Thad Cochran

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator for his suggestion of this change. As I understand the amendment, it would limit the appropriation provided in this bill by restricting the opportunities for the Federal Protective Service to enter into certain contracts. It imposes conditions under which they can engage in contract activities for protective services at Federal building sites. I am advised by the Federal Protective Service, which is under the Department of Homeland Security, that this is an amendment not supported by the administration. There are those who are involved in helping to safeguard the security of Federal buildings and other facilities. They have limited resources which they say would be significantly diverted from the primary mission of providing the professional, qualified, and capable security guard service according to contracts and the needs of individual locations. The restrictive language of the amendment is counterproductive to the progress the Federal Protective Service has made. So the argument that I have to make and that I am happy to make is that this amendment should not be included in this legislation, and we would be forced to resist it. I will urge my colleagues to vote against it at the appropriate time. The leadership has indicated, I think, either formally or informally, that there will be no further rollcall votes this evening, so this is an issue that would have to go over until tomorrow, and we will be happy to discuss the details more fully tomorrow so that all Senators are aware of the impact this amendment would have on the Federal Protective Service and its ability to do its job. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that this amendment be set aside so that other matters may be brought up.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, we reviewed the amendment offered by the Senator from Washington. We agree to support it, and we ask the Senate to adopt it.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I thought there were 2 minutes remaining.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, the American Trucking Association has delivered a letter to me. It is signed by 34 organizations or industries that are concerned that the passage of the Schumer amendment would result in an enormous burden on our national economic recovery, that it would impose enormous costs on many industries, that it would force haulers to undertake expensive new activities that have not been approved or suggested by the Transportation Security Administration as necessary or as improvements to the security systems now in place. This is a three-page letter. Rather than have it read into the Record, I ask unanimous consent the letter, dated September 13, addressed to me, be printed in the Record.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I think the Senate has heard as much discussion as they probably need to form an opinion about this amendment. We urge Senators to vote yes on the motion to table and permit the committee to continue to work with the Department and industries that are involved to bring the best possible technologies into play to protect the security of our country and the transportation industries.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I move to table the Schumer amendment. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator for his further comments to the Senate. I also at this time would like to propound a unanimous consent request which I understand has been cleared on both sides of the aisle. The distinguished leader from Nevada is here on the floor. I ask unanimous consent that immediately following the vote in relation to the Schumer amendment this evening, the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to the Lautenberg amendment No. 3617; provided further that no amendment be in order to the amendment prior to the vote. Finally, I ask unanimous consent that there be 2 minutes equally divided for debate prior to each vote.

