Bill Nelson

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Given the experience we had in Florida, what could any of the three Senators have as an objection to notifying someone that they had overvoted on a punchcard ballot? What is the objection?

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Given what we went through.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. I understand the Senator's discomfiture. It just seems to me it is common sense to assure a person's right to have their ballot counted given the awful experience we had in the State of Florida on ballots not being counted. I just do not understand the opposition.

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

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, Senator Graham and I are offering an amendment which would require the Attorney General to report to Congress on the status of the Justice Department's investigation into alleged voting rights violations during the 2000 election. The Attorney General promised to deliver this information during his Senate confirmation, but 1 year later we are still in the dark. We have not been getting these reports. Senator Graham and I have sent letters. That did produce a meeting with Justice Department officials. We asked that a report be sent to us monthly. It has not. One or at most two reports out of 12 months have been sent to us. I regret this legislation is necessary, but the Department has left us with no other option. Senator Graham and I have repeatedly asked the Voting Rights Office to fulfill the Attorney General's promise, and each time we have requested this status report the Voting Rights Office has promised to comply, yet we have received almost nothing over a 12- month period. That is not the way government is supposed to work. So we come to the Senate today to ask that the Department's behavior change. We think it is unacceptable. It directly contravenes the Senate's ability to exercise its oversight authority over these investigations. As we have discussed earlier today on the election reform bill, our State is certainly riveted to the subject matter that we are discussing today and particularly now the amendment Senator Graham and I offer. The people of Florida deserve answers about what went wrong in that 2000 election, and we want to get some answers. Basically, we want to know, how is the Justice Department investigation going? We want a status report. In our bill, we are asking for one every 2 months. Then we say, after the Attorney General's office concludes their own investigation, that within 60 days they report that to the Congress. I express my support for the underlying bill and my thanks to Senators Dodd and McConnell for crafting a bill that will greatly improve the election process. Nothing is more fundamental than the right to vote. We saw in the experience in Florida that there were some flaws in the system. I thank the Senator from Missouri, the ranking member, Senator McConnell, and Senator Dodd for bringing such an important piece of legislation to the floor. I yield to my colleague from Florida.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, for the life of me, I cannot understand. I have just spoken to one of the floor managers of the bill. I thought this was an amendment that was noncontroversial. It is my understanding that there is some objection to it. Senator Graham and I have had a meeting with the staff of the Department of Justice. They have promised us on several occasions that they would report to us on the status of the investigation as to potential voting rights violations in the Florida 2000 election. The Department of Justice has not come through or followed up on this promise to report to us. The report was to be monthly. They haven't even reported to us in the last 6 months. It is about as noncontroversial as anything. Senator Graham and I are utilizing this vehicle to try to send a message that the executive branch of Government, when it makes a promise, has got to come through and honor their promise. This doesn't have anything to do with partisan politics. It has to do with us wanting to know that, in fact, the investigation is being conducted and that they are not sitting on their hands; that when they render their conclusions, they would deliver those conclusions to the Congress. That can't be controversial. I don't want it to be controversial. I am somewhat mystified that someone would put a partisan cast on that. If the manager of the bill is not going to be willing to accept what is on its face a noncontroversial amendment, then my statements have been very mild and very nonpartisan. What we are trying to do is make government work. The executive branch has a duty to respond to us in our oversight capacity. The two Senators from Florida have an interest in knowing that the investigation is continuing and that they are not sitting on their hands and report to the Congress once the conclusion is reached. We don't say how long they have to do it. All we do in our amendment is say every 2 months give a status report to the Congress. Then we say that at the end of their investigation when they draw their conclusion, send that report to the Congress. I hope this is something that we don't have to spend time on. I ask the Senator from Missouri and the Senator from Kentucky to please recognize the bipartisan spirit in which this amendment is being offered and not have us go through a harangue here. I urgently plead, please accept the amendment.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment based on the representations by the Rules Committee.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Will the Senator from Illinois yield?

