Craig Thomas

Mr. THOMAS

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of H. Con. Res. 19, which was received from the House.

Mr. THOMAS

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, if there be no further business to come before the Senate, I now ask that the Senate stand in adjournment, under the provisions of H. Con. Res. 27, following the remarks of Senator Inhofe.

Mr. THOMAS

Mr. THOMAS. For the information of all Senators, the Senate will reconvene on Monday, February 22, at 12 noon. Senator Voinovich will then inspire us with the recitation of Washington's Farewell Address. At the conclusion of the address, there will be a period of morning business until 3 p.m. Following morning business, the Senate will begin consideration of S. 4 regarding military pay raises and retirement benefits. There will be no votes during Monday's session of the Senate. Votes could occur as early as Tuesday morning as amendments are offered and debated. As always, Members will be notified of the voting schedule as it becomes available.

Mr. THOMAS

Mr. THOMAS. I further ask consent that following the farewell address there be a period of morning business until 3 p.m., with the time equally divided between the majority leader and Senator Durbin, or their designee; further, that at the conclusion of morning business the Senate proceed to consideration of Calendar No. 13, S. 4, a bill to improve pay and retirement equity for members of the Armed Forces, for debate only.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today it stand in adjournment, under the provisions of H. Con. Res. 27, until 12 noon on Monday, February 22. I further ask consent that on Monday, immediately following the prayer, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed to have expired, and the time for the two leaders be reserved. Finally, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Voinovich be recognized to deliver to the Senate Washington's Farewell Address.

Mr. THOMAS

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, unanimous consents work well when no one is here.

Mr. THOMAS. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 38 submitted by Senators McConnell and Dodd.

Mr. THOMAS

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that the Governmental Affairs Committee have until February 25, 1999, to report the nomination of David Williams to be Inspector General for Tax Administration, Department of Treasury. I further ask consent that if the nomination has not been reported by that date, the nomination then be automatically discharged and placed on the calendar.

Mr. THOMAS

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a star print of S. 6 be made with the changes that are at the desk.

Mr. THOMAS

Mr. THOMAS. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating to the resolutions be printed in the Record.

Mr. THOMAS

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating to the resolution be printed in the Record.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, there are two resolutions at the desk relating to the retirement of two long-serving Senate employees. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of the resolutions.

Mr. THOMAS

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Senate Resolution 41 submitted by Senator Thurmond, and others.

Mr. THOMAS

Mr. THOMAS. I ask unanimous consent, Mr. President, that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Senate Resolution 40 submitted by Senators Domenici and Lautenberg.

Mr. THOMAS

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Senate Resolution 39 submitted by Senators Domenici and Lautenberg.

Mr. THOMAS

Mr. THOMAS. On behalf of the majority leader, I expect the Senate to be prepared to adjourn for the week. Obviously there will be no further rollcall votes today. The Senate will reconvene at noon on Monday, February 22, following the President's Day recess. On that Monday, Senator Voinovich will be recognized at noon for the reading of Washington's Farewell Address. Following the address, and a period for morning business, the Senate will begin debate on S. 4, the Soldiers', Sailors', Airmen's and Marines' Bill of Rights Act of 1999. No votes will occur on Monday, the 22nd. However, Senators should be prepared for votes to begin as early as Tuesday morning. On behalf of the majority leader, I wish all Senators a restful recess, and I look forward to the beginning of what we believe to be a productive legislative period.

Mr. THOMAS

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, the Senate will now yield back the 2 hours of morning business.

