[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 119 (Tuesday, September 14, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S10818]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   DEPLORING THE ACTIONS OF THE PRESIDENT CLINTON REGARDING GRANTING 
                 CLEMENCY TO FALN TERRORISTS--Continued

  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time 
during the future quorum calls be charged to the minority side.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative assistant proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. COVERDELL. 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for the quorum call be rescinded.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. COVERDELL. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on S.J. 
Res. 33.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the engrossment and third 
reading of the joint resolution.
  The joint resolution was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading 
and was read the third time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Santorum). The joint resolution having 
been read the third time, the question is, Shall the joint resolution, 
as modified, pass?
  The yeas and nays have been ordered. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative assistant called the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain) 
and the Senator from New Hampshire (Mr. Gregg) are necessarily absent.
  Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Florida (Mr. Graham) is 
necessarily absent.
  The result was announced--yeas 95, nays 2, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 273 Leg.]

                                YEAS--95

     Abraham
     Allard
     Ashcroft
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Brownback
     Bryan
     Bunning
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Chafee
     Cleland
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Coverdell
     Craig
     Crapo
     Daschle
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Edwards
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Gorton
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hollings
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Moynihan
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nickles
     Reed
     Reid
     Robb
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Roth
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Torricelli
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wyden

                                NAYS--2

     Akaka
     Wellstone
       

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Graham
     Gregg
     McCain
  The joint resolution (S.J. Res. 33), as modified, was passed.
  The preamble, as modified, was agreed to.
  The joint resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S.J. Res. 33

       Whereas the Armed Forces of National Liberation (the FALN) 
     is a militant terrorist organization that claims 
     responsibility for the bombings of approximately 130 
     civilian, political, and military sites throughout the United 
     States;
       Whereas its reign of terror resulted in 6 deaths and the 
     permanent maiming of dozens of others, including law 
     enforcement officials;
       Whereas 16 members of the FALN were tried for numerous 
     felonies against the United States, including seditious 
     conspiracy;
       Whereas at their trials, none of the 16 defendants 
     contested any of the evidence presented by the United States;
       Whereas at their trials none expressed remorse for their 
     actions;
       Whereas all were subsequently convicted and sentenced to 
     prison for terms up to 90 years;
       Whereas not a single act of terrorism has been attributed 
     to the FALN since the imprisonment of the 16 terrorists;
       Whereas no petitions for clemency were made by these 
     terrorists, but other persons sought such clemency for them;
       Whereas on August 11, 1999, President William Jefferson 
     Clinton offered conditional clemency to these 16 terrorists, 
     all of whom have served less than 20 years in prison;
       Whereas the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal 
     Bureau of Prisons, and 2 United States Attorneys all 
     reportedly advised the President not to grant leniency to the 
     16 terrorists;
       Whereas the State Department in 1998 reiterated two 
     longstanding tenets of counter terrorism policy that the 
     United States will: ``(1) make no concessions to terrorists 
     and strike no deals''; and ``(2) bring terrorists to justice 
     for their crimes'';
       Whereas the President's offer of clemency to the FALN 
     terrorists violates longstanding tenets of United States 
     counterterrorism policy; and
       Whereas the release of terrorists is an affront to the rule 
     of law, the victims and their families, and every American 
     who believes that violent acts must be punished to the 
     fullest extent of the law: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
     United States of America in Congress assembled, That making 
     concessions to terrorists is deplorable and that President 
     Clinton should not have granted clemency to the FALN 
     terrorists.

  Mr. SMITH of Oregon addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
  Mr. SMITH of Oregon. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be 
allowed to speak briefly as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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