Bill Nelson

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss an issue I've fought long and hard on--the risk posed to children by arsenic-treated wood playground equipment. There is now a government study which demonstrates the link between wood laced with an arsenic preservative called chromated copper arsenate or CCA and an increased risk of lung and bladder cancer. Last Friday, the scientists at the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a report that concluded that 2 to 100 children out of 1 million will get bladder and lung cancer from their exposure to arsenic-treated wood playground equipment. This is disturbing. Especially since CCA was used to preserve 98 percent of the wood produced for residential uses in the United States in 2001. Since March of 2001, when media reports emerged about elevated levels of arsenic in playground soil and numerous playgrounds in the State of Florida closed as a result, I have been pushing the Environmental Protection Agency to complete its long-awaited study on the dangers posed by this arsenic preservative. I am still waiting. To spur action on this issue, in the last 2 years, I have filed legislation mandating warning labels on all arsenic-treated wood to inform consumers that the wood they were purchasing contained a carcinogen. Further, my past legislation required the EPA to complete its study, begun long before the CPSC started its study, regarding the risks posed by arsenic-treated wood. And, finally, I introduced legislation to ban the residential uses of arsenic-treated wood. Meanwhile, EPA reached an agreement with the wood preserving industry to voluntarily phase out the manufacture of CCA-treated wood for residential purposes by December 31, 2003. However, a year has passed since EPA reached that agreement and they still have not published a final rule in the Federal Register making the phase-out permanent, they still have not completed their own risk assessment of the dangers posed to children playing on CCA-treated equipment and a New York Times article in December 2002, reported that the administration may be reconsidering the phaseout. For those reasons, today I again introduce legislation to ban the manufacture of arsenic-treated wood for residential uses, including use as a mulch, to set a date certain for completion of EPA's risk assessment and to require the EPA to conduct a public education program to inform the public about how they can decrease their risk of contracting cancer from CCA-treated wood. The legislation also provides for the safe disposal of CCA-treated wood to prevent arsenic from contaminating our groundwater. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss an issue I've fought long and hard on--the risk posed to children by arsenic-treated wood playground equipment. There is now a government study which demonstrates the link between wood laced with an arsenic preservative called chromated copper arsenate or CCA and an increased risk of lung and bladder cancer. Last Friday, the scientists at the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a report that concluded that 2 to 100 children out of 1 million will get bladder and lung cancer from their exposure to arsenic-treated wood playground equipment. This is disturbing. Especially since CCA was used to preserve 98 percent of the wood produced for residential uses in the United States in 2001. Since March of 2001, when media reports emerged about elevated levels of arsenic in playground soil and numerous playgrounds in the State of Florida closed as a result, I have been pushing the Environmental Protection Agency to complete its long-awaited study on the dangers posed by this arsenic preservative. I am still waiting. To spur action on this issue, in the last 2 years, I have filed legislation mandating warning labels on all arsenic-treated wood to inform consumers that the wood they were purchasing contained a carcinogen. Further, my past legislation required the EPA to complete its study, begun long before the CPSC started its study, regarding the risks posed by arsenic-treated wood. And, finally, I introduced legislation to ban the residential uses of arsenic-treated wood. Meanwhile, EPA reached an agreement with the wood preserving industry to voluntarily phase out the manufacture of CCA-treated wood for residential purposes by December 31, 2003. However, a year has passed since EPA reached that agreement and they still have not published a final rule in the Federal Register making the phase-out permanent, they still have not completed their own risk assessment of the dangers posed to children playing on CCA-treated equipment and a New York Times article in December 2002, reported that the administration may be reconsidering the phaseout. For those reasons, today I again introduce legislation to ban the manufacture of arsenic-treated wood for residential uses, including use as a mulch, to set a date certain for completion of EPA's risk assessment and to require the EPA to conduct a public education program to inform the public about how they can decrease their risk of contracting cancer from CCA-treated wood. The legislation also provides for the safe disposal of CCA-treated wood to prevent arsenic from contaminating our groundwater. