[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 116 (Friday, September 13, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8583-S8587]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT,
2003
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the
Senate will resume consideration of
[[Page S8584]]
H.R. 5093, which the clerk will report by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (H.R. 5093) making appropriations for the Department
of the Interior and related agencies for the fiscal year
ending September 30, 2003, and for other purposes.
Pending:
Byrd amendment No. 4472, in the nature of a substitute.
Byrd amendment No. 4480 (to amendment No. 4472), to provide
funds to repay accounts from which funds were borrowed for
emergency wildfire suppression.
Craig/Domenici amendment No. 4518 (to amendment No. 4480),
to reduce hazardous fuels on our national forests.
Dodd amendment No. 4522 (to amendment No. 4472), to
prohibit the expenditure of funds to recognize Indian tribes
and tribal nations until the date of implementation of
certain administrative procedures.
Byrd/Stevens amendment No. 4532 (to amendment No. 4472), to
provide for critical emergency supplemental appropriations.
amendment no. 4522
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Connecticut.
Mr. DODD. Madam President, first of all, let me say, I know under the
existing order of the unanimous consent request agreed to yesterday
between the leaders--let me make a parliamentary inquiry. As I
understand it, there is a vote to occur at 10:15; is that correct?
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator is correct.
Mr. DODD. On or in relation to the Dodd amendment?
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator is correct.
Mr. DODD. Madam President, let me say, first of all, for the benefit
of my colleagues, I know our staffs, right now, are working to see if
it is possible to come to some compromise on the amendment that I
proposed along with my colleague from Connecticut, Senator Lieberman.
My hope is that we might be able to do that.
I thank Senator Inouye and Senator Campbell and their staffs and my
staff. They began to work last evening, talking about this matter.
There was some discussion about possibly delaying this vote, but the
leadership wanted to go forward with a vote this morning, and so we are
going to try to work this out, if we can. That would be my fervent goal
and desire.
Let me state, again, why they are talking and working here. It was
not my hope or desire to have to get involved in all of this, but each
of us represents our respective State. And my State has been undergoing
some additional pressures. There are some nine applications pending for
designation for recognition.
I have been--and still am--a strong supporter of the Native American
community. I have a strong relationship with the two tribes in my State
that have added tremendously to the economic well-being of my home
State of Connecticut.
What provoked this response among the constituents in my State, and
provoked the approach that Senator Lieberman and I are taking, is that
over a year ago we submitted a piece of legislation calling for a
moratorium, a delay on the designation process, so that we could bring
some rationality to the recognition process of the Bureau of Indian
Affairs; it seemed to be out of control.
In fact, the previous Assistant Secretary at the BIA, on his
departure, cited the significant problems that existed within the
Bureau of Indian Affairs in terms of its recognition process.
What happened in my State most recently was that two tribes sought
recognition, and the BIA rejected both tribes and came up with a third
approval that had never been sought, despite the fact that the two
tribes had been in opposition to each other during the recognition
process. Needless to say, my constituents believed they did not have an
opportunity to be heard and don't understand how it is that when a
recognition is being sought, all of a sudden a third alternative
emerges that was never on the table.
There is a concern that the Bureau of Indian Affairs is sort of out
of control; that if this is the way things are going to proceed, we
need to put a hold on here to figure out how it will work so people
have an opportunity to respond.
There are 200 designation applications pending in 37 different
States. What I am talking about in my State, which is smaller than
Yellowstone National Park--I said to my colleague from Montana
yesterday, I think there are ranches in Montana that are probably
larger than the State of Connecticut. So you can imagine, with nine
applications pending in a State that is 100 miles by 40 or 50 miles,
with an impact on 3\1/2\ million people, this is not insignificant.
I sat here and voted for drought relief legislation. I voted for
assistance to farmers in the Midwest. When there are hurricanes and
fires, even though my State is not affected, I stand up and support
those efforts because I respect the needs of various States.
My State is now facing some real problems on this issue. And I am not
asking to stop a process. I am not anti-Native American at all. My
record is replete with indications of how strongly I feel about Native
Americans. But I have an obligation to stand and speak for my
constituency. And they are feeling threatened when they are not allowed
to be heard. When they cannot participate in a debate that is going to
have a huge impact on their lives, it seems to me something needs to be
done.
