T. Gorton

Mr. GORTON

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Acquisition and Technology Subcommittee of the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, March 20, 1996, in open session, to receive testimony on technology base program in the Department of Defense in review of the Defense Authorization request for fiscal year 1997 and the future years defense program.

Mr. GORTON

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I yield 10 minutes to the Senator from Rhode Island.

Mr. GORTON. I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from Connecticut.

Mr. GORTON. The answer to the question of the Senator from North Dakota is that in such States, such States are subject to the restrictions of this bill, exactly as they were under the intention of the bill as it was originally passed by the Senate Commerce Committee and by the Senate itself, as is evidenced by the Senate committee report, and that the change in the statutory language was simply to conform the statutory language with the intention expressed in the committee report.

Mr. GORTON

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment be withdrawn. It also will be included in the managers' amendment.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the yeas and nays be vitiated on the Gorton Amendment No. 3496.

Mr. GORTON

Mr. GORTON. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I have an amendment at the desk and I ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, in Walla Walla, WA, there is a general medical and surgical facility for the Veterans' Administration. That facility serves a wide range of veterans over a very considerable area. The people of Walla Walla are proud of the facility. The various veterans organizations in the area have asked us to rename it in honor of Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright. As you know, Mr. President, General Wainwright was a distinguished American military leader, having commanded American troops in the Philippines and Corregidor after the departure of General MacArthur. He was imprisoned for 4 years, released, and ultimately observed the surrender of the Japanese on the U.S.S. Missouri on V-J Day. He won the Congressional Medal of Honor. General Wainwright was born in Fort Walla Walla, while his family was there with the First Cavalry. The people of Walla Walla are going to erect a statue in his honor, and they wish to rename the facility in honor of General Wainwright. A bill introduced by the Congressman from the district, Mr. Nethercutt, passed the House of Representatives last year. It seems to be buried so deeply in the Veterans' Committee that it is not going to get out certainly in time for the Memorial Day ceremony by which time we hope to have caused this renaming to take place. This is not a cleared amendment but, Mr. President, I think it should be noncontroversial. Senator Murray and I very much urge our colleagues to agree with us, to adopt it as a rider to this bill since it has already passed the House. With those remarks, I think I need no more time of this body speaking about this amendment, about Walla Walla, or about General Wainwright. So I will yield the floor, but I am constrained at this point to ask for the yeas and nays on the amendment with the hope that will bring the whole subject to the attention of those who have objected to it to this point and that it will soon be cleared. So, Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on the amendment.

Mr. GORTON

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the pending amendment be laid aside and I call up amendment No. 3496.

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

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

Mr. GORTON. The first part of the request by the Senator from California is perfectly acceptable. But as I heard the remarks from the Senator from Indiana, he is not prepared to say there will not, under any circumstances, be a second-degree amendment. Certainly we can lay this amendment aside now while the contending parties try to reach an agreement on how it will be dealt with, and go on to something else. I have, for example, a short colloquy I would like to enter. If the Senator from California would like to lay the amendment aside, recognizing she will certainly be recognized again to bring it back up and she has forfeited none of her rights?

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, at the present time, as I understand it, there is no time agreement, so the Senator from California has not forfeited any rights to further time. And so I hope we are going to be able to arrange a time agreement relatively soon, but obviously we cannot do so right now. Mrs. BOXER addressed the Chair.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I appreciate the courtesy of the Senator from California in her desire to move this entire matter forward. I see the Senator from Indiana is in the Chamber, and I say, Mr. President, that the Senator from California was willing to agree to 10 minutes to a side and no second-degree amendments. We did not want to make that agreement without the presence of the Senator from Indiana. And now, if the President will inquire of the Senator from Indiana, we will see if we can get an agreement on disposing of this amendment.

Mr. GORTON. Then I suggest that the Senator from California simply proceed with her argument, and we will see what we can do with that unanimous-consent request.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, for the moment--because I know there is an opponent of this amendment--I am not going to be able to agree to that. I hope we will be able to do so very shortly.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendments be dispensed with.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I send a package of five amendments to the desk and ask they be made in order, notwithstanding the fact, in one instance, one of the amendments amends an amendment already numbered.

Mr. GORTON. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I am informed that the amendment proposed by the Senator from North Carolina has been cleared by both sides. Both sides accept it, and it can be adopted by voice vote.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I think that the offer made by the Senator from California is an appropriate one as far as I can tell. As a consequence, we will agree to 20 minutes equally divided, 10 minutes on a side.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, the purpose of this amendment is to partially reinstate funds to the Department of the Interior and Department of Energy administrative accounts. Accounts within those departments were reduced to offset C&O Canal repair and park maintenance. Due to the lateness in the year, it is recognized that the Department of the Interior's Departmental Office account and the Office of the Solicitor account need flexibility to move funds within those two offices. Therefore, the reduction areas for those two offices are not identified. The amendment changes the availability of $8 million of unobligated and unexpended funding within the Operation of Indian Programs from March 31, 1996. These funds would have otherwise expired as of September 30, 1995. The availability of the funding has been extended to help cover employee severance, relocation, and related expenses. The amendment is necessary because of the delay in the completion of the fiscal year 1996 Interior appropriations bill. amendment no. 3504 (Purpose: To provide emergency funding for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to repair dmage caused by flooding in Alaska) On page 740, line 6 of the bill, strike ``$34,800,000'' and insert ``37,300,000'' in lieu thereof.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, Senator Stevens amendment provides an additional $2.5 million to the Fish and Wildlife Service Construction account in the emergency supplemental appropriations title of this bill. These funds would be used to repair flood damage to Fish and Wildlife Service facilities along the Kenai River in Alaska. I have been informed by the Fish and Wildlife Service that these projects would have been included in the Department's emergency request to the Office of Management and Budget, but that the extent of the damages was not known in time. amendment no. 3505 On page 740 of the bill, insert the following after line 3: resource management For an additional amount for Resource Management, $1,600,000, to remain available until expended, to provide technical assistance to the Natural Resource Conservation Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies on fish and wildlife habitat issues related to damage caused by floods, storms and other acts of nature: Provided, That the entire amount shall be available only to the extent that an official budget request for a specific dollar amount, that includes designation of the entire amount of the request as an emergency requirement as defined in the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as amended, is transmitted by the President to Congress: Provided further, That the entire amount is designated by Congress as an emergency requirement pursuant to section 251(b)(D)(i) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as amended.

Mr. GORTON

Mr. GORTON. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.