Doug Bereuter

Mr. BEREUTER

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. (Mr. BEREUTER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this resolution provides long-delayed recognition to persons considered to be members of the Philippine Commonwealth Army veterans and members of the Special Philippine Scouts--by reason of service with the allied Armed Forces during World War II. On July 26, 1941, President Roosevelt issued a military order, pursuant to the Philippines Independence Act of 1934, calling members of the Philippine Commonwealth Army into the service of the United States forces of the Far East, under the command of Lt. Gen. Douglas MacArthur. For almost 4 years, over 100,000 Filipinos, of the Philippine Commonwealth Army fought alongside the allies to reclaim the Philippine Islands from Japan. Unfortunately, Congress rewarded this service by enacting the Rescission Act of 1946. This measure denied the members of the Philippine Commonwealth Army the honor of being recognized as veterans of the United States Armed Forces. A second group, the Special Philippine Scouts called ``New scouts'' who enlisted in the United States Armed Forces after October 6, 1945, primarily to perform occupation duty in the Pacific, have also never received official recognition. It is time to correct this injustice and to provide the official recognition long overdue for members of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and the Special Philippine Scouts that they valiantly earned for their service to the United States and the allied cause during World War II. This Member strongly urges his colleagues to vote for this resolution to correct this grave injustice and provides recognition to members of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and the members of the Special Philippine Scouts. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 191) to recognize and honor the Filipino World War II veterans for their defense of democratic ideals and their important contribution to the outcome of World War II.

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I want to not only recognize the leadership of the gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman] and thank the gentleman from New York [Mr. Engel], but to recognize that a lead cosponsor was the gentleman from California [Mr. Filner], whose remarks you heard, and thank the gentleman from Guam [Mr. Underwood] for his very salient remarks. Additionally, I wanted to mention that the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Stump], and the gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Montgomery], original cosponsors, along with the gentleman from New York [Mr. Solomon], the gentleman from California [Mr. Dornan], the gentleman from California [Mr. Campbell], the gentleman from California [Mr. Bilbray], the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Flanagan], the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Talent], the gentlewoman from California [Ms. Pelosi], the gentleman from Hawaii [Mr. Abercrombie], the gentlewoman from Hawaii [Mrs. Mink], the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Evans], the gentleman from California [Mr. Miller], and the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Gutierrez].

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BEREUTER

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, House Concurrent Resolution 155 notes our continuing concern about the situation in Kosova and its Albanian majority. As we have focused most of our attention on Bosnia, the people of Kosova have suffered under unlawful amendments to their Yugoslav constitution, police repression, employment discrimination, restricted education, expulsion of international observers and more. Indeed, many believe the seeds of the conflict that erupted in the former Yugoslavia were sown in Kosova. I hope all Members will join in sending a message to the Kosovan people that we have not forgotten them and that the United States Congress will continue to press for restoration of their civil and political rights. Let us adopt this resolution today. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 155) concerning human and political rights and in support of a resolution of the crisis in Kosova, as amended.

Mr. BEREUTER

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 3870.

Mr. BEREUTER

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 3846, the bill just passed.

Mr. BEREUTER

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. (Mr. BEREUTER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3870) to authorize the Agency for International Development to offer voluntary separation incentive payments to employees of that agency, as amended.

