[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 124 (Thursday, September 26, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9401-S9404]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   FOREIGN RELATIONS AUTHORIZATION ACT, FISCAL YEAR 2003--CONFERENCE 
                                 REPORT

  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed 
to the consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 1646, 
just received from the House; that the report be considered and agreed 
to; that the correcting resolution, H. Con. Res. 483 at the desk be 
agreed to; the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no 
intervening action or debate; and that any statements related to this 
matter be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (The report is printed in the House proceedings of the Record of 
September 23, 2002.)
  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I am pleased to present to the Senate the 
conference report on H.R. 1646, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act 
for fiscal year 2003.
  The bill contains two divisions. Division A is the State Department 
Authorization Act, and contains authorization of appropriations for the 
Department of State, and other foreign policy programs, and also 
contains several policy provisions. Division B contains the Security 
Assistance Act, which provides authorizations and legal authorities 
under the Arms Export Control Act and the Foreign Assistance Act.
  This bill includes several important items, including the completion 
of a project that Senator Helms and I began in 1997, the legislation to 
authorize payment of our back dues to the United Nations in exchange 
for reform in that organization. The conference

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report would facilitate the final installment of $244 million in 
arrears to the UN and other international organizations. I salute the 
former Chairman of the Committee, Senator Helms, for initiating this 
project six years ago and for sticking with it. It has made a material 
difference in improving the relationship between the United States and 
the United Nations.
  The bill includes two other provisions important to continuing the 
improvement of our relationship with the United Nations. First, the 
bill clears the way for the payment of nearly $80 million in new 
arrears which have accumulated in the last few years. Second, the bill 
authorizes the payment of our dues to the UN at the beginning of the 
calendar year, rather than the current system whereby we pay our dues 
at the start of the U.S. fiscal year. That late payment of our dues is 
detrimental, not only to UN operations, but to U.S.-UN relations. I 
hope the Administration will embrace this provision and request the 
necessary funds in the fiscal year 2004 budget.
  Further, the bill authorizes funding at levels equal to or exceeding 
the President's budget request for the Department of State, embassy 
security, contributions for international organizations and 
international peacekeeping, and international broadcasting. The United 
States is a great power, and it has substantial responsibilities around 
the world, In order to meet those responsibilities, it must have a 
well-funded and well-equipped diplomatic corps. And if we are going to 
deploy our diplomats around the world, we must protect them. We cannot 
provide perfect security for our people, but we can and must take all 
reasonable precautions against known dangers. In 1999, Congress 
provided an authorization of $4.5 billion over five years--or $900 
million per year, for embassy construction and security. This bill adds 
an additional $100 million to this authorization for fiscal year 2003.
  Division B of this bill is the Security Assistance Act of 2002. It 
includes: foreign military assistance, including Foreign Military 
Financing and International Military Education and Training; 
international arms transfers; and many of our arms control, 
nonproliferation and antiterrorism programs.

  This division includes some significant initiatives. For example, 
several provisions are designed to streamline the arms export control 
system, so as to make it more efficient and responsive to competitive 
requirements in a global economy, without sacrificing controls that 
serve foreign policy or nonproliferation purposes. This is a vital 
enterprise. U.S. industry depends upon the efficient processing of arms 
export applications, and U.S. firms lose contracts when the U.S. 
Government cannot make up its mind expeditiously.
  At the same time, however, an ill-advised export license could lead 
to sensitive equipment getting into the hands of enemies or of unstable 
regimes. So there is a tension between the need for efficiency and the 
need not to make a mistake that ends up putting U.S. lives at risk. 
This bill addresses that tension providing funds for improved staffing 
levels, information and communications to enable the State Department 
to make quicker and smarter export licensing decisions. It also raises 
modestly the prior notice thresholds for most arms sales to our NATO 
allies, Australia, New Zealand or Japan. On the other hand, this bill 
adds a prior notice requirement for some sales of small arms and light 
weapons and strengthens the prior notice requirement for changes in the 
United States Munitions List.
  Division B includes several new nonproliferation and antiterrorism 
measures. For example, the ban on arms sales to state supporters of 
terrorism, in section 40(d) of the Arms Export Control Act, is 
broadened to include states engaging in the proliferation of chemical, 
biological or radiological weapons.
  This bill requires the President to establish an interagency 
mechanism to coordinate nonproliferation programs directed at the 
independent states of the former Soviet Union. This provision is based 
on S. 673, a bill introduced by Senator Hagel and me with the co-
sponsorship of Senators Domenici and Lugar. It will ensure continuing, 
high-level coordination of our many nonproliferation programs, so that 
we can be more confident that they will mesh with each other. The need 
for better coordination has been cited in several reports, including 
last year's report of the Russia Task Force of the Secretary of Energy 
Advisory Board, chaired by former Senator Howard Baker and former White 
House counsel Lloyd Cutler.
  This bill encourages the Secretary of State to seek an increase in 
the regular budget of the International Atomic Energy Agency, beyond 
that required to keep pace with inflation. Because the IAEA's budget 
for 2003 has already been adopted, this bill authorizes an increase in 
the U.S. voluntary contribution to IAEA programs. This organization is 
vital to our nuclear nonproliferation efforts, its workload is 
increasing, and now it has begun a major program to locate and secure 
``orphaned'' radioactive sources that could otherwise show up in a 
terrorist's radiological weapon.
  Subtitle XIII-B of this bill is the ``Russian Federation Debt for 
Nonproliferation Act of 2002,'' a provision that Senator Lugar and I 
introduced, with the support of Senator Helms. This subtitle authorizes 
the President to offer Soviet-era debt reduction to the Russian 
Federation in the context of an arrangement whereby the savings to 
Russia would be invested in agreed nonproliferation programs or 
projects. Debt reduction is a potentially important means of funding 
the costs of securing Russia's stockpiles of sensitive nuclear 
material, chemical weapons and dangerous pathogens, of destroying its 
chemical weapons and dismantling strategic weapons, and of helping its 
former weapons experts to find civilian careers and resist offers from 
rogue states or terrorists.

