[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 51 (Thursday, April 30, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3907-S3909]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE SESSION

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the Senate will now go into 
legislative session.
  Mr. STEVENS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I submit a report of the committee of 
conference on the bill, H.R. 3579, making emergency supplemental 
appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1998, and for 
other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The committee on conference on the disagreeing votes of the 
     two Houses on the amendment of the Senate to the bill H.R. 
     3579, have agreed to recommend and do recommend to their 
     respective Houses this report, signed by majority of the 
     conferees.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the Senate will proceed to 
the consideration of the conference report.
  (The conference report is printed in the House proceedings of the 
Record of April 30, 1998.)
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, the House passed earlier today the 
emergency supplemental appropriations conference report by substantial 
margin.
  I want to begin by expressing my appreciation to my friend and 
colleague from West Virginia, Sen. Byrd, for his assistance and 
cooperation in presenting this bill to the Senate.
  Our Committee worked in a bipartisan manner through every step of the 
process of moving this emergency supplemental bill through the Senate, 
and back from conference.
  I strongly urge all my colleagues to vote in support of this bill, 
which addresses urgent funding requirements for the Department of 
Defense, and many agencies responsible for dealing with natural 
disasters.
  The conference report provides $2.8 billion for emergency defense 
accounts.

[[Page S3908]]

These amounts are not offset by any reductions to defense or non-
defense appropriations--they are treated genuinely as emergencies.
  We recommend these appropriations based on the expenditures already 
made by the military, and recognizing the devastating effect of failing 
to provide these funds now.
  The Congress will have the opportunity to consider the proposed 
funding for missions in Bosnia and southwest Asia in the fiscal year 
1999 defense authorization and appropriations bills. This supplemental 
funding does not prejudge the decisions we face later this year.
  The conference report provides $2.6 billion in nondefense emergency 
appropriations, for FEMA, the Departments of Agriculture, 
Transportation and the Army Corps of Engineers.
  These appropriations are offset by budget authority reductions to 
contract authority available for HUD sec. 8 housing and the airport 
improvement program.
  Based on extensive discussions with the administration, these amounts 
are not required to execute these programs during the remainder of 
fiscal year 1998.
  We do face the need to monitor these accounts closely for fiscal year 
1999, and some additional funds may be needed for the HUD section 8 
housing.
  Mr. President, I very much regret that the conference report does not 
include the funding passed by the Senate for the International Monetary 
Fund.
  The House wishes to take up IMF funding in a separate vehicle, which 
has been reported by the House Appropriations Committee.
  Speaker Gingrich has committed to holding a vote on the IMF bill in 
the House. I hope that vote comes later this month, so that we can 
assure the markets in Asia, and the global financial community, of our 
Nation's commitment to maintaining economic stability and growth.
  Mr. President, before closing, I want to note the exceptional work 
undertaken by the staff of the House and Senate appropriations 
committees.
  Our conference met for the first time at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, and 
completed most of its work Wednesday night at 6:00 p.m.
  By 9:30 a.m. today, the official papers were prepared and ready to 
file--a remarkable achievement.
  I want to especially note the contributions of Jay Kimmitt, Jack 
Conway and Richard Larson of the Senate committee staff, and John 
Mikal, Dennis Kedzior and Chuck Parkinson of the House committee staff.
  Mr. President, we need to pass this bill tonight, and I believe we 
have returned to the Senate a good bill, that merits the Senate's 
support.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I congratulate all the conferees on this 
very important disaster assistance supplemental appropriation bill, and 
in particular, the chairman and ranking member of the House 
Appropriations Committee, Chairman Livingston and Mr. Obey, as well as 
Senator Stevens, who chaired the conference, for the successful 
completion of what has been a very difficult conference.
  Many of the issues that came before the conference and required 
extensive debate were extraneous matters that had nothing to do with 
the primary purposes of the bill, to provide emergency appropriations 
for our men and women in uniform in Bosnia and Southwest Asia and to 
provide emergency disaster assistance to those of our citizens who have 
suffered from the devastating series of natural disasters that have 
beset the country in recent months--from the ice storms this past 
winter in the northeast to the flooding in the western and southern 
portions of the nation, as well as the recent killer tornadoes 
throughout the southern states. There was very little disagreement on 
these matters among the conferees. We all understood the urgency of 
providing the necessary resources for these emergency purposes.
  Nevertheless, as I say, we were faced with a number of potential 
controversial, extraneous legislative riders which had to be debated 
and disposed of. Those issues ranged from whether to include language 
in this conference agreement that was in neither version of the bill 
relating to such things as: interest rates on guaranteed student loans; 
whether to insert portions of the recently-completed Agricultural 
Research Conference Report; and whether to override the President's 
Executive Order prohibiting the importation of assault weapons. Such 
extraneous issues consumed a considerable amount of time but, I am 
pleased to say, most were not adopted by the conference.
  In all, the bill contains some $2.86 billion to cover the cost of the 
military operations in Bosnia and Southwest Asia, together with $2.6 
billion in emergency disaster assistance payments, principal among 
which are $1.6 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 
$259 million in emergency Federal-aid highway relief, and $130 million 
for community development block grants. The appropriations for the 
Department of Defense, as well as the disaster assistance payments were 
requested by the President as emergency appropriations and, as such, 
under the Budget Enforcement Act, require no offsets. The Senate 
version of the bill, therefore, contained no offsets for any of the 
aforementioned emergency items. Nevertheless the House conferees 
insisted that the appropriations totaling $2.6 billion for emergency 
assistance for natural disasters be offset, in budget authority only, 
by rescissions of $2.3 billion in Section 8 Housing authority reserves 
and $241 million in excess contract authority in the FAA Airport 
Improvement Program.
  I am pleased that the conferees accepted the Senate amendment which 
provided the full $550 million request of the President for veterans 
compensation and pensions. These funds were not included in the House 
version of the bill before the conferees. The funds are needed to 
accommodate the additional costs associated with the 1998 cost-of-
living adjustment of 2.1 percent for compensation beneficiaries; an 
increase in the estimated number of compensation beneficiaries; and an 
increase in the average payments to compensation and 
pension beneficiaries. It is important that we keep faith with our 
veterans, who have sacrificed so much in their service to our country, 
and I am delighted that the conferees agreed to provide these funds on 
a timely basis so that there will be no interruption in these payments 
to our veterans. In addition, the bill also includes some $142 million 
in appropriations for various agencies to enable them to continue their 
operations throughout the balance of the fiscal year. These latter 
amounts are appropriately offset by rescissions.

