[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 16 (Wednesday, February 23, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 23, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. DODD (for himself, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Dole, 
        Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Riegle, Mr. D'Amato, Mr. Sarbanes, Mr. Bond, 
        Mr. Sasser, Mr. Domenici, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Lugar, Mr. Simon, Mr. 
        Mack, Mr. Faircloth, Mr. Burns, Mr. Brown, Mr. Durenberger, Mr. 
        Thurmond, Mr. Murkowski, and Mr. Stevens):
  S. 1860. A bill to authorize the minting of coins to commemorate the 
1995 Special Olympics World Games; to the Committee on Banking, 
Housing, and Urban Affairs.


        1995 Special Olympics World Games Commemorative Coin Act

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, many of us over these last 10 days have been 
transfixed, spellbound--you could use a variety of different adjectives 
to describe our wonderment--at the performance of athletes around the 
world as they compete in Lillehammer in Norway, watching the winter 
Olympics. This evening I suspect millions of Americans and others 
around the world will be watching the figure skating for a variety of 
reasons, not necessarily because they wish to watch figure skating, but 
we have all been moved by the competition of our athletes.
  We are impressed with those who compete but not necessarily who are 
able to win a medal at the winter Olympics. We will have a wonderful 
event in Atlanta, GA, when the world comes to the United States to 
compete in the summer Olympics in 1996.
  It is that spirit, I suppose, of striving, the tremendous dedication, 
the work, the desire that moves all of us to watch these young people 
from around the globe spend 2 weeks with each other in the spirit of 
the Olympic games. We learned that this spirit of striving can be 
equally noble, whether it leads to a gold medal or even a last-place 
finish. In fact, sometimes we are moved more just by the effort of an 
individual rather than the particular moment of glory and victory.
  Mr. President, I am very proud to tell my colleagues that next year, 
Connecticut will host a similar exhibition of the human spirit. These 
are the world summer games of the Special Olympics. It is in honor of 
this event that I am today introducing the 1995 Special Olympics World 
Games Commemorative Coin Act.
  Twenty-five years ago, Mr. President, Eunice Kennedy Shriver had a 
vision, one person had a vision of an international sports organization 
for people with mental retardation. She envisioned an event that would 
bring joy and pride developed from competition to those the world 
believed could not compete at all.
  Today, the Special Olympics has become one of the largest and most 
successful sports and volunteer organizations in the world. Nearly 1 
million Special Olympics athletes from ages 8 to 80 train and compete 
year round. Every 4 years, thousands of these athletes gather for the 
world summer games. I am proud to report, Mr. President, that from 14 
cities worldwide, New Haven, CT, was selected to host the Ninth Special 
Olympics World Games. The entire State of Connecticut is now gearing up 
for those games. Our good friend and former colleague, Governor 
Lowell Weicker, serves as the chairman of the 1995 Special Olympics 
World Games Organizing Committee.