  Three months ago, the Bush Administration persuaded the G-8 countries 
to take a significant step: they agreed to what is known as ``10 plus 
10 over 10,'' a commitment to provide the Russian Federation $10 
billion in U.S. nonproliferation assistance and $10 billion in 
assistance from the other G-8 members over the next 10 years. This 
joint willingness to provide $20 billion opens new possibilities in 
Russian nonproliferation. It also sends a message to Moscow that 
working with the West or nonproliferation will be more profitable than 
selling dangerous technology to Iran.
  The G-8 agreement included the important possibility of the leading 
economic powers using debt reduction to finance this assistance, and 
the Administration worked with us to ensure that this subtitle gives 
the President the flexibility he would need if he chose to use debt 
reduction. Pursuant to the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990, he must 
still obtain appropriations for the cost of reducing any debt pursuant 
to this section. I have every hope, however, that we will see the day 
when both the United States and several of our allies use debt 
reduction to increase our nonproliferation assistance to Russia.
  In closing, I thank my colleagues on the conference committee, 
particularly Chairman Hyde and Representative Lantos in the other body, 
and Senator Helms, for their cooperation in putting together this bill.
  I would also like to recognize the hard work of all the staff on both 
the House and Senate committees, who did much of the preliminary work 
to prepare the bill for consideration by the conference committee. 
Equally important, I want to recognize the invaluable contributions and 
tireless efforts of the Deputy Legislative Counsel in the Senate, Art 
Rynearson. Mr. Rynearson labored many hours, including all of this past 
weekend, to assist the Committee staff in preparing and refining the 
legislative language in the conference report. This report would not 
have been ready for consideration at this time without his hard work.
  This conference report is important to the operation of our U.S. 
foreign policy agencies. It has received strong approval in the other 
body. I urge its approval by the Senate.
  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, this legislation is the culmination of a 
bipartisan effort begun early in the 107th Congress. Senator Biden 
chaired our conference committee and was a tremendous leader in 
finalizing the bill and ensuring its bipartisan support. I thank him 
for his leadership of the committee and his friendship over the past 30 
years.

[[Page S9403]]

  Given the strange events of the 107th Congress, this bill in fact had 
bipartisan authorship. We provided a first draft of this legislation to 
Senator Biden in May 2001, when the Senate leadership changed hands. 
The bill approved by the conference committee is similar to that draft 
in many respects. It contains important details that advance our 
national interest and reflect shifts in priorities that followed the 
terrorist attacks on our country of September 2001.
  The bill allows for the payment of our U.N. assessments in a manner 
that encourages that organization to embrace improved financial 
practices and to complete the reforms that were initiated at our 
insistence, including the critical issue of appropriate representation 
of American personnel in U.N. positions.
  This bill accomplishes a number of other important objectives. It 
reaffirms Congress's strong support for Israel as an important ally in 
a turbulent region by recognizing the right of Israel to name Jerusalem 
as its own capitol and by financial backing to ensure its national 
security. It promotes stability in the Taiwan Straits by reaffirming 
our insistence that any resolution of that long-standing conflict must 
be peaceful and based on the freely expressed assent of the people of 
Taiwan.
  We have, I hope conclusively, clarified the status of the American 
Institute in Taiwan by requiring that the American flag be flown just 
as proudly over that Institute as it is over all American diplomatic 
facilities.
  The legislation recognizes the importance of maintaining pressure on 
the repressive Castro regime in Cuba and moves us toward the goal of 
liberating the Cuban people. It does this by specifically authorizing 
continued radio broadcasting to Cuba.
  The bill provides Secretary Powell with additional authorities to 
meet the increasing need for effective American diplomacy in the 
present crisis and to enhance the capacity of Diplomatic Security 
agents. It also makes equitable pay, personnel and travel adjustments 
for the benefit of State Department personnel.
  We also extended indefinitely the reporting requirement on 
international child abductions, reflecting our dissatisfaction with the 
lack of success in reuniting American parents with their children when 
they are kidnapped overseas by the other parent. We established new 
reporting obligations that ensure that Congress is notified when 
individuals who have previously engaged in terrorist activities are 
granted visas for entry into the United States.