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Madam President, I bring to this debate the very painful experience we had in Florida. Because of the trouble with the punchcard ballots, the Florida legislature has wisely eliminated punchcard ballots for the future, but many other places in the country still have punchcard ballots. I would never want voters in other places to have the confusion, mystification, and belief that their constitutional right of being able to vote had been taken away by virtue of having realized after the fact that their ballot had been punched twice, because of incorrect instructions, or incoherent instructions, or an incoherent way in which the ballot was designed that confused, not intentionally, but had the bottom line result of confusing the voter. If it is so easy with technology to notify a voter that they have, in fact, overvoted, why should we not give that almost God-given right-- certainly, that American right of the ballot --to notify them that their ballot isn't going to count because it has been overpunched? So I lend my voice, having been borne out of the painful experience of the Presidential election in Florida in 2000, in support of the Senator from Illinois and his amendment.

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, today I introduced the International Child Safety Improvement Act of 2002. This legislation is intended to improve the Federal Bureau of Investigation's ability to prevent and combat international crimes involving children. The number of people who use the Internet to meet children and commit criminal acts, including illegal sexual acts, is on the rise. Some of these cases occur in other countries, but involve American kids. Just over a year ago, a 15-year-old girl from Mulberry, FL disappeared only to be found in Greece living with an alleged German sex offender. The 35-year-old German man had met this young girl through the Internet and enticed her to run away from home. Law enforcement authorities were able to eventually track her down and return her to her distraught parents. The process of finding the girl exposed flaws in the FBI's ability to prevent and combat these crimes when they occur in foreign jurisdictions. My legislation would require the Attorney General, in cooperation with the Secretary of State, to evaluate the way in which the FBI investigates international crimes involving children. The Attorney General would be required to report back to the Congress with recommendations for improving the FBI's practices and procedures for investigating international crimes involving children. The bill also directs the FBI to coordinate and share information with the International Criminal Police Organization, the world's preeminent organization whose mission is preventing or detecting international crime, whenever such an investigation starts. I would urge my colleagues to review and pass this legislation as soon as possible. Action must be taken to improve the way in which these crimes are investigated. Our kids need better protection from predators and we need to act quickly to ensure that the FBI has the procedures in place and the resources it needs to fight these crimes effectively.

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, today I introduced the International Child Safety Improvement Act of 2002. This legislation is intended to improve the Federal Bureau of Investigation's ability to prevent and combat international crimes involving children. The number of people who use the Internet to meet children and commit criminal acts, including illegal sexual acts, is on the rise. Some of these cases occur in other countries, but involve American kids. Just over a year ago, a 15-year-old girl from Mulberry, FL disappeared only to be found in Greece living with an alleged German sex offender. The 35-year-old German man had met this young girl through the Internet and enticed her to run away from home. Law enforcement authorities were able to eventually track her down and return her to her distraught parents. The process of finding the girl exposed flaws in the FBI's ability to prevent and combat these crimes when they occur in foreign jurisdictions. My legislation would require the Attorney General, in cooperation with the Secretary of State, to evaluate the way in which the FBI investigates international crimes involving children. The Attorney General would be required to report back to the Congress with recommendations for improving the FBI's practices and procedures for investigating international crimes involving children. The bill also directs the FBI to coordinate and share information with the International Criminal Police Organization, the world's preeminent organization whose mission is preventing or detecting international crime, whenever such an investigation starts. I would urge my colleagues to review and pass this legislation as soon as possible. Action must be taken to improve the way in which these crimes are investigated. Our kids need better protection from predators and we need to act quickly to ensure that the FBI has the procedures in place and the resources it needs to fight these crimes effectively.

