its responsibilities.
  We will begin the process and have hearings and meetings. Depending 
on how this process goes forward, and realizing that we have to 
understand the Supreme Court has a schedule that it has to comply with, 
which might give us some time to do some business, we will do our very 
best to get prepared for the regular legislative process while we are 
doing our duty with regard to impeachment.
  But the goal that I hope we will move to immediately after the 
completion of the impeachment process, whenever that may be, is to 
develop some constant themes we want to work on during the 106th 
Congress. I think they can be described in words like these: security, 
responsibility, opportunity, and freedom. Now, those are not 
conflicting goals; they complement and support one another. Security, 
after all, enables responsibility; responsibility gives purpose to 
freedom; freedom ensures opportunity; and opportunity fosters security. 
When I talk about security, I think about security for my mother, 
security for my son and my daughter and my grandson. I think about 
health security, Social Security, national security, security in our 
neighborhoods. So that word encompasses an awful lot.
  Our task is to advance on all four fronts this year: To enhance 
security, promote responsibility, strengthen freedom, and foster 
opportunity for all. In doing so, we face a tight schedule. We always 
do, but it is a manageable one if the Senators will help the leadership 
do our jobs. There are matters that we can consider promptly before our 
legislative committees even begin reporting major bills that must 
compete for a place and time on the Senate schedule.
  One of the first matters we should take up is a clarification of 
Senate rules, to restore this institution's position regarding the 
consideration of authorizing legislation on appropriation bills. It is 
out of hand. The biggest fight now in all the appropriations bills 
occurs not on the appropriations but on amendments that are legislating 
on appropriations bill. I believe we can accomplish that change back to 
the way

[[Page S10]]

it was in a bipartisan fashion. I certainly hope so.
  I hope we can do the same thing regarding our budget process, 
although I may be erring on the side of optimism in that regard. This 
is priority legislation, I think, that is required to restore public 
confidence in the budget process. Do any of us feel that the process at 
the end of the last year was a good one? I don't think so. In the end, 
it is going to require will and determination by Senators and House 
Members to do their jobs on time and on schedule. There are some 
changes in the process that will help facilitate that. It will enable 
us to prevent Government shutdowns. It is ridiculous that there is even 
that possibility. It will control emergency spending. It has reached 
the point where we have not one super or extra special emergency bill 
each year, now we have to have two. And it makes a requirement that we 
take a long, hard look at how that is paid for and at current budget 
rules.