  I am pleased that the conference accepted my amendment to the Senate-
version of the bill, which was cosponsored by the distinguished 
chairman of the committee, Mr. Stevens, and which requires the 
President to seek support aggressively from our allies and friends to 
share the burden of containing the Iraqi menace in the Middle East. In 
my view, Mr. President, this provision is essential as I do not believe 
that we should shoulder this burden alone. To this end, I note that the 
distinguished chairman of the committee, as well as selected other 
members of the committee, will shortly depart for the Middle East in 
order to impress upon the leaders of our allies in that area of the 
world the importance that we place upon increased burdensharing by our 
allies in this very critical aspect of international peacekeeping that 
is so important to stability in today's world.
  Finally, Mr. President, I am disappointed that the House conferees 
were unable to accept a Senate amendment offered by myself, Senator 
Dorgan, and other Senators to establish a congressional commission to 
study causes and consequences of our trade deficits. I have noted that 
the trade deficit numbers for February are now at a decade-high monthly 
level, primarily as a result of the Japanese economic problem. We have 
not had a comprehensive review of our national trade policies since 
1970--nearly 30 years ago. This legislation has been 3 years in the 
making, and my Senate amendment would have established a congressional 
commission composed of twelve members--six members nominated by the 
Senate and six members nominated by the House, four of whom shall be 
Members of congress. Nevertheless, the conferees did agree in the 
Statement of Managers to include the following:
  ``The managers considered, but did not adopt, language that would 
create a Trade Deficit Review Commission, as

