[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 15 (Wednesday, February 25, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S958-S960]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CANCELLATION DISAPPROVAL ACT--VETO

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will now 
proceed to the consideration of the veto message to accompany H.R. 
2631.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate a message from the House 
of Representatives, as follows:

       The House of Representatives having proceeded to reconsider 
     the bill (H.R. 2631) entitled ``An Act disapproving the 
     cancellations transmitted by the President on October 6, 
     1997, regarding Public Law 105-45'', returned by the 
     President of the United States with his objections, to the 
     House of Representatives, in which it originated, it was
       Resolved, That the said bill pass, two-thirds of the House 
     of Representatives agreeing to pass the same.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate a message from the 
President of the United States to the House of Representatives, as 
follows:

To the House of Representatives:
  I am returning herewith without my approval H.R. 2631, ``An Act 
disapproving the cancellations transmitted by the President on October 
6, 1997, regarding Public Law 105-45.''
  Under the authority of the Line Item Veto Act, on October 6, 1997, I 
canceled 38 military construction projects to

[[Page S959]]

save the taxpayers $287 million. The bill would restore all of the 38 
projects.
  The projects in this bill would not substantially improve the quality 
of life of military service members and their families, and most of 
them would not likely use funds for construction in FY 1998. While the 
bill does restore funding for projects that were canceled based on 
outdated information provided by the Department of Defense, I do not 
endorse restoration of all 38 projects.
  The Administration remains committed to working with the Congress to 
restore funding for those projects that were canceled as a result of 
data provided by the Department of Defense that was out of date.
                                                  William J. Clinton.  
  The White House, November 13, 1997.

  The Senate proceeded to consider the bill (H.R. 2631) disapproving 
the cancellations transmitted by the President on October 6, 1997, 
regarding Public Law 105-45, returned to the House by the President on 
November 13, 1997, with his objections, and passed by the House of 
Representatives, on reconsideration, on February 5, 1998.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will be 17 
hours of debate on the message, to be equally divided between the 
chairman and ranking minority member of the committee, with 1 
additional hour for debate to be under the control of the Senator from 
Arizona, Mr. McCain.
  Mr. BURNS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, we have a logistics problem here, myself 
being the cause of most of it. This is the first time that the U.S. 
Senate has considered a veto message from the President under the line-
item veto law. This has already been taken up in the House. There were 
38 projects in the military construction appropriations bill that were 
lined out by the President, and those vetoes were overridden in the 
House by a strong bipartisan vote of 347-69.
  The line-item veto provides a mechanism that allows the President to 
veto items that he doesn't think necessary or which do not meet his 
approval. We have been asked many times, ``Do you still support it?'' 
after we have worked so hard with the ranking member, Senator Murray of 
Washington, and then it came back with 38 projects lined out--and 
probably with a very, very weak argument.
  I urge my colleagues to vote for this override of the President's 
veto of H.R. 2631, a bill disapproving the President's line-item vetoes 
for the fiscal year 1998 military construction bill. I will go back and 
say that this money should be in the pipeline. Here we are halfway 
through the year, or better, and if you come from a northern tier of 
States, especially Montana, we only have two seasons, winter and the 
construction season. So these projects need to be on line. I will have 
more to say about this particular issue. I have to take the Presiding 
Officer's chair this morning between 12 and 1. First, I would like to 
say that this is a pretty nonpartisan piece of legislation, the 
appropriations on military construction, and even this project of the 
Presidential veto override.
  The cooperation between the ranking member of our committee and the 
work that we do on this for the good of families, and also keeping our 
military infrastructure in pace with the times, sometimes takes lots of 
work, and decisions have to be made, sometimes tough decisions, 
especially if we have less money to work with--and we are going to have 
less money to work with in the next year--it is going to be even more 
difficult.
  I want to state publicly what a pleasure it was to work with Senator 
Murray and her staff in putting together what we think are the 
priorities that should be taken care of to ensure that the 
infrastructure, especially military construction and support of our 
fighting men and women, whenever it is needed. Senator Murray has an 
opening statement, and I will have more to say on this later on.


