James Oberstar

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell).

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 15 seconds. Mr. Speaker, on October 3 the White House issued this statement: It is imperative that the House bring legislation to the floor as soon as possible so a new pipeline safety law that can be enacted before the end of the year. The Secretary of Transportation said, referring to the bill Mr. Dingell and I introduced, ``I urge the House leadership and its members to act quickly to pass comprehensive pipeline safety legislation and move to a conference with the Senate.'' There is no statement of administration support for this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Metcalf.) (Mr. METCALF asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett).

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Tierney).

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of the time. Mr. Speaker, I just want to repeat the words of Marlene Robinson, mother of Liam Wood, whose life was lost in the Billingham pipeline tragedy. He was 18 years old. He had just graduated from high school 5 days before. He did not go off on a party with his buddies. He went off fly fishing, the thing she said that made him happiest, 5 minutes from downtown. What he did not know was that a gas pipeline went through that area. A wall of fumes roared down that canyon and snuffed his life out, and then it exploded and incinerated two other children further on down. That is what this is all about. Do not tell me this is about the good and the perfect. Do not tell me this is about the other body that will not give us time to consider the bill. They passed their bill a month ago. We had a month to do something whether in committee or on this floor. We had a month to do something good for life. And what Marlene Robinson said was that this bill does not do the job. If the Office of Pipeline Safety will not protect the health and safety of our children in the community, she said, then our lawmakers must. She referred to this bill and said it is fatally weakened by effects of intense pressure from the pipeline industry. It is lives at stake. It is not political careers. It is not who is in charge. It is not who is the majority this year, who may be the majority next year. It is what we can do now. We will be judged on whether we have made the pile higher and better and left a better legacy. We can do better than this bill. We can do something that we have been waiting 13 years to do, at least this gentleman has since the last hearings that I chaired on the subject and found in a Republican administration failure of this Office of Pipeline Safety to do its job, in a Democratic administration failure of the same office to do its job. It is up to the Congress, as Mrs. Robinson said, it is up to us to draw the line, to protect communities, and to pass a bill that ensures safety for all of our children. This is the hour of truth.

