[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 164 (Thursday, November 18, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14796-S14798]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT--H.J. RES. 82, H.J. RES. 83, AND H.R. 3194

  Mr. LOTT. I thank my colleagues for not objecting.
  Mr. President, I have a unanimous consent request that has been very

[[Page S14797]]

carefully worked out, and after it is agreed to, we have three 
colloquies that Senator Daschle, Senator Stevens, Senator Byrd, and I 
would like to enter into.
  I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now turn to H.J. Res. 82, the 
continuing resolution, and following the reporting by the clerk, there 
be two first-degree amendments in order, and no second-degree 
amendments or motions to commit or recommit be in order. Those 
amendments are the following:
  The Byrd-McConnell amendment regarding mining;
  The Helms-Edwards amendment regarding disaster funds.
  I further ask consent that following the disposition of the 
amendments, the joint resolution be read a third time and passed and 
the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.
  I further ask consent that when the Senate receives H.J. Res. 83, the 
joint resolution be deemed agreed to and the motion to reconsider be 
laid upon the table, all without any intervening action or debate.
  Finally, I ask consent that when the Senate receives the conference 
report to accompany H.R. 3194, the reading of the conference report 
commence immediately following the motion to proceed made by the 
majority leader, to be followed by a vote on the motion to proceed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there an objection?
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Reserving the right to object, could I ask the 
majority leader, following the motion to proceed by the majority 
leader, it says ``to be followed by a vote on a motion to proceed.'' Is 
this going to be read?
  Mr. LOTT. This is after the reading has been completed.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. That is our understanding.
  Mr. LOTT. That is correct.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Reserving the right to object, I ask the majority 
leader a question, if I could. We had an understanding prior to 
removing the quorum call that there is no time limitation.
  Mr. LOTT. Correct, there is no time limitation in this agreement.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. I thank the majority leader.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Hearing no objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, we do have a colloquy we will enter into. I 
don't know how much debate time will be required since there was no 
time limitation. It is safe to say there will be a period of time for 
debate, so if Members want to take this time to get something to eat 
they will probably have the time to do so. However, I do expect after 
some reasonable period of time there will be a vote or votes, and, of 
course, we will proceed to the conference report that has been 
delivered to the Senate at an appropriate time so it can be read, and 
for a motion or votes on that.
  One important thing I want to emphasize, the Senate can only do what 
the Senate can do, and then our action has to go to the House. The 
House must act. With regard to these continuing resolutions, they have 
a number of options. I personally am going to vote for the Byrd 
amendment. I think the Senator is entitled to make his case. I hope the 
House will accept that. If they don't, it will be back in another venue 
in another way.
  The same thing with regard to the Helms-Edwards disaster funds. An 
oversight occurred, as I understand it, in the final hours last night 
with regard to disaster funds for North Carolina. There were about 
three tranches of money that had been requested for disaster 
assistance. Two of those were included, which come to a total of around 
$800 million. However, $81 million, an important tranche, was not 
included. Hopefully, the House will accept this and hopefully the House 
will see fit to accept them both. I will talk to the Speaker and 
encourage him to do that.
  I want to also emphasize, as has been the case in the past when my 
State has been involved, when South Dakota or North Dakota has been 
involved, when any place is involved in a disaster, they should get the 
assistance they need from a caring American people. That is the way we 
have been doing it for all the years I have been in the Congress. That 
is the way it is now and the way it should be.

  If for whatever reason in this waning hour of the session this money 
is not made available, I am committed publicly, along with Senator 
Daschle and the chairman of the committee, that this money will be 
provided. It will be provided in the first available vehicle after the 
first of the year, and I presume that will be in a supplemental because 
there will be a supplemental available, and with the commitment of the 
chairman and the commitment of the leaders and also the commitment of 
the American people, those funds will be available. I want to make that 
part of the Record at this point.
  I yield the floor for others to respond.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, let me say I agree wholeheartedly with 
the comments made by the majority leader. I don't know if there is a 
State right now that is hurting as badly as North Carolina. Senator 
Edwards has made that point over and over and over again to me, and I 
know that Senator Helms has worked with Senator Edwards to try to 
provide the most comprehensive response to the situation as we can.
  We have come a long way and made a great deal of progress in the 
legislation pending, the omnibus bill. As things happen when we work 
late into the night with a lot of different people working, there is 
always the possibility something will fall through the cracks. I truly 
believe that is what happened. I believe it was an honest mistake.
  As the majority leader has indicated, whether it is fixed tonight, 
whether it is fixed before the end of the session, or whether it is 
fixed immediately when we come back, I don't know how one can get a 
stronger commitment than the one given by the majority leader or the 
one I am prepared to give and the one I know the chairman will be 
prepared to give to accommodate North Carolina.
  I appreciate their willingness to work to do this. This should 
resolve this matter successfully once and for all, either tonight or at 
some point in the not too distant future.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, as chairman of the Appropriations 
Committee, I regret this error. It was an error. We have put together 
several bills in one bill and it has been a rather difficult week in 
many ways. This error occurred because some of the Members of the House 
who are involved and should have been involved were not notified of the 
final decision that was made with regard to a request that came from 
the Senators of North Carolina.
  Senator Helms called me several times on the matter. I talked on the 
floor and on the phone with Senator Edwards before the final 
arrangement was reached. Frankly, they sought more money than is even 
in the amendment that was left out of the bill. However, we said we 
would have to take up the further money in the supplemental that comes 
before the Congress in the early part of the next year.
  Last evening when this bill was being read out, I did receive a call 
concerning the fact that some of the Members of the House were 
disturbed by the changes that were proposed. It was determined then 
that had not been properly conveyed to the Members, although some of 
the staff, I believe, were notified and were part of it. It is just one 
of those things that a staff member's interaction did not take place, 
and I personally did not go over and tell the House Members--I probably 
should have--but it was one of the final items on the discussions we 
had, including those that involved the White House representatives who 
were before our committee yesterday.
  As a consequence, I want to assure the Senators from North Carolina, 
I do believe that once we have reached a decision such as that, and we 
felt it had been cleared out, it is our responsibility now to make 
certain this commitment is made good, and we will do that. This bill 
will do it if the House will accept it and send it to the President. If 
that does not happen, we will, without any question, take the matter up 
in the first supplemental that comes before the Congress next year. We 
will have the supplemental bill for Kosovo coming. That was another 
request we received which was not fulfilled in this series of bills 
that are before the Senate now.
  I want to assure Senator Edwards and Senator Helms on this side--and

