[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 103 (Tuesday, July 20, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S8817]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. LOTT. Today the Senate will resume debate on the motion to 
proceed to the intelligence authorization bill with the cloture vote 
occurring at 10:30 a.m. Following the vote, Senator Smith of New 
Hampshire will be recognized to make a motion to discharge from the 
Finance Committee S.J. Res. 28 regarding the trade status with Vietnam. 
Therefore, Senators can expect an additional vote prior to the weekly 
party caucus meetings. The Senate will recess from 12:30 to 2:15 so 
that the party conferences can meet and have lunch. Senator Smith will 
again be recognized under a privileged resolution at 2:15 to offer a 
second motion to discharge from the Finance Committee S.J. Res. 27 
regarding trade status with China. There will be 1 hour of debate on 
the motion with the vote occurring at approximately 3:15 p.m. Senators 
may also expect further action on the intelligence authorization bill 
or any appropriations bills on the calendar during today's session.


                       Intelligence Authorization

  Mr. President, there was debate yesterday on the intelligence 
authorization bill. Senator Shelby, the chairman of the Intelligence 
Committee, and Senator Kerrey, the ranking member, spoke on the 
importance of intelligence authorization. They have been doing good 
work together in a bipartisan way, as they should on matters of 
intelligence. This is a very important bill, one we should move forward 
as expeditiously as we can. Of course, the issue that is still being 
debated in connection with this intelligence authorization bill is, how 
do we deal with reorganizing the Department of Energy so we can stop 
the leaks that have been occurring at our labs.
  There was a report in the papers just this morning that while some 
progress has been made in some areas, the necessary actions to stop 
these leaks and make sure they don't happen in the future haven't even 
begun. Senator Domenici, Senator Kyl, and Senator Murkowski have done 
real good work in this area. This should be a bipartisan solution where 
we get the focus at the Department of Energy rearranged in such a way 
that there is direct reporting so we have a quasi-autonomous agency 
within the Department of Energy. I hope we can still find a way to get 
this done because the American people understand that real damage has 
already been done. We should make sure, at the minimum, that it will 
not continue in the future.
  I thank my colleagues for their attention. I yield the floor.
  Mrs. BOXER addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Voinovich). The Senator from California.

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