Ben Campbell

Mr. CAMPBELL

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, today I introduce the ``James Peak Wilderness and Protection Area Act.'' This language is the product of years of detailed negotiations regarding an area of great majesty in my home State of Colorado. When discussing public lands issues, the potential uses for land are as varied and numerous as the diverse groups of users. Oftentimes, one camp is pitted against another, each convinced that its view is right to the point that it necessarily excludes the other interested party. And the result is that nothing viable happens. No land is protected and no uses of land are preserved. Instead, we read of angry exchanges, that if it were not for one side being so stubborn in its view, then we would have had a bill, while ignoring their own immobile position. This bill, I am very proud to say, is different from the all-too- common discourse that I described. This bill stands as a testament to what can be achieved when interested parties stop for a moment and listen to each other. I would like to take this moment to commend the work of my friends in the House, Representatives Udall and McInnis for their efforts on this issue. The ``James Peak Wilderness and Protection Area Act'' respects the diverse uses of Colorado's lands and recognizes those differences accordingly. This bill designates about 14,000 acres in Boulder, Clear Creek, and Gilpin Counties as Wilderness, and enlarges the existing Indian Peaks Wilderness by an additional 3,195 acres. Further, this carefully balanced approach designates 16,000 acres of national forest land as the ``James Peak Protection Area.'' The Protection Area in Grand County would disallow development of the land, but would permit recreational use for the public's continued enjoyment. I am pleased with the careful compromises that were necessary in crafting this bill and proudly introduce it today. I only wish this kind of cooperation was more evident in the other discussions about public lands in America. I hope for quick passage of this important bill. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. CAMPBELL

Mr. CAMPBELL. Madam President, today, 4 days before Veterans Day, I introduce legislation that would recognize and protect the sanctity of veterans' memorials. Currently, there is no comprehensive Federal law to protect veterans' memorials, which is why I am introducing the Veterans' Memorial Preservation and Recognition Act of 2001. My bill would prohibit the desecration of veterans' memorials, provide for repairs of veterans memorials and permit guide signs to veterans' cemeteries on Federal-aid highways. Under this legislation, someone who willfully desecrates any type of monument commemorating those in the Armed Forces on public property would be fined or put in jail. The violator would be subject to a civil penalty in addition to the fine, equal to the cost of repairing the damage. The funds generated by these penalties would then go into a Veterans' Memorial Restoration Fund, established by the Secretary of Veterans' Affairs, to make those monies available for the repair of the damaged memorials. But the vandals won't be the only ones contributing to the fund; individuals and veterans' organizations could also make donations and get a charitable contribution deduction. In essence, this would be a new way to provide for the repair of veterans' memorials without any new appropriation or providing other Federal funding. The second part of this bill would permit states to place supplemental guide signs for veterans' cemeteries on Federal-aid highways. These veterans' cemeteries deserve recognition; by allowing signs to be posted, we pay our respect to these sites by offering direction to them. It is my goal to make these important sites easily accessible. Our veterans, living and lost, are a reminder of our unity. Those who served in our Armed Services are more than just symbols of freedom and justice in the midst of conflict and during times of peace. They are real people, integral to our entire population, who enrich our day-to-day lives with their proud service, with their personal accounts of war, their organizations of service, and their expressions of deep-down American pride. Not only have we lost many of these brave men and women in conflict, but we lose thousands of them forever each year as the veteran population ages. We have to honor their sacrifices by protecting the sites that recognize them. It is a shame that there is no comprehensive federal law to protect veterans' memorials. Sometimes they are the only tangible reminders we have of courageous service to this country. We can easily read about those brave Americans who served in war, but it's not always easy to gather more than just hard facts from newspapers or history books. Being in the presence of a statue or memorial structure can evoke a deeper response. We can walk around it, sometimes we can touch it, and oftentimes we can see the names of each brave American who died in conflict. Madam President, the timing of this bill is appropriate. This Sunday, November 11, we will recognize Veterans' Day, which informally began as a series of memorial gestures to celebrate the end of World War I in 1918. Three years later, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, an unknown American soldier of the war was buried on a hillside in Arlington Cemetery, overlooking the Potomac River. This site became a summit of veneration for Americans everywhere. Similarly, at Westminster Abbey in England and the Arc de Triomphe in France, an unknown soldier was buried in each of these places of highest honor. These three memorial sites are symbols of our reverence; it is only appropriate that we do everything we can to preserve sites like these across America. There are hundreds of veterans' memorials, on public property, here in the United States. From nationally-known places such as Iwo Jima, to smaller sites such as the Colorado Veterans' Memorial across from the capitol in Denver, each is a site where we go to heal and to remember. As a veteran myself, I am committed to seeing that not a single one is stripped of its dignity. I encourage my colleagues to work together for swift consideration of this timely and important legislation. I have the support of several veterans' organizations, who have offered words of encouragement for this bill. These Americans know, firsthand, the concept of service. Let's honor what they and thousands of others have done to preserve our freedom. Madam President, I thank the Chair and ask unanimous consent that letters of support from the American Legion, Rolling Thunder, Inc., and the Paralyzed Veterans of America be printed in the Record.