Mr. BEREUTER

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Chairman, this Member would like to commend the distinguished gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Myers], the Chairman of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee, and the distinguished gentleman from Alabama [Mr. Bevill], the Ranking Member of the subcommittee for their exceptional work in bringing this bill to the floor. Also, in light of the impending retirements of the distinguished Chairman and the distinguished Ranking Member, this Member would like to take this opportunity to express his sincere gratitude for the dedication, good judgment and wisdom they have consistently demonstrated. The entire country has benefited from their hard work and outstanding leadership on the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee. This Member certainly appreciates the distinguished Chairman's and the distinguished Ranking Member's far- sighted actions and equitable treatment which will continue to have a positive impact on America for many years to come. They have left a very impressive legacy. This Member recognizes that extremely tight budgetary constraints made the job of the subcommittee much more difficult this year. Therefore, the subcommittee is to be commended for its diligence in creating such a fiscally responsible bill. In light of these budgetary pressures, this Member would like to express his appreciation to the subcommittee and formally recognize that the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 1997 includes funding for several water projects that are of great importance to Nebraska. First, this Member is very pleased that the bill includes $400,000 to complete plans and specifications and initiate construction of the Pender, Nebraska Section 205 Logan Creek Project. There is an urgent need for this funding and this Member is particularly grateful to the Subcommittee for agreeing to this appropriations item during a time when the restrictions on available funding are exceedingly tight. The amount of money presently spent on the planning process to date is in excess of $350,000. The Village of Pender, a small municipality, and the Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District have expended approximately $160,000 of their own funds to date. The Village has expended an additional approximate amount of $25,000 on the costs of engineering, project coordination, and other related costs. Without the flood control project the community will remain at risk and will be stymied from undertaking future developments in their community due to FEMA flood plain development restrictions (60 percent of Pender is in the floodplain and 40 percent is in the floodway). The plan calls for right bank levees and flood walls with a retention pond for internal storm water during flood periods. The project will remove the entire community from the FEMA 100-year flood plain. This project is needed to protect life and property, eliminate or greatly reduce flood insurance costs, and allow community and housing development. Mr. Chairman, quite simply, at great expense the State and local entities involved in the project have held up their end of the agreement. If federal-local partnerships are to work, Federal commitments need to be met; therefore, this Member is pleased that this legislation will greatly facilitate the completion of this project. In addition, this bill provides additional funding for other flood- related projects of tremendous importance to residents of Nebraska's 1st Congressional District. Mr. Chairman, flooding in 1993 temporarily closed Interstate 80 and seriously threatened the Lincoln municipal water system which is located along the Platte River near Ashland, Nebraska. Therefore, this Member is extremely pleased the Committee agreed to continue funding for the Lower Platte River and Tributaries Flood Control Study. This study should help to formulate and develop feasible solutions which will alleviate future flood problems along the Lower Platte River and tributaries. Additionally, the bill provides $175,000 in continued funding for an ongoing floodplain study of the Antelope Creek which runs through the heart of Nebraska's capital city, Lincoln. The purpose of the study is to find a solution to multi-faceted problems involving the flood control and drainage problems in Antelope Creek as well as existing transportation and safety problems all within the context of broad land use issues. This Member continues to have a strong interest in this project since this Member was responsible for stimulating the City of Lincoln, the Lower Platte South Natural Resources District, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to work jointly and cooperatively with the Army Corps of Engineers to identify and effective flood control system for downtown Lincoln. Antelope Creek, which was originally a small meandering stream, became a straightened urban drainage channel as Lincoln grew and urbanized. Resulting erosion has deepened and widened the channel and created an unstable situation. A ten-foot by twenty-foot (height and width) closed underground conduit that was constructed between 1911 and 1916 now requires significant maintenance and major rehabilitation. A dangerous flood threat to adjacent public and private facilities exists. The goals of the study are to anticipate and provide for the control of flooding of Antelope Creek, map the floodway, evaluate the condition of the underground conduit, make recommendations for any necessary repair, suggest the appropriate limitations of neighborhood and UN-L city campus development within current defined boundaries, eliminate fragmentation of the city campus, minimize vehicle/pedestrian/bicycle conflicts while providing adequate capacity, and improve bikeway and pedestrian systems. Unfortunately, this legislation includes a significant reduction in funding for the Missouri River Mitigation Project. Despite the importance and effectiveness of this project, the Administration's FY97 budget called for drastic reductions in its funding. The FY96 appropriations measure provided $5.7 million for this project, but the Administration's budget slashed funding in FY97 to $1.6 million with the Omaha Corps District receiving only $100,000. Last year the Omaha District received $3.7 million for mitigation activities. This Member believes that funding at last year's level is fully justified. This funding is needed to restore fish and wildlife habitat lost due to the federally sponsored channelization and stabilization projects of the Pick-Sloan era. The islands, wetlands, and flat floodplains needed to support the wildlife and waterfowl that once lived along the river are gone. An estimated 475,000 acres of habitat in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, and Kansas have been lost. Today's fishery resources are estimated to be only one-fifth of those which existed in pre- development days. The Missouri River Mitigation Project addresses fish and wildlife habitat concerns much more effectively than the Corps' overwhelmingly unpopular and ill-conceived proposed changes to the Missouri River Master Manual. Although the Corps' proposed plan was designed to improve fish and wildlife habitat, these environmental issues are already being addressed by the Missouri River Mitigation Project. In 1986 the Congress authorized over $50 million to fund the Missouri River Mitigation Project to restore fish and wildlife habitat lost due to the construction of structures to implement the Pick-Sloan plan. This Member is pleased, however, that the bill provides $200,000 for operation and maintenance and $100,000 for construction of the Missouri National Recreational River Project. This project addresses a serious problem in protecting the river banks from the extraordinary and excessive erosion rates caused by the sporadic and varying releases from the Gavins Point Dam. These erosion rates are a result of previous work on the river by the Federal Government. Finally, Mr. Speaker, this Member recognizes that H.R. 3816 also provides funding for a Bureau of Reclamation assessment of Nebraska's water supply ($100,000) as well as funding for Army Corps projects in Nebraska at the following sites: Harlan County Lake; Papillion Creek and Tributaries; Gavins Point Dam, Lewis and Clark Lake; and Salt Creek and Tributaries. Again, Mr. Chairman, this Member commends the distinguished gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Myers], the chairman of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee, and the distinguished gentleman from Alabama [Mr. Bevill], the ranking member of the subcommittee for their long-standing support of projects which are important to Nebraska and the 1st Congressional District, as well as to the people living in the Missouri River Basin.

Mr. BEREUTER

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BEREUTER. I thank my colleague, my neighbor, my friend for yielding. Mr. Chairman, I would say to the gentleman quite candidly and with full commitment, I am not interested in delaying the revision of the master manual. All I want to assure is what the citizens downstream from the gentleman have said. That is, that the spring rise only accentuates the normal kind of flooding we too often have from snow melt and from excessively heavy rains during that period of time. I want to see the revision myself. I believe it is true that my amendment should not have any impact upon the upstate Missouri--Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota--States. I am committed to seeing the manual revised and something hopefully that can please all the States.

