Ben Campbell

Mr. CAMPBELL

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Would the Senator from Iowa yield for a question?

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I yield the floor. Mr. SESSIONS addressed the Chair.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, this amendment relates to Federal child care facilities. This amendment has been cleared by both sides of the aisle. I ask for its adoption.

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

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, we have some housekeeping things before we go to the next amendment. Amendment No. 3363

Mr. CAMPBELL

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

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I object to the consideration of the bill at this time.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I understand H.R. 4250, regarding patient protection, is at the desk and is awaiting second reading.

Mr. CAMPBELL

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the following be the only amendments in order, other than the pending amendment to the pending legislation, subject to relevant second-degree amendments. The list has about 56 amendments on it, and with Senator Kohl's approval, I will submit the list rather than going through the reading.

Mr. CAMPBELL

Mr. CAMPBELL. For the purpose of the amendment, a firearm frame or receiver is defined as a serial numbered firearm frame or receiver.

Mr. CAMPBELL

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, when the Senate reconvenes on Wednesday, Senator Ashcroft will be recognized to offer his marriage penalty amendment. It is hoped that following approximately 2 hours of debate on the amendment, the Senate will vote on a motion to table the Ashcroft amendment. Following that vote, it is hoped that Members will come to the floor to offer and debate remaining amendments to the Treasury bill. Upon disposition of the Treasury appropriations bill, the Senate may begin consideration of the foreign operations appropriations bill, health care reform, any other appropriations bills or conference reports as available and any other legislative or executive items cleared for action. Therefore, Members should expect a late night session with votes on Wednesday, as the Senate attempts to complete its work prior to the August recess.

Mr. CAMPBELL

Mr. CAMPBELL. No.

Mr. CAMPBELL. I further ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in recess on Wednesday from 12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. to allow the weekly party caucuses to meet.

Mr. CAMPBELL. I further ask unanimous consent that after the clerk reports the bill, Senator Ashcroft be recognized to offer an amendment regarding the marriage penalty.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 29. I further ask unanimous consent that when the Senate reconvenes on Wednesday, immediately following the prayer, the routine requests through the morning hour be granted and the Senate then resume consideration of S. 2312, the Treasury-Postal appropriations bill.

Mr. CAMPBELL

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

Mr. CAMPBELL

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, in January of 1999 the rank-and-file Federal employees will automatically receive a salary adjustment based upon the employment cost index. Most people refer to this as the COLA. Some simply call it a pay raise. Under current law, a similar adjustment is made to the salaries of senior-level Federal employees, Members of Congress, and Federal judges also. This adjustment is automatic under the provisions of the Ethics Reform Act of 1989, unless Congress takes an affirmative action to block the increase. The bill before us today includes the language to prevent the automatic pay adjustment from going into effect in January for Members of Congress, Federal judges, and senior-level employees of the executive branch. The text of the provision is slightly different from that which passed the House of Representatives and, therefore, makes it a conferenceable item. This amendment which we offer today makes that provision identical to the House-passed version. I am happy to yield to my colleague, Senator Kohl, if he has any statement on this.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I urge adoption of the amendment.

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

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

Mr. CAMPBELL

Mr. CAMPBELL. While we have a few moments, I thought I would describe a couple of sections of this bill. One that might be of interest to our colleagues deals with the vehicle program description. This bill contains a significant amount of funding for the Treasury's law enforcement activities. Senator Kohl and myself are very strong supporters of Treasury's law enforcement efforts. As our colleagues know, in our fiscal year 1998 bill, we included a request for GAO to do a study on the utilization of vehicles by Treasury's law enforcement bureaus. I have to tell you at the outset, this committee does all it can to ensure that the law enforcement agents within Treasury are well equipped to do their duties. However, when I became chairman of the subcommittee, I noticed that all law enforcement bureaus in Treasury would put forth requests for new vehicles, stating that many of their vehicles ``were well above GSA standards,'' which in this case means the speedometers said 100,000 miles or more on them. Upon further discussion with the bureaus, it became apparent that agents have door-to-door use of their vehicles. The rationale here was, if the law enforcement officer is called for duty during their off-duty hours, they need to be able to reach the scene in a vehicle which is up to law enforcement standards. Having been a former law enforcement officer myself, as I mentioned earlier in the day, I understand and support that rationale that agents must have a vehicle in case they are called to duty unexpectedly. But I do have some difficulty with the fact that it appears that all agents are getting cars which they use for home-to-work transportation, regardless of their position, regardless of the probability of being called while they are at home at all. The GAO study told us that there is no consistent management of these vehicles, nor is there any determination of need based on how likely it is for one agent to be called to duty once at home. Many of our colleagues may not know this, but when the Government purchases a law enforcement vehicle, it is different from a vehicle that we drive on the highway. For example, it has to be especially equipped with a larger engine, sometimes the springs or shocks are reworked, and they certainly have special radios, and it is not uncommon for this special equipment to cost $10,000 or more per vehicle. Therefore, when the vehicles are used for transportation to and from work, the useful life of the vehicle is certainly decreased, and the Government carries the burden of replacing the vehicles sooner than they had planned. Given our tighter budgets, I felt the Treasury needed to get a handle on how they manage this vehicle pool. This year alone, the Treasury requested approximately $30 million to acquire new vehicles. Currently, the bureau manages the usage terms of the vehicles and all the associated costs in a rather indiscriminate fashion. In Treasury's defense, we were pleased to see that they had requested $1 million in this year's budget for a vehicle tracking program, which we have funded. What we did not fund was the acquisition of new vehicles beyond what the bureaus are already carrying in their budgets. However, I should make it clear that there is funding contained in each bureau's budget to cover the cost of replacing the oldest vehicles. So what we are really doing here is maintaining the current fleet while replacing the oldest, while not adding to the total number of vehicles in the fleet. The rationale here is that the Treasury needs to put this management system in place before we appropriate additional moneys to purchase even more new vehicles. I tell my colleagues, it is a very plain and simple, good Government provision. Senator Kohl and I support law enforcement agents within the Treasury, but I cannot imagine that each and every one of them will have a reasonable chance to be called for duty every night. As an appropriator, I think it is my responsibility to ask questions about cost management, and we have told the agencies that we will hold them accountable for their costs. In this case, it is vehicle usage which directly impacts the life of the vehicle and ultimately the cost to the Government. During fiscal year 1998, the Department of the Treasury spent a great amount of money for vehicle-related expenses. I believe this is a much-needed step, and I hope this new vehicle management program will improve Treasury's ability to accurately project vehicle replacement, maintenance, and need for new vehicles. In addition, I hope the Treasury's program will include the impact that portal-to-portal usage has on the maintenance or life of the vehicle. We are certainly looking forward to working with the Treasury to put this new system in place. Mr. President, with that I yield the floor. amendment no. 3355 (Purpose: To extend certain prohibitions relating to undetectable firearms)

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, this amendment is not new language, as Senator Kohl has alluded, because under current law, there was an original ban of 10 years. This simply extends that current language for another 5 years. I have checked with the majority, and the people I have checked with so far are supportive of this amendment, but Senator Hatch has asked if we can lay this amendment aside for a few minutes because he would like to read it more carefully, if that is acceptable to Senator Kohl.

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