Ben Campbell

Mr. CAMPBELL

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I might also just comment that, as I understand it, if this 1-cent increase had been for the single best- selling stamp of all time--which was the Elvis Presley stamp that went on sale a couple of years ago, that stamp sold $500 million individual stamps--but if this 1-cent additional had been on that stamp, it would have raised only $5 million. Certainly that is an important amount but not as much as we need. As I also understand, only about 1.6 million breast cancer stamps have been sold so far. So the amount, I would tell my friend from California, that she would hope to realize from what I have heard and seen is probably going to be quite a bit less than she would hope to get into this account. The Senator already mentioned that there are some concerns by some of the Members that there are many, many programs that are equally important--muscular dystrophy, prostate cancer is important, Alzheimer's disease, heart disease--many things that we need to address some more. And I think, as some of my colleagues think, that we may be opening an avenue for all kinds of new groups to ask for the same kind of consideration. If that happens, then I think, No. 1, we are going to confuse the public and we will probably dilute the amount of money needed for any one of them. But I am not opposed to this amendment. I just wanted to make sure that my colleague understands that I am very supportive of her efforts. But I do have these concerns. I thank her, and I thank the Chair. I yield the floor.

Mr. CAMPBELL. A portion of 1 cent will go back to recover the cost.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, before the Senator leaves for her next appointment, I would like to make a couple of comments and ask her some questions. First of all, as I am sure she knows, I have always been a big supporter of increased money going into breast cancer research, as she has. And I commend her for the leadership she has taken on this issue. In fact, many of our colleagues have not only supported additional research money but have participated on our own time on Saturdays and Sundays in raising private funds for breast cancer research. The most common that we are aware of is the Susan Komen Foundation and The Run for the Cure, which is done all over the United States. Just a few weeks ago here in Washington, DC, we had something like 45,000 or 50,000 people that contributed money to run through the streets of Washington to help raise money for that very, very badly needed program. But I am a little concerned. She mentioned a few of the concerns already. But I am told that the chairman of the authorizing subcommittee, Senator Cochran, has some concerns about this proposal, as does Senator Stevens who will be here in about 25 minutes to make some comments on it, too. First, one of my concerns is certainly the administrative costs to the Postal Service. I think they would be significant, as I understand it. I would like to ask the Senator. Is there a provision that allows them to recoup their costs? Or does the whole profit of this additional cost of stamps just go to the program, and do they have to absorb the administrative costs for doing it?

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I say to my colleagues time is running on. We have been here over 3 hours. We have about three or four amendments filed. Senators have not come to the floor to offer them. On behalf of Senator Kohl and myself, I urge Members to come down to the floor with their amendments so we can finish this bill. If we do not want to be here in the middle of the night working on this, we ought to move ahead. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

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

Mr. CAMPBELL. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, this amendment has been cleared by the majority. I urge its adoption.

Mr. CAMPBELL. I send an amendment to the desk on behalf of Senator Mikulski and ask for its immediate consideration.

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

Mr. CAMPBELL

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, several Senators have said they wish to speak on this issue. Senator Byrd has indicated he would like to. He is in a meeting and will not be here for a short period of time. But those Senators who would like to make comments on that, we will do that. And we will take something else up if he does not get here in a reasonable time. I would like to point out to my colleague from Kansas that this issue of so-called pay raises has always interested me. As I looked up some of the figures, I am sure that most of my colleagues are aware that they do not have to take the cost-of-living increase allowance. They can turn it back to the Treasury if they do not want it. They can give it to charities. There are all kinds of things they can do with it. But to put it in some perspective, since it seems to get an awful lot of discussion, particularly in election years, about Congress people and Senators getting an increase in salaries, I thought I would contact the Congressional Research Service and find out just how much taxpayers' money goes into salaries for Congressmen and Senators. They tell me that one-tenth of one penny--one-tenth of one penny--is the average amount a taxpayer pays to congressional salaries. I know some people think we are not even worth that much, so we probably did a good thing by passing this amendment on a voice vote. But I would like to point out a couple of things that might put it in perspective. For example, in Senator D'Amato's and Senator Moynihan's State, the great State of New York, the mayor of New York City earns $31,400 more than they do, the Senators of that State. In Dade County, FL, Senator Mack's and Senator Graham's State, the superintendent of the county gets $51,400 more than the Senators of that State or the Congressmen. The sheriff of Los Angeles County receives $88,400 more than anybody in the congressional delegation from California. I guess my message to the average voter would be, if you are really concerned about elected officials, you ought to look at all of them, top to bottom, and not just because Congress gets so much media attention whenever they deal with this COLA or so-called pay raise. Many of the other areas of the country--I do not have the numbers right in front of me--but if you track the increases from 1970 to 1998, in fact, the amount that congressional salaries have increased has been less than postal workers, Social Security recipients, military wages, private-sector employees, Federal employees, most civilian employees, and literally everybody else. But I would like to put that in context. I yield the floor. Mr. WELLSTONE addressed the Chair.