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Industry.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Madam President, I had the privilege of being a cosponsor of the amendment with the Senator from Nevada. It is instructive to lay out the reasons as to why so long after September 11 that the Senator from Nevada and others, including myself, are offering such an amendment with regard to stimulation of the economy and tourism. Travel and tourism encompasses 5 percent of the GDP. It generates more than $578 million in revenues. Travel and tourism, as an industry, supports more than 17 million jobs. It provides more than $14 million in trade surplus, and more than 95 percent of the businesses in travel and tourism are small- to medium-sized businesses. That begins to tell the story of why this amendment is important to the economy. Do we think we are in a recession? Yes. All economic indicators are pointing to the fact that we are in a recession right now. What would this amendment do, and why is the travel and tourism industry suffering a recession right now? Take, for example, the No. 1 tourist destination in the world which happens to be Orlando, FL. Last week, National Public Radio reported since September 11 unemployment in the Orlando area of central Florida has doubled to a 7-year high and that it is likely to continue rising for some period of time. At the same time that tourism is down, the corollary central Florida convention business faces a 5- to 15-percent drop in convention attendance as companies are cutting back in their travel budgets. If we want to do something about stimulus, this amendment helps with a tax credit to encourage people take a leisure trips just for the next 2 months after the enactment of the bill. That, to me, is clearly a stimulus-type activity for the economy. If, for 6 months, the bill says we are going to encourage people to go into the restaurants by being able to deduct business meals as a stimulus, not just at the 50-percent level but at an 80-percent level, then clearly that is stimulus in the short time frame of six months. With regard to the matter before the Senate, I add to the remarks of the Senator from Nevada my support for this amendment to the stimulus bill. This is of limited duration. Part of this amendment lasts just 60 days. It will give us an economic jolt as we attempt to jump-start the economy and get us out of the recession and back into economic recovery.