Mr. THOMAS

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to introduce S. 404, a bill to prohibit the return to a foreign country of any portion of a memorial to American veterans without the express authorization of Congress. The bill is identical to S. 1903 which I introduced at the end of the last Congress. I would not have thought that a bill like this was necessary, Mr. President. It would never have occurred to me that an Administration would even briefly consider dismantling part of a memorial to American soldiers who died in the line of duty in order to send a piece of that memorial to a foreign country; but a real possibility of just that happening exists in my state of Wyoming involving what are known as the ``Bells of Balangiga.'' In 1898, the Treaty of Paris brought to a close the Spanish-American War. As part of the treaty, Spain ceded possession of the Philippines to the United States. At about the same time, the Filipino people began an insurrection in their country. In August 1901, as part of the American effort to stem the insurrection, a company of 74 officers and men from the 9th Infantry, Company G, occupied the town of Balangiga on the island of Samar. These men came from Ft. Russell in Cheyenne, Wyoming--today's F.E. Warren Air Force Base. On September 28 of that year, taking advantage of the preoccupation of the American troops with a church service for the just-assassinated President McKinley, a group of Filipino insurgents infiltrated the town. Only three American sentries were on duty that day. As described in an article in the November 19, 1997 edition of the Wall Street Journal: Officers slept in, and enlisted men didn't bother to carry their rifes as they ambled out of their quarters for breakfast. Balangiga had been a boringly peaceful site since the infantry company arrived a month earlier, according to military accounts and soldiers' statements. The quiet ended abrupty when a 23 year old U.S. sentry named Adolph Gamlin walked past the local police chief. In one swift move, the Filipino grabbed the slightly built Iowan's rifle and smashed the butt across [Gamlin's] head. As PFC Gamlin crumpled, the bells of Balangiga began to peal. With the signal, hundreds of Filipino fighters swarmed out of the surrounding forest, armed with clubs, picks and machete-like bolo knives. Others poured out of the church; they had arrived the night before, disguised as women mourners and carrying coffins filled with bolos. A sergeant was beheaded in the mess tent and dumped into a vat of steaming wash water. A young bugler was cut down in a nearby stream. The company commander was hacked to death after jumping out a window. Besieged infantrymen defended themselves with kitchen forks, mess kits and baseball bats. Others threw rocks and cans of beans. Though he was also slashed across the back, PFC . . . Gamlin came to and found a rifle. By the time he and the other survivors fought their way to the beach, 38 US soldiers were dead and all but six of the remaining men had been wounded. The remaining soldiers escaped in five dug-out canoes. Only three boats made it to safety on Leyte. Seven men died of exposure at sea, and another eight died of their wounds; only 20 of the company's 74 members survived. A detachment of 54 volunteers from 9th infantry units stationed at Leyte returned to Balangiga and recaptured the village. They were reinforced a few days later from Companies K and L of the 11th Infantry Regiment. When the 11th Infantry was relieved on October 18, by Marines, the 9th Infantry took two of the church bells and an old cannon with them back to Wyoming as memorials to the fallen soldiers. The bells and cannon have been displayed in front of the base flagpole on the central parade grounds since that time. The cannon was restored by local volunteers and placed under a glass display case in 1985 to protect it from the elements. The bells were placed in openings in a large specially constructed masonry wall with a plaque dedicating the memorial to the memory of the fallen soldiers. Off and on since 1981, there have been some discussions in various circles in Cheyenne, Washington, and Manila about the future of the bells, including the possibility of returning them to the Philippines. Most recently, the Philippine government--having run into broad opposition to their request to have both bells returned to them--has proposed making a copy of both bells, and having both sides keep one copy and one original. Opposition to the proposal from local and national civic and veterans groups has been very strong. Last year, developments indicated to me that the White House was seriously contemplating returning one or both of the bells to the Philippines. 1998 marked the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Paris, and a state visit by then-President Fidel Ramos--his last as President--to the United States. The disposition of the bells was high on President Ramos' agenda; he has spoken personally to President Clinton and several members of Congress about it over the last three years, and made it one of only three agenda items the Filipino delegation brought to the table. Since January 1998, the Filipino press has included almost weekly articles on the bells' supposed return, including several in the Manila Times in April and May which reported that a new tower to house the bells was being constructed in Borongon, Samar, to receive them in May. In addition, there have been a variety of reports vilifying me and the veterans in Wyoming for our position on the issue, and others threatening economic boycotts of US products or other unspecified acts of retaliation to force capitulation on the issue. Moreover, inquiries to me from various agencies of the Administration soliciting the opinion of the Wyoming congressional delegation on the issue increased in frequency in the first four months of 1998. I also learned that the Defense Department, perhaps in conjunction with the Justice Department, prepared a legal memorandum outlining its opinion of who actually controls the disposition of the bells. In response, the Wyoming congressional delegation wrote a letter to President Clinton on January 9, 1998, to make clear our opposition to removing the bells. In response to that letter, on May 26 I received a letter from Sandy Berger of the National Security Council which I think is perhaps one of the best indicators