Judd Gregg

Mr. GREGG

Mr. GREGG. Madam President, Senators are permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes in morning business.

Mr. GREGG

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 Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. GREGG. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. GREGG

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I congratulate and honor LCDR James Mathieu of Sanbornville, NH on the occasion of his retirement after 28 years of honorable service to the United States as a member of the United States Coast Guard. Rising through the ranks from recruit to his current rank, LCDR Mathieu distinguished himself on numerous occasions. From his Honor Graduate status in Recruit Training, through his successful completion of various training and vocational schools, to the achievement of ever increasing rank, LCDR Mathieu has upheld the Coast Guard motto of Semper Peratus, Always Ready. Jim's afloat assignments included Coast Guard cutters Hamilton, Chase, Bibb, Unimak, and Vigilant. His operational ashore and staff assignments include the Coast Guard Academy, Group Woods Hole, Group Portland, Coast Guard Headquarters, and Station Miami Beach as Commanding Officer of a 400 man detachment in Miami Beach. Tasked with search and rescue, law enforcement and environmental response, LCDR Mathieu led his team in the Coast Guard's busiest multi-mission station. With an impressive record of rescues and other successful missions, LCDR Mathieu proved that his unit was ready for countless tasks in support of the United States' maritime interests. Jim retires from the Office of Coast Guard Congressional Affairs, serving as Governmental Liaison to the United States Coast Guard. A proud husband, father and grandfather, LCDR Mathieu is married to the former Lori Anne Dowd, herself a career Coast Guard officer. Together, they have raised a family of one son, James Michael II, and one daughter, Melissa. As a family, they were often faced with the challenges borne by so many who serve our country. They were also rewarded by the satisfaction of knowing they have participated in a noble and just cause. Throughout his entire career, LCDR James Mathieu has set his standards high and striven to meet them in every endeavor. Through the junior ranks, leadership positions, and as a family man James Mathieu has continually distinguished himself. Jim exemplifies the words of Daniel Webster who said: ``God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it.'' Because of his efforts, the liberty of this country is made more secure. On behalf of the State of New Hampshire, as he charts a new course in life, I wish him fair winds and following seas.

