Sam Brownback

Mr. BROWNBACK

Mr. BROWNBACK. I yield the floor. Mr. LEAHY addressed the Chair.

Mr. BROWNBACK. I thank the chairman very much. Amendment No. 892

Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I rise today to offer an amendment to this bill that would require the Clinton administration to improve the manner in which the State Department and our intelligence agencies monitor and publicize cases of religious persecution and human rights abuses. Persecution of people of faith has been on the rise around the world. Governments throughout the world have been denying people the fundamental right of freedom of religion, a fundamental right upon which this country was built. As a matter of policy, the United States should be doing all it can to bring religious persecution and other human rights violations to an end. One problem we face, however, is that we do not have an accurate accounting of the extent to which many governments persecute people of faith. We do not know the number of prisoners nor do we even have all the names of those prisoners. What we need is an accurate accounting of religious persecution. We need the administration to devote greater resources to monitoring religious persecution and to informing the Congress, as well as the American people, about such instances. We also need to encourage a formal dialog with countries throughout the world to bring religious persecution to an end. Specifically, my amendment would do the following: Require a religious persecution report modeled on the State Department human rights report; require the establishment of a prison information registry; require the President to devote greater intelligence resources to gathering information regarding human rights abuses and acts of religious persecution; and encourage the administration to work with other nations to establish a Commission on Security and Cooperation in Asia which would be modeled after the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Mr. President, the U.S. Government has a responsibility to provide the public a better understanding of the extent to which nations violate this basic right of their citizens. My amendment would move us in this direction. I ask that my amendment be adopted.

Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I call up my amendment numbered 892.

Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce an amendment to S. 955. This amendment deals with the United States policy for the south Caucasus and Central Asia, an area of the world that was once crisscrossed by the ancient Silk Road, which includes the countries--I have a map here for Senators to be able to look at--of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. This amendment deals with these countries. These countries are very vital and important countries at a crossroads in their development. They are, as I mentioned, along the ancient Silk Road, if people can imagine and conjure up those images of that area of the world and the importance it has had in the past and the importance it now has and will continue to have for U.S. policy. We have vital political, social and economic interests there, and they need to be acted on before it is too late. They are independent for the first time in almost a century. They are located at the juncture of many of today's major world forces, and they are all rich in natural resources. And they are looking west for the first time. They are emerging after nearly a century of being plundered by a Communist regime. While actively taking out their resources, the Soviets put little back. These countries now find themselves free to govern themselves. Again, as I stated earlier, they are looking west. The very fact that they have had little experience with independence, and that their economies are essentially starting from scratch, leaves them in a precarious situation, which is all the more precarious because of their geographic location. Consider this: They are placed between the empire from which they recently declared independence and an extremist Islamic regime to the south--both of which have a strong interest in exerting economic and political pressure upon them. All of the Silk Road countries are currently seeking U.S. investment and encouragement, and are looking to us to participate actively in working out regional political, economic and strategic cooperation. Mr. President, we should be actively responding to their appeals. We have now the opportunity to spread freedom and democratic ideals in a region historically dominated by Russia and Iran. The doors are open to promote institutions of democratic government and create the conditions for the growth of pluralistic societies and religious tolerance. These countries are a major force in containing the spread northward of anti- Western Islamic extremism. So far, these nations remain largely open to us. I would also like to point out something else that is important about this region: that is the Caspian Sea overlapping the territory of the South Caucasus and Central Asia that is rich in natural resources as I mentioned earlier. I have another chart here I would like to show you to illustrate the energy resources which exist in the Caspian Sea area right here. If people would look at this chart, this is ``Worldwide Undiscovered Resource Potential of Oil and Gas''. You have the Middle East and Russia, the two leaders, and then the Caspian Sea area is potentially the third largest in the world, some say up to $4 trillion worth of oil and gas in this region, creating significant interest for economic ties and investments as well. The United States should do everything possible to promote the sovereignty and independence as well as encourage solid diplomatic and economic cooperation between these nations. In order to do that, we need to take a number of positive steps. No. 1, we should be strong and active in helping resolve local conflicts. No. 2, we should be providing economic assistance to provide positive incentives for international private investment and increased trade. No. 3, we should be assisting in the development of the infrastructure necessary for communication, transportation, energy and trade on an East-West access. No. 4, we should be providing assistance to help fight the scourge of narcotics trafficking, weapons of mass destruction, organized crime and No. 5, perhaps the most important of all, we should be supplying all the assistance possible to strengthen democracy and tolerance and the development of civil society. These are the best ways to remain sure that these countries will grow in independence and move strongly toward open and free government. Our time to focus on this region is now, to keep them from spreading into an area or being infiltrated by the spread of the anti-Western fundamentalism that is in this region of the world. That is why I urge my colleagues to adopt this amendment. I believe it has been worked out with both the majority and the minority staff to agree to this amendment. I ask that the amendment be agreed to. Mr. President, I urge its adoption.

