[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 43 (Wednesday, March 8, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3669-S3670]
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.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senator from 
Arkansas is recognized.
  Mr. BUMPERS. Mr. President, is there a pending amendment at the desk?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The first committee amendment is the pending 
amendment.
  Mr. BUMPERS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the pending 
amendment may be laid aside so I may offer an amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Without objection, it is 
so ordered.


                           Amendment No. 330

  (Purpose: To restrict the obligation or expenditure of funds on the 
                 NASA/Russian Cooperative MIR program)

  Mr. BUMPERS. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Arkansas [Mr. Bumpers] proposes an 
     amendment numbered 330.

  Mr. BUMPERS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of 
the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

       At the end of the bill add the following:
       Sec.   . Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
     effective 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
     none of the funds made available for the National Aeronautics 
     and Space Administration by any previously enacted Act shall 
     be obligated or expended for the NASA/Russian Cooperative MIR 
     program, unless the President certifies to Congress that 
     Russia has agreed not to sell nuclear reactor components to 
     Iran.

  Mr. BUMPERS. Mr. President, I will be very brief, and I think that 
the floor managers might be in a position to accept this. It goes right 
to the heart of something that is near and dear to me, and I think all 
Senators and, indeed, the country share my sentiments. This simply says 
that the funds which have been allocated to NASA in 1995, $251.9 
million, for cooperation with the United States-Russian MIR space 
station will be suspended effective 30 days after the adoption of this 
amendment until the President certifies to us that the Russians will 
not sell nuclear reactors to Iran.
  Now, Mr. President, as you know, opposing cooperation with Russia is 
not normally my cup of tea. I have been a strong supporter of the Nunn-
Lugar initiative to help the Russians dismantle their bombers and their 
nuclear weapons. That is in our interest. That is the reason we do it. 
But for the Russians to cavalierly sell nuclear reactors to the number 
one terrorist regime in the world is not in their interest; it 
certainly is not in our interest--indeed, Mr. President, it is not in 
the world's interest-- until there are significant changes in the 
governing body of Iran.
  It is a militant regime. To the State Department and everybody else 
who assesses the nations most culpable in shielding terrorism, Iran is 
always at the top of the list.
  Now, Mr. President, this does not need to be debated. What I have 
just said is absolute, and I believe that everybody in this country 
agrees with the principle. I wish to help Russia. I want them to become 
a real democracy. I want them to become viable economically. But I do 
not want to be sending all this money to Russia if they are going to 
demonstrate a callous, total indifference to the safety of this world 
from nuclear weapons by selling nuclear technology to renegade 
governments such as Iran.
  Until this very day, Mr. President, until this very day, whenever 
there is a demonstration in Tehran, Uncle Sam and the American flag are 
invariably the subject of all the venom that the speakers and the 
marchers can muster.
  I am not trying to destroy the cooperation between the United States 
and Russia in space. But we are funding almost one-third of the entire 
Russian space program, and it is on the ropes. Thus the Russians need 
space cooperation with us more than we need space cooperation with 
them. I do not want to kill the Russian space program. But I do not 
want them selling reactors to Iran either.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Lautenberg be 
added as a cosponsor of this amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, today the Senate is considering H.R. 889, the 
Defense emergency supplemental appropriations. This bill provides $1.96 
billion to the Department of Defense for readiness by rescinding funds 
from other DOD programs. I will support H.R. 889 because it replenishes 
defense funds which were depleted to support unbudgeted operations in 
Haiti, Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Korea, and refugee support in the 
Caribbean. Without these reimbursements, defense readiness will 
certainly suffer.
  The Chief of Staff of the Army, Gen. Gordon Sullivan, testified 
before the House National Security Committee that ``readiness will drop 
off the table'' if the supplemental appropriations is not passed. He 
further stated that all Army training will cease May 31 if the funds 
are not provided. The Navy reports that 4 carrier airwings would be 
forced to stand down and 500 aircraft would be grounded. The Air Force 
has indicated that its flight time would be cut in half if the 
supplemental fails.
  The readiness crisis faced by the Armed Forces is not, unfortunately, 
a recent phenomenon. Defense Secretary William Perry admitted last year 
that in 1994, 3 of the Army's 12 divisions were far below peak 
readiness standards, and that 2 of the Army's main quick-reaction units 
would have been unable to fulfill some of their missions if they were 
ordered into combat. It was further revealed that, due to funding 
shortfalls, some platoon leaders had never taken their soldiers into 
the 
[[Page S3670]] field for training exercises, tank crews had not 
completed their drill evaluations, and platoons had not been evaluated 
with live fire exercise.
  The Armed Forces have found themselves in a readiness crisis for a 
variety of reasons, such as the new, unplanned deployments mentioned 
above. But, increased spending on nondefense items in the defense bill 
is another reason that funds are being syphoned off readiness accounts. 
For example, nondefense expenditures imposed by Congress in last year's 
bill include funding for community roads, ponds, sewers, and a plethora 
of other development projects. The Department of Defense, for instance, 
is paying for security at the World Cup Games and the Olympics. DOD is 
even paying for the roundup of wild horses in New Mexico. Nondefense 
programs are growing, gobbling up larger portions of the defense 
budget. The Congressional Research Service estimates that nondefense 
spending by DOD has nearly quadrupled from $3.5 billion in fiscal year 
1990 to $13 billion in fiscal year 1994.
  This is not to say that all R&D programs are unjustifiable. Some 
technology reinvestment programs [TRP], for example, are properly 
funded through the Department of Defense, because the program 
demonstrates a direct linkage back to defense. Other programs, such as 
some of the projects identified above, have no linkage to defense. This 
Nation simply cannot afford to allow the defense budget to become the 
cash cow for nondefense-related programs. In my view the general 
rescission identified by the Appropriations Committee is justifiable 
provided the funds come from the nondefense programs.
  I do disagree with the committee on one notable program recommended 
for rescission--the $77 million for the Apache AH64 attack helicopter. 
Last year, the Congress provided $77.6 million to procure 6 AH-64A 
aircraft because, as I recall, we were concerned that a break in 
production between the AH-64A and AH-64D could cause the program to 
escalate the costs of the low-rate procurement. At the same time, the 
Army requested $117.7 for advance procurement of Longbow radar, a key 
modernization feature, but only received $80 million. Faced with a 
difficult choice, the Army elected to submit a reprogramming request in 
order to proceed with full funding of the Longbow radar at the expense 
of the procurement of the six helicopters. The committee rejected the 
reprogramming request and rescinded the $77 million.
  I believe this action is a mistake since the Longbow program is 
clearly an essential Army helicopter modernization effort and certainly 
a justifiable defense program. For this reason, I intend to work with 
the chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to 
restore the funds for the Apache-Longbow procurement.
  Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, may 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. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, if during this period the managers do not 
mind, I would ask unanimous consent to be able to speak for 10 minutes 
as if in morning business and to set aside the pending amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? The Chair hears none, and 
the Senator from North Dakota is recognized for not to exceed 10 
minutes.

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