[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 117 (Tuesday, September 17, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8631-S8632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        DOING THE SENATE'S WORK

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I know Senators are just getting back 
into town from the Jewish holiday yesterday. And I hope we can make the 
most of this week. We have a lot to do, on the Interior appropriations 
bill as well as on the issue of homeland security.

[[Page S8632]]

  As our colleagues are aware, this afternoon we will have a cloture 
vote on the Byrd amendment. I reluctantly filed that cloture vote last 
week because we are now in the third week of debate on the Interior 
appropriations bill as well as on homeland security. With all of the 
work that must be done and with all of the issues we must address, we 
simply cannot prolong this debate indefinitely.
  Seventy-nine Senators a couple of weeks ago voted for an amendment 
offered by the distinguished Senator from Montana, myself, and others 
responding to the crisis we now face in drought-stricken parts of the 
country. The regions of the country which are experiencing drought are 
growing--the Southeast, the Midwest, and the far West--areas throughout 
the country that have experienced drought conditions, and in some cases 
it is unprecedented.
  We also have a very serious situation with regard to firefighting, so 
serious that this administration changed its position from one which 
said we will not provide any new resources for firefighting--that all 
firefighting moneys that ought to be dedicated to firefighting this 
fall be taken from the Forest Service budget. They changed from that 
position to say, we now recognize how serious this situation is, and we 
will commit $850 million and ask the Congress to support it.
  You have two very important priorities in dealing with disaster and 
crisis: One with the Forest Service and firefighting needs. This is 
urgent. This is extraordinarily important to the ongoing effort to 
fight fires throughout the country, especially again in the West. And, 
second, as I noted, the drought.

  We have voted for this legislation. We have gone on record on a 
bipartisan basis in support of this legislation. I know there are those 
who still would like to work out other compromises relating to other 
issues, and if that can be done, I certainly will welcome it.
  But we simply cannot go on week after week after week without more 
notable progress, without more of a tangible way with which to address 
these needs, and, secondly, without a way to recognize that we have a 
lot of work to do in a very short period of time. We have what amounts 
to about 15 legislative days left prior to the time we adjourn for the 
year. I am troubled, to say the least, by the extraordinary list of 
items that have to be addressed and the very minimal amount of time 
legislatively we have to address them.
  I come to the floor this morning urging colleagues on both sides of 
the aisle to recognize the need, to recognize the urgency, to recognize 
the shortness of legislative time available, and to recognize how 
important it is that we move on to accomplish as much as we possibly 
can in a very short period of time.
  I can only hope we will get a good vote this afternoon--I would like 
it to be unanimous--on cloture, so at least on this particular 
amendment we have the opportunity to move on to other issues, and 
hopefully to a time for final passage on the Interior appropriations 
bill.
  I will have more to say about homeland security later on in the day, 
but I must say, this is something that just begs our support, 
recognizing the prioritization it deserves as we consider the schedule 
and the need that is so clearly a recognition around the country.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, the majority leader makes a very good 
point. I am struck by what we are debating off the floor, which is 
timber health. At the heart of that is how we deal with judicial 
appeals, which has brought a new dynamic to that debate on forest 
health and how we manage our public lands; that is, not a denial of 
judicial appeals, but also in the area of timber restraining orders.
  People can file appeals--we do not want to deny that--but also how we 
deal with the decision-rendering process, which does cause some concern 
with folks using timber restraining orders as a tool in the process to 
get their way. Basically, that is what we have here.
  We are on a time line, if we go off this. Those who do not want to 
see anything move press us into a time line, and then we go on home 
knowing there is a timeframe on that debate.
  Given the time we have and the leader's decision to double-track 
these two issues in order to facilitate and deal with these issues in a 
short time line, we have to take a look at that. I know the leader is. 
I congratulate him for his push on this and to make it a reality. But 
so far, it hasn't come to be and does not get us to where I think we 
want to be before we go home in October. We want to move forward as 
fast as we can.
  But also there is lingering debate out there that a lot of folks are 
concerned about--especially on our forests. I want to bolster the 
leader's contention that drought relief and disaster relief in farm and 
ranch country are still with us. Just on Sunday past--here we are in 
the middle of September with football in the air--it was 92 degrees in 
Billings, MT. The Yellowstone River is as low as I have ever seen it. 
Above the Bighorn River where it spills into the Yellowstone, you can 
walk across that river just about anywhere and not get your knees wet. 
We still have that concern.
  The leader is right. It passed this body overwhelmingly. It should be 
allowed to move forward with the apparatus in front of us in which to 
get that relief out to our people who are suffering at this time. I 
appreciate his leadership on that.
  I yield the floor.

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