[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 28 (Wednesday, March 13, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1867-S1869]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION NOMINATIONS

  Mr. BIDEN. Madam President, as my colleagues know and the staff 
knows, it must be important to me to come to the floor after there are 
no votes and miss a train home to Delaware. As I think I can verify, 
there probably has not been 10 times in my career that I have spoken 
after there are no votes, so I apologize for keeping the staff here and 
keeping folks in, but this is of consequence to me and my State.
  My good friend--and we all say that; we use that phrase, and he 
really is a good friend not only politically but personally--John 
McCain came to the Chamber and asked the rhetorical question of who has 
a hold on two nominees for the Department of Transportation. He does 
not like secret holds.
  He was being very polite because he did not want to point out what he 
already knew: That I have a hold on those two nominees.
  I have been a Senator for 29 years. I have never, not one single time 
but this, in my entire career ever put a hold on any nomination, 
legislation, or anything on the Senate floor. I know Senator McCain 
understands holds. He has put holds on Department of Transportation 
nominees before, but I agree with him, the holds should be made public.
  I wish to publicly acknowledge what I thought everyone knew. I am the 
guy who has put the hold on those two nominees. Madam President, let me 
explain to you why, very briefly.
  After September 11, Congress moved very quickly and effectively to 
provide necessary funds for aviation security improvements and 
ultimately for port security improvements. I supported those bills 
wholeheartedly, as did almost all of my colleagues.
  At the time, however, it was my understanding, given to me in the 
Chamber of this body and, I believe--and I am not suggesting she is any 
part of this--but I believe the Presiding Officer will recall, as every 
other Senator will, there was a commitment that there would also be a 
move to quickly address a similar and equally vexing problem of 
railroad security.
  Passenger rail is a critical component of our national transportation 
infrastructure as, I might add, September 11 so vividly has shown. 
Imagine what would have happened if we had no passenger rail system 
September 11 when the skies shut down. And yet all of those passengers 
continue to travel at their risk. They continue to ride in poorly lit, 
poorly ventilated, and poorly maintained tunnels, some of which were 
built as long ago as 1879.
  They remain serious targets for acts of terrorism. There is no 
ventilation. There is no lighting. There is no escape. There are more 
people, right now as we speak, in tunnels on railcars underneath New 
York City than in seven 747s completely filled. We have done nothing to 
improve the security and safety of the people who are riding these 
rails right now.
  Imagine what happens if a bomb, a chemical weapon, or a biological 
weapon is dispersed in that confined area? I might point out to my 
friends, they may remember a little over a year ago there was a fire in 
the Baltimore Tunnel. It shut down Baltimore. It not only shut down the 
rail, it shut down the south end of Baltimore for a long time.
  My frustration is reaching the boiling point. Because of these 
security threats, immediately following the attacks of September 11, I 
attempted to authorize funds for rail security improvements as part of 
the aviation bill. Because of the objections raised, however, I then 
went to Senators Hollings and McCain, and instead, based on their 
commitment, which they kept, they offered to pass a separate bill in 
the Commerce Committee authorizing rail security monies. True to their 
words, on October 17, they did just that. S. 1550 authorized $1.8 
billion for passenger rail security improvements, even though Amtrak 
had originally requested $3.2 billion; $1.8 billion was a barebones 
minimum the committee believed it would provide for essential security 
upgrades in safety improvements, mainly a billion of that to improving 
the tunnels and the safety in the tunnels against threatened attacks.
  The other $800 million went to having dogs on trains sniffing bombs, 
and additional police. Yet here we stand 6 months later, and we still 
do not have the money for rail security. I still do not even have a 
vote on rail security.
  This completely defies logic. The reason is because a number of my 
colleagues have objected secretly, not publicly, to S. 1550, and they 
have put holds on the bill. This despite all it will do to safeguard 
our passenger rail system and despite the backing of the Commerce 
Committee.
  Remember, this other stuff we did immediately did not even go through

[[Page S1868]]

any committee originally. That is why for the first time in my 29-plus 
years in the Senate I have placed holds on two Department of 
Transportation nominees, both fine, decent, and competent people. The 
issue is not their nomination. The issue is rail security. I know of no 
other way to get the attention of anybody. I do not know what else I 
have to do--stand on my head in the middle of the well to get the 
attention of people around here?
  Granted, not everybody has Amtrak go through their areas. I 
understand that. Granted, Amtrak is not as important to passenger rail 
service for them as it is to the Northeast and to me. This is my farm 
bill. This is my bill relating to airport security. This is my bill 
relating to the poultry industry. This is my bill relating to the most 
critical need that exists relating to security in my region.
  This bill is not controversial. It is completely bipartisan and it 
has completely been vetted by the committee of jurisdiction. It is 
important to passenger rail travelers.
  There is absolutely no reason for the Senate not to go on record 
today, right now in fact, and support this bill, to give Amtrak the 
resources it needs to upgrade the system and make all the safety 
improvements possible with this limited amount of money.
  In 2 hours or 3 hours of debate we came up with $15 billion or $14 
billion to bail out the airlines that were already in trouble, by the 
way. Had there never been 9-11, half of them would have gone out of 
business anyway--if not half, a significant number. So I do not know 
why my asking for this for my region, based upon a legitimate need, is 
so difficult for people to understand.

