Richard Shelby

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, no one disagrees that the current welfare system is in shambles. Since the beginning of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty, government, at all levels, has spent more than $5.4 trillion on welfare programs in America. To understand the magnitude of $5.4 trillion, consider what could be bought for it. For $5.4 trillion, one could purchase every factory, all the manufacturing equipment, and every office building in the United States. With the leftover funds, one could go on to buy every airline, every railroad, every trucking firm, the entire commercial maritime fleet, every telephone, television, and radio company, every power company, every hotel, and every retail and wholesale store in the entire Nation. While many Americans may not know the exact dollar amount of the War on Poverty, there is a public understanding that more and more taxdollars are coming to Washington and being funnelled into programs that are having little effect. Despite a $5.4 trillion transfer of resources, the poverty rate has actually increased over the past 28 years. During this same period, the out of wedlock birthrate skyrocketed from 7 to 32 percent, and currently one in seven children in America is raised on welfare. Moreover, this massive spending has done nothing to alleviate drug use, child abuse or violent crime--all of which have sharply increased during this period. In short, our current welfare system has failed miserably. It has exacerbated the very problems it was created to solve, and it should be dramatically overhauled now. The first priority of reform should be to change the incentives in the current system which undermine the traditional family structure. Today, the Government pays individuals, including teenagers, up to $15,000 per year in cash and in-kind benefits on the condition that they have a child out of wedlock, do not work and do not marry an employed male. That is a cruel system, since we know that work and marriage are two of the most promising avenues out of poverty. We should not be surprised that years after this policy was instituted, the out of wedlock birthrate has reached 80 percent in many low-income communities. That means that 8 out of 10 children born in many neighborhoods in America do not know what it means to have a father. The results of this condition are devastating, not only to the children, but to the parents, and to society as a whole. I believe the time has come that Congress should end the practice of mailing checks to teenagers who have children out of wedlock. Teenagers themselves are still children, and to simply mail them a check and forget about them is a cruel form of so-called assistance. I know of no private charity which assists people in this manner. We should continue to provide for these young mothers and their children, through adoption assistance, vouchers for child care supplies, food and nutrition assistance, and health care assistance. But, this Nation should no longer dole out cash to unwed teenage recipients. Several amendments will be offered during the course of the debate on welfare reform to accomplish this, and I intend to support them. The second priority of reform is to reinstill the value of work into our welfare system. No civilization can successfully sustain itself over a long period of time by paying a large segment of its population to remain idle. The current system discourages work, because nothing is required from those who receive assistance, and in many instances, welfare pays better than a normal job. I support the efforts of the chairman of the Finance Committee to change that by requiring welfare recipients to work in exchange for their benefits. Under this legislation, welfare will no longer be free. Taxpayers have to work hard everyday, and those receiving public assistance should do the same. Finally, true welfare reform means saving money. In the past, welfare reform has meant digging a little deeper into the taxpayers' pockets for more money to transfer into ineffective Federal programs. Federal, State, and local governments spent $324 billion on more than 80 different welfare programs in 1993--that is an average of $3,357 from each household that paid Federal income tax in 1993. We must reject the idea that somehow, $324 billion is not enough. Real welfare reform should result in fewer people needing welfare and generate savings to be returned to the taxpayers. The Work Opportunity Act will save more than $60 billion over the next 5 years by returning control over welfare programs to State and local officials with a fixed dollar amount from Washington. This will give State and local officials the ability to improve their services to poor people without waiting on the dilatory approval of Washington bureaucrats. The American people have demanded welfare reform not because they are stingy or spiteful toward the poor and needy. Rather, they have demanded reform because they have seen a system which has destroyed the hope and dreams of millions of Americans by trapping them in cycles of dependency and encouraging self-defeating behavior. Welfare has been fertile soil for child abuse, neglect, homelessness, and crime. By strengthening the traditional family, requiring work in exchange for benefits, and bringing financial discipline to our current welfare system, we can change welfare from a system of hopelessness to one of hope, from a system of dependency to one of responsibility. We owe it to welfare recipients, their children, and society, to do no less. Ms. MIKULSKI addressed the Chair.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the enrolling clerk be authorized to insert the Nickles amendment No. 2153 at the appropriate place in the bill.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I also ask unanimous consent that the committee amendments to H.R. 2020 be considered and agreed to en bloc.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that no points of order be waived thereon and that the measure, as amended, be considered as original text for the purpose of further amendment.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I send a group of amendments which have been cleared to the desk. Mr. President, these amendments are as follows: An amendment on behalf of myself and Senator Kerrey to increase the limitation of funds the Secret Service can spend to secure nongovernmental properties; an amendment on behalf of Senator Stevens pertaining to mail delivery in Alaska; an amendment on behalf of Senators D'Amato and Moynihan transferring a forfeited aircraft to a war museum; an amendment on behalf of Senators Ford and McConnell prohibiting implementation of an ATF ruling on citrus contents in alcohol; an amendment on behalf of Senator Pryor striking the committee amendment on page 15, line 5 through line 9; an amendment on behalf of Senators Simpson and Craig restricting IRS funds to certain tax-exempt organizations; an amendment for myself and Senator Kerrey allowing for the Department of Treasury to reimburse the District of Columbia for costs incurred as a result of the closure of Pennsylvania Avenue. Further, an amendment on behalf of Senator Coverdell providing $5 million for payments to States to partially cover costs of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993; an amendment on behalf of Senator Bingaman prohibiting the sale of tobacco products in vending machines in Federal buildings; a sense-of-the-Senate amendment on behalf of Senator Brown on GSA supply depots; two amendments on behalf of Senator Kerrey and myself on an IRS commission and on a Secret Service protection matter; an amendment on behalf of Senator Hutchison on border stations; an amendment on behalf of Senator Bingaman requiring energy costs in Federal facilities; a sense of the Senate on behalf of Senator Brown regarding an airport issue in Colorado; an amendment on behalf of Senators Hatch and Biden restoring--I have a modification on the Hatch-Biden amendment--funds to ONDCP; an amendment on behalf of Senator Brown regarding SES leave; an amendment on behalf of Senator Lautenberg regarding transfer of a building in Hoboken, NJ; an amendment on behalf of Senator Grassley restoring funding for ACUS; an amendment on behalf of Senator Mikulski regarding pay for Uniformed Service officers.