                         Privilege of the Floor

  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Jay Bynum, a Capitol Hill 
fellow serving on the staff of Senator John McCain, be granted 
privileges of the floor during the debate on the veto message to 
accompany H.R. 2631.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BURNS. I yield the floor.
  Mrs. MURRAY addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington is recognized.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I thank my colleague, Senator Burns, the 
chairman of the committee, who has done an outstanding job in leading 
our way through this bill.
  Mr. President, the Senate today once again is addressing the line-
item veto exercised by the President of 38 projects that were included 
in the fy 98 military construction appropriations bill.
  Last fall, the Congress and the American people were informed of a 
list of 38 projects included in the military construction 
appropriations bill that fell victim to the President's new line-item 
veto authority.
  The administration cited three criteria that were used in determining 
whether the President should veto certain projects.
  The first criteria is that the project was not included in the 
President's fy 98 budget request. However, in creating our fy 98 
military construction bill, it should be noted that careful thought 
went into considering the President's requests, the priorities included 
in the Department of Defense's five-year plan, and due consideration 
for the Guard and Reserve projects that are too often woefully 
overlooked by the Department in fashioning its request.
  We balanced these interests with the interests of our constituents 
and the American people to come up with a comprehensive, reasoned and 
well-rounded list of projects that will benefit our country.
  This balancing of interests is consistent with committee practice--
particularly with regard to Guard and Reserve matters. The budget is 
not perfect, and Congress must act affirmatively to make the most 
responsible decisions.
  The second criteria demanded by the White House is that the project 
was not a quality of life project, such as housing, dining, clinics, 
child care or similar family-oriented facilities.
  This has always been my number one priority, and in fact, the 
subcommittee added many such quality of life projects on its own 
initiative.
  I know the President shares my concern for quality-of-life 
initiatives, but there needs to be some give and take on both our parts 
to ensure that not only are we providing our men and women in uniforms 
with a high quality of life, but we are doing this without sacrificing 
our readiness capabilities.
  The third and final criteria offered by the White House, which we 
were told had to be met by all projects selected, is that the project 
must be executable in fiscal year 1998.
  Inexplicably, the administration claimed none of the projects were 
executable. However, this was not the case at all. In fact, all the 
projects included in the FY 98 Senate-passed bill were in fact 
executable.
  By a standard set by the subcommittee itself along with 
recommendations of the Armed Services Committee, every project was 
deemed executable. Furthermore, the executable status of these projects 
was confirmed in Department of Defense reports.
  Mr. President, the chairman and ranking member of the Appropriations 
Committee, Senators Stevens and Byrd, rejected the vetoed items as an 
inappropriate overreaching of authority on the part of the 
administration.
  I am gratified that the committee has stood up for the subcommittee's 
work. It is a substantially better product than the budget submitted by 
the President, and that is our job. The administration has no exclusive 
corner on wisdom in making its selection of projects.
  Mr. President, the Senate passed a resolution of disapproval, 
rejecting the President's veto of the projects in the military 
construction bill last October 30, 1997.
  Under the terms of the Line-Item Veto Act, the President then 
exercised his veto power of this Senate resolution. It is that final 
Presidential veto that we are attempting to override today, and thereby 
reinstate the viability of the projects originally subjected to his 
line-item veto pen.
  While it is clear that the entire question as to the 
constitutionality of the line-item veto law is being considered by the 
Supreme Court and will be ruled on in the next few months, that 
nevertheless should have no impact on Senators' votes on the matter 
before us.

[[Page S960]]

  I suggest that Senators need not address their position on the 
constitutionality or wisdom of the line-item veto legislation itself to 
vote for this resolution. It was supported by 69 Senators last October, 
and I would hope it has at least that much support this afternoon when 
we vote on it again.
  A vote for this measure is a vote against the administration's 
blatant exercise of power that was sloppy and rushed and resulted in 
many errors.
  The subcommittee and full committee, as well as membership of both 
houses, labored over a period of several months to scrub the budget and 
add only those projects that were deemed worthy.
  I hope that this measure will receive the strong support of the full 
Senate as it has in the past, and that this will be the end of this 
matter.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Burns). The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LOTT. 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. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to be allowed to 
proceed as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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