Mark Hatfield

Mr. HATFIELD

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

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I have a group of amendments that have been cleared that I now send to the desk. I ask unanimous consent that they be considered en bloc, agreed to en bloc, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table. I emphasize, Mr. President, that these are six amendments that have been cleared on both sides of the aisle.

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, we are in the process of trying to clear some other amendments which we have--11 amendments that we had clearance at one time, or agreement--and other intervening actions have now made it impossible to adopt those amendments at this moment. Mr. President, I also indicate that we were here 3 hours today waiting for amendments, as we were most of Friday. I am very grateful to the Senators who have just completed the colloquy on this ninth circuit subject for at least bringing up one of our amendments. Very frankly, I have more important business pending in my office than I have waiting for Senators to appear on the floor and offer their amendments. I have to also say, again in the context as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, that we are expected to create miracles around here by completing this omnibus package, going to conference with the House of Representatives, getting that resolved, and getting the conference reports adopted before midnight Friday this week. I am not a miracle person. I cannot commit miracles. Others in history have. But I am not such a person. Also I note that the Senator from Arizona, the Senator from Idaho, and myself as western Senators--and the Senator from Nevada--four western Senators find it increasingly difficult due to the plane schedules to get out to the West and back. And we all would like a 3- day workweek in order to do that. But we are here to do business. And I would be highly tempted to do a bedcheck vote right now of how many Senators are in town to do business. So I think it is imposing upon our time, and it is imposing upon the time of the requirements with the conference of the House. Therefore, it is an imposition on the House as well for us to then say everybody comes back to Washington and they will come running in here with their amendments on Tuesday, and they have to all be acted upon by a certain time on Tuesday. I can see it now. They will come to Senator Byrd and myself where they do not have time to debate their amendments, or get them acted upon, and they will say, ``Include my amendment in the managers' package.'' I am going to look with great reservation on such requests because that is not again the procedure by which we should enact some of these very important amendments or dispose of them. I stood here before with such pleas to my colleagues. Maybe I could get a going away present and have them all come immediately and we will complete this bill this afternoon because this is my last year to stand here and manage an appropriations bill. But having been gentle in my remarks in so urging our colleagues, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. HATFIELD

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, what is the parliamentary situation?

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I send to the desk an amendment on behalf of Senator Burns and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. HATFIELD