  In fact, I want to hear someone stand up and tell me how it is that 
my friends across the aisle have taken the liberty of blocking this 
bill after both Senators Hollings and McCain saw fit to pass it out of 
the Commerce Committee without any amendments. It is time for my 
colleagues to put aside their political goals and join me and many of 
my colleagues who support what the Commerce Committee has done and at 
least allow us to have a vote. We cannot afford to wait much longer. We 
do not have that luxury.
  Let me conclude by saying that I have great respect for Secretary of 
Transportation Norm Mineta; I worked with him when he was in the House 
when he was a Congressman. I worked with him in the last 
administration. I have worked with him in this administration. He came 
to see me. He made a personal plea that I free up these two nominees.
  I said to him: I understand.
  He said: It is unrelated. Why? We are for you. We agree.
  I said: Well, then make the case. Somebody in the administration has 
to stand up and holler with me. They say they are for it. When they 
were for the airport security bill that got tied up, they stood up and 
hollered.
  All I am asking is my colleagues who have a secret hold, unlike my 
very public and uncharacteristic hold, come forward and debate the 
subject. Let me have a vote. I should not say ``me.'' It is my 
colleague, Tom Carper; it is my two colleagues from Pennsylvania; my 
colleagues from Maryland; my colleagues from New Jersey; my colleagues 
from Connecticut; my colleagues from New York; my colleagues from 
Massachusetts; my colleagues from Rhode Island; my colleagues from 
Maine.
  I really find it offensive that something of such exceptional 
importance, as the young kids say, is ``dissed'' as this is. We would 
not do this to the Midwestern Senators. We would not do this to the 
Southern Senators if this was something regional to them. We would not 
block the chance to vote on water projects for Western Senators. I 
think this is unfair.
  I have been around the Senate long enough to know one takes their 
lumps. You win and you lose, and I usually do not make the argument 
``unfair'', but I think it is uncharacteristic that something so 
important regionally to me, and to my colleagues, is not even able to 
get a single opportunity for a vote.
  Only because the hour is so late I am not going to move, by voice 
vote, to accept the amendment that I was about to send to the desk. But 
I can tell the Democratic leader, Senator Reid, the first opportunity I 
have, I am going to move the legislation, and I want to find out who 
objects. My guess is the majority leader will object on behalf of some 
unknown person.
  So in conclusion, I understand the frustration of my friend, John 
McCain, because he very much wants to free up these two nominees. I 
agree they should be freed up, but I have no other way.
  Mr. REID. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. BIDEN. I am happy to yield.
  Mr. REID. I say to the Senator from Delaware that this Amtrak matter 
is not a matter that relates only to the Northeast corridor. I want 
everyone to know this is important for other parts of the country, and 
the Senator is doing a service to the country. The Northeast is going 
to survive. The trains that run there pay for themselves. It is the 
trains that are around the rest of the country that do not pay for 
themselves. That is where we need help and the Senator from Delaware is 
helping us.
  I say to my friend from Delaware, we badly need a train, and if 
Amtrak hangs on--it is already in the planning--we should within the 
next few months have an Amtrak train running between Los Angeles and 
Las Vegas. I say to my friend, is it not a sad commentary of this 
country that we give airlines--and I am happy to help. We bailed them 
out. We do all kinds of things to help airlines and airports. And think 
of the things that we do for highways, for passengers traveling on 
highways. We build bridges. We do everything. But we do not do anything 
to help rail travel. It is a shame. We waste so much time, effort, and 
energy hauling people on airplanes for distances less than 250 miles. 
We should have trains. We should have high-speed rail. We should have 
magnetic levitation. We should have methods to move people who are not 
on highways and are not in our crowded airports.

