Frank Lautenberg

Mr. LAUTENBERG

Mr. LAUTENBERG. Late at night, too.

Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, our amendments that have been cleared which we can consider en bloc, are as follows: 197, Lieberman; 186, Durbin; 187, Durbin; 188, Dorgan; 189, Dorgan; 199, Bingaman; 191, Torricelli; 244, Moynihan; 169, Feinstein.

Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, is there any time left?

Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to the Crapo amendment. As the Senator said, it creates a reserve fund to lock in any additional onbudget surplus in the outyears to be used exclusively for tax breaks and debt reduction. Mr. President, Democrats welcome the opportunity to lock away a portion of the surplus for debt reduction. We have offered amendments that would do just that. But this amendment would limit the use of future surpluses to debt reduction or tax breaks only. So I have to ask a question here. Why is it all right to set aside the surplus to create a new special interest tax loophole, but not OK to use the surplus for an increase in military pay? Why is it OK to set aside the surplus to give more tax breaks to the well off but not OK to use the surplus to hire more teachers and reduce class size?

Mr. LAUTENBERG. It would be nice to have order. Mr. President, this amendment is not about fiscal responsibility. It is not about saving Social Security or Medicare. It is about setting aside the surplus to give tax breaks to a select few, including the wealthiest among us. I hope my colleagues will oppose this amendment. amendment no. 165

Mr. LAUTENBERG. That takes care of that.

Mr. LAUTENBERG. Yes. That is fine.

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

Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I am withdrawing amendment No. 166.

Mr. LAUTENBERG. We have a question. Mr. President, I understand a vote will be asked for on the amendment of the Senator from Illinois.

Mr. LAUTENBERG. All right.

Mr. LAUTENBERG. I have my amendment.

Mr. LAUTENBERG. We can accept it. This is on school modernization. It has my list of cosponsors.

Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, this amendment expresses the sense of the Senate that we should enact legislation to help local school districts modernize their schools. This is a critical need for our school districts. This school modernization proposal is supported by the National School Boards Association, the National PTA, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, and the entire range of education advocates. Mr. President, help with school modernization is what the education community wants from the Federal Government. They don't want lip service, they want action. Here is our chance. I ask for my colleagues' support. I thank my principal cosponsor Senator Robb for his support for this important amendment.

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

Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I say to Senator Domenici, I too had fun, not as much fun as the Senator had, but it was good working together. We put our most difficult disagreements to the side at times. Senator Domenici invented a new index for debate. And the index that Senator Domenici has is a ``red'' neck. When it gets above your collar, that is when you have to sit back. So we have no ``red'' necks in the Budget Committee. We have had a good time in getting it done. I thank all of my colleagues, particularly the members on my side, who worked so arduously. I do want to say a word about the staff while the Senators are here. I thank Bill Hogan and his team; but I also want to make particular mention of the fact that Bruce King, our chief of staff, Sue Nelson, Lisa Konwinski, Amy Abraham, Claudia Arko, Jim Esquea, Dan Katz, Marty Morris, Paul Saltman, Jeff Siegel, Mitch Warren, Ted Zegers, and Jon Rosenwasser--I thank all the staff. They worked very hard, on both sides, and they deserve our deep thanks and our appreciation. With that, I surrender the floor.

