Ben Campbell

Mr. CAMPBELL

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

Mr. CAMPBELL. Yes.

Mr. CAMPBELL. I also thank Senator Dorgan for all of his work. I ask now for a voice vote on final passage.

Mr. CAMPBELL. I thank my two colleagues for their comments on this matter and I encourage the Customs Service to work to address these issues. Mr. President, I know of no further amendments to be offered. I believe we are ready for third reading of the bill. Senator Dorgan is prepared for that.

Mr. CAMPBELL. The Senator is correct. These funds along with $900,000 for the completion of a new classroom in Artesia, NM will complete FLETC's fiscal year 2000 5-year plan funding requirements and will keep the effort to expand FLETC's capacity moving forward and on time.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I repeat that this amendment has been cleared by both sides. I urge its adoption.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, we agreed to a statement, after passage of the bill, of Senator Torricelli. I think that was the only one agreed to. I yield the floor.

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

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate receives from the House of Representatives the companion bill to S. 1282, the Senate immediately proceed to the consideration of that measure; that all after the enacting clause be stricken and the text of Senate bill S. 1282, as passed, be inserted in lieu thereof; that the House bill, as amended, be read for the third time and passed; that the Senate insist on its amendment, request a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses thereon, and that the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate; and that the foregoing occur without any intervening action or debate. I further ask unanimous consent that the bill, S. 1282, not be engrossed; that it remain at the desk pending receipt of the House companion bill, and that upon passage by the Senate of the House bill, as amended, the passage of S. 1282 be vitiated and the bill be indefinitely postponed.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I send to the desk a managers' package of amendments, and I ask unanimous consent they be considered en bloc.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, amendment No. 1198 has been cleared by both sides. I ask unanimous consent that it be agreed to.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw amendment No. 1210 by Senator Schumer.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to modify amendment No. 1205 and ask for its immediate adoption. I ask unanimous consent to withdraw amendment No. 1196 by Senator Kyl. I ask unanimous consent to withdraw amendment No. 1194 by Senator Warner, amendment No. 1199 by Senator Grassley, amendment No. 1204 by Senator Hutchison, amendment No. 1217 by Senator Cochran, and amendment No. 1206 by Senator Baucus.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I share the concern expressed by the distinguished Senator from New Mexico about the inflow of drugs into this country. In addition to urging the Customs Service to transmit the requested air and marine modernization plans to the Committee, we worked with the Senator from new Mexico and others to add report language urging the Customs Service to consider additional investments in proven counterdrug assets like the AS350 AStar helicopter and other technologies in its current and future plans to try to maximize the effectiveness of Customs counterdrug personnel and resources. If additional resources become available to the Committee, cost-effective force-multipliers like the AS350 AStars will be among our top counterdrug priorities.

Mr. CAMPBELL. We have not received either of the requested plans from the Customs Service. In my view, the Administration clearly has missed an opportunity. In the absence of these reports and in response to concerns expressed by the Senator from New Mexico and others we have urged the Customs Service to look at cost-effective force multiplying technologies to improve border control and support other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Is it not true that the INS recently assigned 15 new inspectors to Hartsfield to handle the airport's tremendous growth?

Mr. CAMPBELL

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, July 1, 1999 at 10:30 a.m. to hold a hearing.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, July 1, 1999 at 2:00 p.m. to hold a closed hearing on intelligence matters.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 1, 1999, in open session, to receive testimony on military operations regarding Kosovo.

Mr. CAMPBELL

Mr. CAMPBELL. How much time remains?

