T. Gorton

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, I ask for a rollcall on this amendment.

Mr. GORTON. All time is yielded back.

Mr. GORTON. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, regular order. Amendment No. 3886

Mr. GORTON. The Senator is correct that this amendment would provide for such a payment. I am happy to accept this amendment from my colleagues from Alaska. fish and wildlife service

Mr. GORTON. I have been pleased to support your efforts to commemorate the Saint Croix Island settlement, including your work on the Downeast Heritage Center. I would note that the National Park Service is scheduled to undertake major improvements to its site at Red Beach beginning in fiscal year 2002. I support this effort as well.

Mr. GORTON. The report accompanying this bill reflects the willingness of the committee to consider funding for acquisition of Cat Island, Mississippi, should the enabling legislation be enacted this year. I understand the urgency of this project and the need to provide adequate funding this year. With this in mind, should additional allocations be made available for this bill as it moves through the process, I will work with the Senator to ensure that this worthy project receives our full consideration.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I would be pleased to work with the gentleman on that endeavor.

Mr. GORTON. Unfortunately, due to our subcommittee's allocation, there was not enough room in the Senate mark to cover many good Land and Water Conservation Fund projects. As the bill moves forward, if there is an opportunity to reconsider this project, I will make every effort to do so especially given the unusual circumstance surrounding the FY01 US Forest Service budget request. With the budget flexibility provided by the Forest Service in its recent correspondence, I feel confident that this will help the Red Mountain project as the bill moves forward.

Mr. GORTON. I will continue to work with you toward that end. lincoln presidential library

Mr. GORTON. I understand the importance of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library to my colleagues from Illinois, their constituents, and the nation. While the Lincoln Library is an important project, the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee has received many important requests, for Fiscal Year 2001, that have received precedence, due to the fact that they have been authorized. The Lincoln Library project is a worthy project, and if the project receives authorization, the Committee will again review the project and give it strong consideration.

Mr. GORTON. That is my understanding as well.

Mr. GORTON. I am aware of the historical significance of the 1604 settlement of Saint Croix Island and would note that the Island is the only international historic site in the National Park System.

Mr. GORTON. I want to thank the Senator from Maine for again bringing this matter to my attention. I understand the importance of this matter to the State of Maine and to a much broader, international community. I also understand the importance of providing funds soon enough to allow completion of the Downeast Heritage Center in time for the 2004 commemoration. I will be pleased to do what I can to see that your request is considered fully in conference.

Mr. GORTON. I ask for the yeas and nays on final passage of the bill.

Mr. GORTON. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, at the closing of this bill, this is one more opportunity for me to thank my colleague, Senator Byrd, for his guidance, cooperation, and many courtesies in moving this bill through to final passage. He has been very complimentary of me. I can simply say that much or most of what I have learned about managing a bill I have learned from the distinguished Senator from West Virginia, and I hope he regards me as an apt pupil. I also thank his staff for all of their hard work. The minority clerk, Peter Kiefhaber, who is new to this job, has been a tremendous asset to the subcommittee and has been a forceful advocate for Members on his side of the aisle. Peter has been ably assisted by Carole Geagley of the minority staff, and by Scott Dalzell, who has been with us on detail from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. My own subcommittee staff has also had the benefit of an agency detailee--Sheila Sweeney from the Forest Service. Sheila has kept her good humor even while struggling to track the thousands of Member requests that the subcommittee receives from Members of this body. We have enjoyed having her with us. She has been extremely productive. The subcommittee professional staff on my side has done yeoman work: Ginny James, Leif Fonnesbeck, Joe Norrell, and Christine Drager, who is in her first year with the subcommittee. All have contributed to making the passage of this bill a relatively smooth process, something I think speaks well of their dedication, professionalism, and knowledge of the programs and issues in this bill. Finally, of course, there is my chief subcommittee aide, Bruce Evans, who has guided this bill in each of the years that I have worked on it. I could not possibly have any better staff. I am certain that no Member of the Senate has better, more dedicated, or more effective staff in seeking passage of a particular bill. I also thank Kari Vander Stoep of my own personal staff for her outstanding work on the issues in this bill that are of particular importance to the people of the State of Washington. As many hours as we put in here on the floor, each of these individuals has spent that multiplied by 10 in late nights and early mornings, in literally months of putting the bill together. They are likely to do exactly the same as we go through to the conference committee and final adoption of the bill. I express my gratitude for their good work and the appreciation, I am sure, of Senator Byrd and of the Senate as a whole.

Mr. GORTON

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, the marriage tax penalty is an injustice in the Federal income Tax Code that results in a married couple filing a joint return paying more in taxes than if the same couple were not married and filed as individuals. Today, the Senate will vote to end this injustice. There is no question that the American people, both married and single, are troubled and upset by the marriage tax penalty, and that they are telling Congress and the President to end this injustice in the Tax Code. I know every one of my 99 colleagues in the Senate receives letters like those that arrive in my mail every day from Washington state--letters urging support for legislation to eliminate the marriage tax penalty. I will share just one of the hundreds and hundreds I have recently received. The Gaylord's of Sumner, Washington wrote to me and described how they learned of the penalty the Tax Code imposed on them for being married when preparing their tax filings for this year. The letter reads, ``Here is what I did to see the penalty: I simply clicked on the `single' box on my wife's return (as it is on the computer, it is a simple thing to do) and her tax went from sending $400 to the IRS, to an instant recalculation of getting $500 back!'' Computer tax software made it easily and brutally clear to the Gaylord's that they were being punished by the Tax Code for being married to each other, that they would pay less in taxes if they were single. Mr. President, the marriage tax penalty is as outrageous as it is indefensible. President Clinton, however, has threatened to veto this marriage tax penalty legislation. President Clinton should reverse his threatened veto, sign marriage tax penalty legislation into law and bring fairness to the Tax Code. No longer should those who fall in love and get married be penalized by the Tax Code.

Mr. GORTON

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I concur with the statement just provided by the Senator from West Virginia. sea turtle conservation

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I will gladly yield to a question from my good friend from Louisiana.

Mr. GORTON. In response, let me say, Mr. President, that those are certainly the types of technologies that the Department should address.

Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, again, I agree with the Senator. Given pending environmental requirements applicable to these coal-fired units, it would be my hope that the Department of Energy would consider larger scale projects able to be commercialized immediately. Also, any program should be aimed at developing technologies that could be applied to the greatest number of existing units possible.

Mr. GORTON. The Senator is correct.

Mr. GORTON. I agree that this clarification is necessary and agree that the funds should be allocated through NFWF.