  In July 1995, almost 7,000 athletes from every State in the Union and 
from 125 nations from around the world will travel to Connecticut to 
compete. An expected half million spectators will gather to witness 
this exciting and inspiring event.
  The bill I am introducing today would authorize 800,000 limited-
edition $1 silver coins which will be emblematic of the 1995 Special 
Olympics World Games. Funds raised through the sale of the coins will 
support the Special Olympics. That is the purpose of this effort.
  This bill will not cost the Federal Government one single dime. All 
the costs will be borne by the sale of those coins.
  Mr. President, over the years since Eunice Kennedy Shriver began 
these games, if we have seen them ourselves, which I have had the 
pleasure of doing, in watching a child who is a special child, either 
with a physical or mental handicap, striving in a road race, a running 
race, a jumping contest, the look on that child's face in being 
embraced and hugged by others, having achieved something that they did 
not think was possible, that they would even be able to compete, I do 
not believe anybody who witnessed such an event has not been moved by 
it. All of us, whether we know anyone, or a family that has suffered 
the problems of mental retardation, are moved by the human spirit when 
it achieves and reaches for something they believe may have been beyond 
their reach or grasp.
  And so as we watch these wonderful Olympics on our television screens 
in these closing days, the incredible athletes from around the world 
who are gathered in Lillehammer, we should remind ourselves as well 
that there will be a very special Olympics in this country next year of 
children from around the world, from 125 nations, who may lack the 
mental ability or physical ability to compete in the Atlanta or 
Lillehammer games, but nonetheless are just as noble in the eyes of God 
as any other child competing anywhere else in any other kind of 
Olympics.
  This coin will be a nobility, or a way in which all of us can express 
our support for that effort, to support these young people, to support 
their families, to support the Committee for the Special Olympics.
  And so I am pleased to offer this legislation and to as well announce 
the cosponsorship, of which we have many, of about 14 or 15 Senators of 
this legislation.
  Twenty-five years ago, Eunice Kennedy Shriver had a vision of an 
international sports organization for people with mental retardation, 
one that would bring the joy and pride developed through competition to 
those the world believed could not compete.
  Today, Special Olympics has become one of the largest and most 
successful sports and volunteer organizations in the world. Nearly 1 
million Special Olympics athletes, from ages 8 to 80, train and compete 
year round for the love of sport, the thrill of accomplishment, and for 
some, the chance to compete in the quadrennial world summer games.
  Mr. President, I am extraordinarily proud to report that from 14 
cities worldwide, New Haven, CT, was selected to host the Ninth Special 
Olympics World Games. Accordingly, in July 1995, 6,700 athletes from 
every State in the Union and from 125 nations around the world will 
travel to Connecticut to demonstrate that they have the desire, 
courage, and the skills to compete in world class competition.
  The half-million spectators who come to watch will enjoy one of the 
most exciting and inspiring experiences of a lifetime. They will see 
outstanding athletic competition in the true Olympic spirit.
  The bill I am introducing today would authorize the issuance of 
800,000 limited-edition 1 dollar silver coins, which will be emblematic 
of the 1995 Special Olympic World Games. Funds raised through the sale 
of the coins will be used to provide a world class sporting event for 
athletes with mental retardation and to demonstrate to a global 
audience the extraordinary talents, dedication, and courage of persons 
with mental retardation.
  I am joined today by a number of our colleagues who enthusiastically 
support the Special Olympics movement. President Clinton is equally 
supportive of the 1995 Special Olympics World Games, and he recently 
agreed to honor this world class sporting event by serving as its 
honorary chairman.
  My good friend and former colleague, Governor Lowell Weicker, serves 
as the chairman of the 1995 Special Olympics World Games Organizing 
Committee in Connecticut.
  It is estimated that the games will attract a half-million 
spectators, 45,000 volunteers, and 1,500 representatives from national 
and international media. Tens of millions of people will view the 
worldwide television coverage of this event.
  The opening ceremonies alone will probably have an audience of 90,000 
persons and be televised on a major network. We are estimating that 
several heads of state and First Ladies, as well as 20 to 30 
Ambassadors will be present when President Clinton officially opens the 
games.
  The excitement and splendor of these games will extend well beyond 
the competition on the field. The worlds of science, diplomacy, art, 
culture, and entertainment will unite in a celebration of the spirit of 
Special Olympics and achievements of persons with mental retardation.
  The games organizing committee has begun collaborating with the 
United Nations and with leading scholars at Yale University to ensure 
that the message of these games is heard and studied by the world's 
leading policymakers, educators, and scientists. Their plans call for 
an international symposium at the United Nations focusing on the policy 
and programming issues facing people with mental retardation all over 
the world.
  Mr. President, an event of this magnitude requires substantial 
organization and planning. It also needs significant financial 
resources. The cost-neutral bill that I am introducing today would 
raise up to $8 million to help underwrite the cost of staging the 1995 
Special Olympics World Games.
  The thousands of athletes who train for years to experience the 
excitement of international athletic competition deserve the 
opportunity to travel to New Haven for the change of a lifetime. The 
funds raised by the issuance of the coin authorized in this bill will 
help ensure that their dreams come true.
  The coins issued pursuant to this bill would be subject to the 
provisions of section 5134 of title 31, United States Code, relating to 
the newly established numismatic public enterprise fund. The 
legislation explicitly stipulates that the minting and issuance of the 
coins authorized in this bill shall not result in any cost to the 
Federal Government.