Mr. LAUTENBERG

Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise today as one of a bipartisan group of Senators introducing the Serbia Democratization Act of 1999. We've been developing this legislation for some time, to address our long-term interest in fostering democracy and human rights in what remains of the former Yugoslavia. But this legislation sends an important message at a time when our Armed Forces are conducting air operations and missile strikes against the so-called Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro. The message this legislation sends to the people of Serbia and Montenegro is this: We are determined to punish those leaders responsible for such horrific violence throughout the former Yugoslavia. But we are also ready to support the development of democracy and civil society to help the people of Serbia and Montenegro overcome the repression which they, too, have suffered under the Milosevic regime. The measures outlined in this act will help free thought and free speech to survive in Serbia-Montenegro. This legislation will also give victims of Serbian attacks, particularly in Kosovo, a degree of comfort knowing the American people stand with them in their hour of need even as our aircraft fly overhead. This legislation also puts Slobodan Milosevic on notice that the reign of terror he has unleashed against the people of the Balkans-- including Serbs and others within Serbia--will soon be over. Along with democratization measures for Serbia-Montenegro, this act contains narrow sanctions to make it more difficult for Milosevic to sustain his corrupt regime and carry on his bloody war. The years Milosevic has been in power have left the region devastated. Americans remember all too well his brutal handiwork in the war in Bosnia. The images of destroyed homes, ethnically cleansed villages, of decaying corpses in mass graves, are indelibly etched in all our minds. Now, less than two years after the signing of the Dayton peace agreement which brought about the end of that war, Milosevic has unleashed a similarly brutal campaign against people within Serbia. Yugoslav tanks and soldiers are attempting to crush the Kosovar Albanians' resistance. Belgrade's brutal crackdown has left thousands dead, tens of thousands homeless, and hundreds of thousands displaced from their towns and villages. The man known in the Balkans as the Butcher of Belgrade, does not reserve his repression for Croats, Bosniaks, or Albanians. In his quest to gain and hold power, he has not spared his capital of Belgrade. For years now, Slobodan Milosevic has carried out a sustained campaign to destroy his country's democratic institutions and its people's freedoms. He is a communist thug, a relic of the bad old days of Central Europe. For years, he has run whole of the so-called Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from his position as head of the constituent Republic of Serbia, leaving the constitution of the former Yugoslavia in tatters. The Milosevic regime has tried for years to prevent the development of independent media outlets to provide accurate news and other information to the people of Serbia and Montenegro. Journalists who have pursued stories unflattering to the regime have been threatened and beaten by police. Independent television stations and newspapers are being shut down through litigation under a draconian press law passed last fall. As the State Department's 1998 Human Rights Report notes, that law allows private citizens and organizations to bring suit against media outlets for publishing information not deemed patriotic enough or considered to be ``against the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of the country.'' The effects of this policy are chilling. The people of Serbia- Montenegro are getting a filtered message about the events in their country and around the world. They see and hear and read only the news their Government chooses to disseminate. Since NATO announced the approval of air operations and missile strikes, Belgrade has cracked down further on the independent media. Radio B92, operated courageously by Veran Matic, was shut down at gunpoint. Instead of hearing what is really happening, instead of hearing our reasons for conducting air strikes, people in Belgrade hear the regime's propaganda on Government radio. The university in Belgrade--one of the great institutes of higher learning in Central Europe--has been purged of professors who refuse to tow the party line. Students who have protested this action have been harassed. As a result, there are virtually no progressive professors or students left in several programs. The economy, too, is in tatters. Unemployment and underemployment hovers at 60 percent, primarily because the government has been unwilling to carry out needed economic reforms. Privatization, the cornerstone of a market economy, remains at a standstill, allowing cronyism and corruption to flourish. I would like to draw particular attention to a section of this law concerning the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. As many of you know, for the past two years I have introduced legislation that bans U.S. aid to communities in the former Yugoslavia harboring war criminals. I introduced that legislation because it is my firm belief that democracy cannot come to a country, that a nation cannot begin to face the sins of its past, and that people cannot feel secure in their own communities, until individuals who persecuted others are brought to justice. Milosevic has a deplorable record in cooperating with the Tribunal. He has continually scorned his obligations to the United Nations to turn over war criminals to the Tribunal for prosecution, citing constitutional constraints. Consequently, indicted war criminals-- including Ratko Mladic, who is responsible for the massacre of hundreds of people during the Bosnian war, and the so-called Vukovar three who were indicted for the murder of 260 unarmed men during the 1991 attack on that Croatian city--reportedly live freely in Serbia. He denied officials from the Tribunal access to Kosovo to investigate alleged crimes in the village of Racak, after 40 people were found dead, their mutilated bodies dumped in a ravine. Milosevic tried to claim that the victims--children, women and old men--were combatants and shot in a confrontation with Serbian police. To lend his story credence, Milosevic instead allowed a so-called independent forensic team from Belarus--itself caught in the Stalinist past--and a group of Finns to analyze the corpses. Milosevic's tactic backfired. The forensic team found that the victims were unarmed civilians, executed in an organized massacre. Some of these Kosovars ``were forced to kneel before being sprayed with bullets,'' as the Washington Post reported it. Those who master-minded and perpetrated the massacres in Racak must face justice. Our Congress has already made very clear our view that Slobodan Milosevic is a war criminal and should be indicted and tried by the International Tribunal. Mr. President, United States policy toward Belgrade is and must be much more than the use of air strikes. The legislation before us today will help Secretary Albright's efforts to bring lasting peace, democracy and prosperity to Serbia and Montenegro, as well as to Kosovo and the rest of the Balkans, by helping democracy and freedom prevail over a brutal dictator.

