Robert Dole

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, at the heart of the unfunded mandates legislation we continue to debate today is the 10th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This is an amendment that many here in Washington seem to have forgotten over the years, as more and more power has been taken away from the States and placed in the hands of Federal bureaucrats. As I said in my remarks on the first day of this session, if I have one goal for the 104th Congress, it is that we will dust off the 10th amendment and restore it to its rightful place in our Constitution. As a reminder of that goal, I also promised to insert the 10th amendment into the Congressional Record every week that we are in session, and I would like to do so now. Mr. President, the 10th amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States, respectively, or to the people. Let us always keep those simple yet powerful words in mind, as we continue our work of returning government back to the American people.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, the thoughts and prayers of all Americans are with the people of Japan today, as they begin the recovery process from this morning's earthquake. Ironically, this tragedy hit Japan exactly 1 year after the Northridge earthquake that devastated the Los Angeles area. And as the people of Japan who were affected by this morning's earthquake begin to rebuild their cities and their lives, they can take great inspiration in the courage and cooperation exhibited over the past year in southern California. Mayor Richard Riordan wrote in today's Los Angeles Times that ``It has been said that much can be determined about the character of an individual tested by difficult times. The same is true for our city and the emergency response provided by every level of government.'' In the days, weeks, and months following the Northridge quake the people of southern California, humanitarian organizations like the American Red Cross, and local, State, and Federal governments--under the superb leadership of Pete Wilson--passed every test with flying colors. Again, Mr. President, I know all Members of the Senate join with me in mourning the loss of life in Japan, and in admiring the courage and resourcefulness exhibited over the past year by the people of southern California.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, having said that, I send a cloture motion to the desk. Let me say before I send it to the desk, it is obvious to me what is happening here is nothing is happening. We had amendment after amendment on congressional coverage, on which we wasted all of last week, and part of last week on unfunded mandates. We are told there are 40, 50, 60 amendments. I am not certain how many are germane. This is an issue supported by the Governors, supported supported by people all across America--Republicans and Democrats--and supported by the President of the United States. It is pretty obvious we are not going to be able to move it quickly in the Senate because people are using the rules to frustrate efforts. That is the way it works. I do not fault that. I think we may have done that in the past a time or two. This is something where there is broad bipartisan support. We would like to complete it this week. If we can get cloture, we may be able to complete it this week. So I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. DOLE. I will be happy to yield.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. DOLE. I would like to accommodate the Senator from Vermont and others by having back-to-back votes and have the Senator out of here by 5 after 3 or 6 or 7 after 3. I do not know whether that accommodates the Senator or not. So if we work it out, if we have back-to-back votes, that will be it for today.

Mr. DOLE. Last night we talked about your dog, Billy, and my dog, Leader. So I have had Leader inscribe a picture for Billy, and here is the picture.

Mr. DOLE. Set it aside, offer it, and then have a rollcall vote.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I thank the Chair. (The remarks of Mr. Dole pertaining to the introduction of S. 230 are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')

