[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 120 (Thursday, September 5, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9869-S9873]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   MILITARY CONSTRUCTION APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1997--CONFERENCE REPORT

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will turn 
to the consideration of the conference report accompanying H.R. 3517, 
which the clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the 
     two Houses on the amendments of the Senate to the bill (H.R. 
     3517) making appropriations for military construction, family 
     housing, and base realignment and closure for the Department 
     of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1997, and 
     for other purposes, having met, after full and free 
     conference, have agreed to

[[Page S9870]]

     recommend and do recommend to their respective Houses this 
     report, signed by a majority of the conferees.

  The Senate proceeded to consider the conference report.
  (The conference report is printed in the House proceedings of the 
Record of July 30, 1996.)
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There shall now be 20 minutes of debate on the 
conference report equally divided in the usual form.
  The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I thank the Chair very much. We have been 
working very closely with my ranking member, Senator Reid, from Nevada. 
He has one little duty to perform before he comes to the floor. I would 
hate to start without him here because we have worked so closely on 
this piece of legislation.
  I will suggest the absence of a quorum until he arrives.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BURNS. 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the quorum call be rescinded.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. BURNS. Mr. President, I am pleased to bring before the Senate the 
conference report on the military construction appropriations bill for 
fiscal year 1997.

  Mr. President, the conference report is within the revised 602(b) 
budget allocation for both budget authority and outlays.
  The conference agreement is $850 million over the President's budget 
request. This amount is the same as what will be authorized in the 
armed services conference report. This conference agreement is $1.2 
billion under the amounts approved by the conferees last year.
  Mr. President, I believe the military construction budget is not 
being adequately funded. We have never recovered from the reductions 
that were made in anticipation of the base realignments and closures.
  I want to give the Pentagon fair warning. During this period of troop 
reductions and base closures throughout the United States and the 
world, we should have been dramatically modernizing our defense 
infrastructure.
  It is no longer business as usual. We must address these mounting 
deficiencies.
  I would like to mention briefly some provisions in this conference 
agreement. First, the conferees approved $2.5 billion for 
implementation of the base realignment and closure decisions. This 
amount includes $1.2 billion for the 1995 round. There is also $776 
million for environmental cleanup of these facilities. We have now 
funded the majority of BRAC requirements. Now we must make sure these 
funds are being correctly spent.
  Mr. President, $4 billion of this appropriation is for housing the 
families of our military. This is 41 percent of our appropriation. I am 
happy to say this percentage is growing. It was 38 percent last year. 
We must address the quality of life issues we have ignored for so long.
  Also, we have created a new initiative which will start to relieve 
some of the burden of providing adequate housing for our single 
soldiers. It is like Secretary Perry's efforts for family housing.
  Mr. President, the conference agreement provides an additional $185 
million for the National Guard. This includes additional funding for 
planning and design. The Army National Guard especially needs this 
funding to properly execute their construction program.
  I am confident that the President will not veto this bill. This bill 
includes funding for Incirlik, Turkey, where our Air Force has been 
flying the mission over the northern part of Iraq. Also, there is 
funding for Aviano, Italy, where our Air Force and Marines fly missions 
over Bosnia. We must all support our troops at this critical time.
  There is one issue my colleagues should be aware of. We have tied 
funding for the Army programs overseas to the Army National Guard. For 
years we have directed the Army to start supporting the Reserve 
components. Each year they have chosen to ignore the direction of the 
Senate.
  Mr. President, the appropriations conferees took a strong course of 
action on this issue. This year we have language which directs the Army 
to program $75 million for the Army National Guard. Officers within the 
Army have suggested that it is only report language. They do not think 
they need to follow our direction unless it is in bill language. What 
they do not understand is that this body supports the citizen soldier. 
We know that we will call on them if we ever have to face another major 
conflict. The Army has not figured this out. I want to put them on 
record. The Army is going to have a difficult time, until they start 
supporting the Guard.
  On a brighter note, we have included a sense of Congress which calls 
for the Secretary of the Army to name a new administrative facility, at 
Redstone Arsenal, AL, the Howell Heflin Complex. This is a small 
tribute to one of the great Senators of our time. I wish my friend well 
and hope he enjoys his coming years.
  Mr. President, this is good bill. It is a bill that meets the demands 
of our national security interests. I urge the Senate to approve the 
conference action on this issue.
  I now yield the floor and ask for the comments of the ranking member 
of this committee who has just been a joy to work with. We have worked 
on this a long time and, being very comfortable with the bill, I think 
it warrants passage. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, it has been a pleasure to work closely with 
the distinguished chairman on this measure. We have had an open, 
bipartisan approach to the problems of family housing, Reserve and 
Guard forces, and the other matters in the bill. We have not had any 
significant disagreements. I believe that this is a good product, and I 
hope that the Senate will support it overwhelmingly. I thank at this 
time the majority staff director, Jim Morhard and his assistant Warren 
Johnson, for their work and cooperation with my staff, Dick D'Amato a 
member of the Appropriations Committee assigned to me to work on this 
and other appropriations matters. B.G. Wright also of the 
Appropriations Committee, also has made a significant contribution. I 
publicly commend Peter Arapis and Jerry Reed of my personal staff who 
have dedicated many hours to the completion of this legislation.
  Mr. President, as I indicated, I am pleased to join with the 
distinguished chairman of the subcommittee, Senator Burns from Montana, 
in presenting this conference report on military construction for 
fiscal year 1997 before the Senate. Mr. President, I fully support the 
recommendations in this bill. I compliment the chairman of the 
subcommittee, the distinguished Senator from Montana [Mr. Burns], for 
his excellent work and that of his staff.
  The chairman of the subcommittee and I have again this year, enjoyed 
an open and productive working relationship in bringing the 
recommendations in this bill to the Senate.
  This bill, reported here today is $1.195 billion lower than last 
year's appropriated amount, and is also $50 million lower than the 
construction bill proposed by the House of Representatives.
  Again this year, our bill strives to improve the quality of life for 
the Nation's military service members. This military construction bill 
emphasizes housing initiatives, both for families and improved housing 
for single service members. It provides $4.1 billion for the 
construction, operation, and maintenance of family housing, and to the 
Homeowner's Assistance Program.
  I would like to be able to say that spending this $4.1 billion takes 
care of all the housing needs of our military, but it does not come 
close. We are going to have to continue working on that.
  I add, Mr. President, in time of crisis, we rely heavily on the Guard 
and Reserve. During the gulf war crisis, we called upon the Guard and 
Reserve to bear more than their share of the burden, especially based 
on how we have funded them in the past. This year's administration 
request included no, I repeat, no major construction projects for the 
Army National Guard. This practice is completely unacceptable. 
Administration requests including no major construction projects for 
the Army Guard mandates that we seriously review any Member request for

