[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 164 (Thursday, November 18, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14780-S14781]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page S14780]]
                MAKING FURTHER CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS


                           Motion to Proceed

  Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate now 
proceed to the short-term continuing resolution.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. BAUCUS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, reserving the right to object, I speak 
on behalf of 11 million Americans, at least, many of them residents of 
the State of Alaska. We haven't solved the satellite home viewer 
matter. I don't see why we can't. It is very simple. All we have to do 
is put that loan guarantee in, which is very simple. If there are any 
wrinkles, they can easily be worked out. It makes no sense for us to go 
home without passing the loan guarantee provision so that the satellite 
viewers can rest assured and so that those who are going to put up 
satellites and develop satellites for local-to-local coverage are able 
to do so. I cannot understand, on behalf of those 11 million Americans 
who can't understand, why in the world we don't do something that is 
pretty simple.
  Mr. LOTT. Will the Senator yield to me to respond?
  Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, I reserve the right to object.
  Mr. LOTT. I have not propounded a unanimous consent request other 
than to proceed to the short-term continuing resolution so that Senator 
Byrd may begin to discuss an issue of concern to a number of Senators. 
I intended to talk to the Senator from Montana and others about trying 
to enter into an agreement with regard to time.
  On the issue to which he referred, I think it is very important that 
we do take action in this final bill we will be taking up in the next 
day or so, or today, that will make sure the satellite bill is passed 
so that people across this country will continue to receive service 
from the networks on their television sets in the future in order to 
have this so-called local-to-local service where you get your local 
station on your local satellite. We are going to have to have some 
process, some way to get that service into rural areas and smaller 
areas such as those in Montana, Alaska, and in Mississippi. I am 
committed to getting that done. So is the Senator from Alaska, Mr. 
Stevens. We are going to get that done.
  We are going to have to have a very carefully thought out loan 
guarantee system that will get the satellites up, to get the towers 
that are necessary to make sure that that is done. The problem we have, 
as with so many other issues we have been dealing with in the last 
week, is getting all of that done in the last few hours to make sure we 
get it done right without the whole process being held up as we go 
forward.
  I will talk to the Senator privately, but he has my assurances--
Senator Daschle and I will put a colloquy in the Record--that we are 
going to get this done. We are going to get it done early next year. If 
there are dilatory tactics, we will have a bill that has been carefully 
massaged by all of the relevant committees, not just one. We will 
either get it done straight up or we will look for another vehicle. 
This is something to which we are committed, to which I am committed, 
and I know the Senator from Alaska is committed.
  Mr. STEVENS. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. LOTT. I believe the Senator from Montana--
  Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, I yield to the Senator from Alaska 
without losing my rights to the floor.
  Mr. STEVENS. I certainly won't make a long statement. I still am very 
committed to the loan guarantee provisions that were in the Satellite 
Home Viewer Act. But I am also convinced that we would have a period of 
time to get the regulations ready to proceed with that guarantee 
program. It would take roughly 6, 7 months.
  I am going to ask the FCC to start preparing those regulations now. 
We have the commitment that we will have a loan guarantee bill before 
us, and we will be voting on it sometime in April. We will not delay 
the loan guarantee program for rural America by what we have done. I 
was assured of that, and I am assured in my own mind that it will work. 
We will be right on time by the time we get this bill.
  We have a commitment coming that we will either have an improved 
authorization for a loan guarantee or we will vote what was in the bill 
we took out last night. I urge my friend to understand that we have not 
abandoned the loan guarantee program. Coming from where I do, I would 
never abandon it.
  When I came to the Senate, the Army ran the communications system of 
Alaska; the U.S. Government owned all of the telephones in Alaska. Now, 
when you look at the distance we have come in a relatively short time 
of my service in the Senate, we are going to do the same thing with 
satellite communications in a very short period of time, in a new way, 
consistent with private enterprise, on a guarantee program rather than 
a Government loan program.
  We need to have certainty to what we are doing. I know it will take a 
long time to get the regulations ready. We did not agree to delaying 
the loan guarantee program last night; we delayed the authorization for 
it, and we will have that authorization by April of next year.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, reserving the right to object, I hear my 
good friend from Alaska and the majority leader. They have States that 
have the same concerns as do we. Not for a moment do I doubt the 
intentions of both of the Senators. They are two of the most honorable 
men I have had the pleasure to know. They are wonderful people.
  But I also know how the Senate operates. I also know that the best 
intentions often don't materialize and something happens. I also know 
that some of the regulations I suspect the Senator talked about--it is 
a lot easier for the FCC to write regulations than not knowing in the 
abstract what the regulations are. I don't know what they can really do 
that is substantive or effective in the next several months, or 
whatever it takes.
  I also know that the only objection to us proceeding really is one 
Senator who, for some reason, thinks he should have jurisdiction over 
this. It is an ``inside baseball'' objection. It is not a substantive 
objection in any great way.
  I also know there is a lot in this omnibus bill that was written 
pretty quickly, where many minds got together to get something done. I 
also know that necessity is the motherhood of invention. If we want to 
do this, we will find a way to get it in.
  I am suggesting that a vast majority of Members of this body want to 
do it. I suggest that 90 percent want to do it. There is an objection 
not based on substance but based on another reason.
  I very much appreciate the desire of the Senator from West Virginia 
to speak. But I might say that my objecting to proceeding here does not 
deprive the Senator from speaking. He will find ample opportunity, and 
I support his right to be able to speak. This is so black and white, so 
much of a no-brainer, and there are millions of Americans in rural 
America who want this thing, and there is so little reason not to do 
it.
  So I will object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The majority leader has the floor.
  Mr. LOTT. Madam President, I yield the floor. I believe the Senator 
from West Virginia was prepared to proceed to discuss his issue. I 
think he probably will do that. We will see what might be done to 
address concerns Senators may have, and we will be back later.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I checked with my office. TEA 21, the 
highway bill, had a loan guarantee program. It took 16 months for the 
regulations to be drawn before there was one guarantee made. We have 
the process to be started on the Satellite Home Viewer Act to create 
regulations for a new loan guarantee program, and I said it could be 
done in 6 months. My staff tells me I was very conservative; it will 
take much longer than that. We will have the law for authorizing the 
loan guarantee done by the end of April.
  I do not believe that those who agree with me that there should be a 
loan guarantee program should be worried about the deletion of that 
authorization now. The problem on the loan guarantee program is to 
commence the drafting and, really, the presentation of the new program. 
It will be entirely new. It is not similar to any conduct of a loan 
guarantee program in history. So it will take a considerable amount of 
time.

[[Page S14781]]

  I want the Record to note there is no reason to oppose this bill and 
particularly to oppose this continuing resolution on the basis of the 
deletion of the loan guarantee program from the Satellite Home Bureau 
Act.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia is recognized.

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