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So let's have the cloture vote. We get our 30 hours. At least then we can finish the bill. Then the staff can work on
[Page: S13657] GPO's PDF
If cloture is defeated, I can assure you, all of my fellow Senators, the President will not get this bill until sometime in March or April, if even then. So this is the last train out of the station. I hope we can get it done.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
The Senator from Indiana.
Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, we worked with the distinguished chairman carefully. There are a large number of issues that must be discussed before this bill is perfected.
In good faith, I ask the Senate to give us opportunities to perfect this bill. It must be perfected, in my judgment, if the President is to sign it, if we are to have a successful conference, and in fact if we are to have successful agricultural policy.
In fairness, there are a number of amendments that must be heard that, in due course, will have to be heard somewhere in the land. This is the proper forum and the proper time. I ask my colleagues to vote against cloture to keep the process alive because I am confident we will improve the bill if we have that opportunity.
I thank the Chair.
CHANGES TO H. CON. RES. 83 PURSUANT TO SECTION 213
Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, section 213 of H. Con. Res. 83, the FY 2002 Budget Resolution, permits the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee to make adjustments to the allocation of budget authority and outlays to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, provided certain conditions are met.
Pursuant to section 213, I hereby submit the following revisions to H. Con. Res. 83.
The revisions follow:
Current Allocation to the Senate Committee:
($
millions)
FY 2002 Budget Authority
21,175
FY 2002 Outlays
17,856
FY 2002-06 Budget Authority
69,640
FY 2002-06 Outlays
52,349
FY 2002-11 Budget Authority
114,692
FY 2002-11 Outlays
80,210
Adjustments:
FY 2002 Budget Authority
0
FY 2002 Outlays
0
FY 2002-06 Budget Authority
37,751
FY 2002-06 Outlays
34,465
FY 2002-11 Budget Authority
66,150
FY 2002-11 Outlays
66,150
Revised Allocation to the Senate Agriculture Committee:
FY 2002 Budget Authority
21,175
FY 2002 Outlays
17,856
FY 2002-06 Budget Authority
107,391
FY 2002-06 Outlays
86,814
FY 2002-11 Budget Authority
180,842
FY 2002-11 Outlays
146,360
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.
Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, we have been on this bill for almost a record length of time now. I am told that tomorrow we will break the record for the length of time a farm bill has been debated. If we get cloture, of course, we will still entertain 30 hours of debate for germane amendments. As I have done on several occasions, we will also entertain unanimous consent requests to consider amendments that are not germane.
But time has run out. This is the third cloture vote. We have a lot of other legislation that must be addressed before the end of the week. We have three conference reports on appropriations that must be completed. We have other legislation of import to both sides of the aisle that must be addressed and, hopefully, completed.
I announced earlier today that if we fail to get cloture on this vote, we will have no other choice but to go on to other issues.
That will terminate the debate and end any possibility that we could complete our work on the farm bill this year.
I put all my colleagues on notice, after three cloture votes we need to move on. It is up to both of us, Republicans and Democrats, to make that decision. We can finish this bill. We can accommodate all the other items that need to be addressed, but we have to move on. Germane amendments for 30 hours ought to be enough for everybody who has debated this bill now for over 2 weeks. I ask my colleagues to vote for cloture. Let's get this work done.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Republican leader.
Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I yield myself leader time so I may respond. I know Senator Daschle might want to close the debate.
Let me just emphasize on this issue, first of all, I don't believe this is a record. I think if you go back and search the record, we have spent as long as 30 days on an agriculture bill. We could go back and forth over what the length of time was. The important thing, though, is to get the right thing done.
This legislation does not expire until next year. We are not going to get a conference agreement on this legislation whether we complete action now or next week or sometime before the end of the year. The conference will go well into the next year. I suspect this will be a pretty difficult and long conference. There is no need to continue to have this vote.
Unfortunately, this is the most partisan farm bill I recall seeing in my 29 years in the Congress. Farm bills are almost always, if not always, very bipartisan in the way they are brought out of committee and the way they are considered on the floor. Unfortunately, that has not been the case here.
