[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 147 (Thursday, November 14, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11063-S11066]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  21ST CENTURY DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE APPROPRIATIONS AUTHORIZATION ACT

  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I thank the Senate for voting to end 
debate and to pass the bipartisan 21st Century Department of Justice 
Authorization Act conference report. I commend the Majority Leader for 
bringing this important legislation the floor and filing cloture in 
order for the Senate to take final action on the conference report.
  I regret that consideration and a vote on final passage on this 
important measure was delayed, but I thank the overwhelming majority of 
my colleagues for supporting cloture and passage of the conference 
report.
  This measure was passed by the House, by a vote of 400 to 4, last 
Thursday. All Democrats were prepared to pass the conference report 
that same day last week and any day this week. Given the Republicans' 
objection to proceed to a vote and given the refusal to agree to a time 
agreement, the Majority Leader was required to file cloture. I am glad 
that the filibuster is over.
  This legislation is truly bipartisan. It passed the House 400 to 4. 
The conference report was signed by every conferee, Republican or 
Democrat, including Senator Hatch and Representatives Sensenbrenner, 
Hyde, and Lamar Smith.
  Senators from both sides of the aisle spoke in favor of the 
legislation. In particular, I thank Senator Hutchison for coming to the 
floor on Tuesday to support this conference report. Senator Hutchison 
has spoken to me many times about the need for more judgeships along 
the Texas border with Mexico to handle immigration and criminal cases.
  The conference report includes three new judgeships in the conference 
report for Texas, one more than was included in the bill reported to 
the Senate by the Senate Judiciary Committee and passed by the Senate 
last December.
  I thank Senator Sessions for his statements on Tuesday and today in 
support of this bipartisan conference report.
  Although he opposes Senator Hatch's legislation regarding automobile 
dealer arbitration, which enjoys more than 60 Senate cosponsors and 200 
House cosponsors and was included in the conference report, Senator 
Sessions is supporting this conference report because it will improve 
the Department of Justice and support local law enforcement agencies 
across the nation. I appreciate Senator Sessions' work on the 
provisions in the conference report on the Paul Coverdell Forensic 
Sciences Improvement Grants and the Centers for Domestic Preparedness 
in Alabama and other States.
  Senator Brownback also spoke in favor of certain immigration 
provisions in this bill that he worked on with Senator Kennedy, the 
Chairman of the Immigration Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee. In 
particular, the conference report includes language sought by Senators 
Conrad and Brownback to reauthorize the program allowing foreign 
doctors educated in the United States to remain here if they will 
practice in underserved communities. This is a crucial provision to 
ensure that residents in some of our most rural states receive adequate 
medical care.
  The conference report also contains another important immigration 
provision to permit H-1B aliens who have labor certification 
applications caught in lengthy agency backlogs to extend their status 
beyond the sixth year limitation or, if they have already exceeded such 
limitation, to have a new H-1B petition approved so they can apply for 
an H-1B visa to return from abroad or otherwise re-obtain H-1B status. 
Either a labor certification application or a petition must be filed at 
least 365 days prior to the end of the 6th year in order for the alien 
to be eligible under this section.

