Daniel Moynihan

Mr. MOYNIHAN

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I first thank the Senator from Texas for her more than generous remarks to our committee. We appreciate that. I believe now a distinguished member of the committee about whom Senator McCain was speaking a moment ago, the Senator from Nebraska, has an amendment to offer. I believe there is an hour. Amendment No. 2885 (Purpose: To redesignate the term for the age at which an individual is eligible for full, unreduced old-age benefits)

Mr. MOYNIHAN. That is entirely agreeable to us.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I see the Senator from Nebraska would like to resume his discourse.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Two percentage points?

Mr. MOYNIHAN. I thank the Senator from Nebraska once again and say I regret he was necessarily away from the floor when the Senator from Arizona spoke almost precisely in your terms, and spoke about the legislation you have offered, and said, yes, it would often produce derision when you talked about it on the campaign trail--we know a little bit about derision, both of us do--but he said a bipartisan solution is necessary and possible. If we cannot see it coming, we will be remembered for not having done so. I see that my friend, the distinguished Senator from Virginia, is on the floor. Would the Senator like 5 minutes? I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from Virginia--more if he requires it.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. I thank the Senator most sincerely.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, may I express the gratitude I have, and I am sure our revered chairman has, for our staff who worked this out. It was not easy. It was a weekend's work at a minimum, which sounds simple when so described, to try to get it into legislative language. But it was necessary. It is understood on the House side that, yes, that was a mistake we had not realized or we had not taken care of. So we now have done so. I yield the floor.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I see the distinguished Senator from Indiana has risen. Does he wish to speak?

Mr. MOYNIHAN. The Senator from Delaware will speak and then 5 minutes, or such as remains, will be yielded to the Senator from Indiana.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from Indiana.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, the chairman has very generously agreed to allow the Senator from Nevada to speak for 5 minutes. That would perhaps run us over the 4 o'clock time set for the vote. I ask unanimous consent for an extra 2 minutes in that regard.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. I yield 30 seconds to the Senator from Nebraska.

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

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I join in the request of the Senator from Georgia. Other fair matters have arisen that require our chairman and ranking member to be, in effect, in a meeting. Therefore, we are leaving the floor open and encourage all who wish to speak to come and do so.

