Robert Byrd

Mr. BYRD

Mr. BYRD. Madam President, this amendment would add another $150 million for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, in addition to the $300 million already included in the bill. The additional LIHEAP funds are offset by an administrative cut in the Department of Defense to which Mr. Inouye has very ably addressed his remarks in opposition thereto. I am a strong supporter of LIHEAP; it helps many low-income households facing rising fuel costs, pay to heat their homes. However, both the House-passed and the Senate committee-reported version of this supplemental already recommend an additional $300 million for LIHEAP, which is double the amount recommended in the President's budget request. The committee-reported bill brings the fiscal year 2001 LIHEAP appropriation to $2 billion, and with the carryover funds from the prior year, funds available for LIHEAP would total $2.155 billion in fiscal year 2001. This compares to $1.844 billion in fiscal year 2000-- an increase of $311 billion. I commend the distinguished Senator from Minnesota. He makes a very compelling argument. Ordinarily I would want to support him in the position he has taken. However, the committee-reported supplemental, as I have already indicated, is a balanced bill; it is a fair bill. While I would like to provide additional resources for energy assistance to low-income people in the country, I believe the best way to quickly get supplemental LIHEAP funding to members in need is to approve the committee bill without this amendment so that the bill can be more immediately sent to conference and on to the President for his signature. If I have any time remaining, I yield it back.

Mr. BYRD. Would the distinguished Senator from Hawaii yield me 3 minutes?

Mr. BYRD. Madam President, I yield time in opposition to the distinguished Senator from Hawaii, Mr. Inouye.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, if the Senator would yield, in the words of Alexander Pope: ``Thou art my guide, philosopher, and friend.''

Mr. BYRD. I merely want to say, in explanation, that the Senator from Minnesota was about to proceed at my request. I did not know the state of the situation. I apologize for that. But I thank the Senator for yielding.

Mr. BYRD. Will the Senator yield before he puts in the quorum call?

Mr. BYRD

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum. I ask the time be equally charged against both sides.

Mr. BYRD

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

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, after Senator Stevens presents his statement, if he has no objection, I will present the managers' amendment. And at that time I will also ask unanimous consent that if that managers' amendment may be agreed to, that a second managers' amendment may be in order if necessary.