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

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate and no other Senator seeking recognition, I now ask consent that the Senate stand in recess under the previous order.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in recess until the hour of the 9:15 a.m, on Tuesday, January 17, 1995; that following the prayer, the Journal of proceedings be deemed approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. I further ask consent that there be a period for the transaction of routine morning business not to extend beyond the hour of 9:30 a.m, with Senators permitted to speak for not more than 5 minutes each. I further ask that at 9:30 a.m. the Senate resume consideration of S. 1, the unfunded mandates bill. I finally ask that on Tuesday the Senate stand in recess from 12:30 until 2:15 in order for the weekly party luncheons to meet.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I rise to speak briefly today to reintroduce the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act. I am joined again by the distinguished Senator from Illinois, Senator Simon, in addition to the following cosponsors: Senator McCain, Senator D'Amato, Senator Kennedy, and Senator Gramm. In my view, our legislation will further an important American foreign policy objective: to facilitate the prompt delivery of humanitarian aid. This would be achieved by establishing the principle that if a government obstructs humanitarian aid to other countries, it should not receive U.S. assistance. It seems to me that this is a principle that could be readily accepted by everyone. Very simply, our legislation would prohibit U.S. foreign assistance to countries which prohibit or impede the delivery or transport of U.S. humanitarian assistance to other countries. It makes a lot of sense to me. The intended effect of this legislation is to ensure the efficient and timely delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance to people in need. It will help deter interference with humanitarian relief, as well as provide for the appropriate response in the event of interference or obstructionism. Mr. President, our legislation would be universally applicable--the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act does not single out any one country. It would apply to all relief situations. Currently, however, there is one country that would clearly be affected. Turkey continues to receive large amounts of assistance in the form of grants and concessional loans financed by the American taxpayer while at the same time, it is enforcing an immoral blockade of Armenia. As a result, outside relief supplies must travel circuitous routes, thereby greatly increasing the cost of delivery. Moreover, many supplies never make it at all. This same blockade prevents care packages from the American Red Cross from entering Armenia, as an example. In sum, United States aid to Armenia is far less effective and much more expensive because of Turkey's blockade. More importantly, Armenians freeze and go Hungry as a result of actions taken by the Turkish Government. The delivery of humanitarian assistance to aid those in need, like the Armenians--is consistent with the fundamental values of our Nation. This legislation will strengthen our ability to deliver such assistance which is an important component of our foreign policy. Let me repeat, this bill does not name names. The legislation could apply to many other relief operations. around the world, operations that depend on the cooperation of other countries. I recognize that Turkey has been a valuable ally in Nato and recently in Operation Desert Storm. Mr. President, this legislation recognizes that there may be a compelling U.S. National Security interest which would override the principle of noninterference with Humanitarian aid. For this reason, U.S. foreign aid to nations in violation of this act may be continued if the president determines that such assistance is in the National Security Interest of the United States. Mr. President, it does not make sense to me to offer U.S. taxpayer dollars unconditionally to countries that hinder our humantiarian relief efforts. In light of budgetary constraints, it is imperative that U.S. relief efforts be timely and efficient. The bottom line is that countries that prevent the delivery of such assistance, or intentionally increase the cost of delivering such assistance, do not deserve unrestricted American assistance. Mr. President, this legislation will be referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations where I hope it will get rapid and positive consideration and a good rapid hearing. Similar legislation will be introduced in the House. I hope that Congress will quickly enact this legislation and send it to the White House for approval. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record. We are just simply saying if a country blocks humanitarian aid, they do not get any assistance. It seems to me that it is pretty hard to dispute that argument or come to any other conclusion, notwithstanding, as I said, the fact that Turkey has been an ally. I would hope that Turkish officials would take another look and make it easier for people in Armenia to receive humanitarian assistance from the United States.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I just say for the information of my colleagues that it could be that votes could occur before the 12:30 luncheons on Tuesday. Members should be alert that we will start on S. 1 at 9:30. We will have amendments, hopefully, at 9:30. We have had enough delay on this bill. We, in effect, wasted yesterday and wasted today. We do have an interest in getting this legislation passed. It is very important. I agree with the distinguished Senator from West Virginia, Senator Byrd, there are a lot of questions about the bill. Hopefully, we can start the debate on the bill, start off with the amendments so that many of the questions that my colleague from West Virginia and other Senators may have will be answered. There are a number of very important amendments on each side of the aisle that are germane that should be process. I would suggest that probably, at least on Wednesday and Thursday, if we do not complete the bill by Thursday evening, we will probably be in late, say, on Wednesday and maybe Thursday of next week and probably have a pretty good day on Friday unless we can complete action on the legislation. I just ask my colleagues for their cooperation. As leader, I do not want useless votes. Somebody misses a vote, we do not want those kind of votes. We want meaningful votes on substantive issues and substantive amendments and we will try to proceed on that basis. As long as we have the cooperation of our colleagues we will continue that process.