  Mr. President, I understand that in recent years there has been some 
question about the success of commemorative coins in the marketplace, 
so let me say a brief word about the 1995 Special Olympics World Games 
commemorative coin offering. First, our bill proposes a relatively 
small issue of a single coin. Second, the traditional marketplace of 2 
million devoted coin collectors will be significantly expanded for this 
coin.
  The Special Olympics movement is worldwide in scope. There are nearly 
1 million Special Olympics athletes worldwide and nearly 450,000 in the 
United States alone. There are more than 1 million family members in 
the United States who are actively involved with Special Olympics; that 
number increases to 2 million active families worldwide. There are more 
than 500,000 Special Olympics volunteers and 250,000 coaches worldwide.
  Families, volunteers, and supporters of the Special Olympics movement 
provide a tremendous market for consumer products advertised in 
connection with the 1995 games, including the first-ever Special 
Olympics coin.
  Moreover, the 1995 Special Olympics World Games Organizing Committee 
has developed an aggressive marketing plan that will utilize the 
Special Olympics chapter structure in every State and in more than 120 
countries around the world. Ads will be run during the network and 
cable broadcast coverage of the event, and the coins would be made 
available to the hundreds of thousands of Special Olympics supporters 
who attend the Games.
  I remind my colleagues that Special Olympics is a movement that 
represents 190 million people with mental retardation worldwide, so I 
am confident that there is a market for these coins.
  Mr. President, I invite every Member of the Senate to share the 
sport, spirit, splendor of the 1995 Special Olympics World Games. I 
urge every one of my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I am pleased to join with Senator Dodd in 
sponsoring this bill which authorizes the minting of coins to 
commemorate the 1995 Special Olympics World Games. Although the sales 
of these coins will provide important financial support for the Special 
Olympics, they have a much larger significance. In the past, the 
Treasury has issued coins for the Olympics and the World Cup, but this 
will be the first time for an international sports event featuring 
disabled athletes.
  In my view, these coins are more evidence we live in a new age of 
disability. In 1990, Congress passed the Americans With Disabilities 
Act, determined to base our national disability policy on the 
principles of equal opportunity and full participation. Last July, to 
extend these principles to American foreign policy, I introduced, with 
strong bipartisan support, a bill which recognized for the first time 
that discrimination against the disabled is a human rights violation.
  Mr. President, the Special Olympics helped forge this new age. As 
Sarge Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, wrote to me recently, 
``for 10,000 years persons with mental retardation have been hidden in 
jails or cooped up in institutions, or in some countries actually 
killed. In 1968 a private philanthropic movement was started by an 
American woman, and since then life for the 280 million human beings 
with mental retardation have been changed forever.'' Let me note that 
woman was, of course, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Sarge's wife.
  I am a longtime supporter of the Special Olympics. In June 1974 I 
spoke on the Senate floor about the Kansas Special Olympic Games, which 
I had just attended. And on July 1, 1995, I hope to join the 6,700 
athletes with mental retardation from 125 countries, the special 
olympics team from Kansas, and 70,000 other spectators at the opening 
ceremonies of the 1995 Special Olympics at the Yale Bowl.
  Mr. President, in closing let me note that there will be no net cost 
to the Government in minting these coins, lest anyone think we are 
forgetting our fiscal responsibilities. I urge my colleagues to join 
with me in supporting this bill.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I am very pleased to cosponsor the 1995 
Special Olympics World Games Commemorative Coin Act. Beginning on July 
1, 1995, my home town of New Haven, CT, will have the privilege and the 
honor of hosting the 1995 summer games. This legislation, introduced by 
Senator Dodd here in the Senate and by Congresswoman DeLauro in the 
House, is an excellent way to help raise funds for the event.
  The Special Olympics provide an extraordinary opportunity for 
athletes with mental disabilities from around the globe to come 
together and share in the spirit and rewards of athletic competition. 
All over the world Special Olympics athletes compete year round in 
Special Olympics competitions. These events help disabled individuals 
strive to realize their full potential, and gain the sense of enjoyment 
and self-worth that comes from doing one's best.
  Those athletes that reach the quadrennial world summer games will 
have the privilege of competing in a world class competition. 
Organizers of the summer games expect the event to involve 6,700 
athletes from over 120 countries, as well as 2,000 coaches, 15,000 
families and friends, 45,000 volunteers, and half a million spectators. 
Tens of millions of people are expected to view television coverage of 
the games.
  The potential benefits of the event are immeasurable. As we know from 
the winter Olympics now underway in Norway, Olympic competition 
benefits not only the athletes but all of those who participate. The 
dedication, courage, and spirit demonstrated by the Special Olympic 
athletes help break down the stigma and stereotypes associated with 
mental illness and remind all of us how important it is to build a 
society where individuals can live up to their full potential.
  This bill will authorize the issuance of 800,000 limited edition $1 
silver coins bearing the Special Olympics emblem. Money raised through 
the sale of these coins will help fund the 1995 Special Olympic World 
Games. The coins will pay for themselves, so that the bill will not 
impose a net cost on the Federal Government.
  I am pleased that President Clinton is the honorary chairman of the 
games, and that Connecticut Governor Lowell Weicker is chairing the 
games organizing committee in Connecticut. I commend Governor Weicker 
for his commitment to the games, and I look forward to working with him 
and with Senator Dodd, Congresswoman DeLauro, and with our colleagues 
in Congress to help make the 1995 Special Olympic World Summer Games an 
event all Americans can participate in and be proud of.
                                 ______

