Robert Byrd

Mr. BYRD

Mr. BYRD. I thank the Senator. Mr. President, the distinguished ranking member, Mr. Levin, knew my position on this matter, but he accommodated me by suggesting that I might proceed at this time while he is away from his chair. I thank the distinguished Senator from Texas for yielding time to me. I am strongly opposed to the inclusion of section 806 in the fiscal year 2000 Defense authorization bill. This section would substantially undermine Federal Prison Industries--the Bureau of Prisons' most important skill-developing program for inmates. I believe that this matter should not be included in the defense authorization bill. It is a matter that is being considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee. I am advised that the Criminal Justice Oversight Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by the senior Senator from South Carolina, Mr. Thurmond, conducted an oversight hearing on this matter on May 24--yesterday. The Attorney General of the United States, in a letter addressed to the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has indicated that she is concerned about this legislative provision. The Attorney General's letter asserts that the legislative provision would have a negative impact on Federal Prison Industries, . . . which is the Bureau of Prisons' most important, efficient, and cost-effective tool for managing inmates and for preparing them to be productive, law-abiding citizens upon release from prison. I am also advised that the administration has taken a strong position in opposition to section 806 because of the harm it would do to the FPI program, which is fundamental to the security in Federal prisons. The administration believes that to ensure Federal inmates are employed in sufficient numbers, the current mandatory source requirement should not be altered until an effective alternative program is designed and put into place. Mr. President, in the State of West Virginia there are three Federal prisons--the Federal prison at Alderson, the Robert C. Byrd Federal Correctional Institution at Beckley, and the Robert F. Kennedy Prison at Morgantown. And each of these has an FPI operation. At these three Federal prisons alone, the Bureau of Prisons is able to keep more than 500 inmates productively occupied, and employ nearly 40 staff at no cost to the taxpayer. How about that! That sounds like a good deal to me. Mr. President, a somewhat similar amendment was offered to the Defense Authorization Bill for Fiscal Year 1998. The Senate instead adopted a substitute amendment offered by the distinguished senior Senator from Texas (Mr. Gramm), which required a joint study by the Department of Defense and FPI on this matter. That study has recently been completed and transmitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee. The joint study made several recommendations that could be accomplished within existing authority, without requiring legislative action. In summary, I am opposed to section 806 to the Defense authorization bill because it is unwarranted, and not only is it unwarranted, but it would have a debilitating effect on Federal Prisons Industries. This is a matter within the jurisdiction of the Senate Judiciary Committee and should not be included in this bill. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Statement of Administration Position on Section 806 of the Defense authorization bill be printed in the Record at this point.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I am authorized by Senator Levin to speak at this time. But I am going to ask Mr. Gramm if he will yield me some time.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I yield the remainder of my 10 minutes that was yielded to me from that side to Mr. Hatch, if I may ask unanimous consent.

Mr. BYRD

Mr. BYRD. Yes. Let me see how much time I have left. I have 45 minutes promised.

Mr. BYRD. I yield an additional minute.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, if I might just confer. How much time does the Senator from California wish?

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished and very able senior Senator from the State of California, which is larger than all the nations of the globe except, how many?

Mr. BYRD. Are there six nations that are larger than California?

Mr. BYRD. I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished Senator from Connecticut, Mr. Dodd.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, the distinguished Senator from North Carolina, Mr. Helms, has a very distinguished guest whom he wishes to present. I therefore yield for that purpose. I ask unanimous consent that no time be charged to the remaining speakers because of that fact, and I ask unanimous consent following the introduction by Senator Helms, there be a recess of 3 minutes so Senators may personally greet the distinguished guest.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I yield 15 minutes to the Senator.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, how much time does the Senator wish?