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

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, this amendment makes a technical correction to the 1995 Law Enforcement Availability Pay Act. The Pay Act, which was included as a separate section in the Fiscal Year 1995 Treasury Appropriations Act, commonly referred to as LEAP, contained a provision which amended section 5542 of title 5. This provision requires that the first 2 hours of scheduled overtime work by criminal investigators be calculated against availability pay hours, authorized under the act. The issue relating to the calculation of work hours for scheduled overtime compensation has been an issue of contention for certain agencies and criminal investigators alike. The current section, as written, is overly restrictive and inflexible and, thus, increases the potential for litigation. The provision, as stated in a letter received from the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, is unfair and does not adequately reflect the intent of Congress. The author of this legislation, Senator Dennis DeConcini, attempted to clarify congressional intent in a December 1994 floor statement. Despite this clarification by the amendment's sponsor, personnel regulations have gone unchanged. Flexibility is needed for the unusual circumstances surrounding Secret Service specific physical security assignments which will become extraordinarily demanding during the upcoming Presidential campagin and the United Nations General Assembly's 50th anniversary. In light of these upcoming demands it is imperative that flexibility to agency management and fairness to the agents be provided, as was originally intended by Congress. This amendment only applies to the unique circumstances surrounding Secret Service physical protection activities. The Pay Act, resulted in over $40 million in savings in fiscal year 1995 to Federal law enforcement agencies. It also prevented hundreds of millions of dollars from being spent on litigation by the Federal Government. It was endorsed by Federal law enforcement agencies, the Office of Management and Budget, and respected law enforcement associations. In order to ensure that this legislation does what it was intended to do, I urge the adoption of the amendment. amendment no. 2243 Mr. SHELBY offered an amendment (No. 2243) for Mrs. Hutchison. (Purpose: To require the Administrator of the General Services Administration to report to Congress on border station leasing arrangements) ``SEC. --. REPORT ON FEASIBILITY OF LEASING OF BORDER

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendments be considered and agreed to en bloc.

Mr. SHELBY. While I appreciate the concerns of the Senator from Illinois, I think the move to privatization is a good one. The administration and the subcommittee have carefully reviewed the privatization issue. In February, OPM conducted a feasibility study and recently contracted out with another firm to present a business plan. That plan should address the steps OMP will take to ensure continued oversight of this important function. However, my colleague from Illinois has raised several important points that I believe should be addressed. I will work to include language in the conference report that would require the GAO to study the questions raised by Senator Simon, including the potential impact on the quality of investigations, privacy issues, and national security concerns. I believe that before OPM moves to privatization, Congress should have the opportunity to review both the OPM and GAO reports on these issues.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a vote occur on or in relation to the Nickles amendment No. 2153 at 2:30 p.m. today, and that the time between now and the vote be equally divided in the usual form, and that no amendments be in order during the pendency of the Nickles amendment.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, we have conferred with the Senator from Wisconsin and the ranking Democrat, Senator Kerrey. We accept the amendment.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, Senator Kerrey and I have conferred with Senator Kempthorne, Senator Glenn, and others, and we are willing to accept the amendment.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, Senator Kerrey, the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, and I have agreed to take this amendment.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate insist on its amendments to H.R. 2020, request a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses, and that the Chair be authorized to appoint the conferees on the part of the Senate.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, Senator Kerrey and I have reviewed the amendment and statement by Senator D'Amato. We will agree to the amendment.

Mr. SHELBY. I look forward to working with the Senator on this matter. I know how important efficient postal service is to rural communities.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. I wonder if the majority leader could get with the Democratic leader and some of the main participants and see if we can come up with a time agreement because we basically know how we are going to vote on this issue, as the Senator from Oklahoma said. But if we can have a time agreement on several amendments, we could move this bill this afternoon.

Mr. SHELBY. That is right.

