[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 55 (Thursday, May 1, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3870-S3871]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    VOLUNTEER PROTECTION ACT OF 1997

  The Senate continued with the consideration of the bill.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, going back to the matter at hand, all of us 
support the concept of volunteers working to help. In fact, this 
country could not make it without volunteers. I think of those 
volunteers in the recent disastrous floods in the Dakotas who worked 
16- and 20-hour days to pack sandbags, sometimes to protect homes and 
property and businesses of people they did not know and probably never 
would know. They just showed up, volunteered, and did it.
  I think what happens, sometimes we will get hit with a vicious storm 
in my part of the world, power lines will come down, electricity will 
be out, and people gather to volunteer and help. I think of some people 
I have seen in times when I have had the opportunity to volunteer in 
what we call our Cleanup Day. Cleanup Day in Vermont was begun by a 
dear friend and former Governor of Vermont, Dean Davis. This is where 
thousands of Vermonters all over the State go out at this time of 
year--the snows are gone, we hope--and we will pick up trash all over 
the State, beautify our roads, our streams.
  In fact, I recall when my daughter was the State director, and I went 
with her and some others. We saw a little piece of metal sticking up in 
a stream and we decided to pull it, and more of us pulled, and pulled 
and pulled, and we got a car hooked up and pulled and pulled, and out 
came a sink--a whole sink. Somebody had tossed it in there. We cleaned 
it up. I hope that stream was better as a result.
  I think of the men and women who work with children in my State, the 
volunteers who work with the 4-H Club, for example. During my 8 years 
as a prosecutor in Vermont, I went back through the records of all 
those who came in our juvenile courts in the county where I was the 
States attorney or district attorney. We had about a quarter of the 
population. During 8 years in that juvenile court, we never had a 
person in there who had been active in 4-H or active in Scouting. Those 
people worked so hard at it and learned good basic values, but they had 
a lot of adults who volunteered to help in those operations.

[[Page S3871]]

  I daresay that every single Member of this body is for volunteers. 
What I am concerned about in this particular bill is that it was 
introduced, we never had a hearing, we have never had discussion of 
some of the problems--and there are some significant legal problems in 
it--and I think that of late the Senate has been acting that way, just 
taking up a big piece of legislation and rushing to the floor with it.
  I raised a concern that various hate groups might be protected with 
their volunteers under this bill. The Senator from Georgia, the Senator 
from Vermont, and all the others both for and against this have a total 
abhorrence of hate groups. There is not a single Member of this body 
that will stand for the kind of thing that so many hate groups stand 
for.
  What I have suggested is they should be looked at carefully. How do 
you make sure that even beyond the prohibitions against hate crimes 
that are in the bill that we have the prohibitions against immunizing 
various hate groups? Do we immunize the volunteers, and do we go 
further and immunize large organizations that might utilize volunteers 
and might not take the kind of care they should for the people that 
come in there, absent those volunteers, or absent that immunization?
  Let me give an example. If you have a large for-profit hospital, the 
kind of hospital where some of the administrators and owners of it will 
make millions of dollars a year, where the daily care of the patients--
nurses, nurses aides and others, of course, make a tiny infinitesimal 
fraction of that--are augmented by people who willingly come in and 
volunteer in those hospitals, who are not the millionaire 
administrators, do we want to set it up so the millionaire directors 
are somehow removed from that because they were wise enough to bring 
some volunteers in? Now, I do not think anybody wants to do that.

  So let us look at this legislation. As I said, I think we could have 
avoided several days of discussion and cloture votes and everything 
else if we had just done what we normally do or should do around here, 
and that is have a hearing on it. I am the ranking member of the 
Judiciary Committee, and we are not having to take much time for 
hearings on Federal judges and nominations even though there are 100 
vacancies in the Federal courts. We had time to spend the whole day 
yesterday to beat up on Janet Reno in a hearing. We could have had time 
to take a couple hours to hold a hearing on this bill and probably 
corrected the problems and we would have taken up a lot less time of 
the Senate in the long run.
  I found very interesting the hearing with Attorney General Reno. At 
the end of 7, 8, or 9 hours, whatever it was, I commended her. She had 
listened to interminable speeches punctuated by an occasional question. 
She showed equanimity during the speeches, which made up most of the 
hearing--speeches from Senators--but also answered the occasional 
questions with candor and integrity. It does not mean everyone will 
agree with her answers.
  She sure showed a streak of independence, a streak that may have 
bothered some, because she showed a willingness to look into 
inappropriate activity by Members of Congress as well as just at the 
White House, a matter that I realize has caused some consternation to 
some on the Hill, but I think it is only fair. If we look at one end of 
Pennsylvania Avenue, we should look at the other end. I am sure the 
distinguished Presiding Officer and others would agree with me in that 
regard.
  Let us go to the bill at hand, let us continue to work together. The 
Senator from Georgia has been dealing in good faith, and he knows the 
Senator from Vermont has. We will continue to work and see if we can 
find something, I hope, very soon.
  I see the Senator from Georgia on the floor, and I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. COVERDELL. I thank the Senator from Vermont for his remarks and 
his interest and dedication to the effort.
  I respond to him that, indeed, the effort to try to mesh the concerns 
on both sides is eagerly being addressed right here at the moment, and 
there are some positive indications, and I am hopeful that between the 
Senator from Vermont and his staff and ours and others that are 
interested in the subject, that we can show some very positive, 
bipartisan effort here maybe in the next couple of hours or so. Again, 
I thank him for the effort to create the atmosphere that would allow us 
to perhaps bring resolution to this matter this afternoon yet.
  Mr. President, I also say I think it is fair to note that the issue 
has been before the Congress in one form or another since 1985. This is 
the first time that we have really had legislation--that is 12 years. 
So we are really not dealing with a subject matter for which there is 
unfamiliarity. We are really trying to hasten the coming together.
  There is a propensity in Washington and in the Congress to mull 
things a bit long. We have had a summit in Philadelphia where we have 
had the President and three former Presidents, 30 Governors and 100 
mayors say, ``Now is the time. Now is the time.'' They have called on 
over 2 million Americans to step forward. We want them to be able to 
step forward and not get tripped up. This is exactly the time for us to 
be addressing this legislation. It has been studied, reviewed, and 
argued for 12 years. We are down to, as I have said many times, 12 
pages. I am very hopeful that people of good faith and good will on 
both sides can mesh these 12 pages together and, hopefully, by the end 
of the day, at least in the Senate, we can say yes to the President's 
call and yes to Nancy Reagan, when she said, ``I hope from now on when 
somebody asks for a helping hand, you just say yes.'' This helps 
American volunteers do just what she requested: Just say yes.

  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. BINGAMAN. 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. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be 
allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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