Ted Stevens

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I understand that H.R. 975 was received from the House and is at the desk.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I now ask that the bill be read for the second time, and I object to my own request.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until 9:45 a.m. on Friday, March 19. I further ask consent that on Friday, immediately following the prayer, the Journal of the proceedings be approved to date and the morning hour be deemed to have expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved, and the Senate then resume consideration of this bill, the supplemental appropriations bill.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, tomorrow morning the Senate will resume the supplemental appropriations bill. At 9:45, I intend to call up an amendment on the list related to ethical standards. All Members should be on notice that a rollcall vote will occur on or in relation to that amendment shortly after the Senate convenes at 9:45. The vote should begin as early as 9:50 or 9:55 Friday morning. Any Member who intends to offer additional amendments should be prepared to remain on Friday in order to offer those amendments. In addition, it is expected that on Monday the Senate will debate the Kosovo issue beginning at approximately noon and will resume the supplemental appropriations bill sometime late that afternoon. However, no rollcall votes will occur during Monday's session.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I move that the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate with respect to H.R. 800, the Ed-Flex legislation.

Mr. STEVENS

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that that matter be set aside and that the Senator from Arkansas be recognized for up to 15 minutes as in morning business.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the matter of the order governing the amendment of the Senator from Texas be set aside so that I may offer an amendment.

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

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, this is an amendment that deals with the provision in the bill that was reported from the committee that deferred spending from the temporary assistance to needy families account. This will defer, instead, monies from the section 8 fund of HUD. There is approximately $1.2 billion in that account. This will defer for 1 year the use of $350 million in that account. It replaces the TANF amendment in the bill. Under that amendment, we deferred until 2001 the availability of funds which are transferred to the States. Because of the misunderstanding about that fund, I want to explain why we use that fund in the first place. I am once again alarmed over the misinformation that has been spread by some people in that entity, that agency, to try and make it look like somehow or other we took monies away from States or any specific State. In the first place, these grant awards are made quarterly. Actual cash outlays are made, but they are not transferred to the States until the States make expenditures in their TANF programs, the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. In other words, the States first make the payments, and we pay it back. Some people, in the House in particular, have said this a way that the States can use this money for a piggy bank. In no way can they take this money and put it into another bank account and draw interest on it if they comply with the law. That is one report I have heard--that we are preventing States from taking the money to put it into their own accounts. We checked and we found that there was between $3 billion and $3.5 billion at the close of fiscal year 1998 in this fund. There are two quarters that have not even been distributed yet of this fiscal year 1999. And it is clear that the States have spent some money, and there is plenty of money to meet the States' expenditures and their requests for reimbursement of those expenditures. But this is not a fund that the States can come to willy-nilly and transfer the funds to their accounts. Secondly, Mr. President, we deferred this money from obligation in this fiscal year--really until 2001, October 1, 2001. The States would not--the bill that was reported from the committee-- lose any of their funds. We, pursuant to the entitlement that was authorized, agreed that Federal funds, taxpayers' funds, in the amount of $16.5 billion, from 1997 through 2002, would be placed in this account, to be available to reimburse States for the expenditures they made for Assistance to Needy Families. Nothing in what the Appropriations Committee did harmed that program at all. But because by October 1 another $16.5 billion would have been added to $3 billion to $3.5 billion in that account--and there has never been a drawdown at the rate that would make those funds needed within that period of time. This is not a rainy day fund. We have been told that some people have said that States take these monies and put them in a rainy day fund to use at a later date. But the law says they can only get them to reimburse expenditures. If the administration is allowing this fund to be used as a rainy day account or a piggy bank account, it is wrong. We have had so many calls from so many States, including my own. And I see the Senator from New York is here, and I know that they have been besieged because of their population base. Of course, they are eligible for more money from this account, more than anyone other than California. But it depends on how much they spend before they can get it back. We made the decision to offset this bill. This is the first time we have offset totally a supplemental emergency bill. I have said to our committee, we ought to offset emergency funds with prior appropriated emergency funds and nonemergency funds with nonemergency prior appropriated funds. I think we are going to have a little discussion about that here on the floor. But clearly what we have done, Mr. President, is we have used this bill to reprogram prior appropriated funds. These funds that were appropriated to the TANF account are sitting there waiting for the States to spend money and then come and ask for it to be repaid. The process is so rapid that the administration has not paid the first two quarters of this year yet. So this is not something we have interfered with by deferring money until the second fiscal year. Because, as I said, this account would get $16.5 billion credited to it on October 1. What we have done is, in order to avoid this controversy--and we do not need a controversy on this bill. We need to get it done. This bill, in my opinion, is a very important bill. It will provide money for assistance because of a great natural disaster in a neighboring country in this hemisphere. The President asked us to declare that an emergency. We have taken the declaration of emergency through as far as the outlay categories are concerned, because it is very difficult to score under the budget process outlays that come from emergency accounts. We have not taken an emergency declaration through on those things that we believe are nonemergency in terms of the authorization process. So by that I mean, I fail to understand how we should extend the concept of emergency appropriations to natural disasters off our shores. We should be able to find the money, if we want to be good humanitarian members of this hemisphere, to assist our neighbors. I believe we should assist them. But I do not believe we should use the laws that were intended to demand taxpayers' funds immediately to meet natural disasters or declared emergencies by the President of the United States within the boundaries of our United States. So Mr. President, I offer this amendment in the spirit of compromise, to try and take away this battle that I saw coming over the use of TANF funds. No one supports the concepts of this Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. We all know it replaced the old Aid to Families with Dependent Children, the AFDC program, that assisted so many States, including mine for so many years. But this now is a block grant program that works in conjunction with the welfare-to-work concepts, and that is very vital for the States. We know that. And I think the fear that was engendered in those States that somehow or other we might not keep the commitment that was made, that if they make those expenditures we would repay them according to the formula under the law that was passed in 1996, the Welfare Reform Act, is unfortunate and wrong. I hope that someone in the administration is listening. One of these days I will find some way to tweak the nose of the people who keep doing this, because they did it in the terms of border guards last week, and now they are doing it in terms of the States themselves in terms of the comments that have been made that somehow or other we were taking money that the States were entitled to; we were deferring money that they were entitled to, which they would never get under the process of the law anyway until the time we deferred the expenditures. As a matter of fact, some people on this side of the aisle have argued with me to say this is not a full offset because I know that I am offsetting the expenditures under this bill against a fund that would never be expended this year. That is partially true. That is why we have declared an emergency, as far as the outlays, and we have admitted that, and we have said that is the only way we can do it. But we need to do it. I hope, in particular, my new friend from New York will understand that we are doing this to meet his objections and others, and we do so in the spirit of compromise. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. SCHUMER addressed the Chair.