  The slight modification to existing law made by this section is 
necessary to avoid the disruption of important projects caused by the 
sudden loss of valued employees. At a time when our economy is weak, 
this provision is intended to help. I thank Senator Kennedy and Senator 
Brownback for their work on this provision and their contributions to 
the conference report. I thank Senator Feinstein for her excellent 
speech earlier this week in support of this conference report. Senator 
Feinstein has been a tireless advocate for the needs of California, 
including the needs of the federal judiciary along the southern border. 
She has led the effort to increase judicial and law enforcement 
resources along our southern border. I am proud to have served as the 
chair of the House-Senate conference committee that unanimously 
reported a bill that includes five judgeships for the Southern District 
of California. Long overdue relief for the Southern District of 
California could be on the way once this conference report is adopted.
  Senator Biden also contributed a great deal to this conference 
report. He has fought doggedly to authorize a new Violence Against 
Women Office at the Justice Department, and his efforts have borne 
fruit in this legislation. He has also been one of the Senate's best 
advocates for reauthorizing the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 
Prevention Act, which we do here. In addition, he was a cosponsor of 
the Drug Abuse Education, Prevention, and Treatment Act, and we have 
included many provisions from that bill in this conference report.
  I also would like to thank Senator Durbin for statements on the 
Senate floor and his dedicated efforts to authorize a new Violence 
Against Women Office, to expand the number of Boys and Girls Clubs in 
our nation, and to create new judgeships in Illinois.
  Senator Kohl was a tremendous help in our efforts to reauthorize the 
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, especially Title V of 
that Act, which provides for crucial prevention programs for our 
nation's youth.
  Senator Carnahan deserves the credit for the inclusion of the Law 
Enforcement Tribute Act in this conference report. That provision 
provides Federal assistance for local communities seeking to honor 
fallen law enforcement officers. Without her tireless work, we would 
not have been able to include that provision in this conference report.
  For his part, Senator Feingold was able to include his and Senator 
Hatch's Motor Vehicle Franchise Contract Arbitration Fairness Act in 
this conference report. That bill will ensure that auto dealers will 
have a level playing field in their disputes with the auto 
manufacturers.
  Finally, I also thank Senator Reid for his helpful comments and 
support throughout the debate on the legislation.
  Of course, our bipartisanship is evidenced by our including 
authorization for additional judgeships not only in California but also 
in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, North Carolina, Illinois and 
Florida. I have tried to improve on the record we inherited.
  In the six and one-half years that they controlled the Senate, the 
Republican majority was willing to add only eight judgeships to be 
appointed by a Democratic President, and most of those were in Texas 
and Arizona, States with two Republican Senators. We have, on the other 
hand, proceeded at our earliest opportunity to increase federal 
judgeships by 20, including in the border States where they are most 
needed, well aware these positions will be filled with appointments by 
a Republican President who has shown little interest in working with 
Democrats in the Senate. These include a number of jurisdictions with 
Republican Senators.
  I also commend the senior Senator from California for her leadership 
on the ``James Guelff and Chris McCurley Body Armor Act,'' the State 
Criminal Alien Assistance Program reauthorization, and the many anti-
drug abuse provisions included in this conference

[[Page S11064]]

report. She spoke eloquently on the floor of the Senate regarding many 
of the important provisions she has championed in this process.
  This conference report will strengthen our Justice Department and the 
FBI, increase our preparedness against terrorist attacks, prevent crime 
and drug abuse, improve our intellectual property and antitrust laws, 
strengthen and protect our judiciary, and offer our children a safe 
place to go after school.
  This conference report is the product of years of bipartisan work. By 
my count, the conference report includes significant portions of at 
least 25 legislative initiatives. This legislation is neither 
complicated nor controversial. It passed the House overwhelmingly and 
in short order with a strong bipartisan vote.
  I thank my colleagues again for supporting the cloture motion and 
final passage of this conference report so that all of this bipartisan 
work and all the good that this legislation will do, will reach the 
President's desk. I particularly want to thank Senator Hatch, who 
worked very hard to help construct a good, fair and balanced conference 
report as did all of the conferees. Likewise, I want to thank Chairman 
Sensenbrenner and Representative Conyers of the House Judiciary 
Committee for working with us to conclude this conference report 
successfully.
  The staffs of these Members must also be thanked for working through 
the summer and over the last month to bring all the pieces of the 
conference report together into a winning package. In particular, the 
House Judiciary Committee staff has been enormously helpful, including 
Phil Kiko, Will Moschella, Blaine Merritt, Perry Apelbaum, Ted Kalo, 
Sampak Garg, Bobby Vassar, and Alec French. I would also like to thank 
the staff of the House Education and Workforce Committee, including Bob 
Sweet and Denise Forte. The Senate Judiciary Committee staff has shown 
its outstanding professionalism and I want to thank Bruce Cohen, Beryl 
Howell, Ed Pagano, Tim Lynch, Jessica Berry, Robyn Schmidek and Phil 
Toomajian, Makan Delrahim, Leah Belaire, Michael Volkov, Melody Barnes, 
Esther Olavarria, Robert Toone, Neil MacBride, and Louisa Terrell.
  I appreciate that not all Members were or could be conferees and 
participate in the conference, but after a full opportunity to study 
the conference report passed last week in the House by a vote of 400 to 
4, I hope that even those Members who raised objection will conclude 
that on the whole this is a good, solid piece of legislation.
  Although the debate is over, I want to address the objections raised 
by a few Members to this legislation. I thank these Members for coming 
to the floor to discuss their views and concerns, and want to show them 
the respect they deserve by responding to those objections. I should 
note that even in posing an objection to and delaying passage of the 
conference report--as is their rights as Senators--these Members 
acknowledged that there were parts of this bill they liked or may like 
upon review.
  Contrary to those who may argue that this legislation is not a 
priority, it is. Congress has not authorized the Department of Justice 
in more than two decades. While the Justice Department would certainly 
continue to exist if we were to fail to reauthorize it, that is not an 
excuse for shirking our responsibility now. I know that Senator Hatch 
and Representatives Sensenbrenner and Conyers share my view. It is long 
past time for the Judiciary Committees of the House and Senate--and the 
Congress as a whole--to restore their proper oversight role over the 
Department of Justice.
  Through Republican and Democratic administrations, we have allowed 
the Department of Justice to escape its accountability to the Senate 
and House of Representatives and through them to the American people. 
Congress, the people's representative, has a strong institutional 
interest in restoring that accountability. The House has recognized 
this, and has done its job. I am glad that we have done ours.