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation to close a gaping loophole in the Victims of Child Abuse Act that currently ties the hands of military prosecutors. Congress passed the Victims of Child Abuse Act to extend the statute of limitations for prosecuting offenses involving the sexual or physical abuse of minor children. But the military's highest court recently said the VCCA's extended statute of limitations doesn't apply to courts martial. Because Congress did not expressly address the relationship of this provision to the Uniform Code of Military Justice serious crimes against children are now out of military prosecutors' reach. This loophole became tragically apparent to me after I was contacted by the father of a young girl who was sexually abused by a member of the military. The victim's father called my office to express his frustration that the Air Force couldn't properly prosecute the man for molesting his daughter over a 7-year period. The military couldn't convict the offender on the worst counts levied against him because of the insufficient 5-year statute of limitations provided by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Air Force prosecutors originally used the extended statute of limitations provided by the Victims of Child Abuse Act to convict the defendant of several crimes, but the most serious convictions were overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces which determined that the shorter statute of limitations provided by the UCMJ applied to the case instead of the extended prosecution period provided by the VCAA. The Court's narrow interpretation of the VCAA means this sex offender will do a very short sentence at best, even though he abused this young girl for years. The bill I introduce today is designed to ensure that kids aren't denied justice just because the defendant happens to be a member of the military. Military prosecutors need the power to put these criminals away for a long time. The statute of limitations provided by the VCAA allows prosecutions until the victim's 25th birthday. My bill clarifies that the VCAA's statute of limitations applies to courts martial whenever a case arises involving the sexual or physical abuse of a child. Child victims of sexual crimes sometimes struggle to come to terms with the crimes committed against them and often are not willing, or able, to bring the crime to the attention of authorities until they are much older. Applying the longer statute of limitations provided by the VCAA to courts martial will allow military prosecutors to throw the book at sexual predators. I strongly urge my colleagues to support this simple, but very important, change to the law. Our kids deserve this protection and we should give it to them without delay. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation to close a gaping loophole in the Victims of Child Abuse Act that currently ties the hands of military prosecutors. Congress passed the Victims of Child Abuse Act to extend the statute of limitations for prosecuting offenses involving the sexual or physical abuse of minor children. But the military's highest court recently said the VCCA's extended statute of limitations doesn't apply to courts martial. Because Congress did not expressly address the relationship of this provision to the Uniform Code of Military Justice serious crimes against children are now out of military prosecutors' reach. This loophole became tragically apparent to me after I was contacted by the father of a young girl who was sexually abused by a member of the military. The victim's father called my office to express his frustration that the Air Force couldn't properly prosecute the man for molesting his daughter over a 7-year period. The military couldn't convict the offender on the worst counts levied against him because of the insufficient 5-year statute of limitations provided by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Air Force prosecutors originally used the extended statute of limitations provided by the Victims of Child Abuse Act to convict the defendant of several crimes, but the most serious convictions were overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces which determined that the shorter statute of limitations provided by the UCMJ applied to the case instead of the extended prosecution period provided by the VCAA. The Court's narrow interpretation of the VCAA means this sex offender will do a very short sentence at best, even though he abused this young girl for years. The bill I introduce today is designed to ensure that kids aren't denied justice just because the defendant happens to be a member of the military. Military prosecutors need the power to put these criminals away for a long time. The statute of limitations provided by the VCAA allows prosecutions until the victim's 25th birthday. My bill clarifies that the VCAA's statute of limitations applies to courts martial whenever a case arises involving the sexual or physical abuse of a child. Child victims of sexual crimes sometimes struggle to come to terms with the crimes committed against them and often are not willing, or able, to bring the crime to the attention of authorities until they are much older. Applying the longer statute of limitations provided by the VCAA to courts martial will allow military prosecutors to throw the book at sexual predators. I strongly urge my colleagues to support this simple, but very important, change to the law. Our kids deserve this protection and we should give it to them without delay. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Madam President, it is with sadness that I rise to join my colleague from Texas to support this resolution. So many of our colleagues have joined us. We thank you very much for joining us yesterday as we went to the space center in Houston. This is a resolution that not only talks about the past, and about bravery, but it talks about the future. It talks not only about honoring the legacy and the lives and the sacrifice of these brave souls but also about fulfilling America's destiny as a nation of explorers and adventurers. This resolution is about the vision that ignites the heart of almost every American, to think that we are pushing back the frontier. As we developed this country, we used to push westward. That was our frontier. Now we push upward and explore the heavens. I urge our colleagues to join Senator Hutchison and me in supporting this resolution. I yield the floor.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Madam President, how much time remains in the debate?

