John Chafee

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Yes.

Mr. CHAFEE. Madam President, I salute the distinguished senior Senator from West Virginia for the tremendous work he did in connection with this, not only just the Appalachian regional highway portion of this bill but the overall bill. As the Senator mentioned, he was in on all the negotiations and pressed forward to conclusion. He outlined vigorously the needs of, and I don't want to say just West Virginia, because West Virginia is just part of the Appalachian region, he stressed the needs for all the Appalachian regional area and prevailed. I salute him for the work he did. If he can fit it in, I would like to be asked down to the dedication of one of those roads. I have never seen them, to tell you the truth. I think I will go down and take a look. I have heard about them.

Mr. CHAFEE. Thank you. Thank you. If it is anything like when we used to build roads at home when I was Governor, we would have a ribbon-cutting about every 2 miles of road we built. In any event, I look forward to it. And I salute the distinguished Senator with whom I have had such pleasure serving in the Senate ever since I came here. He had been here long before I ever got here. It has been one of the real treats of my experience in the Senate to have served with Senator Byrd.

Mr. CHAFEE. Yes. Yes, I yield the floor, Madam President.

Mr. CHAFEE. Madam President, I congratulate the Senator from Texas for his hard work in connection with this highway legislation. He was right when he said that it was his efforts that brought what was considered the 4.3-cent gasoline tax, that then went in the general fund, into the highway trust fund. I have to confess that I was not an enthusiastic supporter of that effort, but I can certainly see the rationale behind it. The Senator had the votes and, as I recall, won that vote rather overwhelmingly. The Senator has been intensely interested in the situation that not only affects his State but a series of States leading to the border, the additional traffic that has been generated by a program I was for, he was for and that I believe has been a great benefit overall for our country but has been very difficult on his State and some of the neighboring States, and that is the so-called NAFTA truckloads, where these trucks are rumbling down into Mexico and from Mexico up into the United States carrying goods, which was the whole objective of what we sought when we passed the North American Free Trade Agreement. The distinguished senior Senator from Texas has worked very hard to provide some extra money to take care of those roads that are taking an incredible pounding from the NAFTA trucks. In the agreement that we have reached, we have provided, as a result of the pressing of the Senator from Texas, some $450 million, which we will be presenting to the committee tomorrow, and it is my hope and belief that the committee will approve that additional money. I tip my hat to the Senator from Texas. He is a veritable bulldog in connection with these matters. When he and the senior Senator from West Virginia team up, it is a formidable aggregation. I salute both of them. As a matter of fact, they came away with everything they sought. But in the agreement that we reached, they made some concessions to other programs that they might not have been too enthusiastic about. So the whole thing was a compromise. All of us had to give, and I think the result is a good one for our country. What will happen next, Madam President? I and the distinguished ranking member of the Environment Committee will take this to our committee tomorrow. We are both for it. We will be salesmen for it. We are not just messengers; we are salesmen for this program. The staffs have met and appear to be enthusiastic about what we are undertaking here. We look forward to our meeting tomorrow. If all goes well, we could report it out, and then I believe that we cannot bring up financial matters until Wednesday, that is, amendments that deal with financial matters to this bill. But that can be changed, and we can, hopefully, bring up this amendment that the Senator from Texas was discussing.

Mr. CHAFEE. Madam President, I thank the distinguished Senator from Texas for her very kind comments. We appreciate those remarks. She is absolutely right. The senior Senator did do a splendid job not just for his State but all the trucks coming and going in connection with the NAFTA agreement, particularly the border crossings down in her State. We are pleased things came out the way they did. We look forward to her support when we bring the bill up on the floor.

Mr. CHAFEE. Madam President, I have seen those jams down there. I have seen them in California by Tijuana. The trucks were all lined up. It is incredible. I saw a little bit of it in Texas, but that was just a sampling of what later has occurred as the NAFTA agreement has come into full flower with the jam-ups on both sides of the border, trucks trying to come across, customs inspectors trying to do their job. It truly is tremendously congested. Both Senators from Texas are absolutely right in addressing this problem.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, this as you know is the so-called surface transportation legislation, sometimes called the highway bill, sometimes called ISTEA II. We are ready to do business here. Anybody who has amendments I hope will come over and present them. We are ready to take them up. There is no waiting. There is plenty of opportunity. So I hope those within listening distance will heed this very kind invitation to please report for duty. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CHAFEE. Madam President, I want to salute the Senator from New Mexico for his part in this. He had responsibilities. He had responsibilities to guard the budget. And he carried out those responsibilities. I felt very strongly allied with him in connection with those efforts, and I think what we came out with was a satisfactory solution. Are all of us totally satisfied? Of course not. But we are totally satisfied that the end result was as good as we could get under the pressing problems we are faced with. So I am going away happy and hope that the Senator from New Mexico is likewise. I also want to join his tribute to the majority leader. The majority leader was the one who got us in there and actually proposed the final compromise that we agreed to. So he deserves a lot of credit for moving us along. I thank the Chair. I thank the Senator from Colorado for his patience.