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Madam President, I am a member of the Commerce Committee and we were looking forward to the opportunity of questioning the immediate past CEO of the Enron Corporation today. Unfortunately, he did not appear before the committee as had been expected, and I did not have the chance to pose some questions to him. Specifically, I would have asked about the public institutional investors, like State pension funds, whose retirement funds around this country lost so much money because of their investments in Enron stock. There are more than 20 pension funds--and in the Chair's home State of California there were some 4 or 5 pension funds, not only from cities such as San Francisco, but likewise one of the more major statewide pension funds of California which was the pension fund that was second most in losses as a result of having purchased Enron stock. The specific amount for one California pension fund--and it was just one of about five--was about $145 million. Far exceeding that was the $335 million that was lost as a result of the Florida public retirement system holding Enron stock and finally selling it for 28 cents a share. One could wonder, what does this have to do with all of the rumors and rumors of rumors of what was going on? It has to do this: Why would an outside money manager named Alliance Capital Management Company, previously associated with an Enron Corporation board member, purchase almost 3 million shares of Enron stock after October 22, which was the date that the Securities and Exchange Commission announced its investigation? In addition, the company announced on October 17 a loss of $1.2 billion. As a matter of fact, in a short period of time, just a little over 3 weeks, the stock value of Enron dropped from $32 a share to a month later at $9 a share. On October 22 when the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it was going to start its investigation, the stock value started plummeting, and still this money manager continued to buy Enron. Money managers for the Florida pension fund are selected by the State Board of Administration of Florida, which is the board that runs the Florida retirement system. This money manager purchased almost 3 million shares of Enron stock for the Florida Board of Administration--starting at $32 and dropping all the way to $9 per share. Two weeks later when it became apparent that Enron had gone bust, the Florida retirement system sold its shares for 28 cents a share; thus, losing this humongous amount of over $300 million. What seems to me to be interesting, and the question that I wanted to ask of the immediate past CEO of Enron is: Was there ever any direction, was there any evidence of any direction, was there any information of direction from Enron to public pension funds throughout the country, like the Florida retirement system, to purchase the stock. The stock was falling and I wanted to ask if public pension funds were asked to purchase Enron in order to prop up the value of the shares. I wanted to ask if Enron thought that public pension funds could help stabilize the value of the stock so company loans that were supported by collateral of Enron shares would not be called on for repayment by the company. What was the motivation that would suddenly cause an institutional investor like a pension fund, known for professionalism, and conservative handling of investments--and when each of the three trustees are sworn under a fiduciary duty to protect the assets of the retirement fund--why would purchases of almost 3 million shares of Enron stock be made within a 3-week period, when the price of the stock is dropping like a rock? I would hope that a public pension fund would purchase mostly solid investments, at very low risk, instead of very risky investments. Had I been at the Commerce Committee, that is the question I would have asked. Today I have tried to communicate what I would have asked, and I thank the Chair for the privilege of sharing this information with the Senate. I take this opportunity to comment and illustrate what I wanted to ask the former CEO of Enron by showing a chart, which dramatically illustrates the fact of how the Florida retirement fund purchased shares of Enron stock even while the stock price was dropping like a rock. As mentioned previously, stock prices were $32 on October 17 when Enron announced it had over $1 billion in losses. On October 22, 5 days later, the stock is just below $25 when the Securities and Exchange Commission announces an investigation of Enron. Lo and behold, at this point, on the day of the announcement of an investigation by the SEC, an outside money manager for the Florida retirement system--which I point out again, is supposed to protect the retirement system's assets for the future and present retirees. Florida's public pension plan is fully funded and guaranteed, not by the shareholders, but by the taxpayers of the State of Florida. We can see from October 22 to November 16 what happened to the value of the stock. In the period of only a little more than 3 weeks, one of Florida's outside money managers, Alliance Capital Management, purchased shares at $22 each, and continued purchasing until the end of November, the money manager purchased shares at $9 each. The chart illustrates that the stock dropped precipitously in that 3-week period in what is supposed to be one of the most conservative of investment portfolios to protect the security of the state and local workers in Florida. And finally the money manager sold all of the shares for Florida on November 30 at 28 cents a share, with a $335 million loss in the portfolio for Florida state and local workers and retirees. Other public pension funds suffered losses, more than $1 billion overall; however, the biggest loss of $335 million occurred in Florida. Within this short period of 3 weeks, the purchase of almost 3 million shares after all of this information about the difficulties of the company had been made public, the question is: Why? If any evidence is ever found that in fact there was some direction for outside money managers like this one for Florida--who, by the way, this outside money manager included a principal executive back last summer who still sits on the Enron board--what was the motivation here? Did they think this was a good stock buy, as they have said? Or was there a motivation that somebody was whispering in their ear, telling them to buy as the stock was getting into trouble? We need further exploration and a through review of Enron's relationships with institutional investors. It is a dramatic story, that additional shares were purchased as disturbing information starts to come out about the company: 302,000 shares purchased on October 22; 125,000 shares purchased on October 25; 374,000 shares purchased on October 29; 318,000 shares purchased on October 30. On November 8, Enron admits it has overstated profits by $568 million. On November 13, lo and behold, the Florida pension fund buys another 582,000 shares, just 5 days after Enron admitted publicly that it had overstated its profits by $568 million. Then, on November 14, the Florida pension fund buys another 479,000 shares. How did this happen? On November 16, the Florida pension fund buys another 210,000 shares. And, sadly, on November 30 the Florida pension fund sells 7.5 million shares at 28 cents a share, thus incurring the $355 million loss. I know a little bit about this because in my previous life as the elected State Treasurer of Florida, I sat on that pension board. The three-member board of trustees called the State Board of Administration, includes the Governor, the Treasurer, and the Comptroller. The board typically does not involve themselves in the day-to-day activities of the buying and selling. Far from it, in the past, the board--when I was there, we would not touch that with a 10- foot pole. That was left to the professional money managers. But policy was set by the board. One of the most interesting times on the board that I had was as the swing vote to determine whether or not the Florida retirement system would sell--get rid of--its portfolio of tobacco stocks. Clearly, I knew what I wanted to do because I thought that it made good social policy to get rid of tobacco stocks. But I had a higher duty as a trustee of the State Board of Administration. I had a duty, a fiduciary duty to the retirees and future retirees, to the economic sanctity of the retirement fund. The threshold was very high on what we should and should not do in setting policy. So, too, what the professional, full-time managers should and should not do with regard to the purchase and sale of assets, including stock: a fiduciary duty for only the best, the most safe, and the least risky kind of investments. Why? Because we were trustees for all of the state retirees and future retirees of Florida. As a former Florida State Treasurer, I want to express my concern openly in the Senate. Clearly when I see activity such as this, where almost 3 million shares are purchased within a 3-week period while the value of the stock is dropping. After the last purchase on November 16, only 2 weeks later the entire portfolio of 7.5 million shares are sold for only 28 cents a share. Why did this happen? Had the former CEO of Enron appeared in front of the Commerce Committee today I would have asked him that question. I would have asked him if he had no direct knowledge, then who would? Who would have made those choices, and why one of his board members, Mr. Frank Savage, who used to be one of the managers of Alliance Capital Management--why, even though at the time of this purchase in October and November he was not one of the managers--why would such purchases of a risky investment that turned out to be so costly, why would that investment have been made? Had I had the opportunity today in the Commerce Committee, that is what I would have asked. Rhetorically, to the Senate, I ask some of these questions. And as we get into the investigation of this Enron debacle, these questions must be answered. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to the Senate. I yield the floor.