Mr. CAMPBELL

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, before I do so, I would like to make a couple of comments based on Senator Murkowski's observations. I think he is absolutely right on point. About a third of Senate Members are veterans. Several are veterans of World War II. One of my comments will certainly not surprise them. I ask the Senator if he remembers the story about how we won the North Africa Campaign in World War II when some of the world's great generals were pitted against each other: General Patton from America and Field Marshal Montgomery from Great Britain on the Allied side, and Field Marshal Rommel on the German side. History shows that Rommel was not a Nazi. In fact, he was later forced to commit suicide for his complicity in the events designed to kill Hitler. But at that time, the state-of-art tanks were called Tiger 88s, with 88-millimeter guns in the Panzer Divisions, which outclassed anything that America and Great Britain had in the North Africa Campaign. Everybody knew it. Field Marshal Rommel, of course, was one of the great minds of World War II. Unfortunately, he was on the wrong side. History tells us that one of the reasons we won that campaign was that we bombed the oil fields. When we cut off their oil, the tanks stopped running. I remind my colleagues that they still run on oil. They do not run on wind power or solar power. I am absolutely supportive of Senator Murkowski's belief that there is a national security connection with being less dependent on foreign oil. He mentioned the statistics and how dependent we are. It really should not come as a big surprise to most Americans if we tell them we are more dependent on Iraqi oil than we were before the war. In fact, 25 percent of the oil we import, as I understand, comes from the Saudis, who every year divide much of the billions of America dollars among the 300 members of the extended royal family, one of whom is Bin Laden. It just defies common sense that because we cannot cut this umbilical cord, we are actually paying people for oil so they can buy weapons with the intent of killing. I want to tell the former chairman that I am absolutely in support of his efforts. When I was chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, I had many opportunities to visit with Native Alaskans and native peoples of the North. I found that almost to the person, when they would come down to lobby about ANWR, the Native Alaskans who are American citizens supported opening of ANWR. The only ones opposed to it were the people who were natives of Canada, Canadian citizens. There was no question in my mind when I asked them how they got here and who paid their bills, they were being spoon fed to us basically to get us to oppose something that most American natives supported.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 10 minutes as if in morning business for the purpose of introducing a bill.

Mr. CAMPBELL. That is right. I hope history doesn't repeat itself. The only way we can prevent that is to become less dependent on foreign oil. (The remarks of Mr. Campbell pertaining to the introduction of S. 1644 are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CAMPBELL

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, what is the pending business?

Mr. CAMPBELL. Yes.