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

Mr. HATFIELD

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I would like to speak briefly on section 3303 of the bill we are now considering. Section 3303, on Bonneville Power Administration refinancing, is bipartisan legislation which would resolve permanently past interest rate subsidy criticisms regarding the Federal Columbia River Power System [FCRPS] investments in a manner that benefits Federal taxpayers while minimizing the impact of the Bonneville Power Administration's [Bonneville] power and transmission rates. Section 3303 is substantially equivalent to legislation transmitted to the Congress by the administration on September 15, 1994. Senator Murray and I introduced the administration's proposal as S. 92 on January 4, 1995. The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources reported S. 92 on July 11, 1995. This legislation has already passed the Senate and the House as part of H.R. 2491, the 7-Year Balanced Budget Reconciliation Act of 1995. The administration continues to support this legislation and I urge the Senate to adopt it again. This legislation is important to my region of the country because it will enhance the long-term electric rate stability of the Bonneville Power Administration and thereby better position Bonneville to retain market share and thereby be better able to fund all of its responsibilities, including the fish and wildlife duties under the Northwest Power Act and the repayment obligations to the U.S. Treasury. In exchange for providing enhanced certainty to Bonneville in terms of its Treasury repayment responsibilities, the U.S. Treasury would realize additional returns from Bonneville ratepayers and the Federal budget deficit would be reduced by about $89 million over the current 7-year budget window. In short, section 3303 would provide long-term rate stability benefits for Northwest ratepayers and increased revenues for the U.S. Treasury. The Congress should again pass this legislation and forward it to the President for final enactment. Mr. President, Bonneville is at a crossroads. As a power marketer of abundant inexpensive hydroelectric power from the Columbia River and other river systems in the Pacific Northwest, Bonneville was for many years unhampered by serious competitive pressure. Free for the most part from the constraints that normally attend close competition, Bonneville was able to use its economical resource mix to achieve revenues that enabled it to pursue the ambitious mandates of the Pacific Northwest Power Planning and Conservation Act of 1980, commonly referred to as the Northwest Power Act. Whatever their views of Bonneville's mandated programs, Bonneville's customers stayed because Bonneville was by a substantial margin the low-cost provider, with a reliable and stable bulk electric power system unequaled in the world. Indeed, low cost Federal hydroelectric power was the key assumption underpinning the Northwest Power Act. That assumption must now yield to a new reality. The costs of Bonneville's required fish mitigation efforts under the Endangered Species Act and the Northwest Power Act, and Bonneville's resource acquisitions, primarily nuclear energy and electric power conservation, have driven Bonneville's price upward. At the same time, other factors have aligned to drive down the costs of alternative sources of electric power. New technology in the form of highly efficient combined cycle gas turbines, declining gas prices caused by open competition and the discovery and exploitation of huge gas deposits in Canada, and the presence of surplus gas generation in California have combined to lure long-term Bonneville customers away from Bonneville and Federal hydroelectric power. First and foremost Bonneville is a business enterprise. It must meet the competition, and maintain a customer base sufficient to fund its statutory responsibilities and to protect the billions of dollars invested in the FCRPS by Federal taxpayers. To meet these responsibilities, Bonneville has cut and continues to cut costs dramatically through huge program deferrals, program elimination and staff reductions. These severe cuts are essential to maintain an adequately low product price. Nonetheless, the Congress has realized that these measures may not be enough. To maintain a long-term customer base, Bonneville must be rate stable, meaning it must be able to assure its customers that they are insulated from important risks of cost escalation. For many years, several administrations have threatened to change fundamentally the terms upon which Bonneville satisfies its obligation to return the taxpayers' investment in the FCRPS. These proposals had varying facets but in general would have increased substantially the returns to the Treasury. The annual threats, elicited in Bonneville's customers a grave concern that steeply increased returns to the Treasury would ultimately be visited on them. Section 3303 will eliminate this risk. Yet at the same time it will exact from ratepayers a fair price for eliminating the uncertainty. Analogizing to a common transaction relating to mortgages or other financial contracts, the bill would have Bonneville and its ratepayers pay a charge to refinance the contract to obtain other favorable terms. At the same time, the bill acknowledges the new reality of the market-place and seeks to strengthen Bonneville so that it is positioned in the long-run to recoup the Federal investment in full. The purpose of section 3303 is to assure power purchasers that Bonneville will not be forced to raise its wholesale electric rates to noncompetitive levels in order to satisfy possible future changes in law or practice relating to the requirements under which Bonneville presently repays the Federal capital investment funded by appropriations in the FCRPS. In exchange for providing enhanced certainty in the terms of Bonneville's repayment responsibilities, the U.S. Treasury would realize additional returns from Bonneville ratepayers because enactment of the bill would increase Bonneville's payments in respect of the affected investments by a net present value of $100 million. Section 3303 would accomplish this by providing for reconstitution of the outstanding repayment obligations of Bonneville for the appropriated capital investments in the FCRPS. Section 3303 would reset Bonneville's repayment obligation on all outstanding appropriated Federal investments in the FCRPS, as of October 1, 1996. The interest rates to repay the FCRPS investments would thus increase from their relatively low imbedded levels, which average approximately 3.4 percent, to current Treasury interest rates. Treasury interest rates at the time of the resetting of the principal amount of the investments are expected to be substantially higher than the historically imbedded rates. The total principal amount outstanding on the appropriated investment repayment responsibility, now approximately $6.7 billion, would be reset to equal the sum of the net present value of the payments Bonneville would be expected to make under current practice, plus an increment of $100 million. The present value would be determined using then current Treasury rates. The bill would lead Bonneville to recover for return to the Treasury an additional $100 million in net present value over that which would be returned under existing repayment conditions. This supplement to the present value of Bonneville's repayment obligation will cause a noticeable but tolerable increase in the costs to be recovered in Bonneville's rates. As I indicated previously, it would also result in favorable budget scoring effects. Section 3303 would provide necessary certainty to Bonneville customers, by requiring that Bonneville offer certain contract terms in all future and existing contracts for the sale of electric power and the provision of transmission services. These contract terms would be intended to discourage a future Congress from amending law in a manner that would exact further returns with respect to an investment once the investment is repaid, or from taking returns on the investment in addition to the principal and interest provided under the section 3303. Mr. President, in summary I emphasize that section 3303 is bipartisan legislation which passed the Congress in the 1995 reconciliation bill and continues to be supported by the administration. The proposal would satisfactorily resolve a longstanding disagreement in a manner that is fair and provides certainty to both Pacific Northwest electric ratepayers and Federal taxpayers. Section 3303 would also enhance the long-term rate stability of the Bonneville Power Administration, better position Bonneville to retain market share, and thereby improve Bonneville's ability to fund all of its responsibilities, including the fish and wildlife duties and Treasury repayment. I urge the Senate to again pass this legislation. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the section-by-section analysis that has been prepared to accompany section 3303 be printed in the Record.

Mr. HATFIELD. I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay it on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Bonneville Power Administration Refinancing

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I am aware of the concerns of the Senator from Missouri. I am further aware that those concerns are shared by a large number of our colleagues, and I will make an effort in conference to maintain the Senate position on this issue.

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I thank all senators for their comments. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the committee to try to resolve this issue in a way that meets their concerns. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, this amendment has been cleared on both sides of the aisle.

Mr. HATFIELD

Mr. HATFIELD. I thank the Senator.

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

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, what is the pending business?

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I have a unanimous-consent request that has been agreed to on both sides that I would like to propound at this time. I ask unanimous consent that it be in order for me to send an amendment to the desk at this time; further, that it not count as one of the managers' amendments under the consent agreement.

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I do have a group of amendments that have been cleared on both sides. I will make a unanimous-consent request. Amendment Nos. 3537, 3538, 3539, 3540, 3541, 3542, 3543, 3544, 3545, and 3546 to Amendment No. 3466

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I now send to the desk a number of amendments that have been cleared on both sides of the aisle. I ask unanimous consent that they be considered en bloc, agreed to en bloc, and that the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table. I withhold. Mr. President, my unanimous consent request has been formally modified, but that has already been taken care of. I renew my unanimous-consent request.

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I further ask unanimous consent that any statements relating to the amendments be placed in the Record at the appropriate place.

Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I ask for action on the adoption of the amendments en bloc.

Mr. HATFIELD. I thank the Chair, and I thank my colleague for his very strong assistance on this. Mr. GORTON addressed the Chair.

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

Mr. HATFIELD

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