[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 141 (Thursday, October 18, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10807-S10810]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   MILITARY CONSTRUCTION APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2002--CONFERENCE REPORT

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
Senate will now proceed to consideration of the conference report to 
accompany H.R. 2904, which the clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the 
     two Houses on the amendment of the Senate to the bill (H.R. 
     2904) ``making appropriations for military construction, 
     family housing, and base realignment and closure for the 
     Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 
     30, 2002, and for other purposes,'' having met have agreed 
     that the House recede from its disagreement to the amendment 
     of the Senate, and agree to the same with an amendment, and 
     the Senate agree to the same, signed by all of the conferees 
     on the part of both Houses.

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senate will proceed to the 
consideration of the conference report.
  (The report is printed in the House proceedings of the Record of 
October 16, 2001.)
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, there 
will now be 30 minutes for debate to be equally divided and controlled 
between the Senator from California, Mrs. Feinstein, and the Senator 
from Texas, Mrs. Hutchison, or their designees.
  Who yields time?
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, as my distinguished chairman, the 
Senator from California, is preparing to speak about the conference 
report accompanying the military construction appropriations bill, I 
want to make a few comments about what is going on today.
  I am very pleased to say the Senate is open for business, and we are 
preparing to take up very important legislation as it relates to the 
U.S. war on terrorism. Before we talk about that, I want to say that 
what we are doing is important as an example to our country. We have 
had severe threats to the people who work in the U.S. Capitol. The 
Capitol is the symbol of freedom and democracy for the whole world. It 
represents the United States.
  Our people made the decision that we would close the office buildings 
so our staff would be protected. We are checking the office buildings 
to see what kind of anthrax might be present. We are doing the prudent 
thing. We are trying to take care of our people.
  On the other hand, we are also keeping the Capitol open as the symbol 
that the business of Government is going on, and many of us are working 
out of our Capitol offices. We have our staffs with us. They are very 
happy to be here. There is a spirit of comradeship up and down the 
halls of the Capitol where people are spilling out from the various 
small offices to make room in the tiny little offices from where we are 
now operating. But everybody is happy to do it because we know this is 
important for our country. It is our way of saying to those who are in 
the field representing us in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan that 
we are here, too, and we are taking care of your needs.
  I am very proud we are in session. Our staffs are happy to be here, 
and we are doing our duty for our country. The people of America should 
know we are going to do everything that is on our agenda for this 
week--business as

[[Page S10808]]

