Trent Lott: “if I could turn to the military construction appropriations conference report, that is a very good bill that passed way…”

“if I could turn to the military construction appropriations conference report, that is a very good bill that passed way back in May, I think it was May 18. This important military construction conference report passed the Senate under the leadership of Senator Conrad Burns, but from the very beginning, it was a bill that did have some emergency provisions attached to it. We did have the funds for the costs, the money that has been already spent for the defense for Kosovo, and some additional funds for costs associated with that. Over a period now of almost 6 weeks, there has been a process underway between the House and the Senate on both sides of the aisle to get an agreement on this conference report that included a title II that had the emergency funds for the Kosovo situation, for the Colombia drug war, and also for emergencies associated with Hurricane Floyd, the fires, and other issues. During the process of the conference, other issues were added. Some issues that were in were taken out. That is the way a conference works. I must confess that I didn't get a look at the final product myself until this morning. I think we actually had access to it last night. We did get access to it. Senators had an opportunity to review that. If points of order need to be made, they can be made. But this is for military construction and for emergencies. We need to get this done. It is already late.”