[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 79 (Monday, June 9, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S5390]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL

  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I know there is some misunderstanding over 
what is happening right now in terms of this emergency supplemental, 
and I believe maybe some clarification would be in order.
  The very distinguished Senator from Minnesota spent 30 minutes 
expressing his anxiety over the passage of this emergency supplemental 
legislation. Let me assure you, Mr. President, if you were listening to 
that, that there are not any people in North Dakota or in Minnesota 
right now who are going without the emergency provisions that are 
authorized. And, as a matter of fact, there are some things that won't 
really be done, such as the outright replacing of infrastructure and 
some of those things.
  So it is not as if those people are being ignored. It is not as if we 
went off and took a vacation during the time that was happening.
  But I think it is important to mention a couple of other things that 
are in this emergency supplemental. I am hoping that the President 
won't veto it. It is not at all unusual that the bill is not sent to 
the President. If it were sent to the President after it was only 
passed on Thursday night, by Monday morning, then, that would probably 
set some new kind of a record around here. Things don't move that fast. 
There is nothing unusual about the fact that this bill has not been 
sent to the President. But this presupposition that the President is 
going to veto it, I think, is really wrong. I think the President will 
have to look very closely at whether or not he wants to veto this 
emergency legislation.
  For one thing, it is the President that got us into the situation 
that we are in in Bosnia right now. But we should never have sent 
troops over to Bosnia when you have a military budget that is suffering 
and while we have great threats that are out there to send troops on 
humanitarian missions and peacekeeping missions all around the world 
where we don't have strategic interests at stake.
  I can remember 18 months ago standing on this floor when the 
President of the United States said that the cost in Bosnia would be 
somewhere between $1.5 and $2 billion. At that time I said, ``I bet it 
will be $8 billion before it is over.'' Guess what? It is already 
passing through $6.5 billion. And some of the money that is in this 
emergency supplemental is going to be going to support the effort in 
Bosnia. It has already been paid.
  But this is replenishing, the same as it is up in North Dakota and 
for some of the flood victims. They have been addressed. Problems have 
been addressed. Of course, we do need to replenish that emergency fund, 
which we intend to do.
  But I think the main thing is the idea that the President is going to 
automatically veto this. I think you know that the automatic continuing 
resolution is on this, which I think is very, very good. It wasn't too 
long ago that the President shut down the Government and blamed the 
majority party for it, and if we had this continuing resolution in 
place, that couldn't happen again. All we want to do is to be sure that 
we are going to be able to carry on Government and let Government 
operate in the event there is an impasse between Congress and the 
President of the United States on some appropriations bills. That is 
exactly what this is all about. So, if we had the continuing resolution 
that is passed, which is a part of this emergency supplemental 
legislation, then the continuing resolution will provide that 
Government won't shut down, that it will continue to operate at last 
year's funding level, which I think is very reasonable. We don't want 
to shut down Government. That way, we can ensure it won't happen. That 
is all in this emergency supplemental.

  So I am hoping, of course, that the President doesn't use the 
automatic continuing resolution as an excuse to veto this bill, because 
if he does, what he is saying is, I want Government to be able to be 
shut down. It is as simple as that.
  Lastly, I say that I have the utmost respect for the Senator from 
Minnesota. Quite often you see different philosophies expressed on this 
floor. Of course, his is quite different than mine. I think the basic 
difference is that when we look at money that Government spends, we 
look at it as coming from the taxpayers rather than just some big pot 
of money that is owned by Government. So we have conservatives and we 
have liberals. And the distinguished Senator from Minnesota, Senator 
Wellstone, is very liberal, and we are very conservative.
  So this is a forum where those things can be heard. I think, in good 
time, the President will get this emergency supplemental, and I am 
certainly hopeful that the President will not veto the supplemental.
  I yield the floor.
  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. THOMAS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Inhofe). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I would like to speak as if in morning 
business for about 5 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. THOMAS. I appreciate very much the Senator from West Virginia 
yielding to give me the opportunity to do this.

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