Farm legislation is very important. We should make sure, when we come back next year, this is the first issue pending and complete action. In the meantime though, we should keep our focus on the three appropriations conference reports, seeing if we can get a bill through that will help the families and the unemployed on the stimulus package, and see if we can get an agreement on the terrorism reinsurance and bioterrorism. Those are the issues we really can do, should do, and I hope we will do.
I urge my colleagues, do not rush to judgment. Let's not be forced to invoke cloture when there are important amendments that would be cut off, such as the one Senator Grassley has on limitations.
There is no need to be panicked here. We can do this. We can do it right. We cannot cut off our colleagues who have good amendments. We can complete action in due time and get a good farm bill well before the law expires.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
Mr. DASCHLE. Let me respond briefly. First of all to the Grassley amendment, we are told now that it is germane, and certainly it would be eligible for consideration. That goes to the point I made just a moment ago. A lot of amendments that are still pending will certainly be entitled to consideration, entitled to a vote, and that is as it should be.
I also note the Republican leader's comment that this has been a partisan process. I am told by the chair of the committee that we have never had as many unanimous votes in a markup as we had with consideration of this farm bill. Of the titles that were passed out of the committee relating to this bill, nine of them passed unanimously. Only one failed unanimity. That doesn't sound partisan to me.
The commodity title was the only title that generated votes on both sides. Every other vote, in all nine titles, was passed unanimously.
Again, as to the assertion that we can wait, I must say I urge you all to refer to the Budget Committee and their projections that, by waiting, we chance losing $25, $30, $40 billion in budgetary authority. This in essence is a vote to cut agriculture by a substantial amount of money, if we fail cloture now, if we don't take full advantage of the budget window we have available to us.
We can't wait. I know the administration has urged that we wait, the Secretary of Agriculture has urged that we wait. I must say, 32 or more farm organizations have urged us to act now. Why? Because they are worried about the budgetary implications. Why? Because they want farmers and ranchers to have the opportunity to make the transition. Why? Because the Department of Agriculture normally needs 6 months to make the transition. There are plenty of reasons it is important for us to bring this debate to a close. Let's do it. Let's move on to the other issues we have to confront. Then let's going home for Christmas.
Mr. NICKLES. Will the majority leader yield?
Mr. DASCHLE. I am happy to yield to the Senator from Oklahoma.
Mr. NICKLES. The majority leader referred to the fact that a lot of farm
[Page: S13658] GPO's PDF
The American Farm Bureau Federation Board of Directors in a special meeting on Tuesday, December 18, 2001 voted to oppose senate passage of the farm bill if it contains the water language that your amendment is intended to strike.
I ask unanimous consent to have this letter printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
AMERICAN FARM BUREAU
FEDERATION,
Washington, DC, December 19, 2001.
Hon. MICHAEL
CRAPO,
U.S. Senate, Russell Senate Office Building, Washington,
DC.
DEAR SENATOR CRAPO: I am writing to convey the strongest support possible of the American Farm Bureau Federation for your amendment to strike the Reid water rights language from the conservation title of S. 1731. This language poses an extraordinary new threat to agriculture and the ability of farmers and ranchers to remain economically viable.
The water provisions in the bill set a dangerous precedent that would erode historic state water law. Additionally, it will expand the scope of the Endangered Species Act to cover a new category of species that are not in fact threatened or endangered. These changes are unacceptable to agriculture and will affect agricultural producers well beyond those who participate in the Conservation Reserve Program.
The American Farm Bureau Federation board of directors in a special meeting on Tuesday, December 18, 2001 voted to oppose Senate passage of the farm bill if it contains the water language that your amendment is intended to strike.
Sincerely,
Bob Stallman,
President.
Mr. NICKLES. It is just one farm organization, but it happens to be the largest farm organization in the country.
Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I haven't seen the letter, but I will tell you, the Farm Bureau has probably been the leader of all farm organizations in urging the Senate not to delay. It is one thing to vote for or against a particular piece of legislation relating to amendments that may or may not be offered. But it is another thing altogether to complete our work. The Farm Bureau, the Farmers Union, virtually every farm organization known to this country has urged the Senate to complete its work, and to do it this week--not next week, not in February, not March, but now.