usual--and the House did the same thing. They passed the bills 
yesterday. We passed them yesterday, and we will pass them today.
  With that, I welcome the chairman of the Military Construction 
Subcommittee and thank her in advance for the leadership she has 
provided to this very important committee.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from California.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Texas for her 
comments.
  Today I am very pleased to bring before the Senate the conference 
agreement on the fiscal year 2002 military construction appropriations 
bill.
  Given the circumstances, this is a particularly timely and time-
sensitive conference report. I am very pleased that the Senate has 
demonstrated a willingness to move quickly on it.
  The military construction conference agreement provides $10.5 billion 
of new budget authority. That is a 17.5-percent increase over last 
year's military construction funding, and it is a 5.3-percent increase 
over the President's budget request. This statistic alone sends a 
strong message of support to America's men and women in uniform.
  This is a good package. It meets the most pressing needs of the 
military, both in terms of readiness and quality-of-life issues. It is 
not, of course, a perfect package. The conference report does not 
include everything the Senate wanted, nor does it include everything 
the House wanted. It does, however, address the priorities of the 
Department of Defense, which I think is most important, as well as both 
Houses of Congress. It is a carefully crafted compromise. It is both 
balanced and bipartisan.
  I am particularly pleased to see such quick action on this measure at 
a time when we as a nation are asking for so much from our men and 
women in uniform and from their families. The conference agreement 
provides $4.8 billion for the Active components of the military. That 
is a 35-percent increase over fiscal year 2001. So the military 
components are up 35.8 percent. It provides $953 million for the 
Reserve components. That is a 357-percent increase over last year. For 
family housing, the conference agreement provides $4.1 billion. That is 
a 12-percent increase over last year.
  These are important increases. They signal a commitment to upgrading 
and rebuilding the infrastructure that is truly the backbone of our 
Nation's military.
  The conference report also includes a $100 million increase over the 
President's budget request for environmental cleanup at military 
installations that have been closed as part of the base realignment and 
closure effort. This is most significant. We need to clean up these 
bases so they can be transitioned into civilian use. This additional 
funding is necessary. It enables the military to honor its commitments 
to the people and the communities that have been affected by the 
economic upheaval caused by base closures.
  I point out that this is a great deal of money, yet much more is 
going to be needed before the environmental cleanup of BRAC sites 
across the Nation is complete. This is certainly something we should 
consider before we embark on any future rounds of base closings. I 
believe this most strongly.
  One other item I want to mention today is the issue of defense access 
roads. The events of September 11 have made us all the more aware of 
the potential vulnerability of sensitive civilian and military 
installations to the threat of terrorist attack, and a number of our 
colleagues have expressed concern about the need for upgrading access 
roads serving military installations, particularly around chemical 
demilitarization facilities.
  These roads are generally Federal or State highways that provide 
access to defense installations but are not owned by the Defense 
Department. Therefore, funding to construct access roads has to go 
through the Department of Transportation. The military construction 
bill includes a standing provision authorizing the Secretary of Defense 
to provide funds to the Transportation Department for access roads but 
only--only--when the Secretary of Defense has certified that these 
roads are important for national defense.
  In other words, these are not projects that can easily be added to 
the MILCON bill if the President does not request them. However, 
because of the current sensitivity of chemical demilitarization 
facilities, we included a provision in our conference agreement that 
will enable the Defense Department to conduct a feasibility study on 
the requirements for Defense roads at chemical demilitarization sites 
in the United States to support emergency preparedness requirements.
  I might also mention the Senate MILCON bill and the House MILCON bill 
had about a $600 million difference between the two bills. There were 
about 173 adds from Members. Only 3 of them were the same in both the 
House and the Senate bills. So truly the Senate staffers on both sides 
have done a wonderful job in putting together the conference report.
  I am very pleased to say it was a unanimous vote in the conference 
committee. So it was a reconciling of interests.
  I very much thank Chairman Byrd. I thank Senator Stevens and 
particularly my ranking member on the subcommittee, Senator Hutchison, 
for their unflagging support and assistance in bringing this conference 
report to the Senate. Again, I particularly thank the subcommittee 
staff for their hard work on this measure.
  I am very pleased the military construction bill will be one of the 
first appropriations conference agreements sent to the President, and I 
hope he will sign it without delay.
  I turn this over to the ranking member for her comments, and I 
reserve the remainder of my time.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Texas.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I fully endorse the comments made by 
our subcommittee chairman, Senator Feinstein. I am pleased to recommend 
the military construction conference report for fiscal year 2002 to the 
Senate. We have worked very hard, Senator Feinstein and myself, with 
our House colleagues, to bring this conference report to a successful 
conclusion.
  I thank our colleagues from the House side, the chairman, David 
Hobson from Ohio, and John Olver from Massachusetts, the ranking 
member, for working with us in such a collegial way.
  As Senator Feinstein said, there were many disagreements and, 
frankly, some different priorities when our two bills passed 
respectively in the House and the Senate, but we worked hard and in a 
very productive way to resolve those differences and keep the 
priorities of each House but within a responsible budget. Everybody 
gave a little, but I think everyone did the right thing, and I am very 
pleased with the product.
  We sought a balanced bill, one that provides funding for planning, 
design, construction, alteration, and improvement of military 
facilities worldwide, both for Active-Duty and Reserve Forces. I think 
this is a very important point because we know our Reserve Forces are 
stepping up to the plate as we speak.
  Our President has called 40,000 of them to service, and there could 
be more. So we are very cognizant of the need for our Reserves to be 
supported and, in fact, there is a total of almost $1 billion for Guard 
and Reserve facilities in this military construction bill.
  Additionally, we have focused on military housing. This has been a 
priority for all of us. Quality of life for our men and women in the 
services is very important to us, and we are making a transition in our 
military, frankly, from a force that used to be mostly single men, some 
single women, to now families of men and women. For that reason, we 
have had to adjust military construction priorities in recent years. We 
have $1.2 billion for barracks improvements; $44 million for child care 
centers; $199 million for hospitals and medical facilities and $4 
billion for family housing.

