Kit Bond

Mr. BOND

Mr. BOND. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I send to the desk an amendment by Senator Mikulski which provides for the Corporation National Service to refrain from disclosing any information. I ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. BOND. I thank my colleague from Maryland for her very thoughtful and well-crafted amendment. She has been regarded as really one of the greatest defenders of the concept of AmeriCorps national service. Nobody has been a stronger champion of volunteer service. I have been pleased to be a junior partner to her in this effort. She has it just right. The volunteers are wonderful. The purpose is wonderful. We have had more than a few bumps in the road in terms of how the program has been administered, but we have high hopes that the new administration in that agency, with the new head, the financial officer, the chairman, will be on the right track. I urge my colleagues to adopt this amendment.

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

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Nevada. We are working on some possible amendments from the Senator from Illinois. Also, Senator Mikulski has a major amendment. I would like to move very quickly to do some amendments that I believe will not require any extended discussion. First for myself, I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration

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

Mr. BOND. At the request of the administration, this amendment would increase funding for the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, OFHEO, for this year by $7.5 million. These funds are intended to strengthen OFHEO's examination, legal and human resources functions, and the fund's special investigation. The amendment includes an additional $10 million that is available only upon certification by the Secretary of the Treasury that there is an emergency need for additional funds. There is, I believe, a compelling need to reform the regulatory structure governing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. At a minimum, the senior management of OFHEO must be replaced, and replaced now. Senior management, in my view, has repeatedly failed to meet the most basic requirements of OFHEO's missions. For example, it took over 10 years for OFHEO to issue its risk-based capital standards, despite the fact that this is OFHEO's primary mission and key to its regulatory oversight of the GSEs. This failing became even more evident when OFHEO publicly praised Freddie Mac's management just days before Freddie Mac's management was removed for accounting irregularities. I applaud the work of the Banking Committee in the Senate and in the House, Senator Shelby, Congressman Baker, and the ranking members for making regulatory reform of OFHEO a priority. I look forward to working with them next year to help develop the right regulatory system.

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

Mr. BOND. I send to the desk an amendment on behalf of Senator Stevens relating to the Native American Housing Assistance and Determination Act.

Mr. BOND. I yield for any statement by the Senator from Illinois.

Mr. BOND. This is something we need to do throughout the system, and we need to have a better integration of the health care facilities of the active military and the Veterans Affairs. I commend the Senators from Illinois and hope this model can be adopted elsewhere.

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

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I send another amendment to the desk on behalf of Senator Murkowski relating to rural teacher housing, amending the Denali Commission Act to provide the ability of the Commission to make grants and loans to public school districts serving remote incorporated cities and unincorporated communities in Alaska.

Mr. BOND. This is carrying on our efforts to provide the best possible services to people in underserved areas of Alaska. I urge its adoption.

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

Mr. BOND. Mr. President, we are on the amendment, the emergency designation by my friend and colleague from Maryland. She seeks to add $3 billion to the vitally important State revolving funds that are so important to cleaning up our environment. I could not agree with her from my heart more strongly because this is an area of need. We have fought very hard to get our funding up to where it is. That is not enough. We have not been able to fund the National Science Foundation as we should. We had a major effort by the leadership of the full committee to get us the money that we need to get an additional $1.3 billion for veterans health care. Having said that, this, unfortunately, is far beyond the budget allocated to the committee. It is in conflict with the stated position of the OMB with respect to emergency designations. Therefore, it is with regret that out of necessity I note that section 502, House Concurrent Resolution 95, the fiscal year 2004 concurrent resolution on the budget, created a point of order against an emergency designation on nondefense spending. The amendment contains nondefense spending with an emergency designation; therefore, pursuant to section 502 of H. Con. Res. 95, the fiscal year 2004 concurrent resolution on the budget, I make a point of order against the emergency designation contained in the amendment.

Mr. BOND. I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. BOND. Parliamentary inquiry: Does the amendment fall without the emergency designation?

Mr. BOND. I make a point of order that this exceeds the budget allocation and, therefore, must fall.

Mr. BOND. Madam President, I have six amendments to offer.

Mr. BOND. Madam President, I have now heard from about five Members on the other side who have amendments on which we would have to have votes. If that is 20 minutes a vote, that would be 100 minutes at least.

Mr. BOND. Madam President, I am truly overwhelmed by the generosity of my good friend from Nevada, but regrettably I am not driving this bus. I believe there is a unanimous consent order that cannot be altered without talking to the leadership. I apologize to my friends. I would love to finish the bill, but now that I have the floor, I do have a number of amendments that have been cleared on both sides. Amendment No. 2180 to Amendment No. 2150

Mr. BOND. Madam President, I send an amendment to the desk on behalf of myself to direct the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to conduct and negotiate a rulemaking for purposes of changes to the formula governing the public housing operating fund. I ask for its immediate consideration.

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

Mr. BOND. Madam President, there are no objections on the other side.