Mr. CAMPBELL

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

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I rise in support of the Treasury- general government conference report that Chairman Dorgan has brought to this body for final passage. I thank him, once again, for the successful completion of the fiscal year 2002 appropriations process. Let me briefly mention some of the important parts of this bill. We are probably a month or more late in getting to the floor this conference report. But we have worked very hard on it. This bill provides much-needed resources for the law enforcement agencies under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Treasury. We have been able to provide $300 million for the Customs' ACE computer project. While this is more than twice the amount requested, it is still not enough to keep this program on the original schedule. The House agreed to provide an additional $20 million for the HIDTA Program--High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program--which has been so successful. However, we were unable to maintain any specific earmarks which were in the Senate bill. As a result, all the HIDTA programs must provide the necessary justifications for additional funding before growing or opening new ones. The conferees provided $180 million for the antidrug media campaign, as Senator Dorgan mentioned, which includes $5 million to target the new drug of choice with some of our young people, unfortunately, called ecstasy. We were also able to fully fund grants for the Gang Resistance Education and Training Program, commonly called the GREAT Program. While we were not able to grant all of our Members' requests, I think we came very close to it. There is a 4.6-percent general salary adjustment for Federal employees starting in January of 2002, and we provided the agencies under our jurisdiction with the funding necessary for this additional 1-percent salary adjustment. Funds have been provided for courthouse construction, site acquisition, and design projects, as well as needed repairs and alterations. Plus we were able to provide funds for a much-needed National Archives southeastern regional facility, which will be of value to constituents of several of our colleagues. This is a good bill, and I urge colleagues to vote for it on final passage. I yield the floor.

Mr. CAMPBELL

Mr. CAMPBELL. Madam President, today I would like to take a moment and recognize all those brave firefighters who died in the line of duty last year. This past Sunday--October 7--was National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Day. The President and Mrs. Bush joined with thousands of family members and friends at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial, located in Emmitsburg, MD, to honor those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. In 2000, 99 brave men and women in 38 States and Puerto Rico lost their lives trying to save the lives of others. I am saddened to say Mr. Robert W. Crump from the Denver Fire Department was one of the many honored this past weekend. In 1999, over 1.8 million fires were attended to by a public fire department. That means fire departments across the country responded to a fire once every 17 seconds. In that same year, fire resulted in over $10 billion of property damage, almost 22,000 civilian injuries, and almost 3,000 civilian deaths. We currently have over a million firefighters in the United States. While there are thousands of career firefighters that serve us each day in cities across the country, there are over 785,000 volunteer firefighters. In fact, most communities with less than 25,000 people are served by these volunteer units. As we saw on September 11th, firefighters are among the first on the scene. It is without a doubt that there would have been hundreds if not thousands of more victims without the help of those brave public servants. It is our job to make sure that these our firefighters have the right tools and training so that they may continue to work saving thousands of people each year. We must also remember that these acts of bravery not only occur in our cities but also in our national forests. As a citizen of the American West, I have seen the devastating effect forest fires have on our country. An average of over 100,000 fires burn nearly 4 million acres each year. Federal forest firefighters based throughout the country work with local departments to protect the national forest system. Since 1981 the names of 2,181 firefighters have been added to the plaques that surround the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial. As a Co-Chairman of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus, I will continue to work to insure that these firefighters will not be forgotten.

Mr. CAMPBELL

Mr. CAMPBELL. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, this bill must have gone through in record fashion. I note for the record this is the first year Senator Dorgan has been chairman of the subcommittee. I have really enjoyed working with him, and I am continually awed by his skills in the Chamber of this great body and his ability to get this bill together in a timely fashion. I thank him and his staff for working so well with us. From my staff, Pat Raymond and Lula Edwards worked hard on our side. I thank them, too, for the record.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I concur with the chairman. If we can finish this last amendment, I don't know if there are any other outstanding issues. If not, we are now checking with the leadership to see if it will be accepted to move this bill tonight.

Mr. CAMPBELL. We have no objection on our side.

Mr. CAMPBELL. We have no objection.

Mr. CAMPBELL

Mr. CAMPBELL. Due to dramatic increases in land border traffic and trade with Canada coupled with only token increase in staffing in recent years, our ports of entry are woefully understaffed.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, to our knowledge, we have only two Senators on our side who said they have an amendment they want to offer. We are on the phone now to try to get them down here. But I think if we can get them down here quickly, we will be able to finish this bill by Friday.

Mr. CAMPBELL. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. CAMPBELL. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. CAMPBELL. That is correct, Mr. President. We concur.

Mr. CAMPBELL

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, this amendment has been cleared by the minority.

Mr. CAMPBELL. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. CAMPBELL

Mr. CAMPBELL. I ask unanimous consent that Patricia Raymond and Lula Edwards have unlimited floor privileges during the consideration of the Treasury and general government bill.

