Lott promises busy schedule once trial ends

      Lott promises busy schedule once trial ends



            WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott today
            promised a --burst of activity"  after the impeachment trial to
impress on
          Americans that Congress is working on their behalf.

            Lott, in a breakfast speech to the u.S. Chamber of Commerce,
listed
            education, military pay and the year 2000 computer problem as
among the
            first areas the Senate will address when the trial is over.

            The Mississippi Republican said he thought the trial would be
over in
            --two weeks at the most,. and then we have work to do. We need to
get a
           burst of activity to show that we are attending to the people's
business. ' ,

          One of the first bills on the Senate floor, he said, would be
--education
          flexibility"  legislation sponsored by Sens. Bill Frist,
R-Tenn., and Ron
          Wyden, D-Ore., to extend a program giving state and local
governments
          more freedom to try innovative approaches to teaching.

            He said that before the end of February the Senate also hopes to
pass
            legislation raising the pay of military personnel. --We've got
to pay
          attention to the fact that morale is down, we are losing ground
in readiness
          and on pay and pensions we are shortchanging them and they are
getting
            out.   I   I




          Within 10 days after the trial --we're are going to make the
senators all
          come to the Senate chamber and sit down and we are going to get a
          report"   about the status of efforts to correct computer
glitches that could
          cause serious disruptions in basic services with the arrival of
the year
          2000.

          He said legislation is being prepared that will help the private
sector deal
          with the problem without facing a rash of lawsuits.

          The Senate also will take up bills on the Federal Aviation
Administration,
          juvenile crime, bankruptcy reform, financial services reform, a
second

,   -
                  round of changes in welfare programs and fast-track trade
        authority for
                  the president, Lott said.

                  He predicted that much time and debate will be spent working out
                  differences with the administration on such major issues as
        Social Security
                  reform, saving Medicare and protecting consumer rights from
        health care
                  abuses.

                   Lott said Republicans would press for an across-the-board tax
        rate cut
                   and would oppose administration plans to raise tobacco taxes or
        spend
                   the budget surplus on Medicare and other programs.

                   'Lott said it was unlikely that electricity deregulation will
        pass this year and
                     added that "the idea of this global warming treaty is going
        nowhere. ' ,

                  Copyright 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
        material may
                  not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.