[[Page S9871]]

its worthiness, and there are many worthy and badly needed projects, 
without which, our Reserve Forces could not continue to function. It 
simply would be unfair to not give them some consideration simply 
because they have been ignored by the Pentagon.
  The committee continues to support the NATO Security Investment 
Program, however it is concerned that member nations are not properly 
helping to defray construction program costs. The committee therefore 
urges the Secretary to seek increased contributions from our allies. A 
requirement for preposition exists in Southwest Asia, however, we have 
no treaty relationships with our allies there. Although we should 
proceed with such projects, we should secure long-term bilateral 
agreements and assume full cost-sharing arrangements prior to the 
initiation of any construction projects in the region.
  The subcommittee has added certain needy projects to the 
administrations request: $850 million was added to the budget that 
would include $220 million for Guard and Reserve projects, and over 
$258 million in badly needed family housing.
  I commend the chairman for taking the many requests from Senators to 
include projects in this bill. This is necessitated, annually, in large 
part, because the Department of Defense has again, as it has in the 
past, refused to adequately fund the construction projects for the 
National Guard, requiring the subcommittee to review many worthy 
projects suggested by Senators and the National Guard and to come up 
with a fair and equitable solution to the problem.
  To have people come and say, and there are only just a few, come and 
say, ``The Pentagon did not request it, how possibly could we be 
seeking money here?'' We are doing it because it is the right thing to 
do, the only thing to do, and Senator Burns and I greatly appreciate 
the support the subcommittee has received in our support for the Guard 
and Reserve.
  The administration requested only $7 million for Army National Guard 
construction, compared to $137 million appropriated in fiscal year 
1996, and that amount was well below the previous year's $188 million 
appropriation. This is a 95-percent reduction in only 1 year. This type 
of request is incomprehensible and irresponsible. To help try to 
balance the scale, the subcommittee used strict criteria to evaluate 
many worthy projects suggested by Members, and a strong effort was made 
to take all Members' interest into consideration. We could not fulfill 
all the requests, but we did our best.
  While no Senator that I am aware of has been fully satisfied, I think 
the result is as fair and equitable as possible, given the significant 
budget constraints that we are working under.
  Again, I express my appreciation to the chairman of the subcommittee 
for his fine work on this legislation. I again ask the Senate to 
overwhelmingly support this legislation.
  Mr. DOMENICI. The pending military construction conference agreement 
provides $9.982 billion in new budget authority and $3.140 in new 
outlays for military construction and family housing programs for the 
Department of Defense for fiscal year 1997.
  When outlays from prior-year budget authority and other completed 
actions are taken into account, the outlays for the 1997 program total 
$10.375 billion.
  This legislation provides for construction by the Department of 
Defense for U.S. military facilities throughout the world, and it 
provides for family housing for the Active Forces of each of the U.S. 
military services. Accordingly, it provides for important readiness and 
quality of life programs for our service men and women.
  The conference report falls within the revised section 602(b) 
allocation for the Military Construction Subcommittee. I commend the 
distinguished subcommittee chairman, the Senator from Montana, for 
bringing this bill to the floor within the subcommittee's revised 
allocation.
  The bill provides important increases over the President's request 
for 1997, and I urge the adoption of the conference report.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a table showing the 
relationship of the conference report to the subcommittee's section 
602(b) allocation be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the table was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

  MILITARY CONSTRUCTION SUBCOMMITTEE SPENDING TOTALS--CONFERENCE REPORT 
                 [Fiscal year 1997, Dollars in millions]                
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                    Budget              