      By Mr. CHAFEE:
  S. 1861. A bill to suspend temporarily the duty on certain pigments; 
to the Committee on Finance.


                      duty suspension legislation

  Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation to 
grant temporary duty suspensions for the importation of several 
chemical products.
  These products are colorants that are used in the coating, ink, and 
plastic industries; and they are particularly important because they 
are used to replace colorants that use heavy metals such as lead and 
cadmium.
  Duty is placed on foreign products in order to prevent harm to U.S. 
companies producing the same product. However, in this case, none of 
the colorants in question is produced in the United States. That means 
that the granting of these duty suspensions should not affect any 
domestic chemical industry.
  That also means that these particular duties serve solely as an added 
cost to those U.S. companies who need the products and must purchase 
them from foreign firms. We have one such company in my State, and it 
employs some 850 persons in a town with a population of just 31,000, 
making it the major employer. In this difficult economic time, the 
significant cost of these duties cannot be passed on to the company's 
customers. That means the company, faced with losing customers or 
cutting back internally, has no choice but to cut back to the bone 
internally. This kind of cost reduction effort inevitably threatens 
jobs.
  Enactment of these duty suspensions will ensure that our domestic 
coating, ink, and plastics industry compete fairly with foreign 
competitors. Our foreign competitors do not have to pay the extra costs 
imposed by these duties. By paying these duties, our industry is placed 
at a competitive disadvantage.
  The bill I am introducing today would grant duty suspensions through 
December 31, 1998. It is my hope that Congress soon will move to enact 
comprehensive duty suspension legislation that will include these 
provisions.
  I ask unanimous consent that the legislation be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1861

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. TEMPORARY DUTY SUSPENSION FOR CERTAIN PIGMENTS.

       (A) In General.--Subchapter II of chapter 99 of the 
     Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States is amended by 
     inserting in numerical sequence the following new headings:

