Ted Stevens

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. I understand that to be correct as well.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, this amendment provides funding to help resolve some of the most pressing concerns relating to national park and State recreation facilities, and to the ocean areas off Alaska. The amendment would reserve $800 million that was not anticipated to be received by the Federal Treasury in a case recently decided by the Supreme Court. That case--cited at 117 S.Ct. 1888--involved a dispute between the Federal Government and the State of Alaska over the right to mineral lease revenue on the natural formation off the coast of Alaska known as Dinkum Sands. The Federal Government prevailed and received lease revenue plus interest totaling $1.6 billion. The Congressional Budget Office estimated earlier this year that the Federal Treasury would receive only $800 million. Our amendment would deposit the other $800 million in a new fund called the National Parks and Environmental Improvement Fund. Beginning with fiscal year 1999, the interest from this fund would be available for: First, capital projects in the National Park System; second, State outdoor recreation planning, development, and acquisition; and third, marine research important to the vast Federal and State waters off Alaska. Forty percent of the annual interest would be available to design, construct, repair, and replace National Park Service facilities to enhance the experience of park visitors. In Alaska this will go a long way toward expanding and upgrading the overcrowded visitor facilities that have become a significant problem. As Senator McCain mentioned, the need to upgrade the Park Service facilities nationally is great, and may run into the billions of dollars. Our bill would create a mechanism specifically designed to begin to address this problem. Our amendment would make 40 percent of the annual interest available under section 6 of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act to the States to be used for outdoor recreation planning, development, and the acquisition of land. The States, too, face a backlog in upgrading existing park facilities and creating new facilities. Finally, our amendment provides 20 percent of the annual interest from the National Parks and Environmental Improvement Fund for marine research in, and relating to, the north Pacific Ocean, Bering Sea, and Arctic Ocean. These vast marine areas off Alaska comprise more than half of the Nation's coastline, provide over half of the Nation's commercial fisheries harvest, and contain vast mineral resources important to Alaska and the Nation. This income was derived from those waters. We face pressing concerns in these waters that touch every part of Alaska's coastline. Some of the immediate concerns include, to name just a few: Declines in certain bird and marine mammal species in the Bering Sea; a failure this year in our Bristol Bay and Kuskokwim salmon returns; excessive fisheries harvests and other unknown activities in the Russia portion of the Bering Sea; environmental contamination in the Arctic Ocean; subsistence whaling concerns; the need to develop new products and more environmentally efficient fishing methods; and the need to develop fisheries for underutilized species (such as the dive fisheries in southeast Alaska) that could help take the pressure off other fish stocks. Our amendment would establish a North Pacific Research Board that would set marine research priorities and recommend grants to tackle those priorities. The Secretary of Commerce and Alaska Department of Fish and Game, or their designees, would serve as cochairs of the Board. The Secretary of Commerce would approve or disapprove the Board's grant recommendations. The amendment gives the Board very broad discretion in setting the priorities for the research grants. We know of some of the issues that need immediate attention, but not all of them, and we can't know what the priorities should be in the future. To summarize, the amendment Senator McCain and I are offering will improve the experience visitors have at our national parks and State parks, and will greatly increase our knowledge about the vast waters off Alaska. I urge other Senators to support this measure. Mr. MURKOWSKI addressed the Chair.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 1205

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, the Senate is not in order.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I want to take just a few minutes of the Senate's time to comment upon the passage of Senate bill 1061, the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act. During the 104th Congress, the bill from this subcommittee was the center of political controversy between the Congress and the White House, and within the Senate itself. We did not succeed in passing a bill as a separate measure for these functions in the 104th Congress. Thursday's vote of 91 to 8 sent a clear signal of the Senate's support for the leadership shown by Senators Specter and Harkin. They crafted a bill that emerged from our Appropriations Committee unanimously. The statement of administration policy raised a few differences, but it indicated strong bipartisan support for this bill. The most contentious votes we have faced this year on appropriations bills were on the Labor, Health and Human Services bill. Despite the strong feelings generated by those issues, the debate was fair. The entire Senate came together to pass the bill, and sent the unambiguous message that I referred to--we want to see this bill enacted this year. Supporting the work of the subcommittee has been an extremely experienced and effective staff. Craig Higgins serves as clerk of the subcommittee. He is joined by Marsha Simon, who assists Senator Harkin as the minority clerk. Bettilou Taylor, Dale Cabaniss, Lula Edwards, and Carole Geagley round out the subcommittee staff. I commend not only the chairman and ranking member but all of the staff for the hard work and the effort they put into preparing the bill in a fashion that received such strong, strong support in the committee, and from the Senate. We eagerly now await the passage of that bill by the House, so we can have the conference commence and get the bill to the President prior to September 30, I hope. I also report to the Senate that the Agriculture and legislative conferences are proceeding. We should have those bills from conference today. We have just passed a military construction bill. We have in conference the Department of Defense conference which had its first meeting yesterday. The VA-HUD bill, the Energy bill, the foreign ops bill, and Transportation--we expect, Mr. President, all of those will be out of conference early next week. That will leave us five bills to still finish. The District of Columbia bill has not passed the Senate yet, nor the House. We have before us now, under the guidance of the Senator from Washington [Mr. Gorton], the Interior bill. We expect it to be finished here this week and go to conference and, hopefully, come back to the Senate next week. As I have said, the Labor, Health and Human Services bill, the House needs to pass that. We hope it will get to it soon. That will leave us the Commerce, State, Justice bill, and the Treasury bill--all of which, Mr. President, it is still our goal to try and get them to the President by the 30th of September. Mr. President, it will mean perhaps, though, we will have to have still a continuing resolution to give the President the time that he needs to review all of these bills. I am hopeful that the House will send us a continuing resolution--a clean continuing resolution-- sometime early next week. I commend the Senator from Washington on this bill. I am hopeful the Senate will work with us to make sure that this bill is finished here today, if it is at all possible. I thank the Chair.