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, it is with an especially heavy heart that I join Senator Hutchison of Texas as a sponsor of S. Res. 45 commemorating the fallen astronauts on the Columbia mission and to express the Senate's support for continuing their legacy. I, along with a number of other Senators and Members of the House and various parts of the NASA family, gathered yesterday in Houston. It is getting to be a gathering that is not pleasant, for we had a similar gathering 17 years ago--17 years ago, almost to the day--when we lost another space shuttle from a series of mistakes. Oh, there were the technical reasons about why the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, the technical reasons that the cold weather had stiffened the rubberized gaskets, called the O-rings, in the field joints of the solid rocket boosters, and that stiffened O-ring allowed the hot gases of the SRBs to pass through those creases--those field joints--of the SRBs. It just happened to burn out right where the strut was that held that SRB to the external tank. When that strut burned at the bottom, it caused that SRB to rotate and puncture the big external tank. Seventy minutes into the flight, miles high in the Florida sky, it was a shock to the Nation that the symbol of America's technological prowess would disintegrate right in front of our eyes through a television camera. NASA realized its mistakes, and its mistakes were not only technical. Arrogance had set in at NASA. A basic fundamental of information is that it should flow both ways, not only from the top to the bottom but from the bottom to the top. Because of arrogance it had not. As the count proceeded the night before, there were two engineers at Morton Thiokol in Utah who were begging their management to stop the count because they knew the frigid weather was going to stiffen those O-rings. When we did the investigation, both in the Presidential Commission and in the committee I chaired at the time in the House of Representatives, the Space Subcommittee of the full committee, the Science, Space and Technology Committee, what we found was that although those engineers were begging their management to send this information along, the information never got passed on to the NASA management. There were mistakes of communication, there were mistakes of attitude, and there were mistakes as a result of arrogance that caused the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger. The NASA family went to work and really started improving on that. The fact is, space flight is a risky business. When I flew 17 years ago, our flight returned to Earth only 10 days before Challenger launched. When I flew, there were 1,500 parts on the space shuttle called ``critical one'' parts--any one of which, if it were to fail, would mean the end of the mission. It was catastrophe. So when one goes through a very unforgiving environment and returns in an unforgiving environment, there is risk. Probably the riskiest part is all of those parts have to work on the ascent. The ascent is only 8\1/2\ minutes to orbit, but in order to defy the bounds of gravity and go Mach 25, 17,500 miles an hour, which is orbital velocity, and to have that energy that puts the spacecraft in a position to punch out of the Earth's atmosphere and insert into orbit, it is risky. So, too, upon reentering the Earth's atmosphere, that is risky. About an hour before landing, the orbiter is turned around and a thrust for 4 minutes of the two OMS engines, not the main engines but the OMS engines, is given to slow the orbiter a little from Mach 25. That slowly allows gravity to start pulling the spacecraft back to Earth. For about the next half hour, the spacecraft is basically in freefall still going about 17,000 miles an hour, traveling about a third of the way around the Earth, and at 400,000 feet the spacecraft starts encountering the Earth's atmosphere. At that point, the computers have to be working perfectly. The orbiter has been turned around and the angle of attack has to be exactly perfect in order that those silicon tiles on the bottom of the orbiter are repelling the heat which on the underside of the wings has risen to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit and on the leading edge of the wing has raised to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. If those computers are not working perfectly to keep that angle of attack so that the heat is repelled, the orbiter will burn up. If the nose gets too low, it will burn up. If the tail gets too low, it will burn up. Or if there is a ripping off of the aluminum skin, these protective tiles that have been put there with a very high technology type of glue--one or two tiles, the structure is going to be invaded but it is not going to cause a catastrophe for the mission, but if many tiles are ripped off or if tiles have been damaged so that they are not smooth on the surface and are now rough, causing new turbulence as the orbiter comes crashing through the Earth's denser atmosphere, as it gets lower and lower, turbulence will be created and there will be an additional opportunity for silicon tiles to rip off. If they rip off, there is going to be a catastrophe. We still do not know what the initial cause was for the destruction of Columbia. We do know that one of the suspects is a piece of insulation came off of the huge external tank on launch. That insulation is like a foam, like a consistency of Styrofoam in a Styrofoam cooler and it could have been more hardened by ice having formed on the outside of that supercooled external tank which has the liquid hydrogen and the liquid oxygen that fuels the main engines. It could have been harder because of ice having formed on that Styrofoam- type mixture, and that could have caused the initial damage or roughing up of some tiles, but we do not know at this point. Some event started to occur as the shuttle was over California for debris was first