[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 60 (Tuesday, May 16, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3981-S3983]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       MILITARY CONSTRUCTION APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2001--Continued

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, this weekend an estimated 750,000 
mothers, fathers, and children united for the Million Mom March here in 
the District. These women and men took the first step toward ending the 
epidemic of gun violence in our country.
  Certainly, Congress needs to take the next step. It is intolerable 
that commonsense gun safety legislation is stalled in a conference 
committee that has not met since August 5 of 1999. Twelve kids die a 
day from gun violence and we do nothing. We have more safety 
regulations for toy guns than for real guns, and we do nothing. We have 
watched children shot in schools and day-care centers, but still we do 
nothing.
  Yesterday, the Democratic Policy Committee held a hearing with 
mothers from the Million Mom March. At the hearing, I heard stories 
that I must say will haunt me for a long time. I listened to a 
kindergarten schoolteacher talk about her horror when one of her 
seemingly innocent students, a kindergartner, brought a gun to school 
to kill a classmate. She remains afraid to teach and afraid for her 
students.
  I listened to the mother of an aspiring high school graduate who was 
gunned down in front of his girlfriend's home while unloading 
groceries. As she talked about her loss, and demanded Congress act, she 
said simply:

       I don't want this to happen to any other mother, father, 
     sister or brother. I don't want anyone else to suffer like 
     this.

  I listened to a mother whose oldest son was shot and killed by a 
neighbor in a sleepy town in California. She told us:

       I came to the District to protect my son, Brandon, from gun 
     violence because he is the only child that I have left.

  I ask my colleagues, what else will it take for us to act to stem 
this domestic war of violence that is infecting every city and county 
in our beloved country? We cannot wait any longer for the juvenile 
justice conference to meet and act.
  I was disappointed by comments made by the National Rifle Association 
when asked whether all of this effort, 750,000 people coming to 
Washington as peacefully as any group I have ever seen come, organized 
in a respectful way, telling their stories, as tragic as they are, with 
the courage that I don't think I personally could muster, the personal 
stories of lost sons and daughters, mothers and fathers--the NRA was 
asked the question, Will this translate to political power? Their 
answer:

       It's one thing to say it. It's another thing to do it.

  They understand political power. They have it. But I do think that is 
changing. The landscape is changing, and it is changing dramatically. 
As a South Dakotan who has been raised with guns all my life, who is 
proud to be a hunter--I have many guns myself--I will say without 
equivocation that it, too, is even changing in my home State.
  Given the fact it has now been more than a year, given the fact that 
we have not yet acted, given the fact that we ought to respond to all 
those people who came to Washington with their courage and with what 
few pennies they had to pay for their trips, I ask unanimous consent 
that no rule XVI point of order lie against any gun-related amendment 
to the military construction appropriations. This would apply to 
Republican or Democratic amendments.
  Mr. BURNS. Objection.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.


                           amendment no. 3148

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I, therefore, send an amendment to the 
desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from South Dakota [Mr. Daschle] proposes an 
     amendment numbered 3148.
       At the appropriate place add the following:
       Since Mother's Day, May 14, 2000, an estimated 750,000 
     mothers, fathers, and children united for the Million Mom 
     March on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and were 
     joined by tens of thousands of others, in 70 cities across 
     America, in a call for meaningful, common-sense gun policy;
       Since 4,223 young people ages 19 and under were killed by 
     gunfire--one every two hours, nearly 12 young people every 
     day--in the United States in 1977;
       Since American children under the age of 15 are 12 times 
     more likely to die from gunfire than children in 25 other 
     industrialized countries combined;

[[Page S3982]]

       Since gun safety education programs are inadequate to 
     protect children from gun violence;
       Since a majority of the Senate resolved that the House-
     Senate Juvenile Justice Conference should meet, consider and 
     pass by April 20, 2000, a conference report to accompany H.R. 
     1501, the Juvenile Justice Act, and that the conference 
     report should retain the Senate-passed gun safety provisions 
     to limit access to firearms by juveniles, felons, and other 
     prohibited persons;
       Since the one year Anniversary of the Columbine High School 
     tragedy passed on April 20, 2000, without any action by the 
     Juvenile Justice Conference Committee on the reasonable gun 
     safety measures that were passed by the Senate almost one 
     year ago;
       Since continued inaction on this critical threat to public 
     safety undermines confidence in the ability of the Senate to 
     protect our children and raises concerns about the influence 
     of special interests opposed to even the most basic gun 
     safety provisions;
       Since this lack of action on the part of the Juvenile 
     Justice Conference Committee and this Congress to stem the 
     flood of gun violence is irresponsible and further delay is 
     unacceptable; and
       Since protecting our children from gun violence is a top 
     priority for our families, communities, and nation: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Determined, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) the organizers, sponsors, and participants of the 
     Million Mom March should be commended for rallying to demand 
     sensible gun safety legislation; and
       (2) Congress should immediately pass a conference report to 
     accompany H.R. 1501, the Violent and Repeat Juvenile Offender 
     Accountability and Rehabilitation Act, before the Memorial 
     Day Recess, and include the Lautenberg-Kerrey gun show 
     loophole amendment and the other Senate-passed provisions 
     designed to limit access to firearms by juveniles, convicted 
     felons, and other persons prohibited by law from purchasing 
     or possessing firearms.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I have not had a chance to review this 
language, so I suggest the absence of a quorum in order to have the 
opportunity to do that.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Crapo). The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  Mrs. MURRAY. I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Gorton). The objection is heard.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk resumed the call of the roll and the 
following Senators entered the Chamber and answered to their names:

