[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 16 (Tuesday, February 6, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1092-S1094]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT--S. 27
Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at a time to be
determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the
Democratic leader, either on March 19, 2001, or March 26, 2001, the
Rules Committee be immediately discharged from consideration of S. 27,
as introduced, and the Senate shall return to its immediate
consideration.
I further ask unanimous consent that following the reporting of the
bill by the clerk, the bill become the pending business, to the
exclusion of all other business, except for a motion to temporarily
postpone consideration of the pending legislation made by the
Republican leader, following approval of the Democratic leader, and
that no call for the regular order serve to displace this item, except
one made by the Republican leader, also after the approval of the
Democratic leader.
I ask unanimous consent that when a first-degree amendment is
offered, there be up to 3 hours evenly divided in the usual form for
debate only, after which a motion to table may be made. If a motion to
table fails, the amendment then be fully debatable and amendable.
Further, that if the motion to table is not made at the expiration of
the 3 hours, a vote occur on the amendment without intervening action,
motion or debate, provided that no point of order be considered as
having been waived by this agreement.
Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I will
have more comment later, but is it the intent of the majority leader to
include in this unanimous consent agreement debate and disposal of the
Hollings constitutional amendment as well?
Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I respond to the Senator from South Dakota
that I will, after this agreement is entered into, follow that
immediately with an agreement with regard to the Hollings
constitutional amendment, which I assume will also be agreed to.
Mr. DASCHLE. I thank the majority leader. I have no objection.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, would the Senator like to be heard at this
point? I will be glad to yield to Senator McCain for comment before I
go to the next consent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I thank the majority leader and the
Democratic leader, without whose strenuous efforts we would not have
been able to enter into this unanimous consent agreement.
I want to make one thing clear: This campaign finance reform will be
before the Senate bumping up against the April recess. I hope we can
devote every effort to get that done in the final 2 weeks before the
April recess. It would be very good if we could, over a 2-week period,
dispose of amendments and move to final passage. It is critical that we
do that. Perhaps, if necessary, we could even delay the recess,
something that none of us like, but we really don't want to have this
issue clouding the legislative agenda for the rest of the year.
I thank Senator Lott and Senator Daschle, but I do want to point out,
I do insist that we get a final vote on this issue. We really need to
have it disposed of finally. I know Senator Daschle and Senator Lott
appreciate that.
If there is a filibuster, in other words, just a loading up of
amendments, whether they be extraneous or not, but basically covering
the same ground, I will be the first to condemn that, and I know that
my friend from Wisconsin feels the same way. There are a number of
issues that need to be addressed, but we will know if it is becoming
extraneous and just a delaying tactic. Then we will have to make our
decisions as to what our options are.
We owe it to the American people, and we owe it to the Members of
this body who have been involved in this issue for so long to bring
this issue to conclusion.
I ask unanimous consent that a colloquy between myself and Senator
Lott be printed in the Record.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
[[Page S1093]]
Mr. LOTT. I believe that colloquy also includes Senator Daschle. I
think the three of us are included.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The
Senator from Wisconsin.
Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I would
like to see a copy of that colloquy.
Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if I could get a clarification, the Senator
is reserving the right to object?
Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I would like to see a copy of the
colloquy that was just referred to before agreeing to unanimous consent
that it be printed in the Record.
Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask that Senator McCain withhold that
request until he can consult further with his colleague. I presume
there would be no problem at that point.
Mr. FEINGOLD. If I could make a brief comment, as did my leader,
Senator McCain, I thank the majority leader for his cooperation on
this, coming to this agreement. I especially thank the Democratic
leader, who has not only provided our Democratic unity on this issue,
but has also worked so effectively to help us come to this agreement. I
also thank the Senator from Michigan, Mr. Levin, who is not with us on
the floor at this time, for his tremendous efforts on this.
I reiterate two points the Senator from Arizona has made. One is that
this, fortunately, through the cooperation of everybody, will be a
truly open process. Senator McCain and I have been very involved in
this issue. But we are certainly not the only people who know a lot
about this issue. Every Member of the Senate is an expert on campaign
finance reform. That means it is essential that every Senator have an
open chance to participate in the amending process. I believe that is
what this agreement truly does.
