[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 65 (Tuesday, May 23, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4241-S4242]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT--EXECUTIVE CALENDAR
Mr. LOTT. In executive session, I ask unanimous consent that at 11:30
a.m., Tuesday, May 23, the Senate proceed to executive session to
consider Executive Calendar No. 436, the nomination of Bradley Smith to
be a member of the FEC. I further ask consent that debate be limited on
the nomination as follows: Senator McConnell, 2 hours; Senator Dodd, or
his designee, 2 hours; Senator Wellstone, 2 hours; Senator McCain, 2
hours; Senator Feingold, 2 hours.
I further ask consent that following the use or yielding back of
time, the nomination be laid aside, with a vote to occur on the
confirmation of the nomination during Wednesday's session of the Senate
at a time to be determined by the two leaders, with 20 minutes for
closing remarks, equally divided, just prior to the vote. If we need a
few more minutes than that, we will work with the interested parties to
see if that can be achieved.
I also ask consent that immediately following that vote, the Senate
proceed
[[Page S4242]]
to a confirmation vote on the nomination of Danny McDonald, Calendar
No. 435.
I further ask consent that also on Tuesday, May 23, the Senate then
proceed to the nomination of Timothy Dyk to be a U.S. circuit judge,
Calendar No. 291, and the debate be limited to the following: Senator
Sessions, 30 minutes; Senator Hatch, 15 minutes; and Senator Leahy, 15
minutes.
I further ask consent that on Tuesday, the Senate proceed to Calendar
No. 498, the nomination of Gerard Lynch, and there be 40 minutes of
debate, equally divided, between the opponents and proponents. I also
ask consent that all debate time on the nominations be consumed or
considered yielded back during Tuesday's session of the Senate.
I further ask consent that the vote occur on or in relation to the
Dyk nomination third in the voting sequence on Wednesday, to be
followed by votes on Executive Calendar No. 498, No. 519, and No. 520.
I ask unanimous consent that immediately following those votes, the
Senate immediately proceed to the consideration of the following
nominations on the Executive Calendar:
Nos. 206, 334, 424, 433, 434, 437, 438, 439, 440, 441, 442, 443, 444,
445, 446, 447, 448, 449, 452, 453, 455, 456, 457, 458, 459, 460, 461,
462, 463, 464, 465, 466, 467, 468, 469, 472, 476, 477, 478, 479, 480,
481, 482, 483, 496, 497, 499, 500, 501, 502, 503, 504, 505, 506, 518,
521, 522, 523, and all nominations on the Secretary's desk.
I further ask unanimous consent that the nominations be confirmed,
the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, any statements
relating to the nominations be printed at the appropriate place in the
Record, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action,
and the Senate then return to legislative session.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
Mr. McCAIN. I object.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.
Mr. LOTT. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. LOTT. I amend the unanimous consent request which stated there
would be 20 minutes for closing remarks, equally divided, just prior to
the vote. I amend that to say, 20 minutes for closing remarks, equally
divided, plus an additional 10 minutes for Senator McCain and 10
minutes for Senator Feingold.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
Mr. DASCHLE. Reserving the right to object, let me just say that
there are 19 nominations still pending on the calendar if we are able
to adopt this unanimous consent request today. Some of those
nominations have been on the calendar for well over a year. I think it
is the view of virtually every member of the caucus on our side that to
hold nominations that long is cruel. It is wrong. It should not be
tolerated. We are in a position to clear all nominations, including
those 19.
I ask whether the majority leader might be able to clear those as
well?
Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I will respond. I know that at least one
appointment is waiting on a companion appointment from the
administration, where you have a Democratic nominee for a commission or
a board, and we usually try to move them together. That is one case.
Then we have seven IRS members who can be cleared if--I understand
there is opposition to at least one of those from the Democratic side.
But my goal in working to get this large package done is so we can
continue to work to get companion nominations and move more
nominations. I discussed this with Senator Daschle yesterday. It is not
easy, but we hope to continue to work together to get the nominations
in a position where they can be cleared, or where we have debate time
and a vote and arrange for that to occur. We will keep working on it.
It has been reduced by some 70 or more nominations if this entire
package is completed, and if all of them--well, it will either be voted
on and approved or defeated, leaving only 19. So that is a major step
toward getting nominations confirmed.
Mr. DASCHLE. Reserving the right to object, and I will not,
obviously, I hope the majority leader will work with us to work through
these 19 names. As I say, some of them have put their lives on hold now
for over a year. It is just intolerable to them, and it should be
intolerable to us that we would accept that kind of a practice. I will
work with the majority leader and, hopefully, resolve these outstanding
problems. I will not object to this request.
Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I simply
thank both the leaders for their patience in working out this very
difficult agreement. I appreciate the majority leader extending us time
prior to the vote to summarize our arguments.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from New Hampshire is
recognized.
Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, are we now in morning business?
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