[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 162 (Wednesday, November 28, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12096-S12098]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           PASSAGE OF S. 1684

  Mr. DORGAN. Last evening the Senate passed S. 1684, my legislation to 
provide 1 additional year that was much needed for States, health 
plans, and health care providers to comply with the transactions and 
code sets regulation of the Health Insurance Portability and 
Accountability Act, or HIPAA. We needed an additional year in order to 
implement that. This legislation has been difficult to get passed, but 
I thank my colleague, Senator Craig, especially, and Senators Baucus, 
Grassley, and Kennedy, for working with me to reach a compromise on 
this legislation.
  Senator Craig and I would prefer this bill go further in providing a 
bit more time in coordination with the effected entities, but we 
recognize others would have preferred no action at all. We worked for 
many months to try to reach a compromise. This compromise is 
appropriate.
  I am still a strong supporter of the Administrative Simplification 
Act, which is the concept of what is called HIPAA. Ultimately having 
all the regulations in place will allow our health care system to be 
better coordinated and much more efficient. This bill provides an extra 
year to comply with part of these requirements with which we needed to 
have time to comply. It doesn't in any way affect the implementation of 
the medical privacy regulations by April 2003.
  Now that it has passed the Senate, I look forward to working with my 
colleagues in the House to pass the legislation so we can provide for 
the States, for the health plans, and the providers the certainty they 
need to plan to implement the important health regulations.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. CLINTON. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                           Remember New York

  Mrs. CLINTON. Madam President, I rise today, as I did yesterday, to 
speak again about the destruction and devastation that took place on 
September 11 in New York City and with which we are still living, 11 
weeks and 2 days later.
  Madam President, 79 days after the attacks on our Nation, thousands 
of businesses and residents who were physically displaced by the 
destruction, who suffered from the loss of power and telephone access, 
who have been overwhelmed and hindered by the debris removal efforts, 
who have breathed the poor air, who have tried to cope with the crime 
scene designation, who are worried about returning to their homes in 
and near ground zero, who have lost their jobs, who are worrying 
whether they can keep the doors of their businesses open, thousands 
upon thousands of New Yorkers are still awaiting some help, any help 
from the Federal Government.
  As I said yesterday, the U.S. Constitution guarantees to protect 
every State against invasion. The President said in his joint address 
to Congress just 10 days after the attacks ``we will rebuild New York 
City.'' That same day, my colleague, Senator Lott, said while visiting 
New York, ``We are here to commit to the people'' of New York City, 
``that we will stand with you.''
  Congressman Gephardt, the House minority leader, said in his weekly 
radio address: ``We will work to make the broken places right again. We 
will rebuild New York.''
  They were in good company. As this chart shows, so many of our 
leaders who spoke out made tremendous commitments of help and related 
to the suffering that was going on and still persists to this day.
  Madam President, 79 days have passed since the terrorist attacks on 
our Nation took over 3,500 innocent lives. Those are lives that, 
tragically, we cannot get back. But the attacks also took livelihoods. 
We can do something about that. Not only were 15 to 20

[[Page S12097]]

million square feet of office space, nearly one-third of all space in 
Lower Manhattan, either completely destroyed or damaged, but thousands 
of more smaller businesses remain without physical or telephone access, 
without power or with limited access to their places of business--and 
through no fault of their own.
  On September 10, they were running thriving businesses; on September 
12, they were no longer open, and in too many instances still all these 
days later they are not.
  This is a before-and-after comparison. This is what the World Trade 
Center area looked like when we woke up on the morning of September 
11--on that glorious, beautiful, late summer day. This is what it 
looked like after the terrorists wreaked their evil plot on our 
country. I show these pictures to remind everyone what happened on that 
morning--the lives that were lost; the heroic firefighters, police 
officers, and emergency workers who ran toward danger, not away from 
it; the thousands and thousands of inhabitants of the buildings that 
were destroyed and damaged, who, thankfully, made it to safety, and the 
thousands more who did not.
  We know, as I have said before, the damage that has been done is 
difficult to express in words. We are not even quite sure of the full 
impact, but we do know from a study completed by the New York City 
Partnership and Chamber of Commerce that small businesses directly 
affected by the attacks have seen their sales decline by up to 80 
percent. New York City is likely to lose 125,000 jobs in the fourth 
quarter of this year. We have already lost an unprecedented 79,000 jobs 
in October alone. A total of 270,000 jobs are at risk in Lower 
Manhattan. In the 45 days following the attack, because of the 
inaccessibility--the crime scene designation, the streets blocked off, 
the debris trucks moving up and down doing their job--small businesses 
lost nearly $795 million. Up to 55,000 small business jobs are expected 
to be lost during the first quarter of next year.

