Jesse Helms

Mr. HELMS

Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Housing Opportunities and Community Development, of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, June 17, 1997, to conduct a hearing on S. 513, the Multifamily Assisted Housing Reform and Affordability Act of 1997.

Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Consumer Affairs/Foreign Commerce and Tourism Subcommittee of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation be authorized to meet on Tuesday, June 17, 1997, at 2:30 p.m. on Liability Reform for Charitable Organizations.

Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Labor and Human Resources Subcommittee on Public Health and Safety be authorized to meet for a Hearing on ``Ethics and Theology: A Continuation of the National Discussion on Human Cloning'' during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, June 17, 1997, at 9:30 a.m.

Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, June 17, 1997 at 10:00 a.m. to hold a hearing on: ``Baseball Antitrust Reform.''

Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I ask Unanimous Consent on behalf of the Governmental Affairs Committee to meet on Tuesday, June 17, at 10 a.m. for a markup on the following agenda items:

Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be permitted to meet Tuesday, June 17, 1997 beginning at 10:00 a.m. in room SH-216, to conduct a markup on budget reconciliation.

Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Tuesday, June 17, 1997, at 9:30 a.m. on the Committee Budget Reconciliation Instructions.

Mr. HELMS

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed.

Mr. HELMS. That is fine.

Mr. HELMS. That is what I am inquiring about.

Mr. HELMS. How long will the Senator need?

Mr. HELMS. I think this would be a good time to have a rollcall vote. Mr. KERRY addressed the Chair.

Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, while we are waiting for the one remaining amendment to be offered by the Senator from Alaska, let me pay my respects to the young people on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, both Republican and Democrat. But I will speak to and about the young people on the Republican staff, headed by the one and only Admiral James Wilson Nance, moreover known as Bud Nance, who is the chief of staff of the committee, a gentleman whom I have known since we were little boys in Monroe, and who has built that staff to one of the best that has ever been in charge of the foreign affairs side of the Foreign Relations Committee down through the years. Then there is Tom Klein, himself a remarkable young man; Chris Walker, he is delightful; Marshall Billingslea, he is my anchor when the wind begins to blow; Ellen Bork, and, yes, she is the daughter of him, and I tell him that the daughter is smarter than he is; Dan Fiske; Garrett Grigsby; Patti McNerney, who you have seen working so diligently this afternoon and on previous occasions; Dany Pletka; Marc Theissen; Beth Wilson; Michael Westphal. While I am thanking the Republican staff, I thank Joe Biden for his exceptional cooperation. It has been sort of an arduous task to do all of the detail work that had to be done, but he and I and our mutual staffs, our respective staffs, really, spent many, many hours working together, and here we are almost to the point of asking for third reading. The reason I paused, Mr. President, is that we are finishing a fairly long list of en bloc amendments, technical amendments, which is not yet ready. In the meantime, the distinguished Senator from Alaska [Mr. Murkowski] is on the floor. I welcome him and yield the floor.

