Ted Stevens

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask the Parliamentarian to look at all of the amendments and see which of them are subject to rule XVI. I intend to raise rule XVI against any amendment I can raise it against.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I will leave on the desk a list of the amendments that have been found to violate rule XVI. May I make a further parliamentary inquiry. Under the new rule XVI, the Parliamentarian's rule cannot be waived; is that correct?

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, may I inquire. I asked the Parliamentarian for a list of those amendments that violated rule XVI that have been offered by various tenders. May I inquire, when will it be in order for me to make my points of order against those amendments that violate rule XVI?

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I make a point of order that this amendment violates the Budget Act in that it exceeds the 302(b) allocations of the subcommittee.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, the Energy & Water Appropriations Conference Report for Fiscal Year 2000 passed the Senate by an overwhelming vote of 96-3 yesterday. I thank my friend and colleague, the senior Senator from new Mexico and chairman of the subcommittee, for his excellent work in negotiating this bill and bringing back a very strong conference report. I'd also like to commend our extraordinarily talented and creative staff, Alex Flint, David Gwaltney, and Lashawnda Leftwich without whom we could no have finished this bill. There are three programs I would like to highlight. First, the conferees have provided $98.7 million for biomass research. Last week, the Subcommittee held a hearing on biomass and heard testimony about a proposal by Sealaska Corporation to produce ethanol using surplus wood. I urge the Secretary to take a careful look at this project and support it within the funds provided. Second, with respect to the wind program, the conferees funded it at $31.2 million, an increase over the House level. Over the past few years, the Department has supported the Kozebue wind demonstration project, the only wind generation system in my state. According to the National Weather Service, the windiest cities in the country are in Alaska. If the Kotzebue project proves to be cost efficient, wind may become a major source of electrical power in my state where electric rates are as much as ten times the rate in the lower 48: 55 cents per kilowatt hour in Alaska versus 5 cents per kilowatt hour in states like Idaho. I urge the Department to continue its support of the Kotzebue wind project. Lastly, the managers agreed to language urging the Department of Energy to evaluate nuclear medicine technology known as Positron Emission Technology or PET. I am pleased that the conference report includes strong language directing the Department of Energy to report back to the committee on what steps it can take to give immediate support to a new laboratory at the University of California--Los Angeles which will develop pioneering new molecular-based treatments for disease. These new treatments will use genetically engineered mouse models of several human diseases and track progress with a miniaturized version of positron emission tomography (PET) called Micropet. While scientists and clinicians have been able to diagnose and stage human illnesses, including most types of cancer and other diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimers' using pet imaging, the UCLA research promises to expand the examination of the biologic basis of disease into new treatment of the molecular disorders that scientists now believe are the cause of disease. I understand that the new laboratory at UCLA will need at least $2 million in Federal funds during fiscal year 2000 from the other office at the Department of Energy, and I hope that the Department will make every effort to provide the needed funds to bring this critical project on line at the earliest time it can.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I have been in conference this morning on other matters, but I did hear the distinguished Senator from Washington, Mrs. Murray, discuss the situation in Alaska and particularly Anchorage. Anchorage did receive $1.8 million last year and reduced class size from 22 to 18. The Senator from Washington indicated if her amendment is not adopted that the Anchorage School District would lay off those new teachers. I asked my staff to get in touch with the school district. I have to point out it is 4 hours earlier in Alaska, and we had to wait a little while. I have come now to report the conversations that have taken place with the Anchorage and Alaska entities that would receive moneys under this bill. I want to make it very plain that the Alaska position is, we want no strings on these block grants. We contacted the Anchorage School District superintendent, for instance, Bob Christal. He told my staff to tell me, without any question, they prefer this block grant money without any strings. But he said if Anchorage did receive the block grant, they would use the money to keep the teachers who were hired and for other purposes. We also contacted the Deputy Commissioner of Education, Bruce Johnson. He said the Alaska Department of Education encourages the greatest amount of flexibility for small districts. There is no question that Alaska wants flexibility in this money. He also indicated there has been no contact with him about this prior to our call this morning. The superintendent of the Fairbanks School District, Alaska's second largest city, Stewart Weinberg, said he much prefers the flexibility of a block grant. He would like to use a portion of the money that would be received for staff development by hiring mentor teachers to help other new teachers. There is no question that is the Alaska situation. I know of schools in our State where the school population is going down so far that they are in the situation of maybe having to close schools. We are not talking about an across-the-board concept of money to reduce class size. We want money that can be used to meet the needs of the particular school district. In some school districts, because of the very unfortunate circumstance of fetal alcohol syndrome, fetal alcohol effect in Alaska, we need teachers' assistants. There ought to be flexibility to use this money so it can meet the needs of the particular school district. I want to make it very plain in voting, and I intend to vote on the Murray amendment, I will vote to support the position of the educators in Alaska who want this money without strings attached. They want to meet the needs of their districts and they do not want the Federal Government dictating how the money must be spent. I yield the floor.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on the conference report.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. STEVENS. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Vote on S. Res. 187

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent those amendments be agreed to en bloc.

