[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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