  This intensifies the effort to improve the quality of military 
housing and accelerate the elimination of substandard housing. I am 
very pleased with those priorities.
  I also concur with the comments of Senator Feinstein on the issue of 
access roads. A number of colleagues expressed to me their concern 
about the need for upgrading access roads near chemical 
demilitarization sites. A defense access road must be appropriately 
certified by the Department of

[[Page S10809]]

Defense, legislatively authorized, and then it is eligible for funding 
in the military construction appropriations bill.
  As Senator Feinstein said, we have provided the Department of Defense 
the ability to conduct a feasibility study on requirements for Defense 
roads at chemical demilitarization sites. We think this is the right 
and responsible approach to determine what the needs are of the 
Department of Defense and also determine what the responsibilities of 
the State or local governments should be in that regard.
  I also want to make the point this bill will soon be going to the 
President of the United States for signature. This bill includes some 
very important upgrades of facilities in support of the Operation 
Enduring Freedom effort in which we are now engaged. Operation Enduring 
Freedom, of course, is our war on terrorism. In support of these 
operations this bill includes an upgrade for a runway in Oman and a 
base supply warehouse in Turkey, one of our strongest allies. I am very 
proud that Turkey stepped up to the plate early and said: Whatever you 
need to protect freedom and democracy is going to be our cause as well.
  Further, we included a special operations training range in Okinawa. 
Japan also stepped up to the plate--the Japanese Prime Minister was one 
of the first to say: We are with you to protect democracy in this part 
of the world. And lastly, we included a war reserve storage facility in 
Guam. We are very pleased to provide these projects that will directly 
support our ability to stage this war on terrorism.
  I thank my chairman, Senator Feinstein, for working with me to assure 
even though we had the bill on the drawing boards before September 11, 
nevertheless we could react to the immediate needs of the Department of 
Defense in these areas.
  This bill is on its way to the President, and it will provide the 
support to our men and women in the military who have pledged their 
lives to protect our freedom. They have pledged their lives to protect 
freedom throughout the world. This is the test of our generation, and 
our young men and women are stepping up to the challenge. They deserve 
the support we are giving them in this bill. We are doing our duty and 
fulfilling our responsibilities here today. I am proud to say, once 
again, the prowess of our military is going to shine through and we are 
going to show the military of a freedom-loving country is the strongest 
in the world, with the full support of the Congress.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I appreciate the opportunity to address 
the Senate once again on the subject of military construction projects 
added to an appropriations bill that were not requested by the 
Department of Defense. This bill contains $900 million in unrequested 
military construction projects.
  Every year, I come to the Senate floor for the express purpose of 
highlighting programs and projects added to spending bills for 
primarily parochial reasons. While I recognize that many of the 
projects added to this bill may be worthwhile, the process by which 
they were selected violates at least one, if not several, of the 
criteria set out several years ago to limit just this sort of wasteful 
spending.
  I find particularly offensive the usual Buy America restrictions 
included in this bill. Rather than providing the best value to our 
service members by buying the best products at the best prices, these 
restrictions require DOD procurement decisions to be driven by 
protectionist impulses that frequently provide inferior value to our 
troops. ``Buy America'' restrictions cost the Department of Defense and 
the U.S. taxpayer $5 billion annually, money that is spent not on our 
good people in uniform but to line the pockets of American producers of 
goods that could otherwise be purchased at the same value for lower 
prices overseas.
  I am also at a loss as to the rationale for including in this bill 
certain site-specific earmarks and directive language, including a 
provision urging the Department of Defense to make the consolidation of 
four Guard and Reserve facility renovation projects in northeastern 
Pennsylvania a priority, and to program this requirement in the Future 
Years Defense Plan; a provision directing the Navy to accelerate design 
of the Kingsville Naval Air Station Airfield Lighting project, and to 
include construction funding for it in the budget request for fiscal 
year 2003; a provision directing the Air Force to accelerate design of 
Offutt Air Force Base's Fire/Crash Rescue Station, and to include 
funding for it in next year's budget request; and similar language 
inappropriately directing scarce resources on a non-competitive basis 
to Warren Air Force Base, Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, and Selfridge 
Air National Guard Base.
  In addition, sections of this bill designed to preserve depots, and 
to funnel work in their direction irrespective of cost, are examples of 
the old philosophy of protecting home-town jobs at the expense of 
greater efficiencies. And calling plants and depots ``Centers of 
Excellence'' does not constitute an appropriate approach to depot 
maintenance and manufacturing activities. Consequently, neither the 
Center of Industrial and Technical Excellence nor the Center of 
Excellence in Service Contracting provide adequate cloaks for the kind 
of protectionist and parochial budgeting endemic in the legislative 
process.
  Last year, the Defense appropriations bill included a provision 
statutorily renaming National Guard armories as ``Readiness Centers,'' 
a particularly Orwellian use of language. By legally relabeling 
``depot-level activities'' as ``operations at Centers of Industrial and 
Technical Excellence,'' we further institutionalize this dubious 
practice, the implications of which are to deny the American public the 
most cost-effective use of their tax dollars. When will it end?
  There are 28 members of the Appropriations Committee. Only six do not 
have projects added to the appropriations bill. Those numbers, needless 
to say, go well beyond the realm of mere coincidence. Of 96 projects 
added to this bill, 53 are in the States represented by the Senators on 
the Appropriations committees, totaling over $503 million.
  We are waging war against a new enemy with global operations and the 
messianic aspirations to match; we are undertaking a long-term process 
to transform our military from its cold war structure to a force ready 
for the challenges of a new day. A lack of political will had 
previously hamstrung the transformation process, but the President and 
his team have pledged to revolutionize our military structure and 
operations to meet future threats.
  The reorganization of our armed services was, of course, an extremely 
important subject before September 11, and it is all the more so now. 
The threats to the security of the United States, to the very lives and 
property of Americans, have changed in the last decade. The attacks of 
September 11 have made more urgent the already urgent task of 
reorganizing our military to make sure that we have the people, weapons 
and planning necessary to ensure not only the success of our world 
leadership, international peace and stability and the global progress 
of our values, but to safeguard the survival of the American way of 
life.
  In the months ahead, no task before the administration and the 
Congress will be more important or require greater care and 
deliberation than making the changes necessary to strengthen our 
national defense in this new, uncertain era of world history. Needless 
to say, this transformation process will require enlightened, 
thoughtful leadership, not pork-barrelling of military funds, if we are 
to best serve America in this time of rapid change in the global 
security environment.
  I believe I have made my point. As usual, I labor under no illusions 
regarding the impact my comments will have on the way we do business 
here. I have in the past attempted legislative recourse to pork-barrel 
spending, and I will do so again.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from California.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, as I mentioned, this bill took a good 
deal of good staff work. I am very proud that good staff work has 
occurred on both sides of the aisle. It is not easy to remedy 170 
differences between a House and Senate bill, and yet this happened.
  I particularly commend the appropriations staff, Christina Evans, 
B.G. Wright, on the Republican side; Sid Ashworth, John Kem, and also 
Matt