[[Page S14798]]

both have been very diligent in seeking these moneys--that we will put 
this money in the next bill if this is not accepted by the House. I 
have every reason to believe it will be accepted by the House. I intend 
to get on the phone and talk to my friends and make sure they 
understand. If there was an error, it was one that was caused by the 
intensity of the work that was going on by the staffs of five different 
subcommittees trying to put a bill together, along with all the other 
bills that were being considered, many of which were rejected and are 
not in this bill that we all considered over this last week.
  I do hope the Senators from North Carolina will accept that 
assurance. I can assure them this is an $81 million item and it is, in 
my judgment, small compared to the amount of money that will be in the 
next supplemental for the people who were affected by Hurricane Floyd 
anyway, so we will make up for this problem. We will make up the money, 
and we certainly will see to it that it is there.
  I plead with the Members of the House to pass the bill tonight. In 
any event, we will take care of that error as quickly as we can.
  Second, with regard to my good friend from West Virginia and his 
amendment and that of Senator McConnell and the Western Senators, I 
think there is a clear, growing understanding of the provisions of this 
amendment. I have been saying, as Senator Byrd has been saying for some 
time, this does not change existing law. It is an amendment to try to 
preserve the status quo until Congress has a chance to review the 
changes that would take place if decisions of the Solicitor's Office 
and decisions of one Federal judge were followed, which would affect 
the mining industry of the whole Nation. I hope the House will 
certainly see fit to send that measure to the President, so we can see 
what the White House is going to do with that.

  But for now, I hope the Senators involved will let us get on with the 
major bill, which is going to take some time. I again express my regret 
to the Senators involved that this incident has taken place, and we 
will do our best to see it does not happen. But the distinguished 
minority leader reminded me, on an amendment that we had on a bill 
earlier this year, a similar thing happened when there were just too 
many things going into one bill. Our provision was left out, but it got 
back in the next bill, I assure you.
  Mr. President, I do hope the Senators involved will give us the 
courtesy now of permitting the Appropriations Committee to present, at 
last, the omnibus appropriations bill that will fulfill our commitment 
to pass 13 appropriations bills this year.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I know the Senator from North Carolina might 
want to make a comment or ask a question at this point. I will be glad 
to yield the floor to him, or yield for him to do that while retaining 
the floor.
  Mr. EDWARDS. I thank the majority leader.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. EDWARDS. Mr. President, the human suffering and devastation we 
incurred in North Carolina is absolutely unparalleled. Our people have 
never suffered and struggled the way they are suffering right now. This 
storm has completely devastated us. Our farmers are in the worst shape 
they have ever been in.
  I appreciate very much the majority leader's commitment, Senator 
Stevens' commitment, and the minority leader's commitment. We have 
talked throughout this process on a daily basis. We had an agreement, a 
commitment to two things, basically. One was a loan forgiveness 
program, which has been talked about, and, second, some language that 
would help the payment for structural damage on farms in North 
Carolina.
  I appreciate very much the commitment we have received today. I do 
have to say I am counting on my colleagues' commitments--the majority 
leader's commitment, Senator Stevens' commitment, Senator Daschle's 
commitment--to do everything in their power to get this thing passed in 
this Congress; that it will be included in the CR we are discussing 
right now and that, when it goes to the House side, the majority leader 
will speak to the Speaker. We will do everything in our power, Senator 
Helms and myself, to make sure that happens. But it is critical to 
Senator Helms and me that we not need to rely on the commitment to do 
something after the first of the year, that we get this done tonight or 
tomorrow.
  With that, I thank the majority leader.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. LOTT. I will say on behalf of Senator Helms, he has been 
following this very closely. I have spoken to him, and Senator Edwards 
has been in constant conversation with him, as has Senator Stevens. He 
understands what we are doing here, and we have made a commitment to 
him, which we certainly are going to honor, and to Senator Edwards, 
that we will pursue this aggressively with the other Chamber. This 
money is going to be available, hopefully in this CR; if not, the first 
available vehicle next year.

                          ____________________