S12228 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE October 3, 1996 reauthorization conference report, and Yuma Intl. Airport, AZ—Cargo apron ex- pass the legislation in an expeditious as a result of that delay we have pansion, cargo security, new terminal, en- manner. threats to radar, air traffic control hanced security for new terminal. I yield the floor, Mr. President. I ask equipment, navigation equipment, Scottsdale Airport, AZ—Aircraft rescue for the yeas and nays. and firefighting vehicle and fire station ($1.2 landing systems equipment that rem- million). The PRESIDING OFFICER. The edies air traffic control outages, Dopp- Phoenix Sky Harbor Intl. Airport, AZ— Chair wishes to advise the distinguish ler radar for wind shear, research and Construction of 3rd runway and residential leader that under rule XXII the yeas development, advancement of explosive soundproofing. and nays are automatic. detection systems, human factor re- San Bernardino County-Chino Airport, Mr. LOTT. I thank the Chair. CA—New runway construction ($10 million). search, aging aircraft. f This is big. This is important legisla- Buchanan Airport, CA—Taxi-ways and tion, and it is, over 2 years, $19 billion aprons near total failure ($5 million). CLOTURE MOTION for infrastructure security and safety. Oxnard Airport, CA—Replace aircraft res- cue and firefighting vehicles ($247,000). The PRESIDING OFFICER. The This would be a senseless roll of the Greely-Weld County Airport, CO—Con- clerk, under the previous order, will re- dice, if we did not invoke cloture this struction of new runway ($32 million). port the motion to invoke cloture. morning, bring this filibuster to a con- Boulder Municipal Airport, CO—Security The assistant legislative clerk read clusion and move this legislation on lighting. as follows. through. Mr. LOTT. I also ask unanimous con- I remind my colleagues the House sent that an explanation of the fact CLOTURE MOTION has already acted responsibly, over- that this is a technical point be printed We, the undersigned Senators, in accord- ance with rule XXII of the Standing Rules of whelmingly moved this legislation, and in the RECORD. they are gone. What would be the situ- There being no objection, the mate- the Senate, do hereby move to bring to a ation if we did not bring this filibuster close debate on the conference report to ac- rial was ordered to be printed in the company H.R. 3539, the Federal Aviation Re- to a conclusion this morning? We RECORD, as follows: authorization bill: would not have any legislation, or if we FACT SHEET—CONFERENCE REPORT TO ACCOM- Trent Lott, Don Nickles, Strom Thur- had legislation that made changes it PANY H.R. 3539, THE FEDERAL AVIATION AU- mond, Jon Kyl, Judd Gregg, Slade Gor- would go back to the House and there THORIZATION OF 1996 ton, Paul D. Coverdell, Frank H. Mur- is great concern about when or if they A provision is contained in the Conference kowski, Craig Thomas, Harry Reid, would be able to get action on this leg- Report to accompany H.R. 3539 which makes Wendell Ford, Conrad Burns, Kay Bai- islation. We should act together this a technical correction to a drafting error ley Hutchison, John Breaux, Tom morning and end this filibuster and which was contained in the Interstate Com- Daschle, Arlen Specter. pass this legislation. merce Commission Termination Act of 1995. f Now, one other point. I do not under- The following outlines the problem, the stand the attacks on Federal Express. facts and the solution: CALL OF THE ROLL This is an outstanding company headed PROBLEM The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unan- by an outstanding individual. They are A drafting error in the Interstate Com- imous consent, the quorum has been providing services that 30 years ago we merce Commission Termination Act of 1995 waived. (P.L. 104–88) created an ambiguity affecting could not even comprehend. They are VOTE doing a great job, and yet they are the status of express carriers under the Rail- way Labor Act. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The being attacked as if they are some sort One provision (Sec. 10501) states the intent question is, Is it the sense of the Sen- of villain. It is absolutely wrong, the of Congress: ‘‘the enactment of the ICC Ter- ate that debate on the conference re- rhetoric we have had to listen to over mination Act of 1995 shall neither expand or port accompanying H.R. 3539, an act to the past 3 days on a technical point. contract coverage of the employees and em- amend title 49, United States Code, to Mr. President, I ask unanimous con- ployers by the Railway Labor Act. . .’’ reauthorize programs of the Federal sent that a list of what is involved in However, a second provision drops ‘‘express carriers’’ under the Railway Labor Act. This Aviation Administration shall be this legislation be printed in the brought to a close? The yeas and nays RECORD. was clearly inadvertent and in contradiction are automatic under rule XXII. The There being no objection, the mate- to the stated intent of Congress. clerk will call the roll. rial was ordered to be printed in the FACTS The legislative clerk called the roll. RECORD, as follows: Since the inception of the Railway Labor Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the HIGHLIGHTS OF FAA REAUTHORIZATION Act, ‘‘express carriers’’ have come under the Senator from Indiana [Mr. COATS], is CONFERENCE REPORT (H.R. 3539) law’s jurisdiction. The Railway Labor Act is designed to pro- Reauthorization of FAA—FY 1997, $9.7 bil- necessarily absent. tect the interests