[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 106 (Monday, July 26, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9209-S9211]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  JUVENILE JUSTICE REFORM ACT OF 1999

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture 
vote scheduled for this evening be vitiated and that the Senate now 
turn to H.R. 1501.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 1501) to amend the Omnibus Crime Control and 
     Safe Streets Act of 1968 to provide grants to ensure 
     increased accountability for juvenile offenders; to amend the 
     Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 to 
     provide quality prevention programs and accountability 
     programs relating to juvenile delinquency; and for other 
     purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.


                           Amendment No. 1344

                (Purpose: In the nature of a substitute)

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk to the 
pending juvenile justice bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Mississippi [Mr. Lott] proposes an 
     amendment numbered 1344.

  (The text of the amendment is located in today's Record under 
``Amendments Submitted.'')


                             Cloture Motion

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk to the 
pending amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The cloture motion having been presented under 
rule XXII, the Chair directs the clerk to read the motion.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

                             Cloture Motion

       We the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the substitute 
     to Calendar No. 165, H.R. 1501, the juvenile justice bill:
         Trent Lott, Frank Murkowski, Chuck Hagel, Bill Frist, 
           Jeff Sessions, Rick Santorum, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, 
           Christopher Bond, Orrin G. Hatch, John Ashcroft, Robert 
           F. Bennett, Pat Roberts, Jim Jeffords, Arlen Specter, 
           Judd Gregg, and Connie Mack.


                             Cloture Motion

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I now send another cloture motion to the 
desk to the pending bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The cloture motion having been presented under 
rule XXII, the Chair directs the clerk to read the motion.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

                             Cloture Motion

       We the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     do hereby move to bring to a close debate on Calendar No. 
     165, H.R. 1501, the juvenile justice bill:
         Trent Lott, Frank Murkowski, Chuck Hagel, Bill Frist, 
           Jeff Sessions, Rick Santorum, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, 
           Christopher Bond, Orrin G. Hatch, John Ashcroft, Robert 
           F. Bennett, Pat Roberts, Jim Jeffords, Arlen Specter, 
           Judd Gregg, and Connie Mack.


                Amendment No. 1345 to Amendment No. 1344

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk to the 
pending substitute.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the amendment.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Mississippi [Mr. Lott] proposes an 
     amendment numbered 1345 to amendment No. 1344.

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of 
the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

       In the substitute add the following:
       This bill will become effective 1 day after enactment.

  Mr. LOTT. I now 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.


                Amendment No. 1346 to Amendment No. 1345

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I send a second-degree amendment to the 
desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:


[[Page S9210]]


       The Senator from Mississippi [Mr. Lott] proposes an 
     amendment numbered 1346 to amendment No. 1345.

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of 
the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

       In the amendment to the substitute add the following:
       The bill will become effective 2 days after enactment.


                           Amendment No. 1347

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk to the 
language proposed to be stricken.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the amendment.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Mississippi [Mr. Lott] proposes an 
     amendment numbered 1347 to the language of the bill proposed 
     to be stricken.

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of 
the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

       In the bill add the following:
       The bill will become effective 3 days after enactment.
  Mr. LOTT. I now 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.


                Amendment No. 1348 to Amendment No. 1347

  Mr. LOTT. Finally, Mr. President, I send a second-degree amendment to 
the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Mississippi [Mr. Lott] proposes an 
     amendment numbered 1348 to amendment No. 1347.

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of 
the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