Mr. STEVENS. I thank the Chair. THE PRESIDING OFFICER. If there be no further debate, the question is on agreeing to the motion. The motion to lay on the table the amendment (No. 92) was agreed to.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I am going to ask for adoption of the amendment but I will not move to reconsider because there may be some who want to discuss this, too. I will make a motion to reconsider this later today. May I reserve the right to make that later today?

Mr. STEVENS. I shall make it this afternoon, and I ask for the adoption of the amendment.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the amendment now be laid aside and no call for regular order, except one made by myself or the mover of the amendment, the Senator from Texas, serve to bring back the pending amendment.

Mr. STEVENS. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. STEVENS. Yes. The Senator will see we are going to voice vote it and it will carry.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I have a package of amendments that have been cleared and I would like to say for the record what they are. They are: An amendment by Senator McCain to extend the Aviation Insurance Program through May 31, 1999. An amendment by Senator Grassley providing $1.4 million to expedite adjudication of civil monetary penalties by the Health and Human Services Appeal Board. It also provides for an offset for that amount of $1.4 million. We have Senator Shelby's amendment which makes a technical correction to title IV. We have an amendment by Senator Byrd making a technical correction to the Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee Program in the bill. An amendment by Senator Frist and Senator Thompson providing $3.2 million for repairs to Jackson, TN, Army aviation facility damaged by a tornado in January. It also provides for an offset in the same amount. An amendment by myself for a technical correction to the current year, 1999's Commerce-Justice-State bill, and provides for rules on the taking of Beluga whales. I send these amendments to the desk and ask unanimous consent that they be considered en bloc.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, the Senator from Arkansas, Mr. Hutchinson, is here and he will offer an amendment. After he has presented his amendment, I state to the Senator it will be my intention to move to table his amendment. I ask unanimous consent that the vote on that motion to table and the vote on the motion to table the Harkin amendment occur at 2:30.

Mr. STEVENS. Torricelli/Harkin amendment occur at 2:30.

Mr. STEVENS. I thank the Chair. Mr. HUTCHINSON addressed the Chair.

Mr. STEVENS. When the Senator finishes, I will make a motion to table. It should be about 1 o'clock.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, we have not asked for a time limitation on the Senator making his presentation, but he knows that as soon as he finishes, I will make a motion to table.