Richard Shelby

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I rise in support of the bill before the Senate this afternoon. Mr. President, the United States of America is the undisputed leader in space technology development and space exploration. We can thank the American people for this. It is they who had the foresight to commit to space exploration and to demand that we reach beyond what is already within our grasp. Mr. President, the bill before us today continues that fine tradition and will help the United States maintain its leading role in space. It fulfills our commitment to space exploration in a number of ways, but primarily by funding the international space station. We have heard on this floor countless times and we will continue to hear that we cannot afford such an investment in our future. I cannot explain why someone would choose not to complete this noble journey. I can explain, however, why Americans throughout this Nation insist that we must. It is because Americans have always dreamed larger, reached farther, and excelled beyond all expectation. It is an American destiny to take this next step in space exploration. We must not quit now. By providing more than $5.3 billion to fund the Human Space Flight Program, which includes the international space station, this bill will preserve American leadership in space exploration. I am pleased the committee chose to continue this great endeavor. Mr. President, I also want to take this opportunity to highlight two other very important NASA provisions in this bill. The first is the WINDSAT Program within Mission to Planet Earth. The Mission to Planet Earth Program will provide valuable long-term climate forecasting information essential to a number of U.S. industries, including environmental, agricultural, forestry management, and disaster prediction and mitigation programs. The most difficult task facing this program is predicting seasonal and annual climate changes. This is the purpose of the WINDSAT Program. The global wind data provided by the WINDSAT is critical to Mission to Planet Earth's ability to predict these changes. Without this information, we are getting only part of the picture. WINDSAT will provide the data needed to complete that picture. I am very pleased the committee has supported this program. Mr. President, 50 years ago, it would have taken an entire warehouse to hold a computer with the capabilities of today's small hand-held calculators. Again and again we have seen how technology development reduces size and increases power. This is happening in the satellite industry as well. By the year 2000, advanced microsatellite technologies will yield small high-power, low-cost satellites, yet launch costs will be prohibitively expensive, unless we do something about it. Therefore, I am pleased that the committee has directed an augmentation for the low-cost small-launch technology demonstration project. This project promises to establish American leadership in the low- cost small-launch market. Without this additional funding, the objectives of the program simply cannot be met. The funding level in this bill will ensure that as microsatellites become available, we will have a cost-effective way to put them into orbit. Mr. President, in short, the bill we have before us today fulfills an American vision of our future in space by continuing our commitment to space exploration and high-technology research and development. It will ensure that we continue on our national journey into space and will mean more opportunities and a brighter future for our country. I urge my colleagues to share this vision and support this bill. Mr. DORGAN addressed the Chair.

Mr. SHELBY. I thank the chairman for his willingness to consider my request. james h. quillen school of medicine

Mr. SHELBY. Would the chairman yield for a question?

Mr. SHELBY. I want to first commend the chairman and the ranking member for their skill in crafting this bill. I am particulary pleased that the committee reported bill has included an additional $100 million for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration over that proposed by the House. As the chairman knows, NASA is an important part of the Huntsville-Madison County, AL, economy, and I am grateful for the chairman's willingness to add these extra funds for NASA's 1997 budget. I would like to make the chairman aware of an important project in north Alabama. Since 1994, NASA, the University of Alabama in Huntsville and the Universities Space Research Association have jointly run a Global Hydrology and Climate Center [GHCC] in Huntsville. Since its creation, the center has developed a unique expertise in studying the importance of the Earth's hydrologic cycle and its importance to climate change. The GHCC has created a state-of-the-art capability and understanding the importance of water vapor and its effect on greenhouse gases. In addition to this basic research, the center has developed important applications that demonstrate the links between better understanding of hydrology and more cost-effective use and regulation of natural resources in the southeastern United States. The Global Hydrology and Climate Center is currently located in leased space whose cost is shared between NASA and UAH. However, the center now has an opportunity to relocate to permanent, dedicated space as part of an existing UAH-owned facility by permitting the buildout of 46,500 square feet for the center's exclusive use. Unfortunately, because of NASA's accounting rules, driven by GSA guidelines, NASA cannot pay for its share of the cost of this buildout since the facility in question is nonfederal space. However, with an appropriation of $2 million, which could cover only those costs of this relocation that are attributable to NASA's share of the total cost of the relocation project, NASA and UAH could proceed to continue the GHCC in this new and more cost-effective space. The cost savings of such a relocation are significant as NASA can reduce the long-term costs of its support for the center. Some estimates suggest that NASA could save more than $500,000 per year in rental costs that they now pay for their share of the leased space. I wonder if the chairman would consider identifying $2 million within NASA's science, aeronautics and technology account to pay for this relocation in the upcoming conference on the 1997 VA-HUD appropriations bill?