                    Category                       authority    Outlays 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Defense discretionary:                                                  
    Outlays from prior-year BA and other actions                        
     completed..................................  ..........       7,204
    H.R. 3517, conference report................       9,982       3,140
    Scorekeeping adjustment.....................  ..........  ..........
                                                 -----------------------
      Adjusted bill total.......................       9,982      10,344
                                                 =======================
Senate subcommittee 602(b) allocation: Defense                          
 discretionary..................................       9,983      10,375
Adjusted bill total compared to Senate                                  
 subcommittee 602(b) allocation: Defense                                
 discretionary..................................          -1         -31
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Details may not add to totals due to rounding. Totals adjusted for
  consistency with current scorekeeping conventions.                    

  Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I wanted to take just a few moments to 
commend Senators Conrad Burns and Harry Reid, the chairman and ranking 
member of the Military Construction Subcommittee. The conference report 
for the fiscal year 1997 Military Construction Appropriations Act that 
has been put before the Senate is an excellent product. It protects the 
interests of the Senate, and more importantly, it addresses the needs 
of our men and women in uniform.
  This conference agreement represents a compromise between the House 
and the Senate, and I am aware that many items of interest to Members 
of both the House and the Senate had to be scaled back or deferred. 
Nonetheless, I am convinced that Chairman Burns and Senator Reid 
brokered a good deal for the Senate.
  I understand that there are several projects which were supported by 
the Senate in both the appropriations and authorization processes that 
are funded in this conference agreement, but for which no funds are 
specifically authorized in the conference report filed by the Armed 
Services Committee. I am hopeful that legislation will be enacted by 
the end of this session which will clarify the position of the Congress 
that these programs should be considered authorized and I will work to 
that end.
  Once again, I wanted to thank Senators Burns and Reid for their 
leadership on this matter and I urge all my colleagues to support this 
conference report.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, for several years now, I have tried to 
restrain Congress' propensity to add hundreds of millions of dollars of 
unrequested, low-priority projects to the military construction 
budgets. I have tried to amend the military construction bills when 
they come before the Senate to strike these add-ons, but I have failed. 
I have tried to impose reasonable criteria for evaluating Members' 
requests for add-ons, and although the Senate agreed to abide by these 
criteria, there are still projects added that do not meet the criteria.
  This year, Mr. President, is no different.
  Since 1990, the Congress has added more than $6 billion to the 
military construction accounts. That's almost $1 billion in pork-barrel 
spending every year. This bill increases the amount of waste by another 
$850 million. Where will we stop this endless pork-barrelling using 
taxpayers dollars?
  When the Senate passed the military construction bill for fiscal year 
1997, it contained $700 million in unrequested funding. The House added 
$900 million to the request for military construction, and I assumed 
that a conference agreement would probably split the difference between 
the bills. But I find, in reviewing this conference bill, that it 
contains $850 million in unrequested funding. Apparently, in the 
interest of protecting as many Senators' add-ons as possible, the 
Senate conferees decided to go more than halfway toward the House 
position.
  Mr. President, I am amazed to find that this bill even includes an 
add-on for Arizona. But that add-on of $6.7 million is small potatoes 
compared to the magnitude of the add-ons for some States.
  There were 13 States that received more than $20 million in add-ons 
in this bill. Of those 13 States, 6 States received more than $30 
million in add-ons, 3 received more than $40 million in add-ons. And 
one State received a whopping $55 million in add-ons.