Mr. SHELBY. Yes.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, today, along with my distinguished ranking member, Senator Kerrey, we are bringing to the Senate the Senate Appropriations Committee recommendation on fiscal year 1996 appropriations for the Department of the Treasury, U.S. Postal Service, the Executive Office of the President, and certain independent agencies. Mr. President, the bill we are presenting today contains total funding of $23,134,570,000. This bill is $367,859,000 below the appropriations provided in fiscal year 1995. It is $42,716,000 below the House-passed bill and $1.775 billion below the President's request. Of the totals in this bill, we are recommending $11,262,500,000 for new discretionary spending. The balance, $11,889,400,000 is for mandatory programs over which this committee has no control. The $11,262,500,000 the committee proposes for domestic discretionary programs is $1.8 billion below the President's request. Let me repeat that, Mr. President. This bill is $1.8 billion below the President's fiscal year 1996 request. Reaching this level has not been an easy task. We have had to make some very difficult decisions, while trying to ensure that funds are made available to carry out essential governmental functions. Mr. President, this bill includes $10,466,900,000 for the Department of the Treasury. The Treasury Department has varied responsibilities, the bulk of which are directed to the revenues and expenditures of this Government and law enforcement functions. This bill includes $121,908,000 for payment to the Postal Service fund for free mail for the blind, overseas voting, and payment to the Department of Labor for disability costs incurred by the old Post Office Department. The President receives $149,915,000 to exercise the duties and responsibilities of the Executive Office of the President. This bill also includes $573,872,000 for construction of new courthouses and Federal facilities. This funding provides the General Services Administration the ability to let construction contracts for buildings which construction can begin in fiscal year 1996. There is no funding, Mr. President, for projects where no construction can be accomplished in 1996. There is $11.8 billion in mandatory payments through the Office of Personnel Management for annuitant and employee health disability and retirement, and life insurance benefits. There is $390 million for other independent agencies. Mr. President, this bill also proposes to terminate the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, the Administrative Conference of the United States, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy. There have been many who have said that these organizations should be funded and continued. Mr. President, as you well know, these are difficult times--times in which we are being asked to make very tough, very difficult decisions. I am sure we will have the opportunity to discuss these proposals later on during the deliberations on the bill. Mr. President, this subcommittee continues to be a strong supporter of law enforcement. We have done what we can to ensure that the law enforcement agencies funded in this bill have the resources to do the job that we ask them to do. There has been considerable discussion since this bill was reported from the subcommittee about the level of funding for the Internal Revenue Service. This level of discussion has been second only to that concerning the decision of the committee to terminate the drug czar's office. I would like to take a few moments to describe how we arrived at the funding level for the IRS. This bill includes $7,307,208,000 for the Internal Revenue Service. This total is $803 million below the President's request and $202 million below fiscal year 1995. There are those, including the President, who have said that you have to fund the IRS at the requested level to ensure that tax systems modernization continues and that funds owed to the Government are collected. Mr. President, this morning, let me be perfectly clear on this. Based on the subcommittee's budget allocation, we have no other options. Many may disagree with the choices we have made, but we are working with limited resources. Funding for the IRS makes up 65 percent, Mr. President, of the discretionary spending in this bill. It is obvious if cuts are made, the IRS will have to have a significant percentage of the cuts. The budget resolution narrative describes the commitment to tax systems modernization and the collection initiative begun last year. But the crosswalk provided by the Budget Committee on which the committee's allocation was determined does not match this language. Mr. President, as I have indicated, this bill makes a number of people, including the President of the United States, possibly very uncomfortable. It is, however, the result of long, hard hours of work on the part of members and staff of this committee. I want to thank all of them for that effort. I believe it is workable and should be enacted. I yield to Senator Kerrey, the subcommittee's ranking member.

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

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that John Libonoti, a legislative fellow with the subcommittee, and Paul Irving, a fellow with Senator Mikulski's office be granted floor privileges during deliberations on H.R. 2020, the Treasury, Postal Service, and general Government appropriations bill.

Mr. SHELBY

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, the Army's Space and Strategic Defense Command has created a promising concept for the integration of the pillars of missile defense. Currently, there are no integrated warfighting scenario simulations available for a comprehensive integration of active defense, passive defense, attack operations and battlefield management. SSDC proposes to make fully operational a battlefield integration center to provide this virtually needed service. Certainly, the gulf war demonstrated that missile defense is not simply missile intercept. Instead, comprehensive missile defense involves a myriad of activities ranging from the preparation of civilian populations for attack to the active suppression of an enemy's missile capabilities. Without coordination between these elements, we cannot maximize our missile defense capabilities. Increased coordination and integrated battlefield simulations will allow us to fully utilize these capabilities and create far more effective and comprehensive missile defense plans. In addition, the integration and coordination offered by the BIC is not a distant technology. The computing and communications hardware is already in place that will allow the BIC to create missile defense plans for actual theater and regional conflicts involving U.S. forces. The BIC will instantaneously allow U.S. commanders to download and receive comprehensive missile defense battle plans based upon the existing ground conditions. The BIC is a cost-effective, immediately available resource that will fill a large void in our missile defense system and I thank the Senate for its support.

Mr. SHELBY

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