J. Thurmond

Mr. THURMOND

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the conference report was agreed to.

Mr. THURMOND

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Forests and Public Land Management of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be granted permission to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, October 1, for purposes of conducting a subcommittee hearing which is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. The purpose of this hearing is to receive testimony on Forest Service Cabin fees, and on S. 2513, a bill to transfer administrative jurisdiction over certain Federal land located within or adjacent to Rogue River National Forest and to clarify the authority of the Bureau of Land Management to sell and exchange other Federal land in Oregon; S. 2413, a bill to provide for the development of a management plan for the Woodland Lake Park tract in Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in the State of Arizona reflecting the current use of the tract as a public park; and S. 2402, a bill to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey certain lands in San Juan Country, New Mexico, to San Juan College.

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Clean Air, Wetlands, Private Property, and Nuclear Safety granted permission to conduct a hearing on regional haze and mercury pollution on Thursday, October 1, 1998 at 2:00 p.m., Hearing Room (SD-406).

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, Oct. 1, 1998 at 2:30 p.m. in room 226 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building to hold a hearing on: ``Judicial Nominations.''

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the full Committee on Environment and Public Works be granted permission to conduct a hearing to receive testimony from Greta Joy Dicus, nominated by the President to be a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (reappointment), and Jeffery S. Merrifield, nominated by the President to be a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Thursday, October 1, at 11:00 a.m., Hearing Room (SD-406).

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, October 1, 1998 at 10:00 a.m. to hold a hearing.

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be granted permission to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, October 1, for purposes of conducting a full committee hearing which is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. The purpose of this hearing is to consider the nominations of Eljay B. Bowron to be Inspector General, DOI; Rose Eilene Gottemoeller to be Assistant Secretary of Energy for Non-Proliferation and National Security; and David Michaels to be Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environment, Safety and Health.

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, October 1, 1998 at 10:30 a.m. to conduct a Markup, on S. 1870, to amend the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act; H.R. 1805, Auburn Indian Restoration Act; and S. 2097, to encourage and facilitate the resolution of conflicts involving Indian tribes, to be followed immediately by a hearing on S. 2010, to provide for business development and trade promotion for Native Americans. The hearing will be held in room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry be allowed to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday October 1, 1998. The purpose of this meeting will be to mark up the nomination of Michael Reyna to be a member of the Farm Credit Administration Board and to mark up the USDA Information Technology Reform and Year 2000 Compliance Act (S2116).

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary, be authorized to hold an executive business meeting during the session of the Senate on Thursday, October 1, 1998, at 9:30 a.m. in room SD-226 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building.

Mr. THURMOND

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I want to thank the leadership of the Senate for their cooperation and support in bringing this conference report to the floor for approval of the Senate. The bipartisan support of both the majority and the minority leaders is critical to successful passage of the conference report of such magnitude. The majority leader, Senator Lott, a former member of our committee, recognizes the importance of this bill and has always given his full support and assistance in passing a bill of this nature. I thank him for his time and support and all he has done in this respect. I extend my appreciation to the leadership staff and the floor staff for their assistance which is essential to passing this large, complex bill. In that connection, Mr. President, I wish to especially commend Les Brownlee, staff director of the Armed Services Committee. He has rendered yeoman service to this committee, and I can't say enough in support of all he has done. George Lauffer, the deputy staff director, has also been most faithful and has done an outstanding job. We appreciate that and thank him for what he has done in this connection. I also wish to thank David Lyles on the other side, and those who worked with him, for their fine cooperation and support. They have been most cooperative and have rendered a great service. Mr. President, we appreciate the work of two House Members. We thank Floyd Spence, who happens to be from my State, for handling the House bill. He is an outstanding gentleman of character and ability, and I thank him for all he has done in cooperating with us on the defense legislation. Ike Skelton, a Democrat, who works with Congressman Spence, has also been cooperative and helpful, and I express my appreciation to him, too. I yield the floor.

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

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I yield that to the able Senator from Texas.