seen high in the skies coming off the shuttle over California and then over New Mexico before the shuttle started to come apart over Texas. We will find the cause and we will fix it, and we will get back to flight. Lord help us that we are not down for 2\1/2\ years as we were after Challenger and it took us 2\1/2\ years to feel safe enough to fly the first flight. I say, ``Lord help us'' because we have two astronauts and a cosmonaut in the space station right now. They are safe. They have a lifeboat up there of a Russian Soyuz craft that can bring them home, but we do not want to have to bring them home. We want to send a replacement crew so we can keep science and experiments going in that magnificent structure of a laboratory in the heavens called the International Space Station. We are going to find the problem, we are going to fix it, and hopefully we are going to be able to fix it soon. If it is a massive failure of a thermal protection system, which is the tiles, then it is going to take us awhile. In the early 1980s, we even looked at the possibility of going out on an EVA--that is a space walk--to fix damaged tiles. It was concluded in the 1980s that it was too much of a risk. First, we did not have the kind of glue that, in the vacuum of space, could fix those tiles, and then the risks of an astronaut going over the side where there was no communication in sight were considered so high. Remember, all of our space walks are outside of the open cargo bay where we have instant communication and sight with our space walkers. The basic problem was the EVA suit weighs 300 pounds and the boots are another 15 or 20 pounds. What happens if that space walker gets out of control? He will damage the tiles already there on the underside. We are going to see if technology has advanced enough so we can repair those delicate silicon tiles on the underside of the space shuttle if they are damaged on ascent and we can see significant damage. We will have to look at that. We did look at it in the early 1980s and we said we could not do it. We were in Houston yesterday. NASA is a family. When a family member is taken, that family grieves. It was well known the commander of this mission, Rick Husband, had a deep and abiding faith. That had been spoken about quite a bit throughout the service, in sidebar conversations, in the remarks of the President, and today in a major feature article in the Washington Post. That does not help relieve or eliminate the grief. It does help console those who are grieving. I saw a lot of macho, grizzled astronauts yesterday giving a lot of hugs. Those seven astronauts who died over Texas made the ultimate sacrifice in exchange for the benefits that their courageous exploration of the heavens will realize for all of mankind. It is with the greatest respect and gratitude to the families of those fallen that we say what we can--and we really cannot say anything that in the big picture is meaningful--to ensure their cause will continue. To a man and a woman in this Senate, there is a determination that cause will continue. It will continue certainly as a memorial to those before them, all of those names that are on that significant astronaut memorial at the Kennedy Space Center, astronauts who have died in the line of duty--not just the ones you know about--the Apollo fire on the pad, the Challenger 7, and now the Columbia 7. Not only will it continue as a memorial, but this program will continue because it is a reflection of the character of the American people. We are by nature explorers and adventurers. That is a part of our character. It began when Europeans left the continent and crossed the oceans. It is deep within our soul to be explorers and adventurers. When we settled this land known as New America, we had a frontier, and it was westward. We still have a frontier, and it is upward. I believe in my lifetime we will see an international crew from planet Earth go to the planet Mars. We may well go back to the Moon and establish a lunar base. We might be mining things on the surface of the Moon, like helium 3. A cargo bay type load of helium 3 could generate the electrical power for the entire United States for 1 year. Those are the technologies that hold promise. We already see so many of the technologies developed in the space program, particularly when we went to the Moon. We had to have materials that were light in weight, small in volume, and highly reliable. In developing those for space exploration to go to the Moon, the spinoffs have been incredible. This watch is a part of the spinoff. So is an artificial heart. So is a kidney dialysis machine. So is much of our modern-day materials and alloys. We will continue exploration, not only in the memory of our fallen comrades but for what it reflects as a character of the American people and the American spirit as well as the many benefits we derive from space exploration, not the least of which is to find out about that magnificent creation out there called the universe. That is why I rise to join with Senator Hutchison in sponsoring this resolution commemorating our fallen brethren and sisters. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I rise to re-introduce legislation that would close a serious loophole in the current law regulating background checks of alien flight school applicants. This legislation was passed by the Senate last session but was not taken up by the House. It is crucial that we close this loophole in the Aviation and Transportation Security Act that allows foreign flight school applicants to train on small planes without being subjected to a background check. As we all know, in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, it was discovered that many of the hijackers received flight training in the United States. In addition, Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged ``20th hijacker,'' was apprehended by investigators in Minnesota after accounts that he was only interested in learning to fly, not land, an airplane. Section 113 of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, which was enacted in the 107th Congress, requires background checks of all foreign flight school applicants seeking training to operate aircraft weighing 12,500 pounds or more. While this provision should help ensure that events like the September 11 attacks are not performed by U.S.