Don Nickles

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Missouri [Mr. Bond], the Senator from Indiana [Mr. Coats], the Senator from Texas [Mr. Gramm], and the Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. Gregg] are necessarily absent. I also announce that the Senator from Colorado [Mr. Campbell] is absent due to illness.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today it stand in adjournment until the hour of 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 3rd; further, that immediately following the prayer the Journal of proceedings be deemed approved to date, the morning hour be deemed to have expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and that the Senate then resume consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 3539, the FAA authorization bill.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I now ask that the Senate stand in adjournment as under the previous order.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask the Chair to lay before the Senate a message from the House of Representatives on (H.R. 3723) the bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to protect proprietary economic information, and for other purposes. The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate the following message from the House of Representatives: Resolved, That the House agree to the amendment of the Senate to the bill (H.R. 3723) entitled ``An Act to amend title 18, United States Code, to protect proprietary economic information, and for other purposes'', with the following House amendment to senate amendment: In lieu of the matter proposed to be inserted by the Senate amendment to the text of the bill, insert:

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate concur in the amendment of the House.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, October 2, 1996, at 10:00 a.m. to hold a hearing on INS oversight.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Clean Air, Wetlands, Private Property, and Nuclear Safety be granted permission to conduct an oversight hearing Wednesday, October 2, 1996, at 9:30 a.m.--hearing room SD-410--on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's response to Hurricane Fran.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, October 2, 1996 beginning at 9:30 a.m. in room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building to conduct an oversight hearing on the regulatory activities of the National Indian Gaming Commission [NIGC].

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, October 2, 1996, in open session, to receive testimony on the impact of the Bosnian elections and the deployment of U.S. military forces to Bosnia and the Middle East.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry be allowed to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, October 2, 1996, at 9 a.m. to discuss renewable fuels and the future security of U.S. energy supplies.

Mr. NICKLES

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

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, the Senator from Virginia is exactly correct. I worked for hours today alone with the Senator from Alaska. But, as the Senator from Virginia knows, the Senator from Alaska has been working on this bill for years--for years. And there are countless hours that have gone into putting this package together. It is not something that has been hurried up and put together in the last days. This is a culmination. It has a lot of bills together. Some may ask, ``Why is that?'' Senators objected to having any bill go through. So all of the bills ended up combined. That is unfortunate. We should not legislate that way. But the objection, frankly, was on the Democrat side of the aisle. It should not have happened. Hopefully in the future we will be able to pass land bills individually as they are reported out of the authorizing committees. It didn't happen in this case. We will have to work hard to see that it does not happen in the future. But most all of these projects that are in this bill have been hashed out for months, most of which have unanimous support in the Senate. And my guess is that when we get to a vote on the bill--we may well vote on it tomorrow. We may pass it by voice vote. If we have a recorded vote, I would venture to say that we would have 90-some percent of the Senators voting in favor of that package. So, hopefully we will get it through both Houses and have it for the President's signature.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Virginia. And I appreciate the emphasis. He is one of many Senators that has been urging us to complete action on the parks bill. I know that there are several items that are important to the State of Virginia. We have had contacts from our colleagues in Colorado, including Senator Campbell, who has a broken arm, but, yet, he feels that this is very, very important to his State; Senators from California; and others. I believe that there are 41 States that have projects in this bill. We are very close. I know Senator Murkowski has been working with the administration. They don't have everything resolved. I will admit that up front. But hopefully we will be successful in wrapping that bill up tomorrow. Hopefully the House will concur, and we can be successful in passing a very important parks bill.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I am happy to yield.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, under the previous order, there will be 1 hour of debate time starting at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning with the cloture vote to occur on the FAA conference report at 10 a.m. Obviously, that rollcall vote is very important. And I urge the attendance of all my colleagues tomorrow. I also hope that, if cloture is invoked, the Senate could then proceed to adoption of the FAA conference report in a timely fashion. Rollcall votes are, therefore, expected throughout the day on Thursday on the FAA conference report, or any other items cleared for action. If action is completed on the FAA conference report and various other important matters are cleared, I would fully expect the Senate would adjourn sine die tomorrow. I urge the cooperation of all Members in order to achieve that goal tomorrow. I also urge my colleagues to cooperate, and hopefully we will be successful in passing the parks bill that so many people have spoken on behalf of that I think in large part we have pretty well come to an agreement on. And it is very important, in this Senator's opinion, that we pass that bill tomorrow.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, one, I want to compliment my colleague, the majority leader, and join him in congratulating Kelly Johnston for doing an outstanding job as Secretary of the Senate. Secretary of the Senate is one of the highest positions that we have, maybe the highest nonelected position that we have serving Congress. I have had the pleasure of knowing Kelly Johnston from Chickasha, OK, for a long time. He was my executive director when I was the chairman of the policy committee, the Republican Policy Committee. He did an outstanding job in that capacity. And I had the pleasure of working with him on the Senate Campaign Committee, and watching him do very able leadership as the Secretary of the Senate. On behalf of all Senators, I just want to congratulate him for his service, thank him for his service, and send him best wishes, as he would assume new responsibilities at the Federal Election Commission. Mr. THURMOND addressed the Chair.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I agree with my colleague. However, I would not put it quite so delicately. I believe that the IRS is clearly overstepping its authority and ignoring clear congressional direction and intent as provided by the Internal Revenue Code. This tax penalty on aircraft safety is not only wrong in substance, the process by which the IRS is adopting this new policy is also flawed. In reversing its historic practice of accepting the characterization of aircraft maintenance and repair cost as deductible, the IRS is effectively promulgating a major regulation. As I understand it, there has been no notice of proposed rulemaking and there is at this time no coordinated issue paper. Instead, the IRS is challenging taxpayers who can least afford to protect their interest against the IRS in court. In other words, the IRS is selectively enforcing this new rule on a case-by-case basis hoping to develop a new body of regulation, without affording taxpayers of the protections provided by the normal rulemaking process. If the IRS wants to change their policy and the industry practice, the IRS should use the rulemaking process. A change in IRS's policy of this magnitude clearly needs to be addressed through full notice and comment protections provided in the Administrative Procedures Act. The IRS's current process denies stakeholders the opportunity to comment before the tax change is finalized. In addition, I would like to send a clear message to the IRS that general application of this reversal of longstanding tax policy on aircraft maintenance costs would be a rule for purposes of the Congressional Review Act. IRS must be prepared to defend both their decision and their decisionmaking process before this body under the new congressional review provisions of chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code.