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. I thank the Chair.

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

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Madam President, I request permission to speak on a subject of enormous national importance.

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, tomorrow a small bipartisan delegation, of which I will be part, will go to Guantanamo, Cuba to see for ourselves directly the questioning process in trying to elicit information from the detainees, the unlawful combatants, the prisoners, whatever you want to call them. I think in a lot of the commentary that has come out about this--and this is one of the reasons I want to go; I want to see for myself how these detainees are being kept and how the process goes about trying to elicit information from them--it seems what we call them and the question of humane treatment is certainly a legitimate question, but I can't imagine, although I will see for myself tomorrow, that the United States is not giving anything but humane treatment. That is the character, that is the nature of our people. And certainly with as much attention on Guantanamo, it is certainly going to be the case of humane treatment. What I want to find out is, are we getting information? We are in a war against terrorists. Many of these detainees are suspected to be some of the most ruthless and lethal of the terrorists. Therefore, we need to get as much information from them as we can in order to help prevent the kind of tragedies that this Nation went through on September 11. As we survey the situation--and I have been to Guantanamo Naval Base years ago--I am quite interested to see how we are going about the process of eliciting this information from them. Interestingly, there are a few other detainees in Guantanamo, not many in number, but very important to us in this country. There are eight Haitians detained for immigration reasons. There are 27 Cubans detained because of the policies of administrations, both past and present, that in enforcing the immigration laws do not allow anyone from a foreign land just to come to the United States; thus, intercepted on the high seas, be they Haitians or Cubans, certainly small in number but important in each of their cases. In most of the cases of the Cuban detainees, 25 of the 27 have already been interviewed and determined that they are eligible to go to a third country. They do not want to return to Cuba. They are not eligible to come to the United States--the process of finding a third country that will receive them. I want to see firsthand for myself and talk to some of these people to see that each one of them, both the Haitian group and the Cuban group, have that personal attention. I will have a followup with our staff to see that that process is carried on in an orderly and prompt fashion. This trip tomorrow is a direct result of having just been with a delegation of a total of nine of us into central Asia, including Afghanistan. What we saw there--and I gave a report to the Senate yesterday and I will not repeat it; it was an optimistic report reflecting the enthusiasm and the determination expressed in the faces of our young people, our young men and women in uniform serving our country in that part of the world and serving very successfully. As a followup to that, at the end of that trip, it started occurring to a number of us, bipartisan, that we wanted to make this trip to Guantanamo. That is what we will do. Then I will report to the Senate next week upon our return.

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, yesterday at the time of what we call a quorum call, what others in the street lingo might say is a recess, I took to the floor and with levity in my words spoke about some of the recent college bowl games, of which the State of Florida played such a prominent part, having three of our major teams in major bowls, all three of which were successful. I am going to take the occasion today of offering a resolution for the national champion, the national champion, University of Miami Hurricanes, in college football. It is now a university that is quite accustomed to national championships, having won so many of them in the past, but it is now a university that is led by a person who is near and dear to the hearts of many in Washington, including the Presiding Officer. Dr. Donna Shalala is the new President. She took over the reigns in June of the University of Miami. She has been so well accepted so quickly and is so loved in the Miami community. And then no sooner does she take the reigns and is so immediately successful in her leadership of the university, but that her team wins the national championship undefeated for the season. I thank the Chair for the opportunity.