``9902.32.1  Hostaperm Yellow H4G (CAS No. 031837-42-); Pigment Yellow 151)                No     No     On or  
 1.           (provided for in subheading 3204.17.50)...............................  Fre   char   chan   before
                                                                                       e    ge     ge     12/31/
                                                                                                          98    
99021.32.12  PV Fast Yellow H3R (CAS No. 074441-05-7; Pigment Yellow 181) (provided        No     No     On or  
              for in subheading 3204.17.30).........................................  Fre   chan   chan   berore
                                                                                       e    ge     ge     12/31/
                                                                                                          98    
9902.32.13.  Hostaperm Yellow H3G (CAS No. 068134-22-5; Pigment Yellow 154)                No     No     On or  
              (provided for in subheading 3204.17.30)...............................  Fre   chan   chan   before
                                                                                       e    ge     ge     12/31/
                                                                                                          98    
9902.32.14.  Hostaperm Yellow H6G (CAS No. 035636-63-6; Pigment Yellow 175)                No     No     On or  
              (provided for in subheading 3204.17.30)...............................  Fre   chan   chan   before
                                                                                       e    ge     ge     12/31/
                                                                                                          98    
9902.32.15.  PV Fast Yellow HG (CAS No. 077804-81-0; Pigment Yellow 180) (provided         No     No     On or  
              for in subheading 3204.17.30).........................................  Fre   chan   chan   before
                                                                                       e    ge     ge     12/31/
                                                                                                          98    
9902.32.16.  PV Fast Yellow HGR (CAS No. 129423-54-7; Pigment Yellow 191) (provided        No     No     On or  
              for in subheading 3204.17.30).........................................  Fre   chan   chan   before
                                                                                       e    ge     ge     12/31/
                                                                                                          98    
9902.32.17.  PV Fast Red HF4B (CAS No. 059487-23-9; Pigment Red 187) (provided for         No     No     On or  
              in subheading 3204.17.30).............................................  Fre   chan   chan   before
                                                                                       e    ge     ge     12/31/
                                                                                                          98    
9902.32.18.  PV Red HG (CAS No. 043035-18-3; Pigment Red 247) (provided for in             No     No     On or  
              subheading 3204.17.30)................................................  Fre   chan   chan   before
                                                                                       e    ge     ge     12/31/
                                                                                                          98    
9902.32.19.  PV Red HB (CAS No. 043035-18-3; Pigment Red 247) (provided for in             No     No     On or  
              subheading 3204.17.30)................................................  Fre   chan   chan   before
                                                                                       e    ge     ge     12/31/
                                                                                                          98    
9902.32.20.  PV Fast Orange H4G-L (CAS No. 078245-94-0; Pigment Orange 72) (provided       No     No     On or  
              for in subheading 3204.17.30).........................................  Fre   chan   chan   before
                                                                                       e    ge     ge     12/31/
                                                                                                          98    
9902.32.21.  Permanent Yellow NCG-71 (CAS No. 005979-28-2; Pigment Yellow 16)              No     No     On or  
              (provided for in subheading 3204.17.10)...............................  Fre   chan   chan   before
                                                                                       e    ge     ge     12/31/
                                                                                                          98    
9902.32.22.  PV Carmine HF4C (CAS No. 051920-12-8; Pigment Red 185) (provided for in       No     No     On or  
              subheading 3204.17.10)................................................  Fre   chan   chan   before
                                                                                       e    ge     ge     12/31/
                                                                                                          98    
9902.32.23.  Novoperm Red HF28-01 (CAS No. 031778-10-6; Pigment Red 208) (provided         No     No     On or  
              for in subheading 3204.17.10).........................................  Fre   chan   chan   before
                                                                                       e    ge     ge     12/31/
                                                                                                          98    
9902.32.24.  Novoperm Red HF3S (CAS No. 061847-48-1; Pigment Red 188) (provided for        No     No     On or  
              in subheading 3204.17.10).............................................  Fre   chan   chan   before
                                                                                       e    ge     ge     12/31/
                                                                                                          98    
9902.32.25.  Novoperm Red HF3S-70 (CAS No. 061847-48-1; Pigment Red 188) (provided         No     No     On or  
              for in subheading 3204.17.10).........................................  Fre   chan   chan   before
                                                                                       e    ge     ge     12/31/
                                                                                                          98''. 
                                                                                                                

       (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section 
     applies with respect to goods entered, or withdrawn from 
     warehouse for consumption, on or after the 15th day after the 
     date of the enactment of this Act.
                                 ______

      By Mr. McCONNELL:
  S. 1862. A bill to repeal the public financing of and spending limits 
on Presidential election campaigns; to the Committee on Rules and 
Administration.


        taxpayer-funded presidential campaign system repeal act

 Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, there is an annual poll on the 
Presidential system of taxpayer-funded spending limits called ``the 
checkoff.'' In 1992, the checkoff rate was just over 17 percent, 
continuing the nose dive that has marked it since soon after its 
inception. The vast majority of the American people choose not to 
divert $1 from the Treasury to prop up the Presidential system.
  Five elections and three-quarters of a billion dollars later, the 
fund is nearly bankrupt.
  Before the Senate Rules Committee in recent years, one nonpartisan 
witness after another has testified that the Presidential system of 
spending limits doesn't work as advertised. It limits neither spending 
nor special interests.
  We have, in the current Presidential system, an expensive failure 
that Americans do not choose to support with taxes they have already 
paid. The Presidential system is a massive fraud that most Americans 
are not falling for anymore.
  Taxpayer dollars that have been pumped into the Presidential system 
have not replaced special interests--they have merely augmented them. 
Spending has not been limited in the Presidential system--it has gone 
underground into ``sewer'' soft money.
  The Presidential Election Campaign Fund and the system it props up is 
a disaster, riddled with special interest soft money--off the books, 
unlimited and undisclosed.
  Virtually every reputable scholar who has studied the issue believes 
the Presidential system is a disaster. Among the most notable of these 
scholars is Michael Malbin of the Rockefeller Institute of Government 
who testified before the Senate Rules Committee in 1991:

       In every presidential election since public funding, 
     spending has gone up--with more and more of the money going 
     off the books and underground. If people care enough about an 
     election, they will look for ways to get involved. If they 
     are big and well organized, and cannot contribute directly, 
     then they will look at independent expenditures. Or delegate 
     committees. Or registration and got-out-the-vote. Or 
     communicating with members. Or buying issue ads that 
     publicize the position of an incumbent without directly 
     advocating election or defeat. Or dozens of devices--some of 
     which have not even been thought up.
       Off-the-book activities like these have become more 
     prominent in every election since 1976. Some of them can be 
     regulated, but there is no way they can all be eliminated 
     without running roughshod over the First Amendment. More 
     importantly, all of these devices favor the well organized 
     and the powerful over smaller participants. What the limits 
     seem to be doing, in other words, is encouraging the powerful 
     to engage in subterfuge and legal gamesmanship. It is giving 
     them an incentive to increase their influence in ways that 
     are poorly disclosed. As a cure for cynicism or corruption, 
     this seems bizarre.