of employees covered by lion; FY 1998, $9.9 billion. I also announce that the Senator that Act and is not an ‘‘anti-labor’’ law. [In billions of dollars] from Colorado [Mr. CAMPBELL], is ab- For 62 years, employers and employees sent due to illness. Fiscal year— have been successfully governed by the pro- visions of the Railway Labor Act. Mr. FORD. I announce that the Sen- 1997 1998 ator from Vermont [Mr. LEAHY], is ab- SOLUTION sent on official business. Airport grants ...... $2.3 $2.4 A provision in the Conference Report to ac- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there Radar, air traffic control equipment, navigation equip- company H.R. 3539, the Federal Aviation Au- ment, landing systems [ILS] equipment that remedies any other Senators in the Chamber air traffic control outages doppler radar for wind thorization Act of 1995, states that if an ex- shear ...... 2.1 2.2 press company was under the Railway Labor who desire to vote? Operations ...... 5.2 5.4 Act prior to the enactment of the ICC Termi- The yeas and nays resulted—yeas 66, Research and development, advancement of explosive detection systems, human factor research, aging air- nation Act, then that express company shall nays 31, as follows: craft, air traffic control safety issues ...... (1) (2) remain under the purview of the Railway [Rollcall Vote No. 304 Leg.] Labor Act. 1 $20.8 million. YEAS—66 2 No authorization. Mr. LOTT. It is a small point. It reaf- Note: Research and Development levels include an additional $31 million Abraham D’Amato Hatch for security programs consistent with the Administration’s emergency request firms what has been the law for 62 Ashcroft Daschle Hatfield for funds. years. This is not a grab. This is not an Baucus DeWine Heflin effort to stomp somebody. This is an Bennett Domenici Helms CONSTRUCTION: PRO-WORKER BILL Bond Dorgan Hollings Kenai Municipal Airport, AK—Alaska Re- effort to be fair, to correct a clear over- Breaux Faircloth Hutchison gional Aircraft Firefighting Training Center sight; a mistake was made. We are try- Brown Feinstein Inhofe ($8 million). ing to correct that. That is all. Bryan Ford Inouye Anchorage Airport, AK—Rehabilitate run- Bumpers Frahm Jeffords This is so important. We should this Burns Frist Johnston way and lighting ($2.1 million). morning act together to stop the fili- Allakaket Airport, AK—Rehabilitate run- Chafee Gorton Kassebaum Cochran Graham Kempthorne way and lighting ($5.5 million). buster, pass this legislation and go home for the sake of the American peo- Cohen Gramm Kyl Deadhorse Airport, AK—Construct aircraft Conrad Grams Lott rescue and firefighting building ($3.5 mil- ple. I urge my colleagues, let us vote Coverdell Grassley Lugar lion). together. Let us invoke cloture and Craig Gregg Mack October 3, 1996 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S12229 McCain Pryor Snowe FAA bill without the Federal Express committees are permitted to add com- McConnell Reid Stevens Murkowski Roth Thomas provision. The House is still in session pletely extraneous matters in con- Nickles Shelby Thompson to receive and pass that bill. Having ference, that is, if the point of order Nunn Simpson Thurmond made that point of order, I have no ob- against such conduct becomes a dead Pressler Smith Warner jection to the unanimous consent re- letter, conferees will acquire unprece- NAYS—31 quest. dented power. They will acquire the Akaka Kennedy Pell The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without power to legislate in a privileged, Biden Kerrey Robb objection, it is so ordered. unreviewable fashion on virtually any Bingaman Kerry Rockefeller Mr. LOTT. Parliamentary inquiry. I subject. They will be able to com- Boxer Kohl Santorum pletely bypass the deliberative process Bradley Lautenberg Sarbanes understand there would be the debate Byrd Levin Simon time which would be followed by a rul- of the Senate. Dodd Lieberman Specter ing from the Chair. Mr. President, this is a highly dan- Exon Mikulski Wellstone The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is gerous situation. It will make all of us Feingold Moseley-Braun Wyden less willing to send bills to conference Glenn Moynihan correct. Harkin Murray Mr. LOTT. I yield the floor, Mr. and leave all of us vulnerable to pas- sage of controversial, extraneous legis- NOT VOTING—3 President. Mr. KENNEDY addressed the Chair. lation any time a bill goes to con- Campbell Coats Leahy The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- ference. The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this ator from Massachusetts is recognized. I hope the Senate will not go down vote, the yeas are 66, the nays are 31. Mr. KENNEDY. As I understand it, I this road. Today the narrow issue is Three-fifths of the Senators duly cho- have 10 minutes. Is that correct? the status of one corporation under the sen and sworn having voted in the af- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- labor laws. But tomorrow the issue firmative, the motion is agreed to. ator from Massachusetts is recognized might be civil rights, States’ rights, Mr. LOTT addressed the Chair. for a period not to exceed 10 minutes. health care, education, or anything The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ma- Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, we are else. It might be a matter much more jority leader, Senator LOTT, is recog- moving toward the conclusion of this sweeping than the labor law issue that nized. issue. But this is an extremely impor- is before us today. f tant issue, and