[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 35 (Wednesday, March 25, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2552-S2553]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR NATURAL DISASTERS AND OVERSEAS 
               PEACEKEEPING EFFORTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1998

  The Senate continued with the consideration of the bill.
  Mr. STEVENS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Abraham). The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I believe the Senator from Minnesota now 
has an amendment that is on the list.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I will be calling up amendment No. 
2128, and ask that it be modified with the language that is at the desk 
right now.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, will the Senator agree to some sort of a 
time agreement?
  Mr. WELLSTONE. I think I can do this in 30 minutes.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
  Mr. STEVENS. Let's get this straight. The Senator wants 30 minutes 
total on the amendment equally divided.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. I would like to have 30 minutes to speak on this. I 
wasn't aware that there would be opposition.
  Mr. STEVENS. I am not sure there will be. I have to reserve some time 
in case there is someone on this side.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. I may be able to do it in less time, but I have been 
wanting to speak about the IMF amendment. I will try to do it in less. 
But I would like now to reserve 30 minutes. At one point in time, as my 
good friend from Alaska knows, I had four amendments.
  Mr. STEVENS. Is the Senator prepared to withdraw the other three 
amendments?
  Mr. WELLSTONE. I say to my colleague from Alaska, I will withdraw the 
other three amendments. And then I would like to have an agreement that 
I would have 30 minutes with no second degree on this amendment, which 
I think will generate widespread support.
  Mr. STEVENS. I am not prepared to agree that some Senator will not 
come in with a second-degree amendment. I will not present a second-
degree amendment myself. I would like the Senator, if he would agree, 
to withdraw the other three amendments--the Senator has 30 minutes--and 
10 minutes in case we need it.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I can't agree to a time limit if I 
can't get agreement on a second-degree amendment. I ask unanimous 
consent that I be able to move to this amendment and that there be no 
second-degree amendments.
  Mr. STEVENS. I can't do that. I will have to object. Mr. President, I 
cannot accept that. I have not read the amendment myself. I will do 
that now.
  Several Senators addressed the Chair.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I think I have the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska has the floor.
  Mr. STEVENS. I have the floor. I would like to work this out.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, if the Senator from Alaska will yield for a 
moment, while he is checking the amendment, I wonder if I might, 
without he yielding the floor, take 4 minutes while he is looking at 
the amendment of the Senator from Minnesota.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska has the floor.
  Mr. LEAHY. Will the Senator from Alaska give me 4 minutes while he is 
looking at this?
  Mr. STEVENS. This is a modification of the amendment sent to the 
desk. I am trying to figure out if there would be a second-degree 
amendment to it. I am informed that it is modified and that we would 
not have a second-degree amendment. And I am prepared to agree to the 
Senator's suggestion of 30 minutes for him. I still want to reserve 10 
minutes on this side in case someone wants to speak on it to answer the 
Senator. I do not intend to do that. But I then ask unanimous consent 
that the Senator be recognized to call up amendment No. 2128, as 
modified, and that he have 30 minutes, and we reserve 10 minutes on 
this side. My advice to the Senator would be to yield 2 minutes to the 
Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Reserving the right to object, would he be willing to 
modify that to give me the first 3 minutes on the pending amendment 
before he brings up his amendment?
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I am pleased to do that.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. STEVENS. What happens? The Senator gets 5 minutes. The Senator 
from Minnesota gets 30 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont will have 3 minutes 
to speak with respect to the amendment previously offered, followed by 
the Senator from Minnesota to speak with respect to the amendment which 
he is prepared to modify, for 30 minutes, followed by up to 10 minutes 
in response to his amendment.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. With no second degree.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There would be no second-degree amendment to 
the amendment of the Senator from Minnesota.
  Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Under the agreement, the Senator from Vermont is now recognized for 
up to 3 minutes.


                           amendment no. 2130

  Mr. LEAHY. I tell my friend, the Presiding Officer, if I could have 
the attention of the Presiding Officer, I will not give a great speech 
but a small speech.
  Mr. President, just a few weeks after we pushed the U.N. Security 
Council to support strong resolutions against Iraq, we are on the 
amendment by the distinguished senior Senator from North Carolina 
proposing ways to further undercut the effectiveness of the United 
Nations and our leadership in the United Nations. In regular U.N. 
peacekeeping operations, blue helmet operations, we sought 
reimbursement for our in-kind contributions, and we are reimbursed 
today. But there are many other U.N. operations that have the blessings 
of the Security Council but are not actually U.N. peacekeeping 
operations, including U.N. troops that were included because it was 
important to the United States interests.
  I will give you an example. Operation Provide Comfort in northern 
Iraq is an example. The United Nations has given its blessing because 
we, the United States, asked the United Nations to support it. But it 
is, above all else, as we all know, a U.S. operation.
  There are other examples where we pushed for a U.N. Security Council 
resolution in support of our position to give a broader degree of 
support. But if the United Nations were to adopt all of these 
operations as its own, I expect that the Senator from North Carolina 
would probably be the first to object. I doubt he would want our troops 
to be wearing blue helmets in those operations.
  As Senator Biden has said, maybe we should seek to change  the U.N. 
charter

[[Page S2553]]

so all activities blessed by the Security Council require 
reimbursement. But do we really want to have to pay for everything the 
Security Council decides? I doubt it. Other nations undertake 
operations after receiving the blessings of a U.N. Security Council 
resolution. We may support that. But we don't want to participate in it 
and we don't want to pay for it.

  It is easy to take a shot at the United Nations. It is a little bit 
more difficult to make it work. I remind Senators that just last year 
many in the leadership of the House and the Senate, the majority 
leadership in the House and the Senate, promised, along with the 
President of the United States, that we would pay our arrearage in dues 
to the United Nations. But then in what was probably the most 
irresponsible foreign policy action I have seen in 23 years here, the 
most irresponsible actions on the very day that the United States was 
before the U.N. Security Council begging the U.N. Security Council to 
back us in Iraq, the leadership in the House of Representatives broke 
their commitment and killed the appropriations for the payment of dues 
to the United Nations.
  If we want to get out of the United Nations, then let us vote to do 
that. If we want to say we will never spend another cent in the United 
Nations, let us vote to do that. But to first give our word that we 
will pay what we contractually owe and then on the day when we 
desperately are pushing the United Nations to back us in Iraq, to say 
we break our word, we can't do that.
  I see the Senator from Minnesota is ready.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. STEVENS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. STEVENS. I ask unanimous consent the Senators from New Mexico now 
have each 5 minutes to report a sad event to the Senate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Without objection, it is 
so ordered.
  Following that, the pending question will be the Wellstone amendment 
numbered 2128, as modified. Under the previous order, amendments 2125, 
2126, and 2127 have been withdrawn.
  The Senator from New Mexico.

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