[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 86 (Friday, June 30, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S6257]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. KYL:
  S. 2834. A bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior, acting 
through the Bureau of Reclamation, to convey property to the Greater 
Yuma Port Authority of Yuma County, Arizona, for use as an 
international port of entry; to the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources.


   Legislation to Convey Land to the Greater Yuma Port Authority for 
  Construction of a Second Commercial Port of Entry for the Yuma Area

  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I introduce a bill today to facilitate the 
construction of a secondary port of entry in Yuma County. I introduce 
this measure in collaboration with Representative Ed Pastor, who has 
taken the lead on this issue in the House of Representatives and has 
seen his bill H.R. 3023, through to passage just this week by a vote of 
404 to 1.
  The identical bill I introduce today will convey to the Greater Yuma 
Port Authority an area of land currently controlled by the Bureau of 
Reclamation for the purpose of constructing a commercial port of entry 
on approximately 330 acres of land just east of the city of San Luis.
  Anyone who has ever been to the U.S. port of entry in San Luis, 
Arizona, knows that traffic congestion there causes such bad delays 
that oftentimes individuals attempting to conduct cross-border trade 
there, bring goods across the border, or simply visit relatives and 
friends, are discouraged from crossing the border or are faced with 
spending two to four hours to cross. The port of entry at San Luis has 
become one of the busiest ports-of-crossing in the nation.
  After months of negotiation, all of the local principals involved in 
this effort, from the city of Yuma to Yuma County, the city of San Luis 
and Somerton and the Cocopah Indian Nation, and the Bureau of 
Reclamation, now fully support this effort. The bill will facilitate 
the construction of an additional commercial port of entry just east of 
San Luis, to be conveyed to the Greater Yuma Port Authority (YMPO) for 
fair market value.
  Mr. President, this legislation will make a difference to the people 
of Arizona, particularly to the people of Yuma and surrounding areas. 
It will help increase cross-border trade in the area, and will help to 
spur economic development for an Arizona region in need. I urge 
expeditious consideration of this legislation.
                                 ______