[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 7 (Wednesday, February 2, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S257-S258]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
COSTS OF WTO MINISTERIAL
Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, earlier this afternoon the distinguished
Senator from Vermont, Mr. Leahy, welcomed to the chair in which the
Acting President now sits the Vice President of the United States in
his capacity as President of the Senate. It was out of order for me to
speak at that point, and I regret the fact that I was unable to do so
because my message is to the Vice President of the United States.
Leaving this place, he is now on his way to Seattle, my home State,
in pursuance of the Democratic nomination for the Presidency. On a
number of occasions during the course of the last year when the Vice
President has graced us with his presence, I have asked on this floor
and elsewhere that he address some of the controversial and burning
issues in the Pacific Northwest, usually without getting a particularly
significant response.
I don't intend to do that today. I welcome the Vice President to
Seattle, and I am going to ask him for his help and for a favor to the
people of that city and the region.
Early last year, the Clinton administration picked Seattle out of 40
city applicants to host a conference by the World Trade Organization
for an extended period of time. Careful preparations for that meeting
were made by the administration, by State officials, by officials in
the city of Seattle and in the surrounding area, and by private
organizations that desired to take part in the WTO meetings.
We, as is customary when a major international conference goes to an
American city, recognized the extra costs that would accrue to Seattle
and the region by directing the State Department to reimburse Seattle
and surrounding communities by upwards of $5 million for the extra
costs of law enforcement that were inevitably to be a part of that WTO
conference. Senator Murray, my colleague, and I joined in strongly
supporting that proposal, and it was accepted, not only by the Senate
but by the Congress, memorialized in the Commerce-State-Justice
appropriations bill.
As we all know now, to our regret, the preparations for that WTO
meeting were inadequate to meet the deluge of demonstrators who
descended on Seattle, some of them quite violent in nature. While in my
view our law enforcement officers performed in exemplary fashion under
extremely difficult circumstances, neither the political preparation
for that meeting on the part of their superiors, the disposition of the
law enforcement officers, nor their leadership was up to the task. We
ended up with a very regrettable and probably disastrous experience in
the city with security for the organization, added to, very
significantly, for the future of our trade relations by what I consider
to be the utterly inappropriate performance of the President of the
United States in undercutting his own negotiators.
Nevertheless, the net result was approximately a cost of $12 million
to law enforcement over and above what would normally have been the
circumstances. Not only does that exceed by a margin of more than 2 to
1 the $5 million that we directed be added as assistance for those
efforts, but the State Department of the United States of America has
flatly refused to reimburse Seattle or any of the other communities in
the area by so much as $1.
I may say, the State Department seems quite happy to reimburse the
costs of all of the Members of both Houses of Congress who went to
Seattle for that conference, but a direction from this Congress, a
direction from this Senate, that the Seattle area deserved a $5 million
contribution to these law enforcement problems has, to this point, been
utterly ignored by the State Department. Seattle and other local
officials have been spurned in all of their efforts to get that
assistance by what I consider to be weak and inadequate grounds.
Mr. President, I have come to the point. Yesterday I wrote a letter
to the Vice President of the United States that I ask unanimous consent
be printed in the Record in full at the end of my remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(See Exhibit 1.)
Mr. GORTON. I asked in the letter that the Vice President, in his
exalted position in this administration, do his very best to see to it
that the State Department ends this arbitrary action and promptly
reimburses the region with that entire $5 million figure, to be
distributed as is most just among the various agencies that incurred
those
[[Page S258]]
costs. This is a simple request. It is a request to the Vice President
of the United States to see to it that the United States keeps its
obligations, obligations which to this point have been disgracefully
ignored.
I am certain the Vice President has sufficient authority and
importance in the administration that his views on this case, if they
are made known forcibly and well, will be acted upon. I hope very much
he will do exactly that and help us, at least for a modest degree of
compensation for what was an extremely unhappy experience in the
community as a whole and among our law enforcement officials.
Exhibit 1
U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC, February 1, 2000.
Hon. Al Gore,
The White House,
Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Vice President: Last spring, the administration
selected the City of Seattle from a list of 40 entries to be
the honorary host site for the largest trade meeting ever
held on U.S. soil, the World trade Organization Ministerial.
While the outcome of the event was not what we might have
liked, hosting the Ministerial imposed a severe financial
burden on the City of Seattle and surrounding communities.
Recognizing that the city and other involved jurisdictions
would need assistance and support for security, members of
the Washington State Delegation in the House and Senate
supported language in the Fiscal Year 2000 Commerce, Justice,
State and Judiciary Appropriations bill to provide $5 million
to be used for costs related to the WTO Ministerial in
Seattle. Just as the trade event was set to convene and the
first foreign dignitaries were arriving in Seattle, this
language and allocation became law.
Unfortunately, at the same time that foreign and U.S. Trade
representatives were convening in Seattle for the initiation
of a new round of trade agreements, so too did tens of
thousands of protestors, including many who had every intent
of disrupting the Ministerial. While I have expressed
reservations about how the City of Seattle chose to deal with
the onslaught of protesters, I believe that the enacted
financial assistance is not only required, but overdue.
To make matters worse, as Seattle continues the task of
mending its wounds, the U.S. State Department has refused to
release one nickel of the aforementioned allocation. Seattle,
its residents and law enforcement still feel the sting of the
black eye endured during the week of the WTO.
Preliminary estimates suggest that local taxpayers spent
more than $12 million for security expenses related to the
WTO, and the Washington State Patrol suggests that at least
$2.3 million was absorbed for overtime security expenses. To
expect local communities to absorb such security costs for a
major international event is unjustified.
As you visit Seattle this week to curry favor with our
voters, I will not chastise you, as I have done in the past,
for not speaking out on key issues facing the Northwest.
Instead, I ask you to assist our community by placing a call
to your colleague, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and
demand that the funds prescribed in the FY2000 CJSJ
Appropriations bill be released to Seattle.
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
Sincerely,
Slade Gorton,
U.S. Senator.
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