  I agree with those Members who say that we need to give anti-
terrorism priority, but not lose sight of the other important missions 
of the Department of Justice. The conference report takes such a 
balanced approach. Those critics who say that there is nothing new in 
this legislation to fight terrorism, have missed some important 
provisions in the legislation as well as my floor statements over the 
past week outlining what the conference report contains to help in the 
anti-terrorism effort.
  Let me repeat the highlights of what the conference report does on 
this important problem.
  The conference report fortifies our border security by authorizing 
over $20 billion for the administration and enforcement of the laws 
relating to immigration, naturalization, and alien registration. It 
also authorizes funding for Centers for Domestic Preparedness in 
Alabama, Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Nevada, Vermont and 
Pennsylvania, and adds additional uses for grants from the Office of 
Domestic Preparedness to support State and local law enforcement 
agencies. These provisions have strong bipartisan support. I thank 
Senator Sessions, Senator Shelby and Senator Specter for supporting 
cloture on the conference report and for final passage.
  Another measure in the bill would correct a glitch in a law that 
helps prosecutors combat the international financing of terrorism. I 
worked closely with the White House to pass the original provision to 
bring the United States into compliance with a treaty that bans 
terrorist financing, but without this technical, non-controversial 
change, the provision may not be usable. This law is vital in stopping 
the flow of money to terrorists. Worse yet, at a time when the 
President is going before the U.N. emphasizing that our enemies are not 
complying with international law, by blocking this minor fix, we leave 
ourselves open to a charge that we are not complying with an anti-
terrorism treaty.
  I agree with other Members that we should do more to help the FBI 
Director in transforming the FBI from a crime fighting to a terrorism 
prevention agency and to help the FBI overcome its information 
technology, management and other problems to be the best that it can 
be. The Judiciary Committee reported unanimously the Leahy-Grassley FBI 
Reform Act, S. 1974, over six months ago to reach those goals, but this 
legislation has been blocked by an anonymous hold from moving forward. 
This conference report contains parts of that bipartisan legislation, 
but not the whole bill, which continues to this day to be blocked to 
this day.
  Since the attacks of September 11 and the anthrax attacks last fall, 
we have relied on the FBI to detect and prevent acts of catastrophic 
terrorism that endanger the lives of the American people and the 
institutions of our country. Reform and improvement at the FBI was 
already important, but the terrorist attacks suffered by this country 
last year have imposed even greater urgency on improving the FBI. The 
Bureau is our front line of domestic defense against terrorists. It 
needs to be as great as it can.
  Even before those attacks, the Judiciary Committee's oversight 
hearings revealed serious problems at the FBI that needed strong 
congressional action to fix. We heard about a double standard in 
evaluations and discipline. We heard about record and information 
management problems and communications breakdowns between field offices 
and Headquarters that led to the belated production of documents in the 
Oklahoma City bombing case. Despite the fact that we have poured money 
into the FBI over the last five years, we heard that the FBI's computer 
systems were in dire need of modernization.
  We heard about how an FBI supervisor, Robert Hanssen, was able to 
sell critical secrets to the Russians undetected for years without ever 
getting a polygraph. We heard that there were no fewer than 15 
different areas of security at the FBI that needed fixing.
  The FBI Reform Act tackles these problems with improved 
accountability, improved security both inside and outside the FBI, and 
required planning to ensure the FBI is prepared to deal with the 
multitude of challenges we are facing.
  We are all indebted to Senator Grassley for his leadership in the 
area. Working with Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary 
Committee we unanimously reported