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, how much time do I have left?

Mr. THURMOND. How much time do I have remaining?

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum and I ask that the time be equally charged.

Mr. THURMOND. No objection.

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

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

Mr. THURMOND. The extent of current and future readiness problems were laid out in stark detail Tuesday morning by the Joint Chiefs of Staff at a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. The service Chiefs all testified on the manner in which our current readiness is fraying and the long-term health of the Total Force is in jeopardy. While additional funding in fiscal year 1999 will help address the most pressing short-term concerns, it is imperative that we provide significant continuing increases in funds for modernization above that for additional pay and benefits. The Marine Corps estimates a shortfall of $1.8 billion per year in modernization over the Future Years Defense Program under the current administration projections. The Army estimates an annual $3 to $5 billion per year shortfall during the same period. We must embark on a course of sustained increases in defense investment over the next several years. Mr. President, at the beginning of this Congress, I called for developing a clearer strategic context within which to design an effective, affordable national defense to meet our foreign policy commitments. The need for this clarity has never been greater. With the belated recognition by the President of the need for increased defense resources, we have an opportunity to free the determination of U.S. strategy from being a by-product of the budget process. As I said in February 1997, let us seize the day. We must work in a cooperative, bipartisan fashion to avert a certain military decline. The first step in that process is the rapid and overwhelming approval of this conference report. Exhibit 1 Staff of the Armed Services Committee Charlie Abell, John Barnes, June Borawski, Philip Bridwell, Les Brownlee, Stuart Cain, Monica Chavez, Chris Cowart, Dan Cox, Madelyn Creedon, Rick DeBobes, Marie Fabrizio Dickinson, Katy Donovan, and Shawn Edwards. Jon Etherton, Pamela Farrell, Richard Fieldhouse, Maria Finley, Jan Gordon, Creighton Greene, Gary Hall, Larry Hoag, Melinda Koutsoumpas, Larry Lanzillotta, George Lauffer, Henry Leventis, Peter Levine, and Paul Longsworth. David Lyles, Steve Madey, Mike McCord, Reaves McLeod, John Miller, Ann Mittermeyer, Bert Mizusawa, Cindy Pearson, Sharen Reaves, Cord Sterling, Scott Stucky, Eric Thoemmes, Roslyne Turner, and Banks Willis. Exhibit 2 The White House, Washington, September 22, 1998. Hon. Strom Thurmond, Chairman, Committee on Armed Services, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. Dear Mr. Chairman: Preserving our military's readiness has been the top priority of my national security program. Since I first took office, increasingly greater shares of our Defense budget have been allocated to ensuring that our armed forces are ready to respond and have the tools to accomplish their mission. Although we have done much to support readiness, more needs to be done. This year alone, important steps have been taken to protect military readiness. For FY 1998, we worked with the Congress to secure both an additional $1 billion in military readiness funds through a budget reprogramming and a $1.85 billion emergency funding package to cover the costs of unanticipated operations in Bosnia and Iraq. For FY 1999, my Administration proposed a Defense budget request that increased funding for personnel and operations programs over the 1998 appropriated levels and a $1.9 billion emergency budget amendment to fund the ongoing peacekeeping operations in Bosnia. Passage of this emergency funding is critical to avoid a readiness crisis in the fiscal year that begins on October 1. I strongly urge the Congress to approve these requests. We also have done a lot on our own to address the burden on our men and women who have been deployed at higher than anticipated rates. We established standards for deploying units and intensively manage the force to minimize the possibility that units exceed these standards. We cut Air Force temporary duty assignments in half. And we are cutting back, by 25 percent over the course of five years, the total number of exercise days. Additionally, we reduced or replaced some overseas deployments with units on stand-by in the United States. My Administration has sought ways to get a greater readiness return from each dollar spent implementing better management practices, cutting overhead, and reducing base infrastructure. Working together, we can identify methods for eliminating wasteful spending. I need your help in addressing these objectives if we are to ensure that our men and women in uniform receive the best training and equipment possible in the most cost effective manner. They deserve no less. I recently met with Secretary Cohen and the Commanders-in- Chief of our U.S.-based and overseas forces to receive a status report of the units under their command. As always, the dedication of our civilian and military leaders to the troops' well being was clearly evident in their reports. I was particularly satisfied to hear that our forces are capable of carrying out our national military strategy and meeting America's defense commitments around the globe. They are, in the words of the Chiefs, the best-trained and best- equipped forces in the world. Notwithstanding this assessment of our overall posture, the Secretary and the Chiefs identified several concerns that must be addressed to sustain high military readiness levels. To address our readiness needs, I believe several steps are in order: 1. We must act now to provide additional resources in FY 1999 for operations and personnel programs important to military readiness. This includes resources to minimize shortfalls in certain critical spare parts, Navy manpower, and Army unit training activities. I have asked key officials of my Administration to work together over the coming days to develop a fully offset $1 billion funding package for these readiness programs. 2. I have instructed the Office of Management and Budget and the National Security Council to establish with Secretary Cohen and General Shelton a separate process within the context of the FY 2000 joint budget review that will examine the longer-term military readiness issues raised at my meeting with the CINCs. Meeting this challenge will require a multi-year plan with the necessary resources to preserve military readiness, support our troops, and modernize the equipment needed for the next century. I anticipate this examination will result in a series of budget and policy proposals for the FY 2000 Defense budget and the Future Years Defense Program. Our challenge is to strike a balance between providing sufficient resources for military readiness while maintaining fiscal discipline and appropriate funding levels for other investments necessary to sustain a growing economy. The security of the nation depends on our military forces' ability to quickly, effectively, and successfully prosecute their mission. Ensuring that these forces are trained and ready is a priority upon which we all can agree. Sincerely, Bill Clinton. Mr. LEVIN addressed the Chair.