Mr. MOYNIHAN

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to Justice John J. Callahan, New York's longest serving Judge on the Supreme Court Appellate Division, Fourth Department. For 21 years he epitomized the honor and dignity to which all of us engaged in the political life of our nation should aspire. What an exemplary alumni Saint Bonaventure University has chosen on which to bestow this prestigious tribute. The Gaudete Medal is awarded to leaders who have exemplified the philosophy of St. Francis of Assisi in their professional and personal lives. This spirit has been evident in Justice Callahan's dedication to his court, community, family, and his inspiring courage in spite of personal suffering. To begin, one must know that Jack is a fellow Irish-American and the great and indispensable achievement of the Irish is that they made it American to be ethnic. He has contributed significantly to the Irish- American community in Buffalo. On the contribution of the Irish I have written: What did the Irish do? First, they stayed in the cities, remaining highly visible. Next, they kept to their faith. Thus the Roman Catholic Church became a major American institution. Then they went into politics. St. Bonaventure University has seen fit to honor a gentleman and a patriot. I knew of Jack's dedication to the Navy or should I say the Silent Service from working with him on numerous projects for the City of Buffalo, his cherished home. As a result of his tireless efforts all were successes. It was back in 1978, at Jack's request, that I wrote to W. Graham Clayton who was the Secretary of the Navy at the time, to urge the Navy to name a submarine in honor of the Queen City of the Lakes. A nuclear powered attack submarine, the SSN 715 was christened the Buffalo in 1983 with the Judge, his wife Lillian, and their son Thomas, then a Midshipman at Annapolis, looking on. There hadn't been a ship named for Buffalo since 1922. As a submarine veteran of World War II, the Judge felt that it was imperative that a decommissioned World War II type submarine be an integral part of the Buffalo & Erie County Naval & Servicemen's Park. A park that he himself helped make a reality. The USS Croaker is docked on the Buffalo River at the foot of Main Street in no small part to Judge Callahan's efforts. Some 20 of Jack's shipmates from the USS Sterlet SS 392 joined together to reminisce about their combat days in the Pacific theater aboard the USS Croaker 1996. As one who served in the Pacific theater, I can attest to the existence of a special camaraderie that unites those at sea for months at a time. After returning from the war, Jack continued his education with the help of the G.I. Bill, as did I. Jack earned his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from St. Bonaventure University in 1951 and a Judicial Doctorate from the University of Buffalo Law School in 1954. Jack was honored by his alma mater, the University of Buffalo, with the Distinguished Alumni Award for the Judiciary in 1989. The son of Irish immigrants from County Kerry, Judge Callahan possesses an exemplary work ethic and ability to endure any trial. Jack and Lillian Hart Callahan will be married for 40 years this July and from their union has come eight children and soon to be nine grandchildren. They have been truly blessed. Thomas and Mary Bridget Callahan, Jack's parents, saw that their six children received a Catholic education through the Great Depression. Jack and Lillian made the opportunity for Catholic education available to their children and were sure to stress the value of such a privilege. Those efforts were not in vain. Their sons John Joseph Jr. and Patrick Francis are physicians. Appropriately, Patrick Francis, named in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, graduated from Saint Bonaventure University. Thomas, Timothy, and Michael all graduated from the United States Naval Academy. Not to be outdone--their three daughters; Mary Catherine Malley is a corporate attorney with Hodgson Russ Andrews Woods & Goodyear in Buffalo, Maureen Gallagher is a dentist, and Kathleen is my Deputy Press Secretary. I should thank Jack and Lillian for loaning her to me. His legal background is both extensive and impressive. Judge Callahan practiced law as a trial lawyer in Buffalo for 20 years and served as a confidential clerk to New York State Supreme Court Justice Ann Mikol. He was elected to the New York State Supreme Court in 1975 and appointed to the Appellate Division by my good friend Governor Hugh Carey in 1979. In his exceptional judicial career he has sat on approximately 20,000 cases. This past fall the Judge was honored by the Catholic Lawyers Guild as the recipient of the St. Thomas More Award which was given for his outstanding service to the legal community and the community at large. It is with great pleasure that I join his family and many friends from Saint Bonaventure University and Buffalo to applaud this truly remarkable man.

Mr. MOYNIHAN

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce two bills that temporarily suspend duties on certain imports of goods not produced in the United States and five bills to reliquidate specific entries of vanadium and tomato sauce preparations. The first bill will temporarily suspend the duty on imports of silica substrate. Silica substrates are produced only in Japan and imported for use in the domestic production of semiconductors. Currently, semiconductors enter the United States duty-free while imports of silica substrate are subject to a 4.9 per cent duty. As a result of this tariff inversion, there is a competitive imbalance which favors foreign production of semiconductors. My bill would extend the current suspension on duties of silica substrates until 2004. The second bill will temporarily suspend the duty on imports of an environmentally friendly chemical paint additive. The product safely replaces mercury-based chemicals (which were banned a number of years ago) used in ``anti-fouling'' boat paint, intended to prevent fouling of underwater structures. It is also the only EPA-registered algicide for use in the architectural paint market. There is no known production of this chemical in the United States. The third bill reliquidates thirty-seven entries of vanadium carbide and vanadium carbonitride. Vanadium is used primarily as a strengthening agent in steel and can only be imported from South Africa. The bill seeks to recover duties paid since July 1, 1998, the original date of a competitive need limit waiver by USTR, through December 23, 1999, when the waiver actually took effect. The final four bills seek to reliquidate entries of canned tomatoes, used to prepare tomato sauce, by four separate companies. The imports were incorrectly subjected to 100 percent ad valorem retaliatory duties beginning in 1989 due to a Harmonized Tariff Schedule misclassification; the retaliation stemmed from a GATT case against the European Union. Treliquidation covers entries not originally included in a decision by the Court of International Trade, which ruled the products had been incorrectly classified and were, therefore, not subject to the retaliatory duties.

