[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 43 (Wednesday, March 8, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3662-S3663]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS AND RESCISSIONS ACT

  The Senate continued with the consideration of the bill.
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending 
amendment be temporarily set aside.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                           Amendment No. 329

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask for 
its immediate consideration. I ask that it be read in full.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from North Carolina [Mr. Helms] proposes an 
     amendment numbered 329.

       At the appropriate place in the bill, insert the following 
     new section:

     SEC.   . LIMITATION ON EMERGENCY AND EXTRAORDINARY EXPENSES

       (a) In General.--Funds appropriated or otherwise made 
     available to the Department of Defense may not be obligated 
     under section 127 of title 10, United States Code, for the 
     provision of assistance, including the donation, sale, or 
     financing for sale, of any time, to a foreign country that is 
     ineligible under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or the 
     Arms Export Control Act to receive any category of 
     assistance.
       (b) Effective Date.--The limitations in subsection (a) 
     shall apply to obligations made on or after the date of 
     enactment of this Act.

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, the amendment speaks for itself.
  Mr. President, the pending amendment to funds appropriated for title 
10, section 127 of the United States Code makes the point that if and 
when a country is not allowed to receive foreign aid from the United 
States, then, under the provision, that country would not be allowed to 
benefit from any of the funds provided by the authority of section 127.
  Section 127 authorizes the Department of Defense to provide for ``any 
emergency or extraordinary expense 
[[Page S3663]] which cannot be anticipated or classified.'' It is a 
slush fund for unanticipated expenses; the Department does not have to 
ask for congressional approval to expend any of the money.
  Let me add that I might not even have known about this little 
authority had the State Department not abused it so clearly in January 
of this year. At the Department of State's insistence, the Secretary of 
Defense authorized an almost $5 million expenditure from this account 
to purchase fuel oil for our enemy of 40 years, North Korea. Not once, 
since 1938 when the Department was first allowed to spend money for 
emergencies, has this fund ever been used for anything like this.
  So why did they use it this time? To get around Congress. According 
to a senior U.S. defense official who spoke to the Washington Post on 
January 6 of this year, the United States had to use this authority 
because the Department of Defense ``had the funds on hand and no U.S. 
allies agreed to contribute money for the oil * * *'' It was not an 
emergency. It was simply one of the few accounts the State Department 
could raid to support its buy out of North Korea without having to come 
to Congress for approval.
  Congress has voted time and again that North Korea should not be 
eligible to receive aid because it is a known sponsor of international 
terrorism, it is a Communist country, and it is a country known to 
trample the human rights of its own citizens. Just last year, Congress 
voted to prohibit all direct and indirect assistance for North Korea. 
And yet, the administration found some way to get around all of this. 
And they abused DOD authorities in the process. My amendment aims to 
ensure that will not happen in the future.
  It is hard for me to imagine how there could be opposition to this 
one. If we are all in agreement that terrorists and drug traffickers 
should not get foreign aid from AID, then why should they be able to 
get foreign aid from the Department of Defense? My amendment is not 
retroactive and it would not prevent the Secretary of Defense from 
using emergency moneys the way they have been used since 1938. What it 
does is shore up one of the gaping loopholes in the way we provide 
foreign aid to other countries.
  Mr. President, I hope to move my amendment expeditiously.
  Mr. President, I think the amendment has been cleared on both sides.
  Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, speaking in behalf of the chairman of the 
Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, I am happy to report that we 
have studied this amendment. We find it proper. We accept it.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate? If not, the question 
is on agreeing to the amendment.
  The amendment (No. 329) was agreed to.
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the 
amendment was agreed to.
  Mr. INOUYE. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. PRESSLER addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Dakota.
  Mr. PRESSLER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. PRESSLER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be 
allowed to speak for 5 minutes as if in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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