Mr. LAUTENBERG

Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise today as one of a bipartisan group of Senators introducing the Serbia Democratization Act of 1999. We've been developing this legislation for some time, to address our long-term interest in fostering democracy and human rights in what remains of the former Yugoslavia. But this legislation sends an important message at a time when our Armed Forces are conducting air operations and missile strikes against the so-called Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro. The message this legislation sends to the people of Serbia and Montenegro is this: We are determined to punish those leaders responsible for such horrific violence throughout the former Yugoslavia. But we are also ready to support the development of democracy and civil society to help the people of Serbia and Montenegro overcome the repression which they, too, have suffered under the Milosevic regime. The measures outlined in this act will help free thought and free speech to survive in Serbia-Montenegro. This legislation will also give victims of Serbian attacks, particularly in Kosovo, a degree of comfort knowing the American people stand with them in their hour of need even as our aircraft fly overhead. This legislation also puts Slobodan Milosevic on notice that the reign of terror he has unleashed against the people of the Balkans-- including Serbs and others within Serbia--will soon be over. Along with democratization measures for Serbia-Montenegro, this act contains narrow sanctions to make it more difficult for Milosevic to sustain his corrupt regime and carry on his bloody war. The years Milosevic has been in power have left the region devastated. Americans remember all too well his brutal handiwork in the war in Bosnia. The images of destroyed homes, ethnically cleansed villages, of decaying corpses in mass graves, are indelibly etched in all our minds. Now, less than two years after the signing of the Dayton peace agreement which brought about the end of that war, Milosevic has unleashed a similarly brutal campaign against people within Serbia. Yugoslav tanks and soldiers are attempting to crush the Kosovar Albanians' resistance. Belgrade's brutal crackdown has left thousands dead, tens of thousands homeless, and hundreds of thousands displaced from their towns and villages. The man known in the Balkans as the Butcher of Belgrade, does not reserve his repression for Croats, Bosniaks, or Albanians. In his quest to gain and hold power, he has not spared his capital of Belgrade. For years now, Slobodan Milosevic has carried out a sustained campaign to destroy his country's democratic institutions and its people's freedoms. He is a communist thug, a relic of the bad old days of Central Europe. For years, he has run whole of the so-called Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from his position as head of the constituent Republic of Serbia, leaving the constitution of the former Yugoslavia in tatters. The Milosevic regime has tried for years to prevent the development of independent media outlets to provide accurate news and other information to the people of Serbia and Montenegro. Journalists who have pursued stories unflattering to the regime have been threatened and beaten by police. Independent television stations and newspapers are being shut down through litigation under a draconian press law passed last fall. As the State Department's 1998 Human Rights Report notes, that law allows private citizens and organizations to bring suit against media outlets for publishing information not deemed patriotic enough or considered to be ``against the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of the country.'' The effects of this policy are chilling. The people of Serbia- Montenegro are getting a filtered message about the events in their country and around the world. They see and hear and read only the news their Government chooses to disseminate. Since NATO announced the approval of air operations and missile strikes, Belgrade has cracked down further on the independent media. Radio B92, operated courageously by Veran Matic, was shut down at gunpoint. Instead of hearing what is really happening, instead of hearing our reasons for conducting air strikes, people in Belgrade hear the regime's propaganda on Government radio. The university in Belgrade--one of the great institutes of higher learning in Central Europe--has been purged of professors who refuse to tow the party line. Students who have protested this action have been harassed. As a result, there are virtually no progressive professors or students left in several programs. The economy, too, is in tatters. Unemployment and underemployment hovers at 60 percent, primarily because the government has been unwilling to carry out needed economic reforms. Privatization, the cornerstone of a market economy, remains at a standstill, allowing cronyism and corruption to flourish. I would like to draw particular attention to a section of this law concerning the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. As many of you know, for the past two years I have introduced legislation that bans U.S. aid to communities in the former Yugoslavia harboring war criminals. I introduced that legislation because it is my firm belief that democracy cannot come to a country, that a nation cannot begin to face the sins of its past, and that people cannot feel secure in their own communities, until individuals who persecuted others are brought to justice. Milosevic has a deplorable record in cooperating with the Tribunal. He has continually scorned his obligations to the United Nations to turn over war criminals to the Tribunal for prosecution, citing constitutional constraints. Consequently, indicted war criminals-- including Ratko Mladic, who is responsible for the massacre of hundreds of people during the Bosnian war, and the so-called Vukovar three who were indicted for the murder of 260 unarmed men during the 1991 attack on that Croatian city--reportedly live freely in Serbia. He denied officials from the Tribunal access to Kosovo to investigate alleged crimes in the village of Racak, after 40 people were found dead, their mutilated bodies dumped in a ravine. Milosevic tried to claim that the victims--children, women and old men--were combatants and shot in a confrontation with Serbian police. To lend his story credence, Milosevic instead allowed a so-called independent forensic team from Belarus--itself caught in the Stalinist past--and a group of Finns to analyze the corpses. Milosevic's tactic backfired. The forensic team found that the victims were unarmed civilians, executed in an organized massacre. Some of these Kosovars ``were forced to kneel before being sprayed with bullets,'' as the Washington Post reported it. Those who master-minded and perpetrated the massacres in Racak must face justice. Our Congress has already made very clear our view that Slobodan Milosevic is a war criminal and should be indicted and tried by the International Tribunal. Mr. President, United States policy toward Belgrade is and must be much more than the use of air strikes. The legislation before us today will help Secretary Albright's efforts to bring lasting peace, democracy and prosperity to Serbia and Montenegro, as well as to Kosovo and the rest of the Balkans, by helping democracy and freedom prevail over a brutal dictator.