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I wish to express my appreciation to Senator Levin for the kind words he said about me. He has done a fine job. We could not have done this work without him. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, today the Senate considers the conference report to accompany the Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999. I want to thank all the members of the conference committee for their hard work and cooperation. To give the Members of the Senate some insight into the complexity and magnitude of the work involved in the conference process, we had to reconcile nearly 1,000 funding differences and craft compromises for over 570 legislative issues in disagreement between the House and Senate bills. The conferees succeeded in settling the many difficult issues in this complex process only by putting the national interest above all others. I particularly want to thank Senator Levin, the ranking member of our committee, for his continued leadership and support. I also want to acknowledge the contributions of Senator Coats, Senator Kempthorne, and Senator Glenn. This is their last defense authorization bill. On behalf of the committee and the Senate, I wish to thank them again for their dedication to the national security of our country and their support for the young men and women who serve in our armed services. We will miss their valuable counsel next year. Mr. President, I also want to acknowledge the contribution of the staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee in bringing our conference process to closure. We on the committee are very proud of our staff. They are a model of bipartisan competence and everyone in this body is indebted to them for their dedication to excellence. I ask unanimous consent that a list of the members of the staff be printed in the Record following my remarks.

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I also wish to recognize the members and staff of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. We have worked more closely together this year than ever before. I want to express on behalf of the Armed Services Committee our appreciation to Chairman Stevens and to the members and staff of the Defense Subcommittee for their cooperation and support. Working together, we have produced a bill which keeps the Department of Defense on a steady course and is consistent with the balanced budget agreement. It is a sound bipartisan approach to some very difficult policy issues. This is reflected in the fact that for the first time in memory, all of the conferees in both committees have signed the conference report. This bill sends a strong signal to our men and women in uniform and their families that we are fully committed to supporting them as they perform their dangerous missions around the world. The conference report addresses three challenges to maintaining a strong national defense in the 21st century: the training and readiness of our military forces, the modernization of weapon systems and other defense equipment, and the preservation of quality of life programs for our military personnel and their families. The conference report, for example, authorizes funding of increases to a number of readiness accounts totaling nearly $1 billion above the administration request. We have also authorized the construction of six new ships, increased the procurement of new tactical aircraft, and provided an increase of approximately $90 million for advanced space systems and technologies as well as an increase of about $132 million for strategic force upgrades. In the conference, we have authorized a 3.6-percent pay raise and a comprehensive series of accession and retention bonuses and special pay to reduce the financial sacrifices involved with military service. In order to enhance the quality of life for our service personnel and their families, we have authorized increases totaling $666 million above the request for military construction and family housing. The conferees have also crafted a number of management initiatives to ensure that limited budgets are managed more efficiently and that the burdens of service for our men and women in uniform are kept to a reasonable level. The bill includes provisions to ensure that commercial sole-source spare parts are procured in a cost-effective manner. The conference report authorizes a series of initiatives to test new health care benefits for Medicare-eligible