[[Page S9872]]

  Mr. President, I am not going to take up the time of the Senate by 
listing all the add-ons in this bill. The information is there in the 
conference report, for those who care to review it. I will only say 
that I am shocked and saddened that, with the severe shortfalls in 
other high-priority military requirements, the Congress is wasting so 
much money on pork-barrel projects like these.
  This is the same Congress that argued successfully for an $18 billion 
increase in the defense budget over the past 2 years, principally 
because military modernization had been cut drastically by the Clinton 
administration. That is why I am puzzled that we waste nearly $1 
billion of this year's $11 billion add-on for military construction 
projects.

  While the Defense authorization and appropriations bills this year 
provide an additional $6 or $7 billion for procurement, this amount is 
only about one-third of the $21 billion needed to meet General 
Shalikashvili's target of $60 billion per year for procurement of 
modern weapons systems. We still have a $14 or $15 billion shortfall in 
urgently needed modernization funding. Yet we are wasting $850 million 
on unrequested, low-priority military construction projects. It just 
does not make sense to me.
  Mr. President, I mentioned the criteria the Senate adopted 2 years 
ago to evaluate Members' requests for military construction add-ons. I 
am somewhat gratified to learn that the close scrutiny focused on 
military construction projects has succeeded in forcing at least some 
degree of control on the process. The majority of the projects in this 
bill meet four of the five criteria established 2 years ago for Senate 
consideration of unrequested military construction projects. The 
projects are: mission essential; not inconsistent with BRAC; in the 
FYDP; and executable in fiscal year 1997.
  But none of the projects meet the fifth criterion, which requires the 
added funding to be offset by a reduction in some other Defense 
account. And five of the projects in this bill, totalling $23.7 
million, are not even authorized, although I suspect political pressure 
will result in an authorization of each of them at some future time.
  Mr. President, I know there are some very good aspects of this bill. 
It does provide funding for high-priority quality of life projects, 
including child care centers and family housing projects. It includes a 
provision which will give the Guard and Reserve components the 
opportunity to come to Congress with a long-term plan to meet their 
military construction requirements. For these provisions, I applaud my 
colleagues on the Military Construction Subcommittee.
  But $850 million is a lot of taxpayer dollars to waste. How do we 
explain to the American people why we need $11 billion more for Defense 
this year, when we spend $850 million for projects that do little or 
nothing to contribute to our Nation's security?
  I know this bill cannot now be amended, and my words will have little 
effect on the final vote on this bill. But I cannot stand aside and 
allow a bill laden with $850 million in pork-barrel spending to pass 
the Senate without objection. I will vote against this bill, and I will 
urge the President to veto this measure when it comes to his desk. And 
Mr. President, I will continue to fight against the stubborn 
congressional tradition of wasteful, pork-barrel spending.
  I ask unanimous consent that a list of unauthorized projects and the 
States receiving the largest benefits be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