Mr. MOYNIHAN

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce two bills that temporarily suspend duties on certain imports of goods not produced in the United States and five bills to reliquidate specific entries of vanadium and tomato sauce preparations. The first bill will temporarily suspend the duty on imports of silica substrate. Silica substrates are produced only in Japan and imported for use in the domestic production of semiconductors. Currently, semiconductors enter the United States duty-free while imports of silica substrate are subject to a 4.9 per cent duty. As a result of this tariff inversion, there is a competitive imbalance which favors foreign production of semiconductors. My bill would extend the current suspension on duties of silica substrates until 2004. The second bill will temporarily suspend the duty on imports of an environmentally friendly chemical paint additive. The product safely replaces mercury-based chemicals (which were banned a number of years ago) used in ``anti-fouling'' boat paint, intended to prevent fouling of underwater structures. It is also the only EPA-registered algicide for use in the architectural paint market. There is no known production of this chemical in the United States. The third bill reliquidates thirty-seven entries of vanadium carbide and vanadium carbonitride. Vanadium is used primarily as a strengthening agent in steel and can only be imported from South Africa. The bill seeks to recover duties paid since July 1, 1998, the original date of a competitive need limit waiver by USTR, through December 23, 1999, when the waiver actually took effect. The final four bills seek to reliquidate entries of canned tomatoes, used to prepare tomato sauce, by four separate companies. The imports were incorrectly subjected to 100 percent ad valorem retaliatory duties beginning in 1989 due to a Harmonized Tariff Schedule misclassification; the retaliation stemmed from a GATT case against the European Union. Treliquidation covers entries not originally included in a decision by the Court of International Trade, which ruled the products had been incorrectly classified and were, therefore, not subject to the retaliatory duties.

Mr. MOYNIHAN

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I rise to offer my congratulations to the community of Fillmore, New York on the occasion of its sesquicentennial, and to wish them great success with their May 27 to 29 celebration of this milestone. What is now Fillmore was originally a small settlement nestled into the corner where Cold Creek joins the Genesee River. The land was once part of the Caneadea Indian Reservation. By 1826, the Seneca Indians, who owned the land, had sold off all of the reservation. In 1850, during the Presidency of Millard Fillmore, the second New York State native to hold that distinguished office, a post office was established. Local lore has it that the citizens decided to name the settlement Fillmore in order to convince the government to establish the post office. The first settlers were attracted to the area by timber, but the building of the Genesee Valley Canal Line connecting the Erie Canal to the Allegany River brought an economic boom to all the areas along the line, including Fillmore. With its fertile soil, the Community eventually also became a farming area. The citizens of Fillmore are proud of their backgrounds, their community, their State and their country. It is a community with a strong work ethic. It places a high priority on education and for years has supported a superior school system that is the envy of many larger communities. It is proud of the success of its young people, both those who leave and those who stay and believes that the values instilled by the citizens of the community is one of the reasons their young people are successful in their careers, be they farmers or educators in Fillmore, government workers in Washington, business leaders in Fillmore or across the country, or professors in America's great colleges and universities. Fillmore has contributed many of its finest young men and women to serve this country in war and peace. All of them have served their country and their community with distinction and honor. During the Memorial Day weekend sesquicentennial celebration, Fillmore will remember with pride all of those service men and women who have served and are serving. It will pay special homage to those whose service required the ultimate sacrifice. The community is planning for its future. It is hopeful of attracting new and modern businesses to the community. It is developing community projects to improve key services and improve the environment. It intends to continue to improve its already outstanding public school by adding any needed facilities and continuing to attract outstanding teachers. It is anticipating with excitement its next 150 years.

Mr. MOYNIHAN

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, as the Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem prepares to release its final report and disband today, I think it is only appropriate to thank our Chairman Robert F. Bennett and Vice Chairman Christopher J. Dodd for the tremendous job that they did. They assembled the committee, held hearings to measure the problem, and in the end led the nation and world in ameliorating it. Well done. We are told that nothing is more permanent than ``temporary,'' especially with regard to congressional committees. But our special committee did its job, in the time allotted--under Senate Resolution 208, the committee was to last from April 2, 1998 to February 29, 2000--and now it will be no more. I am pleased to join the Democrat leader, Senator Daschle, and others in introducing a resolution that congratulates and thanks the chairman and vice chairman for their fine leadership and work.

Mr. MOYNIHAN

Mr. MOYNIHAN. I ask unanimous consent to speak for 20 seconds in advance of the Senator from Vermont.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I rise to express great appreciation on my part to my revered friend and colleague, Senator Schumer, and to Senator Leahy, Chairman Hatch, Senator Lott, Senator Daschle, and all Senators for their vote confirming the nomination of Judge Daniels unanimously. It is much appreciated. I assure you, he will perform a service to the Republic for many years ahead. I yield the floor. Mr. SCHUMER addressed the Chair.

