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 6837

Senate

(Legislative day of Monday, May 15, 1995)

Vol. 141 WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, MAY 18, 1995 No. 83

The Senate met at 9:15 a.m., on the

expiration of the recess, and was called

to order by the President pro tempore

[Mr. THURMOND].

PRAYER

The Chaplain, Dr. Lloyd John

Ogilvie, offered the following prayer:

You will keep him in perfect peace

whose mind is stayed on You, because he

trusts in You.—Isaiah 26:3.

Jehovah Shalom, we thank You for

this marvelously direct and

uncluttered promise. We long for this

superlative quality of peace, and for

good reason. You have called us to lead

this great Nation. To enable us to be

creative Copernican thinkers about the

problems and opportunities before us

this day, You seek to give us profound

inner peace.

But Lord, we find it difficult to stay

our minds on You. We try to focus on

You and often our attention wanders;

we seek to listen to You and the sound

waves to our hearts are cluttered with

the static of distracting voices; we

want to trust You, but years of self-reliance make it difficult to wait patiently for Your answers. Most of the

time our motto is, ‘‘I have just got to

get control of my life!’’ Ah, there’s the

issue, Lord. We were never meant to

usurp Your control. Now in the quiet of

this time of prayer we discover the secret: You alone can keep our minds

stayed on You. All we can do is ask for

the miracle of a day lived in constant

awareness of Your abiding presence.

May this be a day crammed full of

spectacular moments when You keep

our minds steady, our hearts calm, and

our wills alert to Your will. Lord of

peace, keep our minds on You. Amen.

RECOGNITION OF THE ACTING

MAJORITY LEADER

fThe PRESIDENT pro tempore. The

acting majority leader is recognized.

SCHEDULE

Mr. SPECTER. I thank the distinguished President pro tempore.

On behalf of Senator DOLE, I have

been asked to announce that there will

be a period of morning business until

the hour of 12 noon at which time the

Senate will begin consideration of Senate Concurrent Resolution 13, the

budget resolution. And I have been

asked by Senator DOLE to announce

that Senators should be aware that

rollcall votes may be expected

throughout the day; that it is Senator

DOLE’s expectation that 8 to 10 hours of

the total of 50 hours statutory time

limit will be used today on the budget

resolution; and, to announce further

that leaders’ time is being reserved.

RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The

fChair advises the Senate that, under

the previous order, leadership time has

been reserved.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. We are

MORNING BUSINESS

fnow in morning business for a time not

to extend beyond the hour of 12 noon.

During morning business, Senators

are permitted to speak therein for not

to exceed 5 minutes.

RUBY RIDGE, ID, AND WACO, TX

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I have

fasked for a period of time to be reserved this morning to speak about the

incidents at Ruby Ridge, ID, and Waco,

TX. And there are a number of other

Senators who have stated to me their

intention to come to speak.

My remarks at the moment will be

relatively brief, and I want to thank

my distinguished colleague from Colorado for yielding to me because he was

on the floor before I arrived. It is a little unusual to find Senators here in advance of the opening of the Senate session. But Senator CAMPBELL has time

reserved as well.

I hope to return later during the period for morning business to speak at

greater length and also other Senators

will come to speak on the subjects of

Ruby Ridge, ID, and Waco, TX, as well.

But I have a commitment to appear before the Finance Committee at 9:30 to

testify on the flat tax.

(Mr. DEWINE assumed the chair.)

RUBY RIDGE, ID

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I think

it is important that there be a positive

showing by the Senate of our concerns

about what happened at Ruby Ridge,

ID, on August 21, 1992, and the days

thereafter, and what happened at

Waco, TX, on April 19, 1993, and the

days which preceded to assure the

American people that appropriate congressional oversight will occur and

that there will be accountability at the

highest levels of the U.S. Government.

The House of Representatives has

scheduled a hearing on the events at

Waco, TX, and an announcement has

been made by the distinguished chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Judiciary Committee will

hold hearings on Waco, TX, and Ruby

Ridge, ID, as well.

As I said last week on the Senate

floor, it is my hope that we will do

these hearings sooner rather than later

because of my strong view that the

American people need reassurance that

there will be proper oversight. I say

that I do not know what the answers

are to the questions which have been

raised, but I do see many important

and profound questions. And I do think

it is absolutely necessary that a full effort be made with congressional oversight to find answers.