[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 10330-10331]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       YUCCA MOUNTAIN LEGISLATION

  Mr. ENSIGN. Madam President, I rise today to respond to remarks by 
the senior Senator from Idaho on the Senate floor procedures outlined 
in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act regarding Yucca Mountain. And I come to 
the floor today out of great respect for the traditions of the U.S. 
Senate. I am a freshman Senator. I have only been here a year. But one 
of the first things I did when I arrived was to seek the advice of the 
senior Senator from West Virginia, Senator Byrd,  our very own Senate 
historian. I asked him for a copy of his history of the Senate which I 
have turned to often. I haven't had the opportunity to speak to him 
directly on this matter, but I turned to his books for guidance.
  Madam President, when you have the chance, turn to Volume II page 
191, and see what Senator Byrd says about the powers of the majority 
leader. He says the majority leader . . . ``determines what matters or 
measures will be scheduled for floor action and when.'' The Senator 
from Idaho is planning to change that by asserting that it would be 
alright for any member to determine when the Yucca Mountain resolution 
comes to floor. he said that, ``the Nuclear Waste Policy Act provides a 
special statutory authority to make exception to contemporary 
practice.'' That is not the case. I have the act right here.
  The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 does state that it shall be in 
order ``for any Member of the Senate to move to proceed to the 
consideration of such resolution.'' But the act also states that the 
procedures outlined in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act ``supersede other 
rules of the Senate only to the extent that they are inconsistent with 
such other rules.''

[[Page 10331]]

  The Nuclear Waste Policy Act provision permitting any Member to move 
to proceed to the consideration of the Yucca Mountain resolution is 
consistent with Senate rules, therefore it does not supersede the rules 
of the Senate. In the modern history of the Senate, no Member, other 
than the majority leader (or a designee), has successfully made a 
motion to proceed to a matter or measure.
  Here are the facts:
  CRS indicates there are six statutory expedited procedures in current 
law which explicitly state that ``any Member of the Senate'' may offer 
the motion to proceed: Executive Reorganization Act; Atomic Energy Act; 
Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990; Balanced Budget and 
Emergency Deficit Control Act; Balanced Budget Emergency Deficit 
Control Act; Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.
  According to a March 28, 2002 CRS memorandum, the language in these 
six statutes which states that ``any Member of the Senate'' may offer 
the motion to proceed is ``consistent with the Standing Rules of the 
Senate, which permit any Senator to make a motion to proceed, but also 
with the general Senate practice under which Senators routinely concede 
to the majority leader the function of taking actions to determine the 
floor agenda.
  So the Nuclear Waste Policy Act is not, as the senior Senator from 
Idaho stated, ``a special procedure.''
  Next, a June 11 CRS memorandum indicates that since the 100th 
Congress, consideration of five measures was governed by some statutory 
procedure explicitly permitting any Senator to offer a motion to 
proceed to consider. In three of these cases, action to call up the 
measure for consideration was taken by the Senate majority leader. 
However, in two of those cases, no Senator took action to call up the 
other two measures. The majority leader secured their indefinite 
postponement. That means no Senators offered a motion to proceed, even 
when explicitly permitted to do so by statute. The majority leader kept 
control of the Senate.
  The Senate is a body which, quite rightly, reveres tradition. We 
must, as we have so few rules. As a new Member, I relied on the 
guidance from the Parliamentarian, the Congressional Research Service, 
and my senior colleagues. I am certain that if anyone, other than the 
majority leader, successfully offers a motion to proceed to the Yucca 
Mountain resolution, it will break with Senate tradition, undermine the 
goal of the majority leader, and allow other Senators to control the 
floor. I hope the Members of this body will think before they move 
forward on the resolution.
  In closing, I thank the majority leader. He is keeping his word that 
he gave to the people of the State of Nevada, and the people of the 
State of Nevada say thank you to the majority leader.

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