Kit Bond

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. I thank the Chair. We reserve our time. Mrs. BOXER addressed the Chair.

Mr. BOND. I will be pleased to yield for a question from the Senator from Michigan.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. BOND. Before we begin the vote, I urge all my colleagues to support this measure. Senator Mikulski and I have worked long and hard. Obviously, we have not made everybody happy, but that is not in our power. We hope we have done well by all of the functions and all of the facilities and departments we serve. We hope our colleagues will be sullen but not rebellious and join us in passing a measure which has so many good things to provide for veterans, housing, environment, space, science, and emergency management. Again, I thank all my colleagues for their indulgence as we had to go through this unusual episode. I thank our staff, Jon Kamarck, Carolyn Apostolou, Cheh Kim, and Joe Norrell. On the minority side, Paul Carliner and Alexa Mitrakos have been outstanding. The most valuable ally I have on this measure is the very distinguished Senator from Maryland, Ms. Mikulski, to whom I am deeply grateful, and I appreciate her leadership and guidance.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, have the yeas and nays been ordered? I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. BOND. Thank you for your insight and comments on EPA's Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program. We are in agreement that EPA should implement the Program better. EPA should also pursue the validation and incorporation of non-animal testing as soon as practicable.

Mr. BOND. The Senator is correct.

Mr. BOND. The Senator is correct. The statement of the managers calling for EPA to properly consider the NAS report is not a change in the CERCLA remedy selection process, it is not a call for an EPA response to the report, and is not a direction to give the report more weight than it would otherwise receive.

Mr. BOND. The Senator is correct. The statement of the managers is not intended to limit EPA's authority to act on a plan that is finalized in accordance with the conditions set out.

Mr. BOND. Yes, Mr. President, the Senator is correct. This language does not modify section 6103 of TEA-21, nor is it intended to affect the Supreme Court's consideration of the litigation on these standards in any way.

Mr. BOND. The Senator from New Jersey is correct.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, the Senator from Rhode Island is correct. The conference report language on dredging and EPA review of the pending study by the National Academy of Sciences is not intended to delay progress towards cleaning up contamination at the Centredale Manor Restoration Project in Rhode Island. It is intended to ensure that EPA considers the findings of the NAS study in selecting remedies involving contaminated sediments.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I want to thank the distinguished Senators from Ohio and Michigan for highlighting the importance of the Great Waters program. We are pleased to recommend continuation of this program which is so vital to understanding the impact of airborne toxins on aquatic ecosystems. I assure the Senator that the intention of this bill is to restore sufficient funding to allow assessment of our progress in reducing the amount of toxic pollution entering the nation's waters. The Centredale Manor Restoration project

Mr. BOND. I agree with the Senator from Maryland and join in her interpretation of this language.

Mr. BOND. Yes, I think that the more than 7 months between now and May 1, 2001, is ample time to complete the demonstration project. I thank Senator Levin for his work on this important issue and for bringing it to the Subcommittee's attention.

Mr. BOND. I agree with the Senator on this point. The funds in this bill are not to be used by FEMA to play a decisional role in the issuance of individual Section 404 permits in the hundred year floodplain.

Mr. BOND. I agree with the Senator that FEMA should not have a regulatory role in the Section 404 program and that there is some lack of clarity in the new nationwide permit rule regarding FEMA's role. The report of the Committee that accompanies this legislation contains language requesting detailed information from FEMA regarding their implementation plans under this new rule. I can assure the Senator that we will address his concerns as we work with FEMA on their funding needs and requests.

Mr. BOND. I would be delighted to discuss this matter with my colleague from New Hampshire.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, on behalf of the leader, I ask unanimous consent that the next votes in this series be limited to 10 minutes each.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. BOND. I am familiar with the Section 404 program and agree with the Senator's observations.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, with respect to the arsenic rider, the National Academy of Sciences says somebody must act, but the EPA has not determined what action must be taken. Give them the full year that the Clean Water Act envisioned. We are doing this so they can conduct the process and not wind up spending their time in court. With respect to the ozone nonattainment designations, this is simply saying: Don't go out and put black eyes on communities when lower courts have said that the EPA doesn't have the authority to issue those designations. Wait until you find out whether they actually have the authority to go out and brand a community as being out of attainment with this particular standard until you find out whether it is lawful. I strongly urge my colleagues to join with me in opposing this amendment. Mr. President, I move to table amendment No. 4308, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I wish to follow up with some comments on the issues we have discussed today and express, again, my sincere appreciation to my colleague from Maryland for the tremendous cooperation and guidance and valuable assistance she has provided, and her staff, Paul Carliner and others. We have had a lot of difficulties in working out this bill under unusual circumstances, but we both extend our thanks to the chairman and the ranking member, Senator Stevens and Senator Byrd, for assisting us and for providing us with the resources we needed ultimately to put together a bill that meets the needs in so many important areas, from veterans to housing to the environment to space to science and emergency management. It has been a challenging time. The Senator from Massachusetts noted that we had made an effort with respect to the production of housing. Frankly, I believe there is nothing more important. I think we have finally gotten the attention of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which had heretofore focused solely on sending out new vouchers. They wanted new vouchers overall. And my staff did what I thought was a very helpful report--completed it a month or so ago--which pointed out in so many areas vouchers simply cannot be used. There is no place to use them. The nationwide average is about 19 percent. I think in Jersey City some 65 percent of the vouchers cannot be used. In St. Louis County, MO, 50 percent cannot be used. It is an empty promise, a hollow promise, when we give a needy family a certificate that says this will pay their rent, and they take it out someplace and find out they cannot rent anyplace with that voucher, with that section 8 certificate. That does not do much good. So we did fight hard for the production program. People have objected. I think they had legitimate concerns about the provisions. We agreed that these should be considered in an authorizing vehicle. We hope and we urge the Banking Committee next year to take up the problem of housing production. Let's get all these ideas out on the table. My office has a lot of good ideas; I am sure others do. Let's get them all out and work them out in authorizing language. How sweet it would be if we had an authorized piece of housing legislation that would make it unnecessary for us to include housing provisions in the appropriations bill. It might be a lot duller, but I believe the ranking member and I could still pass the appropriations bill. So I urge them to deal with those housing questions. We also thank our colleagues from the Environment and Public Works Committee for their helpful comments. As a member of that committee, I urge them to take a look at these many provisions which are included in our bill because of concerns over the direction we are moving in the environment. I would like to deal with them on the authorizing basis. I hope that we may do so in the future. Mr. President, I thank all our colleagues for their help. I reserve 2 minutes for the chairman of the committee at such time as he may choose for matters that he wishes to bring up.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I do not object. I amend that to ask unanimous consent that the remaining 20 minutes prior to the 12:30 vote be divided between the ranking member and myself.