Kit Bond

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet in executive session at 5 p.m. on Thursday, September 5, 1996, to consider certain pending military nominations.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, September 5, 1996, at 9:30 a.m. to hold an open hearing on intelligence matters.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, September 5, 1996, at 10:30 and 2 p.m.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Forests and Public Land Management of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be granted permission to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, September 5, 1996, for purposes of conducting a subcommittee hearing which is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. The purpose of this hearing is to consider S. 931, to authorize the construction of the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System and to authorize assistance to the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System, Inc., a nonprofit corporation, for the planning and construction of the water supply system, and for other purposes; S. 1564, to amend the Small Reclamation Projects Act of 1956 to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide loan guarantee for water supply, conservation, quality, and transmission projects, and for other purposes; S. 1565, to amend the Small Reclamation Projects Act of 1956 and to supplement the Federal Reclamation laws by providing for Federal cooperation in non-Federal projects and for participation by non-Federal agencies in Federal projects; S. 1649, to extend contracts between the Bureau of Reclamation and irrigation districts in Kansas and Nebraska, and for other purposes; S. 1719, to require the Secretary of the Interior to offer to sell to certain public agencies the indebtedness representing the remaining repayment balance of certain Bureau of Reclamation projects in Texas, and for other purposes; S. 1921, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to transfer certain facilities at the Minidoka project to the Burley Irrigation District; and S. 1986, the ``Umatilla River Basin Project Completion Act''; and S. 2015, ``To convey certain real property located within the Carlsbad Irrigation District'', and for other purposes.

Mr. BOND

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

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I think we are ready for third reading.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, before moving to third reading, I ask unanimous consent to modify amendment number 5159, adopted previously, to correct an inadvertent deletion, typographical error in one of the sections. Mr. President, this was the Stevens amendment. Inadvertently one paragraph was dropped. This corrects the typographical error.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I move that the Senate insist on its amendments and that it request a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes thereon, and that the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate.

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. This is a perfect example of why this country has a $5 trillion debt. On the basis of one study, one study which the author testified before the House we should not rely on, the minority leader wants to create on an appropriations bill a brand-new entitlement program which has not been heard in the authorizing committee, which is not based on sound science. If you believe sound science rather than emotion should be the basis of our action, then you could not support this proposal. But it is an effort to establish over the objections of the authorizing committee chairman an entitlement program on an appropriations bill, and it was for that reason I raised the point that this amendment is not germane. I ask that the Members support the argument that this is not germane, and I ask they vote no.

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Bennett amendment, No. 5188, previously adopted by the Senate, be modified by striking out the sum $755,573 and inserting therein $464,442, as shown in the revised amendment now sent to the desk.

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I think we have the basic agreement for a time on the Daschle amendment on the VA amendment. I propose that there be 4 hours equally divided on this amendment with one-half hour on the minority side allocated to Senator Byrd, that there be no second degrees, and at the end of that time a vote occur on or in relation to the amendment. Mr. DASCHLE addressed the Chair.

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

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, we have several more amendments that have come to us. We will take a few moments to discuss those. If my colleague has no further comments, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, we are waiting for somebody to offer an amendment. We have heard that people are on the way. We would like to get the amendments offered. We have a limited list. If there are any who have amendments on which a vote might be needed, we ask them to contact the floor and come forward. We would like to move forward. I hope we can get time agreements and finish up the bill this evening. But at this juncture we are depending upon the Members who wish to offer amendments. I invite any and all of them to come forward. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BOND. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. Madam President, I thank my ranking member for her very strong and supportive words. I heartily concur with them. I extend my particular thanks to the Senator from North Carolina who gave us a reality check and really brought back to our attention the fact that crime, lawlessness, and insecurity, fear for personal safety, is a grave problem that affects everybody who lives in many of these assisted housing projects. By targeting these funds for assistance for law enforcement agencies, I think the Helms amendment is going to go a long way toward improving safety and security for families and for the individuals in assisted housing. This is different from some of the programs that we already have. Many of the drug elimination grants are grants for a broad scale of activities. They are generally limited to Federal housing activities. This amendment says that the CDBG funds can be used not only for federally assisted multifamily housing developments but for other multifamily housing developments for low-income families supported by non-Federal Government entities or similar housing developments supported by nonprofit private sources. So this gives us an opportunity to provide assistance not just to a federally assisted housing program but to a State, a city, or a private not-for-profit entity with a multifamily-housing development. These are the people who are most at risk. These are the people who have the most to lose if a foothold for crime, for drug activities, gets into one of these developments. My colleague from Maryland points out a very important fact that a lot of people seem to overlook. It was Congress that said one strike and you are out. I think that kind of get tough with the people who have shown they do not deserve to receive taxpayer-supported housing assistance is a very large step in the right direction. I have talked to an awful lot of residents in my State who have expressed fear or concern for their public safety, and if we can tell them that if one of their neighbors is convicted of a crime of drug use that they are out, they will feel better. With the funds available under the Helms amendment to include extra policing and extra drug/law enforcement efforts, we can take another significant step toward ensuring that these developments and the people who live in them--the families, the individuals, the elderly in many instances who right now are often held hostage in their own apartments, their own homes--these people will be safer. Incidentally, we spoke yesterday about the repeated efforts that we have made in this subcommittee, in the authorizing committees, to let the local housing authorities designate some housing as elderly only, or some as disabled only, or some as mixed, because there have been grave problems all across the country--in many of those units, certainly some in my State--where there is a mixture of disabled and elderly in the same housing. The elderly are very fearful, in some instances because of criminal behavior. Along with the one-strike-you-are-out policy and the additional resources available under the Helms amendment, I think we are going to take some significant steps toward assuring these people of safety in their own homes. That, along with food and shelter is certainly one of the most basic and compelling needs we ought to provide to those of our citizens who need our assistance. I commend the Senator from North Carolina for giving us a boost, getting us started on this right track. I thank my colleague from Maryland who, as always, made improvements on it. I expect shortly we will either move to formal passage or adopt this amendment. I yield the floor.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, what is the pending business?

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I think we are ready to go to a rollcall vote.

Mr. BOND. But before I ask for the yeas and nays, I will advise my colleagues that while we have been at work here our colleague, Senator Abraham and his wife, Jane, are the proud parents of a healthy baby boy. We offer them our congratulations and our very best wishes. On the Helms amendment, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. Senator Leahy, I know you have been a long time supporter of the Clean Lakes Program, and that the program has funded valuable lake inventory and restoration activities in Vermont and around the country. While this bill does not fund a separate Clean Lakes Program I do continue to support the language included in the fiscal year 1996 Appropriations bill and again in the House appropriations bill for fiscal year 1997, clarifying that activities funded under the Clean Lakes Program should continue to be funded under the 319 program. robert s. kerr environmental research laboratory