[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 18984]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                           AVIATION SECURITY

  Mr. KERRY. Madam President, I ask the majority leader if we could 
clarify something for the record. We had 97 Senators vote, publicly 
saying they are prepared to have a motion that allows us to at least 
proceed to the bill, but we are not actually able to get on the bill 
itself. Nobody should be mistaken that suddenly the Senate is actually 
making big progress on aviation security.
  I ask the majority leader if he would just clarify what the 
procedural hurdle is now, and also, what is the substantive resistance 
here and how he sees the Senate proceeding.
  Mr. DASCHLE. If the Senator will yield, I will simply say it is the 
right of any Senator to ask for his or her time allocated to 
postcloture debate. As everyone in this body knows, you have 30 hours 
of postcloture debate after cloture has been achieved. We have now 
voted on cloture, and Senators are entitled to a 30-hour debate.
  It is my hope we can accelerate and somehow bring to closure this 
postcloture period of debate so we can somehow get on the bill. I do 
not think it is in anybody's interests right now to be exacerbating the 
situation with any kind of accusations about who is at fault. We are 
going to try to work through that. I just hope we can work through it 
in a way that will accommodate debate on the bill and ultimately a 
successful conclusion of that debate so we can enact this legislation 
this week. It is critical that we get this work done. No Senator has to 
be reminded of that.
  Again without acrimony, without pointing fingers, let's see if we can 
work through it in a constructive way, and that is my intention. I will 
be speaking to the Republican leader momentarily, as well as, again, to 
the ranking member of the Commerce Committee, as we try to find a way 
to resolve whatever outstanding problems there still are.
  I thank the Senator for yielding.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Mr. KERRY. I thank the majority leader.
  I want to emphasize, as I know Senator McCain and Senator Hollings 
feel, nobody at this point wants the good work of the Senate to be 
distracted in any way by any kind of finger pointing or accusations. 
That is not the purpose of my question.
  But we have now been discussing airport security for several weeks--
several weeks. There is a very significant majority of the Senate who 
are poised to vote in a certain way. It is my hope my colleagues will 
allow the will of the Senate to be worked. The American people expect 
nothing less of this Congress than a prompt response in a responsible 
way. Frankly, I think we can do better at the job of resolving this 
faster than we seem to be at this moment. I hope that will happen in 
short order, in the course of the next 24 or 48 hours.
  I thank the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Bayh). The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. BAUCUS. I ask to speak as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is recognized.
  Mr. REID. Will the Senator withhold for a unanimous consent request?
  Mr. BAUCUS. Certainly.

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