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I will resist the temptation to rebut the statements just made on pipeline safety, made out of order, out of regular time, except to say that we had time to get a better bill. We still could do it, there is plenty of time left in this session, we still can work things out, and we ought to. This disaster mitigation legislation does represent the very best, however, of comity between the two parties in this House and the two sides of our committee. The benefit of this bill is that it establishes a predisaster mitigation program based on the very effective Project Impact initiative that emphasizes local community involvement critical to the success of implementing long-term strategies for disaster resistance. This is the first time at the Federal level that we will be providing a mechanism and funding to address problems before they occur. If we can avoid losses, we can avoid future tragedies, we will save tens of millions of dollars, and that is the essential character of this legislation, the essential contribution that it makes. I rise in support of H.R. 707, the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, the third and final time that we take up this legislation in this body. This legislation represents tireless work on the part of the gentlewoman from Florida who has given exhausting hours of her time to fashion a bill that will be effective and that will respond to the concerns that she has expressed so well, not only in Florida but elsewhere around this country. The cooperative work that she has undertaken with our ranking member, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Traficant), has been exemplary. I appreciate the many visits that we have had about this and about the terrorism commission legislation which I will address in a moment. The benefits of the disaster mitigation bill are that first of all it establishes a predisaster mitigation program based on the very effective Project Impact initiative. Project Impact emphasizes local community involvement that is critical to the success of implementing long-term strategies for disaster resistance. This is the first time that we will be attempting at the Federal level to address problems before they occur. I think properly so, because if we address problems that we know cause increased losses, we can avoid those losses in the future disasters that we know are likely to occur. These initiatives, rather modest in this bill, will translate into millions of dollars of savings. There are, however, a couple of concerns that I have about the legislation. Both House and Senate bills require non-profit entities to seek loans from the Small Business Administration as a precondition of assistance. But, certain non-profits are singled out not for what they do but for who they are. Libraries, museums and shelters should not be discriminated against in this fashion. It is not a fatal flaw in the bill, not one that would cause me to oppose it, but one that I hope can be revisited and fixed in the future. Second, the bill authorizes funding only for the next three fiscal years. I believe that oversight of this program will demonstrate its value, and that there will be a continuing need to work with communities for many years. I look forward to working to extend this program. The Senate has removed language requiring the establishment of a President's Council on Domestic Terrorism and Preparedness within the Executive Office of the President. The gentlewoman has again devoted tireless hours and very deep personal conviction to this legislation. This is not something that she has undertaken as a gesture, but as a matter of very deep conviction. I have been greatly persuaded by her activism, by her profound self-assurance based on case studies and careful analysis of the situation and the failure of the existing system to perform as intended. I support the establishment of the President's council. I worked to mediate between the subcommittee and the Office of Management and Budget and White House staff. I think under the circumstances this is a sound, reasonable, responsible initiative. As the gentlewoman has said to me, in years to come after she enters retirement, she does not want to look back on a tragedy and say, ``That could have been prevented. I could have done something while I was in Congress.'' She tried her hardest to do something, Mr. Speaker. But, the Senate has refused to acquiesce. That is unfortunate, but the unwillingness of the Senate causes us to accept the agreement on mitigation and address terrorism preparedness at a later date. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Rahall) for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker, I, first of all, want to congratulate our full committee chairman, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Shuster), on his superb leadership over these 6 years. This may not be the last bill we bring to the floor of the House. We certainly have plenty of time for another bill on pipeline safety. We could do that yet. But over the years of his chairmanship, he has done a superb job reconciling differences; bringing people together; building America; investing in the Nation's future; strengthening the Nation's infrastructure. It has been an extraordinary record of achievement, not only in our field of transportation and related issues but also I think, as the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri) alluded to, in a time when politics is rife and rancor is rampant both inside and outside this body, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has proceeded in a cooperative, bipartisan spirit of understanding and keeping our eye on the objective and doing something good for America. In addition, in the last Congress this committee handled more than 24 percent of all the bills enacted into law. So far in this Congress, at least in this session of the Congress, nearly a third of all the bills that moved through the House moved through this committee and about 25 percent of all of those were enacted into law. That is an extraordinary record. One does not get those just by being good scouts. It is done by working together, resolving differences, coming to the floor with a unified product that can win the respect and the majority vote in the House. This bill before us today, the Motor Carrier Fuel Cost Equity Act of 2000, is an example. I commend the chairman of the subcommittee, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri), the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Rahall), the ranking member of the subcommittee, who initiated the legislation and whose sensitivity to the problems of this segment of the trucking industry has made it possible for us to be here today. He listened. He understood the problems. He told the small motor carriers who have less influence in transportation markets than the larger motor carriers that he would initiate legislation on their behalf; would take the action; would first get a hearing and then see if we could draft legislation, which he did. Now we are here on this floor today, and I hope this bill moves not only through our body but the other body and on to the President for signature into law. Fuel costs represent a larger proportion of small carriers' operating budgets. Assuming that freight rates are based on true costs, it is obvious small carriers have greater difficulty passing along price increases that represent a larger portion of their operating costs than do the large carriers. Data provided in 1998 by carriers with $3 million or more in annual revenue show that fuel costs represent only 5 to 6 percent of large carrier operating budgets. Those percentages may be one or two points higher today due to recent price increases. Owner-operators typically do not report cost information to the Department of Transportation. We understand, however, from our discussions with the industry that fuel costs really represent about 30 percent of an owner-operator's operating budget. Obviously, those conditions put the smaller carriers at a disadvantage in a fuel price inflationary era such as we are now experiencing. Seventy percent of owner-operators have lease arrangements with larger carriers, and they ought to be treated fairly by the carriers they lease to. This bill requires that the fuel surcharge paid by shippers be passed on through to whoever is paying for fuel under the lease arrangement. Most often, that is the independent owner-operator. So the gentleman from West Virginia deserves high praise for recognizing the very real and personal hardships faced by independent truckers and their families, brought on by these higher fuel prices. The gentleman has been out in the highways and the byways and listened to those who drive the trucks, listened to those who face the financial cost price squeeze and recognize that independent truckers should be treated fairly when the Nation goes through the kind of fuel price spikes that we have been experiencing these last several months. This bill goes a long way toward providing the kind of relief that those hard-pressed, hard-working men and women need in these difficult times. I urge the passage of this legislation.