Mr. DOLE

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I indicated earlier that in the Budget Committee statement--maybe not technically a report--it contained all but the minority views. But I am advised now that it does contain the minority views of the Senator from North Dakota [Mr. Conrad] and the Senator from California [Mrs. Boxer]. The only minority views that are not included are the views of the Senator from Nebraska [Mr. Exon]. So I think, again, not to belabor the point, but somewhere along the line there was a miscommunication. And I do regret that it happened, because I think in this instance we have some legitimate amendments to this bill that ought to be debated. It is a bill that is supported by the President. It has strong bipartisan support. We would like to at least start getting into it. We have a number of amendments on this side. I do not know how many amendments on that side; somebody said as many as 30. That does not mean they will all be offered. But it is an indication that we have a lot of work to do even to complete action on this bill by, say, Thursday of next week. We will do our best to have the other committee report available. The same thing is in the Record, except for the views of Senator Exon. We hope to have that available no later than 10, maybe as early as 8 a.m. in the morning. In the meantime, I will move to table the next committee amendment, and announce that this will be the last vote this evening. I know there is a very important briefing tomorrow that I think every Member should attend on Mexico. I believe that would be at 10 a.m. in room HC-5. It is in the new add-on to the Capitol. All Members, Senators and Members of the House, are invited. Mr. Greenspan will be there. Mr. Rubin will be there and other members of the administration. It is a very important briefing. We met with the President today. I hope that everybody on both sides of the aisle will be there at 10 o'clock. There is some morning business, so I would suggest we come in at 9, and at 10 o'clock we recess from 10 until 11 and be back on the bill at 11. I will get that consent later, but just so Members will know, there will be no further votes after this vote. And I will ask for the yeas and then yield to the Senator from Ohio.