Mr. STEVENS. I am sure Senator Mikulski and Senator Bond appreciate those kind words from the Senator from West Virginia as much as I do. I do thank the Senator for his cooperation and willingness to work with me as chairman of this committee. It is a distinct honor to follow him as chairman. We should mention, on our side, the help of Paul Carliner, Jeannine Schroeder, and Sean Smith, who worked with Senator Mikulski. This has been a very fine working team. Senator Bond, Senator Mikulski, and the team of both the majority and minority have worked very hard to meet the needs of the agencies and the American people under this bill, under some very difficult circumstances in regard to ceilings and limits under which they had to live. I, again, emphasize the Budget Committee has filed a statement saying this bill is within the budget.

Mr. STEVENS. I yield the floor.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, these items have been cleared on both sides and are not controversial and include the following items: An amendment on behalf of Senator Feinstein requiring EPA to form a study and plan related to leaking underground storage tanks; A Smith amendment extending the comment period by 90 days for the EPA proposed rulemaking related to total maximum daily loads; A Breaux amendment extending for 1 year the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act, otherwise known as the Breaux Act; A Chafee amendment with numerous cosponsors funding the Montreal Protocol Fund within EPA's budget, through an across-the-board cut to EPA accounts; A Gramm of Texas amendment relating to the funding of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight; A Dodd-Bennett amendment related to funding of local governments for Y2K conversion costs; A Bond-Lautenberg technical correction to section 430; A Bond amendment addressing HUD staffing levels; A Hutchison amendment on storm water studies; A Coverdell amendment regarding housing for private school teachers; Finally, an amendment dealing with EPA pesticide tolerance fees, included on behalf of Senator Craig, which has been cleared by the Agriculture Committee on both sides.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I see the distinguished Senator from West Virginia. Does he seek the floor?

Mr. STEVENS. On behalf of Senator Bond and Senator Mikulski, I send a package of amendments to the desk and ask for their immediate consideration en bloc.

Mr. STEVENS. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. STEVENS. On behalf of the leader, I ask unanimous consent the pending amendment be withdrawn and the text of amendment No. 1790 be submitted at the desk in the form of a Senate resolution and placed on the calendar. I further ask unanimous consent that Senator Lott be recognized to offer a similar sense-of-the-Senate resolution and it be placed on the calendar. I further ask unanimous consent that at 3:30 p.m. on Monday the Senate resume both resolutions concurrently, there be 1 hour of debate on each resolution to be equally divided between the two leaders, and a vote occur on or in relation to the Lott resolution at 5:30, to be followed immediately thereafter by a vote on or in relation to the Daschle resolution, and that all of the previous occur without any intervening action.

Mr. STEVENS. I do believe it is important that we emphasize the critical nature of this research. It is critical not only to the present but to the future of aviation, and not just commercial aviation but general aviation in many ways. With the support of the Senator from Maryland, on behalf of Senator Bond, I am happy to accept this amendment, and I ask it be agreed to.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Virginia. Senator Robb is correct; we have a great interest in this amendment. I have had some personal conversations with the Administrator of NASA, Dan Goldin, about this very subject. I am delighted that the two Senators from Virginia have brought it to the floor.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, it is my understanding that the two Senators from Virginia have an issue they would like to raise. Then I would like to, on behalf of Senator Bond, with Senator Mikulski, proceed with a managers' amendment. First, we would like to hear from the Senator from Virginia.

Mr. STEVENS. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. STEVENS. I ask unanimous consent the Senate insist on its amendment, request a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses thereon, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, the Immigration Subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary requests unanimous consent to conduct a markup on Friday, September 24, 1999, beginning at 9:30 a.m. in Dirksen room 226.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. I now ask unanimous consent H.R. 1402 be placed on the calendar. That is the class 1 milk structure bill.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein up to 10 minutes each.