  Mr. President, what is really bizarre is forcing taxpayers to pay for 
a proven disaster and proposing to expand it to include congressional 
races.
  The Baltimore Sun published an editorial a couple of years ago 
reflecting taxpayer disdain for the fund, later reprinted in the 
Lexington, KY, Herald-Leader:

       The overwhelming majority of taxpayers think campaign 
     subsidies are a bad idea, period. More think so every year.
       The public's support for public financing can be measured 
     by the percentage of 1040 forms filed each year with $1 or $2 
     checked off for the presidential campaign fund. This is not 
     an extra dollar or two of taxes, just an earmarking. It costs 
     the filer nothing. Yet the percentage of those checking off 
     has fallen every year since 1980 * * *
       Why has public support declined? Perhaps because the public 
     is learning that this subsidy has supplemented rather than 
     replaced special interest money.

  Mr. President, it is often said that regardless of what the objective 
scholars say, despite the clear rejection of the checkoff by our 
constituents, Americans actually support public funding in exchange for 
spending limits Many Senators want taxpayers to pay for all 
congressional campaigns as well.
  Yet over 80 percent of taxpayers choose not to check off $1 from 
taxes already paid to go to the Presidential system. My constituents 
have resoundingly rejected the Presidential system of taxpayer 
financing. Only 10 percent of Kentuckians check off for that mess, to 
allocate $1 from taxes already paid.
  Mr. President, that's not a poll. That's reality.
  There is no outpouring of support among Kentuckians, or residents of 
any other State, for an entitlement program to pay for congressional 
campaigns. They are instead screaming out that they do not want their 
tax dollars paying for anyone's campaign. Not ours. Not the 
President's. Not David Duke's. Not Lenora Fulani's. Not anybody's.
  And certainly not a campaign that Lyndon LaRouche ran from his prison 
cell. Yet, Mr. LaRouche soon will receive Federal matching funds for 
the Presidential campaign he conducted while serving a 15-year sentence 
for fraud.
  The taxpayer-funded Presidential system is a failed government 
program. Reformers had a dream in the 1970s which the Federal Election 
Campaign Act transformed into reality. A reality that has now turned 
into the taxpayers' nightmare. The fund's supporters had a utopian 
vision of a system cleansed of special interests, where money was not a 
concern for candidates. That was their dream two decades ago.
  Time to stop dreaming, Mr. president. Time to wake up. The 
Presidential system is a disaster, taxpayers cannot afford it and they 
certainly do not support it.
  Taxpayers sure are not clamoring for a taxpayer-financed 
congressional system. They do not want to pay for David Duke to further 
his agenda. They do not want to pay for Lenora Fulani to further her 
agenda. They do not want their tax dollars used to pay for furthering 
anyone's agenda.
  Voters are telling us that it is time we furthered the taxpayers' 
agenda. Our first spending cut should be to end a politicians' 
entitlement program--the taxpayer-funded Presidential system.
  To add a little historical perspective to this issue, let me add the 
following interesting footnote: former House Speaker Jim Wright made 
the following comment to a colleague who was opposed to the 
Presidential Fund during the debate over its creation in 1974: 
``Congress could repeal this law if it did not work out as we intend, 
at any time in the future.''
  Mr. President, it has been nearly 20 years since that debate. The 
Presidential Election Campaign Fund has failed. The legislation I am 
introducing would end it.
                                 ______

      By Mr. COHEN (for himself, Mr. Dole, Mrs. Kassebaum, Mr. Kohl, 
        Mr. Lugar, Mr. Thurmond, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Warner, Mr. 
        Domenici, Mr. Chafee, Mr. Bennett, and Mr. Stevens):
  S. 1863. A bill to amend title II of the Social Security Act to 
institute certain reforms relating to the provision of disability 
insurance benefits based on substance abuse and relating to 
representative payees, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Finance.