  I hope the Senator from Delaware will understand, even though 
sometimes you may feel alone on this issue, there are a lot of people 
who will help privately. I will do that; I will help publicly--anything 
I can do to help. This is not an issue that helps the State of 
Delaware. It helps the country.
  Mr. BIDEN. I thank my colleague. I take his observation and 
acknowledge it is absolutely true that it helps the whole country.
  I would like to bifurcate two points: One, the emergency, immediate 
need for security. The security will help Amtrak in Los Angeles as well 
as help Amtrak in Florida. The place with the biggest, clearest targets 
where the most people could be devastated is in those tunnels, 
primarily. They happen to be mostly in the Northeast.
  There is a second issue. I have not addressed the second issue. We 
have not kept our promises at all to Amtrak in terms of Amtrak's 
operational capability and capital needs. We cannot get votes on that 
either. I am trying to deal with the littlest piece. I cannot fathom 
how anyone could disagree. I have not heard one substantive argument 
why we would not provide for dogs and police to see that people are not 
carrying onto the trains dynamite or explosives or weapons in New 
Orleans, LA, as well as in Philadelphia, PA.
  The real point is, this is an urgent need. Ask any of the folks in 
the intelligence community: If you were a terrorist and decided you had 
one last opportunity, what would you hit? People will say you are 
giving ideas; these terrorists already have these ideas, I assure you.
  What did we do during the Olympics? We knew that would be a likely 
target because there were a lot of people and it would be a big 
statement. To the great credit of the State of Utah and the Federal 
Government, we had no incident. But you are sitting around, and where 
will you look to use the chemical weapon if you have it? The dirty 
bomb, if you possess it? That biological weapon, if you want to use it? 
Where will you use it?
  I am chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. I was on the 
terrorism subcommittee and the Judiciary Committee and in the 
Intelligence Committee for 10 years. Unfortunately, it seems as if I 
have been going to school for my whole life to prepare for the issue of 
terrorism. Prioritize where the likely targets are. There are millions 
of container ships that come into ports each year. We had to deal with 
that, and we dealt with it. Everybody

[[Page S1869]]

knew that was a likely target. We were not telling the terrorists 
anything they didn't know. We knew it was a problem.
  I hope to God I am never in a position where, by even implication, I 
have to say, I told you so. There is no way out of the tunnels. There 
is no lighting. There is no ventilation. There is no way out.
  I apologize, I am getting angry about it. Again, I can understand my 
friend from Arizona and others objecting to Amtrak. They do not think 
Amtrak is efficacious. I got it. I understand. They are wrong. I am 
willing to debate that. I would love a chance to debate it. However, 
this is drop dead common sense. I close to resent not being able to 
have a chance for the Senator from Pennsylvania, the Senator from 
Delaware, the Senators from New York, in addition to the Senators where 
Amtrak goes--these are gigantic targets.

  They once asked Willie Sutton: Why rob banks? And his answer was: 
That is where the money is.
  What do terrorists do? Why do they pick the two largest buildings in 
the United States, instead of coming to Delaware and hitting a 12-story 
building in Delaware? Why? Because that is where the most people are. 
That is where the biggest targets remain.
  I thank my friend from Nevada. He has been a staunch supporter and 
tried like the devil to help.
  The concluding point I make: My hold is not secret. I would like to 
know who is holding up the ability of the Senate to pass a bill that we 
were promised on October 15 would get action; that we passed out of the 
Commerce Committee unanimously, without amendment; that, in fact, 
nobody has made a substantive argument why any of this is not needed. I 
want to know why. I want to know why and who. Who is saying we cannot 
vote on it? And why do they think we should not have this?
  I am a big boy. We have a vote. I win; I lose. But I want a vote.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. SPECTER. If the Senator from Delaware would respond to a 
question, the holds which are placed anonymously on legislation 
preclude a Senator such as the Senator from Delaware from finding out 
who has taken that action, and therefore there is no opportunity to 
talk to that colleague, reason with that colleague, perhaps find a way 
to resolve the issue.
  The simple question: Is it time the rules of the Senate were modified 
to stop secret holds which preclude sensible action on a matter such as 
rail safety?
  Mr. BIDEN. The Senator is preaching to the choir. I fully agree with 
the Senator.
  As the Senator knows, that is above my pay grade. There are only six 
Senators who have been here longer than I, but a lot have more 
institutional power than I do. I think it is a reasonable proposal, and 
I have shared that view of the Senator for a long time.
  Mr. SPECTER. I don't disagree with the Senator from Delaware very 
often, but I disagree when he says it is above his pay grade.
  I compliment the Senator from Delaware for his impassioned 
presentation. I concur with him. I thank the Senator from Nevada for 
articulating the view of the leadership.
  It is true the Northeast has special considerations: When you pass 
through the tunnels in Baltimore, you pass through the Philadelphia 
train stations, the tunnels going into New York City. It is time we 
considered the matter.
  I hope the passion the Senator from Delaware has articulated will 
move some Senator who has a secret hold on the legislation.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. BIDEN. Madam President, I will just take 10 seconds. I conclude 
by saying, I say to my friend, Senator McCain, I will lift the hold on 
these two nominees the moment we get a vote on the security bill.
  I yield the floor.

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