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I thank my friend from Arizona for bringing this to the attention of the Senate. I certainly understand and sympathize with him. My State borders his, and I spend a good deal of time in Arizona. I am fully aware of the problem we have with our borders. They are like a sieve, very frankly. I wish we could have found the additional $50 million he asked for, but, as he has already mentioned, we did have some budget constraints. We simply could not find it. Let me tell my colleagues from where the Senator from Arizona would take the money to offset the $50 million additional money he would like to put in this account. He would take $1,675,000 from the Federal Election Commission. He would take $1,095,000 from the Federal Labor Relations Authority. He would take $34,786,000 from the GSA. These are repairs and alterations that are badly needed for Federal buildings across the country. He would take $10,854,000 from the GSA policy and operations account, and $1,617,000 from the Merit Systems Protection Board. I will talk for a few minutes about what we have done. First of all, in this bill the committee has provided $1.67 billion in funding for fiscal year 2000 for the Customs Service. This level is $263 million more than was requested by the administration and provides for maintaining current levels of funding and other related costs as well as nonrelated labor issues associated with the increase of inflation, with the exception of the fiscal year 1999 pay raise component. The committee has provided new funding for the Customs integrity awareness effort, totaling $4.3 million. In addition, the committee provided an additional $2.5 million for the establishment of an assistant commissioner for training, which will provide in-service training and professional development of Customs personnel. There have been news reports about the breaches of integrity within the Customs Service. These programs are in response to those issues. This funding will assist the Customs Service in improving their hiring methodologies, ensuring that applicants are of the highest quality. In addition, the funding will improve the recruitment and redesign of the hiring process as well as support existing personnel. The committee has continued level funding for the Customs Service child pornography efforts. The committee has been very pleased by the Customs Service's efforts, given the limited resources dedicated to that program. The committee has also provided $19 million in funding for items associated with technology and staffing along the Southwest border, to which the Senator alluded. Last year, as part of the fiscal year 1999 emergency drug supplemental funding, this committee provided an additional $80 million for nonintrusive inspection equipment on top of the $40.6 million for a variety of technologies for the Southwest border. This funding provided for the purchase of a mobile truck X-ray system, railcar inspection systems, gamma ray inspection systems, and higher energy, heavy pallet X-ray systems. Of the $276 million of funds provided in that emergency supplemental, the Customs Service has not yet obligated all those funds. In fact, as of today, there is $143 million that has not been spent in the account. In addition, there is sufficient funding to cover the costs of the annualization of Operation Hardline and GATEWAY, as well as equipment annualization for fiscal year 1999. This will allow Treasury to annualize the cost of these border-related positions. In addition, there is $1.29 million included to cover the cost for the mandatory workload increases during peak processing hours for the new crossings, including staffing and the dedicated commuter lane in El Paso, TX. The committee has also included new funding for the Customs Integrity Awareness Program at $4.3 million, so the total cost of the effort is now $18 million. That is $6 million in the base and $4.3 million for this year for polygraphs and $8 million for agent inspector relocations. I wish we could have done more. Very simply, as everybody in this body knows, we were up against budget constraints. We simply did not have the money to fund all the things that we would like to. I yield the floor. Senator REID addressed the Chair.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, before I speak to the Lautenberg amendment, I ask unanimous consent to correct the Record. On several occasions in earlier debate I referred to the Kyl amendment No. 1195 as the Kyl amendment. I ask unanimous consent to correct that title to the Kyl-Hutchison amendment.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I appreciate the comments of my friend from New Jersey. I came from an alcoholic family. Believe me, I know firsthand the devastating effects of what it does in a family. I have had over a dozen relatives, uncles, cousins and so on, including a sister, who have died from some form of alcohol-related abuse. I know the devastating effects on a whole community; on society as a whole. I know the cost and I do not think anybody detests it more than I do. As my colleague, Senator Dorgan, knows, coming from a State in which there are many Indian reservations, fetal alcohol syndrome, which is an effect on children from mothers drinking too much, is literally hundreds of times worse on those reservations. On one reservation in America, 1 out of 4 children is born with some degree of fetal alcohol syndrome as opposed to the national average of 1 out of 500. I am concerned, but the question for this body is not whether we want to reduce the use of alcohol by youngsters. Of course all of us want to do that. The question here is whether the ONDCP is the right vehicle or not. My view is it is the wrong vehicle. I have been the chairman of this committee since the inception of this media campaign, when Senator Kohl was the ranking minority, and this project is something the committee originally had a great deal of difficulty in doing, because we wanted to make sure we got the best use of taxpayers' money when we set this up. I believe this amendment would simply dilute that mission. The committee did not provide as much as we would want this year. In fact, we are putting in $50 million less this year than we did for the ONDCP last year. I believe the inclusion of an anti-alcohol campaign would simply decrease the funds available for the antidrug campaign more than we want to. The House, in my opinion, made a mistake when they pursued this action. I also tell you we are, in my view, increasing the jurisdiction of the Office of National Drug Control Policy without legislative authority to do so. This is the wrong vehicle, as I mentioned, and I am seriously concerned that the precedent it would set would cause us a great deal of controversy, maybe open a Pandora's box of other amendments to broaden the ONDCP into areas it should not be. This amendment expands ONDCP's jurisdiction into alcohol prevention. As I mentioned, they do not have a statutory mandate to do that. There are other agencies, such as the Center of Substance Abuse Prevention, that are better equipped to handle this kind of campaign. When we originally put the money into this campaign a few years ago, we wanted to make sure we could measure the effects. So there was a GAO study authorized, a 5-year study to review the media campaign and give the results to our committee about the ongoing effects, to see if we, in fact, were reducing the use of alcohol consumption by youngsters as a result of the campaign. That study is only halfway through. It still has several years to go. I think if we dilute this message, if we start expanding the role, we are simply going to completely throw out the validity of that study the GAO is doing. So, although I do appreciate the efforts of the Senator from New Jersey, and I look forward to working with him on other ways we can reduce alcohol use by youngsters, I, at this time, oppose the amendment. I will move to table after my colleague speaks. I yield the floor.