Mr. BROWNBACK. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 884, as modified

Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I would like to call up amendment 884 and send a modification to the desk.

Mr. BROWNBACK

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

Mr. BROWNBACK. That is correct.

Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendments be set aside so I can call up amendment No. 892.

Mr. BROWNBACK. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Amendment No. 892 (Purpose: To express the sense of the Senate regarding the targeting of assistance to support the economic and political independence of the countries of the South Caucasus and Central Asia)

Mr. BROWNBACK. Not on this amendment. I have a separate amendment I want to propose that the managers have agreed to. It is a sense-of-the- Senate resolution.

Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, this will just take a minute or two, because the managers have agreed to this particular amendment. I know Senator Smith has a very important amendment that we are going to be voting on, which I support. I think he is in an absolute right position to be stating in this amendment what our aid should be based on. I rise today to bring to the Senate's attention in a sense-of-the- Senate resolution another strategic important region of the world that is also being impacted by where it sits locationwise. And these are countries that are transversed by the Old Silk Road.

Mr. BROWNBACK

Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I rise in support of the Feingold amendment, of which I am a cosponsor, and associate myself with the Senator's comments. I would like to note first that the Senator from Colorado [Mr. Campbell], has done an outstanding job in representing his State in the work he has done on this particular project, and I realize I come late to this project and this proposal that he has worked on for a number of years. But as a new Senator looking at it, I have some questions about this particular project and this particular proposal, and that is why I join in this amendment. I know it has gone on for some period of time, and this has been a fight that has existed for some long period of time. But I think there are some questions that need to be answered. I think we have now started to take some of the tentative steps toward resolving those issues. No. 1, this ought to be scrutinized by the authorizing committee rather than going through the appropriations process. That seems to be the legitimate way to go for us. It should first and foremost proceed through the authorizing committee, and this will give us a chance to better develop an alternative plan. There are significant environmental questions regarding the issue of this particular project. Those have been in existence for some period of time, and they are the product of a lot of these studies that have been going on, and yet they still remain. There is a great deal of division about the impact on the environment, the impact on endangered species. That is why it seems to me, again, it is wise to go back to the authorizing committee, to have an authorization process to take place with this particular bill. That is what this amendment does. It directs the Department of Interior to take certain steps toward what will lead to a legally binding agreement that will secure the tribes' water rights and will enable us to make certain that our tax dollars are spent wisely and we keep any environmental impacts small. So I agree with the Senator from Wisconsin that while these are very difficult things to do because there is a lot at stake in what various people want for their particular States, for their particular areas, in looking at these projects they may well at the end of the day prove to be very wise projects. This one, I think, has proceeded in the wrong fashion. It needs to go back to the authorizing committee. I think the amendment we have put forward here has some strong bipartisan support. It is a sensible project. It does not kill the project. It simply says let us go back and take it through the right and appropriate steps. I think that is prudent in answering the difficult questions that exist. So I rise in support of this amendment and urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this amendment. Mr. CAMPBELL addressed the Chair.

Mr. BROWNBACK

Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for a period of morning business not to exceed 10 minutes.

Mr. BROWNBACK

Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order.

Mr. BROWNBACK

Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed; that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; and that any statements relating to the bill be placed at the appropriate place in the Record.

Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 1901, which was received from the House.

Mr. BROWNBACK

Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, on behalf of the majority leader, I announce that it is his intention to complete action on the defense authorization bill this week. Senators can expect late-night sessions with rollcall votes into the evening in order to finish this important legislation this week.

Mr. BROWNBACK

Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent that the cloture vote be postponed at a time to be determined by the majority leader, after consultation with the Democratic leader.

Mr. BROWNBACK

Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, tomorrow morning, the Senate will resume consideration of the defense authorization bill and immediately begin 90 minutes of debate on the Grams second-degree amendment to the Cochran amendment. Following that vote, the Senate will continue debating amendments with rollcall votes occurring throughout the day. The majority leader has stated that it is his intention to assess the progress on the bill following these votes in order to determine if and when the cloture vote will occur.

Mr. BROWNBACK. 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., Thursday, July 10. I further ask unanimous consent that on Thursday, immediately following the prayer, the routine requests through the morning hour be granted and the Senate immediately resume consideration of S. 936, the defense authorization bill.

Mr. BROWNBACK

Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to; that the preamble be agreed to; that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; and that any statements relating to the resolution appear at the appropriate place in the Record.

Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Senate Resolution 107, submitted earlier today by Senators Lott and Daschle.

Mr. BROWNBACK

Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, as amended; that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; and that any statements relating to the bill appear at the appropriate place in the Record.