of the direction the White House was headed on this issue. To head off any move by the Administration to dispose of the bells, I and Senator Enzi introduced S. 1903 on April 1. The bill had 18 cosponsors, including the distinguished Chairmen of the Committees on Armed Services, Foreign Relations, Finance, Energy and Natural Resources, Rules, Ethics, and Banking; the Chairmen of five Subcommittees of the Foreign Relations Committee; and five members of the Armed Services Committee. Mr. President, at this point let me dispose of a canard that was forwarded shortly after the time I introduced S. 1903 by those seeking the return of the bells. They asserted that the bill was actually in contravention of the wishes of the people of the State of Wyoming because the Wyoming Legislature, quoting a letter from the Ambassador of the Philippines dated April 3, 1998, ``supports the sharing of the bells.'' That statement, however, glosses over the real facts. Wyoming's legislature is not a ``professional'' one--that is, the legislators have other, full-time jobs and the Legislature only sits for forty days at the beginning of each year and twenty days in the fall. When the Legislature meets, it is often to process an entire year's worth of legislation in just a few weeks. Like Congress, the Wyoming Legislature has a formal process of introducing, considering, and then voting on bills which become law upon the signature of the chief executive--in this case the governor. Also like Congress, the Legislature has a system for expressing its non-binding viewpoint on certain issues through resolutions. But unlike Congress, the Legislature also has an informal resolution process to express the viewpoint of only a given number of legislators, as opposed to the entire legislative body, on a given topic; the vehicle for such a process is called a ``joint resolution.'' In this process, a legislator circulates the equivalent of a petition among his or her colleagues. Support for the subject matter is signified simply by signing one's name to the petition. Once the sponsor has acquired all the signatures he or she can--or wishes to-- acquire, the joint resolution is simply deposited for the record with the Office of the Governor; it is never--I repeat never--voted on in either House of the Legislature, nor is it signed by the governor. As a consequence, it is not considered to be the position of, or the expression of the will of, the Legislature as a whole, but only of those legislators who signed it. Although the bells are an issue of interest among some circles state- wide, the issue is not well-known all over Wyoming. I have heard from several of the signatories of the joint resolution on the bells that they were not aware of the circumstances surrounding the bells at the time they signed the joint resolution. In this regard, it is important to note that the sponsor of the joint resolution did not enlighten them about the role of the bells in the unprovoked killing of 54 American soldiers in Balangiga before they signed the document. Moreover, that fact was completely and purposefully left out of the wording of the joint resolution itself; the death of these American soldiers was completely glossed over. The closest the joint resolution gets to mentioning the surprise attack and resulting deaths is this, which I quote verbatim: Whereas, at a point in the relationship, nearly one hundred (100) years ago following the Spanish-American War, armed conflict occurred between the United States and the Philippines; and Whereas, a particularly noteworthy incident occurred on the island of Samar in 1901 during the course of that conflict; and Whereas, that incident involved the ringing of the Church Bells of Balangiga on Samar to signal the outbreak of fighting. Imagine. The author of the joint resolution reduced the surprise attack and horrible deaths of fifty-four soldiers to a seemingly innocent, benign ``noteworthy incident.'' So while some may rely on the joint resolution as though it were the ``voice of Wyoming'' in support of their position, an examination of the actual facts surrounding it proves that reliance to be very misplaced. While time has passed since this issue came to a head last April, Mr. President, my deep concern that the Administration might still dispose of the bells has not. The Administration has not disavowed its earlier intent to seek to return the bells--an intent derailed by the introduction of S. 1903 last year. In addition, despite Article IV, section 3, clause 2 of the Constitution, which states that the ``Congress shall have the power to dispose of . . . Property belonging to the United States,'' the Justice Department has issued an informal memorandum stating that the Bells could possibly be disposed of by the President pursuant to the provisions of 10 U.S.C. Sec. 2572. I continue to be amazed, even in these days of political correctness and revisionist history, that a U.S. President--our Commander-in- Chief--would appear to be ready to ignore the wishes of our veterans and tear down a memorial to U.S. soldiers who died in the line of duty in order to send part of it back to the country in which they were killed. Amazed, that is, until I recall this President's fondness for sweeping apologies and what some might view as flashy P.R. gestures. Consequently, Senator Enzi and I have decided to reintroduce the bill in the 106th Congress. Mr. President, to the veterans of Wyoming, and the United States as a whole, the bells represent a lasting memorial to those fifty-four American soldiers killed as a result of an unprovoked insurgent attack in Balangiga on September 28, 1901. In their view, which I share, any attempt to remove either or both of the bells--and in doing so actually physically dismantling a war memorial--is a desecration of that memory. S. 404 will protect the bells and similar veterans memorials from such an ignoble fate. The bill is quite simple; it prohibits the transfer of a veterans memorial or any portion thereof to a foreign country or government unless specifically authorized by law; Representative Barbara Cubin is introducing similar legislation this week in the House. I am pleased to be joined by Senators Enzi, Helms, Hagel, Smith of Oregon, Murkowski, Smith of New Hampshire, Roberts, Sessions, Nickles, and Coverdell as original cosponsors. I trust that my colleagues will support its swift passage.