  the social security disability and rehabilitation reform act of 1994

 Mr. COHEN. Mr. President, today I am joining with Senators 
Dole, Kassebaum, Kohl, Lugar, Thurmond, Grassley, Warner, Domenici, 
Chafee, Bennett, and Stevens in introducing legislation to stop the 
flow of millions of Federal dollars into the hands of illegal drug 
users, many of whom simply turn around and use the money to buy more 
drugs.
  By reforming the Social Security disability programs, our legislation 
will encourage treatment for substance abusers, get tough on those who 
manipulate the system, and send the strong message that the Federal 
Government will no longer be handing out blank checks to drug dealers 
and addicts, and others who are not seriously trying to help themselves 
when rehabilitation is possible.
  Under current law, drug addicts and alcoholics are eligible for 
supplemental security income [SSI] and Social Security disability 
[SSDI] benefits if they are not able to work and if their disability is 
expected to last more than 1 year.
  Although the current law places conditions on drug addicts and 
alcoholics who receive benefits, a year-long investigation conducted by 
the minority staff of the Senate Special Committee on Aging and the 
General Accounting Office found that the current disability system is 
totally out of control. The laxity in the system not only wastes 
valuable tax dollars, but also undermines our war on violent crime and 
drug abuse and endangers the substance abusers themselves by giving 
them more money to fuel their addictions.
  Currently, substance abusers are eligible for SSI benefits only if 
they receive appropriate treatment for their substance abuse, if 
treatment is available. Also, their benefits are supposed to be paid to 
a third party to protect the money from abuse.
  Our investigation found, however, that these rules are rarely 
followed. Instead, the word on the street is that the Social Security 
disability programs are an easy source of cash for drugs and alcohol, 
and that once the Government checks start flowing, the Government 
hardly ever checks up to see if the addict is going to treatment--or to 
be sure that the benefits are not being used to buy more drugs.
  The bottom line is that addicts are actually seeking out the 
disability programs to get money for their additions.
  If Willie Sutton was alive today, in addition to robbing banks, the 
probably would be tempted to apply for Social Security disability 
benefits--because that's where the money is.
  The size of the problem is staggering. According to the GAO, at least 
250,000 drug addicts and alcoholics are now receiving over $1.4 billion 
in cash benefits from the SSI and the Social Security disability 
insurance programs. However, only about 78,000 of these recipients--or 
less than one-third--are now required by the Social Security 
Administration to receive treatment for their addictions or to have 
someone else collect their checks on their behalf.
  This means that no one is-watching over $1.1 billion in SSI and 
disability benefits being paid each year to over 170,000 drug addicts 
and alcoholics. No treatment is required and no guardian for the 
benefits is appointed. Instead, the cash benefits are freely available 
to feed their addictions.
  The picture gets worse. Of the 78,000 substance abusers who are 
supposed to be watched by the SSA to be sure they are under tight 
controls, less than 10 percent were known by the Social Security 
Administration to be in treatment.
  In other words, only about 3 percent of all drug addicts and 
alcoholics on the disability rolls are known to be in treatment for 
their substance abuse. The Federal Government does not have a clue 
whether the rest are in treatment or not--or where these dollars are 
going.
  What is clear, however, is that tax dollars are being used to support 
illegal drug habits. Earlier this month, for example, a drug bust in 
Williamsport, PA netted at least 28 packets of cocaine, a cutting agent 
for mixing cocaine--and direct deposit receipts from Social Security 
disability checks. According to the local district attorney, two of the 
three suspects allegedly had been receiving Social Security benefits 
for their drug addictions, but were not in any treatment program.
  The Federal Government's performance in this program has been 
disgraceful. Through last year, for example, the Social Security 
Administration had established programs to monitor treatment 
requirements for substance abuse recipients in only 18 States. While 
steps are now underway by the Social Security Administration to monitor 
addicts in many more States, these actions are long overdue.
  Further, we found that some lump sum benefits--in some cases over 
$20,000--are being paid to drug addicts and alcoholics, many of whom 
are spending the money on drugs or alcohol, resulting in dangerous 
consequences, or even death, to the claimants. Even when the benefits 
are paid to a third party, this money often finds its way back into the 
hands of the addicts--and into the local bar or drug houses.