I would invite our col- So for this vital institutional reason, leagues’ attention. I strongly urge the Senate to uphold POINT OF ORDER Mr. President, in just a few moments the ruling of the Chair on the point of Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I under- the Chair will rule whether this par- order. This vote is not about the FAA, stand that if a point of order were ticular provision is inside the scope or and it is not even about Federal Ex- raised that the pending FAA con- outside the scope of the conference. I press; it is a vote about whether this ference report exceeds the scope of the have every expectation that the Chair body is going to be governed by a neu- conference committee, that the Chair will rule that it was outside the scope tral set of rules that protect the rights would rule that the conferees did ex- of the conference. Then we are going to of all Members, and by extension, the ceed the scope with respect to the so- be asked whether we are going to sus- rights of all Americans. If the rules of called Federal Express provision. If the tain the Chair or overrule the Chair. I the Senate can be twisted and broke point of order is raised and sustained, would like to address that issue and and overridden to achieve a momen- the conference report would then fall. what it means in terms of the future of tary legislative goal we will have di- This would mean, as we pointed out this institution and the future of var- minished the institution itself. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The earlier, billions of dollars lost in con- ious conference reports. struction funds, hundreds of thousands Mr. President, I want to remind my Chair recognizes the Senator from Alaska. of lost jobs, and a significant reduction colleagues of the long-term signifi- Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, this is in air traffic safety. That would be cance of a vote to overturn the ruling a rather difficult situation. We have jeopardized. of the Chair on this important point. just passed, recently, a Defense appro- Needless to say, the Senate should Last year the junior Senator from priations bill. I was the chairman of not let this vital piece of legislation be Texas, Senator HUTCHISON, offered an that conference. Before it was over, we killed on this point of order, and hav- amendment regarding the Endangered had a whole series of other bills, a se- ing just had a vote of 66 to 31 to cut off Species Act to an appropriations bill. ries of legislative items. It was not nec- the filibuster. In order to facilitate the The Chair ruled that the amendment essary to raise a point of order. Every- vote, I raise a point of order that the would constitute legislation on an ap- body knew we exceeded the scope of the conference report exceeds the scope of propriations bill, but the body over- conference. the conference committee and ask turned the ruling of the Chair. I ask any chairman of a conference if unanimous consent that there now be That vote set a precedent. As a result he or she has ever really been totally 20 minutes for debate prior to the of that vote, a point of order that an restricted by this rule? This is an ex- Chair’s ruling, to be equally divided be- amendment constitutes legislation on traordinary time where we are in the tween Senators KENNEDY and STEVENS. an appropriations bill is no longer last hours of this Congress. When the Senator MCCAIN will participate in available to Senators. To pass that sin- leader became aware that Senator KEN- that. I have discussed this with Sen- gle amendment, the Senate gave up an NEDY was going to raise this point of ator KENNEDY. He understands that I important aspect of our rules, one that order, the leader determined to raise it would make this point of order. has served to protect the rights of all himself. I take it that having done The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there Members of this body. The point of that, there is no question this is a rath- objection? order before us right now provides an er significant occasion. I hope it will be Mr. KENNEDY. Reserving the right even more important protection to all a rather narrow precedent. to object. Members. I point out to the Senate that this The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objec- The rule that a conference commit- provision is not the only matter that tion is heard. tee cannot include extraneous matter exceeds the scope of the conference. We Mr. KENNEDY. Reserving. is central to the way that the Senate had to include, at the administration’s The PRESIDING OFFICER. Reserv- conducts its business. When we send a request, special authority for the exec- ing. bill to conference we do so knowing utive branch to purchase and deploy Mr. KENNEDY. I do not intend to ob- that the conference committee’s work explosive detection devices. We put in ject. I want to point out that the rejec- is likely to become law. Conference re- here the provisions that pertain to the tion of the conference report does not ports are privileged. Motions to pro- rights of survivors of victims of air mean the loss of money or jobs or safe- ceed to them cannot be debated, and crashes. We put in provisions requiring ty. If the report is rejected, the Senate such reports cannot be amended. passenger screening companies to be can quickly and unanimously pass the So conference committees are al- certified by the FAA. That is not re- bill that is at the desk, enacting the ready very powerful. But if conference quired under any existing law. We put