Mr. GREGG

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 19 at 11:30 a.m., to consider pending calendar business. Agenda Agenda Item 1: S. 155--A bill to convey to the town of Frannie, WY, certain land withdrawn by the Commissioner of Reclamation. Agenda Item 2: S. 180--A bill to establish the National Aviation Heritage Area, and for other purposes. Agenda Item 3: S. 203--A bill to open certain withdrawn land in Big Horn County, WY, to locatable mineral development and bentonite mining. Agenda Item 4: S. 211--A bill to establish the Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area in the State of New Mexico, and for other purposes. Agenda Item 5: S. 323--A bill to establish the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area, LA. Agenda Item 9: S. 1241--A bill to establish the Kate Mullany National Historic Site in the State of New York, and for other purposes. Agenda Item 13: S. 1467--A bill to establish the Rio Grande Outstanding Natural Area in the State of Colorado, and for other purposes. Agenda Item 14: S. 1521--A bill to direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain land to the Edward H. McDaniel American Legion Post 22 in Phrump, NV, for the construction of a post building and memorial park for use by the American Legion, other veterans' groups, and the local community. Agenda Item 16: S. 1727--A bill to authorize additional appropriations for the Reclamation Safety of Dams Act of 1978. Agenda Item 17: S. 2046--A bill to authorize the exchange of certain land in Everglades National Park. Agenda Item 18: S. 2052--A bill to amend the National Trails System Act to designate El Camino Real de los Tejas as a National Historic Trail. Agenda Item 20: S. 2180--A bill to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to exchange certain lands in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests in the State of Colorado. Agenda Item 21: S. 2319--A bill to authorize and facilitate hydroelectric power licensing of the Tapoco Project. Agenda Item 23: H.R. 961--To promote Department of the Interior efforts to provide a scientific basis for the management of sediment and nutrient loss in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, and for other purposes. Agenda Item 25: H.R. 1446--To support the efforts of the California Missions Foundation to restore and repair the Spanish colonial and mission-era missions in the State of California and to preserve the artworks and artifacts of these missions, and for other purposes. Agenda Item 26: H.R. 1658--To amend the Railroad Right-of-Way Conveyance Validation Act to validate additional conveyances of certain lands in the State of California that form part of the right-of-way granted by the United States to facilitate the construction of the transcontinental railway, and for other purposes. In addition, the committee may turn to any other measures that are ready for consideration.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Wednesday, May 19, 2004, at 10 a.m., in 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building, to hear testimony on Oversight and Nomination Hearing: The Treasury Department and Terrorism Financing; and, to consider the nominations of John O. Colvin, to be Judge of the U.S. Tax Court; Juan C. Zarate, to be Assistant Secretary for Terrorism Finance, U.S. Department of the Treasury; and, Stuart Levey to the Under Secretary for Enforcement, U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the subcommittee on Water and Power of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 19th, at 2:30 p.m. The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony on S. 900, a bill to convey the Lower Yellowstone Irrigation Project, the savage unit of the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program, and the Intake Irrigation Project to the pertinent irrigation districts; S. 1876, a bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain lands and facilities of the Provo River Project; S. 1957, a bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to cooperate with the States on the border with Mexico and other appropriate entities in conducting a hydrogeologic characterization, mapping, and modeling program for priority transboundary aquifers, and for other purposes; S. 2304 and H.R. 3209, bills to amend the Reclamation Project Authorization Act of 1972 to clarify the acreage for which the North Loup division is authorized to provide irrigation water under the Missouri River Basin Project; S. 2243, a bill to extend the deadline for commencement of construction of a hydroelectric project in the State of Alaska; H.R. 1648, a bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain water distribution systems of the Cachuma Project, California, to the Carpinteria Valley water district and the Montecito water district; and H.R. 1732, a bill to amend the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to participate in the Williamson County, TX, Water Recycling and Reuse Project, and for other purposes.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet on Wednesday, May 19, 2004, at 10 a.m. in Room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a business meeting on S.J. Res. 37, resolution to acknowledge a long history of official depredations and ill-conceived polices by the United States Government regarding Indian Tribes and offer an apology to all Native peoples on behalf of the United States, and S. 2277, a bill to amend the Act of November 2, 1966 (80 Stat. 1112) to allow binding arbitration clauses to be included in all contracts affecting the land within the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Reservation; to be followed immediately by a hearing on S. 1696, a bill to amend the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act to provide further self government by Indian tribes.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 19, 2004, at 10:00 a.m. to conduct a hearing on ``Congressional Oversight of the IMF and World Bank.''

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Wednesday, May 19, 2004, at 9:30 a.m. on from public service to private sector: Spinning the Revolving Door for Personal Gain.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Special Committee on Aging be authorized to meet Wednesday, May 19, 2004 from 2:30 p.m.-5 p.m. in Dirksen 628 for the purpose of conducting a hearing.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 19, 2004. The purpose of this meeting will be to mark up legislation to reauthorize child nutrition programs.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on May 19, 2004, at 8:30 a.m., in open session, to continue to receive testimony on allegations of mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners.

Mr. GREGG

Mr. GREGG. I thank the Senator for his question. That is my understanding.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask that my substitute amendment be accepted.

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I appreciate the hard work and cooperation of many of my colleagues to build a program to protect Americans from bioterrorism. I am grateful to Senator Cochran for his work last year to ensure that adequate funds were provided in advance to incentivize the immediate development of countermeasures. I also commend Senator Nickles for his efforts to safeguard these funds and ensure that they remain available solely for the intended purpose of protecting our citizens from biological attack.

Mr. GREGG. I thank the Senator from West Virginia for his cooperation and appreciate his efforts to help secure funding for this important program. While I am unable to guarantee an outcome in conference, I have no intention of including this provision and I will work to ensure that no such provision will be included in the bill presented to the President.

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

Mr. GREGG. Madam President, I ask that if we proceed to a quorum call, the time be charged equally to both sides.

Mr. GREGG. I have discussed this with the chairman of the Budget Committee and the Senator's understanding is correct that no such provision will be included.

