Wendell Ford

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, anytime someone from our hometown gains national recognition for their talents, we all feel a sense of pride and ownership--that somehow we've contributed to that success. I know all those from the city of Owensboro and from Daviess County will be doing their share of boasting during the Owensboro Legends of Racing Homecoming. It provides us with a chance to show off some of our homegrown talent, and to thank these racers and crew members for representing our community so well in competitions across the country. I know all Kentuckians are just as proud as I am of Darrell and Michael Waltrip, Jeremy Mayfield, and the Green boys--David, Jeff, and Mark. Any weekend we turn on the television and watch the NASCAR races, we enjoy it that much more knowing that they're successes reflect so well on Owensboro, and our entire State. Working closely with the NASCAR drivers are nine pit crew members from Owensboro and Daviess County who have achieved the highest level of success in their field. I want to congratulate Jeff Chandler, Kenneth Davis, Kerry Everly, Terry Mayfield, Stephen McCain, Donnie Richeson, Barry Swift, Bobby Waltrip, and Todd Wilkerson for their hard work and excellent performances. They're part of one of the fastest growing sports today. It's estimated that attendance records will double, with 6 million fans expected to go to the races this year. These are all men of excellent character, who've demonstrated what can be accomplished with hard work and dedication. I join all Kentuckians in congratulating not only them, but their families, who have stood by and supported these racers and pit crew members over the years. I couldn't be more proud of their achievements, and I wish them continued success in the future.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I thank the Chair.

Mr. FORD. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. President. What is the timeframe now? We had morning business, I think, until 12:30, and then it was extended. I am not sure where we are.