- trained pilots using hijacked jets in the future, it does nothing to prevent different types of potential attacks against our domestic security. Last year, the FBI issued a terrorism warning indicating that small planes might be used to carry out suicide attacks. Small aircraft can be used by terrorists to attack nuclear facilities, carry explosives, or deliver biological or chemical agents. For example, if a crop duster filled with a combination of fertilizers and explosives were crashed into a filled sporting event stadium thousands of people could be seriously injured or killed. We cannot allow this to happen. We need to ensure that we are not training terrorists to perform these activities. We cannot allow critical warnings to go unheeded. My legislation would close the loophole and answer the critical warnings issued by the FBI. At the same time, this amendment would provide an exception to the background check requirement for foreign pilots who already hold a pilot's license or foreign equivalent allowing them to fly large aircraft in and out of the United States. Foreign pilots who have already been approved to land large jets at U.S. airports need not be required to undergo additional background checks. I am once again joined in this effort to close this dangerous loophole in the Aviation and Transportation Security Act by Senators Corzine, Enzi, Feinstein, and Thomas, and I look forward to the Senate's prompt consideration of this legislation. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I rise to re-introduce legislation that would close a serious loophole in the current law regulating background checks of alien flight school applicants. This legislation was passed by the Senate last session but was not taken up by the House. It is crucial that we close this loophole in the Aviation and Transportation Security Act that allows foreign flight school applicants to train on small planes without being subjected to a background check. As we all know, in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, it was discovered that many of the hijackers received flight training in the United States. In addition, Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged ``20th hijacker,'' was apprehended by investigators in Minnesota after accounts that he was only interested in learning to fly, not land, an airplane. Section 113 of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, which was enacted in the 107th Congress, requires background checks of all foreign flight school applicants seeking training to operate aircraft weighing 12,500 pounds or more. While this provision should help ensure that events like the September 11 attacks are not performed by U.S.- trained pilots using hijacked jets in the future, it does nothing to prevent different types of potential attacks against our domestic security. Last year, the FBI issued a terrorism warning indicating that small planes might be used to carry out suicide attacks. Small aircraft can be used by terrorists to attack nuclear facilities, carry explosives, or deliver biological or chemical agents. For example, if a crop duster filled with a combination of fertilizers and explosives were crashed into a filled sporting event stadium thousands of people could be seriously injured or killed. We cannot allow this to happen. We need to ensure that we are not training terrorists to perform these activities. We cannot allow critical warnings to go unheeded. My legislation would close the loophole and answer the critical warnings issued by the FBI. At the same time, this amendment would provide an exception to the background check requirement for foreign pilots who already hold a pilot's license or foreign equivalent allowing them to fly large aircraft in and out of the United States. Foreign pilots who have already been approved to land large jets at U.S. airports need not be required to undergo additional background checks. I am once again joined in this effort to close this dangerous loophole in the Aviation and Transportation Security Act by Senators Corzine, Enzi, Feinstein, and Thomas, and I look forward to the Senate's prompt consideration of this legislation. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, in the midst of these deadly serious subjects that we are talking about, I want to bring a little bit of levity and a bright spot from an extraordinary football game that has now caused the world champions to have the sun especially shining brightly in the State of Florida and, in particular, in the Tampa Bay region. This resolution commends the Tampa Bay fans because they have been so faithful over the years. This is a miracle. It is a miracle that it has finally happened to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and, oh, do they deserve it--the most valuable player of the game, the best NFL defensive player, the best defensive record in the whole league, the quarterback himself being from Florida. I could go on and on. But just to cap off my statement of offering a little lightheartedness to an otherwise very serious day is to point out that I went to the junior Senator from California, as the junior Senator from Florida, to say: Is it worth it to you before the game to have a little friendly wager? We had a crate of Florida oranges versus a 25-pound box of California almonds. I said: Why don't you throw in a little Napa Valley chardonnay as well. I am going to be enjoying that. Our staff will be enjoying it, for the sake of all of our people in Florida who have a big smile on their face. I yield the floor.