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

Mr. GREGG. Madam President, I thank the staff of the HELP Committee, Vincent Ventimiglia and Sharon Soderstrom, Steve Irizarry, and the other members of the staff who have done a great job in pulling this legislation together and following it through the process. It has been a complicated, tortured, difficult exercise. It would not have gotten to this point without strong and effective staff work. The country owes them a debt of gratitude. In the end, this bill is going to be one of the major components of our ability to protect ourselves as we move through this world that has such fundamentally evil individuals in it who might actually use this type of weapon against us or anyone else. There will also be some side benefits to this initiative. I honestly believe as we evolve various vaccines and initiate this research effort in trying to address issues such as anthrax and botulism and plague, we will actually have some spinoffs that will be positive in other health areas, and specifically in ways to deliver these types of vaccines in a less intrusive way. For example, anthrax has already gone from a six- shot series down to a three-shot series. I understand there is significant progress being made toward having a single vaccination event, potentially, in the anthrax area. There is great progress being made that I think may pay dividends to the American people beyond just the fight on terrorism but in addressing other types of agents which need and require vaccines or pharmaceuticals. So this is a bill that not only is going to be a plus from the standpoint of fighting the war on terrorism but will be a plus from the standpoint of improving the health care delivery system in the United States, and specifically giving Americans better and more effective pharmaceuticals and vaccines. I reserve the remainder of our time. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that at the conclusion or yielding back of time on S. 15, the bill be temporarily set aside, and the Senate then vote on passage at 2 p.m. today.