Mr. OBERSTAR

Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, it was with great sadness, a sense of personal loss, and a loss to this body that at the opening of session today I took the well to announce that at 11:20 this morning our colleague, our dear friend, Bruce Vento, succumbed to mesothelioma, asbestos-induced cancer of the lung and peritoneal cavity. Madam Speaker, I will reserve my comments for this great and distinguished legislator, friend, hard-working great American until later in this 1-hour. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Sabo). (Mr. SABO asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I am now happy to yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman) the chairman of the Committee on International Relations. (Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his remarks, and I yield to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Peterson). (Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Ramstad).

Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach), chairman of the Committee on Banking and Financial Services.

Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur). (Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments and for his suggestion of a naming, and I would say that we are working on one or two in Minnesota. Already an elementary school has been named for Bruce Vento. There are two other designations that we are working on that we hoped to have accomplished before the end of this session, but his death preceded our best efforts. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Cleveland, Ohio (Mrs. Jones).

Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee), who sat side by side with Mr. Vento for so many years on the Committee on Resources.

Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis). He may be the gentleman from Georgia, but he is also the gentleman from all America.

Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) for those heartfelt, very touching words. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega).

Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega) for those wonderful words from your native land that our colleague would so much appreciate. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kind).

Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky).

Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Guam (Mr. Underwood).

Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments. I would express my great appreciation to all the Members who have stayed long after the legislative business of the House to express their profound respect for the work of Bruce Vento in this body, for the friendship that he has meant to each of them. Bruce Vento, like all of us, had great moments in this body, but none was greater than the moment that he took some months ago in the well of this House to address us all about the illness which had afflicted him and which he knew would take his life. What stands out is that in a time of rancor, in a body where campaigns have moved from the hinterlands to the House floor and have so often spilled over into invective, that was a shining moment for this House, where he spoke of the politics of joy and of hope, of the meaning of public service, and his pride in serving the people of his district, of his State, and of his country. It was a great moment for the House of Representatives, one that will be enshrined forever, not just in the Record, but in the hearts of all of us who were privileged to hear that beautiful outpouring of the meaning of this great deliberative body. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Rahall), who sat side by side with Bruce Vento throughout all these 12 terms.

Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, in the few moments that remain, there was only one other person who in my memory stands out for having taken the well of the House to address his colleagues on the meaning of life and the meaning of legislative service. That was Senator Hubert Humphrey, who was invited by this body to address the House from the Clerk's desk. Parenthetically, when he arrived there, he looked out over this assembled gathering of Members of the House and Members of the Senate and said, ``Oh, you don't know how long I have waited to stand here and make this speech.'' Bruce and I were standing together and marvelled at this wonderful expose of the meaning of the legislative process and of service to humanity. Little did either of us realize years later he, too, would take the well to give a similar civics lesson, one from the heart, on the meaning of comity and of service. At the fundraising event in Bruce's honor where funds were raised for a scholarship program for science students, little red pine seedlings were handed out. I took three of those, one for each of his sons, because I had a sense then that we were witnessing a drama that would play itself out in the end of his life in some months. I planted those seedlings in our backyard. They are thriving. They will get another place where they will get more light, more strength. They will be a symbol to all of us of this recurring resource that Bruce fought so hard to preserve, to protect: the flora, the fauna, the water, the air, the land. At the end of life, we will not be judged by how large a surplus we left, how large a nuclear arsenal, how great an Army we left behind us, or by how many bills had been enacted into law. We will be judged by, I was naked and you clothed me; I was hungry and you fed me; I was homeless and you took me in. When we cloth our fellow human beings in dignity, when we take the homeless into our hearts, into our lives, and when we feed the hungry with the spirit that gives life, we are truly doing the Lord's work in this life. That was Bruce Vento. That was all that he committed himself to do in public service. With Samuel Gompers, Bruce can say I came into the labor movement with one purpose, to leave it a better place and a better movement than I found it in. Bruce leaves this body, his city, his district, his constituents these resources of land and air and water and the creatures among them in better condition than he found them in.

Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.