T. Gorton

Mr. GORTON

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, like Senator Domenici, I look forward to a better future in accountability for TPA funds. This program is critical for tribes and they should also be able to measure their own progress against local needs as suggested by the Nambe Pueblo plan. I support this recommendation for a TPA accountability pilot program from existing TPA funds and I look forward to some positive results.

Mr. GORTON. In Committee on the Senate side, we were able to boost funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services by $500,000, from its fiscal year 1999 level of $23.405 million, to $23.905 million for fiscal year 2000. And now we have adopted the Cochran and Bennett amendments as part of the managers' amendment to boost funding for the NEH and NEA by $4.000 million each.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I send a package of numbered amendments to the desk with modifications and ask unanimous consent that these amendments be adopted en bloc. They have been cleared on both sides.

Mr. GORTON. For anyone who is listening, these amendments include one by the Senator from North Dakota, Mr. Dorgan, on National Forest- dependent rural communities; two by myself, one technical and one with respect to a Plum Creek land exchange; one by Senator Kyl of Arizona with respect to funding for tribal school operations; two by Senator Reid of Nevada on conveyances in that State; one by Senators Murkowski, Bingaman, and Cochran with respect to Federal energy use, to which is appended a statement by Senator Cochran; and one by Senators Breaux and Landrieu with respect to Fish and Wildlife Service authority to retain and use certain fees.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I will comment further on that amendment. A number of objections from people in the vicinity of a portion of that land exchange were made both to me and to my colleague, Senator Murray. The letter responds to many of those concerns, and others will be responded to by the Plum Creek Company itself. I would like to say a number of those objections were valid objections and deeply concerned this Senator, and we hope they will largely be alleviated by the prompt response of Plum Creek. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent a letter addressed to me from Plum Creek be printed in connection with the Plum Creek land exchange amendment.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent those amendments be agreed to en bloc.

Mr. GORTON. I appreciate the Senators' comments. The Committee shares your view that the protection of the loggerhead sea turtle is critical, and we will consider the needs of the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge during our conference with the House. sea turtle conservation

Mr. GORTON. I am pleased to join my colleague from Florida in a colloquy.

Mr. GORTON. Initially--that amount was subject to a 0.48 percent across-the-board reduction; consequently, the House-passed funding level is $24.282 million, or $377,000 more than what the Senate Committee on Appropriations reported.

Mr. GORTON. I am aware of these efforts and would encourage the National Park Service to work closely with the native corporation to further develop this proposal in light of the fact that they use private dollars to maximize public resources. Visitor centers are becoming a very expensive item in the Interior budget. This approach should set an example for future facilities of this type.

Mr. GORTON. I say to my friend from New York that I am aware of the strong support for the IMLS here in the Senate. Rest assured that I will give every consideration to providing additional support for the IMLS when we go to conference on the bill.

Mr. GORTON

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

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, in fiscal year 1990, the Forest Service sold 11 billion board feet of timber for harvest and for productive use. For the last 2 years, we have authorized through our appropriations 3.6 billion board feet of harvest. The administration proposed in its budget for this year 3.2 billion, a further reduction, and a reduction from 1990 of 71 percent, as my colleague from Idaho pointed out. Peculiarly, or interestingly enough, the Forest Service in its actual National Forest Land Management Plan allows for a harvest of about twice this amount. It is only the appropriations level recommended by the administration, and for that matter by this Congress, that has the level almost 50 percent below what the Forest Service plans say is both economically and environmentally sustainable. That is the first peculiar argument. Second, the committee bill does not increase the allowable harvest. It simply allows the same harvest for next year that appropriations bills passed overwhelmingly by this body and signed by the President have permitted for the course of the last 2 years. The question is whether or not we should continue to move toward no harvest at all, as many of the national environmental organizations recommend, or whether we should consider continuing the relatively modest harvests that were promised by this President and this administration at the beginning of his Presidency, most particularly in the Pacific Northwest. The Senator from Idaho pointed out that this is not exclusively a Northwest issue; that it applies to forests in other parts of the country, including the hardwood forests in the Northeast. The original Bryan amendment distributes this money relatively widely--a fairly small percentage of the overall Interior appropriations bill--including a modest amount which simply is not to be spent at all and will go to the national debt. Most of that modest amount, however, is taken up and spent by the Wyden second-degree amendment that is to be directed at surveys of various species in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. About those surveys, the Oregonian wrote an editorial 3 days ago. Three paragraphs of that editorial read as follows: Maybe now it is finally clear to the Clinton administration that it is fiscally and practically impossible to count every slug, every lichen, every salamander that lives on every timber sale on public forest land in the Northwest. The surveys of rare species of animals and plants required in the Northwest Forest Plan are ``technically impossible'' and ``preposterous,'' in the words of the Society of American Foresters, a professional group holding its national convention in Portland this week. . . Intentional or not, the survey requirement inserted into the Northwest Forest Plan has proven to be a poison pill--a way to block all logging and prevent the plan from working as it was designed. That is the end of my quote from that editorial. The Wyden second-degree amendment wastes $10 million. It literally wastes $10 million on surveys that are ``impossible'' according to the newspaper, ``preposterous'' according to the Society of American Farmers, and ``a poison pill'' for any timber sales whatever. Estimates made during the course of a debate last week on carrying out all of these surveys were somewhere between $5 billion and $9 billion--not the $10 million that is included in this amendment. In other words, we are being asked by this amendment simply to throw away $10 million on useless surveys and at the same time to reduce further a timber sale program, a harvest, that is approximately half of what the Clinton Forest Service and its forest plans has said is environmentally and economically appropriate in the forests of the United States. There is no rational ground for either the first-degree amendment or the second-degree amendment, except for the proposition that we wish to drive as quickly as we possibly can to a situation in which there is no longer any harvest of timber products on the national forests or, for that matter, all of the public lands of the United States. That is a conclusion and a goal that is economically unsound, environmentally unsound in the United States, bad for our balanced payments, and bad for the management of forests and the rest of the world whose products would be substituted for our own if that goal were reached. I trust that sound judgment and wisdom will prevail and that both of these amendments will be rejected. I want to point out once again that the committee report, the Appropriations Committee bill that is before the Senate, does not increase timber harvests on public lands of the United States. It retains exactly the level they were authorized for in the current year by the current appropriations bill, a level that the Senator from Idaho, I, and the junior Senator from Oregon believe already to be unwisely low. We did not come here with a controversial point of view; we came here with essentially a freeze. We ask our colleagues to support the committee in that connection.