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished Senator from Alaska, the senior Senator, Mr. Ted Stevens, the manager of the bill and the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. He is my longtime friend. I have served many, many years in the Senate and on the Appropriations Committee and on various subcommittees of the Appropriations Committee with Senator Stevens. He was fair and he was dedicated to the positions of the Senate throughout the discussions on the supplemental appropriations bill when it was in conference with the other body. He stood up for the Senate's positions, and he was remarkably effective. I am proud to associate myself with him. First of all, he is a gentleman. His word is his bond. His handshake is his bond. I like that. He is not so partisan that partisanship overrides everything else. We are all partisan here to an extent, but to some of us party is not everything, party is not even the top thing. Party is important, but there are other things even more important. Mr. President, I intend to support this emergency supplemental conference report accompanying H.R. 1141. It is the result of a long and difficult conference with the House of Representatives. There are a number of matters in this agreement that I do not support, and there is one provision which is not included in the agreement but which I believe was as deserving as any emergency contained in the conference agreement. That provision is the Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee Program. Senators will recall that the Senate substitute to H.R. 1141 included the amendment that I offered to establish a 2-year $1 billion loan guarantee program to assist the more than 10,000 U.S. steelworkers who have already lost their jobs as a result of a huge influx of cheap and illegally dumped steel during 1998, last year. This matter had strong support by the Senate conferees during the House-Senate conference. After a thorough discussion of the Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee Program, the House conferees voted to accept this Senate provision. Not all of the House conferees. All the House Democratic conferees and three of the Republican conferees voted to accept this provision. However, that vote was subsequently overturned the next day, and the Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee Program remained a matter of contention until the very end of the conference. In order to expedite the completion of this very important emergency bill, not everything which I support in the Senate, but I am going to support the bill, and because of the need to get it to the President as quickly as possible, I agreed to drop the Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee Program in return for a commitment from the House and Senate congressional leadership that this loan guarantee provision would be brought up as a freestanding emergency appropriations bill in the very near future. Pursuant to that agreement, I hope and expect that such an appropriations bill will be brought up in the Senate prior to the upcoming Memorial Day recess. I hope, because it is vitally important, that we act expeditiously, this being a real emergency. The plight of many of the steel companies in this country is serious. The Speaker of the House has agreed to permit a motion to go to conference within 1 week of receiving the Senate-passed bill and has agreed to allow normal appropriations conferees to be appointed and to permit the resulting conference report to be brought up before the Houses. Subsequent to Senate adoption of the substitute on H.R. 1141, the House Appropriations Committee marked up a second emergency supplemental appropriations bill to provide emergency funding principally to support the military operations, refugee relief, and humanitarian assistance relating to the conflict in Kosovo and for military operations in Southwest Asia for fiscal year 1999. In light of the House action in relation to the Kosovo supplemental, and in hopes of being able to move both the Central American emergency spending bill, H.R. 1141, as well as the emergency funding for Kosovo, it was determined by the joint leadership that the Kosovo funding should be taken up directly by the House-Senate conferees on H.R. 1141. As a consequence, the Senate Appropriations Committee never marked up the funding measure for Kosovo, nor did the Senate have an opportunity to debate that measure at all--no opportunity to amend it, no opportunity to debate it, no opportunity to vote it up or down. In other words, the first time the Kosovo funding has been before the Senate is today in the form of this conference agreement on H.R. 1141. I generally do not support the handling of appropriations matters in a manner that does not allow the Senate to work its will on each of the issues in appropriations bills, but in this instance, I agreed to allow this procedure to be followed because of the importance of the matters contained in this particular conference report. This conference agreement contains appropriations totaling some $15 billion, of which $10.9 billion is for the support of our men and women in uniform in Kosovo and Southwest Asia and $1.1 billion is for Kosovo- related humanitarian assistance. These amounts represent an increase of $6 billion--$6 billion--above the President's request for Kosovo- related appropriations. The $6 billion in emergency funding above the President's request contains a congressional emergency designation, but will only be available for obligation if the President agrees with that emergency designation, only if the President also requests these funds and declares them emergency spending. In addition to the $12 billion for our Kosovo-related expenditures, both in military and humanitarian assistance, the pending measure also includes $574 million in emergency agriculture assistance programs, some $420 million higher than the administration's request. For the victims of Hurricane Mitch in Central America and the Caribbean, the conference agreement includes $983 million, of which $216 million is to replenish Department of Justice operation and maintenance accounts which were used to provide immediate relief to the hurricane victims. Finally, the agreement contains $900 million in emergency funding for FEMA in order to address the needs of the American people who suffered from the recent tornadoes in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Tennessee. Mr. President, as I have stated, this was a very difficult conference that consumed many days and late nights to reach agreement. This was the first time that the present chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Mr. Bill Young of Florida, had an opportunity to serve as chairman of the conference. I must say that he performed his responsibilities very capably. During the many contentious debates that took place, he was always fair and evenhanded and respectful of all members of the conference, just like our own chairman, Senator Stevens. Yet, at the same time, he displayed the necessary firmness in order to keep the conference moving toward completion. So, I compliment Chairman Bill Young for his excellent work on this difficult conference. Let me again compliment Senator Stevens, but also I compliment the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, Mr. David Obey, whom one will never find asleep at the switch. He is always there. He is always alert, combative enough, to be sure, and loyal to his own body, the House of Representatives, and the Democrats whom he represented in the conference. His work is always effective and very capable. In closing, let me again say that Chairman Stevens stoutly defended the Senate position on all of the matters throughout the conference and also made certain that all Senate conferees were able to express their view on each of the issues. I hope that the Senate will support the conference report. As I say, there are some things in it I do not like, some things that were left out of it that I very much wanted and believe in and believe constitute as much of an emergency as some of the other items that are designated as such in the conference report. But I want to support this. I urge all Senators to support it. I yield the floor.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished Senator. Mr. President, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished Senator from Iowa, Mr. Harkin.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I yield 7\1/2\ minutes to Mr. Graham.

Mr. BYRD. Six nations that are larger than California. So the two California Senators really are here representing a State that is larger than all of the nations of the world except six. I thank the distinguished Senator and I yield the floor.

Mr. BYRD

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I have no more requests for time. I yield my time back.

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

Mr. BYRD. We can't call off a quorum in 3 minutes if anybody objects.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, if it is agreeable with the distinguished Senator from Mississippi, I ask unanimous consent there be a recess for 3 minutes and it not be charged against the time.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I have three additional speakers. I sent word to them. Does the distinguished Senator from Mississippi have any suggestions at the moment?

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

Mr. BYRD. I yield 1 more minute to the Senator.

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, how much time do I have remaining under my control?

Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I yield 5 minutes to the very able and eloquent distinguished Senator from California, Mrs. Boxer.