Mr. FORD. I thought it was those Senators on the floor at the time.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, the Congressional Research Service [CRS] released a long awaited report today that calls into question the validity of claims that passive smoking presents a risk to nonsmokers. It also highlights questions on the validity of the science behind the Environmental Protection Agency's [EPA] and subsequently the Occupational Safety and Health Administration [OSHA] findings on the effects of secondhand smoke. In 1993, the EPA released a report classifying passive smoke a ``class A carcinogen.'' This EPA report has been the basis for numerous actions taken to limit smoking in public places with the most dramatic example being the OSHA proposed smoking ban in all workplaces across the United States. However, this CRS report, indicates well placed skepticism on the methods used by OSHA to justify the need for such draconian and invasive policies as the one espoused by this agency. CRS also questions the very harm of second hand smoke. It found fault with the EPA's premise that there is no safe level of exposure to passive smoke, and the conclusions that OSHA drew from a limited number of studies, a practice which clearly undercuts the validity of the OSHA findings. The report released today is but the latest in a series by different high level specialists at CRS. Every report has led to the same conclusion: There is no scientific justification for smoking bans or de facto bans like the one issued by OSHA some months ago. In previous reports CRS stated unequivocally that, ``the epidemiological evidence for passive-smoking-related disease is weak.'' It has followed this statement up with today's report which represents a comprehensive look at this subject as well as an examination of purported risks for heart disease. While many agenda driven researchers have picked and chosen from only the studies that support their views, CRS, an agency which is unquestioned in its objectivity, has, during a lengthy 20 month review, rigorously examined all of the data on this controversial topic. Its conclusion is that the OSHA risk assessment as stated in its proposed rule is incorrect. While CRS is prohibited under its rules from issuing specific policy recommendations, the evidence of the study is clear and bears repeating: There is no scientific justification for the current regulatory action being sought by OSHA. The CRS study calls into question the very underpinnings that form the basis of Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] and OSHA claims regarding the dangers of second hand smoke. EPA has claimed since the release of its much criticized report back in January 1993, that there is no safe level of exposure to ETS. However, CRS directly refutes this assertion. Furthermore, it finds that the only reasonable chance of risk comes in extreme situations and even in those cases the findings are uncertain and in need of further research. This, in my view, is the scientific equivalent of the townspeople screaming out ``The emperor has no clothes.'' In light of the seriousness of the findings of this study and the reputation of the organization that is so questioning OSHA actions, I am calling on OSHA to reopen its hearings on the proposed rule and to re-evaluate the justification for the rule in the first place. I respectfully suggest to my colleagues that this historic study undermines the premise for all government coerced smoking bans. Mr. D'AMATO addressed the Chair.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey [Mr. Bradley] is absent because of illness in the family.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I thank the Chair. I will not be very long. I know my friend from Washington has a statement he would like to make.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I am intrigued by the statements that have been made on the Senate floor recently in the last few moments, as if this is a budget that has gone to the President. This is no budget that has gone to the President. It is a continuing resolution that keeps Government running at a certain level, and a debt ceiling that will allow us to secure the funds to do that. The point keeps being made that the President will not do this. Well, the President has not received a clean continuing resolution. There are add-ons. The President has not received a clean debt ceiling increase. There are add-ons. Mr. President, just go back to April of this year. This is a premeditated--a premeditated--train wreck. In April, the Republican leadership said this would happen. They wanted it to happen so they could talk about it. They want to put the President on the spot. I do not think any us would sit in the Oval Office and allow Medicare to go up 25 percent. That was an issue last week in several of the campaigns--I know it was in my State--Medicare. We talk about statements by the commission on Medicare. Last year when they gave us a report, it was not quite as good as it was this year. This year they said Medicare would be solvent for an additional year. We have more employment, more money going into Medicare. Somehow or another we are being blamed for inefficiency of the majority party. The inefficiency of the majority party is that they have not done their work on time. October 1 was the deadline for the appropriations bills to be on the President's desk. Here it is, November 13, 6 weeks later, and we only have two or three at the White House--6 weeks late. So the majority has been inefficient in getting the appropriations bills to the President. This would eliminate the continuing resolution. All we need would be a debt ceiling so we would not have two bills on the President's desk. All we are asking, Mr. President, is that we not tie other items to a continuing resolution, increasing Medicare by 25 percent. Increasing Medicare by 25 percent--we are talking about the average income in my State of those on Medicare about $15,000. Add another $150 a year on to that household? I do not believe there is anyone here, if they were President, who would sign a continuing resolution that binds the President's hands, or a debt ceiling that binds the President's hands. One thing you do not hear, you increase the debt ceiling, and after it reaches that, it is reduced. The debt ceiling is less at the time it expires than they are making it now. Why? So if we do good work, have good income, which we think we are going to, we have reduced the deficit 3 consecutive years--exactly what we said we would do in 1993. If we get the appropriations bills out of the House and the Senate and to the President's desk, if we just give him a clean debt ceiling and a clean continuing resolution, we can sit down and work. There will be no problem. [[Page S 16971]] The premeditated train wreck that was announced last April is occurring. There is not anything unknown about this. ``We are going to do it. The President is going to do it our way or no way.'' I have been around here a little while and I have heard that before. I believe the best interests of this country are to give us a clean debt ceiling, give us a clean continuing resolution, and then we can work out the legislative problems after that. I think we would find that things would move a lot faster than trying to tear up the country and to tear up the financial stability of this great Nation of ours. I hope we can get a clean debt ceiling, a clean continuing resolution, and that the majority would do their work and give us the appropriations bills so the President would have an opportunity to sign those, and we can continue with the things all of us want to, and that is work towards a balanced budget. I yield the floor.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator for Hawaii [Mr. Akaka] is necessarily absent. I also announce that the Senator from New Jersey [Mr. Bradley] is absent because of illness in the family.

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, can we have order in the Chamber? It seems we have some visitors. We need decorum here.

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Hawaii [Mr. Akaka] is necessarily absent. I also announce that the Senator from New Jersey [Mr. Bradley] is absent because of illness in the family.

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Hawaii [Mr. Akaka] is necessarily absent. I also announce that the Senator from New Jersey [Mr. Bradley] is absent because of illness in the family.

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Hawaii [Mr. Akaka] is necessarily absent. I also announce that the Senator from New Jersey [Mr. Bradley] is absent because of illness in the family.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Hawaii [Mr. Akaka] and the Senator from California [Mrs. Boxer] are necessarily absent.

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Hawaii [Mr. Akaka], and the Senator from California [Mrs. Boxer], are necessarily absent.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey [Mr. Bradley] is absent because of illness in the family.