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

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Thank you, Mr. President.

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

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Madam President, I thank my good friend from Arizona for his comments concerning my participation in the dialogue on this amendment which has just taken place in my office. Let me state at the outset that I believe that in this country there is a period of rising expectations on the part of our Alaska Native and native American peoples that there will be more assistance coming to them from the Federal Government. And, of course, we all seek to have greater self- determination on the part of those people who are part of the Indian tribes and native peoples of our country. The great difficulty is that this is not just an expectation but an increasing demand now for additional money to enable these peoples to carry out the legitimate roles that they have in their own tribal and native organizations. This comes at a time when we are living under a budget ceiling with diminishing resources, as far as the Department of Interior is concerned, caused primarily, in my opinion, because of the vast increase--the enormous increase--in the amount of interest we are paying on the national debt, which is literally squeezing out a lot of the items that we were able to afford previously. We are working on that in connection with the balanced budget process. But it is hard for many people on the reservations in the contiguous States and small villages throughout my State, and throughout our Nation, to understand that there is a limit on the amount of money we have available to put into such funds, like the Tribal Priority Allocation Fund. We face this year a situation where there is a budget request for an increase in money. Yet, because of actions that have taken place in the last 3 years, there are almost 100 percent more tribes in number than we previously dealt with under this account. Those are primarily in my State, the State of Alaska. Alaska now has 226 different entities that are called tribes by the Department of Interior. In the past, they were Native villages. The population of the Native villages belonged to the several different tribes in our State. The net result of this is that, despite the increased request for funds, it is not really possible to meet these legitimate requests, and, as I said, in some instances, demands for increased money. This has led to a series of alternative suggestions--some from the Senator from Washington, as the chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee dealing with these issues, and others from those who serve on our Indian committee, led by my good friend from Colorado. And I say to the Senate that I think it is time that we really have some more information to deal with this. I know some people are reluctant to solicit that information. But I have joined the Senator from Washington in asking the GAO to do some examination into the various types of options that may be available to Congress to deal with these increasing demands which exceed our ability to provide funds in all these areas. It does seem to me that we have to realize, despite our own personal feelings that some people might have on the subject, that the people who live on Indian reservations and in these very isolated Indian and Native communities in my State are literally the poorest of our poor. They are the people that need our consideration, and our help, more than any I know in the Nation. Many of us have spent years trying to find ways to help them deal with their problems. There has been no real panacea. We have not discovered a way yet. But we clearly now have increasing participation in governmental affairs in a democratic way in most of these tribes and villages of our Nation. I am hopeful that these tribal priority allocations will, in fact, be used to provide a greater degree of democracy, a greater degree of participation, and a greater attempt to satisfy the needs of the people who should be receiving the benefits of the Federal money that we provide through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. We all have some serious questions about the BIA. It is an institution that may well have outlived its usefulness in the sense of being able to deal with the problems of the native American and Alaska Native people. But, for the time being, it is the only institution we have. As Members of Congress we are vitally interested in the affairs of the Indian tribes and Alaska Native people. We need to take more time in trying to not only work out the differences among us, but also work out solutions with respect to how the Federal Government can further the aspirations of these people to become more able to deal with the problems of the present and the future and better able to find a way to preserve their own culture and have greater participation in American affairs. For that reason, I am pleased that we have had these meetings. I think that the meetings that have taken place between the Senators who are on the Appropriations Committee and the Indian Affairs Committee have been most helpful for us not to only understand one another but understand some of the problems that are different. They are different in Colorado, they are different in Arizona. They are different in Hawaii. Most people do not think of Hawaii having Indian problems. But there are issues involving the indigenous peoples in Hawaii that are very, very complex. My friend from Hawaii is spending a lot of time on this issue, as is the Senator from New Mexico, and legitimately so. Our constituents, by the way, don't all make the same requests. They don't necessarily seek the same goals. They don't even seek the same solutions to their common goals. What I'm saying is that it is not an easy thing right now for us to deal with this issue in appropriations. Therefore, I am delighted as the chairman of the Appropriations Committee that we have this commitment from the Indian Affairs Committee that there will be hearings on the subject, that there will be really an examination in depth into the possible solutions to the problems presented by these issues arising out of the allocation of funds in the tribal priority allocation. I thank the Senator from Washington for his willingness to step down from some of the requests he has made of the Senate, and to give us a chance to go back and get some basic data and information that will be necessary for us to deal with this. I hope and pray we will deal with it next year in a fair and open way, and find a way to ensure that the moneys that are available are made available first to those who have the greatest need for them, and particularly that the people who are seeking this money understand what it is for. It is for assistance in maintaining the governance of these tribes and villages. These aren't slush money accounts. They are very strictly limited by law, and we want to make certain that they are, in fact, used for the benefit of the people who are on reservations, as well as in those very isolated villages in my State. Let me thank all of the Members who have participated in this. I do hope that the Senate will accept our compromise amendment to the amendment on this subject that was originally in the bill as reported from our committee. I thank all concerned for their participation. Mr. INOUYE addressed the Chair.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, will the Senator yield to me?