       Unauthorized projects in military construction conference


                                                               Millions
Hawaii--Army aviation support facility.............................$5.9
Kansas--Consolidated education center...............................6.7
Iowa--Aircraft arresting system....................................1.35
Louisiana--Bachelor enlisted quarters...............................4.8
Mississippi--Quaywall extension....................................4.99
                                                             __________
                                                             
      Total.......................................................23.74

                States received largest share of add-ons                
                        [In millions of dollars]                        
Texas.........................................................    55.983
Hawaii........................................................    45.58 
Nevada........................................................    40.855
Virginia......................................................    34.969
North Carolina................................................    34.21 
Florida.......................................................    30.248
Montana.......................................................    27.2  
New Mexico....................................................    27.1  
Mississippi...................................................    24.7  
Georgia.......................................................    24.252
Kentucky......................................................    23.0  
California....................................................    22.85 
Indiana.......................................................    22.0  
                                                                        

  Mr. GLENN. Mr. President, I will vote today in opposition to the 
military construction appropriations conference report. The conference 
report adds $850 million to the President's budget request. Like its 
authorization counterpart, virtually all of the projects added to the 
budget request are the result of requests made by Members of the House 
and Senate.
  I am gratified that some discipline has been adopted in this annual 
process in that added projects now meet what I consider to be minimal 
requirements like meeting a national security requirement and being in 
the Pentagon's 5-year plan. Nevertheless, I cannot support a process 
that results in hundreds of millions of dollars being added to the 
military construction budget based merely on Members requesting funding 
for those projects.
  Mr. BOND. Mr. President, as cochairman for the National Guard Caucus 
I rise to comment on the process of funding our Nation's military 
construction needs.
  The Senate, in the past years, has voted to appropriate necessary 
military construction funds to offset the neglect of administrations in 
order to make sure that the defense infrastructure would be adequately 
funded.
  The Senate this year was again forced by the Clinton administration 
to make sure that the defense infrastructure would be adequately 
funded.
  Active Force infrastructure has traditionally been adequately funded 
with the Guard Forces traditionally underfunded. Why has it been this 
way, many have asked, and the answer which is whispered through the 
Halls of this building is that the Congressmen and Senators will take 
care of it, and we have and we do and we will because we care about the 
welfare and readiness of the National Guard and Air National Guard even 
if some administration officials do not.
  The administration this year funded the Army Guard to the tune of $7 
million, $7 million for the entire Army Guard infrastructure for all 50 
States and Puerto Rico; $7 million.
  For the entire Army Guard Force. If the Senators here respect our 
citizen soldiers, then they must rectify this shoddy treatment of those 
who protect us. My colleagues on the committee have done just that and 
they have done it with strict adherence to a rigorous set of standards 
for these necessary quality of life and readiness projects.
  The committee considered each of the programs added to this year's 
military construction bill for its executability in fiscal year 1997, 
its being of the highest priority for the base commanders and National 
Guard tags, its inclusion in the FYDP, and its overall necessity to 
quality of life and readiness. Currently, this is the only venue we 
have to maintain infrastructure readiness and essential and housing 
projects which were designated as critical by each State's adjutant 
general. I urge all Senators to support the men and women of the Guard 
and support the Guard's ability to carry out its missions.
  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, how much time do we have remaining?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana has 4 minutes, 15 
seconds remaining.
  Mr. BURNS. Again, I thank my friend from Nevada for his support and 
contribution to this subcommittee this year. We could not have put this 
bill together without him and his staff. He is backed by an able staff 
that understands what is needed and how to get it done: Dick D'Amato, 
B.G. Wright, and Peter Arapis.
  I also thank Jim Morhard on the committee staff, Julie Lapeyre in my 
office, Warren Johnson, and Mazie Mattson.
  Mr. President, I know of no other further debate on this conference 
report. I think it is a fair and equitable conference agreement and I 
urge its approval by the Senate.
  So, Mr. President, I urge the adoption of the conference report and 
ask for the yeas and nays.

[[Page S9873]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, 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. BURNS. 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. BURNS. Mr. President, I understand we have about 4 minutes left 
on the debate on the MilCon appropriations conference report. I ask 
unanimous consent to yield back all remaining time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BURNS. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the conference 
report accompanying H.R. 3517 will be laid aside.

                          ____________________