Mr. LAUTENBERG

Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I will take a couple of minutes with the agreement of the Senator from Minnesota just to respond, A, to say thank you to my dear friend and colleague for her complimentary remarks, but even more importantly than that--because flattery is nice, but effectiveness is even better--and the Senator from Maryland has been a known, strong advocate for the things that she believes in. I greet Senator Mikulski each time I see her with the knowledge that she has enhanced our view of what life is really about by bringing a perspective that comes from the women's side that is so often left out. She knows also too well that she hits a familiar tone with me when she talks about Social Security, because my father died before my mother was 36 years old. She had nothing but bills and an obligation to my 12- year-old sister and an 18-year-old son who had already enlisted in the Army to support her. She did it by sheer dent of hard work and will. If we had in that family, going back now--we are talking about 1943-- the benefit of a Social Security Program, a check coming in that would kind of help relieve not only the fiscal financial obligations, but the anxiety that accompanies the worry about that, if we had Medicare or Medicaid in those days when my father died at the age of 43, a strapping handsome man--cancer overtook him, and he died leaving doctors bills. So we had not only enormous grief, but the obligation to pay off the doctor and hospital bills that were accumulated with no insurance program. So when we talk about Social Security, we talk about women who are typically those left most often with the smallest share of assets, because of the way we are structured. We need to make sure that Social Security is going to be there. We need to make sure that Medicare is going to be solvent for a number of years. Yes. We are not disagreeing with the need to reform and improve, if possible, but to make sure that it is equitably distributed. We need time. We need the assurance that the programs are going to be there. I for one will jump on the reform-and-improve bandwagon as soon as we have a good vehicle to take us along. So I thank the Senator from Maryland for her comments. I see my friend also from California was so nice before to give me credit for some things I probably don't deserve. But, nevertheless, the credit is nice to get. I thank both Senators. I yield the floor. Mr. GRAMS addressed the Chair.

Mr. LAUTENBERG

Mr. LAUTENBERG. Forty-five minutes on----

Mr. LAUTENBERG. We will set this aside. I ask----

Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, we are going to offer an amendment, and we had worked out an understanding, one where we would have two Members on the Democrat side with an opportunity to speak. I expect to hear from Senator Durbin after I am done.

Mr. LAUTENBERG. I will be happy, Mr. President, to yield to the Senator from Illinois.

Mr. LAUTENBERG. Does the Senator from Illinois want to respond to this amendment?

Mr. LAUTENBERG. I have no objection.