Mr. SHELBY. I, too, would like to express my support for this program. In my State of Alabama, Tuskeegee University's School of Veterinary Medicine also participates in the Association of Minority Health Professions Schools, by contributing materially toward helping to control the cost of human health care by preventing zoonotic diseases. This, in turn, helps prevent an overload on human primary health care systems. The value of this program is self-evident.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I rise in strong support of the conference report to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996. The American people I believe have demanded welfare reform, and I am pleased that the Congress has not yielded in its commitment to pass much needed and long overdue comprehensive welfare reform. Our current welfare system is a death sentence. It is a death sentence to the human spirit, the family, and the hopes and dreams of millions of children in America. The welfare system today encourages dependency, facilitates the breakdown of the family, demoralizes the human spirit, and undermines the work ethic that built our Nation. For a third time this Congress has delivered legislation to address the failures of the welfare state and provide reforms that I believe will free the poor from being trapped in a cycle of dependency. This bill is the boldest statement we can make in the current political environment, and I am pleased that the President has finally pledged to keep his promise to end welfare as we know it. Mr. President, the imperative for welfare reform is manifest. The American taxpayers have spent more than $5.4 trillion since President Johnson declared a war on poverty. But after spending this massive sum, we are no closer to having a Great Society than if we had done nothing. In fact, the poverty rate in America has actually increased over the past 28 years. The reason for this is simple: Welfare has become a way of life. The modern welfare State is rife with financial incentives for mothers to remain unmarried. Eighty percent of children in many low- income communities in America are born in homes without a father. It is virtually impossible for a young unwed mother with no work skills to escape the welfare trap as we know it today. This has done nothing to stop the ravaging of our cities and the skyrocketing of violent crime. People have become dependent on welfare because it completely destroys the need to work and the natural incentive to become self- sufficient. For more than 30 years the message of the welfare state is that the Government will take care of you. It is a punitive form of assistance. It punishes those who want to work and want to succeed. It punishes those mothers who want to get married and have a husband to help raise the children. Where is the compassion in this present welfare program? It is not there. Only the beltway establishment would dare suggest that providing monthly benefits is more compassionate than fostering the natural inclination in every human being to reach your full potential. However, with the enactment of this bill, Congress will require welfare recipients to work in exchange for benefits for the first time. By imposing a 5-year lifetime limit on welfare benefits, the message of the reformed welfare state is that we will provide temporary assistance to help during hardship as you return to self-sufficiency. The bill we vote on today begins to repair a very badly broken welfare state in other ways. It puts healthy incentives in our welfare system. The generous package of welfare benefits available in America is a magnet for literally hundreds of thousands of legal and illegal immigrants. I do not believe this is just, and this bill properly denies welfare to noncitizens. Also, the Government will no longer tell young women, ``If you have children you are not able to support and you are willing to raise them without a father the Government will reward you and pick up the tab.'' That is the wrong message. This legislation allows States to end additional cash payments to unwed mothers who have additional children while collecting welfare. The bill also permits States to deny cash to unwed teenage mothers and instead provide them with other forms of assistance. It is good for children to see both their parents in the morning, and this bill provides the mechanisms that will make this the norm, not the exception. This legislation represents real welfare reform. The monster that was created over the last 30 years will not change overnight, but we take a significant step today. This bill ensures that welfare finally will benefit, not harm, its beneficiaries. I urge all my colleagues to adopt this landmark legislation. Mrs. FEINSTEIN addressed the Chair.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, would the chairman yield for a question?

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I understand the committee has included $6 million in the transportation appropriations bill for the development of vessel traffic service systems or VTS systems by the Coast Guard. I wanted to briefly ask the chairman whether it is the intent of the committee's report language that the Coast Guard undertake a review of this system, including the costs associated with implementing the program, before proceeding with their plans to install these systems in various ports around the country, including Mobile, AL. The GAO report that the committee refers to in its report identified serious underestimations of the cost of the VTS 2000 program. I continue to have serious reservations about this system and the Coast Guard's current plan for its implementation and use. It would appear that the GAO has raised many important issues that need to be resolved before the Coast Guard proceeds in the implementation of this program. It is the intent of the committee that such a review take place by the Coast Guard before it proceeds with the VTS program?

Mr. SHELBY. I appreciate the chairman's assurances on this matter.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, this is the same amendment which was adopted by the Senate on a vote of 93 to 5 on the welfare reform bill last year. It provides a $5,000 tax break for adoption expenses, and it will allow thousands of children to find a home in America. The amendment is offset with savings in the underlying bill. There is no guarantee that the adoption legislation reported by the Finance Committee will be considered at all this year. This may be our last chance to pass this legislation which has overwhelming bipartisan support. Again, Mr. President, 93 Senators in this Chamber voted for this exact amendment last fall under almost identical circumstances. If we do not adopt this adoption tax credit now, we might lose our chance this year. I ask we waive the Budget Act and adopt this amendment. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator D'Amato be added as a cosponsor.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, first of all, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Abraham be added as a cosponsor.

