Pete Domenici

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, the simplest way I can explain this is this is the kind of tax cut we give, but we take it way. It is kind of a reverse trigger. Instead of putting a tax on, we put tax on and then we stop it in the event we get an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office that the surpluses are not quite what we figured out. We do not do that for spending. Spending can go on up. We have no triggers on or off. But when it comes to tax cuts, we kind of give them, but we do not quite give them. I do not think that is the way we ought to treat the taxpayer. Having said that, the amendment violates the Budget Act. It is not germane and I make the point of order it does not comply with the Budget Act.

Mr. DOMENICI. With just a few amendments we have to clear up, we will be ready to vote on final passage. I ask unanimous consent that Senator Crapo be added as a cosponsor to amendment No. 227.

Mr. DOMENICI. I ask unanimous consent to withdraw amendment No. 233, Coverdell. And I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the following amendments. I will not name the Senator, just the number. These are what we know are around but nobody wants them called up: 203, 201, 200, 198, 194, 184, 172, and 168. I send that to the desk in case the scrivener did not get my vocabulary.

Mr. DOMENICI. I ask unanimous consent that amendment No. 206 be modified with the modification I send to the desk.

Mr. DOMENICI. I ask unanimous consent that amendment No. 206, as modified, the Hatch-Biden amendment, be adopted.

Mr. DOMENICI. We have an amendment that by mistake did not get called up and was misplaced somewhere. It is Senator Collins' amendment. I ask unanimous consent that it be in order to offer the amendment.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I want to inform the Senate that the timeline runs out on the resolution--because votes count and everything now--at 7 o'clock. Here are 36 amendments that Republicans have asked me to send to the desk.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, the next amendment will be an amendment offered by Senator Ashcroft on education. Frankly, I am wondering, with such a short period of time before the vote must occur, whether we should just go ahead and ask him to delay and start with that amendment after the vote.

Mr. DOMENICI. Yes.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Youth Violence, of the Senate Judiciary Committee, be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 25, 1999 at 2:00 P.M. to hold a hearing in room 226, of the Senate Dirksen Office Building on: ``The President's FY2000 OJP Budget: Undercutting Local Law Enforcement in the 21st Century.''

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the surface Transportation/Merchant Marine Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Thursday, March 25, 1999, at 10:00 A.M. on grade crossing safety in room SD-106.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Housing and Transportation of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on March 25, 1999, to conduct a hearing on ``Challenges Facing the FHA Single Family Insurance Fund.''