If I wait much longer, then the issue is going to be over, because I
would vehemently oppose--vehemently oppose--any effort to reverse a
designation and a recognition. That, to me, would be outrageous and a
dreadful precedent. But once that recognition occurs, it is unlikely to
ever be rolled back.
So what I am trying to do is not, in any way, to suggest that those
who have been designated or recognized--that anything be done there at
all but merely in the future, as we are talking about this, shouldn't
the people of my communities be notified? My Governor, my attorney
general, the mayors of my towns that are surrounding these areas,
shouldn't they be notified?
What about in the other 37 States where this is going to occur. It
may be in Connecticut today, but it may be your State next. I think
being heard on these matters, being invited to participate--there are
seven criteria that are listed in the regulations, and in some cases
various criteria are totally disregarded. In some instances, the
technical staff have made one recommendation and have been overruled by
the Assistant Secretary, totally disregarding all the efforts and work
done by the people at the BIA.
So I do not like doing this. This is not the way I normally proceed,
but I am in a tough place. I have to stand and speak for my
constituents. I am hopeful we can find some compromise in the next few
minutes to avoid asking our colleagues to make choices on matters such
as this. This is not how I like to proceed, but if I let this go and
another year comes and goes; and these processes go forward under a
system, as it did with the two applications I just described, you can
imagine how my constituents and yours may react down the road.
I also am concerned that this is going to devalue the recognition
process. For those who get recognition, to suggest somehow the process
was not as thorough and as fair as it should be does a disservice to
those who deserve recognition.
So this process needs fixing. If we do not do that, everybody gets
hurt by it and we build up a level of hostility that is unnecessary.
This is a moratorium. The moratorium could end next week. It need not
be a moratorium indefinitely. It just says a moratorium until you make
these fixes. No new law is being requested here--nothing. It just says
comply with the existing regulations and make sure the people are
notified and invited to participate in a debate that can have a
profound effect on their lives and their families. That is not too
much to ask. It does not give them a veto power. It does not make it an
adversarial proceeding. It just says we ought to invite people to
participate. That is the American way. That is the way we do things.
So this amendment merely says to have a moratorium until these
matters are put in place and worked out. I do not know how my
colleagues may vote. I may lose today. But as I stand here, I promise
you, if you are one of the 36 other States and this comes to your
State, then you are going to be standing where I am, and you are going
to be insisting upon the same sort of thing.
We stand and vote to support each other's needs when they occur. I am
asking my colleagues to support me in
[[Page S8585]]
this particular case because my State is feeling it. And we are not
anti-Native American at all. Quite to the contrary. We are deeply proud
of the Mohegan and Pequot Tribes in my State. I strongly supported
their recognition efforts. In fact, I have been highly criticized in
books because I stood in support of them when they were under threat of
not being recognized.
So I will not take a back seat to anyone in my determination to fight
for them. But I need to fight for my constituency as well when they
feel as though they are not being served well by a process that is
fundamentally broken. And when the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau
of Indian Affairs says the system is broken, it is not working, then we
ought to pay attention. And that is what this amendment is designed to
do.
My fervent hope would be, with the staff of the committee, in the
remaining 15 minutes or so we have, we put on the table an offer that
would make this moratorium only exist for 1 year, to clarify some
language they were concerned about. We can offer that, accept it, and
move on. We need not have this become a divisive debate.
I know the chairman of the committee and the ranking member are here,
and they want to be heard. I have spoken my piece. I hope we can work
it out in the next 15 minutes or so and then put this issue behind us.
But if we cannot, I am going to ask my colleagues to support my State.
Look to your own States. If you are unclear, inquire, because the issue
will come to your State, I promise you, sooner or later. And this vote
will be looked back upon as to where you stood on this issue when you,
all of a sudden, are confronted, as we were, with two groups seeking
recognition and neither one was approved, and then there is a third
one. That is how bad this system is right now. That is wrong. That is
unfair. My people deserve better than that.
So I urge my colleagues to support this amendment if a compromise is
not reached.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum and that the time be charged
equally to both sides.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Does the Senator from Connecticut
withhold his suggestion of a quorum call?
Mr. DODD. Yes.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Colorado.
Mr. CAMPBELL. Madam President, I would defer to Senator Inouye, our
chairman, if he wishes to speak first.
Madam President, I support a motion to table the Dodd amendment. Let
me say at the outset, though, that no one questions Senator Dodd's
commitment to the Indian people of America. He has an exemplary voting
record, and he has always been there when we needed help.