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I am a cosponsor of Senator Cantwell's amendment and the Workforce Investment Act program amount she is seeking. The bottom line is workforce training in a time when our economy is in a recession. One of the things we want to do is, when people are thrown of work, we want to get them retrained with skills so they can obtain work. So that is what this is all about. This funding that we are trying to restore was already provided in the Senate Appropriations Committee-passed bill; but subsequently, with these across-the-board cuts, it has been severely nicked, to the tune of what we are trying to restore. Why do we want to restore this amount, other than because of the commonsense answer that you want to provide job training for folks out of work? It assists workers who lose their jobs as a result of circumstances beyond their control. It helps Americans gain an element of self-sufficiency. This is not the time to cut funding for programs that give Americans the tools, the guidance, and the skills they need to handle these problems. I am very much a proponent of this Workforce Investment Act because I have seen what it can do. I have seen the workforce centers in Florida. We have about four. I have been to one of those centers. And what do they do? They train young people to have a saleable skill in the job market. And they have an incredible success rate of placing 80 percent. And those 80 percent are in jobs that last some number of months. That is an incredible success rate. Since its inauguration way back in 1964, the Job Corps has provided over 2 million disadvantaged youth with the integrated, academic, vocational, and social skills training they needed to gain independence. In closing, I wish to share an e-mail I recently received from an organization committed to providing education to young adults down in Tampa. This is what the e-mail said: We have helped 178 youths get a High School Diploma, 171 youths enter college, 605 youths complete Job Readiness Training and almost 800! youths have found jobs. These are real results, results that may not be duplicated if we do not continue to invest in providing employment training and opportunity for disadvantaged Americans. I yield the floor.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, how much time does Senator Cantwell have remaining?

Mr. NELSON of Florida

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

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I take a couple of moments to inform the Senate what I will be doing later. Yesterday, this freshman Senator from Florida brought forth an amendment that was a $600 million emergency famine starvation relief amendment for sub-saharan Africa. There was a good bit of drama that occurred in the well, because the vote was so razor thin in difference. The final vote on a motion to table my amendment was agreed to 48 to 46. One vote change would have had the vote 47 to 47, and the motion to table my amendment would have failed, which would have given me the opportunity to go on and try to pass the amendment. I have spoken to the substance, the reason for this amendment. There is not a person in the Senate who has not seen sights of those children with the spindly legs, the distended bellies, the thatched hair, and the soulful eyes. A lot of it is caused by the lack of rain. This has gone in cycles. In 1985, I had the privilege of assisting my wife who had put together the first private group, other than the NGO organizations, responding to the famine in Ethiopia. My wife had raised the money in Florida. I was then a Member of the House of Representatives and had arranged for this stretch DC8 airplane. We rode the sacks of food into Addis Ababa and went into the feeding camps to see that food was distributed. Of course, when you see those starving children, and when my wife had the experience of holding a near lifeless African child in her arms, realizing in only a matter of moments that child would expire, it makes an impression. When famine comes back to that part of the land some 17 years later, it is hard to sit still. Although my amendment was defeated yesterday by the razor-thin margin of one vote, I am not going to sit still. I am going to offer that amendment again and, fortunately, am in a parliamentary procedure by which I can do so because a very similar amendment to the one that was defeated yesterday had been filed by me. For those Senators on the other side of the aisle--and there were four or five yesterday--who have been deeply touched by personal experiences in Africa, having seen that famine and the ravages of it on human beings, for those five or six on the other side of the aisle, and a score more who wanted to vote for that amendment, first, I thank you profoundly for your votes. You know, each one of you, who you are. And second, I want to say that we are going to have another chance. We are going to have another chance this afternoon. I ask Senators to examine their hearts and see if they don't think that this is the right thing to do. I yield the floor.