The second is to simply agree with the Senator from Arizona that we
want to finish as fast as we can, within the bounds of giving everybody
a chance to participate. We hope to finish before the Easter recess.
But we will make sure that this matter comes to a vote up or down in
the end and that is our understanding in going forward with this
agreement.
I thank the leader.
Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, while the Senators are consulting, we are
going to have a colloquy. Let me add to what has been said by Senators
McCain and Feingold, and I know Senator Daschle feels the same way.
This is a fair and very open agreement. I guess there is plenty of
opportunity for mischief, if somebody on either side decides to cause
it. I guess we could get tangled up on many issues, completely
unrelated to election and campaign finance reform. But we are trying to
all act in good faith. We are going to have to try to do that.
The way this is constructed, Senators should have an opportunity to
offer amendments, have those amendments debated for a reasonable period
of time--3 hours is a good bit of time--and get a vote. Then if that
doesn't carry, then a second degree could be offered or other
amendments could be offered. I suppose that one example of the kind of
mischief you can have is a Senator could get the floor and talk for a
long time without ever offering an amendment and eat up 2 hours before
he or she ever lays down their amendment. Then there would be 3 hours.
That is not good faith. That would be violating the spirit of what we
are doing here. Three hours is enough time to talk and have a vote.
I have said all along, unlike in the past, I think everybody ought to
have a chance to make their case and get a vote. I also think that 2
weeks is long enough. In that period of time, if you get to figuring
the amount of time we are going to be in, a number of amendments could
be offered. I don't know whether it will wind up being 15 or 25. But
there will be plenty of opportunity, and more, for amendments to be
offered and then to wrap it up. I think, hopefully, we will get a vote
on final passage of the end product and move on. I am going to think
that bad faith, again, is at play if we are into the middle of the
third week, or if it goes beyond that, when we should be taking up the
budget resolution instead or taking up some other issue, such as
energy, or any other matter. I think we have a fair parameter in terms
of how amendments can be offered, debated, voted on, and come to a
conclusion within a 2-week period of time.
I ask that Senators on both sides of the aisle try to live up not
only to the specifics of the agreement and the colloquy, but the spirit
in which it has been put together.
Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I was going to wait until after the other
unanimous consent request, but I am compelled now to add my comments. I
don't think it could have been said any better than what you have just
heard the majority leader say. As we talked about how we were going to
run the Senate over the next 2 years, I can't tell you the number of
times we have said you can put as much as you want on paper, but at the
end of the day it is going to be what good faith there is between
caucuses and among Senators on whether or not this will work. I believe
this is a good example. We can put as much on paper as we want to, but
it still depends upon the intentions and the approach and the attitude
that people bring to the floor as we debate this issue.
As the majority leader said, I think 2 weeks ought to be adequate.
There are a lot of complicated issues here. Clearly, if anybody comes
with good faith, we ought to have a good, vigorous debate on all of the
issues and accommodate all of the ideas and the philosophies that are
presented as we consider these amendments.
I compliment the majority leader and thank him for his approach in
this matter, and I certainly compliment our two ardent advocates and
leaders on campaign finance reform, Senators McCain and Feingold. They
have put forth an extraordinary amount of effort to bring us to this
point. We are going to work with them to assure this is a productive
and successful debate. I am appreciative of the effort that has been
made to get us to this point. I look forward to the debate. I don't
think we can have a better framework within which to have the debate in
the coming weeks. I yield the floor.
Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I am pleased to come to the floor today to
share with my colleagues the discussions that the Senator from Arizona
and I have been having on campaign reform. I appreciate the Senator's
willingness to work through this issue, and I believe that we have come
up with a fair arrangement.
Mr. McCAIN. I thank the majority leader for working with me on this
agreement. I believe that it accommodates my desire to have a full and
open debate early, while ensuring that the leader has the opportunity
to move important bills prior to its consideration.
Mr. LOTT. Under this agreement, the President will have some time to
introduce his agenda to the American people and to the Congress. I
believe that the agreement we have reached will allow us to begin work
on some of these issues, while ensuring that campaign, political, and
election reform is addressed early. It is my hope that we will be able
to move expeditiously on both education reform and the budget
resolution in the next 2 months. To that end, should we have a budget
resolution ready for floor consideration prior to March 19, we will
consider the resolution first. If the budget is not ready within that
timeframe, we will consider campaign, political and election reform
first, to be followed by consideration of the budget in early April.
Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. Leader, I just want to add that I am very pleased
that this agreement has been worked out in a cooperative way with
Senator McCain and also the Democratic leader. I also want to thank
Senator Levin for his contribution to this agreement. We look forward
to having a full and fair debate on our bill for the first time.
Mr. McCAIN. It is important that there is a full and open debate on
campaign reform. I am pleased that the majority leader has agreed to
use S. 27, the McCain-Feingold bill, as the legislation that will be
considered by the Senate.
Mr. LOTT. It is my intention to call up S. 27, the McCain-Feingold
bill, within the time frame we have discussed. I also believe that we
should have a full and open debate. I expect that many of my colleagues
have ideas on campaign reform, political reform
[[Page S1094]]
and election reform that warrant consideration by the Senate. The
amendments, I hope, should be on the subjects of campaign reform,
political reform and election reform. In addition, I do not anticipate
a circumstance arising that will compel me to use my prerogatives as
majority leader to fill up the amendment tree. I anticipate that we
will have a full, open and spirited debate on any amendment offered to
the Senate for consideration. Let me be clear, we intend to allow an
opportunity for all amendments to be considered. Therefore, I do not
expect that any major striking amendments, or the so-called wrap around
amendments will be offered toward the end of the Senate's
consideration. I intend to complete action on the bill, working long
hours if necessary, within 2 weeks.
Mr. McCAIN. I appreciate the majority leader's assurances that all
amendments will be considered by the Senate. It is also my intention to
let the will of the Senate prevail. I share the majority leader's
intention that all amendments be fairly considered and voted on prior
to final passage, and I agree that a wrap around amendment would be a
show of bad faith. I will work with the majority leader to ensure that
all amendments are voted on and the bill is ready for final action
within the 2 weeks that the leader anticipates. In order to facilitate
this, it would be my hope and expectation that the bill would not be
filibustered.
Mr. LOTT. As the Senator from Arizona is aware, every Senator has
rights in this regard. However, I would discourage any efforts to
filibuster this measure, and do not anticipate a filibuster of this
bill. In fact, it is my expectation that the Senate will finish
deliberations of campaign, political and election reform within 2 weeks
of commencing action on it. I am determined to stick to this schedule,
even if we must work through the weekend to complete action.
Mr. FEINGOLD. I thank the leader for his comments, and I want to
assure him that supporters of this bill are ready to work through the
weekend and into the evenings to make sure that this bill passes the
Senate in a timely manner. I think the American people will applaud the
leader's statement that he does not anticipate a filibuster on this
important legislation. I think we have reached a fair and balanced
agreement, and I congratulate the leader and my colleague from Arizona
for this achievement.
Mr. McCAIN. I thank the majority leader and I appreciate his
willingness to work with me on this important issue. Again, I believe
that we have reached a fair and balanced agreement.
Mr. LOTT. I thank my colleague from Arizona.
Mr. McCONNELL. I congratulate the majority leader and the Senator
from Arizona for this win-win compromise. The deal will allow the
President's top agenda items to be center stage prior to a discussion
on campaign and election reform. And I agree that we will all work to
keep the debate focused on these issues and that a wrap-around
amendment would be a show of bad faith.
We may disagree on the public's interest in campaign reform, but I
think that we can all certainly agree that there is a true public
demand for election reform and political reform. The upcoming debate
will in many respects be the equivalent of a bill mark-up on the Senate
floor. I think we all agree that there should be a full opportunity for
everyone who wants to offer an amendment to be allowed to do so and to
get a vote on that amendment without any games played by either side.
So I want to thank the majority leader and my colleague from Arizona
for their willingness to ensure that an open and robust debate will
occur on this matter. I also appreciate the willingness of my colleague
from Arizona to work with the majority leader to ensure that no vote on
final passage occur until all amendments are voted on. I, too, believe
that this is a fair agreement and again, I congratulate the leader and
the Senator from Arizona.
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