[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 70 (Friday, May 23, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S5097]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I was not able to come to the floor as 
the Senator from North Dakota was expressing himself with regard to the 
disaster, and I know that the Presiding Officer, the Senator from 
Minnesota, [Mr. Grams], has worked long and hard to work with all of us 
as we have made the effort to address the extraordinary concerns, the 
extraordinary difficulties, and the extraordinary pain that people in 
Minnesota and the Dakotas have faced now for the better part of 6 
months. First, the harsh winter months, cold and snow and ice in many 
cases precluded farmers from feeding their livestock, and in many cases 
caused the death of hundreds of thousands of livestock, only to be 
followed by floods and other spring disasters that have left many 
thousands of people homeless in all three States.
  After visits which the President, the Vice President, the Speaker, 
the House majority leader and others, there was a national commitment 
to address this problem and to find ways in which to help these people 
as quickly as we possibly could. There were editorials written about 
the great bipartisan effort that was made in order to do all we could 
to address the matter in an expeditious and comprehensive manner.
  I am very saddened by what has happened in the last 48 hours. I am 
troubled by the fact that there are those who still wish to use the 
effort to provide this assistance to people who need it so badly as the 
vehicle for an agenda that has nothing to do with the disaster, as a 
vehicle to address other needs, other concerns that may or may not be 
legitimate but have absolutely no reason for being associated with this 
bill, have absolutely no reason for being attached to this legislation.
  I am troubled that anybody would use the kind of cynical approach to 
hinder our efforts to find ways with which to address this problem as 
quickly and as seriously as we possibly could. We have no business 
leaving the Senate and leaving the House under these circumstances.
  I give great credit to the majority leader as he comes to the floor, 
because I do believe he made every effort to try to address this 
problem as successfully as he could. I know he has attempted to find 
ways in which to extract those problematic provisions from the bill. I 
know of his efforts yesterday. I am very disappointed that even with 
his efforts we failed. I also applaud the distinguished chairman of the 
Appropriations Committee. Senator Stevens has done great work in 
attempting to find ways with which to address this problem.
  So I must say, Mr. President, on a bipartisan basis I believe our 
body has done a great deal in attempting to avert the extraordinary 
calamitous circumstances that we are facing right now. It is going to 
be very difficult to go home, as I will, to speak to the people of 
Watertown, SD, not only on Memorial Day but at their high school 
commencement this year and explain what happened, explain why this 
Congress has left town without completing its work on this very 
important matter.
  Mr. President, there are no words to describe how badly some of us 
feel, how frustrated, exasperated, and angered we are at these 
circumstances. We can only hope that upon our return, these political 
games and these ploys that have nothing to do with this legislation can 
be averted and we can deal with them far more effectively and address 
it in a comprehensive way. At that time, we will still, as late as it 
will be, give people hope that we understand their pain, that we 
understand their circumstance, and that we will respond as we best know 
how to do. It is only that hope that allows me with a very heavy heart 
to leave this town with our work incomplete.
  Mr. President, I hope all of us will redouble our efforts as soon as 
we return. Let us get the job done. Let us do it right. Let us do it 
understanding completely how difficult a circumstance people in our 
States and States around the country must now face.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I do have some unanimous-consent requests to 
make and an Executive Calendar list. First I want to say to the 
distinguished Democratic leader I understand his feelings and 
appreciate his comments. We did work to try to get through all the 
legislative hurdles in moving the supplemental and resolving the 
problems attached to it. We ran into some procedural limitations there 
at the end that made it impossible for us to complete it, but we need 
to get it done. We are going to get it done. We are going to make sure 
the people of the States that have had disasters are going to get the 
aid they need.
  I have already sent a letter urging everything be done to make sure 
the funds continue to flow through FEMA and any other agency that has a 
role in providing disaster assistance, whether it is in South Dakota, 
North Dakota, Kentucky, or Minnesota.
  When we come back, it is going to be one of the two first orders of 
priority. One, we have to do the budget conference report, which I 
think will be done very quickly, and then we can really focus on 
getting the supplemental completed and resolving some of the issues 
that are critical issues attached to it so that we can come up with a 
solution everybody can live with on the census question and address the 
roads problem and also find a way to deal with avoiding Government 
shutdowns in the future.
  I think we can do all of those once we make up our minds to focus on 
it and get our minds committed to working on that effort.

                          ____________________