Mr. SHELBY. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. mandatory appropriation for the social security administration

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I move to waive any provisions of the Budget Act which might impinge upon my amendment, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

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

Mr. SHELBY. The Senator from Delaware talked about refundables. Why do we have in our bill a refundable tax credit? Basically, because many low-income people in America want to adopt a child and would not have the $5,000 tax liability, and thus would not benefit as much from the Finance Committee proposal. The adoption community supports our version. I hope the Senate will continue to support it. I yield back the remaining time, if the Senator from Delaware will yield back his time.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. SHELBY. Certainly.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I rise today to offer an amendment on behalf of myself, Senators Craig, Grams, Coats, and Helms. The amendment will help provide, Mr. President, homes for thousands of children who are waiting to be adopted in this country. This amendment is the same amendment which was agreed to by a vote of 93 to 5 right here in the Senate during its consideration of welfare reform this past fall. Mr. President, this strong bipartisan vote shows that the Senate is committed--committed--to making adoption more affordable for working families in America. Mr. President, regardless of what kind of welfare reform we pass in this Chamber, the grim reality is that the out-of-wedlock birthrate in this country is projected to reach 50 percent very soon after the turn of the century, which is only a few years away. Mr. President, we are not far from having one out of every two children born in this country born into a home where there is no father. That is a profound change in our culture which will have enormous consequences for American society as we have known it. One of these consequences, no doubt, will be an increase in the number of children neglected and, yes, abandoned. It is therefore more important than ever--more important than ever--for us to help find ways to provide for these children. Mr. President, study after study shows and common sense tells us that a child is much better off being adopted by a stable, two-parent family than being shipped around from foster homes to State agencies, and back again. There are currently hundreds of thousands of children in America waiting to be adopted. But the current financial burden prevents many parents from doing so. Many people do not realize how expensive it is to adopt a child. There are many fees and costs involved with adopting a child, including maternity home care, normal prenatal and hospital care for the mother and the child, preadoption foster care for an infant, ``home study'' fees and, yes, legal fees. These costs range anywhere from about $13,000 to $36,000 according to the National Council for Adoption. Mr. President, I know of many families in my State, and perhaps your State, that would love to adopt a child into their family but simply do not have $13,000, much less $36,000 to do so. As a result of this enormous cost, children are denied homes, and parents are denied children. Mr. President, the amendment I am offering today will help make adoption financially possible for many children and families. It provides a $5,000 fully refundable tax credit for adoption expenses. It also provides that when an employer pays for adoption expenses incurred by an employee, the employee does not have to count that assistance as income for taxable purposes. Finally, Mr. President, this amendment provides that withdrawals from an IRA can be made penalty free and excluded from income if used for qualified adoption expenses. These measures are a first step in tearing down the massive financial barriers to adoption in this country. Mr. President, I believe the question before us today is not if the number of abandoned children is going to increase over the next few years; no one disputes that. We know the answer to that. The real question for us to answer is, what are we going to do about it? This amendment would be a big first start in America. I yield the floor.

Mr. SHELBY. I yield back my time.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Madam President, I rise tonight to join my friend from Missouri, Senator Ashcroft, in offering this amendment, which would require the States to sanction individuals testing positive for drug use. This amendment would go a long way in restoring integrity into our system of public assistance. Madam President, I trust there is not one Senator in this Chamber who would stand here and argue that taxpayers should be forced to subsidize the drug habits of other individuals. Yet, if the Federal Government continues to send cash payments to individuals using drugs, that is exactly what is happening. Not only is that directly contrary to the intent of the AFDC program, and others, and a complete waste of the taxpayers' money, but it is also very harmful to the parents using drugs and the children living in that environment. Subsidizing the parents' drug habits will, in the end, destroy their chances for ever becoming self-sufficient. They will remain trapped on welfare longer and will require substantial rehabilitation. However, Madam President, think of what we are doing to the children living in that environment. Giving cash to parents using drugs is one of the cruelest forms of Federal child abuse I can think of. By cutting off or limiting public assistance to those buying drugs, we are limiting their ability to buy the drugs. That will improve not only their lives, but the lives of their children. Madam President, I believe the amendment offered by the distinguished Senator from Missouri will restore a great deal to our welfare system. I hope my colleagues will support it. I yield the floor.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, historically the White House Communications Agency, commonly referred to as WHCA, has provided telecommunications support for the President in his role as Commander in Chief. WHCA, as part of its mission, has provided radio communications, telephone, and other telecommunications resources to the Secret Service under the authority of the Presidential Protection Assistance Act of 1976. This act states that the assistance is provided to the Secret Service without reimbursement provided that the assistance is on a ``temporary basis''.

Mr. SHELBY. To my knowledge, these agencies did not request such a change. The system which existed for 15 years was fine. Certainly, if required to proceed with this reimbursement procedure they will comply. The support services are essential. Once again, however, if it isn't broke, don't fix it.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I understand that the House has included language in their bill regarding this issue. I would hope that we can examine this issue closely in conference to ensure that the most efficient and cost-effective procedure to address this issue will be implemented.