[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 21228-21229]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                     EXTENSION OF MORNING BUSINESS

  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that morning 
business be extended to the hour of 11 a.m.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Minnesota is recognized.
  Mr. REID. Will the Senator yield, just so I can enter into a colloquy 
with my friend?
  Mr. WELLSTONE. I am pleased to yield.
  Mr. REID. I say to Senator Stevens, the problem we are having on this 
side, as I know you are having on your side of the aisle, is whether 
there is going to be any votes this morning. Would you be able to 
determine that quickly from your leader, as to whether or not there is 
going to be a vote? We have a number of Senators, with the holiday 
coming up, with places to go. We need to know whether there is going to 
be a vote this morning.
  Mr. STEVENS. I say with due respect to my friend--and despite words 
at times, he is my friend--I believe the Senator from Arizona would 
have to answer that. It is our intention, once the papers are here, to 
move to proceed to that conference report. That is not a debatable 
item. There would be a vote immediately. After that, the conference 
report would be before the Senate, I would ask for the yeas and nays, 
and it would be a matter of time, how much time the Senator from 
Arizona wishes to debate the bill.
  I know of no other speakers.
  Mr. REID. I have spoken to my friend from Arizona and there is no 
question he is going to want to speak for more than a half-hour or an 
hour.
  Mr. STEVENS. I would expect that. I honor his right to do so. It 
would be my predilection that you should address that to the leader. 
The question is how late in the day would the Senator from Arizona 
finish his brief comments?
  Mr. REID. If, in fact, he would finish today.
  Mr. STEVENS. That is for the Senator from Arizona to determine.
  Mr. REID. I guess my question to the Senator from Alaska is, if we do 
not vote on that, does the majority leader want us to vote on something 
else today? I hope in the next few minutes there could be a 
determination made as to whether or not, around 11 o'clock when we 
finish morning business, there will be a vote on something other than 
the Transportation appropriations bill.
  Mr. STEVENS. I might say to my good friend from Nevada, and to the 
Senate as a whole, it has been my request to the leader that we proceed 
with appropriations bills and only appropriations bills so we can get 
them to the President. We have been doing that. We do have other 
appropriations bills on the move now. The Agriculture conference was 
finished last evening. I do not think we can get to that today. But I 
do believe we should try to finish the Transportation bill today if we 
can and take up Agriculture appropriations next week.
  We have three other conferences that are going forward and we do, I 
understand, have an agreement now--nearly an agreement on how to handle 
the VA-HUD bill. So we should be voting on several bills early next 
week. But I do not know of any other bill that we can get before the 
Senate today in the form of a conference report. I do think we could 
handle the VA-HUD bill if we could round up that agreement. It is still 
waiting for one clearance. I doubt we will finish that one today. We 
should take that up early next week, however.
  Mr. REID. It sounds to me it is fairly safe to assume there will not 
be any votes on appropriations bills today. As I said, I have spoken to 
my friend from Arizona.
  Mr. McCAIN. If my friend will yield, I am seeking agreement to take 
up this legislation on which American lives are at stake--not money but 
safety and lives of Americans. I am seeking an agreement to take that 
up. If we could get agreement to get that bill up, with relevant 
amendments, then I will be more than happy to not impede the work of 
the Senate.
  I do not know of a higher priority than to take up legislation about 
a compelling issue that has to do with the lives of the American 
people. So I hope we could get an agreement to take up that 
legislation, either now or in the next several days. Then I would 
certainly remove my objections to proceeding with an appropriations 
bill. Apparently, that is not the case because there are ``rolling 
holds'' on this legislation. I think that is really quite remarkable.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, as the Senator from Arizona knows, I am a 
member of the conference committee, and I support the legislation he 
mentions. But I also know portions of it are in this bill and were 
agreed to by the Transportation conference committee, and the matter he 
suggests is a leadership issue. I am in no position to negotiate on 
when the bill, that I also support, would come up. But I do believe our 
problem is trying to get this bill on its way. We cannot flood the 
White House with bills, appropriations bills, and expect to get answers 
in time.
  We are trying to get them down day by day so we can get some timing 
and get some response. If the President wishes to veto them, we will 
have to come back and deal with those, too.
  But we are trying to move this bill. This bill is ready to go. The 
Transportation bill is ready to go. It contains a portion of the bill 
the Senator from Arizona has mentioned--not all of it but a portion of 
it. It is not negative, but it is not totally positive.
  I do believe the issue he reaches, whether or not the Senate will 
allow the consideration of the bill--that is under consideration now in 
the House--at any particular time, is a matter for the leader to 
determine, not for me. I would like to move forward with this 
Transportation bill. I urge my friend to allow us to do that because it 
is a significant bill, one of the most significant Transportation bills 
on which I have been privileged to work. It sets a new process for 
trying to reduce the increasing numbers of drunken drivers on our 
highways.
  If there is a safety problem out there that is greater than the one 
the Senator from Arizona mentioned, it is alcohol. I do not want to see 
this bill delayed. I would like to see it get to the President. I am 
informed the President will sign it. I hope he will. We could get it to 
him today if the Senator from Arizona will allow us to do that. But for 
now, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. No, no.

[[Page 21229]]


  Mr. STEVENS. Pardon me. I do thank the Senator for yielding. I 
apologize and yield back to the Senator from Minnesota.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, it is my understanding the Senator from 
Minnesota has the floor?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota has the floor for 
10 minutes.
  Mr. REID. The Senator from Minnesota has the floor. I know his 
urgency, being able to speak for up to 10 minutes, but there are a 
number of Senators who are concerned about whether or not we are going 
to have a vote. It appears, based on what the Senator from Alaska said 
and interchanges with the Senator from Arizona, we are not going to 
have a vote on appropriations bills today. That seems very clear. So 
unless there is a vote on some other issue, or on a motion to proceed 
to it, I don't think we will have a vote.
  Mr. McCAIN. If the Senator will yield, I am still hoping the 
leadership will agree to take up this bill. The chairman of the 
Appropriations Committee says he is not in the leadership. I have seen 
the Senator from Alaska have significant effect on the leadership from 
time to time. What I am hoping is we can get this issue resolved and 
move forward with the Transportation appropriations bill.
  Mr. STEVENS. Will the Senator yield further? Without question, there 
will be a vote on the motion to proceed to the Transportation 
appropriations bill today--without any question.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate is in a period for morning business 
to end at 11 a.m. The Senator from Minnesota has the floor for not to 
exceed 10 minutes.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, one has to keep a twinkle in one's eye, 
I guess. I am glad we are going to vote on something. I do not mind 
being here Monday early or Friday late as long as we are working. 
Sometimes it is a little maddening when there are other things you want 
to do back in your State that you think are important and you do not 
know if we are going to have a vote.
  I am glad we are going to vote on something and move forward.

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