Mr. FORD. Madam President, may we have order, please? We need to hear the Senator.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, just over 2 years ago, I watched as Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization Yasir Arafat and Prime Minister [[Page S 16818]] Yitzhak Rabin shook hands across a centuries old divide. With that handshake, they shed the weight of the past so they might find strength to conceive a different future. Even the desk where they signed the Declaration of Principles establishing Palestinian self-rule was symbolic of the long road they had taken. It was the same desk used in 1979 by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Premier Menachem Begin when they signed the Camp David Accord. But Saturday's assassination showed us all too painfully that even such powerful symbols cannot prevent the evil that is borne of extremism. They certainly can never prepare us for the deep sense of loss that cuts across religious, political and national lines. And too, Rabin's assassination is an unfortunate reminder that all too often, it is death and crisis, rather than life and peace, that binds us one to the other. A writer for the Washington Post commented that Rabin's casket ``looked too small somehow to contain the enormity of his passing,'' and a store owner in Jerusalem put up a closed sign with the message, ``We are all orphans now.'' They understood the enormity of Rabin's passing, yet it was the smallest voice--the voice of his grandaughter--that reminded all of us what the universal struggle for peace is all about. She understood that our fallen heros are the mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters of a country. And for those they've left behind, there is no consolation. When she spoke, the world understood that the stain of her grandfather's death would forever cast a shadow over the ultimate goal of peace--a chill felt by the millions of others who have lost someone in that quest. It was upon his descent into the inferno that Dante said ``I would not have thought, death had undone so many * * *.'' But he might just as well have been speaking about Israel as the country mourned the loss of a remarkable leader, a remarkable man. Mr. President, let me close by joining the countless others who have expressed their sadness and regret at this senseless loss, and their renewed commitment to the peace process.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I have never understood why the Senate should become a political arena. I have never heard so many speeches and so many names called and so many TV spots referred to. I can refer to the TV spots ``read my lips,'' or I can refer to the vote on President Reagan's budget of 425 to 0 in the House. I think we ought to get down to the issues. I voted for the tax bill in 1993, and 12,500 taxpayers in my State paid additional taxes and 315,000 paid less. Everybody else paid the same. We have less unemployment today in Kentucky than we had 3 years ago. Let us talk about the issues, and let us not make this Chamber so political. I yield the floor. Mr. WELLSTONE addressed the Chair.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I rise to speak today on a matter that brings me great personal sadness. A loyal and trusted member of my staff, Martha Moloney, passed away over the weekend, after a long battle with cancer. I know that many of my colleagues will understand when I say that my staff is like a second family to me. And perhaps, it is even more pronounced for me, because of the length of time my staff has continued to serve me with such loyalty and dedication. Martha was one of those staffers, working with me for 18 years, nearly my entire service in the Senate. Over the years, I had the privilege to see her develop her legislative acumen, having a hand in numerous historic legislative achievements and working on airport projects all across my State. I depended immensely on her political sense and her knowledge of aviation and telecommunications issues. Her work certainly did not go unnoticed in Kentucky. Because of her commitment of time and energy, officials at one of our largest airports named a street after her. I will be forever grateful for the countless times that her advice and counsel helped me make the best decisions for Kentucky and the Nation. I know that many Kentuckians will share my belief that she will be impossible to replace. I also saw her confront a terrible illness and turn it into a series a personal triumphs. Because of her bravery and commitment, last year's National Race for the Cure on behalf of breast cancer, had over 200 participants who ran, walked, and said, ``Doing it for Martha.'' As a result of the personal outpouring of support on her behalf, the entire race will be dedicated in Martha's honor next year. It is the largest 5 kilometer race in the world. If you look simply at her 25 years of public service, first in her native Kentucky and then in Washington, you cannot help but be impressed by her commitment to a State and its people. But, that really does not begin to define a woman whose gifts and talents were many. I know my fellow Kentuckians will agree when I say she was a true southern woman in the best of that tradition. She was intelligent and articulate, not a bit afraid to speak her mind, a gracious hostess and talented artist creating beautiful quilts and needlework, and to the end, compassionate and giving. She was the accomplished cook who was as proud of the meal she cooked at Christ House or Carpenter's homeless shelter as she was of the gourmet spread you were guaranteed when invited to dinner. She was the woman who faced death much too early, yet was determined in the last months of needlepoint the Christmas ornaments her friends and colleagues had come to expect each year, before it was too late. Not long ago, I read the words of a pastor who said that ``If you look hard enough, you can see God's image even in someone whose life is foreign to yours, and you can have compassion for him.'' In the end, I believe that is the life Martha had come to live, turning the skills that led to an accomplished career, into the large and small acts of kindness and generosity that touched all those who knew her and may who did not. My thoughts and prayers go out to her friends and family.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I want to take just 1 minute.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey [Mr. Bradley] is absent because of illness in the family.

Mr. FORD

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey [Mr. Bradley] is absent because of illness in the family.