[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 71 (Friday, June 9, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4915-S4918]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2001

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will now 
resume consideration of H.R. 4576, which the clerk will report by 
title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 4576) making appropriations for the Department 
     of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2001, and 
     for other purposes.

  The Senate resumed consideration of the bill.
  Pending:
       Grassley amendment No. 3279, to require the Department of 
     Defense to match certain disbursements with obligations prior 
     to payment.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there will now be 10 
minutes of debate on amendment No. 3279 with the time equally divided.
  The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I yield myself such time as I might 
consume, obviously up to the limit, but I will not use all of it.
  I will make a few brief remarks about the pending amendment which I 
laid down last night and spoke shortly on that particular time. My 
amendment requires the Department of Defense to match disbursements 
with obligations before making payments.

[[Page S4916]]

  I know this sounds like commonsense stuff--it is really basic 
accounting 101--but it goes to a very major problem we have within the 
Department of Defense. They don't always make payments based on 
invoices. They don't always match the check being mailed out for 
certain goods or services received.
  I am sure my colleagues must be wondering why the Senator from Iowa 
has to offer an amendment such as this. They must be asking themselves 
this question: Isn't DOD already doing it?
  Unfortunately, the fact remains that the Pentagon bureaucrats are not 
doing it.
  Businesses do it on a routine basis. And most citizens do it, too. 
You just don't write out a check and pay a bill until you are 
absolutely certain that you owe the money. You must first verify that 
you have a legitimate obligation to pay the bill. And you have enough 
money in the bank to cover it.
  This amendment and device that has been used now for several years to 
try to straighten things out in the Pentagon is a handy device also for 
deterring fraud. And it helps to prevent mismanagement and other abuses 
in the Pentagon's vast financial accounts.
  This policy has been incorporated in the last six appropriations 
acts.
  Each year we have ratcheted down the threshold or dollar level where 
the matching must be done.
  In 1995, we started out with payments of $5 million.
  Each year since then, we have gradually lowered the threshold but 
always keeping the pressure on for reform.
  Last year the Senate voted to lower the threshold to $500,000.
  This year--in the amendment--I am recommending that the threshold be 
maintained at $500,000.
  I think we should keep it at the current level for another year. I am 
not sure DOD is ready to move to a lower level--not meaning that it 
wouldn't be right to move to a lower level. But if they don't have the 
mechanical capability of moving to a lower level, we want to make sure 
that we make progress in this area. However, we don't want to hold up 
the normal way of doing business or the process of doing business in 
the Defense Department.
  The General Accounting Office will look at this issue again and 
determine when and how the threshold should be lowered in the future, 
and in future years I would follow their recommendations.
  I also take this opportunity to thank my good friend from Alaska, the 
chairman of the committee, Senator Stevens, and my good friend from 
Hawaii, the ranking minority member, Senator Inouye, for their support 
of this amendment.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in voting for this measure.
  I yield the floor.
  If it is the desire that other Members yield back the remainder of 
their time, I will yield my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I and Senator Inouye welcome the 
cooperation of the Senator from Iowa to keep the current level for next 
year. We are trying our best to have the ability to take it down to 
zero in the near future.
  For now, we do thank the Senator for once again calling the attention 
of the Department of Defense to the fact that Congress wants good 
accounting procedures followed. He is right that this is the procedure 
followed by profit and nonprofit entities in our country.
  I ask my friend if he desires any time.
  Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I join my chairman in supporting the 
measure.
  Mr. STEVENS. With that, I yield back our time.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. I yield back my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time having expired, the question is on 
agreeing to amendment No. 3279. The yeas and nays have been ordered. 
The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. STEVENS. I announce that the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Bunning), 
the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Domenici), the Senator from Arizona 
(Mr. McCain), the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Nickles), and the Senator 
from Ohio (Mr. Voinovich), are necessarily absent.
  I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from 
Kentucky (Mr. Bunning) would vote ``yea.''
  Mr. REID. I announce the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Conrad), the 
Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Hollings), the Senator from Washington 
(Mrs. Murray), the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Rockefeller), the 
Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Torricelli), and the Senator from 
Minnesota (Mr. Wellstone) are necessarily absent.
  I also announce that the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry) is 
absent because of family illness.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Gorton). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 88, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 123 Leg.]

                                YEAS--88

     Abraham
     Akaka
     Allard
     Ashcroft
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Brownback
     Bryan
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Chafee, L.
     Cleland
     Cochran
     Collins
     Coverdell
     Craig
     Crapo
     Daschle
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Edwards
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Gorton
     Graham
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Moynihan
     Murkowski
     Reed
     Reid
     Robb
     Roberts
     Roth
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Warner
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--12

     Bunning
     Conrad
     Domenici
     Hollings
     Kerry
     McCain
     Murray
     Nickles
     Rockefeller
     Torricelli
     Voinovich
     Wellstone
  The amendment (No. 3279) was agreed to.
  Mr. STEVENS. I move to reconsider the vote and move to lay that 
motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. STEVENS. The Senator from North Carolina has an amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina is recognized.
  Mr. HELMS. I thank the Chair and the distinguished Senator from 
Alaska.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order for me to 
deliver my remarks from my desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                           Amendment No. 3280

   (Purpose: To express the sense of the Senate on bringing peace to 
                               Chechnya)

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask it 
be read in full.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from North Carolina [Mr. Helms] proposes an 
     amendment numbered 3280:
       At the appropriate place in the bill insert the following:

     SEC. ____. SENSE OF THE SENATE ON BRINGING PEACE TO CHECHNYA.