[[Page S10810]]

Miller of my staff. They worked long and hard on this bill, and I think 
that it will get, if not a unanimous vote of this body, certainly a 
near unanimous vote. It is a job well done, and I am very pleased on 
behalf of Senator Hutchison and myself to recognize that.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for 
the quorum call be dispensed with.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  All time has expired. The question is on the adoption of the 
conference report.
  The yeas and nays were previously ordered. The clerk will call the 
roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Montana (Mr. Burns), 
the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Ensign), and the Senator from Utah (Mr. 
Bennett) are necessarily absent.
  I further announce that if present and voting the Senator from 
Montana (Mr. Burns) would vote ``yea.''
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Nelson of Nebraska). Are there any other 
Senators in the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 96, nays 1, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 305 Leg.]

                                YEAS--96

     Akaka
     Allard
     Allen
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Cantwell
     Carnahan
     Carper
     Chafee
     Cleland
     Clinton
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Corzine
     Craig
     Crapo
     Daschle
     Dayton
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Edwards
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Graham
     Gramm
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hollings
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Miller
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Nickles
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Torricelli
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wellstone
     Wyden
       

                                NAYS--1

       
     McCain
       

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Bennett
     Burns
     Ensign
  The conference report was agreed to.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I 
move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I thank all Senators who supported 
this very important legislation. Senator Feinstein and I are very 
appreciative of the support of Congress.
  This bill is now on its way to the President. It will provide support 
to our men and women in the field in their quality of life, quality of 
their equipment, and in the quality of their training. We can do no 
less. I appreciate the support of the Senate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.

                          ____________________