Mr. THOMAS

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I would like to go through a number of closing activities here.

Mr. THOMAS

Mr. THOMAS. First, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of House Concurrent Resolution 27, the adjournment resolution, which was received from the House. I further ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. THOMAS

Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to introduce S. 404, a bill to prohibit the return to a foreign country of any portion of a memorial to American veterans without the express authorization of Congress. The bill is identical to S. 1903 which I introduced at the end of the last Congress. I would not have thought that a bill like this was necessary, Mr. President. It would never have occurred to me that an Administration would even briefly consider dismantling part of a memorial to American soldiers who died in the line of duty in order to send a piece of that memorial to a foreign country; but a real possibility of just that happening exists in my state of Wyoming involving what are known as the ``Bells of Balangiga.'' In 1898, the Treaty of Paris brought to a close the Spanish-American War. As part of the treaty, Spain ceded possession of the Philippines to the United States. At about the same time, the Filipino people began an insurrection in their country. In August 1901, as part of the American effort to stem the insurrection, a company of 74 officers and men from the 9th Infantry, Company G, occupied the town of Balangiga on the island of Samar. These men came from Ft. Russell in Cheyenne, Wyoming--today's F.E. Warren Air Force Base. On September 28 of that year, taking advantage of the preoccupation of the American troops with a church service for the just-assassinated President McKinley, a group of Filipino insurgents infiltrated the town. Only three American sentries were on duty that day. As described in an article in the November 19, 1997 edition of the Wall Street Journal: Officers slept in, and enlisted men didn't bother to carry their rifles as they ambled out of their quarters for breakfast. Balangiga had been a boringly peaceful site since the infantry company arrived a month earlier, according to military accounts and soldiers' statements. The quiet ended abruptly when a 23-year-old U.S. sentry named Adolph Gamlin walked past the local police chief. In one swift move, the Filipino grabbed the slightly built Iowan's rifle and smashed the butt across [Gamlin's] head. As PFC Gamlin crumpled, the bells of Balangiga began to peal. With the signal, hundreds of Filipino fighters swarmed out of the surrounding forest, armed with clubs, picks and machete-like bolo knives. Other poured out of the church; they had arrived the night before, disguised as women mourners and carrying coffins filled with bolos. A sergeant was beheaded in the mess tent and dumped into a vat of steaming wash water. A young bugler was cut down in a nearby stream. The company commander was hacked to death after jumping out a window. Besieged infantrymen defended themselves with kitchen forks, mess kits and baseball bats. Others threw rocks and cans of beans. Though he was also slashed across the back, PFC Gamlin came to and found a rifle. By the time he and the other survivors fought their way to the beach, 38 U.S. soldiers were dead and all but six of the remaining men had been wounded. The remaining soldiers escaped in five dug-out canoes. Only three boats made it to safety on Leyte. Seven men died of exposure at sea, and another eight died of their wounds; only 20 of the company's 74 members survived. A detachment of 54 volunteers from 9th infantry units stationed at Leyte returned to Balangiga and recaptured the village. They were reinforced a few days later from Companies K and L of the 11th Infantry Regiment. When the 11th Infantry was relieved on October 18 by Marines, the 9th Infantry took two of the church bells and an old cannon with them back to Wyoming as memorials to the fallen soldiers. The bells and cannon have been displayed in front of the base flagpole on the central parade grounds since that time. The cannon was restored by local volunteers and placed under a glass display case in 1985 to protect it from the elements. The bells were placed in openings in a large specially constructed masonry wall with a plaque dedicating the memorial to the memory of the fallen soldiers. Off and on since 1981, there have been some discussions in various circles in Cheyenne, Washington, and Manila about the