  For example, an SSI applicant was found to be disabled on the basis 
of his drug addiction, and then died of a lethal drug overdose 
purchased with his lump sum benefits from SSA.
  Another addict used his $19,000 lump sum benefit check to buy 
cocaine.
  We have even found cases where the Federal Government is awarding 
disability benefits to drug addicts even when it knows first hand that 
the addict is dealing drugs or engaging in other criminal activity to 
sustain his or her habit.
  To sum it up, the message of our disability program is:
  Show us that you are a severe drug addict and the Government will pay 
you.
  As long as you continue to shoot up or drink, the money keeps coming.
  Then, even if you tell us that you are breaking the law to get your 
drugs, we'll still pay you.
  And finally, once we start the checks, they will probably never stop 
coming.
  At the same time that we are losing the war against violent crime and 
drug abuse, this is an outrageous message for the Federal Government to 
send.
  Tragically, these lax policies not only drain the Federal Treasury, 
but also are detrimental to substance abusers themselves by rewarding 
addiction, and by discouraging and failing to provide necessary 
treatment.
  Psychiatrists and drug abuse counselors have told us that the laxity 
in the current system violates the basic rules of drug and alcohol 
treatment: Never give cash to an addict, because it is like giving him 
or her the key to the medicine cabinet.
  Studies show that giving cash to an addict greatly undermines 
treatment. For example, visits to a methadone treatment program dropped 
off sharply directly after the drug addicts received their disability 
checks. Other drug abuse treatment experts have told us that drug 
induced psychosis cases often increase at the end of the first week of 
the month, and that requests for treatment drop off during the first 
few days of the month. It is no coincidence that this is the same time 
that the SSI and disability checks arrive in the mail.
  It is crucial that we fix this system which has run amok.
  The legislation we are introducing today will go far in stopping the 
cash from flowing into the pockets of drug dealers and into the veins 
of drug addicts.
  Specifically, the bill requires that any individual who receives 
disability benefits under the SSDI and SSI programs on the basis of 
substance abuse must undergo appropriate treatment for substance abuse 
if it is available; comply with the terms of treatment; and receive 
benefits through a qualified representative payee.
  The bill sets up a strict disability review process for those who 
disability is based on substance abuse. Upon completion of first year 
of treatment the SSA will be required to review the case for continued 
disability and compliance with treatment requirements. If an individual 
fails to comply with treatment, benefits will be suspended.
  At the end of 2 years of treatment, the individual is again reviewed. 
If substance abuse is no longer a basis for disability, no additional 
treatment is required.
  In no event will disability payments be made on the basis of 
substance abuse for more than a cumulative period of 3 years. This 
termination will not affect any person receiving SSI/SSDI benefits made 
on the basis of other nonsubstance abuse medical impairments.
  To address the need for more treatment of hard core addicts, the bill 
gives high priority to SSI and disability insurance substance abusers 
in programs supported through the substance abuse block grant.
  To stop abuses in the payment of benefits to third parties, the bill 
requires representatives payees for substance abuse recipients to be 
Government agencies or other facilities, which will not be subject to 
coercion by the substance abuser.
  The bill also requires that any lump sum benefit payable to a 
substance abusers in SSI and SSDI must be paid to a representative 
payee.
  We also require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to 
designate an agency to refer and monitor treatment of individuals who 
receive benefits on the basis of substance abuse for each State within 
1 year of enactment.
  The bill further requires that any proceeds derived from criminal 
activity to support substance abuse shall be considered substantial 
gainful activity, thereby making that individual ineligible for 
benefits.

  Finally, the bill includes tough measures to stop the manipulation of 
the disability program by addicts and others who want to cash in on the 
disability system. Specifically, the bill toughens penalties for 
fraudulent statements or misrepresentations made by applicants or 
recipients to obtain SSI or SSDI benefits, or by others who assist in 
such fraudulent acts. The Secretary of HHS is also given authority to 
exclude from all HHS health and disability programs any person who 
defrauds the disability system in order to receive or help someone else 
receive benefits.
  Far from abandoning substance abusers, this proposal stresses 
treatment and rehabilitation, while closing the loopholes in the 
disability system which now invite abuse.
  If we are serious about reducing illegal drug abuse and reforming our 
welfare system, we cannot ignore these wasteful, counterproductive 
practices in our Social Security disability system. Fighting crime is 
hard enough without supplying the other side with money for their 
drugs.
  The proposal we are introducing today is an important step toward 
reforming the disability process into a system that encourages 
rehabilitation for those who can and should recover from their 
addictions, rather than providing a lifelong--and life threatening--
source of cash for drugs.

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