Chuck Hagel

Mr. HAGEL

Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, today the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 2:30. Following morning business, it is the leader's intention to begin consideration of the VA-HUD appropriations bill. It is hoped that Members will come to the floor during today's session to offer and debate amendments to the VA-HUD bill. There will be no rollcall votes during Monday's session, so any votes ordered with respect to the VA-HUD bill will be postponed to occur on Tuesday, July 7, at a time to be determined by the two leaders. During Tuesday's session, under a previous order, there will be a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the product liability bill at 9:30 a.m. Following that vote, the Senate will resume consideration of the VA-HUD bill and may also consider the IRS conference report Tuesday afternoon. The Senate could also consider any other legislative or executive items cleared for action. The majority leader would like to remind all Members that July will be a very busy month with late night sessions during each week. The cooperation of all Members will be necessary for the Senate to complete its work prior to the August recess. I thank my colleagues for their attention. Mr. President, I note the absence of a quorum.

Mr. HAGEL

Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the period of morning business previously ordered for today be extended until 2:30 p.m.

Mr. HAGEL

Mr. HAGEL. If my colleague will yield for a moment.

Mr. HAGEL. I would like to report on a comment made this morning by a senior World Bank official warning of a looming global recession. He says, ``We are probably at the end of the first cycle of a crisis and we are entering into a deep recession. And you could even use the term `depression'.'' The point here is IMF funding and MFN status and fast track, all of these combine together to be essential components of a trade policy, of a foreign policy, of a national defense policy that directs this Nation and directs the world. We can't just pick and choose--maybe this, maybe not this. But it has to be debated and viewed and acted on in total. So I appreciate again my colleague's comments on this, and I yield.

Mr. HAGEL. Thank you, Mr. President. I thank my friend and colleague from Kansas. Mr. President, Senator Roberts has touched upon some of the most important core issues in the debate that we have had over the last 4 weeks on the tobacco bill. I would find it interesting again to recite what has really happened in the world since we began consideration of the tobacco bill on Monday, May 18th. This is our fourth week now on the debate on this bill. What has happened in the course of the last 4 weeks is we have seen India and Pakistan test for nuclear explosions, we have seen a new wave of an Asian market crisis begin, we have seen Asian stocks plummet, we have seen the Japanese yen drop precipitously, and leading now to China's warnings that it may devaluate its currency. We have also found Japan officially entering a severe recession, the first since the early 1970s. As my distinguished colleague from Kansas referred to a few minutes ago, Kosovo has erupted into flames with NATO exercises now fully engaged on the borders of Albania and Kosovo. There is a very real possibility of a war spreading further south into the Balkans, engaging Macedonia, Greece, and other nations. Russia has entered a severe economic problem. Our U.S. agricultural foreign markets are shrinking due to economic problems. Abroad U.S. exports are down. And, as my friend from Kansas pointed out, we have a military that for the 15th year in a row finds its budget dropping, all at the same time that we are asking our military to do more with less--more deployments, longer deployments. Something, Mr. President, is going to have to give here. But what has the Senate done? The Senate continues to talk about higher taxes and more government and more regulation. We let all of these other important issues that affect every American, our future, and the course of the world hang suspended like it is not there. We ignore these issues. We ignore these issues at our peril and at the world's peril. This U.S. Senator is ready to say let's move the tobacco bill caucus off the track, and let's get to what is real in this country. Let's get to the real issues facing our Nation--not just the farmers and the ranchers in Nebraska, and exporters all over the world, but our national defense issues, our trade policy, the sanctions issues, and all of the other issues that we have talked about. That is what is real. That is what the greatest deliberative body in the world should be dealing with and talking about--not increasing taxes by hundreds of billions of dollars and bringing to the American people more government and more regulation. I again appreciate very much the thoughts and comments of my distinguished colleague from Kansas, Senator Roberts, and his remarks. I yield the floor. Mr. ROBERTS addressed the Chair.

Mr. HAGEL

Mr. HAGEL. On behalf of Senator Jeffords, I send a substitute amendment to the desk and I ask for its consideration.

Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, I further ask unanimous consent the Senate insist on its amendment, request a conference with the House, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate.

Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the bill be considered read the third time and passed, as amended, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. HAGEL. I ask unanimous consent the amendment be agreed to.

