Phil Gramm

Mr. GRAMM

Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I want to thank Senator Hatfield, chairman of the full committee. I think it is clear that without his help and guidance and leadership, we would not have passed this bill at this time. Finally, I want to thank the ranking member of the committee, Senator Hollings. Not only has he done his usual great job, but no one has missed the fact that his eye was operated on. There are very few Members of the Senate who, under the circumstances, would have been here doing their job. I know it has been painful for all of us looking at it, so it has got to be painful to Senator Hollings looking through it. I just want to commend him for the great work he has done. Finally, before suggesting that we move to third reading, the bill before the Senate has been amended in such a way that funding levels for a number of accounts are set by language contained in two or more places in the text. Under the standard procedure for conferring with the House on amendments in disagreement, the funding levels for these activities would be determined by the interaction of several amendments in disagreement. This would greatly complicate the resolution of conference on terms favorable to the Senate. In order to assist the resolution of a conference with the House, I propose that the Senate action on this bill be presented to the House in the form of a substitute. Therefore, I ask unanimous consent that the amendments of the Senate bill be deemed as one amendment in the nature of a substitute for the House of Representatives-passed bill.

Mr. GRAMM. It is my view that this situation should be solved and I will work with the Senator to that end. immigration and naturalization service account

Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I want to thank several staff members. I thank Scott Gudes, who did an exceptional job in helping us put this together. I thank, from my own staff, David Taylor, who, in my period as chairman of this committee, has done an absolutely great job. I am very proud of him and the work he has done. I thank Scott Corwin, Lula Edwards, Steve McMillin, from my own staff, to the degree to which we have made a small impression on the deficit, to the degree to which we have started to change the way American Government works in this one little appropriations bill. I think nobody deserves more credit than Steve McMillin does. I appreciate his help.

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

Mr. GRAMM. I also support the DARE program. One reason why prevention programs are so important is that young people are under so much pressure to use drugs. The July 18 New York Times reported that drugs are the greatest problem facing adolescents, ``far outranking crime, social pressure, grades or sex,'' according to a survey released by the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. In fiscal year 1995, the DARE America program received an earmark of $1.75 million out of funds administered by the Bureau of Justice assistance for State and local law enforcement assistance. It is my intention that in fiscal year 1996, the same amount of money, $1.75 million, be available for the DARE program.

Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, let me begin again on the unanimous-consent request. I ask unanimous consent that the following committee amendments be withdrawn: the amendment beginning on page 143, line 13 through page 145, line 18; and the amendment beginning on page 151, line 16, through page 159, line 6; and all remaining committee amendments be agreed to en bloc; that there be one amendment to be offered by each manager which will contain the cleared amendments by both sides of the aisle. The bill will be advanced to third reading and final passage occur without any intervening action or debate.

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

Mr. GRAMM. I have a unanimous-consent request that I believe will complete the bill. I would like to read that unanimous-consent request now. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following committee amendments be withdrawn--Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, it has been a long process in putting this bill together. It represents a dramatic change in public policy. The President has said he is going to veto the bill. The American Government is about choices. What we have provided here is a bill which dramatically reduces spending below the level proposed by the President. We have provided a bill, despite some modest adjustments that we have made in the amendment process, some of which I have supported, some of which I have not supported, which dramatically changes the way government does its business. We have sent forward the strongest crime provisions in an appropriations act in my Senate career. We have a bill that substantially reduces funding in the Department of Commerce. It still remains to be decided by the Senate whether or not we will eliminate that Department. We have a very tight budget for the State Department, and, under the circumstances, a fair budget. It is clear that there are changes that I, as a Member of the Senate, and others would like to make that cannot be made. It is clear that the U.S. Senate supports quotas, supports set- asides, and even though the American people in overwhelming numbers reject them, it is clear that there is not support in the U.S. Senate to have a merit-based program for hiring, for promotions and for contracts. I am confident that some day there will be a majority which will support merit-based selection. That majority, however, does not exist today, we have proven this on many occasions and I do not think we would benefit ourselves by proving it again today. Unanimous-Consent Agreement

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

Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, $80 million will be spent here by this amendment, our distinguished colleague talks about letting the States spend it, but we are not taking it away from Federal midnight basketball, we are not taking it away from Federal prevention programs. We are taking the money away from the FBI. We passed an antiterrorism bill by a vote of 91 to 8 authorizing funds for the FBI. All I have tried to do in this bill is to provide part of that funding. What we would be doing here is cutting the FBI to fund programs that may or may not do anything to prevent crime. The intentions of the program may be good. There are people who are strong proponents, for example, of midnight basketball. The point is, do we want to cut the FBI to fund it? I say no. I think this amendment should be rejected and it should be rejected soundly. Mr. BIDEN addressed the Chair.

Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I hope we can dispose of the pending amendment in short order. The committee reviewed all of these programs that the amendment proposes to fund. These are all of the so-called prevention programs that, when we debated this bill, we discussed at great length. What is being proposed here is to give money to the States for activities such as midnight basketball, and to pay for it by cutting the $80 million from the FBI. I remind my colleagues that when we passed the Anti-Terrorism Act, we authorized additional funding for the FBI. What I have tried to do in this bill is to provide some of that funding which we authorized. What we are being asked to do here is to go back and fund the very programs that we passed over because we did not think they were worthy, and we are being asked to pay for them by cutting the FBI. I think that if people could take a look at this amendment and decide whether they wanted these prevention programs or whether they wanted the money to go into law enforcement to grab violent criminals by the throat and not let them go to get a better grip, I think it would be a very clear choice. I am opposed to the amendment. I would be happy to have a voice vote on the amendment if the Senator is willing to do that.

Mr. GRAMM

Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, this is House language in the bill. The House language is very clear. We are talking about taxpayers' money. Both the House and the Senate have taken the position that when the taxpayers' money is being spent to fund abortions, that abortion should be restricted, that it ought to be restricted to rape, to incest, and to the life of the mother. What the distinguished Senator from Pennsylvania will do by striking the Hyde language from this bill is to basically give taxpayer funding for abortion on demand. I do not believe that the House or the Senate supports that action, and I am opposed to it. Let me see if any of my colleagues want to speak on the issue. If not, we will have a motion to table.

Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I think we have worked out a good agreement here. We have decided in the committee to terminate this agency. Our dear colleagues asked for a provision that would allow them to phase it out over a year's period with a definite commitment that at the end of the year it is gone, with a transition into a private partnership program. I think it is an excellent amendment. I am happy to accept it. I know Senator Hollings feels the same way, so we are happy to accept this amendment.

Mr. GRAMM

Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, let finish by saying--and then I will move to table--that we eliminated this program because it has never been authorized, because it is not part of the budget we adopted that contemplated moving toward eliminating the Commerce Department as part of balancing the Federal budget. It is almost comical that somehow the Government, with $19 million, is going to open up telecommunications and information systems for America when the private sector is already investing tens of billions of dollars in this area. This is another Government program which is unauthorized, and which does not fit in any program to balance the Federal budget. So if you are serious about the budget we adopted, if you are serious about saying no to Government programs, then this is one of the easiest places to start. I move to table the amendment, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. GRAMM. Let me remind my colleagues where we are. There may very well be the votes on this amendment, but I am still going to oppose it, and let me tell you why. First of all, we passed a budget that contemplated the elimination of the Commerce Department. We have passed a bill out of committee that calls for the elimination of the Commerce Department. We have a budget that sets out, over a 7-year period, a plan which would achieve a balanced budget by cutting spending, and possibly by eliminating the Commerce Department. Given these facts, we have set out in this bill a procedure to eliminate the Commerce Department. We are now talking about providing funding for a program that has never been authorized and that represents the Government, basically, being involved in the whole area where we have the largest private investment, in history, underway. So this is basically an issue as to what is the role of Government and what do we mean when we write a budget which says that we are going to eliminate a department. When we set out on a program to balance the budget, and we count on savings from eliminating a department, are we serious or are we not? I believe that if you are serious about reducing funding for the Commerce Department, and if you are serious about eliminating this Department, then you cannot be serious about supporting funding for the National Telecommunications Information Administration. This was one of the hard choices we had to make in committee, and it seems to me that it was the correct choice. I do not want to go back on that choice. So when the Senator finishes his debate time, I will yield my time and move to table.

Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, how much time do I have left?

Mr. GRAMM

Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the conference report be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statement related to the conference report be included in the Record at the appropriate place.

Mr. GRAMM

Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I now ask that the Senate stand in recess under the previous order.

Mr. GRAMM

Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee amendment be agreed to, that the bill then be deemed read a third time, passed, that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be placed at the appropriate place in the Record.

Mr. GRAMM

Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in recess until the hour of 9 a.m. [[Page S 14571]] on Friday, September 29, 1995, that following the prayer, the Journal of the proceedings be deemed approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day and the Senate then proceed to the consideration of the State, Justice, Commerce appropriations bills under the previous order of 60 minutes on the McCain amendment.

Mr. GRAMM

Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote and to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to continue the consideration of H.R. 2076 in order to reconsider and table the vote by which the managers' amendment was agreed to.

Mr. GRAMM

Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 10, S. 144.

Mr. GRAMM

Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar No. 190, S. 977.