Mr. BYRD. Yes, I do make that unanimous consent request.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, today, the Senate is debating S. 1077, the Supplemental Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001. On June 1, 2001, President Bush asked Congress to consider a supplemental request for $6.5 billion, primarily for the Department of Defense. The draft supplemental bill that is before us totals $6.5 billion, not one dime above the President's request--not one thin dime above the President's request. It contains no emergency funding. The President has said that he will not support such emergency spending, so the Committee has not included any emergency designations in this bill. Unrequested items in the bill are offset. S. 1077 funds the President's request for additional defense spending for health care, for military pay and benefits, for the high costs of natural gas and other utilities, for increased military flying hours, and for other purposes. The bill includes a net increase of $5.54 billion for the Department of Defense and $291 million for defense- related programs of the Department of Energy. While the Appropriations Committee has approved most of the President's request for the Department of Defense, I stress the importance of accountability for these and future funds. Financial accountability remains one of the weakest links in the Defense Department's budget process. Just last month, the General Accounting Office reported that, of $1.1 billion earmarked for military spare parts in the fiscal year 1999 supplemental, only about $88 million could be tracked to the purchase of spare parts. The remaining $1 billion, or 92 percent of the appropriation, was transferred to operations and maintenance accounts, where the tracking process broke down. Perhaps a substantial portion of the money appropriated for spare parts was spent on spare parts; perhaps it was not. But, given the way the money was managed, nobody knows for sure and that, it seems to me, is an unacceptable circumstance, because one thing we do know for sure is that an adequate inventory of spare parts is a key component of readiness and the Defense Department apparently does not have an adequate inventory of spare parts. So we must do better in making sure these dollars for spare parts go for spare parts. The supplemental funding bill before us today includes another $30 million for spare parts, this time specifically for the Army. As former President Reagan would have said, here we go again. To forestall a repeat of the problems that arose in accounting for spare parts expenditures provided in the fiscal year 1999 supplemental, the committee, at my request, approved report language requiring the Secretary of Defense to follow the money and to provide Congress with a complete accounting of all supplemental funds appropriated for spare parts. The intent of this provision is to ensure that money appropriated by Congress for the purchase of spare parts does not get shifted into any other program. The supplemental appropriations bill, as reported by the Senate Appropriations Committee, provides $300 million for the Low Income Energy Assistance Program, an increase of $150 million above the President's request, to help our citizens cope with high energy costs. The bill also includes $161 million that was not requested for grants to local education agencies under the Education for the Disadvantaged Program in response to the most recent poverty and expenditure data. Also provided is $100 million as an initial United States contribution to a global trust fund to combat AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. In addition, $92 million requested by the President for the Coast Guard is included, as is $115.8 million requested for the Treasury Department for the cost of processing and mailing out the tax rebate checks. In addition, the bill includes $84 million for the Radiation Exposure Trust Fund to provide compensation to the victims of radiation exposure. We thank Senators Domenici and Bingaman for their leadership in assisting those who were involved in the mining of uranium ore and those who were downwind from nuclear weapons tests during the Cold War. The Senate Appropriations Committee's bill includes a number of offsets to pay for these additional items. Members should be on notice that, with passage of this bill, we are at the statutory cap for budget authority in Fiscal Year 2001. I say to colleagues on both sides of the aisle that any amendments that are offered will need to be offset. Exceeding the statutory cap could result in an across-the-board cut in all discretionary spending, both for defense programs and for non- defense programs. I urge Members to avoid the spectacle of a government-wide sequester by finding appropriate offsets for amendments. There is another reason to insist on offsets for any additional spending. During debate on the recent tax-cut bill, I argued that the tax cuts contained in that bill could return the Federal budget to the deficit ditch. I stressed that the tax cuts were based on highly suspect ten-year surplus estimates and that if those estimates proved illusory, the tax-cut bill would result in spending the Medicare surplus. Now, before the ink is even dry on the President's signature on that tax bill, we may find ourselves headed back into the deficit ditch and headed in the direction of cutting into the Medicare surplus. Our distinguished Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Kent Conrad, has prepared an analysis of the budget picture for Fiscal Year 2001, the current fiscal year, based on recent economic projections from the President's own Director of the National Economic Council, Lawrence Lindsey. The tax-cut bill reduced the surplus by $74 billion in Fiscal Year 2001 alone. As a result, Chairman Conrad is projecting a raid on the Medicare Trust Fund in Fiscal Year 2001 of $17 billion. Any efforts to increase spending in this bill without offsets will only make this problem worse. The President asserted in his Budget Blueprint that the authority of the Congress and the President to designate funding as an emergency has been abused. The Administration has indicated in its Statement of Administration Policy of June 19, 2001, that the President does not intend to designate the $473 million of emergency funding contained in the House-passed bill as emergency spending. The administration further states that, ``emergency supplemental appropriations should be limited to extremely rare events.'' The Senate supplemental bill contains no emergency designations. Nonetheless, I do believe that it is appropriate for Congress and the President to use the emergency authority from time to time in response to natural disasters and other truly unforseen events in the nature of disasters. As I mentioned earlier, this supplemental appropriations bill provides immediate relief through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, LIHEAP, for American families being hit hard by this energy crisis. Moreover, it includes funding to help educate our most needy students through the Education for the Disadvantaged Program. To help offset the cost of these two supplementals, a rescission of unallocated dislocated worker funds under the Workforce Investment Act was also included in the committee bill. The States have accumulated a large, unexpended balance of dislocated worker funds due to start-up delays with the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. These funds are estimated to exceed $600 million for the program year that ended on June 30, 2001. Although the rescission of dislocated worker funds will reduce the Fiscal Year 2001 appropriation from $1.59 billion to $1.37 billion, the Labor Department projects that the carryover funds from the previous program year will more than offset the rescission. Federal funding, including carryover balances, will actually increase by $423 million in program year 2001, or 25 percent above the level for program year 2000. Furthermore, report language was included in the supplemental appropriations bill expressing the Senate Appropriations Committee's support for the Workforce Investment Act, the dislocated worker program, and the committee's intent to carefully monitor the need for enhanced job-training services. Should it be determined that additional funds are needed, the Appropriations Committee will do all it can to ensure that sufficient funds are included in the Fiscal Year 2002 Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. Pursuant to the unanimous consent agreement, Senator Stevens and I will be offering a managers' amendment that contains a number of amendments that have been agreed to by both sides. One of the items in the managers' amendment is an amendment of mine to provide $3 million to hire additional USDA inspectors to promote the proper treatment of livestock. Another item would provide $20 million to help farmers in the Klamath Basin in Oregon and California. The cost of these and other provisions contained in the managers' amendment is fully offset. I have noted in the press recently some stories that greatly concern me. I believe the American people are concerned and are becoming increasingly sensitive to the treatment of animals. Reports of cruelty to animals through improper livestock production and slaughter practices have hit a nerve with the American people. The recent announcements by major food outlets, such as McDonalds, that they would only buy products from suppliers that could assure certain levels of humane animal treatment speak volumes to changes in public expectations. The managers' amendment will provide an additional $3 million through the USDA Office of the Secretary for activities across three department mission areas to protect and promote humane treatment of animals. Of the $3 million provided, no less than $1 million is directed to enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, under which standards for livestock production, laboratory animals, and so-called puppy mills are established. In addition, no less than $1 million is directed for activities under the Federal Meat Inspections Act, which will enhance humane treatment in the slaughter of animals in facilities under the jurisdiction of Federal inspection. Finally, an amount up to $500,000 is directed for the development and demonstration of technologies that can be used by producers, processors, and others to provide better care of animals at all stages of their lives. Mr. President, I shall, in conclusion, ask unanimous consent--but not right at this point--that certain newspaper articles which have been written with respect to the slaughter of animals, and the inhumane slaughter of animals, be printed in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks. This bill responds to the President's supplemental request for necessary defense spending, and it also provides funding for important domestic priorities. It is not one dime--not one thinly, much-worn dime--over the President's request. It is within the statutory spending limits. It is a responsible bill, and I urge Members to support it. Before yielding the floor, let me express my thanks to the distinguished senior Senator from Alaska, Mr. Stevens, who is the ranking member on the Appropriations Committee in the Senate. He is the former chairman of the committee with whom I had the great pleasure of serving for several years in that position. And I believe it is a blessing, indeed, for me, as I stand on this floor today to present this bill, to also be able to say that Senator Stevens and I stood shoulder to shoulder, and we shall continue to work shoulder to shoulder, as we moved forward with this bill. I cannot adequately express my appreciation to him and to his staff and to my own staff for the great work and the excellent cooperation that have been shown in connection with the preparation and presentation of this bill. I yield the floor.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be dispensed with.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I shall send to the desk a managers' amendment supported by Senator Stevens and myself. It consists of a package of amendments. These amendments have been cleared on both sides, and I know of no controversy concerning them. The first is an amendment by Senators Hutchison and Inhofe for storm damage repair at military facilities in Texas and Oklahoma. The next amendment is offered by Senators Torricelli and Corzine to convey surplus firefighting equipment in New Jersey. The next is an amendment by myself to make technical corrections in the energy and water chapter in title I. Next is an amendment for storm damage repair at military facilities in Texas and Oklahoma offered by Senators Hutchison and Inhofe. Next is an amendment by Senator Stevens to increase the authorization for the Bassett Army Hospital. Next is an amendment to provide $3 million for the U.S. Department of Agriculture for humane treatment of animals. That is my amendment. It is fully offset by a later amendment. Next is an amendment offered by Senators Grassley, Roberts, and Stevens to expedite rulemaking for crop insurance. Next is an amendment by Senators Feinstein and Boxer and Smith of Oregon and Wyden to provide $20 million for the Klamath Basin. Funding is offset in a later amendment. This will be followed by an amendment by myself in the agriculture chapter to provide an offset for the $3 million for humane treatment of animals. Next is an amendment to increase a rescission in the committee bill for the oil and gas guarantee program by $4.8 million. Next is an amendment to strike section 2101 of the committee bill dealing with the Oceans Commission. Next is an amendment to clarify the use of D.C. local funds to prevent the demolition by neglect of historic properties, followed by an amendment to redirect the expenditure of $250,000 within the Western Area Power Administration, followed by an amendment by Senator Burns to provide a transfer of $3 million for the Bureau of Land Management energy permitting activities. Next is an amendment by Senator Harkin to clarify the timing of the dislocated worker rescission in the committee bill. This will be followed by a technical change to a heading in the bill. Next is an amendment offered by Senator Domenici to make a technical date correction in the Perkins Vocational Education Act. Next is an amendment by myself and Senator Stevens to authorize the expenditure of $20 million previously appropriated, subject to authorization, to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for digital conversion by local stations. Next is an amendment to allow the Architect of the Capitol to make payments to Treasury for water and sewer services provided by the District of Columbia. These will be followed by amendments by Senators Murray and Stevens to, one, appropriate $16,800,000 to repair damage caused in Seattle by the Nisqually earthquake; two, appropriate $2 million for a joint U.S.- Canada commission dealing with connection of the Alaska Railroad to the North American system; and, three, make certain technical corrections. The funding is offset by rescissions. Next is an amendment by Senator Inouye to transfer $1 million from the Morris K. Udall Foundation to the Native Nations Institute. And finally an amendment to name a building in the State of Virginia for a late House colleague, Norm Sisisky, on behalf of Senator Warner. I ask unanimous consent that the amendments be considered en bloc and that the reading of the amendments be dispensed with.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the managers' amendment be agreed to and that it be considered as original text for the purpose of further amendment.

Mr. BYRD. Yes. I make that request in conjunction with the request pending.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the amendment was agreed to.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BYRD. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, this would be a very good time for all of our colleagues to offer their amendments if they have amendments. Senator Stevens and I are prepared to listen to Senators propose their amendments, and we are prepared to respond to their proposals. Much time could be saved if Senators will come to the floor and offer those amendments at the very earliest. Of course, if Senators don't have amendments, that will suit the two of us just as well. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BYRD

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, subject to change by the leadership, I ask unanimous consent that there now be a period for the transaction of morning business, not to extend beyond the hour of 6:30 p.m., and that Senators may be permitted to speak for not to exceed 10 minutes each.

Mr. BYRD

Mr. BYRD. I renew my request.

Mr. BYRD. Yes, I yield for that purpose.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in recess until the hour of 5 p.m. today.