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

Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Labor Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1853 and, further, that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. HAGEL

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

Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, I want to take this body on a quick trip to the other part of the world to talk very briefly about what is happening in Southeast Asia, Japan, China, Russia, and how it is impacting and affecting all of us in this country, how it will affect the geopolitical economic dynamics the rest of this year and on into the next year and, actually, on into the next century. We start at Southeast Asia where the Asian crisis has become a significant crisis, stretching past that region of the world, now up into Japan, where we find in Japan that its economic planning agency confirmed that Japan is now in a serious recession. Last quarter, Japan found that its economy fell by an annualized rate of 5.3 percent. The yen is at an 8-year low against the dollar. The yen has dropped 50 percent in 3 years. The Japanese find themselves essentially without a credible banking system. The President of South Korea was here this week addressing a joint meeting of Congress. Some of us had an opportunity to meet with him privately to talk about South Korea, what it is going to take to build South Korea back--infrastructure reconstruction, currency reconstruction, investment reconstruction. Let's go further around that loop of the world to Russia. I spent some time yesterday with the Russian Ambassador to the United States. The two of us spoke for more than an hour alone. Russia has immense economic problems, and when Russia has immense economic problems and Japan has immense economic problems, as does South Korea, Southeast Asia, that spills over on to all of us. China announced yesterday that it may have to devalue its currency. I was in China in December and met with the Premier. At that time, he assured me--and Senator Chafee from Rhode Island was with me--that under no circumstances would China devalue its currency, and that has been China's position all along. But the dynamics of the economic impact and the consequences of the Southeast Asian crisis have become so severe that it is now taking a rather significant toll on all those nations, including China, Japan, and Russia. Our markets yesterday in the United States went down 160 points. The Dow Jones dropped yesterday, and as of this hour, our market in New York is down well over 100 points. What does this tell us? If we listen to farmers and ranchers, as I do in Nebraska, and exporters and people who understand the realities and the importance of exports and the fact that economies are linked and stability is linked to economies and to economic growth, security is part of that and confidence underpins all of that. When nations and investors lose confidence in markets, they are sending a very direct signal to all of us. They are saying clearly, plainly, ``Something's wrong.'' We must understand that even though this is a half a world away, it is impacting us today all over this country, and it will continue to very severely impact our growth, our economy, our opportunities, and our markets. And as this economic instability and unrest continues to unfold and deepen and widen, it will require a longer time and more resources and more investment and more attention and more leadership to put it back together. I am very concerned, Mr. President, that this Congress is not paying enough attention to what is going on around the world. I am concerned that we are not linking it, we are not interconnecting the dots. I find it remarkable that on this floor, the floor of the U.S. Senate, the last few weeks we have been consumed with billions of dollars of new taxes, building a larger Government, when essentially half of the world is burning. I hope that our colleagues in the House take a rather serious look at what is going on around the world. I strongly recommend to our friends and colleagues in the House that they start with looking at the IMF. The IMF is not, cannot be, will not be, should not be, never was intended to be, the rescuer of all economies and all problems. But if we in this Congress continue to turn our backs on what is going on around the world, we will pay a high price. We are paying a high price now. When you ask any farmer or rancher or exporter--not just in the Midwest, not just in my State of Nebraska, but all over the country--whether this is affecting them, we will pay a high price when it comes to military issues, strategic issues, as Secretary of Defense Bill Cohen warned earlier this year, as Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has warned earlier this year. Chairman Greenspan talked about it this week. Secretary of Treasury Rubin talked about it this week. We are playing a very dangerous game here. And the longer we lock up, the longer we lock up important decisions on IMF, and other issues that we should be tending to and focusing on, the more dangerous this world becomes. I hope my friends in the House are going to unlock this debate on IMF and allow this IMF debate to come to the floor of the House for an honest, open debate, and a vote. There has been a lot of misinformation spread around about IMF--what it does, what it does not do. I recall specifically, Mr. President, in our meeting with President Kim, the President of South Korea, he brought up IMF and he said this: ``I don't like a lot of what IMF is forcing us to do, but without IMF we wouldn't do it. And if we didn't do it, we would have a complete breakdown of all financial discipline, and there would be some question as to whether we could dig ourselves out of where we are.'' I say these things knowing full well that these are complex, complicated issues. And there is not one answer to these. But surely, cumulatively, all of the pieces must come together, like the United States stepping up to its world responsibilities. And the IMF is one of those. And at the same time, Mr. President, this body, committees in this body will be debating--have been debating--more sanctions on nations. We are imposing more sanctions on countries today than we ever have in the history of America. We cannot do much about the sanctions that the President was forced to impose on India and Pakistan. That is law. Do we really believe, for example, that that helps the situation by pushing India and Pakistan further away, and in Pakistan's case, in particular, grinding them down further and further into economic despair? Does that really improve the possibility that we are going to be able to resolve some of these issues--deadly, deadly issues--to continually isolate some of these countries, but, more importantly, isolating ourselves by sanctions? I do not think so. There is talk about more sanctions for China. I hope we get very serious about this, Mr. President, and understand the consequences of what is happening around the world. Confidence, courage, leadership, doing the right thing, making the tough choices--that is what makes the difference; always has made the difference. Imperfect possibilities? Imperfect choices? Absolutely. But we must make some choices. We must lead, just like Bosnia, just like Kosovo--bad choices all. But the longer we let, for example, Kosovo go without making any decisions, without making any choices, we run a terrible risk of great conflagration in that area. I am grateful for an opportunity to share some of my thoughts on these issues because they are real, they are not theoretical. They impact our Nation, the world, our opportunities, and the future. We make decisions today, not to deal with problems today, we make decisions today to deal with problems tomorrow. The future is connected to our leadership, and we must act. I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. HAGEL

Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there be a period for the transaction of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. HAGEL

Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination on today's Executive Calendar: Calendar No. 579, Wilma A. Lewis, to be United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. I further ask unanimous consent the nomination be confirmed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then return to legislative session.