Mr. CAMPBELL

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I join my colleague, Chairman Dorgan, in placing before the Senate our committee's recommendations for the fiscal year 2002 funding for the Treasury Department, the Postal Service, the Executive Office of the President, and various independent agencies. I want to associate my comments with the chairman's comments as they deal with terrorism. Certainly we have had huge changes worldwide in the last week. We are going to be in for the long haul, a very difficult, expensive, and deadly kind of a war that we have never faced before. I know we all want to do our very best in Congress, but I remind my colleagues, as the chairman already has, of the focus of these appropriations bills. As the other Senators are in their offices contemplating amendments they might offer to this bill, I remind them there is an emergency supplemental moving through now and probably that is the better vehicle if they want to do some changes or some amendments. There are probably better vehicles dealing specifically with the terrorist activities than the TPO bill. In our bill, these recommendations include funding for Federal agencies that are now working on the tactical and security needs of our Nation, and have been for years and years. It is clear those needs and others addressed by the funding legislation merit swift consideration. This bill was crafted by the Subcommittee on Treasury and General Government. It contains a total of $32.4 billion of new budget authority. Of that, $15.7 billion is for mandatory accounts. The committee recommendation is within the 302(b) allocations and strikes a delicate balance between congressional priorities, administration initiatives, and agency requirements. I congratulate Chairman Dorgan and his staff for the professional manner in which they prepared this bill in such a short period of time. This bill allows these Federal agencies to simply maintain current levels. There are very few new initiatives in this bill. Title I provides a total of $14.9 billion for the Department of the Treasury. Of this, $277 million is more than the administration requested. The committee has again placed a priority on Treasury's law enforcement needs as well as support for efforts by State and local law enforcement agencies. Let me repeat a couple of highlights the chairman mentioned. We have $230 million to the Customs Service for continued development of the badly needed Automated Commercial Environment computer system called ACE. It has money to continue emphasis on the need for the Gang Resistance Education and Training program, called the GREAT Program, which has been very successful, by including $3 million more than the administration requested for grants to State and local law enforcement. It has additional funding for the integrated violence reduction strategy to allow ATF to comprehensively investigate denials in order to make sure the felons do not possess guns. It has $348 million to the IRS for continuing efforts to modernize their computer system. Title II provides $76.6 million to the U.S. Postal Service and continues to require free mailing for oversees voters and the blind, as well as 6-day delivery, to which Chairman Dorgan has spoken, and prohibits the closing or consolidation of small and rural post offices. Title III recommends a total of $755.5 million for the Executive Office of the President, which is $23.7 million more than the administration requested. This part of the bill includes the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Federal drug control programs, and funding for the national antidrug media campaign. A special note: The committee also provided $42 million to the Counterdrug Technology Assessment Center, a program that transfers technology to State and local law enforcement. I believe since we started the program--it is going into its fourth year--it has been hugely successful. Over 2,500 local police jurisdictions have received grants of equipment they could not afford and for which they do not have the money to do the research and development. It increases funding to the High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program, the HIDTA program, by $20 million, which supports programs at their current level. It coordinates Federal, State, and local efforts to combat drug use. It recommends a total of $185 million to the national antidrug media campaign and requires $5 million be spent on the new drug of choice of too many young teenagers called Ecstasy. Title IV provides funding for the independent agencies, such as the Federal Election Commission, the General Services Administration, and the National Archives, as well as agencies involved in the Federal employment arena, such as the Federal Labor Relations Authority, the Merit Systems Protection Board, the Office of Government Ethics, the Office of Special Counsel, and the Office of Personnel Management. Also included in the title are the mandatory accounts to provide for Federal annuities, retiree health benefits, and life insurance. The committee recommends a total of $16.6 billion for this title. The administration requested funding for 12 courthouse construction projects. As Senator Dorgan mentioned, we have been able to increase that number of projects to 20. We have provided funding for 12 additional projects such as border stations. In addition, we have continued an aggressive effort to make sure the Federal Government real estate is maintained properly, by providing $844.8 million for the GSA repairs and alterations account for Federal buildings that are in deterioration. The funding contained in the bill allows agencies