[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.
____________________