Kit Bond

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, September 4, 1996, at 2 p.m. to hold a hearing on ``Teenage Drug Use: The Recent Upsurge.''

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 Wednesday, September 4, 1996, at 2 p.m. to hold a closed business meeting.

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I rise to propound a unanimous-consent request. We have I believe cleared this on both sides of the aisle. I ask unanimous consent that the vote occur on or in relation to amendment No. 5178 after 2 hours of debate and that the time be equally divided between Senator Bumpers and Senator Bond with 15 minutes of the time under my control allocated to Senator Hutchison, 10 minutes allocated to Senator Mikulski, 20 minutes allocated to Senator Glenn, and that no second-degree amendments or motions to refer be in order prior to the vote in relation to the Bumpers amendment.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I yield 20 minutes to Senator Glenn.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I would like to have Senator Mikulski recognized for her time, and would allocate 10 minutes to her.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I yield the time allocated to the Senator from Texas.

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask that the pending business be amendment No. 5176, the McCain amendment on the Federal Emergency Management Act.

Mr. BOND. That is correct.

Mr. BOND. It will be accepted. It has not yet been accepted.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator McCain, I send to the desk a modification. This modification makes one small change.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, may I inquire what is the pending business? Amendment No. 5167

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

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that the injunction of secrecy be removed from the following three treaties transmitted to the Senate on September 4, 1996, by the President of the United States: Taxation Convention with Austria; Taxation Protocol Amending Convention with Indonesia; and Taxation Convention with Luxembourg. I further ask that the treaties be considered as having been read the first time; that they be referred, with accompanying papers, to the Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be printed; and that the President's messages be printed in the Record.

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I rise today to pay a special tribute to Constitution Week and Citizenship Day. It is a great pleasure to recognize these two events as annual occasions that will continue to remind our Nation's future generations of the importance of constitutional government. In 1952, to commemorate the signing of the Constitution, the U.S. Congress authorized an annual Presidential proclamation designating September 17 as Citizenship Day. Later, on August 2, 1955, the Daughters of the American Revolution proposed and Congress approved a second resolution authorizing the President to designate annually the week of September 17-23 as Constitution Week. I believe that both of these occasions provide the American people with the opportunity to learn about and reflect upon the rights and priveleges of citizenship which are protected by the Constitution. This year, as we celebrate Constitution Week and Citizenship Day, I invite every citizen and institution to join in the national commemoration.

Mr. BOND

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

Mr. BOND

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

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I think the parliamentary situation in which we find ourselves is this particular provision dealing with the Bion Program in NASA was included in the House bill. The committee amendment struck the House prohibition on those activities. So, procedurally, the people who want to maintain the amendment will, after discussion, move to table the committee amendment, which is, I believe, the pending business. Is that correct?

Mr. BOND. Therefore, we can begin the discussion whenever the proponents wish. The tabling motion will come at the end of the discussion. We would like to make sure that everyone who wants to be heard on this issue has an opportunity. We do not yet have a time agreement. We talked about 2 hours last night. I would like to know from the proponents, and will be discussing with them, how much time we need. There are some on our side who wish to maintain the amendment. I hope we can wrap up the debate in fairly short order this morning and then move to the tabling motion. But I reserve my comments on the issue until those who are proponents have an opportunity to present their views.