future of the bells, including the possibility of returning them to the Philippines. Most recently, the Philippine government--having run into broad opposition to their request to have both bells returned to them--has proposed making a copy of both bells, and having both sides keep one copy and one original. Opposition to the proposal from local and national civic and veterans groups has been very strong. Mr. President, I will include in the Record the text of a letter from the national office of the American Legion dated April 8, 1998; from the national office of the VFW Dated January 6, 1998 from the American Legion's Department of Wyoming dated December 5, 1997; and from the United Veterans Council of Wyoming dated March 13, 1998. To head off any move by the Administration to dispose of the bells, I and Senator Enzi introduced S. 1903 on April 1. The bill had 18 cosponsors, including the distinguished Chairmen of the Committees on Armed Services, Foreign Relations, Finance, Energy and Natural Resources, Rules, Ethics, and Banking; the Chairmen of five Subcommittees of the Foreign Relations Committee; and five members of the Armed Services Committee. Mr. President, at this point let me dispose of a canard that was forwarded shortly after the time I introduced S. 1903 by those seeking the return of the bells. They asserted that the bill was actually in contravention of the wishes of the people of the State of Wyoming because the Wyoming Legislature, quoting a letter from the Ambassador of the Philippines dated April 3, 1998, ``supports the sharing of the bells.'' That statement, however, glosses over the real facts. Wyoming's legislature is not a ``professional'' one--that is, the legislators have other, full-time jobs and the Legislature only sits for forty days at the beginning of each year and twenty days in the fall. When the Legislature meets, it is often to process an entire year's worth of legislation in just a few weeks. Like Congress, the Wyoming Legislature has a formal process of introducing, considering, and then voting on bills which become law upon the signature of the chief executive--in this case the governor. Also like Congress, the Legislature has a system for expressing its non-binding viewpoint on certain issues through resolutions. But unlike Congress, the Legislature also has an informal resolution process to express the viewpoint of only a given number of legislators, as opposed to the entire legislative body, on a given topic; the vehicle for such a process is called a ``joint resolution.'' In this process, a legislator circulates the equivalent of a petition among his or her colleagues. Support for the subject matter is signified simply by signing one's name to the petition. Once the sponsor has acquired all the signatures he or she can--or wishes to-- acquire, the joint resolution is simply deposited for the record with the Office of the Governor; it is never--I repeat never--voted on in either House of the Legislature, nor is it signed by the governor. As a consequence, it is not considered to be the position of, or the expression of the will of, the Legislature as a whole, but only of those legislators who signed it. Although the Bells are an issue of interest among some circles state- wide, the issue is not well-known all over Wyoming. I have heard from several of the signatories of the joint resolution on the bells that they were not aware of the circumstances surrounding the bells at the time they signed the joint resolution. In this regard, it is important to note that the sponsor of the joint resolution did not enlighten them about the role of the bells in the unprovoked killing of 54 American soldiers in Balangiga before they signed the document. Moreover, that fact was completely and purposefully left out of the wording of the joint resolution itself; the death of these American soldiers was completely glossed over. The closest the joint resolution gets to mentioning the surprise attack and resulting deaths is this, which I quote verbatim: Whereas, at a point in the relationship, nearly one hundred (100) years ago following the Spanish-American War, armed conflict occurred between the United States and the Philippines; and Whereas, a particularly noteworthy incident occurred on the island of Samar in 1901 during the course of that conflict; and Whereas, that incident involved the ringing of the Church Bells of Balangiga on Samar to signal the outbreak of fighting. Imagine. The author of the joint resolution reduced the surprise attack and horrible