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. BEREUTER. I yield to the gentleman from Indiana.

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. I think it does no damage to my upstream friends from the Dakotas. I urge the adoption of the amendment.

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Chairman, it is.

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, this is a straightforward amendment which would simply prevent the Army Corps of Engineers from revising the Missouri River master water control manual in such a way that it would increase the likelihood of springtime flooding. This is the same amendment which was accepted on the House floor last year, exactly the same language, during consideration of the energy and water appropriation bill. This common-sense amendment is needed to ensure that the Corps does not repeat its previous mistake, a proposal which would have devastated farms, businesses, landowners in countless communities along the Missouri River. In 1994 the Corps issued its proposed changes to the master manual and made a colossal blunder by proposing to drastically increase the flow and water level of the Missouri River during the months of April, May, and June. These obviously are the very months when States such as Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri are already most vulnerable to flooding due to snow melt and heavy rainfall. And again we saw that this year. It is bad enough that farmers and other landowners along the river have to contend with natural disasters. They should not be forced to deal with the kind of manmade disasters which would have been caused by the Corps' proposal. The floods and heavy spring rains of recent years, again this year, offer clear and convincing proof that the proposal was seriously flawed. Mr. Chairman, at a series of two dozen hearings throughout the Missouri River Basin region, hundreds and hundreds of citizens expressed their very strong, even vociferous and nearly unanimous opposition to a number of provisions in the Corps' preferred alternative. One of the most detested provisions was the increased spring rise. Following this massive opposition to the proposed changes, the Corps acknowledged the flaws in its original proposal and expressed a willingness to reevaluate the issue. However, this Member believes this common-sense amendment is needed to make absolutely certain that the Corps does not move away from their commitment and repeat the mistake of the manual.

Mr. BEREUTER

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member is concerned that H.R. 1627 did not include even a modified version of a provision that was included in the original House Agriculture Committee bill per this Member's request, which was subsequently deleted from this bill. This Member has severe reservations and regrets and faults the administration--specifically Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Carol Browner, Department of Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, and Department of the Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt--which in a letter to the House Agriculture Committee chairman, the distinguished gentleman from Kansas [Mr. Roberts], attempted to intimidate the committee into deleting this Member's modified provision. This Member protested this deletion strenuously and by all legitimate means. Specifically, this Member's provision would have allowed Indian tribes to enforce FIFRA regulations for the entire area of a reservation only if at least 50 percent of the lands in the reservation are owned by the tribe or Indians. This provision is needed to address legitimate concerns raised by non-Indian landowners who own land within reservation boundaries. Non-Indians own more than one-half of the land in two Indian reservations within this Member's congressional district. In fact on one reservation in this Member's district, non-Indians won about 84 percent of the land. This provision is very important to constituents in this Member's district to assure that the relations between members of Indian tribes and non-Indians owning land within reservation boundaries are not further exacerbated. Where we have more than one-half of the reservation owned by non- Indians--and the one case mentioned previously where about 84 percent is owned by non-Indians--it is reasonable that non-Indian lands have FIFRA enforcement by State government just as States enforce FIFRA for the rest of the State. That is what the language suggested by this Member would have done. The way it is now, non-Indian property owners will have enforcement conducted by a governmental body--the tribal council--for which they have absolutely no role in electing. Many of the Member's constituents have made it absolutely clear that this regulation of private property by officials employed by a tribal government will exacerbate Indian/non-Indian relations. This Member's language would have avoided that problem by preserving the tribal council's role in enforcing FIFRA regulation on Indian owned or tribal lands on reservations if they own more than 50 percent of the reservation land. Mr. Speaker, nevertheless, the critical advances in this legislation, especially as they relate to the Delaney clause, argue overwhelmingly for the support of this legislation.

Mr. BEREUTER

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguised chairman, the gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman], for yielding to me. Earlier Croatia was mentioned as a possible addition to the names of the countries that might eventually qualify for the assistance program we are authorizing by this resolutions when they moved to a greater degree of democracy and respect for human rights. That certainly is possible. Slovenia was also mentioned as a country that ought to be considered, and I fully agree that it ought to be considered for the assistance program. Something that has not been mentioned is the recent improvements in democracy, economic reform, and human rights that has taken place in that nation which was formerly part of Yugoslavia, now called the Former Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia [FYROM]. Its progress and potential for advancement into the front ranks for consideration for NATO membership are also to be recognized. I thank the gentleman for recognizing me for this purpose.

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman's comments gives us an opportunity to recognize that we are not barring membership for any country through this resolution, but we are providing an infrastructure and training assistance program, a modest one, by authorizing it as a part of this proposed act. I thank the gentleman for giving me a chance to remind our colleagues that we are not dictating NATO membership for any country, only facilitating assistance to these three countries that seem to have done an outstanding job in preparing for NATO membership. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.

Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?