Kit Bond

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that the injunction of secrecy be removed from the following treaty transmitted to the Senate on September 3, 1996, by the President of the United States: Taxation Agreement with Turkey. I further ask that the treaty be considered as having been read the first time; that it be referred, with accompanying papers, to the Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be printed; and that the President's message be printed in the Record.

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be deemed read the third time, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today it stand in adjournment until the hour of 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, September 5; further, that immediately following the prayer, the Journal of proceedings be deemed approved to date, the morning hour be deemed to have expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate then proceed under the order to the consideration of the military construction appropriations conference report.

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration. This amendment is offered on behalf of Senator Shelby. It has been cleared on both sides.

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

Mr. BOND. I do not believe this is controversial. It provides permissive authority to the Veterans' Administration to transfer lands to the city of Tuscaloosa, AL, for a recreational facility.

Mr. BOND. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. BOND. This change, after much intensive work, and extensive staff discussion and thought, changes the word ``marinas'' to ``yacht harbors,'' which I think satisfies the concerns that were raised in the discussion of the McCain amendment. I believe it is agreeable on both sides. As I stated in the discussion of it, this is just the beginning of what needs to be a major review of the limitations on disaster relief for recreational and landscape facilities, a part of the process that the FEMA IG has said must be undertaken. FEMA has agreed to undertake it, and we may be revisiting this in conference. Certainly we will work with the authorizing committees afterward to get a much better control over the expenditures of disaster relief money.

Mr. BOND. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I send to the desk a technical amendment and ask for its immediate consideration.

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

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, this amendment is a technical amendment. It is cleared on both sides. It simply deletes a provision that we carried in the bill when it was reported out of the Appropriations Committee at that time. The drinking water legislation had not been enacted. It obviously has now been enacted and signed into law. So we delete the provision, and with the enactment of the drinking water legislation, this language is no longer necessary.

Mr. BOND. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk on behalf of Senator Bennett and ask for its immediate consideration.

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

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, Senator Bennett has been a leader in this area in attempting to develop adequate oversight of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. He directs that the Comptroller General audit the operations to ensure that the office resource's contract authority are adequate, they are being used appropriately to ensure that the Federal National Mortgage Association, Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are adequately capitalized and operating safely.

Mr. BOND. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, the Senator from Maryland has been concerned and has been very active in bringing these matters to our attention. I do agree we will look at this very carefully prior to conference. We want to work with NASA to make sure that steps they are taking are, indeed, efficient, effective and could not cause any unnecessary dislocation or hardship. Since there are a number of colleagues who have expressed great interest in this, we will attempt to learn more about it prior to the conference. We strongly support the amendment in the current form, and urge its adoption.

Mr. BOND. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, let me add my thanks, also, to the Senator from Wyoming for allowing us to move past that particular amendment. We have worked very hard to avoid some of the controversies. We are not going to avoid all of them. But we did understand what he said and the concerns he has. We have heard others raise those concerns. We will work with him and other Members to try to resolve those concerns. We very much appreciate his consideration in withdrawing the amendment. fema audit of kauai county

Mr. BOND. As the Senator from Hawaii knows, I support efforts to improve controls on disaster relief expenditures. However, I am sympathetic to the concerns raised by the Senator. I understand that the county of Kauai and the State of Hawaii are concerned with a FEMA IG's audit report regarding damages caused by Hurricane Iniki, and I encourage FEMA to reach a resolution in which FEMA ensures that the county and State are reimbursed for all eligible costs resulting from the 1992 event. The committee also directs FEMA to provide its policy justifications and recommendations regarding this matter. Finally, I believe that FEMA's policies should do everything to encourage, not discourage, States for efforts to minimize future losses and reduce the expenditure of Federal funds, such as strong insurance requirements.

Mr. BOND. I appreciate the situation facing the Senator from Alaska. I know he also appreciates the situation of our committee. We in Congress have tried very hard this year to address difficult issues that arise over implementation of our environmental laws. America has made significant progress in improving environmental quality, but sometimes our efforts to protect health and the environment have the opposite effect. Unfortunately, it has become increasingly difficult and unwieldy to address each of these instances in appropriations legislation.

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar 513.

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, Senator Stevens has an amendment at the desk. I ask for its consideration.