  These are staggering numbers. Sadly, 79 days after the attacks, not 
nearly enough help has arrived for the businesses and workers who were 
directly victimized by these attacks.
  There is a reason that our President and our leaders in the House and 
the Senate committed to rebuild New York and to make the broken pieces 
right again. It is because we need New York. We need New York's energy, 
dynamism; it is the center of global commerce.
  But even beyond that, it is because we, the Federal Government, the 
Government of our country, which represents all Americans, have a 
responsibility, not only as outlined in the Constitution but one that I 
think we feel as our duty. It is the same duty we felt after the 
Midwest floods devastated so many acres up and down the Mississippi; 
after the North Ridge earthquake in California destroyed bridges and 
highways and buildings and made people run for their lives in the 
middle of the night; after Hurricanes Hugo and Andrew and all the 
others; after tornadoes; after the Oklahoma City bombing; after the New 
Mexico fires. After every disaster, natural or manmade, one of the 
unique attributes of our Nation is that we rally around.
  It is sometimes remarked that as Americans we find our best selves in 
the face of tragedy. Whether it is people along the levee who are 
filling sandbags or rescue workers going into the teeth of a tornado to 
make sure everyone is safe, whether it is the heroic rescuers who carry 
out the injured and dying from the Oklahoma City bombing, we pull 
together. We take care of our own.
  In the case, for example, of the New Mexico fires, just 62 days after 
the President declared the disaster, the Cerro Grande Fire Claims 
Office was created at FEMA for businesses and others to seek immediate 
assistance. By the 120th day, the first claim was approved. So the 
office was set up, the claims were begun, and they were in the pipeline 
and being approved. As of today, $240 million has been paid out, 
including $20 million in relief going to businesses, $116 million to 
individuals.
  If you go back and look at how New Mexico responded, you can see 
there is a real difference between the headlines from New York and the 
headlines from New Mexico. Headlines from ground zero: ``New York Needs 
Help Now to Rise From the Ashes,'' ``New York Financial Core Wobbles 
From Attack's Economic Hit,'' ``Since September 11, Vacant Offices and 
Lost Vigor,'' ``Terror Attacks Have Left Chinatown's Economy 
Battered,'' ``A Nation Challenged: Small Shops Feel Lost In Aid 
Effort.''
  Compare those headlines that appeared on November 19, November 21, 
the 25th, the 26th--within the last days--with the headlines that came 
out of New Mexico.
  Headlines from New Mexico read: ``Los Alamos Welcomes Federal Aid.'' 
That's right, the headline was ``Los Alamos Welcomes Federal Aid.'' 
Not: Where is it? Why are we having to wait so long? Who will help us 
rise from the ashes? We have so many New Yorkers displaced by these 
attacks who are still awaiting help.
  I have talked with a number of my colleagues about this. It seemed 
the New Mexico model was a very good one. It made so much sense because 
here was an instance when the Federal Government itself caused the 
disaster by setting the fires, and the Federal Government took 
responsibility and came forth with the assistance to aid businesses and 
individuals who, through no fault of their own, were in the path of 
that fire. They didn't start it; they didn't see it coming; it just 
happened.

  Some of my colleagues say: Yes, that is right. We immediately 
responded. We got the job done. But, after all, the Federal Government 
set the fires.
  That strikes me as a strange way of setting one disaster against 
another. When I think about all the lives that were lost in the World 
Trade Center, when I think about all the businesses that are 
struggling, and all the people who have lost their jobs, I have to 
reflect that this attack on our country is in some ways even worse than 
setting a fire to stop a fire. The Federal Government made a mistake in 
New Mexico. They followed a fire policy that got out of hand and did 
not work, and they stepped up and took responsibility, representing 
Americans' willingness to take responsibility.
  Here we have the same kind of challenge. Through no fault of the 
people on the ground in New York, we were attacked. I hope my 
colleagues in the Senate, on both sides of the aisle, our colleagues in 
the House, the administration, will have the same sense of 
responsibility to help our businesses and workers who have been 
displaced by terrorist attacks as they had in assisting our fellow 
citizens in New Mexico.
  I and Senator Schumer have introduced a bill that builds on the 
lessons we have learned from the Cerro Grande Claims Office. There are 
other ways of providing the funding that is needed. My plea is that we 
get about the business of doing that.
  The victims of the fires in New Mexico were not told to go through a 
lengthy process with the Small Business Administration. They weren't 
told if you don't have any collateral and you can't get customers 
because you have a crime scene designation and therefore you are not 
eligible or you cannot pledge your assets for a small business loan, 
you are out of luck. We used our ingenuity. We were creative in solving 
the problems that our friends and fellow citizens in New Mexico faced. 
That is what we are asking on behalf of New Yorkers.
  We are asking that all of these promises from the President; the 
Speaker; the majority leader; Senator Lott, the minority leader; the 
OMB Director; and countless others--that these promises be realized as 
quickly and with the kind of dispatch that we saw when it came to New 
Mexico.
  I hope we can address this issue in the remaining days of this year 
because our people cannot wait. They could not wait in New Mexico, and 
they were assisted. They cannot wait in New York either because this is 
unlike any disaster. This is not a disaster such as a terrible fire or 
a hurricane. This is a crime scene. This has the kind of significance 
that has burned itself into our consciousness. The fires are still 
burning.