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. I suggest then that the Senator have 5 minutes, and then, if a Member from this side wishes 5 minutes thereafter, we will face that problem then. So why don't we have 5 minutes for the Senator from Vermont?

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

Mr. CHAFEE. It is my understanding, Mr. President, that the ranking member of the committee would like to make some comments. I suggest he proceed.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, we have time on this side. I am prepared to yield all that time and go to a vote.

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. I thank the distinguished Senator from Wyoming very much for his kind comments on the work we have done. The Senator from Wyoming is a very valuable member of the Environment and Public Works Committee. He has worked with us. As he pointed out, he had one of the major bills that went into the final amalgamation we had here--the STAR bill. And he had deep concerns, as he has outlined here, in certain particular areas. I am glad that we were able to take care of those areas. Indeed, when we meet tomorrow, I believe we will be, as I pointed out to the Senate a little earlier, able to do even better in some of those particular areas he is concerned with. So our committee will be meeting tomorrow at 9:30. And I look forward to working with the Senator from Wyoming as we proceed with an amendment incorporating some of the provisions that have come about as a result of the additional money that has come forward just in the last--well, just agreed to earlier this afternoon. So, again, I thank the Senator. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CHAFEE

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

Mr. CHAFEE. I certainly will.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I commend the Senator from Idaho for his thoughtful comments. He started his comments by saying that this is a matter to which many of the Senators have not given very thorough consideration, and I think that is accurate. I certainly fall into that category. I am not on either of the major committees that deal with the expansion of NATO. Like all Senators, I am busy with this or that. It seems to me very wise that we all give this matter some thorough consideration. It is my understanding that the majority leader is anxious to bring up the NATO expansion legislation quite soon. I just want to say, speaking for just this Senator, I certainly haven't concentrated on it. I look forward to reading the op-ed piece-- I believe it was an op-ed piece--that Senator Baker and others worked on. All I can say is, I am grateful for the comments that the Senator from Idaho made, because it is wise for all of us--I personally haven't made up my mind on this. I am astonished that I haven't been lobbied, not that my vote is a key vote on it, but on this matter, the former Senator from New Hampshire came by to see me. He is very concerned. I am speaking of Senator Humphrey, a former Senator from New Hampshire. He is very concerned about the expansion of NATO. I think he presented some good arguments on it. Perhaps he has also spoken with the Senator from Idaho. Again, I thank the Senator for his thoughts.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business for 10 minutes.

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

Mr. CHAFEE

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

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I commend the Senator from Missouri for this amendment. It is an excellent one. What it will do is have a wetland of a larger size than would be under normal conditions. When they do damage to a wetland, they create a new wetland next to the highway. To have it in the so-called mitigation bank is a far superior way of operating, and I commend the Senator. The amendment will improve the mitigation that is done to offset the loss and degradation of wetlands as a result of highway projects. We have suffered unacceptable wetlands losses--more than half of the estimated 220 million acres that existed when the nation was founded have been lost. Transportation has unintended but negative consequences on the nation's wetlands. The original ISTEA recognized this by establishing wetlands mitigation as an eligible expense of a State's highway construction funds. Mitigation banking is an innovative concept that allows a person who wishes to fill a wetlands to compensate for that loss by obtaining credits representing positive wetlands function generated at a nearby site. It is the perfect example of a forward- looking environmental policy that offers more bang for the buck. With respect to highway construction, mitigation banking offers several potential advantages over on-site, individual mitigation. A mitigation bank, unlike on-site mitigation, can consolidate wetlands compensation where it is most ecologically beneficial. Moreover, mitigation banking helps to achieve the goal of ``no net loss'' of the Nation's wetlands by providing additional opportunities to compensate for impacted wetlands. So I thank Senators Bond and Breaux again for their work on this. We are prepared to accept the amendment. Mr. BAUCUS addressed the Chair.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, again, I thank the Senator from Missouri. I see no other individual prepared to offer an amendment. I urge Senators to come to the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CHAFEE

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

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Ms. Cheryle Tucker, a detailee from the Department of Transportation who is working with my staff, be given floor privileges during the ISTEA debate.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Christopher Prins, a fellow with Senator Lieberman's office, be granted floor privileges during the consideration of the ISTEA legislation, S. 1173.