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Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I believe we have a unanimous-consent agreement now. I will read it carefully, and if there are any questions, Senator DASCHLE may point them out. I believe it will be fair in the way it is going to be handled and will allow us to complete this important legislation hopefully by Tuesday or not later than Wednesday of next week. It will allow for, of course, relevant amendments and second-degree amendments if any will be in order to those, but it will limit the nonrelevant amendments to three on each side with an agreed-to time.
Mr. DASCHLE. Will the majority leader yield on that point for a question?
Mr. LOTT. I will be glad to.
Mr. DASCHLE. As I understand this agreement--I went through it in detail--it will allow relevant second degrees to relevant amendments.
Mr. LOTT. I ran into that hornet's nest yesterday. There are a couple relevant amendments that are certainly worthwhile and actively supported, but they also are very much opposed by others who want to second degree them. Clearly, that will be in order.
I thank Senator DASCHLE for working with me on this, since the middle of October actually. I believe this bill can be considered and completed. Bankruptcy reform is something we certainly want to do. I know the minority leader has indicated his desire to have three nongermane amendments in order to the bill from Members of his side of the aisle. Those are relative to East Timor, agriculture, and minimum wage.
I hope all Members would allow us to adopt this agreement in order for the Senate to consider and approve this very important bankruptcy reform bill.
On our side, we will have three amendments, also, that relate to education, drugs, and business costs. I will specify that in a moment.
So I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now turn to consideration of Calendar No. 109, S. 625, the bankruptcy bill, and following the reporting by the clerk, the committee amendments be immediately agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc.
I further ask consent that all first-degree amendments must be filed at the desk by 5 p.m. on the second day of the bill's consideration and that all first-degree amendments must be relevant to the issue of bankruptcy, and/or truth in lending/credit card agreements, with the exception of three amendments to be offered by the minority, or his designee, relative to agriculture, minimum wage/taxes, and East Timor, and three amendments to be offered by the majority leader, or his designee, regarding education, drugs, and business costs.
I further ask consent that the 5 p.m. filing requirement apply to each of these nonrelevant amendments and there be a time limit of 2 hours equally divided on each nonrelevant amendment, with the exception of the agriculture and drug amendments on which there will be 4 hours each for debate, with no second-degree amendments in order to these six issues and no motions to commit or recommit in order.
I further ask consent that at 3 p.m. on Monday, November 8, the minority leader, or his designee, be recognized to offer the amendment relative to the issue of minimum wage, and following the debate the amendment be laid aside, and the majority leader, or his designee, be recognized to offer the amendment relative to business costs, and that the votes occur in relation to the amendments at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, November 9, with 1 hour equally divided prior to the vote for concluding debate. I further ask consent that the first vote occur in relation to the minority amendment, to be followed by a vote in relation to the majority amendment, with 4 minutes prior to each vote for explanation.
I further ask consent that following the disposition of all of the above-described amendments, the bill be immediately advanced to third reading, that the Senate then proceed to the House companion bill, H.R. 833, that all after the enacting clause be stricken, the text of the Senate bill as amended be inserted, the bill be advanced to third reading, and a vote occur on passage of the bill, without any intervening action, motion or debate.
Further, I ask consent that the Senate insist on its amendment, request a conference with the House, and the Senate bill be placed back on the calendar.
Finally, I ask consent that the exchange of the amendments by the two leaders on the two issues regarding minimum wage and business costs occur at noon on Friday. If by 3 p.m. either Member objects to the text of the amendments, this agreement be null and void and the bill be placed back on the calendar.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Mr. DASCHLE. Reserving the right to object, and I shall not, Mr. President, for the information of our colleagues, we have exchanged some of the amendments that have been referred to
in this unanimous-consent request. There may be minor alterations in these two amendments that have been exchanged. We will not have any major changes in our amendments. And I assume that while there may be minor alterations, we do not anticipate any consequential alterations in the amendments to be offered by the Republicans.
I ask the majority leader if that is his understanding relating to education and drugs.
Mr. LOTT. First, let me clarify one error I made. Staff informs me I did say: ``If by 3 p.m. any Member objects.'' It should say: ``If by 3 p.m. either leader objects to the text of the amendments, this agreement be null and void and the bill be placed back on the calendar.''
Now, under the Senator's reservation, Mr. President, responding to his questions, obviously, on both sides--there may be minor changes that you would want to make on your agriculture amendment or East Timor, whatever; same thing on this side. I think we have to continue to work in good faith. If it goes to fundamental substance, and changes a major portion or the overall intent of the bill, I think that would be exceeding the bounds of reasonableness. But if it is some technical change or some minor change, we will have to continue to work with each other to get that done. I hope everybody will continue to be as flexible as they can be in that effort. But there is no intent to come back now and change the whole thrust of the bill. And that would not be fair.
Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I thank all of the Senators involved in this. We have consulted with virtually every Member. While no one is ever completely satisfied with a complex agreement such as this, I think it gives us the best opportunity to address an important issue, bankruptcy, and to address some other issues about which both caucuses care a good deal. So I think this is a good agreement. I appreciate the work of the majority leader to get us to this point.
I have no objection.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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