Mr. DOLE. This will be the last vote tonight.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, will my colleague yield just for a unanimous consent request that when she finishes her statement, that I be given the floor rather than the Senator from Idaho, Senator Kempthorne? I ask unanimous consent that I be recognized.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I would just say in a preliminary way, Senator Kempthorne and Senator Glenn I believe will be here momentarily, but this is an important piece of legislation, so important that it does have the number 1, S. 1. This is legislation that not only affects Governors, as the Presiding Officer knows what it meant, unfunded mandates, what an impact it has on States; it also affects cities and counties and other subdivisions. The mayors support it. The legislators support it. Right now, Senator Kempthorne is in a press conference with private sector groups. It also affects the private sector because if an unfunded mandate comes, it is always passed through higher taxes or some other way. So it is strongly supported by the private sector, by the public sector. It has broad bipartisan support and should have broad bipartisan support. I hope that my colleagues would limit amendments on this bill to those that are legitimate amendments that may affect some real concern they have with this legislation. We have gone through the other exercise on congressional coverage, and I know that happens from time to time on either side. But I think in this legislation it is an opportunity for us to demonstrate in a bipartisan way that we understand the problem; we want to deal with the problem. And so far it has been dealt with in a bipartisan way. I would also say to my colleagues, many of whom are not here but I know they must be listening in their offices, their ears glued to the TV or whatever, if in fact we can reach some agreement today on the amendments and sort of put them all in a little bag somewhere and say this will be all the amendments that will be offered to this bill, then I will be very happy to try to accommodate some of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle with reference to plans they may have out of Washington tomorrow. As you know, Monday will be a holiday, but we will be back voting on Tuesday. So staffs on each side I know have been working trying to accommodate Members, but I just suggest this is very important legislation. Senator Kempthorne I think deserves a great deal of credit. He came here as a mayor from Boise, ID. He made this his No. 1 priority. He has never backed away from it. He has stuck with it. He has had a lot of help from our colleague from Ohio, Senator Glenn, and others, Senator Roth on this side of the aisle. So we hope that we could really expedite it, demonstrate to the American people that the Senate can act quickly when we have a matter like this before us. Let us address the legitimate concerns, but, please, let us not in this case offer all the other amendments that everybody has been keeping in their files or their waste basket or somewhere else the past several weeks. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I move to table the committee amendment and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. DOLE. It is committee amendment No. 8. It adds a new section to the Budget Act. The amendment stipulates several of the definitions which are unique to this new section of the Budget Act would only apply to this section. It is on page 12, line 6 through line 9.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I agree with the distinguished Senator from California. As a strong supporter of the Americans With Disabilities Act, I think as in every case where you have regulation or regulators, some become too zealous. We have had examples in our State. I happen to think the Americans With Disabilities Act was a major civil rights piece of legislation. But, unfortunately, many people feel we ought to make drastic changes because the rule of reason has not prevailed in some of the regulations. And those are certainly some examples I had not heard, but there are other examples that I think make the same point the Senator from California just made. So I hope we can revisit some of these things that we have done, supported, believe in, and, hopefully, apply the rule of reason in some of those cases. Mr. President, I just say to my colleagues, I do not want to stay here too much longer this evening but we will be here tomorrow. And we will have votes tomorrow. Hopefully we can work out some arrangement. I think the staff is now looking at a number of other committee amendments that are technical in nature, to see if the Senator from West Virginia might be willing to let us adopt those committee amendments. If not, there will be probably at least--maybe--no more than one additional vote this evening. Mr. President, what I will propose in a few moments, after I have had an opportunity to understand what I have here before me fully, is that we consider the remaining amendments en bloc with three exceptions. I think we started out this morning with two exceptions. We would add a third exception because one of these amendments, I understand, is a bit controversial. So it would be my hope if we could sort of get back to where we were this morning we have not lost everything today, 10 o'clock to 10 o'clock, if we could then probably table the other three amendments. There will be one this evening and the other two tomorrow. I do not know if my colleague from West Virginia has had an opportunity to look at the request. I will just indicate that I will not propound the request, but the request would be that the agreed-to committee amendments be 8, 9, 10, and 14, and except out amendments 11, 12, and 13. Committee amendment 11 starts on page 25; committee amendment 12 on page 27; and committee amendment 13 on page 23. It is my understanding that those amendments, those three amendments, are somewhat controversial. So I would not ask unanimous consent that they be agreed to.

Mr. DOLE. Well, I thank my friend from West Virginia. I would like to get my little dog, Leader, and your little dog, Billy, together, but not tonight.

Mr. DOLE. I think Truman had it right. In any event, I do not really quarrel--I think there has been a miscommunication, I say to my friend from West Virginia. And maybe I will accept the blame, although I thought I understood it properly. But we have had available, as of today at 11:40, the report from the Committee on Governmental Affairs. That report is available, with minority views. The Budget Committee report is printed in the Record at page 783. Senator Domenici put that in the Record last night. It is in this morning's Record. I understand that report will be available at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning with, I guess, minority views from three members of the Budget Committee. But I say to my friend from West Virginia, I think we believed we were acting in accordance with an agreement we had made--the two leaders--so we could take up the bill Thursday and hopefully get an agreement on amendments, total up a finite number, not be in on Friday, out on Monday; but I think because of the lack of communication, we have not been able to obtain that agreement. We have not given up trying. It is my hope that at 10 o'clock tomorrow when that report is available,--I do not want to keep Members here just moving to table. And you are right, you can move to recess. We can do a lot of things. But I do believe we will have to be here tomorrow and, hopefully, when the report is available, then we can proceed. If we table all these amendments--we have accepted No. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7; No. 1 has been tabled. Would the distinguished Senator from West Virginia be agreeable to having one motion to table all the remaining committee amendments rather than having seven or eight votes?

Mr. DOLE. I am just suggesting that might be one way. But if the report is available at 10 o'clock tomorrow, I assume the Senator from West Virginia has no objection to us proceeding. One report is available and has been available.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I move to instruct the Sergeant at Arms to request the presence of absent Senators, and I ask for the yeas and nays.