  I met earlier today with some residents who live in the buildings 
that weren't destroyed. They are like pioneers. They are like people on 
the frontier. They have gone back to their homes. It is not easy. There 
are no services. The work goes on 24 hours a

[[Page S12098]]

day, 7 days a week. The smell from the burning fires permeate the air. 
They want to stay and be part of rebuilding New York. They want to make 
real the words of all of our leaders. All they need is a little bit of 
help. I hope our colleagues will provide that.
  Thank you, Madam President.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                                  anwr

  Mr. REID. Madam President, there will be a lot of time spent on other 
occasions debating energy. I don't want the day to end without there 
being spread across the record of this Senate the fact that all this 
talk about the salvation of our country and the world by drilling in 
ANWR is just based upon false facts. Out of 100 percent of fossil fuel 
around the country, excluding coal, the United States has 3 percent of 
the reserves. Ninety-seven percent is someplace else. That includes the 
very small portion of those reserves in Alaska.
  We are going to have to change the way we do business in America as 
it relates to fuel or we are going to continue to import more fuel. We 
cannot be self-sufficient for gasoline and petroleum products. We can't 
be. We do not have the natural resources to do that. We can drill in 
ANWR--this beautiful pristine wilderness--and get enough fuel for 6 
months in the United States, a relatively small amount. But what we 
have to do is look to alternative energy sources--wind, sun, 
geothermal, and biomass. That is where the future of this country is as 
far as fuel proficiency. It is not in drilling for oil that we don't 
have.
  I again say that I don't want the day to go by with people maybe 
having watched us saying: Why aren't they going up and drilling in 
ANWR? It would solve all of our problems. That is absurd.
  I understand why my two distinguished colleagues from Alaska are 
pushing for ANWR drilling. It creates jobs in Alaska. I know how 
important jobs are, but the overall benefit of the country is really 
nonexistent.
  Mr. CLELAND. Madam President, I rise today in support of H.R. 1140, 
the railroad retirement reform bill. As thousands of Georgians who have 
contacted my office in support of this legislation will state, action 
by the Senate on this legislation is long overdue, and I am pleased to 
hear that we will hold a cloture vote on the bill this week. The House 
of Representatives passed this legislation more than once by 
overwhelming, bipartisan majorities, and the Senate version has 74 co-
sponsors.
  Not only would current and former employees benefit from this 
legislation but also the widows and widowers of former employees, and 
this legislation is the result of a long effort by both industry and 
labor to reform the railroad retirement system. Not often does Congress 
have the opportunity to vote on a cooperative effort supported by 
virtually everyone in the affected industry. We have that opportunity 
now, and we would be remiss to ignore it or not support it.
  It is my understanding that a small number of Senators have stood in 
the way of this legislation, which has necessitated the filing of a 
cloture petition to shut down the filibuster. These same colleagues 
joined me in support of a tax break package earlier this year that 
costs over $1 trillion. At that time, we supported the tax legislation 
because of the potential economic stimulus it could provide. I say that 
reforming the railroad retirement system will also provide such 
stimulus by freeing up funds that could be reinvested in the economy by 
the over one million active and retired rail workers and their 
families.
  This country exploded as the railroads moved west. It was the 
physical incarnation of manifest destiny. Since the time these initial 
courageous workers linked this country, hundreds of thousands of 
workers have followed in their footsteps to maintain and expand their 
work. These workers and their families would benefit from H.R. 1140. I 
urge my colleagues to join me in support of this legislation and 
provide long overdue reform to the railroad retirement system.

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