Don Nickles

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Further reserving the right to object, I appreciate the remarks of my friend and colleague. If we can keep the bill itself pretty much to relevant amendments, I think and believe we can get this bill passed this week. For the information of our colleagues, we are very close to concluding the antiterrorism package. I appreciate the patience of my friend and colleague from Arizona. We have been trying to pass two bills this week: one, an antiterrorism package, and the other an airport security package. I hope and believe we can pass both this week. The antiterrorism package is much closer to being there. In fact, it is our hope we can pass it today. We are in the process of trying to conclude a unanimous consent request to pass the antiterrorism package today that will be in agreement and hopefully have the vote by 6 o'clock tonight. With that in mind, the fact we are so close to doing the antiterrorism package and getting it to conclusion at this point, I object to the unanimous consent request proposed by the Senator from Arizona.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Alaska (Mr. Stevens) is necessarily absent.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I join my colleague from Nevada in complimenting my friend from Arizona. It is also very much my hope and desire that we can bring up the airport security bill and complete it tomorrow. I heard my colleague from Arizona say that both he and Senator Hollings are willing to object to amendments that are not relevant to the underlying package. That is a concern of a lot of people. That will help streamline and finish the bill. I hope and believe we will have the bipartisan leadership in agreement with that so that we can keep nongermane amendments off this package and we can pass the airport security bill. Then we can work on other issues together as well. I hope that is the case. We have had good progress in working in a bipartisan way on a lot of issues. I would like to see that the case on this package as well. Then we can take up the antiterrorism package next week and finish it as well. I thank my friend. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Thurmond), is necessarily absent. I further announce that if present and voting, the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Thurmond) would vote ``yea.''

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I echo the compliments made by Chairman Levin for the work of Senator Warner. I will also say that Senator Levin did an outstanding job. It was great the Senate was able to work. We had no partisan votes, as I recall, on the DOD authorization bill, a very important bill for our national security and important for us. So now we can go on and finish the DOD appropriations bill, a very critical bill as well. Again, my compliments to Chairman Levin and Senator Warner for their leadership, and for all Senators working together to get this bill passed as expeditiously as we did. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Santorum and the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Ensign) are necessarily absent.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Texas (Mr. Gramm), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain), and the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Thomas) are necessarily absent.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. We yield back the remainder of our time.

Mr. NICKLES. Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Thomas), the Senator from Texas (Mr. Gramm), and the Senator from Colorado (Mr. Campbell) are necessarily absent.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I thank the Chair. (The remarks of Mr. Nickles pertaining to the submission of S. Con. Res. 73 are located in today's Record under ``Submission of Concurrent and Senate Resolutions.'')

Mr. NICKLES. I yield to the Senator from West Virginia.

