[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 17866-17867]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                       UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I believe we are about ready to make the 
unanimous consent agreement to proceed with the Interior appropriations 
bill. We had one further modification. I believe it is being cleared on 
both sides.
  I expect there will be no problem, and hopefully we can go forward 
with that.
  In that connection, I urge Senators to come to the floor if they have 
amendments to this Interior appropriations bill so we can make progress 
and not spend too much time on opening statements or in quorum calls. I 
am not encouraging amendments. But if a Senator has an amendment that 
he or she is very serious about, they should come onto the floor and 
offer it. If that is not done, we will have a vote before too long. So 
Members should understand that we will have the Interior appropriations 
bill available and that we are serious about going forward with it. We 
hope to make good progress on it tonight. Actually, I would like to see 
us complete the bill in view of the modifications that have already 
occurred concerning some of the provisions within this Interior 
appropriations bill.
  It is a very important bill for our country. It involves, obviously, 
the parks and lands all over our country that are very important to 
people of all persuasions, as well as funding for various commissions.
  I hope that it can be considered quickly. I commend in advance 
Senator Slade Gorton for the work he has done on this bill, and his 
ranking Member, Senator Byrd, and Senator Reid, who I know has been 
very interested in this bill and supports it.
  When you have Senator Gorton and Senator Byrd prepared to work on an 
appropriations bill, I suspect that most of its problems have already 
been resolved, and the Senate should be able to act very quickly on 
that legislation.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
  Mr. LOTT. I am glad to yield to Senator Dorgan.
  Mr. DORGAN. I inquire of the majority leader about the schedule. My 
understanding is that he is intending to bring the Interior 
appropriations bill to the floor. I wonder if the majority leader might 
tell us about the plans he has with respect to the reconciliation bill. 
Would that be the bill that follows the Interior appropriations bill?
  Mr. LOTT. Yes. The reconciliation bill, which provides for the tax 
relief package, would be next after the Interior appropriations bill. 
We would like to go to that tonight and begin opening statements. But 
regardless of what happens with Interior, we will be on the 
reconciliation bill by 10:30 or quarter to 11 tomorrow morning.
  We have to have some time in the morning for statements with regard 
to the juvenile justice bill, which is going to conference. But that 
should be completed about 10:30 or 10:45.
  Mr. DORGAN. Because of the time limitations on the reconciliation 
bill, is it the intention, I am curious, of the majority leader that 
that would consume all of the time tomorrow and Thursday?
  Mr. LOTT. That would be our intention. Of course, under the rules 
dealing with reconciliation, you have 20 hours for debate on the tax 
relief package. Included in that 20 hours would be debate on 
amendments, although the vote time on amendments would not count 
against the 20 hours. So it would be our intention to go through the 
day and into the night on Wednesday and all day Thursday on this 
subject and into the night. If we finish the bill Thursday night, then 
it would be our plan at this time for that to be the conclusion for the 
week.
  I hope we would have already done the Interior appropriations bill. 
If we can't get it done because of problems that develop Thursday or, 
as you know, if amendments are still pending when all time has expired, 
we go through this very unseemly process on voting during what we call 
a ``votarama,'' with one vote after another and only a minute or two 
between the votes to explain what is in them.
  I hope we won't have that problem this time. But if we can't get it 
done Thursday night, of course, we would have to go over into Friday. 
But under the rules, we should be able to finish it not later than 
Friday and, hopefully, even Thursday night.
  We had indicated earlier a desire to go to the Agriculture 
appropriations bill early next week and, hopefully, complete the 
Agriculture appropriations bill. We then have the option to go back to 
the reconciliation conference report.
  Mr. DORGAN. I will just observe, if I might, that one way to avoid a 
lot of recorded votes is to accept a lot of amendments.
  Mr. LOTT. If the pattern continues on that bill as it has on other 
bills, I think that probably will happen. As I recall, last Thursday 
night at about 8 o'clock around 43 amendments were accepted en bloc on 
the State-Justice-Commerce appropriations bill.
  It is a little tougher when you are talking about tax policy. But I 
am sure that some probably will be accepted to move forward.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now turn to 
the House Interior bill, and, immediately following the reporting by 
the clerk, Senator Gorton be recognized to offer the text of the Senate 
reported bill, as modified, to strike on page 116, lines 3 through 7; 
page 129, line 14, through page 132, line 20, as an amendment to the 
House bill.
  I further ask unanimous consent that the amendment be agreed to, the 
bill, as thus amended, be considered original text for the purpose of 
further amendment, and that any legislative provision added thereby be 
subject nevertheless to a point of order under rule XVI.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mrs. BOXER. Reserving the right to object, we just heard that Senator 
Byrd wanted to come to the floor for a couple of seconds. If you would 
withhold the unanimous consent request until that time, we would 
greatly appreciate it.
  Mr. LOTT. Is there some other issue that Senator Boxer wished to 
address?
  Mrs. BOXER. My issue is taken care of. I am very happy to say that 
the oil royalties will be stricken from this particular bill. I am very 
pleased about that. I don't know about the other Senators, but, for me, 
I have no issue and no problem with the unanimous consent request.
  Mr. LOTT. I had been notified that the Senator from California wanted 
to be on the floor when this unanimous consent request was made.
  Mrs. BOXER. I, in fact, read it, and the whole thing is fine with me.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, if I might 
inquire of the majority leader, while we are awaiting the arrival of 
Senator Byrd, perhaps the Senator from Washington, the chairman of the 
subcommittee, could respond to some questions about the unanimous 
consent request.
  First, it is my understanding that the unanimous consent request does 
not waive any rule XVI objections.
  Mr. GORTON. The Senator is correct. It does not.
  Mr. DURBIN. Am I also correct that the four sections being stricken 
by the unanimous consent request are sections 328, relevant to the 
introduction of Grizzly bears into the States of Idaho and Montana, as 
well as section 340, relative to hard rock mineral mining in the Mark 
Twain National Forest

[[Page 17867]]

in Missouri; section 341, another environmental rider relative to 
energy efficiency; and, finally, section 342, the one referred to by 
the Senator from California, the environmental rider on crude oil and 
royalty for purposes of the evaluation question?
  Mr. GORTON. The Senator from Illinois is correct on all four.
  Mr. DURBIN. Out of the 13 objectionable environmental riders, 4 
objectionable by the administration, 4 are being stricken by this 
unanimous consent request, and all others are in the bill for 
consideration and subject to rule XVI, or any other appropriate 
motions.
  Mr. GORTON. Or any amendment which may be proposed.
  Mr. DURBIN. I thank the Senator from Washington.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if I could inquire of the Senator, is the 
Senator saying that the administration supports the introduction of 
Grizzly bears into Idaho and the other State?
  Mr. DURBIN. I think the administration's concern is that they allow 
for the first time Governors of these States to dictate the policy on 
Federal lands.
  Mr. LOTT. That sounds like a good idea.
  Mr. DURBIN. It depends on your point of view.
  At this point, I withdraw any objection to the unanimous consent 
request.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, are we waiting on Senator Byrd's arrival?
  Mrs. BOXER. It is my understanding, I say to my leader, that he is, 
in fact, on his way over, and he needs just a couple of minutes. If the 
leader will, I ask him to delay the unanimous consent request.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, 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. GORTON. 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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