Pete Domenici

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I am proud to introduce Rev. Sheila Gustafson from First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe, NM. She has devoted her life to the ministry of God and within her work has touched many lives. She began her service as the first female pastor ever to serve at First Presbyterian Church, and she is devoted to their mission and has served it faithfully for the past 8 years. Reverend Gustafson demonstrates a great leadership style that endears her not only to the members of her congregation but to the community of Santa Fe. She has taken the lead within the New Mexico Coalition of Churches to create a faith-based organization that fights hate crimes and recently has dedicated her time to the revitalization and modernization of First Presbyterian Church. This project will allow the church to become a mission-oriented building that will provide direct assistance to the community. First Presbyterian Church will be able to provide meeting space for social and faith-based organizations. I thank Reverend Gustafson for coming to offer our invocation this morning. That is not an easy chore clear from New Mexico, as I know when I take that trip every couple of weeks. It is an honor to have her here today.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, we are currently on the energy and water bill. There is pending a Feinstein amendment. We have talked about it. I ask unanimous consent, and this is acceptable to the other side and the proponents, that a vote occur on or in relation to the Feinstein amendment at 2:30 p.m. this afternoon.

Mr. DOMENICI. I have no objection.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I say to the Senate, we are on an energy and water bill. There is no long list of amendments we are aware of. We are aware of two, maybe three amendments. We ask that Members help us finish this evening. It seems now it is the will of both the majority and the minority we finish tonight. The next subject matter will be an appropriations bill, from what I understand. The majority leader has so committed the next bill will be an appropriations bill. There should be no reason why we cannot finish this bill tonight. There may be two amendments. There may be three. On the other hand, there could be just one. We would like Senators to help by getting those amendments as soon as possible so right after the 2:30 vote we can move right ahead with the next amendment.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, fellow Senators, first of all, it should be understood by everyone that this language which is being stricken does not permit the United States of America to build any new nuclear weapons--large, small, medium-sized, or otherwise. There is no authority in this bill to build new nuclear weapons. No. 2, this bill says that in Nevada we used to test nuclear weapons for decades. Whenever our nuclear laboratory experts used to certify to our Presidents that the weapons were in good shape, ready, reliable, available, and safe, they did it principally because we had a testing ground in Nevada, and we tested bombs to know precisely their efficacy, reliability, et cetera. When we decided to no longer test, we essentially closed down or put that test facility in mothballs. But we knew we must always keep it in case we needed it. We left it there, saying if we ever need it, we can use it in 3 years. All this amendment does--it could be a totally freestanding amendment, if one wanted, but it is part of the amendment that the Senator from California strikes--is say let us upgrade that Nevada Test Site so if we need it, we can use it in 1\1/2\ years. There are few American nuclear experts who do not think 1\1/2\ years is the correct amount--not 3 but 1\1/2\. That has nothing to do with us setting about to build a brand new small nuclear weapon. It has nothing to do with us building a stockpile of new weapons. It has to do with just what I explained and nothing else. Third, regardless of what has gone on in Los Alamos for the last 7 years in an effort to produce for America plutonium pits--the ingredient for a nuclear weapon that must be there or you don't have a nuclear weapon--we have no American manufacturing center for the production of pits. The Los Alamos facility has been a facility that we just pushed. We pushed it and pushed it, and finally it has almost produced a pit. But it has not produced a certifiable pit yet in 7 years of effort. It has produced a pit or two, but they are not certifiable, which means they are not complete. All this bill says is the time has come to build a plant to manufacture pits for the next 40 years--not for a new weapons system but so we can have them in storage for the next 40 years. We are the only nuclear weapons power without spare pits for nuclear weapons. Yes, the only one. Why would we say we should not do that? The only reason we would do it is if we believed what the Senator from California alleges; that is, we are doing it because we are going to build a new set of nuclear weapons. If we were authorizing a series or a set of new nuclear weapons, this amendment would be the biggest amendment in the country. It would have been written about, talked about, harked about, and we would have been all over and upside down and inside out. But there is nothing in the bill that produces a single new nuclear weapon. That comes to the final part. It is very simple, if you will just listen and know what we are trying to do. Those who manage our nuclear, those who are our nuclear experts, who use their minds to dream up ideas about where we are going to be, what troubles we might have in the future, and what new might occur in the world that might require changes, are the men and women of great talent. This bill does what the executive branch and the experts on nuclear management say: Let those people think, let those people design, let those people postulate, and don't put blinders on their brains and say you can't even think about these things because it might someday yield an idea that might cause us to do something different with a nuclear weapon. Frankly, I believe the men and women who already put that fantastic brainpower to work in this area deserve to have their brains used, not tied in knots by rules about what you cannot think about and what you cannot plan for. The third part, this amendment says you cannot plan, think about, design for the future, even when you know you cannot build them, which is what the rule is going to be. We have argued this about as long as we can. I have argued it about as hard as I can. I am getting close to being tired of arguing this, but it is so important we not make a mistake. It would be a tragic mistake to vote for the Feinstein amendment. There is nothing we are doing that the Feinstein amendment should stop. If, in fact, we were going to build nuclear weapons, you ought to be concerned and perhaps vote with her, if she is saying do not do it. But we do not plan to. It is not in here. And she cannot stop it because we are not going to do it. In that regard, the amendment is useless. But it is not useless when it comes to the three things that it does: It will stop us from planning the manufacturing plant of the future for pits. It will do that. And we should not do that. Second, it will stop the money and the planning and the work to bring the Nevada Test Site up to par and ready for a new test in 18 months rather than 3 years. It will do that. And third, it will put blinders on the scientists with reference to them being able to speak about the future and future needs, which change. How much time remains?

