[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 54 (Thursday, May 4, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3530-S3531]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. MOYNIHAN (for himself and Mr. Schumer):
  S. 2512. A bill to convey certain Federal properties on Governors 
Island, New York; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.


               governors island preservation act of 2000

 Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I rise with my distinguished 
colleague and fellow New Yorker, Senator Schumer,

[[Page S3531]]

to introduce the ``Governors Island Preservation Act of 2000.'' This 
bill will establish the Governors Island National Monument preserving 
two of New York Harbor's earliest fortifications, Fort Jay and Castle 
Williams. The balance of the property will be conveyed to the State of 
New York. New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and New York State 
Governor George E. Pataki have developed a plan for the reuse of 
Governors Island. Their agreement has helped to make this bill 
possible, and both deserve much credit.
  Congress stipulated in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 that Governors 
Island be sold ``at fair market value'' no sooner than Fiscal Year 
2002. Without the benefit of an appraisal, the Congressional Budget 
Office determined its value to be somewhere between $250 million and $1 
billion. As Congress continued its work on the Balanced Budget Act of 
1997, $500 million of Federal revenue was identified in Fiscal Year 
2002 through the sale of Governors Island. A fantasy perhaps, but no 
matter, the money had been found.
  Governors Island has played a significant role in every major 
military conflict from the American Revolution through World War II. In 
April of 1776, General Israel Putnam and 1,000 officers arrived on 
Governors Island and began erecting fortifications. Three months later, 
the guns at Governors Island prevented Admiral Howe's 400 ships and 
Lord Cornwallis' army--32,000 men strong--from crushing General George 
Washington's badly overwhelmed forces during the Battle of Long Island. 
Outflanked in Brooklyn, Washington's men retreated to the island of 
Manhattan across the East River under the cover of the Governors 
Island's guns. At the risk of falling into what historians term a 
``teleological trap,'' I would suggest that the Revolution could well 
have ended right then and there.
  During the War of 1812, the guns at the ``cheese-box'' shaped Castle 
Williams--and those at the Southwest Battery--dissuaded the British 
from mounting a direct attack on New York City, then the Nation's 
principal seaport.
  During the Civil War, Governors Island served as the primary Eastern 
Seaboard recruiting depot for Union soldiers. Nearly 5,000 Union 
draftees and volunteers were stationed there. Its inaccessibility 
proved useful for garrisoning the most recalcitrant of Confederate 
soldiers, who were confined both in Castle Williams and Fort Jay. Only 
one, Captain William Robert Webb, managed to escape. It will give my 
colleagues some measure of satisfaction to learn that this artful rebel 
was later appointed U.S. Senator from Tennessee.

  After the U.S. Congress declared war with Germany and Austria-Hungary 
on April 6, 1917, Governors Island became an embarkation point for the 
war effort. Several years earlier, the Island was expanded to its 
current 172-acre size by the excavation of the Lexington Avenue Subway 
line, which generated over 4.7 million tons of fill. The additional 
space permitted the construction of over 70 buildings providing a 
combined total of 30 million square feet of storage space. As the War 
escalated, estimates place the value of goods transported from 
Governors Island to the European theater at over $1 million per day--in 
1917 dollars.
  More than 20 years later, the famed General Hugh Drum commanded the 
First Army from Governors Island as the United States prepared for the 
Second World War. Once war was declared, Governors Island served as the 
headquarters for the Eastern Defense Command, which was tasked with 
protecting the Eastern Seaboard from Nazi attack.
  In 1966, the Coast Guard assumed control of Governors Island, and 
remained there for 30 years. After lighting the refurbished Statue of 
Liberty from Governors Island on July 4, 1986, President Reagan grew 
fond of Governors Island. On December 7, 1988, he chose the Admiral's 
House on Governors Island to meet Soviet Premier Mikhail S. Gorbachev 
to present each other with the Articles of Ratification of the 
Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty.
  It is inconceivable that Congress would permit this site, so rich in 
history, to be recklessly sold to the highest bidder.
  In January of this year, Governor Pataki and Mayor Giuliani announced 
an agreement on a preservation plan for Governors Island. The Governors 
Island Preservation Act is based upon that plan and calls for the 
establishment of the Governors Island National Monument to be comprised 
of Fort Jay and Castle Williams (so named after Lt. Col. Jonathan 
Williams, the first superintendent of West Point). Once the Monument is 
established, all of the historic New York Harbor forts--Fort Wood (the 
base of the Statue of Liberty), the Southwest Battery (now Castle 
Clinton National Monument), and Fort Gibson (partially demolished to 
provide for the construction of Ellis Island)--will be within the 
National Park Service inventory.
  The remaining portions of the Island will be conveyed to the Empire 
State Development Corporation, as agreed to by Mayor Giuliani and 
Governor Pataki. Their plan will incorporate a public park, athletic 
fields, a museum dedicated to the history and ecology of the Hudson 
River and New York Harbor, a family center modeled after Colonial 
Williamsburg, a conference center, and a hotel. After 200 years of 
Federal occupation, Governors Island will at last be open to the 
public.
  I thank the chair and I urge my colleagues to support this important 
legislation.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I would like to offer a few brief remarks 
to underscore several of the points that my colleague, Senator 
Moynihan, made when he introduced the ``Governors Island Preservation 
Act of 2000,'' a bill I gladly cosponsored.
  The first point is that Governors Island is truly a national 
treasure. It has played a significant role in nearly every American 
battle from the Revolution through World War II. During the War of 
1812, it is credited with preventing a direct British attack on the 
City of New York--then the Nation's principal seaport. It served as the 
Union's foremost recruiting depot and as a Confederate prison during 
the Civil War.
  The second point, Mr. President, is that its historical structures 
have been placed in no small degree of danger by the statutorily 
mandated Fiscal Year 2002 sale date. If the Island should be sold then 
``at fair market value,'' there simply is no guarantee the Castle 
Williams, Fort Jay, Building 400--a McKim, Meade & White masterpiece 
thought to be the largest single Army barrack ever constructed, the 
1708 Governor's house, and the entire Governors Island National 
Historic Landmark District will be protected. When the Balanced Budget 
Act of 1997 was being negotiated, Congress faced seemingly intractable, 
structural deficits. We had to make a great many difficult and, if I 
may, extreme choices to bring the Federal budget into balance. Three 
years later, our circumstances are quite different. Fiscal austerity 
has paid its dividends and we are approaching an era of surpluses much 
sooner that we might have otherwise imagined. Should we still be 
proposing to sell off such an important piece of American history?
  Finally, Mr. President, my colleague mentioned the issue of fairness. 
New York gave Governors Island to the national government in 1800. No 
complaints. The British and the French were then poised to attack our 
young nation. Now the Federal government has no use for Governors 
Island--the Coast Guard found it too expensive to maintain--it is only 
right that the people of New York get their property back. The 
Governors Island Preservation Act of 2000 will do just that. In 
addition, it will establish the Governors Island National Monument 
which will provide all Americans--for the first time--with the 
opportunity to learn of the Island's rich contributions to American 
history while experiencing the spectacular views of New York Harbor 
from this idyllic setting.
  Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
                                 ______