Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 106 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION
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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 106 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 145 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1999 No. 115 Senate The Senate met at 12 noon and was RECOGNITION OF THE ACTING the nominations with no intervening called to order by the President pro MAJORITY LEADER action or debate. I also ask unanimous tempore [Mr. THURMOND]. The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Sen- consent that following the votes on the ator BURNS is recognized. nominations, the motions to reconsider PRAYER Mr. BURNS. I thank the Chair. be laid on the table, the President be The Chaplain, Dr. Lloyd John I welcome our colleagues back from immediately notified of the Senate’s Ogilvie, offered the following prayer: the August recess. action, and the Senate then return to legislative session. Lord God, You know us as we really f are. You know the inner person behind The PRESIDENT pro tempore. With- our highly polished exteriors; You SCHEDULE out objection, it is so ordered. know when we are tired and need Your Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, today the Mr. BURNS. I also ask unanimous strength; You know about our worries Senate will be in a period of morning consent that it be in order to ask for and anxieties and offer Your comfort; business until 1 p.m. Following morn- the yeas and nays at this time on both You understand our fears and frustra- ing business, the Senate will stand in nominations. tions and assure us of Your presence; recess until 2:15 p.m. so that the week- The PRESIDENT pro tempore. With- You feel our hurts and infuse Your ly party conferences can meet. Fol- out objection, it is so ordered. healing love. Flood our inner beings lowing the conference meetings, the Mr. BURNS. Therefore, I now ask for with Your peace so that we can live Senate will move to executive session the yeas and nays on Calendar Nos. 173 with confidence and courage. for the consideration of two judicial and 175. You have told us that to whom much nominees. Therefore, Senators can ex- The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is is given, much is required. Thank You pect two consecutive votes at 2:15 there a sufficient second? There ap- that You have taught us also that of today. pears to be a sufficient second. whom much is required, much shall be When the Senate returns to legisla- The yeas and nays were ordered. given. Lord, You require a great deal of tive session, it will resume consider- Mr. BURNS. I ask unanimous consent the women and men of this Senate. ation of the Interior appropriations that the period of morning business be Provide them with an extra measure of bill. Amendments are expected to be divided as follows: Senator DASCHLE or Your strength, wisdom, and judgment offered, and therefore Senators can ex- his designee in control of the first 30 for the crucial work of this next ses- pect additional votes throughout to- minutes; Senator THOMAS in control of sion of the 106th Congress. day’s session. the second 30 minutes. We thank You for all the people who It is hoped that the Senate can com- I further ask consent that imme- make it possible for the Senate to func- plete the Interior appropriations bill diately following the use or yielding tion effectively. Especially, we thank on Thursday at a reasonable time. As a back of those times, the Senate stand You for the Senators’ staffs and all reminder, there will be no votes on Fri- in recess until 2:15 today for the week- those here in the Senate Chamber who day in observance of the Rosh Hasha- ly policy luncheons. work cheerfully and diligently for long nah holiday. The majority leader looks I further ask unanimous consent that hours to keep the legislative process forward to a productive legislative pe- following the votes at 2:20, Senator moving smoothly. Help us to take no riod as we complete the appropriations FEINGOLD be recognized to speak in one for granted and express our grati- process, and he thanks all Senators in morning business for up to 30 minutes. tude to everyone. advance for their cooperation. The PRESIDENT pro tempore. With- Now we commit this day to You, for f out objection, it is so ordered. You are our Lord. Amen. Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I yield ORDER OF PROCEDURE the floor. f Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, as in ex- The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The ecutive session, I ask unanimous con- Senator from Minnesota is recognized. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE sent that at 2:15 p.m. today the Senate Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I The Honorable CONRAD BURNS, a proceed to executive session to con- ask unanimous consent that I be al- Senator from the State of Montana, led sider Calendar Nos. 173 and 175. lowed to speak for 10 minutes, followed the Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: I further ask unanimous consent that on our side by Senator BOXER and Sen- I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the following 5 minutes of debate equally ator DORGAN, 10 minutes each. United States of America, and to the Repub- divided in the usual form, the Senate The PRESIDENT pro tempore. With- lic for which it stands, one nation under God, then proceed immediately to two con- out objection, it is so ordered. indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. secutive votes on the confirmation of Mr. WELLSTONE. I thank the Chair. ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S10537 . VerDate Mar 15 2010 21:52 Nov 01, 2013 Jkt 081600 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\1999SENATE\S08SE9.REC S08SE9 mmaher on DSKCGSP4G1 with SOCIALSECURITY S10538 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 8, 1999 EAST TIMOR FAMILY FARMERS Yesterday in Iowa we had an impor- Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I tant hearing with Senator GRASSLEY while Senator FEINGOLD is in the will take a brief period of time today, and Senator HARKIN, and we had sev- Chamber, I wish to indicate my support I say to my colleagues and to the Chair eral hundred farmers there. I said that for his effort—our effort—to make it who cares deeply about this issue as we should have a moratorium on all crystal clear to the Government of In- well, I intend to take the time I need mergers and acquisitions and mar- donesia that the brutal murder of the to give a report to the Senate and to keting agreements between agri- men and women of East Timor has to the country about what is happening in businesses with revenues over $50 mil- stop, that we will hold the Government agriculture. I say this to the Chair who lion until the Congress reviews the of Indonesia accountable, that we will I know cares deeply about this. antitrust laws. I am going to bring this do everything we can to exert our le- I have spent most all of August orga- moratorium to the floor, speaking verage, including the question of nizing with farmers. I have spent al- about concentration of power. whether there will be any financial as- most all my time in our agricultural Whatever happened to the Sherman sistance, and that the world commu- and rural communities. I can tell my Act and the Clayton Act and the work nity is watching. We want to commu- colleagues that we are now experi- of Senator Kefauver? What does it encing an economic convulsion, and on nicate from the floor of the Senate our mean when we have a few packers and our present course we are going to lose support to the people of East Timor. they control almost all of the market? a whole generation of farmers and pro- What does it mean, with our livestock f ducers. This is not just a battle or a producers facing extinction and IBP struggle for a fair price for family and ConAgra and a lot of these large farmers, it is a struggle for the sur- CBS–VIACOM MERGER outfits making record profits? vival of our rural communities. Mr. President, this is an injustice. I Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, be- I spent time in northwest Minnesota, am telling Democrats and Republicans, fore going to the main topic of my re- in southeast Minnesota, in west central we have to make it a priority and we marks, I wish to briefly speak about a Minnesota, and then in southwest Min- have to push through legislation over story today in the papers that I just nesota, at one farm gathering after an- the next 2 months that will make a dif- think Senators, Democrats and Repub- other. The good news is that many ference. A lot of these farmers are licans, must take note of. This is the farmers turned out for our meetings, going to be gone if we don’t. I speak report. Top executives of CBS and and that made me proud as a Senator. today to give a brief report, although I VIACOM will be huddling today with The bad news is that people are in such am going to start coming to the floor top officials of the Federal Commu- economic pain. The bad news is that and talking at great length about the nications Commission. CBS–VIACOM people are in such desperate shape. The number of farmers we are losing. executives will be lobbying the FCC to bad news is that people who have Tracy Beckman, who directs the approve their proposed merger and to worked so hard and are asking for Farm Services Administration, has fig- relax FCC restrictions on media con- nothing more than a decent price so ures on all our counties, on what an centration.