                             [Quorum No. 2]

     Coverdell
     Enzi
     Gorton
     Lott
     Murray
     Reid
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. A quorum is not present. The clerk will call 
the names of absent Senators.
  The assistant legislative clerk resumed the call of the roll.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I move to instruct the Sergeant at Arms to 
request the presence of absent Senators, and I ask for the yeas and 
nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The question is on agreeing to the motion of the Senator from 
Mississippi. The yeas and nays have been ordered, and the clerk will 
call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Oregon (Mr. Smith), is 
necessarily absent.
  Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Biden), the 
Senator from New York (Mr. Moynihan), and the Senator from New York 
(Mr. Schumer), are necessarily absent.
  The result was announced--yeas 94, nays 2, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 99 Leg.]

                                YEAS--94

     Abraham
     Akaka
     Allard
     Ashcroft
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Brownback
     Bryan
     Bunning
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Chafee, Lincoln
     Cleland
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Coverdell
     Craig
     Crapo
     Daschle
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Edwards
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Gorton
     Graham
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hollings
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McCain
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nickles
     Reed
     Reid
     Robb
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Roth
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Torricelli
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wellstone
     Wyden

                                NAYS--2

     Breaux
     Thomas
       

                             NOT VOTING--4

     Biden
     Moynihan
     Schumer
     Smith, Oregon
  The motion was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. With the addition of Senators who did not 
answer the quorum call, a quorum is now present.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I raise a point of order that the pending 
Daschle amendment is not germane to the Military Construction 
Appropriations bill and ask for the yeas and nays on the question put 
before the Senate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Stevens). Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll, and the following Senators 
answered to their names:--

                             [Quorum No. 3]

     Abraham
     Akaka
     Allard
     Ashcroft
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Brownback
     Bryan
     Bunning
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Chafee, L.
     Cleland
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Coverdell
     Craig
     Crapo
     Daschle
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Edwards
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Gorton
     Graham
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hollings
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McCain
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nickles
     Reed
     Reid
     Robb
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Roth
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Torricelli
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wellstone
     Wyden
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. A quorum is present.
  The majority leader.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I believe there is a point of order that has 
been made on germaneness, and the yeas and nays have been ordered. We 
should proceed to vote.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I move to table the point of order and 
ask for the yeas and nays.
  I note the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  The clerk will call the roll to ascertain the presence of a quorum.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll, and the following 
Senators entered the Chamber and answered to their names:

                             [Quorum No. 4]

     Abraham
     Akaka
     Allard
     Ashcroft
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Brownback
     Bryan
     Bunning
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Chafee, L.
     Cleland
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Coverdell
     Craig
     Crapo
     Daschle
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Edwards
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Gorton
     Graham
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hollings
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McCain
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nickles
     Reed
     Reid
     Robb
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Roth
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Torricelli
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wellstone
     Wyden
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. A quorum is now present.
  The question is on agreeing to the motion to table.
  Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.

[[Page S3983]]

  Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Oregon (Mr. Smith) is 
necessarily absent.
  Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Biden), the 
Senator from New York (Mr. Moynihan), and the Senator from New York 
(Mr. Schumer) are necessarily absent.
  The result was announced--yeas 42, nays 54, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 100 Leg.]

                                YEAS--42

     Akaka
     Bayh
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Bryan
     Byrd
     Cleland
     Conrad
     Daschle
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Edwards
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Fitzgerald
     Graham
     Harkin
     Hollings
     Inouye
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Mikulski
     Murray
     Reed
     Reid
     Robb
     Rockefeller
     Sarbanes
     Torricelli
     Wellstone
     Wyden

                                NAYS--54

     Abraham
     Allard
     Ashcroft
     Baucus
     Bennett
     Bond
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Campbell
     Chafee L.
     Cochran
     Collins
     Coverdell
     Craig
     Crapo
     DeWine
     Domenici
     Enzi
     Frist
     Gorton
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Jeffords
     Kyl
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McCain
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Nickles
     Roberts
     Roth
     Santorum
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Voinovich
     Warner

                             NOT VOTING--4

     Biden
     Moynihan
     Schumer
     Smith (OR)
  The motion was rejected.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll to ascertain the 
presence of a quorum.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll and the following 
Senators entered the Chamber and answered to their names:

                             [Quorum No. 5]

     Abraham
     Akaka
     Allard
     Ashcroft
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Brownback
     Bryan
     Bunning
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Chafee, L.
     Cleland
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Coverdell
     Craig
     Crapo
     Daschle
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Edwards
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Graham
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hollings
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McCain
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nickles
     Reed
     Reid
     Robb
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Roth
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Torricelli
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wellstone
     Wyden
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. A quorum is present. The Democratic leader.

                          ____________________