Date: 1981-06-25
Speaker: ROBERT C. BYRD (democrat)
Chamber: S

What I am saying. Mr. President. is that minus the agreement. the time for debate on this bill will run out at about 7 or 7:30 tonight. What the agreement does is extend that time for debate for a possible additional 5 to 6 hours by extending the finjal vote until no later than 12 tomorrow. Mr. President. I support the request. I hope it will be agreed to. If it is agreed to. I think it represents a significant victory for both sides of the aisle in that it protects the traditions of the Senate dealing with free and unfettered debate. What do we mean by free and unfettered debate? In the Senate. there is no limitation of debate except by virtue of section 2 of rule XXII. which provides for the invoking of cloture. The budget process. on the other hand. was formulated so as to expedite the reduction of Federal spending and it was formulated in such a way that it provided extraordinary safeguards. If the language that is being stricken by the request were to be left in the bill. it would mean that section 2 of rule XXII is being circumvented. Section 2 of rule XXII provides. first of all. that 16 Senators who wish to shut off debate sign a petition and that. on the second day following the day of the offering of that cloture petition. there will be a vote taken in the Senate. and if threefifths of the Senators present and voting vote to shut off debateor twothirds. in the case of changing the rulesthen. from there on. there are 100 hours. no more than 100 hours. of debate. . If this language were to be left in this reconciliation bill. it would set a precedent whereby theie would be no need to go to the cloture route in the future. Rule XXII could be circumvented and it would only be necessary to submit any legislation. controversial though. it may be..farranging though it may be. over to the Budget Committee. which would be powerless to change it substantively. That language would be brought to the floor in a reconciliation bill and. under an ironclad 20hour time limitno need to risk cloture any more: forget that. rule XXII would be virtually out of the rulebookit is in the reconciliation bill and it may be discovered. or it may not be. If it is discovered. it has a onevote advantage in that it is already in the bill. So any motion to strike it. any amendnient to strike it. will lose on a tie vote. So there is a onevote advantage to having the Budget Committee include it in the reconciliation bill. The procedure that is being adopted here strikes the language from the bill. and raises a clear signal to all committees that. in the future. if they go to the Budget Committee and seek to put in controversial. nonbudgetrelated legislation. they are going to run into a stone wall here. on the Senate floor. If Senators want to offer an extraneous matter on the floor here. they will be coming in the front door. It is brought to the attention of every Senator. Every Senator votes on it with his eyes open. And there is not a onevote disadvantage to those who seek to oppose such extraneous matter. My friends. we are not doing this with prejudice to any future point of order that may be raised later on in this bill or in any future reconciliation bill. It is only. with regard to three amendments that we are waiving any point of order today. It is without prejudice to any future point of order. And it does not mean that we favor the extraneous matter that will come before the Senate in those three amendments. I shall vote against those amendments. not on the merits but on the basis that we ought not to use this vehicle for stich matter. So. I say to all Senators that I have carefully examined this language. I have participated in the discussions and I think that the principle that we sought to preserve by virtue of the amendment I offered yesterday is preserved. Mr. President. I thank the distinguished majority leader. I thank the manager of the bill . and I thank the distinguished ranking member . I thank all who participated in the attempt to preserve this principle. I think that. in so doing. they have provided a victory for the Senate and its traditions.