  The progress that Russia has made toward becoming a real democracy 
has been painful but necessary. This bill emphasizes the establishment 
in Russia of a free press and the rule of law as indispensable 
institutions in a functioning democracy. These institutions would focus 
public attention on dangerous activities that are ignored or condoned 
by government officials. I expect that these institutions, once firmly 
established, would have a restraining effect on highly questionable 
activities, such as Russian support for the Iranian nuclear program, 
and help curtail the proliferation of weapons technology and expertise, 
nuclear know-how is just as dangerous as nuclear material. This bill 
also encourages the Russian Government to make serious contributions to 
nonproliferation efforts in order to give them a stake in these efforts 
and complement our efforts in Russia.
  The Tibet Policy Act in this bill culminates the Senate's decades-
long support for the Tibetan people. It bolsters Administration efforts 
by specifying investment guidelines to invigorate the Tibetan economy 
while preserving the distinct identity of the people. Most notably, 
this will end any dispute over the importance of the Special 
Coordinator for Tibet by legally mandating such a position.
  The Security Assistance portion of this bill contains several 
important provisions, particularly those regarding the proliferation of 
weapons of mass destruction. While I support the overarching framework 
of the Russian debt-for-nonproliferation provision in Title XIII, I 
harbor deep concerns about continued Russian proliferation to such 
state sponsors of terrorism as Iran. Thus, the Title includes a 
provision that places restriction on this debt reduction authority by 
requiring the President to certify that the Russian Federation has made 
and continues to make ``material progress'' in stemming the flow of 
sensitive goods, technologies, material, and know-how related to 
weapons of mass destruction to states that are international sponsors 
of terrorism. In this era of uncertainty, it is critical that we 
address this threat. Following in this vein, the Iran Nonproliferation 
Act of 2000 has been amended to require additional information be 
provided in required reports on transfers of weapons or weapons-related 
technologies to Iran.
  With nonproliferation and disarmament issues taking a front seat in 
this bill, a provision has been included to allow development 
assistance to be spent for the destruction of surplus stockpiles of 
small arms, light weapons and other munitions in developing countries. 
This is indeed an important activity for developing countries as they 
emerge from periods of civil war or ethnic conflict.
  The Security Assistance title of this bill also recognizes that South 
Asia is a critical theater of operations in our war against terrorism, 
and encourages the U.S. Government to continue to work on issues of 
nuclear and missile proliferation in this region. To this end, this 
section states that it shall be the policy of the United States, 
consistent with its obligations under the Treaty on the 
Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, to encourage and work with the 
Governments of India and Pakistan to achieve a specific set of 
nonproliferation objectives by September 30, 2003. The Administration 
must continue to make this a high priority in its key foreign policy 
objectives.

  Title XI affirms strong support for the profoundly important 
responsibilities of the Verification and Compliance Bureau to promote 
compliance analysis and enforce countries' compliance with their legal 
and political nonproliferation commitments. The title authorizes a 
larger budget than requested for this Bureau, including $1.8 million 
for additional personnel to adequately staff the mission of this 
critical Bureau and to improve verification capabilities. This Bureau 
is essential to ensuring that treaties and agreements are more than 
simple parchment, and should be adequately funded to carry out its 
mission.
  Furthermore, I am happy to support a Title XII provision that 
provides the President with the authority to enter into bilateral or 
multilateral agreements for post-undergraduate flying and tactical 
leadership training at facilities in Southwest Asia. This is critical 
addition for our war against terrorism, as it enables the United States 
to maintain a positive influence in the region and enables our forces 
to have access to training and range facilities. Additionally, Title 
XIV recognizes the important work of the Office of Defense Trade 
Controls, and supports additional authorities so that it can achieve a 
greater level of efficiency in processing munitions licenses.
  Finally, every Senator knows that no bill is possible without many 
long hours and hard work by staff. I can't tell these young men and 
women often enough what a great service they do for the Senate and for 
the country. I am particularly grateful to Patti McNerney, the 
Committee's Republican Staff Director, Rich Douglas, the Chief 
Republican Counsel, Senior Staff Members Mark Lagon and Mark Esper, 
Republican Counsel Jeff Gibbs, and Professional Staff Members Carolyn 
Leddy and Maurice Perkins. I am grateful for the work of the rest of 
the Committee's Republican Staff: Skip Fischer, Walter Lohman, Jed 
Royal, Jose Cardenas, Brian Fox, Susan Williams, David Merkel, Kelly 
Siekman, Sara Battaglia, Philip Griffin, Lester Munson, Kris Klaich, 
Hannah Williams, and Sarah Bardinelli.
  The cooperative efforts and hard work of the Democratic Committee 
staff members, especially Brian McKeon, the Committee's Chief Counsel, 
Ed Levine, and Jofi Joseph, as well as the current and former staff 
directors, Tony Blinken and Ed Hall.
  Last--but by no means least--I note that Art Rynearson, the Deputy 
Legislative Counsel of the Senate, has done his usual superb job of 
putting this conference report into proper legislative form. I say 
thank you to all.

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  The conference report was agreed to.
  The concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 483) was agreed to.

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