[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 143 (Wednesday, October 5, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 5, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      SUPERFUND KILLED BY GRIDLOCK

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, today is kind of a sorry day for me 
because I learned that the House decided that it was impossible to act 
on the Superfund reauthorization bill. That decision effectively kills 
any chance for action on this legislation this year.
  I regret that, Mr. President. I regret it very much.
  When I came to the Senate in 1982, one of the committees that I 
sought to join was the Environment and Public Works Committee and was 
finally able to do that. And I got very involved with Superfund, with 
the program and plans for its reauthorization which finally took place 
in 1986 for the first reiteration. We fought hard. We got what was a 
good bill, certainly better than the first presentation that had passed 
and was signed into law. But we saw the flaws and we saw the defeats.
  Senator Baucus and I introduced a further iteration of the Superfund 
Reform Act of 1994 which was done in February of this year. We really 
thought that finally we had fashioned something that could be 
efficient, that would pass.
  We had worked hard on the bill. Indeed, 2 years ago, as chair of the 
Senate's Superfund Subcommittee, I began a series of a dozen hearings 
and commissioned several investigations to define the problems with the 
current Superfund law and develop ways to fix it.
  Working closely with the chairman of the Environment and Public Works 
Committee and with the administration, we crafted a sweeping reform 
bill that would speed up cleanups by at least 20 percent, make cleanups 
more cost-effective, cut in half the money that is being wasted on 
lawyers instead of cleanup, and promote job creation and economic 
development throughout the country.
  Let me point to just four specific virtues of the proposed bill.
  First, a new out-of-court arbitration process and improvements to the 
cleanup process could have saved businesses nearly half a billion 
dollars a year in lawyers' fees and almost $400 million a year in 
unnecessary cleanup costs.
  Second, communities would have been able to get a much earlier and 
much more direct say in how sites in their neighborhoods should be 
cleaned up. There would have been Federal funding to hire technical 
experts and advisors to help them participate meaningfully in cleanup 
decisions.
  Third, parties like the Girl Scouts, local taxpayers, small 
businesses, and churches would have been protected from frivolous 
lawsuits brought by polluters to shift the cost of cleanup to innocent 
parties who sent only ordinary household garbage to Superfund sites.
  And fourth, everyone would have benefited from the creation of a 
program to promote voluntary cleanups, which can free up fallow, 
contaminated property for economic redevelopment and job creation. That 
part of the bill was modeled after a similar law in New Jersey that has 
already produced 3,000 jobs and several hundred million dollars' worth 
of economic redevelopment in our State. Enhancing this program in New 
Jersey and expanding it to the rest of the country could pay off in 
billions of dollars of economic opportunity.
  The bill we developed reflected an unusual coalition of business 
groups, environmentalists, and community activists. It really 
represented a consensus which met the needs of every group that had 
worked with Superfund in the past. They came together to support a bill 
which did not give them everything they wanted, but gave them 
everything they needed. And that really was a remarkable feat.
  The administration worked hard to build support for the bill. Senator 
Baucus the chairman of the committee, was incredibly supportive. 
Senators Chafee and Durenberger were always cooperative.
  But, in the end, the bill will not be passed. And we have to ask why.
  That same question could be asked about a long list of widely--
supported bills that have been killed in this Congress.
  In my view, Mr. President, the answer is simple: the Republican 
leadership simply did not want the Congress, as an institution, to 
demonstrate that it can do the business of the people. That is not just 
my view. It is virtually the public admission of the Republican 
leadership which has said, for months, that they did not want our 
Superfund bill to pass.
  In the past, I have encountered steady opposition by Republican 
Senators who stalled for months any serious consideration of the bill 
and asked for extremist changes that would destroy its reforms. Despite 
the pleas from hundreds of thousands of small businesses, and from 
municipalities, school boards, business associations, and even the 
Salvation Army and American Bible Society to let this bill pass, the 
Republican leadership has been very clear over the past 2 months that 
they are not interested in moving this bill forward.
  And unfortunately, in the Senate where the rules and filibusters give 
the minority the ability to paralyze legislation, we can see very 
clearly the handwriting on the wall if we ask for a vote on Superfund 
reform.
  Mr. President, my bill is supported by environmentalists and industry 
alike, but the Senate Republicans are intent on denying the Congress 
and the Democrats any legislative accomplishments this year in order to 
claim an advantage in the upcoming elections.
  In the past few weeks, there has been an unprecedented abuse of the 
filibuster and procedural rules of the Senate as the Republicans have 
stalled and killed bill after bill. Just yesterday, we saw five 
filibusters going simultaneously on the floor.
  All I can hope is that after the November elections the partisan 
rancor that has infected the 103d Congress will disappear. I pledge to 
continue my efforts next year, with Chairman Baucus and the President 
and any and all Senators of either party, who are committed to dealing 
with this problem.
  There are 73 million Americans--one in four--who live near Superfund 
sites. They are depending on all of us in Congress--both Democrats and 
Republicans--to make Superfund reform a reality. They deserve to have 
their voices heard. We owe it to them, the people of America, to pass 
this legislation.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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