[[Page S11065]]

the FBI Reform Act more than six months ago only to be stymied in our 
bipartisan efforts by an anonymous Republican hold.
  The conference report does not contain all of the important 
provisions in the FBI Reform Act that Senator Grassley and I, and the 
other members of the Judiciary Committee, agreed were needed, but it 
does contain parts of that other bill.
  Among the items that are, unfortunately, not in the conference report 
and are being blocked from passing in the stand-alone FBI Reform bill 
by an anonymous Republican hold are the following: Title III of the FBI 
Reform bill that would institute a career security officer program, 
which senior FBI officials have testified before our Committee would be 
very helpful;
  Title IV of the FBI Reform bill outlining the requirements for a 
polygraph program along the lines of what the Webster Commission 
recommended;
  Title VII of the FBI Reform bill that takes important steps to fix 
some of the double standard problems and support the FBI's Office of 
Professional Responsibility, which FBI Ethics and OPR agents say is 
very important; and
  Title VIII to push along implementation of secure communications 
networks to help facilitate FISA processing between Main Justice and 
the FBI. These hard-working agents and prosecutors have to hand-carry 
top secret FISA documents between their offices because they still lack 
send secure e-mail systems.
  The FBI Reform bill would help fix may of these problems and I would 
hope we would be able to pass all of the FBI Reform Act before the end 
of this Congress. These should not be controversial provisions and are 
designed to help the FBI.
  During the debate on this conference report, some Members complained 
it included provisions that were not contained in either the Senate or 
House bills. Now, each of the proposals we have included are directly 
related to improving the administration of justice in the United 
States. We were asked to include many of them by Republican members of 
the House and Senate.
  Let me give you some examples. The conference report reauthorizes the 
State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, which President Bush has 
sought to eliminate. On March 4 of this year, Senator Kyl and Senator 
Feinstein sent me a letter asking me to include an authorization for 
SCAAP--which was not authorized in either the House- or Senate-passed 
bill--in the conference report. That proposal had been considered and 
reported by the Judiciary Committee but a Republican hold has stopped 
Senate consideration and passage. I agreed with Senator Kyl that we 
should authorize SCAAP. I still believe that it is the right thing to 
do.
  In addition to including the reauthorization of SCAAP, the conferees 
also authorized an additional judge for Arizona. Members have been 
arguing for years that their States need more judges. We took those 
arguments seriously, and added another new judge for Arizona on top of 
the two that were added in 1998 and the third that was added in 2000. 
As I said before, we have added 20 additional judicial positions in 
this conference report.
  Some have been critical of the conference report's authorization of 
funding for DEA police training in South and Central Asia, and for the 
United States-Thailand drug prosecutor exchange program. I believe that 
both of these are worthy programs that deserve the Senate's support.
  I have listened to President Bush and others in his Administration 
and in Congress argue that terrorist organizations in Asia, including 
Al Qaeda, have repeatedly used drug proceeds to fund their operations. 
The conferees wanted to do whatever we could to break the link between 
drug trafficking and terror, and we would all greatly appreciate the 
Senate's assistance in that effort.
  Beyond the relationship between drug trafficking and terrorism, the 
production of drugs in Asia has a tremendous impact on America.
  For example, more than a quarter of the heroin that is plaguing the 
northeastern United States, including my State of Vermont, comes from 
Southeast Asia. Many of the governments in that region want to work 
with the United States to reduce the production of drugs, and these 
programs will help. It is beyond me why any Senator would oppose them.
  Some have complained that the conference report demands too many 
reports from the Department of Justice and that this would interfere 
with the Department's ongoing counterterorism efforts. It is true that 
our legislation requires a number of reports, as part of our oversight 
obligations over the Department of Justice. I assure the Senate, 
however, that if the Department of Justice comes to the House and 
Senate Judiciary Committees and makes a convincing case that any 
reporting requirement in this legislation will hinder our national 
security, we will work out a reasonable accommodation. I think, 
however, that such a turn of events is exceedingly unlikely, as no one 
at the Department has mentioned any such concerns.
  Some Members have complained that the conference report includes 
pieces of legislation that had not received Committee consideration. 
Let me deal with some of the specific proposals that have been cited.
  The Law Enforcement Tribute Act was mentioned as a provision not 
considered by the Judiciary Committee, but this is incorrect. In 
reality, the Committee reported that bill favorably on May 16. Its 
passage has been blocked by an anonymous Republican hold.
  Complaints have been made about inclusion of the motor vehicle 
franchise dispute resolution provision in the conference report for 
bypassing the Committee. But, again, that is incorrect. The Judiciary 
Committee fully considered this proposal and reported Senator Hatch's 
Motor Vehicle Franchise Contract Arbitration Fairness Act last October 
31. It has been stalled from the Senate floor by anonymous Republican 
holds.
  A section allowing FBI danger pay was cited as a proposal that 
bypassed Committee consideration, but, again, the Judiciary Committee 
did consider this proposal as part of the original DOJ Authorization 
bill, S. 1319.
  Some have complained that the Federal Judiciary Protection Act, which 
is included in the conference report, had not come before the 
Committee, but on the contrary, this legislation, S. 1099, was passed 
the Judiciary Committee and the Senate by unanimous consent last year 
and in the 106th Congress, as well.
  A complaint was raised on the floor about a provision on the U.S. 
Parole Commission being included in the conference report. That was 
included because the Bush Administration included it in its budget 
request.
  A complaint was also raised about the conference report's provision 
establishing the FBI police to provide protection for the FBI buildings 
and personnel in this time of heightened concerns about terrorist 
attacks. Contrary to the critics, this proposal was considered by the 
Judiciary Committee as part of the FBI Reform Act, S. 1974, which was 
reported unanimously on a bipartisan basis but has been blocked by an 
anonymous hold.
  Similarly, a complaint was made on the floor about bypassing the 
Committee with the provision in the conference report for the FBI to 
tell the Congress about how the FBI is updating its obsolete computer 
systems. Again, this is incorrect. This provision was included in the 
FBI Reform Act, S. 1974, which was considered by the Judiciary 
Committee and unanimously reported without objection.
  Some critics have complained that the conference report includes 
intellectual property provisions that have passed neither the House or 
the Senate. It is not for lack of trying to pass these provisions 
through the Senate, but anonymous Republican holds have held up for 
months passage of the Madrid Protocol Implementation Act, S. 407. This 
legislation has passed the House on three separate times in three 
consecutive Congresses. Let us get it passed now in the conference 
report.
  The conference report also contains another intellectual property 
matter, the Hatch-Leahy TEACH Act, to help distance learning. Contrary 
to the critics' statements, this passed the Senate in June, 2001.
  The Intellectual Property and High Technology Technical Amendments 
Act, S. 320, contained in this conference report, was passed by the 
Senate at the beginning of this Congress,