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

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the motion to table was agreed to.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, at 5:30, we are going to be voting in the Senate on a motion to table the Schumer amendment. The Senator described his amendment recently and talked about the fact that the Department of Homeland Security has not done anything, essentially, to protect against the explosives or other dangers occurring when trucks with hazardous material are driven throughout the country, and that an additional $70 million, I think, is the total amount of new money to be added to this bill for this purpose. It is described in the Senator's amendment as a tracking system for hazardous material trucks, hazmat trucks, and a background check system for commercial drivers' licenses. I am suggesting to the Senate that this is an additional $70 million that cannot be efficiently used for this purpose in 1 fiscal year, and I am going to tell you why. The Appropriations Committee has already provided funding for a number of different programs designed to accomplish the goals that the Senator has described in his comments about and his description of his amendment when he previously offered it. Last year, in fiscal year 2004, Congress appropriated $9.4 million for an effort to develop a high-explosive countermeasure system in the Science and Technology Directorate. Research is being undertaken and a program that will follow on is funded at $33.590 million to provide technologies and programs that would interdict explosive attacks against buildings from all modes of transportation, including trucking. It is also designed to protect critical infrastructure and the Nation's civilian population. This is an increase of $23.89 million from the budget request submitted by the administration. We have tried to communicate with the Transportation Security Administration and other agencies of the Department of Homeland Security to see what funds could be utilized to help make this the most sophisticated and effective system available to the American public in protecting buildings, protecting civilian populations, protecting the trucking systems and the infrastructure of our country against problems of vehicle bombs, problems of hazardous materials being confiscated and converted into explosives to damage infrastructure: highways, tunnels, bridges, buildings, and the like. So the Homeland Security Advanced Research Project Agency is issuing a broad agency announcement for systems for vehicle bomb detection using optical and nuclear thermal neutron analysis. The Science and Technology Directorate is piloting several sites using different means for detecting vehicle bombs at checkpoints. There are other initiatives to deny terrorists the use of commercial explosives and materials for making such bombs. So across the board, what I am saying, there is a broad indepth, comprehensive effort underway and using a variety of technologies and programs that seek to achieve, and will achieve, the goal suggested by the Senator from New York. We do not need to adopt this amendment to accomplish the goal he talks about that we need to pursue. We are doing what the Senator has suggested should be done. There is a Hazardous Material Shipper Training Program in place for drivers and others who are involved as employees in that industry, providing information about security requirements and responsibilities of those engaged in the trucking industry. It is promoting security awareness for each mode of transportation, not just truckers but other shippers as well. Funds have been provided in the 2004 appropriations bill to test certain technologies, new technologies to track high-risk trucks on the Nation's highways. The Senator said there is no program such as that in place. Programs are being tested to be implemented. We want to be sure the Transportation Security Administration has the ability to track vehicles throughout the entire country, in Alaska and Hawaii as well, to identify the best practices and the standards and regulations that ought to be implemented and enforced by Federal, State, local, and industry stakeholders as well. Congress has provided over $42 million for the Highway Watch Program to promote security awareness among all segments of the commercial motor carrier industry and the transportation community at large. For this fiscal year, in this bill that is before the Senate, $15 million is provided for this program. For the previous 2 fiscal years, $12 million has been provided for the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to test and evaluate a variety of technologies, such as global positioning systems, wireless communications, use of global positioning satellites, alarm systems, biometric identification, and radio frequency identification devices to ensure that dangerous or potentially dangerous vehicles are identified. Field testing has just been completed, and the evaluation phase in this program has begun. These are steps toward the goal that we all share, and that is identified by the Senator from New York as a very imminent and urgent need. It is an urgent need, and we are treating it as such over the prior appropriations bill's approval and provisions, as well as this year's appropriations bill. There was a mandate in the PATRIOT Act that the Transportation Security Administration has implemented, in partnership with the departments in the State motor vehicle area, to ensure that all drivers who are licensed to transport hazardous materials are subjected to Federal background checks to be sure the people who are operating these vehicles ought to be operating them; that they are not high-risk people; that they do not have something in their background that raises alarms about their dependability. The Transportation Security Administration has undertaken background checks on 2.7 million drivers who have hazardous materials endorsements on their commercial driver's licenses. These background checks have identified approximately 36 individuals who are no longer allowed to transport hazardous materials. TSA will complete this background check, and when it is completed they will have conducted name-based background checks on all 3.5 million drivers this year. There will be an FBI fingerprint-based criminal history check undertaken as well. The offset would affect the Office of Under Secretary of Management's Human Resources Division. In terms of research, what I am suggesting is that every effort possible is being made, through grants provided by the Department of Homeland Security, technology development, and deployment in the department, to develop a more efficient system for identifying drivers to be sure they are trustworthy and are not threats to the Nation's security through the operation of vehicles carrying hazardous materials, the confiscation of vehicles that are carrying hazardous materials or that could be converted into bombmaking vehicles. All of this is being done in an aggressive and comprehensive way by the Department of Homeland Security, in cooperation with State and local authorities throughout the country. Private sector groups, shippers who are undertaking to safeguard the content of packages that go into vehicles, are also very actively involved in helping ensure that the public is not going to be put in danger through the use of our transportation system in this way. We think the provisions of the bill are adequate. To provide funding that the Senator is suggesting is needed will be wasteful and cannot be efficiently used for the purposes he seeks. The goals are notable and laudable. We share them and we are doing everything we can to ensure that we have in place the programs, training, research, and technologies that we need to protect ourselves from these kinds of attacks and attacks against the Nation's critical infrastructure and population centers.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, we appreciate very much the Senator's amendment and discussion of the Scowcroft Commission report and whether the contents of that report should be declassified. That is, as I understand it, the purpose of the amendment, to make that information public. What I hope we can do in the consideration of this appropriations bill is to keep our attention focused on the funding of the Department of Homeland Security activities. That is the purpose of this appropriations bill. We have worked very hard with colleagues on the Appropriations Committee to identify priorities. We fully considered the President's budget request on issues surrounding funding levels. We know we do not have unlimited budget authority. We are limited by an allocation from the full Committee on Appropriations in the Senate. I hope we defer this issue to the consideration of the authorizing committee. The Intelligence Committee has this issue under review. As a matter of fact, this issue has already been raised, as I understand it, in hearings that are being held in consideration of the so-called 9/11 Commission recommendations. We have had that report before the Senate. There are a number of other committees looking into these issues. But the Appropriations Committee is trying to get funds approved by the Congress to fund the Department of Homeland Security needs for this next fiscal year beginning October 1. I don't know whether the Senator wants a vote on his amendment, or maybe at the appropriate time after other Senators have had an opportunity to discuss their views, if they so choose, we could move to table the amendment. That would be my suggestion, that we remove that amendment from this bill and let it be handled by some other committee. I am sympathetic with the concerns the Senator has expressed, but I really do not think we ought to convert the consideration of an appropriations bill into consideration of whether to declassify or not the Scowcroft Commission report. That is my reaction to the amendment. I hope the Senate will consider our views.

Mr. COCHRAN. I am happy to yield to the Senator.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, this amendment offers to add a substantial amount of money to the operational budget of the U.S. Coast Guard. I remind Senators that the Coast Guard's total appropriation in this next fiscal year is $705 million above last year's appropriation. It is about $134 million above the President's request for overall U.S. Coast Guard activity. We urge the Senate to vote no against the Lautenberg amendment. I make a point of order under section 302(f) of the Congressional Budget Act that the amendment provides spending in excess of the subcommittee's 302(b) allocation.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Lore Aguayo, a fellow in Senator Talent's office, be granted the privileges of the floor during consideration of the Homeland Security appropriations bill.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. We have no objection to going into morning business.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution and preamble be agreed to, en bloc, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating thereto be printed in the Record without further intervening action or debate.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, there are two unanimous consent requests that have been cleared. I ask unanimous consent that the HELP Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Con. Res. 127, and that the Senate proceed to its consideration.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read the third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the HELP Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 3908, and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. COCHRAN

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

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, on behalf of myself and Senators Frist, Byrd, and Voinovich, I send an amendment to the desk.

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

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, this amendment increases funding for the Department of Homeland Security fiscal year 2005 appropriations bill. It is fully offset by an extension of customs user fees to September 30, 2005. Specifically, this amendment will add funds for the following programs: $40 million for additional radiation detection devices, $40 million for additional border inspectors, $40 million for additional border patrol agents, $40 million for additional investigators, $40 million for detention and removals of illegal aliens, $81 million for additional rail and transit security grants, and $36 million for additional emergency management performance grants.