[[Page S3909]]

proposed by the Senate. The conferees agree that serious concerns exist 
regarding continuing trade deficits and intend to work with the 
legislative committees of jurisdiction to establish such a Commission, 
including in the context of the fiscal year 1999 appropriations 
process.''
  Mr. President, this is a matter of high priority. Senator Dorgan and 
I will be monitoring this important matter closely. We hope that the 
various legislative committees of jurisdiction will take up this issue 
at a very early date. In any case, the members can count on Senator 
Dorgan and me to revisit this matter on a timely basis later this year 
if no action has been taken in the interim.
  I know that the administration is disappointed that the conference 
has not chosen to include payments to the International Monetary Fund. 
This matter was debated at great length during the conference and it 
was determined that the House, at this time, was not prepared to yield 
on this issue.
  I, again, thank all conferees for their diligent efforts throughout 
the past week in resolving all of the difficult issues faced in the 
conference and particularly the chairman of our committee, Senator 
Stevens, who chaired this, his first supplemental appropriations 
conference, with great patience, skill, and good humor.
  Mr. President, I thank the Chair and yield the floor.
  Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I express my sincere gratitude to the 
manager of the bill, Senator Stevens, and to the chair of the 
Subcommittee on Interior, Senator Gorton. Yesterday, I raised with them 
an issue of concern regarding amendments to the Coastal Barrier 
Resources System, a program under the jurisdiction of the Committee on 
Environment and Public Works, that the conferees were considering. 
These amendment would have adjusted the boundaries of several units 
currently in the System in Florida, and they are quite controversial.
  Senator Stevens and Senator Gorton were both very gracious and 
accommodating to my concerns. They chose not to include the amendments, 
and instead included language in the report stating that the managers 
will work with the committees of jurisdiction to explore the 
possibility of a legislative remedy in the context of future 
appropriations bill or other legislative vehicle. I very must 
appreciate this collaborative approach.
  Again, I express my sincere thanks to my esteemed colleagues, 
Senators Stevens and Gorton.
  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to the Supplemental 
Conference report, and I oppose it for the same reasons I opposed the 
original Senate Supplemental Appropriations bill in the Appropriaitons 
Committee.
  While I want to go on record supporting the funding for our 
operations in Bosnia and Iraq, I am voting against this bill because I 
believe we should have found a way to offset this defense spending. I 
understand that some of the funding was unanticipated, but certainly 
not all of it. If we are truly committed to a balanced budget, as I 
believe we should be, we need to make the tough choices to reduce 
spending in other areas of defense spending to pay for this bill.
  I also want to state that I opposed the House bill which offset 
defense spending with cuts in domestic programs. Separate defense and 
domestic spending levels were set in last year's historic balanced 
budget accord, and I see no reason to revisit those fundamental 
decisions now. Except for truly unanticipated emergencies, the 
Department of Defense ought to make the tough decision that allows it 
to live within its budget. If the non-emergency defense spending in 
this bill was not important enough to make the Department of Defense's 
FY 1998 budget, it is not important enough to justify raiding cash-
strapped domestic programs.
  And finally, I am disappointed that this legislation does not include 
funding for the International Monetary Fund's quota increase and New 
Arrangements to Borrow. The situation in Asia has clearly demonstrated 
that while the mission of the IMF is now more important than ever, the 
current resources of the fund are not adequate to meet the demands of 
that mission. We have a responsibility to every American, whether they 
be consumer, business person, job seeker or job holder, to promote 
policies that help grow the global economy to which the American 
economy is increasingly and inextricably linked. Simply put, our future 
depends on the future of our neighbors and trading partners. Many of my 
colleagues have raised legitimate concerns regarding IMF reform, 
concerns which should be addressed. But our primary task for today was 
to provide the IMF with the resources necessary to continue its 
important mission, and I regret that Congress failed to live up to that 
responsibility.

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