deaths of fifty-four soldiers to a seemingly innocent, benign ``noteworthy incident.'' So while some may rely the joint resolution as though it were the ``voice of Wyoming'' in support of their position, an examination of the actual facts surrounding it proves that reliance to be very misplaced. While time has passed since this issue came to a head last April, Mr. President, my deep concern that the Administration might still dispose of the bells has not. The Administration has not disavowed its earlier intent to seek to return the bells--an intent derailed by the introduction of S. 1903 last year. In addition, despite Article IV, section 3, clause 2 of the Constitution, which states that the ``Congress shall have the power to dispose of . . . Property belonging to the United States,'' the Justice Department has issued an informal memorandum stating that the Bells could possibly be disposed of by the President pursuant to the provisions of 10 U.S.C. Sec. 2572. I continue to be amazed, even in these days of political correctness and revisionist history, that a U.S. President--our Commander-in- Chief--would appear to be ready to ignore the wishes of our veterans and tear down a memorial to U.S. soldiers who died in the line of duty in order to send part of it back to the country in which they were killed. Amazed, that is, until I recall this President's fondness for sweeping apologies and what some might view as flashy P.R. gestures. Consequently, Senator Enzi and I have decided to reintroduce the bill in the 106th Congress. Mr. President, to the veterans of Wyoming, and the United States as a whole, the bells represent a lasting memorial to those fifty-four American soldiers killed as a result of an unprovoked insurgent attack in Balangiga on September 28, 1901. In their view, which I share, any attempt to remove either or both of the bells--and in doing so actually physically dismantling a war memorial--is a desecration of that memory. S. 404 will protect the bells and similar veterans memorials from such an ignoble fate. The bill is quite simple; it prohibits the transfer of a veterans memorial or any portion thereof to a foreign country or government unless specifically authorized by law; Representative Barbara Cubin is introducing similar legislation this week in the House. I am pleased to be joined by Senators Enzi, Helms, Hagel, Smith of Oregon, Murkowski, Smith of New Hampshire, Roberts, Sessions, Nickles, and Coverdell as original cosponsors. I trust that my colleagues will support its swift passage. Last year, developments indicated to me that the White House was seriously contemplating returning one or both of the bells to the Philippines. The year 1998 marked the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Paris, and a state visit by then-President Fidel Ramos--his last as President--to the United States. The disposition of the bells was high on President Ramos' agenda; he has spoken personally to President Clinton and several Members of Congress about it over the last three years, and made it one of only three agenda items the Filipino delegation brought to the table. Since January 1998, the Filipino press has included almost weekly articles on the bells' supposed return, including several in the Manila Times in April and May which reported that a new tower to house the bells was being constructed in Borongon, Samar, to receive them in May. In addition, there have been a variety of reports vilifying me and the veterans in Wyoming for our position on the issue, and others threatening economic boycotts of U.S. products or other unspecified acts of retaliation to force capitulation on the issue. Moreover, inquiries to me from various agencies of the Administration soliciting the opinion of the Wyoming congressional delegation on the issue increased in frequency in the first four months of 1998. I also learned that the Defense Department, perhaps in conjunction with the Justice Department, prepared a legal memorandum outlining its opinion of who actually controls the disposition of the bells. In response, the Wyoming congressional delegation wrote a letter to President Clinton on January 9, 1998 to make clear our opposition to removing the bells. In response to that letter, on May 26 I received a letter from Sandy Berger of the National Security Council which I think is perhaps one of the best indicators of the direction the White House was headed on this issue. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill and additional material be printed in the Record.