Mr. HAGEL

Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I now ask unanimous consent the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order.

Mr. HAGEL

Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, the Senate will reconvene on Monday, June 15, at 1 p.m., and begin a period of morning business until 2 p.m. Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of the tobacco bill. As a reminder to all Members, any votes ordered on Monday with respect to the tobacco bill will be postponed, to occur Monday evening at 5 p.m. It is expected that no more than two votes will be ordered to occur on Monday. The Senate may also attempt to reach agreement to consider the Higher Education Act, the NASA authorization bill, drug czar office reauthorization bill, and any other legislative or executive items that may be cleared for action. Any votes ordered with respect to any items other than the tobacco bill will be postponed, to occur on Tuesday morning at a time to be determined by the two leaders.

Mr. HAGEL

Mr. HAGEL. I further ask unanimous consent that following morning business, the Senate resume consideration of S. 1415, the tobacco bill.

Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent when the Senate completes its business today it stand in adjournment until 1 p.m. on Monday, June 15. I further ask on Monday, immediately following the prayer, the routine requests through the morning hour be granted and the Senate then begin a period of morning business until 2 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 5 minutes each.

Mr. HAGEL

Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, I object to further proceedings at this time.

Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, I understand that there is a bill at the desk due for its second reading.

Mr. HAGEL

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

Mr. HAGEL

Mr. HAGEL. I thank the Chair.

Mr. HAGEL

Mr. HAGEL. I thank the Chair.

Mr. HAGEL

Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, I returned Sunday night from a 9-day trip to Turkey and central Asia. I would like to share with this body and my colleagues some observations from that trip and of the last year and a half. There are dangerous and serious events and conflicts occurring all over the globe today. The most urgent and most immediate has occurred in Pakistan and India, but beyond Pakistan and India, beyond the subcontinent of Asia, we find a continuing problem with the Asian financial crisis throughout Southeast Asia, IMF funding, China MFN status, China technology sales, Russia-Japan economic trouble. We are in terrible trouble in the Middle East peace process, probably at its lowest ebb since the process began; Bosnia-Kosovo, east Africa, central Asia where there is fighting now in the northwest corner of Georgia; Azerbaijan and Armenia are at war over Nagorno- Karabakh, and other areas of the world that are of great concern to the stability and concern of the world. These situations are all connected. We must develop a foreign policy that captures the completeness of this interconnect. We also must tone down our rhetoric and speak and act responsibly. Actions have consequences. Words have consequences. Words have consequences especially overseas. We are seeing a geopolitical, military, and economic structure shift like the world has never seen. With diffusion of power across the globe, stability and security and peace with new alliances and new alignments become critical to our future, the future of the world. One element of our foreign policy--sanctions--needs to be reviewed. Sanctions without our allies' support do not work. We are living in a different world. Sanctions are of limited value. Withholding MFN status from China accomplishes what. Withholding additional IMF funding accomplishes what. We will soon be debating in this body religious persecution legislation to accomplish what. We are playing a very dangerous game here. Isolating ourselves where we have very little leverage over other countries and isolating other nations by driving them further away makes no sense to our national interests and the interests of the world. This may be the most important time since World War II when a strong bipartisan, a strong bipartisan American foreign policy is required. The world has changed at a rate unseen and unparalleled in the history of man. This complicates how we deal with crises and problems and relationships. Technology and communications have changed the dynamics of the world. We must bring together the world's interests--not at the expense of national sovereignty. America's strategic triad for the next century is a strong national defense, a strong trade and foreign policy, and a strong economy. And I will have more to say about that later. Congress must be very careful in what we say and what we do as we proceed along a very dangerous path. We must be careful not to weaken or neuter the President in front of the world. The world is very dangerous and unpredictable. Congress must not micromanage foreign policy. I have been as outspoken as any Senator on this floor about the concerns and the differences I have with this administration on foreign policy. It is the responsibility of the Senate to question that, to probe that. But we have to understand that whatever we say and do has consequences, reverberations, ramifications. America must speak to the world with some sense and some semblance of unity. We cannot allow our foreign policy to unravel before the eyes of the world during a very dangerous time. The world needs American leadership, consistency, presence and engagement. Without it, without American leadership, the world becomes an even more dangerous place. America must show the world that it is resolute about its basic beliefs and freedoms and human rights and God-given rights. But we must do it smartly, effectively, and with the objective of realistically and truly changing the world for the better. Not headlines, not resolutions, not campaign promises, but understanding what this arch is about: to get on the other side of true change, to alter the behavior of totalitarian, authoritarian governments. America will find itself isolated in the word if we continue to moralize to others and force every aspect of our lifestyle and our way of life on others as a blueprint for their lives and societies. Again, Congress must be very careful as we proceed. Nations, like individuals, lead by example and force of character. Mr. President, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.