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I rise to bring to my colleagues' attention a new and hidden tax being imposed by the IRS on American air carriers, and those who travel or ship cargo by aircraft. Ignoring congressional intent, as codified in sections 162 and 232 of the Internal Revenue Code, the IRS is reversing its policy of accepting the longstanding industry practice of expense deductions of aircraft inspection, maintenance, and repair required by the Federal Aviation Administration. This IRS change in tax treatment of air carriers constitutes a tax penalty on air safety. This new and hidden tax penalty on air safety is no small matter. When an airline takes delivery of an aircraft, before the FAA will issue a certificate of airworthiness allowing that plane to fly, the carrier must provide the FAA with a suitable plan for ongoing maintenance and repair. So here, on one hand, we have one agency of the Federal Government, the FAA, working hand in hand with the industry to ensure and to enhance the public safety for air travelers. But at the same time, a second agency, the IRS, is attempting to impose a tax penalty on the cost of ensuring that very safety.

Mr. NICKLES. I will inform my distinguished colleague from Kentucky that he is exactly correct. Section 162 of the Internal Revenue Code provides that the cost of maintenance and repairs to keep property in an ordinarily efficient operating condition is deductible in the year incurred. Only maintenance which either materially adds to the value or substantially prolongs the useful life of the property or adapts the property to a new or different use is required to be capitalized. Under this test, aircraft maintenance and repair costs are deductible because such maintenance and repair does not materially increase the value or extend the useful life of the aircraft. I will answer the distinguished bill manager. Ignoring economic reality and logic, the IRS is reversing its policy of accepting the longstanding industry practice of deducting the cost of aircraft maintenance in the year incurred. The IRS's new position that these repairs should be capitalized and depreciated over a period of years assumes that the economic life of an asset should be calculated on the assumption that no appropriate maintenance--including Government- mandated safety maintenance--will be performed.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Colorado [Mr. Campbell] is absent due to illness.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Colorado [Mr. Campbell] is absent due to illness.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 2297 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. My compliments to my colleague from Wyoming. He did fulfill a very significant heritage by following his father's footsteps in the Senate. I also want to mention the comments made by my colleague from Alaska dealing with the FAA bill. We need to pass that bill, the Senator is right. It is going to be irresponsible if we don't pass the bill. So I just pledge to my friend and colleague from Alaska that we will work as energetically as we possibly can to try to make sure that happens before we adjourn sine die.

Mr. NICKLES. addressed the Chair.