My problem with his amendment is that there has been almost no input
from tribes themselves, and in the past they have opposed any
moratorium. We all know the problem that exists now with the
recognition process. We all know it needs to be streamlined and needs
to be changed. It is replete with problems. We have heard it over and
over.
We have had a couple hearings on this already in the Indian Affairs
Committee, and we intend to take it up again. Whether we have run out
of time this year has yet to be determined.
But I was not aware there was going to be some discussion on a
compromise amendment. And because the unanimous consent request was
entered into yesterday, many of us, including me, have made
reservations on planes that we can't change. So I hope I am going to be
able to be here to speak to it, but knowing how these things sort of
creep, I may not be able to do so.
So from my own standpoint, if I do have to leave, I am going to defer
to our chairman, Senator Inouye. The Indian Affairs staff is working
with Senator Dodd's staff on an amendment that may be acceptable, but I
will certainly defer to my chairman in his decision of whether to
support that amendment.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Stabenow). The Senator from Hawaii.
Mr. INOUYE. Madam President, it is with some considerable reluctance
that I rise today to speak in opposition to the amendment proposed by
my good friend, the senior Senator from Connecticut, that would
prohibit the expenditure of funds for the operations of the Branch of
Acknowledgment until the Secretary of the Interior has certified to the
Congress that certain administrative procedures have been implemented
with respect to the consideration of any petition submitted to the
Secretary.
The provisions of this amendment are drawn from an authorizing bill,
S. 1392, that is now pending in the Committee on Indian Affairs.
At Senator Dodd's request, in July of this year I agreed to schedule
a hearing on S. 1392.
That hearing is to be held on Tuesday, September 17.
As chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs, I believe that
Senator Dodd's request for a hearing in the authorizing committee
reflects a position on which we can both agree that the appropriate
venue for the consideration of reforms to the Branch of Acknowledgment
process is in the authorizing committee of jurisdiction.
In an effort to responsibly address the matter of whether there is
some urgency associated with effecting reform in the Branch of
Acknowledgment that cannot await action by the authorizing committee,
particularly as such reform may affect the State of Connecticut, I
authorized my staff to contact the Department of Interior's Branch of
Acknowledgment officials for information on the petitions currently
pending before the Branch.
The committee is advised that there are two petitions of tribal
groups located within the State of Connecticut that are currently
pending in the branch.
Both petitions are the subject of court-ordered negotiated
agreements, and thus both petitions are subject to the ongoing
jurisdiction of the Federal district courts.
So for those members who believe that the Congress should forebear
from injecting itself into pending litigation, the jurisdiction of the
Federal district courts should be honored as well here and action
should not be taken on an amendment which would interfere with the
courts' jurisdiction. The court-ordered negotiated agreement for the
Schaghticoke Tribe provides that the proposed finding whether positive
or negative is due to be published on December 5, 2002.
Thereafter there is a 6-month comment period, followed by a two-month
response period, both of which may be extended at the request of the
parties.
If no extensions are requested or granted, then assuming a positive
finding, the earliest time in which a positive finding would become
effective for purposes of any appeals by the State of Connecticut or
other parties, is August 5, 2003.
For the Golden Hill Paugussett Tribe--under court order, the proposed
finding whether positive or negative is due to be published on January
21, 2003.
Thereafter there is a 6-month comment period, followed by a 2-month
response period, both of which may be extended at the request of the
parties.
If no extensions are requested or granted, then assuming a positive
finding, the earliest time in which a positive finding would become
effective for purposes of any appeals by the State of Connecticut or
other parties, is September 21, 2003.
The other groups that will be affected by the amendment proposed by
Senator Dodd are two petitioning groups of the Nipmuc Tribes of
Massachusetts, the Mashpee Tribe of Massachusetts, the Snohomish Tribe
of Washington State and the Burt Lake Band of Michigan.
I firmly believe that Senator Dodd's authorizing legislation can be
addressed through the hearing process and acted upon well within the
time frame that is anticipated for action on the two pending petitions
from Connecticut tribal groups, and thus, that it is not necessary for
the authorizing provisions of this amendment to be considered within
the context of the Interior appropriations bill.
In addition, I am certain Senator Dodd would agree with me that
reforms of the magnitude proposed by his amendment merit the full
consideration of all those now involved or who may become involved in
the Federal acknowledgment process--including the administration, and
equally important, the Nations of Indian country, as well as other
interested parties.