       (a) Findings.--The Senate finds that--
       (1) the Senate of the United States unanimously passed 
     Senate Resolution 262 on February 24th, 2000, which condemned 
     the indiscriminate use of force by the Government of the 
     Russian Federation against the people of Chechnya and called 
     for peace negotiations between the Government of the Russian 
     Federation and the democratically elected Government of 
     Chechnya led by President Aslan Maskhadov;
       (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate 
     received credible evidence reporting that Russian forces in 
     Chechnya caused the deaths of innocent civilians and the 
     displacement of well over 250,000 other residents of Chechnya 
     and committed widespread atrocities, including summary 
     executions, torture, and rape;
       (3) the Government of the Russian Federation continues its 
     military campaign in Chechnya, including using indiscriminate 
     force, causing further dislocation of people from their 
     homes, the deaths of noncombatants, and widespread suffering;
       (4) the Government of the Russian Federation refuses to 
     participate in peace negotiations with the democratically 
     elected government of Chechnya;
       (5) the war in Chechnya contributes to ethnic hatred and 
     religious intolerance within the Russian Federation, 
     jeopardizes prospects for the establishment of democracy in

[[Page S4917]]

     the Russian Federation, and is a threat to the peace in the 
     region; and
       (6) it is in the interests of the United States to promote 
     a cease-fire in Chechnya and negotiations between the 
     Government of the Russian Federation and the democratically 
     elected government of Chechnya that result in a just and 
     lasting peace;
       (7) representatives of the democratically elected President 
     of Chechnya, including his foreign minister, have traveled to 
     the United States to facilitate an immediate cease-fire to 
     the conflict in Chechnya and the initiation of peace 
     negotiations between Russian and Chechen forces;
       (8) the Secretary of State and other senior United States 
     Government officials have refused to meet with 
     representatives of the democratically elected President of 
     Chechnya to discuss proposals for an immediate cease-fire 
     between Chechen and Russian forces and for peace 
     negotiations; and
       (9) the Senate expresses its concern over the war and the 
     humanitarian tragedy in Chechnya and its desire for a 
     peaceful and durable settlement to the conflict.
       (b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate 
     that--
       (1) the Government of the Russian Federation should 
     immediately--
       (A) cease its military operations in Chechnya and 
     participate in negotiations toward a just peace with the 
     leadership of the Chechen Government led by President Aslan 
     Maskhadov;
       (B) allow into and around Chechnya international missions 
     to monitor and report on the situation there and to 
     investigate alleged atrocities and war crimes; and
       (C) grant international humanitarian agencies full and 
     unimpeded access to Chechen civilians, including those in 
     refugee, detention, and so-called ``filtration camps'', or 
     any other facility where citizens of Chechnya are detained;
       (2) the Secretary of State should meet with representatives 
     of the government of Chechnya led by President Aslan 
     Maskhadov to discuss its proposals to initiate a cease-fire 
     in the war in Chechnya and to facilitate the provision of 
     humanitarian assistance to the victims of this tragic 
     conflict; and
       (3) the President of the United States, in structuring 
     United States policy toward the Russian Federation, should 
     take into consideration the refusal of the Government of the 
     Russian Federation to cease its military operations in 
     Chechnya and to participate in peace negotiations with the 
     government of Chechnya.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. HELMS. First of all, I compliment the distinguished clerk because 
there was a name or two that was difficult to pronounce. I probably 
will have the same difficulty. In any case, I wanted the amendment to 
be read to serve notice that this is a matter of great importance and 
one that bothers me tremendously.
  It grew out of a meeting yesterday morning with Mr. Ilyas Akhmadov, 
the Foreign Minister of Chechnya, who represents Chechnya's 
democratically elected President. He is visiting Washington hoping to 
discuss with the Clinton administration his government's efforts to 
bring an immediate cease-fire to the brutal war that has wrought so 
much misery and destruction upon the Chechen people. His proposals to 
achieve a cease-fire and peace negotiations deserve close consideration 
by Russia and, indeed, the entire international community.