Mr. MOYNIHAN

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President and my revered mentor, the Senior Senator from West Virginia, in his life, George Washington did two things without equal in the history of Government. The American Colonies having revolted against the rule of King George III, Washington assumed command of a makeshift army and in 6 years fought his way to victory, whereupon he resigned as Commander in Chief and turned over the army to the civil authorities, such as they were. Fourteen years later, having served two terms as President of a new Government, he announced he would retire, although his reelection was not in doubt. These two actions, said George III, ``placed him in a light the most distinguished of any man living, the greatest character of the age''--looking back, we might say ``the greatest character of the ages''--for these two actions laid the foundations of republicanism which in his Farewell Address he presciently foresaw and fervently predicted would strengthen and grow across the world. And now to the address proper. Mr. MOYNIHAN, at the rostrum, read the Farewell Address, as follows: To the people of the United States: Friends and Fellow Citizens: The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made. I beg you at the same time to do me the justice to be assured, that this resolution has not been taken without strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country--and that, in withdrawing the tender of service which silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness, but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both. The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in the office to which your suffrages have twice called me have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty, and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last election, had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea. I rejoice that the state of your concerns external as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety; and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that in the present circumstances of our country you will not disapprove my determination to retire. The impressions with which I first undertook the arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will only say that I have, with good intentions, contributed towards the organization and administration of the government the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious in the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience, in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself; and, every day, the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it. In looking forward to the moment which is intended to terminate the career of my political life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country for the many honors it has conferred upon me, still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country from these services, let it always be remembered to your praise and as an instructive example in our annals, that, under circumstances in which the passions agitated in every direction were liable to mislead, amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging, in situations in which not unfrequently, want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism, the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts and a guarantee of the plans by which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these states, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it. Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger natural to that solicitude, urge me on an occasion like the present to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be offered to you with the more freedom as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion. Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment. The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite movement that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national Union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can, in any event, be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts. For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens by birth or choice of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together. The independence and liberty you possess, are the work of joint councils and joint efforts-- of common dangers, sufferings and successes. But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more immediately to your interest. Here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the Union of the whole. The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of the latter, great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise, and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the same agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the North, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and while it contributes, in different ways, to nourish and increase the general mass of the national navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime strength to which itself is unequally adapted. The East, in a like intercourse with the West, already finds, and in the progressive improvement of interior communications by land and water will more and more find a valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad or manufactures at home. The West derives from the East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort--and what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, influence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation. Any other tenure by which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength or from an apostate and unnatural connection with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious. While then every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations; and, what is of inestimable value! they must derive from union an exemption from those broils and wars between themselves which so frequently afflict neighboring countries not tied together by the same government, which their own rivalships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which under any form of government are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. In this sense it is, that your Union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other. These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the Union as a primary object of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere? Let experience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal. We are authorized to hope that a proper organization of the whole, with the auxiliary agency of governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With such powerful and obvious motives to union, affecting all parts of our country, while experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its hands. In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern, that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discriminations--northern and southern--Atlantic and western; whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local interests and views. One of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourself too much against the jealousies and heart burnings which spring from these misrepresentations. They tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our western country have lately had a useful lesson on this head. They have seen, in the negotiation by the executive--and in the unanimous ratification by the Senate--of the treaty with Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at that event throughout the United States, a decisive proof how unfounded were the suspicions propagated among them of a policy in the general government and in the Atlantic states, unfriendly to their interests in regard to the Mississippi. They have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties, that with Great Britain and that with Spain, which secure to them everything they could desire, in respect to our foreign relations, towards confirming their prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these advantages on the Union by which they were procured? Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such they are, who would sever them from their brethren and connect them with aliens? To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a government for the whole is indispensable. No alliances, however strict, between the parts can be an adequate substitute. They must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances, in all times, have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a Constitution of government, better calculated than your former, for an intimate Union and for the efficacious management of your common concerns. This government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.