Mr. DOMENICI. I reserve my time. Amendments Nos. 1676, 1677, 1678, En Bloc

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, Senator Jack Reed has an amendment that is acceptable, if he is ready. Is the Senator ready?

Mr. DOMENICI. I yield the floor.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I address Senators--and I am sure if Senator Reid were here, he would concur--there is a real chance that we could finish this bill this evening. We have two windows. We have this window that lasts until 4:30 and then Senators have to be elsewhere. We understand that. Then there is a window from 6 to 7 when Senators could be here. I am asking Senators, if you have amendments, bring them down and let's get them considered. We will move ahead as soon as Senator Reid gets here with amendments that are getting checked and cleared to which there is no objection. We have quite a few of those. We would be very pleased if we heard from Senators, if your staff could tell us there were no more amendments. Then we could say we could finish from 6 to 7 p.m. this evening. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, on this side of the aisle, we accept the Reed-Levin-Kennedy-Feinstein amendment because it is current policy. It just repeats current policy unequivocably. This is what the policy of the country is. We did not change that in our bill. The Senator is most welcome to try to make it eminently clear what that current policy is. For that reason, we will accept it whenever it is ready to be accepted by the Senate.

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

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, we have nothing further to say about the amendment. We are ready to accept it.

Mr. DOMENICI. I move to reconsider the vote.

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

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

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, we have reviewed these one by one over the afternoon and they are all acceptable.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, reserving the right to object--and I will not--I just want to say I agree because we have been telling the Senate that for a number of hours today, and now the time has come. We want to finish tonight, and there should not be any other amendments. They should have brought them here, if they have them. So I think the consent request is well taken. It should be granted.

Mr. DOMENICI. The Senator has my assurance that GAO's report and recommendations will be carefully analyzed and that I will work with him to ensure that they are considered as we work toward conference.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, yes I am aware that there has been ongoing scientific studies in this area.

Mr. DOMENICI. Yes, I believe the provision has been developed based upon sound science and will be glad to compare the National Academy report with section 310.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I heretofore indicated there would be a vote on a McCain amendment preceding final passage. The Senator has sent word that he no longer desires to offer his amendment. He withdraws it. That means there are no amendments pending. We are ready to go to final passage. I ask for the yeas and nays on final passage.

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that following the passage of the bill, the Senate insist on its amendment, request a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, if I might have the attention of Senator Reid, it has come to my attention, for a reason involving an individual Senator, that it would be more accommodating if we started our vote at 2:45. Does the Senator have any objection to that?