[[Page S8586]]
There has been no hearing nor public record developed on the proposal
advanced in Senator Dodd's amendment, and I think it is incumbent upon
us to develop such a record and to receive testimony on this proposal
before any action is taken precipitously.
There are other proposals now pending in the Congress for the reform
of the Federal acknowledgment process--Senator Campbell, the vice
chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs, has one such proposal.
Clearly, the proponents of those measures would also wish to have
their legislative initiatives given full consideration, and I believe
we should afford a full and fair opportunity for all such measures to
be considered rather than adopting one proposal that has not yet been
the subject of hearings.
Under current law, the Branch of Acknowledgment works with
petitioning tribal groups in a cooperative process which is designed to
assure that a petitioning group has submitted data sufficient to
address each of the seven criteria that petitioners must meet.
The regulations require the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs
for the Department of the Interior to provide notice of the petition to
the Governor and the Attorney General of the State in which the
petitioning group is located.
It has been represented that the proposed amendment does nothing more
than codify the existing Branch of Acknowledgment regulation, but in
fact, the proposed amendment proposes to replace most of the existing
procedural rules governing the acknowledgment process with a contested
hearing process.
It would grant interested parties, and not petitioners, the power to
control the timing of the contested case and would prevent the
expenditure of any funds by the Branch of Acknowledgment if the Branch
does not comply with the new procedural rules established by the
amendment.
The amendment requires the Secretary to consider ``all relevant
evidence submitted by a petitioner or any other interested party,
including neighboring municipalities.''
Upon the request of an interested party, the Secretary may conduct a
formal hearing for interested parties to present evidence, call and
cross examine witnesses, or rebut evidence even before a petition is
complete.
A transcript of the hearing is to be made part of the administrative
record upon which a decision may be based.
Nowhere in the existing administrative regulations is a contested
case hearing, such as the one proposed by my colleague's amendment,
authorized.
Instead, the general spirit of the regulations is to enable a
cooperative relationship between the petitioning group and the Branch
of Acknowledgment, as reflected by the authorization for a technical
review of each petition by the Branch of Acknowledgment and the
opportunity to supplement or amend a petition before it is actively
considered and to have information submitted by third parties who have
legal, factual, or property interests in the recognition decision to be
considered.
The present administrative process allows for publication of a
proposed finding, a 6-month comment period for all interested parties,
and a 2-month response period for the petitioning group.
A final determination is then made and time lines are established
governing requests for reconsideration and when the decision becomes
final.
In contrast to the existing regulations, the proposed amendment
creates a contested case process the timing of which is controlled not
by the Branch of Acknowledgment in conjunction with the petitioning
group, but by those municipalities, counties, State attorney generals,
State Governors, and other tribes falling within the notice provisions
of the amendment.
Given the fact that the amendment proposes to include State, county
and municipal governments from each area that the petitioning group was
historically located--and that Federal policy forced not one but many
relocations of most tribal groups from their traditional areas--the
amendment contemplates the involvement of scores if not hundreds of
small communities that no longer are in close proximity or have any
geographic relationship with the petitioning group.
With the exception of the continued application of the seven criteria
in the existing regulations, almost every other aspect of the
regulations would be changed under the amendment, including the burden
of proof a petitioning group must satisfy to meet the criteria.
In addition, a petitioning group would be required to defend its
petition whenever an interested party requests and is granted a
hearing, even though that request may be made at a time where a
petitioning group has not yet perfected its petition.
I am not suggesting that the proposals advanced in this amendment do
not merit the consideration of the Congress.
Indeed, as I have earlier indicated, the Committee on Indian Affairs
has scheduled a hearing on Tuesday, September 17 for that very purpose.
What I am suggesting, Mr. President, is that there is an appropriate
venue for the consideration of substantive changes in Federal Indian
law and policy, and that venue is in the authorizing committees of the
Congress.
I ask unanimous consent to print the following statement in the
Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Department of the Interior--FY 2003 Interior Appropriations Bill Effect
Statement to the Conference Managers
Bureau/Office: Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Appropriations: Operation of Indian Program.
Activity/Subactivity: Central Office Operations/Tribal
Government.
Project/Budget Element: Tribal Government Services.
[In thousands of dollars]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FY 2003
----------------------------------------------------------------
Item FY 2002 Pres. Compared to request
enacted request House level Senate -------------------------
level level House Senate
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Branch of Acknowledgment and 1,050 1,100 1,600 1,100 500 0
Research.........................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
House Action: House added $500,000 to the Bureau's Central
Office, Division of Tribal Government Services. Fund are
specifically for the Branch of Acknowledgment and Research
(BAR).