Mr. GREGG. Madam President, I thank the majority leader for his kind statements. I certainly want to recognize the fact that without the majority leader's very strong and thoughtful leadership in this area, we would not have gotten this far. He is obviously an expert in the area of health care and especially sensitive to the need to do something in the area of fighting those agents which might be used against us as biological agents. His leadership and knowledge have made a significant difference in our ability to be successful with this bill. I thank him for that leadership. I join him in thanking the President. Obviously, this is an initiative high on the President's agenda and the people at NIH, Dr. Zerhouni and Dr. Fauci, who understand the threat and understand the need to address the threat. We have to put the threat in context, and, regrettably, the context is serious. Were this 1950, 1960, were this any time prior to the latter part of last century and the beginning of our century, and we had terrorists out there who wanted to do us harm, who were as fanatical as are the people who wish to do us harm, the Islamic fundamentalist movement, we would fight them and we would be concerned about them. But our concerns and our ability to handle their threat would be proportional. We would have been able to manage it at that time in an effective and rather contained way. The problem today is that when you have a fanatical group, a group willing to not only pursue its purposes without limitation and as part of that to be willing to kill innocent individuals, and when you have a group such as that that is also able to get or potentially take possession of weapons of mass destruction, you have created a whole new issue, a whole new threat, a threat of massive proportions. Because if individuals are willing to use weapons of mass destruction--biological, chemical, or nuclear--and they have no compunction about killing innocents--and in fact the purpose of Islamic fundamentalism is specifically to kill Western individuals, people who subscribe to the American philosophy, to our Nation--and their purpose is to undermine our country, to destroy our culture because they deem Western culture to be a threat to them, when you have people like that and they have the ability to possess weapons of mass destruction and the delivery systems to get those weapons into places where they could do massive harm, then you have a problem of immense proportion. The Nation must protect itself from that type of threat. That is what this bioshield initiative is an attempt to do. We recognize, as the majority leader stated, that probably the single most threatening weapon which these individuals can get their hands on easily and disperse easily--it is not the single most threatening weapon overall; I suspect a nuclear device, were they able to produce one, would be more threatening--the type of weaponry which they most likely can get their hands on which has the potential to do the most harm to the most innocent individuals is a biological weapon or potentially a chemical weapon, but more likely a biological weapon. Because if they were able, for example, as was seen in a small contained area in the Capitol, to spread anthrax or to spread smallpox or to spread botulism, Ebola, or any other agents which would be a disease which would be carried, as the majority leader mentioned, without sight, without sound, without smell, without noise, across a large dispersal area, they could literally harm tens of thousands, potentially even more, Americans. There is no question but if these fundamentalist terrorists, Islamic fundamentalists, get their hands on that type of weapon, get their hands on a biological weapon, come into possession of an anthrax capability or a smallpox capability, they will use it. There is no question about that. They will use it in a place where people gather who are gathering simply to go through their daily lives, whether it is in a subway system as occurred in Japan, or whether it is in a building as occurred here in the Capitol, or whether it is in some other area where people congregate. So we as a nation--and the President has made this very clear--have a responsibility to try to defend ourselves from that type of a threat. It is not an inexpensive responsibility. It is going to cost us a lot of money. Regrettably, it is a complex responsibility. There is no magic wand you can wave that will inoculate the American public against these threats. But we understand there is a procedure to go as far down the road as we can possibly go to accomplish that sort of an inoculation or have the capacity to defend our people from that type of a threat. One of the great advantages we have in fighting Islamic fundamentalism is that we are a sophisticated society which has technical capabilities which we can bring to bear in this war--and it is a war--and bring it to bear in a manner which allows us to take the position that gives us self-defense and also the capacity to carry the battle to them rather than have them carry the battle to us. This bioshield bill grew out of an initiative that the President suggested, which was that in the case of a series of agents which are biologically driven, which we know can do the most harm, the top seven or eight agents which we know can do the most harm--six or seven agents--we are going to initiate an effort to try to develop the science necessary to develop ways to interdict, to stop, to cure, to make the attacks that use those types of agents less harmful to our people. But in order to accomplish that, we had to recognize as a government--and the administration certainly did--that there is no commercial applicability for this type of research. There is no commercial demand for this type of a commodity. A vaccine for anthrax is not in great commercial demand. People are not just going to go out and buy it or take it for the purposes of going through their daily lives. It is not like some other cure to some other sickness, and, therefore, we had to set up a structure where we make it viable for our private sector pharmaceutical industry and biotechnology industry to invest the extraordinary amount of money it takes to invest in the production of this type of response capability. That is essentially what bioshield does. It puts in place a regime which accomplishes three things. First, it creates a research and development initiative which is public and private, using the great strength of NIH, which is refocused under the leadership of Dr. Zerhouni and Dr. Fauci, which has refocused a large amount of their energy, time, and expertise on this issue. It combines that public effort, which is aggressive, with a private initiative. In order to get the private initiative going, it sets up a funding stream which makes it clear to the private sector that should they pursue development of vaccines or other ways to treat these agents which we see as the most threatening, whether it be anthrax, plague, smallpox, viral hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola, or botulism, when they set up processes to address those diseases, whether it is a vaccine or whether it is something else, they will know there are going to be dollars in the pipeline to support that research and, more importantly, to purchase their product once they have produced it. And it will be purchased by the Government, obviously, because there is no market in the private sector for that. So along with the research component of having NIH focused on this and the private sector focused on this, this bill sets up a stockpiling and procurement procedure to make it clear that, first, once we develop these types of vaccines, we are going to have enough of them to be able to deal with a major attack. Second, the producers of these vaccines or other treatment processes developed--it might be a pharmaceutical--are going to be able to have adequate return on their investment so they can pay the cost of producing that and still make a reasonable return. Third, the bill sets up a process where, should the event occur, should we be attacked with some sort of an agent that we do not yet have the actual approved response to--don't have an approved vaccine--and it has not received all of the FDA clearing that vaccines must go through, which is a long, complicated process in order to approve a vaccine for human use, or approve a pharmaceutical, but should there be somewhere in the pipeline a vaccine which appears to have some success in remediating damage caused by one of these biological attacks, or a pharmaceutical which remediates that, and it is in the pipeline, we set up a procedure that allows, under certain very limited situations where there is a clear and obvious emergency, the administration to use that treatment that is in development for human consumption in order to confront an emergency situation where specifically we have been attacked. So that is the basic theme of the way this bill works. It creates the research component, the stockpiling and purchasing component, and creates an emergency outlet valve, if you will, for addressing a situation where we are attacked and we don't have a finalized product to address it. As the majority leader mentioned, of the six major areas of threat that we see in the biological area, today we only have vaccines to address two of them. One of the vaccine regimes is sort of difficult to deliver. That, of course, is in the anthrax area. We have, obviously, a very strong vaccine capability, and we are getting the production of new vaccines in the area of smallpox. Hopefully, people will get back to being vaccinated for smallpox because this is a legitimate threat. But in the area of plague, viral hemorrhagic fever, and botulism, there are no vaccines yet. That is why it is very important that we focus the resources, energy, and the genius of the American health community on making sure that we try to develop these types of responses. We are, regrettably, living in a world that has people who would do harm, who would pursue a course of inflicting massive harm for the purpose of making their political and quasi-religious point. It is an unfortunate fact. We need look no further than 9/11 to recognize that the killing of innocent people by the thousands is something that fundamentalist Islamic people, who ascribe to that belief, who are terrorists, basically are willing to pursue. We know that, regrettably, these biologic agents exist. Anthrax can be produced probably fairly easily if they have a chemistry background. We know it can be delivered and, regrettably, it was in the Capitol Building. We know that other types of agents can also be produced. Regrettably, there may even be a vial of smallpox somewhere out there that could be used. So it is critical, as the President has so appropriately stated, that we put into place the process for trying to, in this area, reduce the threat, and hopefully someday be able to totally mute the threat. Obviously, if we are capable as a culture of developing a vaccine or some other treatment that will neutralize the effect of these types of biological agents, then they will not be used against us because the harm they would cause would not be worth the risk of developing and spreading of the agent. So it is definitely in our interest to pursue this course. It is regrettable that it has taken us this long to get to this point from a legislative standpoint. But I congratulate the administration because they have not waited on us, the Congress. They have gone down the road as far as they think they can go toward letting contracts and putting into place the processes necessary to begin the development of these various vaccines and regimes necessary to address these risks. They have sort of come to a dead end, where they need this authorization in order to take the next steps necessary in the process of developing and expediting the process of getting these cures in place and the regimes in place. So this bill remains critical to our efforts in the fight on the war against terrorism. Therefore, it is good that we have finally been able to reach a consensus in the Senate, where we will be able to pass this bill later today. It is my understanding that the House of Representatives is likely to accept this bill as it passes the Senate. Hopefully, that will be the case, and we can move it down to the President, who I know has been waiting anxiously. He has talked to us many times about the need for this piece of legislation. This will be a good way, obviously, to complete this week. Amendment No. 3178