Mr. HELMS. I thank the Chair. Let me make a few comments before we consider regular order. On February 8 of last year, 1996, I sent a letter to President Clinton urging that he no longer tolerate Chinese-Iranian missile cooperation and transfers. At that time I noted that U.S. nonproliferation laws provided ``a clear, legal requirement--and I am quoting from my letter--that sanctions be levied against China for its missile sales to Iran,'' and I appealed to the President at that time to act decisively. In response, the President assured me that he would, in fact, and in deed, implement the missile sanctions law, and he used the words, ``faithfully and fully'' when the United States had determined that sanctionable activities have occurred. Senator Bennett and I were speaking about that a while ago. We have been waiting for more than a year. Meanwhile, repeated media reports have confirmed beyond any peradventure whatsoever that Chinese-Iranian missile cooperation continues apace, and that the United States is well aware of these activities and that the administration has deliberately elected to ignore Sections 73 and 81 of the Arms Export Control Act, and the 1992 Iran-Iraq nonproliferation act. In fact, an article in the Washington Times last November 21, I believe it was, purports to quote from a classified October 2, 1996 CIA report entitled, ``Arms Transfers to State Sponsors of Terrorism.'' Among the transfers reported are missile guidance components, 400 metric tons of chemicals for Iran's chemical warfare program, and advanced cruise missiles. There can be no doubt that China's provision of advanced missile technology and equipment to Iran directly threatens our national security interests and directly contravenes U.S. law. Over the past several years, Iran has purchased Sunburn, C-801 and C-802 antiship cruise missiles, fast attack missile boats, diesel submarines, and naval mine warfare capabilities. In addition, Iran has reportedly been constructing tunnels along the coast of the Persian Gulf to shelter ballistic missiles. And Iran may have deployed antishipping missiles on islands at the mouth of the Persian Gulf--which, as anybody who has been there knows, is a natural choke point, useful for strangling our flow of oil through the gulf. These new capabilities pose a serious risk to the U.S. naval presence in the region, and to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar's oil and natural gas refineries along the coast. The point is, the White House should be prepared to, as it promised, fully and faithfully respond with the sanctions required by law for China's proliferation activities, as the President assured me he would in a letter last year. In closing, I welcome Senator Bennett's remarks and his amendment. Let me inquire of the Chair if the yeas and nays have been obtained on the amendment.

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

Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, Senator Bennett offered an amendment which regular order would make the pending business, would it not?

Mr. HELMS. I thank the Chair. Amendment No. 399

Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the amendment was agreed to, and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

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

Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I send to the desk a series of amendments on behalf of myself and the distinguished Senator from Delaware, Mr. Biden, and I ask that these amendments be considered en bloc. And these en bloc amendments make technical conforming changes to the bill. I understand there is no objection to these technical changes to the bill. I now ask unanimous consent that these amendments be adopted en bloc. I know that the distinguished Senator from Delaware will be delighted to say OK.

Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, we are awaiting just a few more items of information to be included. No Senator has appeared as of 5:35, so it is presumed that there will be none. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. HELMS

Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, at the close of business yesterday, Monday, June 16, 1997, the Federal debt stood at $5,355,412,554,888.33. (Five trillion, three hundred fifty-five billion, four hundred twelve million, five hundred fifty-four thousand, eight hundred eighty-eight dollars and thirty-three cents.) Five years ago, June 16, 1992, the Federal debt stood at $3,945,016,000,000. (Three trillion, nine hundred forty-five billion, sixteen million.) Ten years ago, June 16, 1987, the Federal debt stood at $2,293,493,000,000. (Two trillion, two hundred ninety-three billion, four hundred ninety- three million.) Fifteen years ago, June 16, 1982, the Federal debt stood at $1,076,341,000,000. (One trillion, seventy-six billion, three hundred forty-one million.) Twenty-five years ago, June 16, 1972, the Federal debt stood at $426,203,000,000 (Four hundred twenty-six billion, two hundred three million) which reflects a debt increase of nearly $5 trillion-- $4,929,209,554,888.33 (Four trillion, nine hundred twenty-nine billion, two hundred nine million, five hundred fifty-four thousand, eight hundred eighty-eight dollars and thirty-three cents) during the past 25 years.

Mr. HELMS

Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent there now be a period for the transaction of morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up to 5 minutes each.

Mr. HELMS

Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, before we wrap things up here today, let me express my appreciation to a very special gentleman for his tireless efforts, his hard work and cheerful disposition throughout the entire process of the drafting of the bill just approved by the Senate. Art Rynearson is legislative counsel to the Foreign Relations Committee, and we have truly overworked that gentleman during this year with the drafting sessions on the resolution of ratification for the CWC, often lasting until 2 a.m., and when we finished that we called upon Art to help the committee prepare the resolution of ratification for the CFE Flank Document. No sooner had we finished that, than we called upon him to help with the State Department legislation, and Art worked 70-hour weeks for the past 4 months. Throughout the entire process he has been cheerful and exceedingly helpful. Without him, the process would not have gone nearly so smoothly. So, to Art Rynearson, all of us say thanks for everything.