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Madam President, this is the African famine starvation relief amendment. Nearly two decades ago in Africa, my wife Grace held an almost lifeless, starving child in her arms, and that changed my wife's life forever. For two decades she has been at the forefront of trying to get relief. There was this famine 15, 17 years ago, and because of drought it is back. You have seen it. Everyone has seen it. The world has seen it: The spindly legs, the distended bellies, the thatched hair, the begging eyes. The Senator from Alaska says he cannot accept this amendment because it is an emergency. It does not require the President to declare an emergency. He says he will not accept any emergency amendments. If there is not an emergency, then I would ask, what is an emergency for America to share its abundance?

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. This report states that thousands of Ethiopians could be dead of starvation by Easter. Frank Wolf writes: More than 11 million people, just slightly less than the combined population of Maryland and Virginia--are presently at risk--and that number is growing every day. That number could surpass the number that died in the 1984-85 hunger crisis in the region. The U.N. World Food Programme also warned of severe food shortages this spring, estimating that between 10 million and 14 million Ethiopians, at risk of starvation, are at risk of starvation in this year, 2003. Back in 1985, my wife Grace and I spent 8 days in the feeding camps in Ethiopia. And every day we carry with us what we experienced. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record, since I do not have the time to read portions, an article that I wrote in January of 1985 about the starvation that occurred there.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. The Senator is correct. If the President did not designate the situation in Africa as an emergency, the President would not be required to provide these funds and it would not affect the top line.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, may I inquire of the assistant Democratic leader, when will we get a unanimous consent on the African famine amendment?

Mr. NELSON of Florida. I yield to the Senator from Oklahoma.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, it was clearly my intention to regain the floor so I could yield to my friend from Oklahoma.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. I call up amendment No. 97 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, this letter from a coalition of over 50 nongovernmental, humanitarian and agricultural groups seeks between $608 and $778 million above the President's request to meet the demands of these emergency circumstances. The $600 million my amendment provides is based on close consultation with these organizations who know the situation well from their work on the ground in Africa. This amendment provides resources called for in the African Famine Relief Act of 2003 introduced by Senator Daschle. It does not specifically designate the funds for sub-Saharan Africa, to be consistent with the way we have traditionally appropriated P.L. 480 Title II funds. But I trust that these funds will be used for the purpose for which they are intended--staving off the imminent threat of mass starvation in Africa. It is my hope that this amendment will be acceptable to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and to the administration, and I will explain why. The designation of these funds as ``emergency funds'' is important. That means the funds do not have to be spent unless the President likewise designates this crisis as an emergency. If he does not designate the situation in Africa as an emergency, and most would agree it is an emergency, but the President would not be required to provide these funds and it would not affect the topline. Over the weekend, USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios took an important first step to provide some relief to Ethiopia, by agreeing to send 262 metric tons of food there at a cost of about $127 million. I commend Mr. Natsios and Secretary Powell for their attention to this issue, but we need to do more. It is my hope that by speaking about this issue now, increased attention to the plight of the Africans will spur American and international action. The U.S. Senate should show leadership on this without delay. I thank the Chair, and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. I ask unanimous consent the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I rise to address a humanitarian crisis in the world that has not been getting the attention its magnitude warrants. The world has focused on the buildup of forces in the Persian Gulf region for a possible war. We focused on a very dangerous situation in North Korea, which threatens the U.S. interests and Asian security. We have a litany of problems plaguing the Western Hemisphere as well, relating to narcotics trafficking, civil war, and abject poverty. But today I call to the Senate's attention, sub-Saharan Africa and the starvation that is occurring in east Africa, in west Africa, central Africa and in the southern part of Africa. The droughts in these areas have caused a massive food shortage which will worsen over the next few months and threatens the lives of millions of Africans. It is our responsibility, as a nation of bounty, to demonstrate to the world that the United States lives up to its commitments and obligations to those in need. In that spirit I am offering this amendment. This amendment is not about politics. If you will recall what President Reagan once said, he said: A hungry child knows no politics. He was correct. This is about people dying. This is about reaching out and saving lives. We have an opportunity to do the right thing now, and that is save African children from starving to death. Congressman Frank Wolf, my good friend, has just returned from Ethiopia and Eritrea. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that his report of his trip be printed in the Record.