  Important as budget reform is, rebuilding America's national security 
is even more pressing. Press reports have indicated that the 
administration will propose some increases in defense spending. That is 
good, and the Senate will take a very close look at that in committee 
and in the full Senate. I worry that those proposals are not sufficient 
or maybe the way it would be done is not the best way in trying to 
address the questions of pay and pensions and readiness for our 
military. But we should give that a very high priority. We have been 
losing ground in this area. This Congress must stop that erosion of our 
readiness and the morale of our military if we are going to be able to 
preserve our own national security and protect peace wherever our 
interests are in the world.
  Education is going to be a central issue this year. Democrats say it 
is important and it will be a high priority. Republicans say it is a 
high priority. This past Congress passed not one, not two, but five 
major education bills, and we got very little credit for it. There was 
everything from some additional funds for IDEA to vocational education, 
higher education, and other things in between.
  For starters, we must reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act. That is important. Since its enactment more than 30 
years ago, that legislation has been the channel through which tens of 
billions of dollars have flown from the taxpayers to Washington and 
back to the school districts again at the local level. In retrospect, 
perhaps that has not been the most productive system that we could 
devise, to put it mildly. I think we need to look at ways to cut out 
some of those stops along the way, the distance between the taxpayers, 
parents, and government, and how we improve our schools.
  We need to find more ways to get more dollars back to the schools and 
especially back to the classrooms. We need to strengthen local 
decisionmaking so the parents and teachers--the people most involved 
with their children--can act in the best interest of those youngsters.
  We should foster quality teaching and promote family choice in 
education, especially for poor families whose kids are stuck in dead-
end schools that are dangerous and drug infested and where they are not 
learning. We should not, on the other hand, presume to dictate to 
parents and educators what their priorities should be and how they 
should spend their tax dollars. So, clearly, this is something on which 
we will spend a lot of time.
  We must continue to address the question of oppressive taxation. Most 
people will acknowledge that Americans are paying a heavy burden in 
taxes now. It affects the way they think and act as a family or how 
they save or invest. One of the most crushing tax burdens in this 
country is the payroll tax; it is a high percentage. That is the one in 
everybody's check at the end of the work week and they say, gee, this 
FICA tax is the one that is nailing me. Congress needs to look at that. 
We need more tax relief for working families so they can keep more of 
their own money. We need to have a tax code that is pro growth, pro 
investment, and pro jobs, so that we don't just give people a tax break 
but we give consideration to how the changes or tax reductions would 
lead to improvement in lives and jobs all across this country.
  Tax simplification is a continuing need. We need to think about how 
we can get lower insurance premiums for the taxpayers, whether it is 
for their automobile insurance or their health insurance. We need to 
promote regulatory reform and relief across the board, but especially 
for small businesses.
  Nothing this 106th Congress might do--whether in education, tax 
policy, or environmental protection--would mean as much to the American 
people as a long-term solution to the problems of Social Security and 
Medicare. So from the first day of this Congress right up to the last 
day toward the end of the year 2000, it will be my goal to see if we 
can find a broad, bipartisan agreement in those two crucial areas.
  The Congress can't do it alone, though. The President has to provide 
leadership. It is not enough to just have conferences and talk about 
options. What is the solution? What are we going to be able to do to 
resolve the problems on Medicare? Will the Medicare Commission that 
reports back in March have a report we can act on or not? Or will it 
decay in partisan disagreement? Can we find a way to act in good faith 
on Social Security?
  To show my good faith, I have said that if the President will send us 
a proposal he would like for us to consider, I will introduce his bill 
and we will begin hearings the next day in the Senate Finance Committee 
and see if we can go forward. Or if that is not the way it can be done, 
I am willing to look at other ways that we can accomplish that goal. It 
is too important to just set it aside because it is too tough.
  There are a lot of other issues we will deal with in the regular 
order. For example, bankruptcy reform, liability reform for charities, 
charitable choice in Federal programs, to end discrimination against 
faith-based organizations, prohibition against partial-birth abortions, 
as well as child custody protections to safeguard family rights, and 
modernization of financial services. I have spoken with Senator Gramm 
and encouraged him, as the new chairman of the Banking Committee, which 
has jurisdiction, to pick up the legislation and see if he can forge an 
agreement that we can move forward on so that we will have broader 
choices and better service for consumers.
  In due time, we will deal with all of those and a great many other 
subjects. During the next few weeks, I realize that the news media will 
be focused on one thing. My remarks here will be little noted or 
remembered--other than the part on the impeachment proceedings. But the 
record must begin to be made now that we have other very important 
priorities that are the people's priorities back in our respective 
States.
  This Senate was designed by the Framers of the Constitution to be the 
steady element in Government, the place where passions are cooled and 
judgments come slowly.

  It serves us well when we take our time and we make sure that the 
process is fair and the result is equitable.
  I expect that to happen in the days ahead. No one can predict the 
outcome of the deliberations on impeachment, but everyone can expect 
the calm and careful exercise of our duty under the Constitution. That 
will not conflict with our role as legislators. It will rather confirm 
that we are more than mere lawmakers. As Members of the Senate, we are 
guardians of the rule of law and defenders of the rights of every 
American. That is our most important role, our most solemn charge, and 
our most enduring honor.
  I yield the floor, Mr. President. I observe the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DORGAN addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota is recognized.

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