Mr. NICKLES. Madam President, I have worked with some of our colleagues on the underlying bill that deals with assisting the airline industry to try to make a significant and positive impact, and I compliment both Democrats and Republicans, because we have worked together, and I think we are passing a bill tonight that will provide needed assistance to the airline industry. This bill has several provisions some of our colleagues are somewhat familiar with, some maybe not, but it has a provision that provides for $5 billion in cash assistance. Some people said that is too much. Actually, last Friday we were looking at a bill that was two and a half. The airline industry generates revenues of about $2 billion per week, and this bill provides $5 billion. Well, they were shut down for 2\1/2\ days, but certainly when they started again they had significant losses, and this $5 billion is an attempt to offset the losses that will be incurred not only for the shutdown but for the resumption of service, and that is for the time period from September 11 through December 31. Also, there are losses that have to be incurred. I would love to see ridership come up to a very full volume in a very short period of time and maybe that $5 billion would not be necessary. In all likelihood it will be. The legislation also provides for $10 billion of loan assistance. Some people have asked for details, but we left the regulations up to OMB, and some people have disputed whether it be cost share, whether it will be a guaranteed loan amount. When we did the steel loan guarantees, that this Senator did not support but we put a percentage must be required, the Federal Government did not guarantee 100 percent. The Federal Government guaranteed up to a percentage, and I hope that would be the case in this bill. So it would not be a 100-percent Federal loan guarantee but up to 80, with those regulations to be determined by the Office of Management and Budget. They have 15 days to do so from date of enactment. The legislation also has about a page and a half, or two pages, dealing with essential air service. It is my thought that should not be in the legislation, and it is because Senator Byrd and Senator Rockefeller and others wanted to have it and said the Secretary should make efforts to endeavor that communities that now have assistance in Federal air service would continue to receive it. In my opinion, it should not have been put in, but it is in and I am not that upset. It does give some discretion, but in some of these communities we have airplanes flying with two or three people on them and they cost a lot of money. They cost the airlines and taxpayers a lot of money, and I question whether we should mandate that it continue. The language we have in the bill is less than a mandate. It does have some discretion, so hopefully common sense will prevail. That is not a particularly big provision. Most importantly, the bill does provide some limitation on liabilities for the air carriers. If we did not have that, they probably would not be able to buy insurance. They probably would not be flying in a month. We did not want that to happen so we did put some liability protection, some limitations there. Carriers would be liable on September 11. The limitations for liability will be for the amount of insurance they have. So that was pretty well agreed upon. The prospective liability, where the Government would assume additional liability if there were another act of war or terrorism, was pretty well agreed upon. We also passed legislation, and it begins on page 19 and goes through page 30 in this legislation, called victims' compensation. It basically says that victims and/or their family survivors, people who were killed by the terrorist act of September 11, may receive financial assistance or at least have legal recourse. They can do it either by suing in a Federal district court or they can do it through a new system we are now creating in this legislation called the special master. It was my hope this would not be included in this legislation, that we would defer it until we had a little more time to study it. This is very complex law. It deals with the State of New York law, it deals with Federal law, it deals with liability, and the liability of not only the airlines but also the building, the port authority, and other individuals and governments. It is very complicated and very complex. Although I think the committees and the other people who worked on it did a pretty good job, the special master has enormous responsibility under this legislation, to be making determinations on what family survivors will receive, what injured members and individual will receive. I am not against having a victims' compensation section, but when we put this together in a short period of time, I am not sure we did it the best way. I am not trying to be critical, and I have assurance from proponents of this, as late as last night: If we find it is in error and it needs adjustments, we will revisit it. I compliment my colleagues because we have operated in a bipartisan spirit, and we should continue to do so. That is vitally important. We did it last week; we did it this week. Some people said we want to rewrite unemployment compensation laws and make everybody whole on unemployment compensation because of the airline employees, because of restaurant employees, et cetera. We have to be cautious. The unemployment compensation system can be enormously expensive. We have an unemployment compensation system providing benefits in most cases for 26 weeks. I don't know that has such urgency we need to address it in the next week. Some said we need to do this next week. Almost everyone in every State of the Nation has unemployment compensation that will last at least for 6 months. We have made good progress in providing stability for the airlines. They will be able to buy insurance; they will be able to continue flying. We provided cash assistance and provided loan guarantees to get them through, bridging this very difficult time as a result of the terrorist act and tragedy that happened on September 11. I encourage my colleagues to vote in favor of this legislation. For the information of our colleagues, a lot of people are wanting to get out of town. It is my intention to yield back the remainder of time and commence the rollcall in a very short period of time.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Madam President, it is with great honor that I introduce this concurrent resolution on behalf of Senator Inhofe, Senator Schumer, Senator Clinton, and myself, as well as many other original co-sponsors. The resolution expresses Congress' profound sorrow for the loss of life and injuries suffered by ``first responders'' as a result of their efforts to save innocent Americans in the aftermath of the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Pennsylvania disasters on September 11, 2001. It also expresses our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the first responders who will never again return home. Last Tuesday, in New York City and at the Pentagon, law enforcement, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel (first responders) were the first public-service personnel on the scene. If it were not for their heroic efforts immediately after these attacks, the death toll would be much higher. We also believe that it is important for America to better understand the daily activities and responsibilities of first responders. Our everyday well-being, security and safety depend upon first responders' official duties. In preparation for these tragedies, first responders around the country plan, train and exercise for mass-casualty events. Our resolution recognizes the hard work and dedication of ``first responder'' personnel and thanks them for the long hours of training that many participate in on their own time. In addition, this resolution recognizes the hard work and dedication of first responders after the 1993 World Trade Center and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings. First Responders exemplify great courage and patriotism in the darkest of hours and for this we are most grateful.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I want to clarify that because I think we need to be at least on equal footing as far as additional time is concerned. I understand there is a time request by the Senator from Illinois and others on this side, so we ought to try to be equitable in the time.

Mr. NICKLES. Reserving the right to object, parliamentary inquiry: Are the times that were mentioned outside of the 1 hour?

