[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 47 (Thursday, April 13, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H2329-H2330]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 DO WHAT IS RIGHT FOR AMERICA, NOT WHAT IS RIGHT FOR POLITICAL REASONS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 1999, the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen) is recognized for 
10 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I heard an interesting talk by one of the 
Senators from the State of Utah wherein he talked about his service in 
the White House under the Nixon years. What I found interesting about 
it was that he talked about the days of Watergate, and he said the 
thing that was feared the most in the White House was the Attorney 
General's office.
  Now, I find that very interesting that the Attorney General's office 
was feared by the President and the President's cabinet. Well, now, Mr. 
Speaker, I would like to point out that we have an interesting 
situation going on in a little island down by Puerto Rico. It is called 
Vieques. Vieques has been a training island for many, many years for 
the Navy and the Marines.
  In fact, that is where they get their final test. That is where they 
go, before they are deployed to the Persian Gulf or some other hostile 
place. They go down there and the Marines hit the beach. And as they 
do, there is fire from those ships, live fire over their heads. Then we 
have a situation where

[[Page H2330]]

actual fighter planes come in and strafe, and then bombers go in. And 
they do all this as the final preparation before we put all these fine 
young people in harm's way.
  It is interesting that the Eisenhower went out untrained. They did 
not have the ability to do it. And now the Washington, another aircraft 
carrier, is going out untrained without the ability to do it. Why is 
this? It is because we had a very interesting situation occur. A number 
of people went in and invaded that base. A United States military base. 
They invaded it.
  Now, what should happen there? Obviously, what should happen, the 
Marines and the Navy should kick them off and turn them over to the 
Justice Department. And the Justice Department, at that point, should 
prosecute them for what they have done.
  Mr. Speaker, I do not think a lot of people realize that in the 
United States there are 48 States that have live fire. What if some 
environmental group or others went in and took it over? Do we stand by 
and say they can have a vote, and if they vote right, we would give 
them $40 million, like we do there? I hardly believe it.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I have written the Attorney General, as a member of 
the Committee on Armed Services, and I have asked the question, what is 
the Attorney General doing to take these people off, who are nothing 
more than trespassers? The answer to that is that they have done 
nothing.
  Now, today, in the paper I read where an extreme environmentalist, a 
lawyer by the name of Robert F. Kennedy, Junior, will go to Vieques 
this Monday and he will scuba dive and he will play down there to see 
what is going on. I called today and we informed the Attorney General's 
office that a law is about to be broken, and I asked what was going to 
be done about it. So far we have heard absolutely nothing.
  Mr. Speaker, I do not know if a lot of folks realize that in my years 
here in Congress I served for 14 years on the ethics committee. For 2 
years I chaired the committee. It was my responsibility to talk to 
Democrats and Republicans alike and say this: You cannot solicit funds 
from a Federal building, period. You cannot do that. You will be in 
violation if you do.
  I find it very interesting and disagree respectfully with the Vice 
President of the United States who made the statement that there was no 
controlling authority because he solicited funds from the White House. 
If the White House is not a Federal building, my goodness, what is a 
Federal building in America today?
  So I wrote to the FEC, the Federal Election Commission, and I asked 
them to please explain why the Vice President, in violation, could do 
that. I knew what their answer would be. They said, we understand the 
law, but that I would have to call the Attorney General. So we wrote 
the Attorney General 3 months ago and asked the question, why is it the 
Vice President has no controlling authority? And if that is the case, 
then do 535 Members of the Senate and the House not have exactly that 
same thing? We could sit in our offices, call anybody we want, solicit 
money from people, even foreign nationals. Why could we not do that?
  I find it interesting, Mr. Speaker, that we have not had the Attorney 
General write us back. So I have had my legislative director, Mr. Bill 
Johnson, call them on a regular basis and ask them if they would please 
respond to our letter. And every day we get the same thing, which is, 
oh, we are working on that. Does it take 3 months to answer a simple 
letter asking if there is no controlling legal authority? And if that 
is the case, 535 of us should have exactly the same rights to do it.
  I imagine we will hear about it, maybe in the second week of 
November. Because, again, the Attorney General is dragging her feet.

  Mr. Speaker, if I may mention one other issue. In September of 1996, 
safely on the South River of the Grand Canyon, the President of the 
United States put 1.7 million acres into a national monument. Now, what 
authority did he use to do that? He used what is called the 1906 
Antiquity Law. Which is a very short law. It is only two paragraphs. 
But it says he should consider an archeological or a historic thing.
  Now, I would ask respectfully of the President of the United States 
why he did not do that in that proclamation. And in January of this 
year, why did he not do it on the strip of Arizona; why did he not do 
it in Phoenix. Why did he not do it? And now this Saturday, rumor is, 
and I admit I am paranoid, because I hear these rumors and I know they 
are going to happen, that down in Sequoia Forest in California there 
will be another national monument. I would just disagree with the 
President and ask him to please obey the law this time.
  And why is he doing these things? We subpoenaed those papers, and in 
those papers the White House, the Department of the Interior, and the 
Council on Quality Control said exactly the same thing; we are doing it 
for political reasons. My goodness, why in this Nation do we do things 
for political reasons?
  I still remember sitting with President Ronald Reagan who made the 
statement, ``First and foremost we will do what is right for America.'' 
Not first and foremost we will do what is right for political reasons. 
Mr. Speaker, I am just hoping in these three examples, Vieques, the 
ethics committee, the soliciting funds and the Sequoia Park, that 
people will follow the law for a change. It would be very refreshing to 
see this.

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