Mr. CAMPBELL. I also ask unanimous consent to have Senator Wellstone and myself added as cosponsors to the Brownback amendment.

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

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

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

Mr. CAMPBELL. Does the Senator have further comments?

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, to my knowledge, there is no opposition on the majority side. We are prepared to accept this by a voice vote.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I yield to the Senator from Kansas, Mr. Brownback, for the purpose of offering a second-degree amendment.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 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, my colleague, Senator Kohl, and I are bringing before the Senate today the Senate Appropriations Committee recommendation for the fiscal year 1998 appropriations for the Department of the Treasury, U.S. Postal Service, the Executive Office of the President, and certain independent agencies. The bill we are presenting today contains a total funding of $25,206,539,000. This is $1,104,116,000 more than the fiscal year 1997 level, and $455,866,000 less than the President's request. We are recommending a total of $12,321,339,000 in discretionary spending and $12,885,100,000 for mandatory programs over which this subcommittee has no control. Reaching this level has not been an easy task, and I certainly thank Senator Kohl, who has yet to arrive on the floor, for his hard work and continuing support and advice as we put this bill together. Mr. President, this bill includes $11,315,801,000 for the Department of the Treasury. As my colleagues are aware, the Department of the Treasury has a wide range of responsibilities directed not only at the revenues and expenditures of the Government, but law enforcement functions as well. The Treasury Department is responsible for 40 percent of all Federal law enforcement, and adequate funding for this function has been a priority for both Senator Kohl and myself. The subcommittee has done what we can to ensure that law enforcement agencies funded in this bill have the resources to do the job that we asked them to do in the so- called war against crime. In addition, we have provided a total of $131 million in the violent crime reduction trust fund. This is $12.7 million more than requested by the President and $34 million more than provided in fiscal year 1997. This bill includes $121,124,000 for payments to the U.S. Postal Service to reimburse them for providing free mail for the blind and for overseas voters and for payment to the Department of Labor for disability costs incurred by the old Post Office Department. The Executive Office of the President and funds appropriated to the President total $485,225,000. This includes the Office of Drug Control Policy. As many of our colleagues know, the bill includes the administration's proposal for a 1-year moratorium on new construction projects through the General Services Administration Federal Buildings Fund. It is unfortunate, when we need so many renovations on courthouses, that the GSA calculation of rent income to the Federal building fund has been so inaccurate in the past years that we are at a point where there is just barely enough money to continue ongoing projects. There is also $12.7 billion in mandatory payments through the Office of Personnel Management for annuitants' life and health insurance, as well as retirement benefits. There has been considerable discussion over the past couple of years about the funding level for the Internal Revenue Service. Many of us are very disturbed that significant amounts of money, over $4 billion, was wasted on the tax modernization system. As a result, we have very carefully reviewed the budget request from the IRS. We believe that the IRS should have sufficient resources to maintain and even increase customer service levels, and there must be enough to continue efforts to collect taxes due. As a result, we have proposed appropriations at the level requested by the President for the three permanent accounts. However, we did not agree to the President's request for an advance appropriation of $500 million to set up an account for future computer modernization efforts. Although the IRS has developed and circulated a modernization blueprint, that is only a first good step. It was the judgment of the subcommittee that there must be more detailed information before we agree to additional funds for future computer modernization. The most critical problem facing IRS is a century date change project. As a result, we have set aside $325 million for this effort, in addition to funds already appropriated in fiscal year 1997 and requested for fiscal year 1998. Mr. President, this bill is the result of long, hard hours of work on the part of the members and staff of this subcommittee. I want to thank them for all of their efforts. I believe we have put together a very worthwhile bill and hope we will have the support of the Senate. I now yield to our ranking member, my good friend, Senator Kohl.

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

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

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, this amendment has also been cleared by the minority, and I ask for its immediate acceptance.

Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk.