[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 126 (Friday, September 24, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11428-S11429]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                         MONTREAL PROTOCOL FUND

  Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I commend the Senator from Massachusetts 
for offering this amendment. I am a cosponsor of the amendment. The 
Montreal Protocol has always enjoyed broad bipartisan support in the 
Congress and public support across the country.
  As our colleagues will remember, it was President Reagan who 
negotiated and signed the Protocol in 1987. Since that time, many 
strengthening amendments have been adopted and ratified during the 
administrations of both President Bush and President Clinton.
  One of the most effective provisions of the protocol is an 
international fund that provides assistance to developing nations to 
aid their phaseout of ozone depleting substances. This is not a U.S. 
aid program. It is an international fund supported by 35 countries. It 
has assisted projects to reduce ozone use in 120 developing countries.
  Mr. President, I can tell the Senate that the Montreal Protocol Fund 
is a very cost effective program because the U.S. General Accounting 
Office audited the program in 1997 and gave it high praise. GAO had 
only one recommendation to make to improve its performance and that 
recommendation has since been implemented. I would note that the U.S. 
business community also strongly supports this program. Quite often the 
assistance provided by the fund is used by developing nations to buy 
our technology to reduce CFC use. So, there is no question that this 
program works and has been highly successful.
  The only issue is whether there is room for the U.S. contribution in 
this budget. We have pledged approximately $39 million for this coming 
year. There is $27 million in the Foreign Operations appropriation. 
Which means that we need an additional $12 million to honor our 
commitment. The amendment by the Senator from Massachusetts would 
provide that $12 million from EPA's budget. This follows a long 
tradition of paying for part of our contribution from State Department 
funds and part of our contribution through the EPA budget.
  Can EPA afford $12 million for this purpose. We know that the budget 
is

[[Page S11429]]

tight this year. But it is not so tight that we need to entirely 
eliminate this expenditure. In fact, I would note that this bill 
provides EPA $116 million more than the President requested. As the 
Senator from Maryland, Senator Mikulski, has said many times here on 
the floor, this bill is still a work in progress. I am confident that 
the very able managers of the bill can find room for the Montreal 
Protocol Fund in a budget for EPA that provides $116 million more than 
the President's request for the coming year.
  We have our differences here in the Senate over environmental policy. 
But everyone has to admit that the international program to protect the 
stratospheric ozone layer negotiated by President Reagan has been a 
tremendous success. The work is not quite done. CFCs are not entirely 
out of our economy. In fact, the U.S. remains the third largest user of 
CFCs. But we are well on the way to a CFC-free world. And this program, 
the Montreal Protocol Fund, has been a very important part of the 
effort. It deserves our continued support.

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