Daniel Inouye

Mr. INOUYE

Mr. INOUYE. We have no objection.

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

Mr. INOUYE. I, too, am a strong supporter of this firefighting kit. California is especially hard hit, each year, by wildfires and I fully understand the great resources necessary to battle these fires. I am happy to join with the chairman of the committee in urging that this program be given high priority in the National Guard and Reserve miscellaneous equipment account.

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the amendment was agreed to.

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

Mr. INOUYE

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I am pleased to say this matter has the concurrence on the minority.

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, may I first thank my distinguished friend from Alaska for his very generous remarks. Mr. President, I rise this day to offer my complete support for the fiscal year 1998 DOD appropriations bill. As noted by the chairman of this committee, this bill is well within the budget agreement. It is about $1.2 billion below the amount authorized last week by the Senate for these programs. I should point out to all of my colleagues that the chairman and I are hopeful we will not have to reconsider items that were debated and voted upon last week. Let me assure my colleagues that we intend to modify this bill to conform to many of the changes that were approved by the Senate last week. We look forward to working with Members and their staffs over the next 24 hours to ensure that their views are heard. Mr. President, I am pleased to report to my colleagues that this is a good bill. It is a product of a truly bipartisan process. As the chairman pointed out, this bill received unanimous support from members of the Appropriations Committee. For those of us who have had the privilege and great honor of serving in this body for many years, you will know that it is almost impossible to get unanimous support from the members of the Appropriations Committee. Therefore, I wish to commend Chairman Stevens and his capable staff in putting this bill together. It is a tough bill, but, Mr. President, it is a fair bill. It protects both the interests of the Nation and those of the individual Members of this body. It is very clear that the top priority of this bill is supporting our troops, the men and women who are willing to stand in harm's way to safeguard the Nation. Our chairman, Chairman Stevens, has pointed out in great detail the items that are found in this measure, and included in these items we find the procurement of many necessary weapons systems. Each of these recommendations, I believe, will help improve the capability of the Defense Department to protect and defend our Nation, and, most importantly, it will help to deter aggression against the United States and its interests. Many of my colleagues have commented, why are we spending all this money? Mr. President, one may think that we are in the business of making war. But essentially and fundamentally, we are in the business of preventing war, and we have learned from experience, bloody experience, that the most effective way to prevent war is to be prepared for war, and to be prepared for war, we taxpayers will be called upon to spend some money. If given a choice of our citizens dying on the field or spending more money so that this can be prevented, I am certain all of us would go for the latter. This bill also provides for programs which may not be directly defense in nature, but I think it somehow gives a fuller picture of the Congress of the United States. We have in this measure $175 million for breast cancer. I am certain most people realize that the women in the military, like women outside the service, may have to face this tragedy with breast cancer. Though we are not directly responsible for the Coast Guard, as the chairman pointed out, we have $300 million included in this measure to support the Coast Guard. Mr. President, the Coast Guard is one of the great institutions and services that we do not hear enough about. They are out there 24 hours a day, saving lives. They are out there monitoring the seas in our behalf. But importantly, in times of war and peace, they carry out military missions. They carried out great missions in the gulf war, though you very seldom hear about them. We also have, Mr. President, in this measure, a sum of $48 million to maintain a program that our National Guard has been carrying on for troubled young people. It has been one of the most successful programs we have had in dealing with troubled teenagers. We also have added nearly $40 million above the budget request for drug interdiction. We are in the business of using DOD assets for fighting drugs. We have $1.3 billion to restore the environment. The Department of Defense is a responsible citizen, a responsible neighbor. Let it not be forgotten, they, like all of us, are concerned about the environment. So, Mr. President, may I once again advise my colleagues that this is a good bill. It is a tough bill, but it is a fair bill. The Defense Appropriations Subcommittee faced several challenges in fashioning this bill, including reducing funding by $1.2 billion below the amounts authorized. We wanted to spend the whole amount authorized, but the committee felt at this time in our history that expenditure was not necessary, and other defense-related needs were a higher priority. As a result, this is a tight bill. However, it satisfies the highest priority needs of the Defense Department while living within the constraints of the subcommittee's present allocation. So, Mr. President, I urge all the Members of this Senate to support this measure. Once again, I thank my chairman, the great Senator from Alaska, for his generous words. Amendment No. 837 (Purpose: To provide an additional $60 million for ``Former Soviet Threat Reduction'' activities for fiscal year 1998)

Mr. INOUYE

Mr. INOUYE. No objection. THE PRESIDING OFFICER. If there be no further debate, the question is on agreeing to the amendment.

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

Mr. INOUYE. No objection.

Mr. INOUYE. Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the amendment was agreed to.

Mr. INOUYE. This has been cleared on the Democratic side.

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

Mr. INOUYE. Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. INOUYE. This amendment has been cleared by the authorizing committee. It has been cleared by both managers.

Mr. INOUYE. Madam President, I send an amendment to the desk for Mr. Kennedy of Massachusetts.

Mr. INOUYE. Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. INOUYE. Madam President, this amendment was considered during the debate of the authorization bill and it provides $4.5 million for Persian Gulf illness treatment. It has been cleared by both sides, Madam President.

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

Mr. INOUYE. Madam President, I send an amendment to the desk on behalf of Mr. Dodd of Connecticut and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. INOUYE. Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. INOUYE

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I believe the measure before us has addressed this problem. The problem in issue is rather painful. On one hand, it is our intention, and the intention of our Department of Defense, to maintain and retain an industrial base. How do we maintain an industrial base if there are too many companies involved in one scope of work, adding to the cost of defense? We have found that by encouraging restructuring, they can bring about a definite reduction in costs--a reduction in costs to the taxpayers, a reduction in costs to the Department. Mr. President, there is no question that when we do achieve cost reduction brought about by restructuring, men and women will find themselves without employment. And so we are faced with this predicament: Do we subsidize a company by paying large sums of money for services and products, knowing that it can be done less expensively, but since we don't want men and women to lose their jobs, we subsidize their company to maintain an overloaded work force? We have decided that it would be in our national interest, in the interest of the Defense Department, and in the interest of the taxpayers that we bring down the cost of Government. We do have other programs--not in the defense bill, but in other accounts--such as labor, health and human services, Medicare, Medicaid, welfare to help, to the extent possible, those who may have become victims of restructuring. But we have, Mr. President--the chairman and I--the responsibility of presenting to the Senate a measure that we are confident would bring about the best service, the best product, at the least cost.

Mr. INOUYE

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

Mr. INOUYE

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, as appropriators, I believe it is the only prudent process that we can follow to at least advise ourselves and our colleagues as to what can be reasonably and rationally anticipated if we are to take this important step. When NATO was originally organized, I doubt if Members of Congress had any inkling of what the costs would be to the taxpayers of the United States. Whether you are for it or against it, I think it would be well that we enter into this new phase and very important phase with our eyes open.

Mr. INOUYE. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.