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Communications Subcommittee on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Thursday, March 25, 1999, at 2:00 p.m. on Satellite Reform in Room SR-253 in the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Aviation Subcommittee on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Thursday, March 25, 1999, at 10:00 a.m. on Air Traffic Control Modernization in Room SR-253 in the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem be permitted to meet on March 25, 1999 at 2:00 p.m. for the purpose of conducting a hearing.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 25, 1999 at 2:00 p.m. to hold a closed hearing on Intelligence matters.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I am pleased my colleagues have again passed this important legislation allowing for transfer of an unwanted piece of federal property to an educational institution which needs it. The Old Jicarilla Site Conveyance Act of 1999 allows for transfer by the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior real property and improvements at an abandoned and surplus ranger station to San Juan College. This college, located in a county that amazingly is 90% in federal ownership, has been waiting for use of this land. Finding appropriate sites for community and educational purposes can be difficult in predominantly federally-owned areas. The site that is the subject of this legislation is in the Carson National Forest near the village of Gobernador, New Mexico. The Jicarilla Site will continue to be used for public purposes, including educational and recreational purposes of the college. The Forest Service determined that the acreage is of no further use to them because a new administrative facility has been located in the town of Bloomfield, New Mexico. In fact, the facility has had no occupants for several years, and the Forest Service testified last year that enactment of this bill would ``provide long-term benefits for the people of San Juan County and the students and faculty of San Juan College.'' While an identical bill passed the Senate last Congress, and was reintroduced this January, the Forest Service last week indicated it wished to make some last minute changes. The substitute amendment incorporates these technical corrections as to the acreage, and I hope the House of Representatives will quickly act on this noncontroversial bill and the land can readily be put to good use for San Juan College and the area residents. We also need to put this property in the hands of the college soon so it can protect the area from further deterioration and fire.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, for decades Los Alamos, Sandia, and Lawrence Livermore have attracted the greatest scientists in the world. That has not changed with the end of the Cold War; the knowledge and skills in those laboratories are unequaled in the world and the envy of the world--for that reason, others will always try to gain that information. The directors and scientists have, since the inceptions of the laboratories, been cognizant of the fact that they are the target of spying. As we consider how to respond to these recent allegations--and some steps have been taken including: the initiation of an aggressive counter-intelligence program at the laboratories that has had its funding increase substantially in the last 24 months and we have halted a declassification initiative until its implementation can be reviewed--we have to ensure that our actions do not undermine the excellence of the laboratories. Interactions with experts outside the laboratories and outside the United States are critical to the pursuit of scientific knowledge and underpin the vitality of the laboratories. Cutting off those interactions will cause the capabilities at the laboratories to fade with time until, at some point, no one would spy on our labs there wouldn't be anything worthwhile in them. I have been briefed by: The Director of Central Intelligence; The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Department of Energy officials, and others on the recent allegations of spying by the Chinese at Los Alamos National Laboratory. I will await the final report of the panel of experts appointed by the Administration before I assess what damage has been done by this latest episode, but some facts are evident. We do know, without doubt, that China's intelligence program against the United States has yielded some results--they have gained access to classified nuclear weapons design information. However, we do not know how much information they have gained or how much that information benefited their nuclear weapons program. I must also say that it is unclear how China gained that information. The Chinese do target our nuclear weapons laboratories, but they also target other potential sources of the same information including other parts of the government, its contractors, and the military branches. It is also unclear how useful information China may have gained, about the W-88 in particular, is to China. The W-88 is extremely advanced; the product of fifty years of our best scientific and engineering know-how. In many ways, China's nuclear weapons program is not capable of utilizing the W-88 design. That is not reassuring when you look out over the coming decades, and in any case, knowing where our years of work led our designers will allow the Chinese to avoid some of the mistakes we made, but the Chinese do not currently have warheads anything like the W-88. Despite the fact that the Chinese capability today does not come anywhere near matching ours, the Chinese nuclear weapons program is threatening. China does share its nuclear weapons technology with others along with its missile technology, and it continues to develop more advanced nuclear weapons designs. Chinese nuclear capabilities threaten its neighbors and limit the opportunities to pursue broad arms control agreements--for example, Russian negotiations on a START III treaty will be strongly influenced by the growing Chinese capability on Russia's eastern border, and India continues to develop more advanced nuclear weapons partly in response to China's program. I will say very little about the allegations against a specific scientist at Los Alamos. However, given what we know about China's intelligence program, it is not unreasonable to assume that scientists at all three weapons labs have knowingly or unknowingly been approached to provide classified information to China or its intermediaries. The laboratories are cognizant of that threat. Frankly, I don't know if the steps the laboratories, working with the Department of Energy and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, are taking are sufficient to prevent espionage at our laboratories. I have met with Director Freeh I, and he assures me that the FBI is doing all it can in this regard. I am certain that, no matter what steps we take, the Chinese and others will continue their efforts.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. That they be allowed to speak for 7 minutes, and then we will proceed with whatever order is decided here.

Mr. DOMENICI. Then immediately following the completion of your debate, then I would like Senator Hutchinson--Senator, how much time did you want with Senator Hutchinson? Why don't we give you 2, if you wanted 1.

Mr. DOMENICI. I don't object, but I would like to couple that with-- do you want to go now or after he finishes his time?

Mr. DOMENICI. I am going to have somebody in my stead who will whisper everything to me in the morning when I arrive.

Mr. DOMENICI. Harkin is going to go, and then Senator Collins. Then you can go after that.

Mr. DOMENICI. Why don't we attempt to do that. Who do we have on our side that has anything this evening? Senator Collins, you have an amendment? OK. So we----