[[Page S11066]]

in February, 2001. It is time to get this done.
  The criticism made on the floor that the juvenile justice provisions 
in the conference report never passed the House or Senate is simply 
wrong. The conference report contains juvenile justice provisions 
passed by the House in September and October of last year, in H.R. 863 
and H.R. 1900.
  The criticism that the conference report contains criminal justice 
improvements that were passed by neither the House or the Senate 
glosses over two important points: First, that many of the provisions 
were indeed passed by the House, and, second, that others have been 
blocked from Senate consideration and passage by anonymous Republican 
holds. Let me give you some examples.
  The conference report contains the Judicial Improvements Act, S. 2713 
and HR 3892, that passed the House in July, 2002, but consideration by 
the Senate was blocked after the Senate bill was reported by the 
Judiciary Committee.
  The Antitrust Technical Corrections bills, H.R. 809, had the same 
fate. After being passed by the House in March, 2001, and reported by 
the Senate Judiciary Committee, consideration was blocked in the 
Senate.


                               CONCLUSION

  This conference report is a comprehensive attempt to ensure the 
administration of justice in our nation. It is not everything I would 
like or that any individual Member of Congress might have authored.
  It is a conference report, a consensus document, a product of the 
give and take with the House that is our legislative process. It will 
strengthen our Justice Department and the FBI, increase our 
preparedness against terrorist attacks, prevent crime and drug abuse, 
improve our intellectual property and antitrust laws, strengthen and 
protect our judiciary, and offer our children a safe place to go after 
school.
  The conference report merits the support of the United States Senate 
to help the Justice Department and the American people.

                          ____________________