Mr. GREGG. I thank my colleague from Massachusetts for his comments. I agree that his statements reflect the intent of Congress regarding the use of the Bioshield special reserve fund.

Mr. GREGG

Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, military action in Afghanistan and Iraq has brought to light yet another example of how outdated and burdensome government policies often punish generous employers in America. Apparently, when it comes to companies showing respect for employees who are called to active duty in the military, there is special meaning to the old cliche that ``no good deed goes unpunished.'' An arcane IRS interpretation of tax law actually penalizes employers that voluntarily pay their National Guard and reservist employees the difference between these patriots' military stipends and their previous civilian salaries--which appropriately is called ``differential pay.'' The law also penalizes employers that continue making contributions to retirement plans for such employees. According to the IRS, members of the Guard and reserves called up for active duty are required to be treated as if they are on a leave of absence by their employers under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994--USERRA. Therefore, the act does not require employers to pay workers who are on active duty. However, many employers--out of a sense of civic duty--continue to pay active duty Guard members and reservists the difference between their military stipends and their regular salaries with some employers providing such ``differential pay'' for up to three years. In additions, many of these remarkable companies go even further and allow their active duty employees to continue making contributions to their 401(k) retirement plans via deductions from the ``differential payments.'' However, rather than applauding and encouraging such selfless behavior by companies, the IRS's 1969 Revenue Ruling requires that the active duty workers be treated as if they were ``terminated.'' As a result, this law then puts at risk the retirement plan for an employers' entire workforce and could make all amounts in the plan immediately taxable to the plan's participants and the employer. Adding to the absurdity of the situation, preventing an employer from treating ``differential pay'' as wages under the law means employers are prohibited from withholding income taxes, which in turn causes their active duty former employees to face large and unexpected tax bills at the end of the year. The Uniformed Services Differential Pay Protection Act simply amends USERRA to clarify that differential payments are to be treated as ``wages'' to current employees and that retirement plan contributions from such ``wages'' are permissible. The bill upholds the principle that these patriotic and truly remarkable employers should not be penalized for the selfless generosity they provide to our Nation's reservists and members of the National Guard.