[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 76 (Tuesday, May 25, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1087]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 1141, 1999 EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL 
                           APPROPRIATIONS ACT

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                          HON. JULIAN C. DIXON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 25, 1999

  Mr. DIXON. Mr. Speaker, I rise to reluctantly support this conference 
report, as well as commend Chairman Young, Mr. Obey, and the conferees 
for their hard work in bringing this difficult bill to the floor. 
Clearly, many of my colleagues share my ambivalence about this 
legislation. As a body, we seem to be all over the place on this 
measure. Some of my friends on the Republican side voted earlier this 
month to oppose NATO intervention in Kosovo; now they support doubling 
the President's Kosovo budget request. My Democratic colleagues support 
funding to provide relief to tornado victims in Oklahoma, hurricane 
victims in Central America, and refugees in Kosovo; however, they balk 
at the bill's environmental riders and inflated defense spending. 
Members on both sides of the aisle decry emergency designation of non-
emergency items, but we have a bipartisan inability to admit that our 
current budget caps are unrealistic and unworkable.
  I have great concerns over portions of this legislation; however, on 
balance, Mr. Speaker, I believe that the need for much of the funding 
is real and outweighs my reservations. Given the situation in Kosovo 
three months ago and our commitment to the defense of Europe, I believe 
that President Clinton made the right decision to join our NATO allies 
in acting against Milosevic's ethnic cleansing campaign. The 
responsibility to allocate dollars to pay for the military campaign 
falls on the Congress. While the increases over the President's request 
for Kosovo should be addressed in the regular 2000 appropriations 
process, we need to move forward to commit these funds.
  I strongly support emergency funding for non-defense items in the 
supplemental. The Congress has moved expeditiously, as is our 
tradition, to address the destruction caused by recent tornadoes in 
Oklahoma and Kansas. H.R. 1141 also includes long overdue relief to 
Central America still struggling in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch. 
Sorely needed relief is being supplied to America's farmers.
  Today's vote to provide $100 million in military assistance and 
economic support to Jordan coincides with the visit of King Abdullah. 
These funds will enable that nation to assist in the Middle East peace 
process, pursuant to the Wye River agreement. There is renewed optimism 
that the recent elections in Israel can help reinvigorate that process.
  This bill also includes some important legislative provisions. The 
repeal of the June 15th funding cutoff for the Departments of Commerce, 
Justice, and State and the Federal Judiciary, included in the fiscal 
1999 omnibus bill, ensures that essential government functions no 
longer face shutdown. The bill grants the Department of Justice the 
authority to make restitution to Japanese Americans and Latin Americans 
of Japanese descent who were forcibly detained in the United States 
during World War II, but whose claims have not been settled. Settlement 
of these claims will close a shameful episode in this great nation's 
history.
  The Republican majority continues to use appropriations bills to pass 
damaging environmental provisions. This time we have Senate provisions 
to protect narrow special interests at the expense of the environment. 
We continue to delay reforms to the 1872 mining law and changes in oil 
valuation which ensure that the government receives reasonable 
royalties from drilling on federal land. I urge my colleagues to vote 
to recommit this legislation so that the bill's onerous environmental 
provisions can be removed.
  So, while I share the reservations voiced by many of my colleagues, I 
believe we need to move forward with the important work H.R. 1141 
funds.

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