--But the Constitution which at any time exists, until changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power, and the right of the people to establish government, presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government. All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction; to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common councils, and modified by mutual interests. However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of government; destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. Towards the preservation of your government and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance irregular opposition to its acknowledged authority but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretext. One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of other human institutions, that experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country, that facility in changes upon the credit of mere hypotheses and opinion exposes to perpetual change from the endless variety of hypotheses and opinion; and remember, especially, that for the efficient management of your common interests in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable; liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is indeed little else than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of fraction, to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property. I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally. This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but in those of the popular form it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy. The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.--But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and, sooner or later, the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purpose of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty. Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind, (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight) the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it in the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. It serves always to distract the public councils, and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, forments occasional riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another. There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true--and in governments of a monarchial cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent it bursting into a flame, lest instead of warming, it should consume. It is important likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power and proneness to abuse it which predominates in the human heart is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions of the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern, some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield. Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric? Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that the public opinion should be enlightened. As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering, also, that timely disbursements, to prepare for danger, frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should cooperate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties) ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time dictate. Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all; religion and morality enjoin this conduct, and can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt but, in the course of time and things the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it? Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices? In the execution of such a plan nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations and passionate attachment for others should be excluded and that in place of them just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity, or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The government sometimes participates in the national propensity and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times, it makes the animosity of the nation's subservient to projects of hostility, instigated by pride, ambition and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty of nations, has been the victim. So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter, without adequate inducements or justifications. It leads also to concessions, to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions, by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained and by exciting jealously, ill will, and a disposition to retaliate in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation) facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity gilding with the appearances of virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation. As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils! Such an attachment of a small or weak towards a great and powerful nation, dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter. Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove, that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jealously to be useful must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike for another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people to surrender their interests. The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none or a very remote relation. Hence, she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence therefore it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities. Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people, under an efficient government, the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation, when we may choose peace or war, as our interest guided by justice shall counsel. Why forgo the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice? It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world--so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it, for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. (I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy)--I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But in my opinion, it is unnecessary, and would be unwise to extend them. Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies. Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand: neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce but forcing nothing; establishing with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course--in order to give to trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the government to support them, conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, and liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied as experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping in view, that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another--that is must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character--that by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard. In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish--that they will control the usual current of the passions or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good, that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism--this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare by which they have been dictated. How far in the discharge of my official duties, I have been guided by the principles which have been delineated, the public records and other evidences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. To myself, the assurance of my own conscience is, that I have, at least, believed myself to be guided by them. In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my proclamation of the 22d of April 1793 is the index to my plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice and by that of your representatives in both houses of Congress, the spirit of that measure has continually governed me, uninfuenced by any attempts to deter or divert me from it. After deliberate examination with the aid of the best lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, under all the circumstances of the case, had a right to take, and was bound in duty and interest to take--a neutral position. Having taken it, I determined, as far as should depend upon me, to maintain it with moderation, perseverance and firmness. The considerations which respect the right to hold this conduct it is not necessary on this occasion to detail. I will only observe that, according to my understanding of the matter, that right, so far from being denied by any of the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted by all. The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without anything more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and amity towards other nations. The inducements of interest for observing that conduct will best be referred to your own reflections and experience. With me, a predominant motive has been to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions and to progress, without interruption to that degree of strength and consistency which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes. Though in reviewing the incidents of my administration I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence and that, after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest. Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat, in which I promise myself to realize without alloy the sweet enjoyment of partaking in the midst of my fellow citizens the benign influence of good laws under a free government--the ever favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors and dangers.