       In the amendment to the bill add the following:
       The bill will become effective 4 days after enactment.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, I have 
filled the tree on the juvenile justice bill with the text of the 
Senate bill in an effort to send this bill to conference. The cloture 
vote on the pending amendment will occur on Wednesday morning.
  I ask unanimous consent that the cloture vote occur at 9:45 a.m. on 
Wednesday and that the mandatory quorum under rule XXII be waived.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LOTT. It is interesting to note, Mr. President, that after a lot 
of concern or even complaints about the process of filling up the tree, 
here I am having to do that in order to go to conference. In this case, 
I am sure the Democrats and the Republicans support this effort so we 
can get this legislation to conference for its consideration. This is a 
perfect example of the majority leader sometimes having to use this 
type of technique.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I came to the floor last Wednesday to 
demonstrate the seriousness with which Senate Democrats take the 
matters included in S. 254, the Hatch-Leahy juvenile justice bill. I 
took the extraordinary step of propounding a unanimous-consent request 
to move the Senate to a House-Senate conference. I talked to the 
Majority Leader and the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee in advance 
of making the unanimous-consent request. I noted the history of this 
measure and the need to move to conference expeditiously if we are to 
have these programs in place before school resumes in the fall in the 
course of my colloquy with the Majority Leader last week.
  The Hatch-Leahy juvenile justice bill, S. 254, passed the Senate 
after 2 weeks of open debate and after significant improvements over 
two months ago, on May 20, by a strong bipartisan vote of 73-25. More 
than one month ago, on June 17, the House passed its version of 
juvenile justice legislation but chose not to take up the Senate bill 
and insert its language, as is standard practice to move Congress 
toward a conference and final passage of legislation.
  Instead, what the House did was wait until last week to send the 
Senate a ``blue slip'' returning S. 254 to the Senate on the ground 
that it contains what they consider a ``revenue provision'' that did 
not originate in the House. The provision they point to is the 
amendment to S. 254 that would amend the federal criminal code to ban 
the import of high capacity ammunition clips. Whatever the merits of 
that particular provision--and I will simply say that I did not support 
it--it appeared to me that the House had resorted to a procedural 
technicality to avoid a conference on juvenile justice legislation.
  Two weeks ago, Republican leaders of the House and Senate were 
talking about appointing conferees by the end of that week. Instead, 
they took no action to move us toward a House-Senate conference but, 
instead, were moving us away from one. By propounding the unanimous 
consent last week, I was trying on behalf of congressional Democrats, 
to break the logjam. The unanimous consent would have cured the 
procedural technicality and would have resulted in the Senate 
requesting a conference and appointing conferees without further delay.
  While I regret that Republican objection was made to my request last 
Wednesday, I note that it was repropounded by the Majority Leader the 
next day. I thank the Majority Leader for that. Unfortunately, even 
then, objection was made and the process is being extended from 
literally seconds into days and possibly weeks before we can conference 
this important matter.
  Today, the Senate takes the first step outlined in my unanimous 
request, proceeding to take up the House-passed bill. Senators can 
cooperate in taking the additional steps outlined in my consent request 
to get to a conference and the Senate could proceed to appoint its 
conferees and request a conference without further delay, today. 
Alternatively, Senators can exercise their procedural rights to 
obstruct each step of the way and require a series of cloture petitions 
and votes. I hope that in the interests of school safety and enacting 
the many worthwhile programs in the Hatch-Leahy juvenile justice bill, 
they will begin to cooperate. The delay is costing us valuable time to 
get this juvenile justice legislation enacted before school resumes 
this fall. This is just plain wrong.
  I spoke to the Senate before the July 4th recess about the need to 
press forward without delay on this bill. I contrasted the inaction on 
the juvenile justice bill with the swift movement on providing special 
legal protections to certain business interests. In just a few months, 
big business successfully lobbied for the passage of legislation to 
protection themselves against any accountability for actions or losses 
their products may cause to consumers. By contrast, some are dragging 
their feet and now actively obstructing the House and Senate from 
moving to appoint conferees on the juvenile justice bill that can make 
a difference in the lives of our children and families.
  New programs and protections for school children could be in place 
when school resumes this fall. All of us--whether we are parents, 
grandparents, teachers, or policy makers are puzzling over the causes 
of kids turning violent in our country. The root causes are likely 
multifaceted. Nevertheless, the Hatch-Leahy juvenile justice bill is a 
firm and significant step in the right direction. The passage of this 
bill shows that when this body rolls up its sleeves and gets to work, 
we can make significant progress. But that progress will amount to 
naught if the House and Senate do not conference and proceed to final 
passage on a good bill.
  Every parent, teacher and student in this country is concerned this 
summer about school violence over the last two years and worried about 
the situation they will confront this fall. Each one of us wants to do 
something to stop this violence. There is no single cause and no single 
legislative solution that will cure the ill of youth violence in our 
schools or in our streets. But we have an opportunity before us to do 
our part. It is unfortunate that the Senate is not moving full speed 
ahead to seize this opportunity to act on balanced, effective juvenile 
justice legislation.
  I want to be assured that after the hard work we all put into 
crafting a good juvenile justice bill, that we can go to a House-Senate 
conference that is

[[Page S9211]]

fair, full, and productive. We have worked too hard in the Senate for a 
strong bipartisan juvenile justice bill to simply shrug our shoulders 
when the House returns a juvenile justice bill rather than proceeding 
to a conference and a narrow minority in the Senate would rather we do 
nothing. I will be vigilant in working to maintain this bipartisanship 
and to press for action on this important legislation.

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