[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 142 (Wednesday, November 1, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S11465]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     MAKING FURTHER CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2000

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I further ask unanimous consent that the 
Senate proceed immediately to Calendar No. 428, H.J. Res. 84, and 
following the reporting by the clerk, the amendment at the desk 
sponsored by myself be agreed to, the resolution be read the third time 
and passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (H.J. Res. 84) making further continuing 
     appropriations for the fiscal year 2000, and for other 
     purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the joint 
resolution.
  The amendment (No. 4357) was agreed to, as follows:

       Strike all after the resolving clause and insert the 
     following:

     That Public Law 106-275, is further amended by striking the 
     date specified in section 106(c) and inserting ``November 14, 
     2000.''
       Amend the title so as to read: ``Making further continuing 
     appropriations for the fiscal year 2001, and for other 
     purposes.''

  The resolution (H.J. Res. 84), as amended, was read the third time 
and passed.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I announce then to the Senate that the 
continuing resolution to be passed at 2:15 today provides for a 
continuing of the Government for 1 day. The resolution just passed 
provides for Government funding through November 14, 2000.
  I thank the Democratic leader for his cooperation on this. I know he 
has been involved in this process, trying to find a date that is fair 
and reasonable to all interested parties. I know it is not easy, but I 
think this is the right thing to do. I hope the House will accept this 
resolution and then we would proceed to wrap things up after that.
  In light of this agreement, there will be no further votes today. All 
Senators will be notified when the next vote will occur in the Senate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
  Mr. REID. Before the majority leader leaves, we understand his role. 
He is the leader here, and it is not easy. I can't speak for everyone 
on this side, but I can speak for a few. We hope when we come back that 
we will come back with a fresh view as to what needs to be done and 
hopefully we can get things done.
  I ask the leader, is there some assurance--I guess that is the word--
is there some certainty that the House will accept this? What has the 
leader learned?
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I have spoken to the Speaker of the House. 
There have been staff contacts with the leadership on both sides of the 
aisle. It is my impression that the leadership on both sides will work 
for this to be accepted. We had some discussion about a different date, 
but the House felt very strongly that this date was preferred to the 
later one, and that is basically one of the reasons why we settled on 
this date. Hopefully, they will move quickly to accept this and then we 
will be able to go do our responsibilities in other areas.

  I say also that while we will be home and will not be here for 
awhile, there has been further progress made on the Labor-HHS and 
Education appropriations bill. I understand there are only a few issues 
remaining. The staff will not be on vacation. Work will continue. It 
would be my hope that the areas of disagreement can be worked out and 
when we come back on November 14, we will have a vote or two and that 
is all, that we would be done with it. But hope springs eternal, and it 
doesn't always come true. That is what we are thinking about right now.
  Mr. REID. I say to the leader, the President is excited about this. 
It is my understanding that he will do what is necessary in this 
instance. I repeat that when we come back here, I hope we can move this 
forward. With minor exceptions, the work done by Senator Stevens and 
Senator Byrd and others on the Labor-HHS bill is really good work. I 
hope we can wrap it up very quickly.
  Mr. LOTT. We have seen here today persistence does pay off. Yesterday 
very little was said about it, but a lot of credit goes to the members 
of the committee that produced the Water Resources Development Act 
under the chairmanship of Bob Smith. There was some disagreements with 
the House, but they put their shoulder to the wheel and we passed that 
very important legislation last night. Today, thanks to a lot of good 
effort by Senator Daschle and Senator Reid, and working with Senators 
on our side, we were able to move the FSC legislation, which we had not 
been able to get done earlier. So at this very moment, we are 
continuing to work to get agreement on the bankruptcy vote. I agree 
that this is an indication of why we probably should take a time-out. 
We didn't pass that cloture today because of absentees. I believe when 
we get everybody here, cloture will be invoked, and we will go forward 
with that important legislation.
  Again, I thank the Senator for his good work as always.
  I yield the floor.

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