House Report Statement: None.
Reference: This amendment was reported and voted on by the
full Appropriations Committee.
Effect of House Action: The House Action would enable the
BAR to hire additional staff to process requests from Indian
groups who are petitioning for Federal recognition.
What would the funding be used for?: Currently the BAR has
three research teams. Each team is composed of a cultural
anthropologist, a genealogist, and a historian. FY 2003
funding for three teams and support staff for BAR is
$1,100,000. The additional funding would enable the BAR to
staff one additional research team and hire support staff who
would focus on administrative functions, such as FOIA
requests, preparation of administrative files for litigation,
and other time consuming responsibilities that are currently
handled by the professional research teams. Consequently,
this funding would allow four research teams to focus on
processing documented petitions.
Feasibility/capability of the proposed funding level or
language this fiscal year?: On November 2, 2001, General
Accounting Office (GAO), released a report on the
acknowledgment process titled ``Improvements Needed in Tribal
Recognition Process.'' The two concerns raised by GAO were
the need to improve the speed and transparency of the
decision-making process. These additional funds will enable
the Department to address these two identified concerns.
Is the program/project ranked on existing priority setting
system? This program was included within the total budget
priorities competing for increased funding. However, because
many other priorities, funding was not included within the
President's Budget Request.
Senate Action: Proposed at the President's Budget request
level; however S. 2708 was introduced on the floor which
amends the Department of the Interior's appropriations bill.
Senate Report Statement: None.
[[Page S8587]]
Reference: S. 2708.
Effect of Senate Action: S. 2708 is an amendment to the
Department of the Interior's appropriations bill. The purpose
of this bill is ``[T]o prohibit the expenditure of funds to
recognize Indian tribes and tribal nations until the date of
implementation of certain administrative procedures.''
The Department should oppose this bill because it will
result in the Department being unable to comply with court
scheduling orders for issuing acknowledgment decisions and
because many of its provisions are ambiguous and appear to be
unworkable.
Sections 1(c)(1)(A) and 1(c)(1)(B) require notice to each
state, county and local government in the area where the
petitioner is located and in the area historically occupied
by the petitioning group. The acknowledgment regulations
already provide for written notice to the state and local
government where a petition is currently located and provide
for notice of the petition in the Federal Register and in
local newspapers. Written notice to governments where the
petitioner was historically located within 30 days of the
receipt of a letter of intent is unrealistic. There is
insufficient evidence in a letter of intent to identify these
locations.
Section 1(c)(1)(C) requires the Department within 30 days
to notify any Indian tribe and any other petitioner that, as
determined by the Secretary (i) has a relationship with the
petitioner (including a historical relationship); or (ii) may
otherwise be considered to have a potential interest in the
acknowledgment determination.
As with the prior provision, the difficulty with the
notification provision with the 30-day deadline, is that it
may be that until a petition processing is begun, or at least
until the preliminary technical assistance review, that the
Department will not know all of the petitioners, tribes,
states, and others that could be involved. Notice beyond that
in the Federal Register to such entities within 30 days of
the receipt of a letter of intent is not feasible.
Section 1(c)(2)(A) requires the Secretary to consider all
relevant evidence submitted by a petitioner or any other
interested party, including neighboring municipalities that
possess information bearing on the merits of a petition. The
Department already considers all evidence which is submitted
within prescribed time frames by petitioners and any other
interested party, including neighboring municipalities.
Under section 1(c)(2)(B), the Secretary, on request by an
interested party, may conduct a formal hearing at which all
interested parties may present evidence, call witnesses,
cross-examine witnesses, or rebut evidence presented by other
parties during the hearing.
The bill leaves unspecified who the hearing would be
before, when in the acknowledgment process this hearing would
take place, and the purpose of this hearing. Therefore, any
advantages of a hearing are unclear.
Further under the existing regulations, The Department
provides for hearings before the IBIA, an independent
administrative review body. If an additional hearing is
intended, it would further delay decisions on the petitions.
Under section 1(c)(3)(A), the Secretary shall ensure that
the evidence presented in consideration of a petition is
sufficient to demonstrate that the petitioner meets each of
the 7 mandatory criteria for recognition contained in section
83.7 of title 25, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect
on the date of enactment of this Act).
