Congressional Record UNUM

E PLURIBUS

United States

of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 104th CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION

∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor.

S 6019

Senate

(Legislative day of Monday, May 1, 1995)

Vol. 141 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 1995 No. 72

The Senate met at 9 a.m., on the expiration of the recess, and was called to

order by the President pro tempore

[Mr. THURMOND].

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The

Chaplain will now deliver the morning

prayer.

PRAYER

The Chaplain, Dr. Lloyd John

Ogilvie, offered the following prayer:

Let us pray:

Commit your way to the Lord, trust also

in Him and He shall bring it to pass . . .

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for

Him.—Psalm 37:5, 7.

Gracious Lord, Your spirit is impinging on us, hovering all around us, ready

to enter into us and give us power to

live this day to the fullest. You have

shown us that commitment is the key

to open the floodgate and receive the

inflow of Your incredible resources for

living with peak performance today.

Remind us that there is enough time

and You will provide enough strength

to do what You have called us to accomplish today. You never intended

that we carry either the burdens or the

opportunities of leadership alone.

May this day be one of constant conversation with You. Lord, help us to

listen to You as You give us Your insight, discernment, wisdom, and vision.

Help us to picture and claim Your best

for our lives, the people around us and

our Nation. Focus our attention on

Your solutions to our problems. We

commit this day to be a day in which

we work with freedom and with joy.

Thank You in advance for supernatural

power.

In the name that is above every

name. Amen.

RECOGNITION OF THE ACTING

MAJORITY LEADER

fThe PRESIDENT pro tempore. The

acting majority leader is recognized.

SCHEDULE

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, this

morning, the leader time has been reserved, and there will now be a period

for the transaction of morning business, not to extend beyond the hour of

10:15 a.m., with Senators permitted to

speak for up to 5 minutes each.

At 10:15 a.m., the Senate will resume

consideration of H.R. 956, the product

liability bill.

At that time, there will be 60 minutes of debate to be equally divided between the two managers. At the hour

of 11:15, the Senate will begin a series

of stacked votes on or in relation to

second-degree amendments to the Dole

amendment. Further rollcall votes can

be expected today, and the Senate may

be in session into the evening to make

progress on the product liability bill.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence

of a quorum.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The

clerk will call the roll.

The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I ask

unanimous consent that the order for

the quorum call be rescinded.

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr.

INHOFE). Without objection, it is so ordered.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under

MORNING BUSINESS

fthe previous order, there will now be a

period for the transaction of morning

business with Senators permitted to

speak therein.

THE AGENDA AND OPPORTUNITIES

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I would

flike to continue our dialog that we, the

freshmen, have had seeking to talk

about the agenda, to talk about the opportunities that we have for the first

time in 40 years to have a real opportunity to take a look at the programs

that have been in place, programs that

have simply been added to over a period of time, programs, obviously that

had merit in the beginning, have some

merit yet. But we have an opportunity

to look at them, to look at ways to

make them more effective and more efficient.

We have an opportunity to respond to

voters who, I think, in November said

we want change, we need to make a

change in Government. I think one of

the measures of good Government is

whether or not Government is responsive to the kinds of messages that we

receive from voters.

We want to take an opportunity to

make Government programs work better. I think, unfortunately, there sometimes is a perception when you talk

about change that those who want

change simply want to toss out the

programs and do nothing. That is not

the case. The case is how do we do a

better job of providing services to people? How do we be more effective?

Welfare is an excellent example. No

one is talking about throwing women

and children and welfare fathers out on

the street. What we are talking about

is helping people to help themselves,

find a way to be more efficient and to

put people back into the workplace.

That is what we are talking about.

So we are talking about bringing the

Government closer to the people—

block grants to the States, moving

more responsibilities to the States—so

people can participate more in their

Government.

I do not think there is any question

but what the voters in November said

we want less Government and it should

be less costly, that Government is too

big and Government is too expensive.

So, Mr. President, that is the kind of

agenda that the 11 of us who are new to

this body would like to pursue. Those

are the kinds of things that we believe