Mr. STEVENS. I appreciate the statements made by the distinguished Democratic leader, but I have just counted days and we have 8 more days in this month to vote. And we have 14, 15 bills to bring across this floor from the Appropriations Committee that should all be passed by September 30. Tomorrow night is the President's picnic, and by tradition we would not be voting tomorrow night. That means we are not going to be voting Friday. Unless we get some agreement very quickly, I would say by tomorrow afternoon, we probably cannot finish this bill this week. We have the Interior bill and we have the D.C. bill yet to pass and 14 bills after that--13 conference reports, managers' statements from the conferences, and 1 continuing resolution. I am beginning to see a problem developing as far as our ability to handle these bills if these extraneous amendments are going to weigh them down. I urge that we find some way to make up a list to see how many more amendments we have out there and then see what we can do about the time or getting some agreement to terminate this. This bill actually is a larger bill than the defense bill. We have been on this bill now for a substantial period of time. I think we have to find some way to get it to a resolution by at least Thursday afternoon and lay down the Interior bill so we can start that and get some of the debate going on Friday on that at least. I hope that we would find some way to get some resolution on some of these items that appear to be unlimitable right now. Is there some way we could agree on getting a list and say there will be no more amendments? Could we get a list that there will be no more amendments raised?

Mr. STEVENS. You have a dozen second-degree amendments so I do not think you can find an end to this unless you get an agreement there will be no more amendments. Mr. SPECTER addressed the Chair.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, for the information of all Members, on Monday, the Senate will resume debate on the motion to proceed to S. 830, the FDA reform bill. Under the previous order, there are 4 hours of debate remaining on the motion to proceed, equally divided between Senators Jeffords and Senator Kennedy. Following the expiration or yielding back of that time, the Senate will resume consideration of S. 1061, the Labor-HHS appropriations bill. Also under the order, a vote on an amendment relating to S. 1061 is expected at 5 p.m. on Monday. In addition, under the consent agreement, all amendments remaining in order to the Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations bill must be offered during Monday's session of the Senate. Also, all votes ordered on those amendments will be stacked to occur at a time to be determined on Tuesday. In addition, under the previous order, the Senate will begin consideration of S. 830 following the disposition of S. 1061, but not before 4 p.m. on Tuesday. As a reminder to all Members, the next rollcall vote is expected on Monday at 5 p.m. on an amendment relating to the Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations bill.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until the hour of 11 a.m. on Monday, September 8; I further ask unanimous consent that on Monday, immediately following the prayer, the routine requests through the morning hour be granted and the Senate immediately resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 830, the FDA reform bill.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I also ask unanimous consent that following the expiration or yielding back of time on the motion to proceed to S. 830, the Senate resume consideration of S. 1061, the Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations bill.

Mr. STEVENS

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

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there now be a period for the transaction of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 5 minutes each.

Mr. STEVENS

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

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate immediately proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of Robert Chambers, of West Virginia; that the nomination be confirmed, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, any statements relating to the nomination appear at the appropriate place in the Record, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then return to legislative session.

Mr. STEVENS

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

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum. I beg your pardon. I withdraw that. Mr. BINGAMAN addressed the Chair.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, this pending Lieberman-Coats amendment is a good one. We see no reason to take further time on it because the House bill does have the $75 million for charter schools. The effect of this amendment would be to increase it to that amount. It is the intention of the chairman of the subcommittee, Senator Specter, to notify the House that in conference we will recede to the House on this item. I appreciate the indulgence of the two Senators, Senator Lieberman and Coats, and ask under the circumstances that they accept our word that will be the amount of money provided for charter schools under this bill when it comes out of conference.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts, of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, September 4, 1997, at 2 p.m. to hold a hearing in room 226, Senate Dirksen Building, on: ``Conserving Judicial Resources: A Review of the Judicial Allocations for the Second and Eighth Circuit Courts of Appeal.''

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent on behalf of the Governmental Affairs Committee Special Investigation to meet on Thursday, September 4, at 10 a.m. for a hearing on campaign financing issues.