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Voinovich), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Craig), and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) are necessarily absent. I further announce that if present and voting the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Voinovich) and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) would each vote ``yea.''

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Craig) and the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) are necessarily absent. I further announce that if present and voting the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Helms) would vote ``yea.''

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Ohio (Mr. Voinovich) is necessarily absent.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I thank my colleague. Yesterday was a tragic day in U.S. history. It is a tragic day for people who love freedom, who cherish freedom. Some may claim it was a victory for terrorism. I don't think so. This act of terrorism has brought our country together in a way that we haven't been able to do among ourselves. Yesterday I was with Democrats and Republicans who said: We are going to be united against this type of senseless violence. We are going to stand together and say it will not stand. It will not be successful. I compliment President Bush and his Cabinet, not only for his speech last night but also for the Cabinet he has assembled. He has assembled a Cabinet of unequaled reputation, quality, who have proven themselves to meet the challenge in the past, whether we are talking about Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell or Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld. In witnessing the events yesterday, it took me back to the tragedy we suffered 6 years ago in Oklahoma City where 168 people lost their lives to another act of terrorism. The most deadly act of terrorism in U.S. history happened in Oklahoma City that year on April 19. Until we saw it replaced by an even more horrendous act, an act that certainly was designed by people who wanted to do the maximum amount of deadly operations they could against the United States. They will not be successful in any way, shape, or form. The United States, under the leadership of President Bush and his administration and a united Congress, Democrats and Republicans, will stand up and say that type of violence will not stand. It will be punished. Our condolences go to the families, to the victims of this terror. It comes home to all of us in different ways. The thousands of people who were injured or lost their lives in the World Trade Center, the many people in the Pentagon, the hundreds of people who were on the airplanes, those were husbands, mothers, fathers, wives, children, grandparents. They disrupted thousands of lives. Those were friends. I happen to have a friend who was on one of the planes: Barbara Olson. She worked for me for 2 or 3 years in the Senate as my general counsel. Many people in the Senate got to know Barbara Olson. I got to know her very well. I got to admire her, to respect her. She was an outstanding staff member and friend, a frequent visitor on the television shows. I think many Americans, when they saw her face on CNN yesterday, realized this has an impact. This brings the real tragedy home. My prayers and condolences go to her husband and also my very dear friend, Ted Olson, who happens to be Solicitor General of the United States. What a tragic loss, the loss of life for Barbara Olson and the countless others, thousands of people whose lives were destroyed or families who were broken as a result of this terrorist activity. We must act together. I am confident that we will. I am confident that Congress will act and give the administration the tools necessary, both legal and financial, to rebuild, to assist in fixing the damage. Through FEMA and the capable leadership of Joe Allbaugh, I think we will do that. I know that was important in my State of Oklahoma. I am sure we will do that both with the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. It is also important that we stand together and confront terrorism. It is important that we combat terrorism. In some cases in the past our rhetoric has maybe exceeded our success. I don't believe we were successful in bringing the perpetrators of the bombings in Kenya and Tanzania to justice. I don't believe we were successful in bringing the perpetrators of the Khobar Towers bombing to justice. I don't believe we have been successful as of yet in bringing the perpetrators of the bombing of the USS Cole to justice and bringing those people and/or possibly even countries to justice and who may have helped finance and orchestrate and maybe even organize these terrorist activities. It is important that we do so, not just in rhetoric but in deed, not just today and not just in the next week but, frankly, on a continual battle. We must, when we say this type of terrorism won't go unpunished, we must mean what we say. I feel confident with this President we will show the resolve. Our country will show the resolve. Freedom-loving people all across the world will show the resolve that this will not go unpunished. Yesterday was a very sad and tragic day in our U.S. history, a very tragic day, one that I believe our country will pull together and say: This type of terrorism will not prevail. We have so many good people in the United States, so many people who are coming together to assist the victims, so many people who are coming together worldwide to assist to make sure this type of tragedy will not go unpunished and also to alleviate the pain and suffering of the innocent victims in this terrible tragedy. My heart, my sympathy, my prayers go out to the victims. Our resolve has never been stronger to stand together to fight this type of terrorism.

Mr. NICKLES

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

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Mr. Kyl) and the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain) are necessarily absent.

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Alaska (Mr. Murkowski) is necessarily absent.

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

Mr. NICKLES

Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Santorum), the Senator from New Hampshire (Mr. Gregg), and the Senator from Alaska (Mr. Murkowski) are necessarily absent.