  I find it incredible that Mr. Akhmadov's requests for a meeting with 
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and other senior U.S. Government 
officials have been flatly rejected. As a matter of fact, I resent the 
fact that they conducted themselves as they did because this is an 
outrage.
  The United States should be working to facilitate peace in Chechnya, 
not to encourage the Kremlin to further its brutal campaign against the 
Chechen people.
  There is simply no excuse for the Secretary of State to refuse even 
to meet with Mr. Akhmadov. Any meeting to discuss the democratically 
elected Government to Chechnya's legitimate peace proposal would not 
constitute a de facto recognition of Chechen independence. And the 
Secretary of State and others know that.
  But this refusal even to meet with Mr. Akhmadov will certainly be 
interpreted, by Russia's President Putin, as yet another green light 
from the Clinton-Gore administration to continue its indiscriminate 
campaign of violence against the Chechen people--a campaign that has 
led to the death, starvation, and torture of countless of innocent 
people in Chechnya.
  In our meeting yesterday morning, Mr. Akhmadov and I discussed the 
atrocities that Russian forces are committing against the Chechen 
population. He shared with me, with tears in his eyes--and these were 
not pretended tears; this man was almost distraught about what is 
happening to his people--he gave me a grim picture of life in Chechnya 
under the repeated and indiscriminate assault by the Russian military.
  Countless families continue to be bombed out of their homes. Chechens 
are still rounded up and sent to what are called ``filtration camps'' 
where they are tortured, raped, and then executed.
  For too long, our President has refused to use his power and 
influence to pressure the Kremlin into genuine negotiations to end the 
bloody conflict in Chechnya which already has cost countless thousands 
of lives of men, women, and children.
  Aside from empty rhetoric from the administration, not one finger has 
been lifted to make clear the outrage of the United States at the 
atrocities committed by Russian forces against innocent Chechen 
civilians.
  Worse still, the administration has even legitimized Russia's 
military campaign in Chechnya with public declarations comparing this 
conflict to the Civil War in the United States.
  For this reason, I submit this amendment to the Defense authorization 
bill. It calls upon the Kremlin to cease immediately its military 
operations in Chechnya.
  It calls upon the Kremlin to grant international humanitarian 
organizations access to the victims of this conflict and do it 
immediately. And, this amendment calls upon Secretary of State Albright 
to meet with Mr. Akmadov to at least consider his proposal to bring an 
end to this terrible war in Chechnya.
  I thank the Chair and yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I had not intended to speak on this, and I 
will not take any length of time. I think we are on the Defense 
appropriations bill. I don't know whether his intent was to offer this 
on Defense authorization or Defense appropriations. My colleague does 
not have to rise.
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I am absolutely amazed that any Senate 
Democrat, particularly my long-time friend from Connecticut, would talk 
about offering legislation on appropriations bills. I hope he won't 
take this further because I will cite hundreds of instances in the last 
2 years where his side has bollixed up the operation of the Senate.
  Mr. DODD. My colleague said he was amending the Defense authorization 
bill. This is the Defense appropriations bill. I just wondered if he 
was clear as to what bill we were dealing with at this moment.
  Mr. HELMS. Let me tell you something, my friend. I will put this 
amendment on anything I can, if it does one ounce of benefit for the 
Chechen people.
  Mr. DODD. I appreciate that.
  Mr. HELMS. And if it will encourage your President to at least stop 
some of his other activities and look at what is happening over there.
  Mr. DODD. I had not seen the proposal that my good friend and 
colleague from North Carolina offered, but he made two observations. I 
don't disagree with the substance of his sense-of-the-Senate 
resolution, whether it is on an authorization bill or an appropriations 
bill. This body has spoken out unanimously expressing outrage over the 
atrocities in Chechnya.
  I will say, on behalf of the Secretary of State and the President, 
that this matter has been raised by them with their counterparts at the 
highest levels, including a summit a few days ago when the President 
met with President Putin in Russia. I know the Secretary of State has 
raised it on numerous occasions in conversations I have had with her 
and others have had in hearings.
  There is a sense, somewhat, of redundancy here, in that all of us 
have expressed this view, at the executive branch level and at the 
legislative branch level. I think the word has certainly gone forth 
directly to Mr. Putin on behalf of the President of the United States 
through our Department of State and through resolutions passed here.
  I have no objection at all to the resolution and don't disagree with 
any of the substance of it. But Madeleine Albright has conducted 
herself admirably in this regard, as has the President. We all hope the 
tragedy there

[[Page S4918]]

will end and a political resolution will be what results from their 
efforts, and that the atrocities will stop.
  It is obviously up to the floor managers on how they want to consider 
this, but I don't have any objection to it being on this bill or any 
other bill. I just wanted to make an observation. That was all I was 
trying to suggest to my friend and colleague. I do believe that 
Madeleine Albright and the President have done a good job expressing 
how all Americans feel about this. Nonetheless, we will support this 
sense-of-the-Senate resolution.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I thank my friend from Connecticut. I know 
he is sincere in every word he says. But let me tell him what my friend 
and his friend, Madeleine Albright's crowd, did down at the State 
Department. This gentleman with whom I met yesterday was told: Well, we 
will send some functionary from the State Department to meet you in a 
restaurant somewhere, but we will not meet with you at the State 
Department. Now, come on; that is the worst example of ``get aside, we 
are not interested in you'' to the Chechen people. I resent it.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to amendment No. 
3280.
  The amendment (No. 3280) was agreed to.
  Mr. HELMS. I thank the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 2 
minutes as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________