Mr. MOYNIHAN

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I wish to say a few words about the Commuter Benefits Equity Act of 2000, which Senator Robb introduced today. I am proud to join Senators Schumer, Lautenberg, Lieberman, Dodd, Chafee, Mikulski, Warner, Kerry, and Sarbanes as a cosponsor of this legislation, which will provide substantial tax savings to American workers and move commuters out of their cars, off our congested highways, and onto mass transportation systems. The Commuter Benefits Equity Act of 2000 represents the latest in a decade-long series of Federal surface transportation policy reforms that began with the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA). Instead of building highways irrespective of need or economic justification, we have, since ISTEA, turned our focus to improving the mobility of Americans while reversing some of the environmental degradation caused by highway congestion. We have made great progress and built formidable constituencies for balanced transportation investments, but arguments over Federal transportation priorities extend back to Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. In short, we must remain vigilant. Under current law, employers may permit employees to set aside up to $65 of their monthly pre-tax salary to pay for commuting costs. This benefit, known as the transit/vanpool ``qualified transportation fringe,'' excludes up to $780 of a worker's annual salary from Federal income taxes and reduces employer payroll taxes while encouraging mass transit usage. If employers prefer, they may choose to offer the benefit in addition to an employee's salary. Under this system, workers receive a Federal tax-free benefit of up to $780 per year, which employers may provide at a far lower cost than a commensurate salary increase. These are sensible measures that promote environmentally sound commuting practices, and reward working Americans. However, a similar benefit exists for employer-provided parking spaces with a monthly cap of $175 per month. For many commuters whose companies offer both the transit/vanpool and parking benefits, driving to work can be significantly cheaper. With this bill, my colleagues and I are stating that the Federal government should, at minimum, treat transit commuters and those who drive to work equally. Our proposal is to raise the cap on the transit/vanpool benefit to $175. A second feature of the bill expands the availability of the transit/ vanpool benefit to many Federal employees who are precluded from using it because of Federal employee compensation law. Specifically, under current law Federal employees may not ``cash-out'' their parking space benefit in exchange for either taxable income or the tax-free transit and vanpool benefit. This section of the bill permits Federal employees to enjoy the same benefits as their private sector counterparts. I believe that this bill is long overdue. Federal tax policy should not encourage people to drive to work, and Federal employees should not be prohibited from enjoying the same tax benefits as other working Americans. In passing this bill, we can institute a measure of fairness into both Federal tax policy and Federal employee compensation. In addition, we can reduce automobile congestion and air pollution from our highways.

Mr. MOYNIHAN

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I wish to say a few words about the Commuter Benefits Equity Act of 2000, which Senator Robb introduced today. I am proud to join Senators Schumer, Lautenberg, Lieberman, Dodd, Chafee, Mikulski, Warner, Kerry, and Sarbanes as a cosponsor of this legislation, which will provide substantial tax savings to American workers and move commuters out of their cars, off our congested highways, and onto mass transportation systems. The Commuter Benefits Equity Act of 2000 represents the latest in a decade-long series of Federal surface transportation policy reforms that began with the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA). Instead of building highways irrespective of need or economic justification, we have, since ISTEA, turned our focus to improving the mobility of Americans while reversing some of the environmental degradation caused by highway congestion. We have made great progress and built formidable constituencies for balanced transportation investments, but arguments over Federal transportation priorities extend back to Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. In short, we must remain vigilant. Under current law, employers may permit employees to set aside up to $65 of their monthly pre-tax salary to pay for commuting costs. This benefit, known as the transit/vanpool ``qualified transportation fringe,'' excludes up to $780 of a worker's annual salary from Federal income taxes and reduces employer payroll taxes while encouraging mass transit usage. If employers prefer, they may choose to offer the benefit in addition to an employee's salary. Under this system, workers receive a Federal tax-free benefit of up to $780 per year, which employers may provide at a far lower cost than a commensurate salary increase. These are sensible measures that promote environmentally sound commuting practices, and reward working Americans. However, a similar benefit exists for employer-provided parking spaces with a monthly cap of $175 per month. For many commuters whose companies offer both the transit/vanpool and parking benefits, driving to work can be significantly cheaper. With this bill, my colleagues and I are stating that the Federal government should, at minimum, treat transit commuters and those who drive to work equally. Our proposal is to raise the cap on the transit/vanpool benefit to $175. A second feature of the bill expands the availability of the transit/ vanpool benefit to many Federal employees who are precluded from using it because of Federal employee compensation law. Specifically, under current law Federal employees may not ``cash-out'' their parking space benefit in exchange for either taxable income or the tax-free transit and vanpool benefit. This section of the bill permits Federal employees to enjoy the same benefits as their private sector counterparts. I believe that this bill is long overdue. Federal tax policy should not encourage people to drive to work, and Federal employees should not be prohibited from enjoying the same tax benefits as other working Americans. In passing this bill, we can institute a measure of fairness into both Federal tax policy and Federal employee compensation. In addition, we can reduce automobile congestion and air pollution from our highways.