to continue their work. It will not be able to accommodate all Members' requests, and I remind my colleagues that any funding amendments must be offset. If we have those being contemplated that deal with terrorism, there might be a better vehicle through the supplemental. I thank Chairman Dorgan and his staff, Chip Walgren, Nicole Rutberg, Matt King, and Nancy Olkewicz, for their courtesies during the preparation of this bill. They have been terrific to work with. We are focused on these recent attacks, but clearly we have to move forward, as the chairman mentioned, with our work and our various budget proposals as we have prepared them. My support for this committee's recommendations comes with my understanding that funding needs for some agencies may demand an increase. I feel certain most of those can be handled through the supplemental appropriation and hope they will. Additionally, I am particularly pleased that Chairman Dorgan agreed to my request to provide additional funding to the U.S. anti-doping initiative, called the USADA. This funding will be necessary to ensure that our Olympic athletes, our Pan American, and Paraolympic athletes are free from drugs and are taught about the ethics of fair competition. I thank the chairman for including additional help in the Ecstasy program, as I mentioned. Speaking of the antidrug media campaign, we have provided over $748 million for that campaign since 1998. This year, we have $185 million for the fiscal year 2002. But preliminary findings released by the Office of National Drug Control Policy last year showed that the campaign is having a positive effect. Unfortunately, more recent information seems to indicate that while this report card may be good, it may have been somewhat premature. While I agree we must take steps to protect youth from the lure of illegal drugs, we have to make sure that money is wisely spent in the media campaign and that it is reducing the use of drugs because our resources clearly will be strapped in this new war on terrorism. I take this opportunity to highlight a new international crime initiative in southern Europe and how it relates to law enforcement agencies and funding by the pending Treasury appropriations bill. It comes as no surprise that international terrorism often relies on international crime, particularly through drugs, to finance its campaigns of terrorism. The Southern European Cooperative Initiative, called SECI, is based in Bucharest, Romania, and represents a consortium of 11 countries with a combined population of 135 million people. The members of SECI have pooled their expertise and limited resources in a collaborative effort to combat transnational crime in southeastern Europe. Members include Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Slovenia, and Turkey. Most Senators have visited one or more of those places in the past. Most in the Senate have two or more jobs. One of my jobs as the chairman of the Helsinki Commission is fighting crime and corruption. It has been a top priority of mine and the Commission in these member countries, as well as throughout all of Europe. As part of this effort, I was pleased when the Foreign Operations Subcommittee included language I requested in the fiscal year 2001 committee report urging the State Department to continue providing advice and support in cooperation with the FBI to SECI. That is in their bill in recognition of the direct and indirect impact of transnational crime on Americans and American businesses at home and abroad. The subcommittee is requesting in the fiscal year 2002 committee report that the State Department designate up to $1 million in technical assistance for SECI. This investment directly helps a number of U.S. law enforcement agencies in their fight against a wide range of transnational crimes. At least three Justice Department agencies currently are working with SECI: The FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. In addition, at least two Treasury Department law enforcement agencies, the U.S. Customs and the U.S. Secret Service, are utilizing resources of SECI to support their efforts. For example, the Secret Service currently sponsors task forces throughout the United States and across the globe recognizing cooperation among countries, law enforcement agencies, academia, and the private sector, representing the best hope for defeating the cybercriminal and preventing counterfeiting, computer-based fraud, and other electronic crimes that resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars of losses to American consumers and industry. Because of their expertise and experience with the task force approach, the Secret Service has been asked to be the architects and leaders of SECI's highly innovative financial crimes task force in southern Europe. This task force, the first of its kind in the region, will be based in Bucharest and will be operational by the end of the year. The Secret Service expects to open an office in Bucharest and have two special agents dedicated to this cooperative effort. Tomorrow, on September 20, the General Accounting Office is expected to release a report on international crime which I requested last year. This report confirms that the threat from international crime is growing and more high-level cooperation among Federal enforcement agencies is necessary. The good work of the Treasury law enforcement agencies in addressing new criminal threats from overseas is warranted and welcome. Passage of the Treasury appropriations bill will continue to provide essential support for these agencies in their fight against criminal elements at home and abroad. Amendment No. 1570