[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 35 (Friday, March 22, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S2318]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT--S. 565
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I am about to propound a unanimous consent
request on behalf of the Democratic leader. This consent request has
been cleared on the Republican side as well as the Democratic side. Let
me read it, if I may.
I ask unanimous consent that the majority leader, in concurrence with
the Republican leader, may resume the consideration of S. 565, the
election reform bill; that debate on the bill be limited to 2 hours
equally divided in the usual form; that the following be the only
remaining first-degree amendments in order, and that debate on each
amendment be limited to 30 minutes equally divided in the usual form
unless otherwise listed; further, that no second-degree amendment be in
order prior to a vote in relation to each amendment; further, that
second-degree amendments must be relevant to the amendment to which it
is offered and debate be limited to 30 minutes unless otherwise listed;
further, that any pending amendment not listed be withdrawn; that upon
disposition of the listed amendments, the bill be read the third time
and the Senate vote on passage of the bill; and that upon passage, the
title amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to and the motion to
reconsider be laid upon the table, all without further intervening
action or debate; further, that no call for the regular order be in
order with respect to this bill:
Senator Levin, provisional balloting; Senator Clinton, residual
ballot benchmark; Senator Rockefeller, overseas voters; Senator Wyden,
voting by mail and first time voter; Senator Nelson of Florida, DOJ
request; Senator Nickles, confidentiality voter lists; Senator Roberts,
provisional balloting notices; Senator Hatch, Internet study; Senator
Thomas, sense of Senate on rural concerns; Senator Grassley, use of
Social Security numbers; Senator Smith of New Hampshire, election media
reporting; and Senator Dodd and Senator McConnell, managers' amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, let me express my very sincere gratitude to
both leaders, first of all to Senator Daschle and his very fine staff
who were immensely helpful in pulling this together. I thank the
Republican leader, Senator Lott, for his wonderful leadership. He has
been tremendously helpful to us in putting this agreement together. I
also thank Senator McConnell and Senator Bond and their staffs for
making it possible. Senator Lott's office worked very closely with
their offices in bringing us to this point.
We have had an awful lot of amendments. This bill had already handled
some 35 or 40 amendments. We then had to lay the bill aside, and there
was still an outstanding list of 40 or 45 amendments. This is a much
more abbreviated list, and it will allow us to get to final passage on
this bill.
I am very optimistic we will end up with a positive vote in the
Senate on this very important issue of election reform. It has been a
little more than a year since the election of 2000. As we have said,
this bill is forward looking. It is not about what happened in 2000;
rather, what had been happening for many years in regard to the
deteriorating condition of our election structure in the country.
Florida merely highlighted for many Americans what had happened in many
of the States as well.
This bill, while not a complete answer, will put us on a very strong
road to resolving a lot of the outstanding issues that occurred then.
I am very grateful to the staffs of all those Senators involved--
Senators Schumer and Torricelli. I thank my own staff, Veronica
Gillespie and Kennie Gill of the Rules Committee, as well as Shawn
Maher of my office, who have worked very hard. We are not done yet. We
have work to do on this unanimous consent agreement to deal with the
remaining amendments and then a conference with the House.
But this unanimous consent agreement, which took the cooperation of
all Members of this Chamber, brings us very close to final passage of a
good bill, my firm hope is, so that resources in the discretionary
funds of this bill might even be available for the 2002 election, if we
can get this done sometime over the next several months; that is, the
final conference report.
The purpose of this bill, as has been stated by many, is to make it
harder to defraud the system but, just as importantly, to make it
easier for people to cast their ballots: the provisional voting
provisions, statewide voter registration, making sure people who are
disabled will have access to voting, being able to check your vote, not
overvoting, as well as the antifraud provisions and the provisions
dealing with the establishment of a permanent commission on elections.
All Members in this Chamber have been extremely cooperative on seeing
to both of those twin goals: easier to vote and harder to defraud the
system. Without the cooperation of everyone in this Chamber, we would
not have arrived at this unanimous consent agreement.
So it is a great compliment to Members from all across the country
that we have been able to arrive at this unanimous consent agreement,
the disposition of these amendments, and final passage of the bill that
will make it possible for us to say we have made it easier to vote in
America and harder to defraud the system. If that is achieved in the
final product we produce, we will have responded to the challenge posed
to us by what occurred not only in the 2000 national election but what
had been occurring across the country for many years. I express my
gratitude again to all involved.
With that, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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