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Madam 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 today to note the accomplishment of the University of Miami Hurricanes football team, who on January 3, 2002 won the NCAA Division I-A football championship, defeating the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers in the 88th Rose Bowl game. It was an exciting and memorable game, pitting two of college football's elite programs in the ``Granddaddy of Them All''. Ultimately, the Hurricanes won 37-14, capping an extraordinary season with their 5th national championship all since 1983. Along with students, alumni and fans from across the country, the State of Florida has become accustomed to great teams and a rich history of collegiate football success. While the future of Florida football is sure to yield many more great teams and great battles, today I want to congratulate the University of Miami for their latest triumph, which truly was a team effort. Led by Consensus All-Americans Bryant McKinnie and Edward Reed, as well as Joaquin Gonzalez who was named the nation's top college football scholar-athlete, the Hurricanes showed that individual achievement, well-rounded student leadership and team spirit add up to success both on and off the field. Head Coach Larry Coker has much to be proud of, molding this team into national champions and becoming the first rookie coach to do so since 1948. For his efforts, dedication and success, he was awarded the Bear Bryant Award as the college football Coach of the Year. The University of Miami program is a meaningful example for all Americans of determination, perseverance and excellence, and I want to extend my appreciation to every member of this team that contributed to the Hurricanes' victory. I ask unanimous consent that the full roster of this championship team, and their first-rate coaching staff be printed in the Record. They have made us very proud.

Mr. NELSON of Florida

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 5 minutes.