military retirees. The bill also requires the Department of Defense to address the Year 2000 information technology issues in a more comprehensive fashion. Mr. President, this conference report is a sound and balanced approach to meeting our national security needs with constrained resources. It is my hope that the Senate will vote to adopt the report overwhelmingly. This is the 40th defense authorization conference report on which I have worked since joining the Armed Services Committee in 1959. It is the fourth and last as chairman of the committee as I have announced my intention to step down as chairman at the end of this year while retaining my seat on the committee. I regard my work on the committee to ensure a strong national defense as among the most important accompishments of my public service. My tenure as chairman over the last 4 years has been the culmination of that service. Words cannot express the pride and appreciation I feel for the honor my colleagues have bestowed by designating this authorization bill as the Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999. Looking back over the national security issues that have challenged the United States over the past 40 years and turning forward to the 21st century, I am very concerned about maintaining our ability to meet foreign policy ambitions with declining defense resources. If we do not change course soon, present and projected defense investment levels will expose the people of the United States to unacceptable levels of risk. We will have abdicated our fundamental responsibility to provide for a strong common defense. We are in the midst of a period of unprecedented commitment of U.S. military forces in peacetime. The United States is using military forces to respond to a growing spectrum of international aggression, ethnic unrest, and domestic conflict. The operational tempo of each of our services is at an all time high as we respond in a sustained manner to crises in Africa, the Persian Gulf, and the Balkans. As we struggle with supporting these operational deployments, the backlog of modernization and real property upgrades continues to climb. Moreover, the imperative of maintaining our defense technological superiority over the next 10 to 15 years will soon generate a further requirement for substantial new investment. Yet our defense spending is declining. The authorization for new budget authority in this conference report is $270.5 billion, which is $2.6 billion below the inflation-adjusted level for fiscal year 1998. We are currently spending barely more than 3 percent of our gross domestic product on defense. This level is consistent with defense spending during the Depression-ridden 1930's. That level is projected to decline even further to 2.6 percent by 2002. We cannot hope to meet increasing foreign policy commitments with such declining resources. We are already seeing the effects of this mismatch of resources and commitments. The Chiefs of the military services indicate that they have now hit rock bottom in readiness and modernization. We are seeing increasing spare parts shortages, increased cannibalization, declining unit operational readiness rates, cross-decking of critical weapons, equipment and personnel. Personnel retention rates--especially for skilled personnel such as pilots--are in a steep decline. These trends have been evident for the last several years. The leadership in the military services, distinguished observers in the defense community, such as former Secretary of Defense Schlesinger, and even the political leaders in the Department of Defense have been sounding warnings of increasing peril for our national security. Now even the President has been forced by the mounting evidence to recognize the impact of underfunded administration requests and to call for an immediate increase in defense spending. In a letter to me last week, the President called for a series of steps to redress defense underfunding, including an increase of $1 billion in fiscal year 1999 and a process for revising the programmed spending in the future years defense plan. I commend the President for this proposal and look forward to working with the administration to make it a reality. I ask that the full text of the President's letter be printed in the Record at the end of my statement.

Mr. THURMOND. I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from Arkansas.

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