Mr. GORTON

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I just read a text that was submitted to me. I am going to offer what I hope is a slight correction to that for the benefit of all Senators. I believe, as manager of the bill, it is highly possible there are only two other unresolved matters in connection with the Interior appropriations bill. One is, of course, this Bryan-Wyden amendment that will be voted on in about 1 hour. The other is cloture on the Hutchison amendment. There was a vote on that cloture last night. It failed, but it seemed to have failed primarily by reason of absent Senators. The majority leader moved to reconsider and, of course, can bring up that motion at any time. As manager of the bill, I do not know of any other amendments that will require rollcall votes. It does not mean there might not be one or two, but I do not know of any others. We now have two managers' amendments ready: one dealing with legislative matters and one dealing with money matters, but I hope we will have settled all other outstanding issues in connection with the bill. In any event, if there are Senators who wish to bring up amendments that they reserved way back in August with respect to the bill that are not settled in these two managers' amendments, I certainly urge them to come to the floor and to be prepared to present them immediately after the 10:30 vote on the Bryan-Wyden second-degree amendment. With that, Mr. President, I see Senator Wyden present, I see Senator Craig present, and so we are ready for debate.

Mr. GORTON

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

Mr. GORTON

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

Mr. GORTON

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I should like to make the following announcement. We will have that managers' amendment--I think there is only one that is possible; it may be in two sections--ready within the next half hour or so to present. It does represent an accommodation of the requests of many Members, with the understanding of all Members. I think it will take only a very few minutes to present and to have it accepted. At that point, we will have only the Hutchison amendment outstanding. The majority leader has reserved the right to ask for reconsideration of the cloture motion that was defeated yesterday. I suspect when he chooses to do that, we will in a relatively short period of time finish debate and dispose of the Hutchison amendment one way or another and then go to final passage of the Interior appropriations bill. That means, as far as I am concerned, I am going to vacate the floor at this point. Whenever the chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation wants to start his bill, he can do so. I will ask him for the right to interrupt at some point when I am ready with the managers' amendment and present it then. I see no reason to keep the Senate from moving forward now. I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. GORTON

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

Mr. GORTON

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, today the Senate will immediately resume consideration of the second-degree Bryan-Wyden amendment regarding the Forest Service budget. By agreement, a vote on or in relation to that amendment will take place at 10:30 a.m. Further amendments to the Interior appropriations bill are expected throughout today's session. Senators, therefore, can expect votes throughout the day in anticipation of completing action on the bill. It is expected that the Senate will have approximately 2 hours of debate on S.J. Res. 33, with a vote on final passage during today's session, with the time to be determined by the two leaders. For the remainder of the week, the Senate is expected to begin consideration of the Transportation appropriations bill.

Mr. GORTON

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that S.J. Res. 33 be printed, as modified and passed by the Senate.

Mr. GORTON

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, with respect to the Interior appropriations bill, there will be a vote on or in relation to the Bryan amendment and the second-degree Wyden amendment tomorrow morning at 10:30. It may well be that that will be the last contested matter in connection with this appropriations bill other than the disposition of the Hutchison amendment. I am not entirely certain of that at this point. But we are close to having agreed-upon managers' amendments both with respect to legislative matters and with respect to money matters, with the exception of the motion to reconsider the invocation of cloture. For that reason, this is a notice and a request to Members that if they have other matters they wish debated, or if they have other matters they wish brought to the managers' attention, they should do so very promptly. We will not in the managers' amendment dispose of all the amendments which were reserved, but I think we probably will be able to take care of all of those that look as if they would be otherwise brought up and voted on. We are tantalizingly close to finishing. But, of course, we will not finish or go to third reading under the present circumstances at least until after disposition of the motion to reconsider the motion to invoke cloture, and that motion will certainly pass, and there will be at least one more vote on cloture itself.

Mr. GORTON

Mr. GORTON. I ask unanimous consent that a vote on or in relation to this amendment take place at 3:50 this afternoon, with the time between now and 3:50 equally divided between the Senator from Idaho and the Senator from Illinois.

Mr. GORTON. And there will be no second-degree amendments.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I make that request.

Mr. GORTON. It seems to me to be appropriate to say, for Members, that there won't be another rollcall vote prior to 2 o'clock, and we hope by that time we will have completed debate on the Torricelli amendment and deal with it either by rollcall or voice vote at the necessary time.