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, over the recess I had the privilege of going to the other side of planet Earth in the area of central Asia with 8 other of our colleagues. The delegation was led by the Senator from Connecticut, Mr. Lieberman, and the Senator from Arizona, Mr. McCain. In 7 days, we visited the heads of government of 6 nations. And what was a delightful surprise to our delegation was the fact that each one of the leaders of those countries wanted to express appreciation to the United States for us being involved in their countries to help rid them of terrorists. They implored us, after this initial thrust of military success, not to turn on our heels and walk away. Indeed, if you look back in history, the United States made a mistake a little over a decade ago. We were involved, in the 1980s, in Afghanistan--albeit clandestine--as we were helping the Afghans try to repel and expel the Soviet Union, which was trying to take over Afghanistan. And when the Soviet Union was whipped and tucked its tail between its legs and left, then the United States left also. That created a political vacuum--a vacuum that begs to be filled by political leaders, and that is the vacuum that was filled by the terrorists--ultimately, the very repressive Taliban regime. So let's take a lesson from history and let's not repeat it. Let's listen to those leaders who said they don't necessarily want us to be there in the long run in a military situation, but they want our help in advising them technically, agriculturally, about communication, and indeed in Afghanistan about stabilizing the country, about setting up a national government, about setting up a national army so they can protect themselves from these outside forces and from these insidious forces that well up within, which was the terrorist organizations. It was quite illuminating. We met with the Prime Minister of Turkey, the President of Uzbekistan, and the President of Turkmenistan. We then flew into Bagram airfield with lights out in the middle of the night for security reasons. Those young pilots were using night vision equipment, and I am telling you, Mr. President, they greased that plane on to that runway with no runway lights, no airplane lights, and lights out on everything because of snipers, mortar, and rocket fire. The descent was rapid, and the pilot did evasive maneuvers with the plane. The first instruction given to us before we stepped off the plane was: Do not dare step off the concrete tarmac because of the known and the unknown landmines. The sergeant who escorted me through the darkness told me about his buddy who had his foot blown off just 2 days before traversing a footpath that the sergeant who escorted me had traversed many times before and had escaped the lethal explosion of a landmine that ultimately caught his buddy and caused the amputation of his foot. We had the opportunity to meet with the interim Government of Afghanistan, with Chairman Hamid Karzai and his cabinet. What was very distinct--not only their enthusiasm, their absolute intent on making a success of a new kind of government that was not a repressive one--was the fact that, for the first time, the cabinet had a new minister: A minister of women's affairs, a prominent Afghan woman. As we met with that cabinet, they shared that message about being involved. Chairman Karzai gave us an example of how for the long run he needed our help. He explained to us he was so appreciative of the humanitarian assistance and that it looked as if, for this winter, most of the starvation had been avoided but for the long run they needed agricultural assistance. They needed the rains to come because without that, the farmers were not going to be able to grow crops in the spring, and they were going to return to growing poppies and, thus, in the drug trade and, thus, all the more ripe for exploitation by the terrorists we are trying to get rid of in that part of the world. All of our Senators would be so proud of what we saw on the faces of those young men and women in the uniform of our country at Bagram airfield in the dead of night. They were absolutely resolute in being able to successfully fulfill their mission. They had tasted success. They knew their cause was just, and they were absolutely intent on seeing it through to a successful conclusion. Whether we met young Americans in uniform in the neighboring countries, such as Uzbekistan to the north or Pakistan to the south, whether we met Americans in the diplomatic service or in the humanitarian component of our assistance, whether we met those young men and women in full-combat, cold-weather gear at the Bagram airfield right outside of Kabul, Afghanistan, or whether we met our marines at the airfield on the coast of Pakistan on the Arabian Sea, or whether we met our sailors and our pilots out on the aircraft carrier, the Theodore Roosevelt, off the Pakistani coast, they all had that conviction of expression on their faces: Absolutely intent on persevering and succeeding, knowing their cause is just. We spent a good hour with the President of Pakistan. It has been said many times that President Musharraf, well before September 11, offered leadership by recognizing that he had a problem with terrorism in his own country. In early June, well before September 11, he had met with religious leaders and said: We are going to have to start dampening down the religious extremism. In his country, there are 3,000 of these madrasahs, which are religious extremist schools. The President of Pakistan recognized he had a problem because where poverty exists and fathers and mothers cannot support their children, these children get shipped off to these religious schools where they provide the basic necessities for them but in the process train them in the ways of terrorism and extremism and teach them a doctrine that is not taught in the Koran. The President of Pakistan saw well ahead of September 11 that he was going to have a problem. He started laying the groundwork so that when the awful events of September 11 came and he knew he was going to have to make a choice--was he going to fight with a coalition of nations led by the United States to rid that part of the world of terrorism, including the terrorists in his country, or was he going to stay with the longstanding policy where the Government of Pakistan had even recognized officially, diplomatically, the Taliban Government, and was he going to break relations with them and cast his lot with the nations of the world that were trying to get rid of the terrorists--he did just that. Of course, at the time my colleagues and I were there, we had another reason to be concerned about that part of the world because two armies were amassing on either side of the Kashmir border, two armies of nuclear nations which portend awful things for the peace of this world should they get into a hot war, not even to speak of how it would drain Pakistan's energies and military activities away from helping the coalition of nations try to get the Taliban, the al-Qaida, and the terrorist leaders as they attempt to flee into Pakistan. We went up to the Khyber Pass and met with the commanding general who was commanding about 33,000 troops all in that sector of the Afghan- Pakistan border where we are concerned that al-Qaida are trying to flee. The general assured us that with all of their troops on the border, plus all of their friendships and lines of communication they have built with the native Pakistanis in all of those villages, they will know when one of those terrorists comes across. At the time we were there, which was about 2 weeks ago, they had already captured in excess of 200 al-Qaida. We went on to Muscat, Oman, and met with the Sultan of Oman. Again, it is a different kind of government in that region of the world and yet one that is very necessary in helping us as we knit and keep together this fragile coalition of nations, most of them being Muslim, as we fight terrorism in that part of the world. I believe the leaders in Central Asia now recognize terrorist activity is one of the greatest threats to the stability of their countries, and I believe they are now much more enthused in supporting the coalition efforts because of the extraordinary success we have had. I will conclude with this: The commander in chief of the Central Command I have the pleasure of having reside in my State, General Franks. He is stationed at MacDill Air Force Base where not only the Central Command is located but also the Special Operations Command. We have another commander in chief on the same base. I think the military success of this war effort thus far is illustrated by the photograph we saw on the front pages of so many of our newspapers, which was the Special Operations troop, American, on horseback, riding with other Afghan troops on horseback. The difference was the U.S. Special Operations person was calling in pinpoint airstrikes from his vantage point traversing the terrain on horseback. It is a combination of low tech and high tech. It is a commitment of very specialized troops, few in number, but backed up by the superiority of the skies, the precision of the weapons, and the instant communication between the low-tech troop on horseback, or on the ground, with the high-tech arsenal represented by the skies and by the pinpoint accuracy of the weapons. So the terrorist is in a compound, suddenly there is an explosion, and he flees and all of a sudden sighs relief that he escaped, and then whammo, the second precision pinpoint-accurate weapon hits. Talk about demoralizing the enemy. Why have we had success? Because of the combination of that and, in conclusion, because of the absolute determination of our men and women in uniform. That is what made me so proud for all of us, what made all of us in our nine-senator delegation so appreciative that we could express to those troops whom we saw the appreciation of the American people for their dedication and for their success. I yield the floor. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.