Mr. BOND. I thank the ranking member for her very helpful suggestions. My view is we are now open for business for the next hour or so. We could have a very spirited debate on this important issue, and I hope then we will be in a position to resolve it. I ask my colleague from New Hampshire if he is ready to proceed. If so, I will yield the floor.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I thank the Chair, and I thank my friend from New Hampshire for giving me an opportunity to answer some of the very pertinent questions he has raised. The effect of this amendment would be to prohibit NASA from spending $6.8 million in fiscal year 1997 on an important, efficient, peer-reviewed, biomedical research program using rhesus monkeys flown on Russia's space vehicle. It doesn't change the total budget. It forces NASA to withdraw from a signed contract with Russia, override scientific peer review, and undermine the Animal Welfare Act, while at the same time handing animal rights extremists a victory. Now, there is no one in this body who has any greater aversion to Government waste and unnecessary spending than I do. I think my record as a Governor and in the Senate is one of opposing Government waste. I have challenged duplication of effort. I have pointed out time and time again where the Federal Government wastes money duplicating efforts and where States and local governments have duplicating authorities. I have fought many battles to cut out unnecessary activities. I have fought these battles where I know, from my experience as an ex-executive and as an administrator and as a legislator, where we can cut out waste. But there is also another area where I think we have made a lot of mistakes in this body, and that is in the area of science. I had a few courses in science, just enough to know that I am not a scientist. So when it comes to scientific matters, I think we ought to rely on the scientific community and get the best judgments from the scientists. If I were going to give a seat-of-the-pants science response, I might say something very simple like, ``We ought to be testing monkeys rather than human beings.'' That is a nonscientific response. But good science is at issue here. Are we going to substitute the scientific judgment of this body for the peer-reviewed science of the experts who have been brought together to say that we need this research? There are perhaps one or two Members of this body who are really qualified to make scientific judgments, who have some background in this area. I would be interested to hear from them. But for the most part, we are going to have to rely on what the scientists have told us. There are some in the opposing-Government-waste category who think that maybe, on the face of it, this is a wasteful activity. But they are plain wrong when you compare the science. Astronauts' bodies undergo major changes during long durations of space flight, changes which are debilitating on return to Earth. Some people can survive over a year in space. But we still do not know how to prevent the changes, or even if these changes are reversible. Let us see what science has said about it. Bion 11 and Bion 12 are outstanding values for the American taxpayer. Who is lobbying for this? Mr. President, I have a letter here of July 31, 1996 signed by Cornelius Pings, president, Association of American Universities, C. Peter Magrath, president, National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, and Jordan J. Cohen, president, Association of American Medical Colleges. There you have it. That is a pretty tough lobbying group, the Association of American Universities, the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, and the Association of American Medical Colleges. What do they say? The Bion missions are designed to study the biological effects of low gravity and the space radiation environment on the structure and function of individual physiological systems and the body as a whole. Bion 11 and 12 will focus specifically on the musculoskeletal system. While the loss of muscle and bone mass during space flight is well documented, neither the rate nor the specific mechanisms involved are well understood. Research on human subjects in this area is difficult because human crew members regularly practice countermeasures designed to nullify some of the adaptive responses to microgravity. While these actions may enhance crew performance and comfort, they also alter or mask the physiological symptoms being studied. Since tissue loss in the musculoskeletal system may be one of the critical factors limiting human space exploration, it is essential that we understand how and why these changes occur and how we might prevent them. Their conclusion is: We strongly support the use of merit review to determine how limited Federal funds may most productively be spent for scientific research. The Smith amendment would override scientific peer review . . . Let me repeat that. The Smith amendment would override scientific peer review and force NASA to withdraw from a signed contract with international partners. We urge you to oppose the amendment. Mr. President, that is who is lobbying for this provision. I ask unanimous consent that this letter be printed in the Record.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, the Administrator took notice of the concerns of those who objected to the Bion effort. He convened a high- level independent review program which completed its work on the Bion Task Force on July 1 with the unanimous recommendation to the NASA Advisory Council that NASA proceed with Bion 11 and 12 missions. He states in his letter of July 26: . . . the NASA Advisory Council unanimously approved the findings and recommendations of the Task Force and forwarded them to me. That is a letter of Daniel Goldin of July 26 of the NASA Advisory Council which is composed, among others, of professors at Stanford University, Cornell University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Florida A&M, DePaul University, California Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and a number of private sector organizations are involved. This NASA advisory council unanimously approved the recommendation of the Bion task force chaired by Ronald C. Merrell, Lampman professor and chairman, Department of Surgery of Yale University. That letter of July 2 to the advisory council says: We unanimously recommend that the Agency proceed with the Bion Project. In response to the three questions you asked us to address in reaching our recommendation we find the following: 1. The quality of the science proposed in the integrated protocol is excellent. It has been reviewed by peers in a very thorough and repeated manner and has withstood analysis for nearly a decade. The science has been thoughtfully integrated to accommodate an enormous matrix of material which is highly likely to yield meaningful results. 2. There are no known alternative means to achieve the objectives of the proposal. The data do not exist at present and there are no alternative species to test the hypotheses. Specifically, the use of Rhesus monkeys seems inevitable to achieve the objectives. 3. The animal care and welfare proposals meet all requirements and US legal standards. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the letter from Daniel C. Goldin and the attachments from the advisory council and the Bion task force be printed in the Record.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I do not think we need to say more about this. It is very clear that the scientific community says we need it. We can find out things on monkeys operating under the legal and ethical standards that we cannot find out when we send humans into space, and we are far better testing on monkeys under the ethical standards that are imposed what the impacts of weightlessness is. I cannot understand all of the scientific jargon in the letters. But I can read the headlines. And the headlines from these letters are from the scientific community supported by the Association of American Universities, the Land-Grant Colleges, and the Association of American Medical Colleges which say that we need this information. Are we to substitute our scientific judgment for theirs? I happen to think personally that would be the height of arrogance to say that we know more about science than the professionals, the great leading scientific minds and institutions of higher education around the country. That is why I hope, Mr. President, that an overwhelming bipartisan majority of this body will join me in rejecting the motion to table. I yield the floor. Mr. FEINGOLD addressed the Chair.

Mr. BOND. I thank my colleague from Maryland for pointing that out. I hope if there are others--particularly proponents of the motion to strike--they will come down by the time the Senator from Maryland is prepared to talk. I have asked her if she will conclude comments on this side. I think that the Senator from New Hampshire wants to close and then make the tabling motion. But I sincerely hope that we can wrap this up by noon. The Senator from South Carolina would like to speak for 3 minutes on this measure. I hope we can conclude this debate by noon, or at least by 12:30, and then have the tabling motion. We will discuss with the leadership when that vote will occur.

Mr. BOND. I thank the Senator from Maryland. I will defer to our leadership. I understand from the Senator from New Hampshire that there are no further speakers on his side. So we will hear from the speakers who are now lined up to speak in opposition to that tabling motion. Then we will, after they have spoken, ask the Senator from New Hampshire to proceed and make the tabling motion, perhaps, with a unanimous consent request that the vote be postponed until a time certain.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, if I might interrupt to propound a unanimous-consent request.