This section appears to restate the existing standard used
by the Department.
Under section 1(c)(3)(B), the Secretary shall consider a
criterion to be met if the Secretary determines that it is
more likely than not that evidence presented demonstrates the
satisfaction of the criterion.
The meaning of the stated standard is unclear, particularly
as to whether it changes the regulatory standard which
provides that a criterion shall be considered met if the
available evidence establishes a ``reasonable likelihood of
the validity of the facts relating to that criterion.'' It is
unclear if this provision would change the existing standard.
Under section 1(c)(4), the Secretary shall publish in the
Federal Register, and provide to each person to which notice
is provided under paragraph (1), a complete and detailed
explanation of the final decision of the Secretary regarding
a documented petition under this Act that includes express
findings of fact and law with respect to each of the criteria
described in paragraph (3).
The regulations already require that notice of the final
determination be published in the Federal Register. It is
ambiguous if the complete final determination is to be
published in the Federal Register which would be an
extraordinary and unnecessary expense. Presently, the
decisions are publicly available and will be posted on the
Internet as soon as possible.
Recommendation: The Department does not support this
amendment, and it opposes considering it as part of the
Interior Appropriations Bill.
Mr. INOUYE. Madam President, what I would like to propose is to
convert this amendment into a bill and have it referred to the
Committee on Indian Affairs to give time to the respective staffs, the
staff of the committee and the staff of Senator Dodd, to work over this
measure and come forth with a resolution of the matter. When that
resolution is reached--and I gather it can be reached in 24 or 48
hours--we can once again bring up the new amendment and consider that.
If I may, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the clerk will call the
roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. REID. Madam President, last night I worked with Senators Inouye
and Dodd until almost 11 o'clock. The arrangement made at that time was
that we would have a vote at 10:15 on the Dodd amendment. The Senators
have worked with their staffs and we are still going to have a vote at
10:15 but not on the Dodd amendment. We are going to ask unanimous
consent to set that aside and to see if Senators Dodd, Campbell, and
Inouye can work out this problem that is now facing us. They do believe
by early next week they can work something out.
I know some Senators are going to be upset that we are only voting on
a judge this morning, but there has been a lot of work going into
having this amendment withdrawn. I think it is in the best interest of
the Senate that we not charge forward on something if it can be
resolved. There will be a vote at 10:15. We will vote on Arthur Schwab,
of Pennsylvania, to be a judge. We expect to announce that in a moment
or two.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut is recognized.
Mr. DODD. Madam President, before the unanimous consent request, I
thank the distinguished majority whip. I thank my colleague from
Hawaii, my colleague from Colorado, and the Senator from Montana as
well. I apologize to colleagues who were counting on a vote. I know the
leadership wants to have a vote. This matter is very important. If we
can resolve this by not having a divisive Senate on this issue, I think
that exceeds the importance of whether we have a vote. We are going to
try to work this out so we can deal with the underlying cause of the
amendment. I thank the Senators for offering my colleague from
Connecticut and I a chance to come to a solution. We will ask unanimous
consent to temporarily set aside the Dodd-Lieberman amendment. Then
this will pop back up again, I presume, Tuesday when we come back after
Yom Kippur and deal with the matter. I am confident that at that time
we will have resolved this problem and we can vote on a compromise. I
apologize. We worked late last night. I thank the Senators and their
staffs. Senator Reid was on the phone until after 11:30. Time didn't
permit us to get it done. I don't want to see the Senate vote on a
matter of this importance without trying to resolve the differences. We
will vote on a judgeship, but we will, at some point, vote on this
matter--a compromise or the Dodd-Lieberman amendment. I hope it will be
a compromise that will be satisfactory to everybody.
I thank the Senator from Nevada. He works hard to keep things on
track. This is something which I think rises to the level of reaching a
compromise on an important effort.
Mr. REID. I simply say to my friend that I think we have far too many
votes here anyway that are not necessary. I think it shows the
experience and wisdom of the people who have been working on this
issue, along with you and Senator Campbell. There is no need to have a
vote on this matter. We may never have to have one. If we do, we will
vote on it. I think a lot of people say ``I want a recorded vote''
because it looks good--or whatever reason. We spend far too much time
voting on matters that could be passed without a recorded vote. Even
though there is no vote on this amendment, I think the Senators have
saved us a lot of time.
The next vote will occur at 5 o'clock Tuesday.
____________________