Mr. CAMPBELL

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I am now pleased to lay before the Senate the committee recommendation for the Treasury Department, the Postal Service, the Executive Office of the President, and various independent agencies. The bill was crafted by the Subcommittee on Treasury and General Government and contains a total of $27,737,971,000 in new budget authority. Of that, $14,533,811,000 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. This would not have been possible without the hard work and cooperation of the new ranking member of the subcommittee, Senator Dorgan, and his staff. This bill consists of mostly salaries and expenses accounts and the majority of the increases for agencies is to simply allow them to maintain current levels. There are very few new initiatives in this bill. Title I provides a total of $12,213,529,000 for the Department of the Treasury. This is $162,601,000 less than the administration request. 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. Here are a few highlights from Title I: $312,400,000 to the Customs Service to retain 5,000 current Customs employees since the user fee proposed by the administration has not been enacted. Emphasis on the need for the Gang Resistance Education and Training program--called GREAT--by including $3 million more than the administration request for grants to State and local law enforcement. Expansion of the Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative into 10 additional cities, bringing the total to 37 cities. This will allow ATF to track and prosecute those who supply guns to our youth. Funding for the Integrated Violence Reduction Strategy to allow AFT to more comprehensively investigate NICS denials in order to make sure that felons do not possess guns. Full funding to the IRS for customer service training and to implement the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998. Title II provides $93,436,000 for the United States Postal Service, and continues to require free mailing for overseas voters and the blind as well as six-day delivery, and prohibit the closing or consolidation of small and rural post offices. Title III recommends a total of $553,128,000 for the Executive Office of the President, $86,370,000 less than the administration request. This includes the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Federal drug control programs, and funding for the national anti-drug media campaign. Of special note, the committee: Recommends establishing a separate account for the Counterdrug Technology Assessment Center, and has provided $31,100,000 for that program to transfer much needed technology to State and local law enforcement. Provides $188,277,000 for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program which will allow continuation of existing HIDTA programs at their current levels. These programs highly acclaimed by local law enforcement. Recommends a total of $145,500,000 for the national anti-drug media campaign. Title IV is independent agencies such as the Federal Election Commission, the General Services Administration, and the National Archives, as well as agencies involved in Federal employment 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 this title are mandatory accounts to provide for Federal retirees, health benefits, and life insurance. The committee recommends a total of $14,877,878,000 for this title. For the third year in a row, the administration has not requested funding for courthouse construction. Unfortunately, due to the very limited funding available to the committee, we have not included any new courthouse construction projects in this bill. In order to stay within our 302(b) allocations, the subcommittee was forced to make very difficult decisions, as were all Appropriations subcommittees. As a result, this bill is very tightly crafted to allow the agencies to continue their vital work. Very few new initiatives were recommended and we were not able to accommodate all of our colleagues' requests due to funding constraints. I remind my colleagues that any funding amendments must be offset and, frankly, there is very little fat in this bill. If amendments are offered, we would ask the sponsor to identify the accounts we should be reducing to accomplish their goal. Finally, I would like to again thank the ranking member, Senator Dorgan, for his hard work and support. This bill would not have been possible without his assistance, and that of his staff Barbara Retzlaff and Elizabeth Blevins. I also thank my staff: Pat Raymond, Tammy Perrin and Lula Edwards for their tireless and invaluable work on this bill. This bill has been a collaborative effort and it deserves the support of the Senate. I yield the floor to Senator Dorgan.

Mr. CAMPBELL. I ask unanimous consent the following individuals have floor privileges for the duration of the consideration of S. 1282, the Treasury and government appropriations bill for the fiscal year 2000: Tammy Perrin, Lula Edwards, Dylan Pressman, and Liz Blevins.