The Farm Bureau, the Farmers Union, all the other farm groups have said that. I think those positions ought to be made clear as well.
I yield to the Senator from Iowa.
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I want to respond to my friend from Oklahoma. I spoke with Mr. Bob Stallman this morning on the phone. He is the president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. He referred to this letter. He referred to the conference call they had yesterday. That is true, they are opposed. He said to me--and I asked, May I relate this? He said yes--they are absolutely in favor of cloture, of bringing this to an end. But then again he said they would be opposed to the bill if it had that water right in it. But he told me on the phone this morning they were absolutely in favor of cloture and bringing it to a close.
Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, the time has come for us to move to the other important pieces of legislation that have to be addressed. Let us complete our work on this bill. We have been on it long enough. We have debated every conceivable amendment. I think the time has come for us now to complete our work.
I yield the floor.
Mr. SESSIONS. Will the majority leader yield for a question?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Will the Senator yield?
Mr. DASCHLE. I will yield. I know there is a Senator on the floor who needs to catch an airplane. This will be the last time I yield.
Mr. SESSIONS. My request would be that there be one last attempt to make a bipartisan compromise here. We have people such as Senator Lugar, Senator Cochran, Senator Grassley, Senator Roberts, with deep histories in farm legislation, who are troubled by this bill. I believe we can work it out, as we have in several other last-minute circumstances. But to just shelve it with no willingness to give on the majority leader's side is not healthy.
Will the majority leader try that?
Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, let me say, we will have 30 hours, 30 hours of debate, to try every conceivable new avenue to reach some compromise. I am more than willing to sit down with our two managers, with other Senators who have an interest in completing our work.
The real question is whether or not we want to finish the farm bill this year. I hope people can say on both sides of the aisle in the affirmative, yes, we will finish our bill this year. We will complete our work as all farm organizations and as our responsibility dictate.
I yield the floor and ask for the vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
CLOTURE MOTION
We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the Daschle for Harkin substitute amendment No. 2471 to Calendar No. 237, S. 1731, the farm bill:
Paul Wellstone, Tim Johnson, Bill Nelson, Harry Reid, Blanche L. Lincoln,
Zell Miller, Barbara Boxer, Byron L. Dorgan, Max Baucus, Thomas Carper, Ben
Nelson, Kent Conrad, Tom Harkin, Patrick J. Leahy, Fritz Hollings and Jean
Carnahan.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call under the rule has been waived.
The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the substitute amendment No. 2471 to S. 1731, the farm bill, shall be brought to a close?
The yeas and nays are required under the rule.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. AKAKA) is necessarily absent.
Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. HELMS) and the Senator from Alaska (Mr. MURKOWSKI) are necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber desiring to vote?
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 54, nays 43, as follows:
Baucus
Bayh
Biden
Bingaman
Boxer
Breaux
Byrd
Cantwell
Carnahan
Carper
Chafee
Cleland
Clinton
Collins
Conrad
Corzine
Dayton
Dodd
Dorgan
Durbin
Edwards
Feingold
Feinstein
Graham
Harkin
Hollings
Hutchinson
Inouye
Jeffords
Johnson
Kennedy
Kerry
Kohl
Landrieu
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lincoln
Mikulski
Miller
Murray
Nelson (FL)
Nelson (NE)
Reed
Reid
Rockefeller
Sarbanes
Schumer
Snowe
Specter
Stabenow
Torricelli
Wellstone
Wyden
Allard
Allen
Bennett
Bond
Brownback
Bunning
Burns
Campbell
Cochran
Craig
Crapo
Daschle
DeWine
Domenici
Ensign
Enzi
Fitzgerald
Frist
Gramm
Grassley
Gregg
Hagel
Hatch
Hutchison
Inhofe
Kyl
Lott
Lugar
McCain
McConnell
Nickles
Roberts
Santorum
Sessions
Shelby
Smith (NH)
Smith (OR)
Stevens
Thomas
Thompson
Thurmond
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