[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 123 (Wednesday, September 25, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S9182]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SENATE AT A STANDSTILL

  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, it is interesting. I wanted to visit a 
little bit about where we are on the floor and the fact we are not 
moving. We have been in the same place for 4 weeks.
  I understand the frustration of the folks on the other side of the 
aisle. I recognize, too, that we are in the full swing of an election 
year. It is blame-game time, where we all stand up and blame the 
President for what is going on when there is no effort on the other 
side of the aisle to move off where we are and take up some of the 
issues we ought to be addressing.
  We talk about prescription drugs. Prescription drugs is not on the 
floor because the leadership has not moved from where we are to make 
time to get it up here. I get a little exasperated, using all this time 
for political comments when there are no ideas of what to do coming 
from the other side of the floor.
  Actually, that wasn't why I came here, but I have to tell you it is 
pretty frustrating to continue to hear that sort of thing--blaming the 
President when these folks have no idea what they want to do and no 
suggestions, no leadership coming from the Senate. What are we going to 
do about it?
  What we have done is continue to work on two bills for about 4 weeks 
now. Homeland defense is one of the most important issues we have 
before us, and it has been stalled. Although we have differing views on 
how it ought to proceed, that is fine, that is part of the system here. 
We ought to take a vote on those views and move forward, but instead of 
that, we have had stalling on the other side, no chance to vote on 
amendments, simply wanting to always vote on cloture, which is what we 
are faced with today.
  The unwillingness of the majority leadership to allow votes on 
certain amendments has created a standoff. We keep hearing about what 
else you want to talk about over there, but we won't move off where we 
are. It is pretty frustrating. It seems as though that is the political 
moment. We have to really get down to what it is.
  The same thing is true of Interior appropriations. It has been on the 
floor for 4 weeks. Yet we can't seem to move it to get some of the 
things done. For those of us in the West, it is very important--public 
land fees and, so on, in which we are so involved. Maybe even more 
important than that, the more immediate issue, there is some drought 
relief in this bill. There is something on forest fire suppression. We 
can do those things. But have we moved? No.
  We continue to stall and to have votes on cloture, which does not 
resolve the issue. All we need to do is have a vote on the amendments. 
If you don't like the amendments, have a vote to table them. That is 
where we ought to be. That is the system.
  To get up and start spending all of our time blaming the President 
for an economic slowdown that began under the Clinton administration, 
according to all the people who are familiar and knowledgeable about 
it, is to be a little tiresome, when we have an opportunity to move 
forward. There are a lot of things we ought to be doing in the 
relatively short time we have left.
  Obviously, homeland defense is one that has to be done.
  We need to debate the Iraq resolution, which is going to take some 
time. We need a CR if we are going to adjourn on the 19th of October. 
We have an energy bill which we ought to move forward. We talked about 
pharmaceuticals and Medicare. We could have done something in our 
committee, but the majority leader pulled it out of the committee. We 
will not have time to accomplish these items as long as we remain on 
the pending bills.
  It seems to me it would be very frustrating to want to spend the time 
blaming the President for the economy when the Senate is not doing what 
we can and moving forward.
  I will not take any more time. We ought to look at what we are 
accomplishing instead of trying to put the blame on everybody else when 
we have not succeeded in doing what we ought to be doing. I yield the 
floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Missouri.
  Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I understand the distinguished Senator from 
Michigan would like 5 minutes so she can then assume the Chair. I will 
be happy to defer to her for 5 minutes, if I can then be recognized 
after her and have the attention of the body. I will be happy to 
accommodate her.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered. The Senator from Michigan.

                          ____________________