[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 128 (Wednesday, September 17, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11605-S11610]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT,
2004
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will
proceed to the consideration of H.R. 2691, which the clerk will report.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (H.R. 2691) making appropriations for the Department
of the Interior and related agencies for the fiscal year
ending September 30, 2004, and for other purposes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
Amendment No. 1724
Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I call up a substitute amendment which is
at the desk. This amendment is the text of S. 1391.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Montana [Mr. Burns] proposes an amendment
numbered 1724.
Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of
the amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of
Amendments.'')
Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I am pleased to bring before the Senate the
Interior and related agencies appropriations bill for fiscal year 2004.
In dollar terms, this is a modest bill compared to many of the
appropriations bills we tackle in this body. It totals about $19.6
billion in discretionary budget authority. But in terms of its direct
impact on the lives and livelihoods of the people and communities
throughout this country, it is a critical bill, and it is of particular
importance to the Western States, such as my State of Montana, where
the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service either own or
manage in trust vast acres of land.
These are lands where my constituents live. This is where they graze
livestock, where they mine, where they hike, hunt, fish, and timber.
What we do in this bill affects all of those activities.
It is not just a public lands bill. It is also a bill that provides
education, health care, and other core services for the Native
Americans of America.
It supports energy research and development that fosters economic
growth, strengthens our national security posture, and improves the
quality of our environment. And it supports the treasured cultural
institutions, such as the Smithsonian and the National Endowment for
the Humanities--institutions that help tell the story of America and
that remind us who we are as a people.
As I suspect is the case with many of my colleagues who have chaired
appropriations subcommittees, the more I learn about the agencies
funded in this bill, the harder it gets to make tough choices that have
to be made, particularly in the current fiscal climate.
The President's fiscal year 2004 budget request for the Interior bill
was $19.56 billion in discretionary budget authority, a modest increase
over the comparable level for fiscal year 2003.
While the budget request included increases for several activities
that have considerable merit, it also proposed severe reductions in a
number of critical programs that have broad support within the Senate.
With an allocation that is effectively the same as the President's
request, we had to make some tough choices.
That said, with the help of Senator Dorgan, my good friend and
neighbor from North Dakota, we have been able to fashion a responsible
bill that does a number of very positive things.
The bill provides increases for the core operating programs of the
land management agencies, including $72 million for our National Park
System and $31 million for the Fish and Wildlife Service. The funds
provided for the park system include $20 million over the budget
request to increase the base operating budgets of individual parks.
The bill also increases funding for Bureau of Land Management
operations by $27 million and adds $34 million to the President's
request for Forest Service activities.
From the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the bill appropriates $511
million. This includes $222 million for Federal land acquisition, an
increase of $35 million over the budget request and more than double
the House total of $100 million. As is always the case, there was great
interest in increasing funding for the land, water, and conservation
programs, but I think the amount provided is reasonable given the
constraints of the subcommittee allocation and the many other demands
on this bill.
The Interior bill also supports several grant programs. I won't go
through all the numbers, but among
[[Page S11606]]
the highlights is a $30 million increase over the budget request for
payments in lieu of taxes; a $15 million increase for State wildlife
grants; and an increase of $9 million for the Historic Preservation
Fund. The bill also restores a proposed $16 million cut in the
Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Fund.
Let me explain PILT, payment in lieu of taxes. This is the money that
goes directly to the counties to support their activities where a large
amount of Federal land is found--BLM land, anyway.
As I mentioned previously, the Interior bill is a vitally important
bill for Native American communities. It increases funding for the
Indian Health Service by $88 million over the enacted level, for a
total of $2.9 billion.
It includes $574 million for Indian education programs which fully
funds the budget request for Indian school replacement. It also
provides an increase of $6 million for tribal community colleges. This
is a subject that is of particular interest to both Senator Dorgan and
me and one we may discuss further as we progress with this legislation.
The bill also provides $243 million for the Office of Special Trustee
to continue the administration efforts to improve the management of
Indian trust assets. This is an increase of $95 million over the
enacted level.
While I strongly believe Congress must support trust reform, let
there be no mistake that reform is coming at a very significant cost in
terms of money, personnel, and management focus. Vital concerns in
Indian country are being shortchanged because trust reform and related
litigation are draining both funds and morale.
We would all like there to be a simple solution, but there just isn't
one. Settling the case may ultimately be the answer, but at this stage,
the plaintiffs and the administration do not appear ready to have
productive negotiations. Even if we settle on any past damages, the
question remains as to how we manage Indian trust assets in the future.
This bill continues to support the Department's reform efforts to the
greatest extent possible.
I will continue to work closely with the Department, with the
authorizing committees, and with Indian country to advance the reform
effort so we can get ourselves out from under this immense cloud.
The Interior bill also supports an important piece of our Nation's
energy portfolio, including research on fossil energy and energy
efficiency, the operation of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This bill
provides $1.67 billion for Department of Energy programs, including
$862 million for energy conservation and $594 million for fossil energy
research and development.
Among the cultural programs supported by this bill, the Smithsonian
will receive an additional $10 million to prepare for the opening of
two new museums, the Air and Space Museum extension near Dulles
Airport, and the National Museum of the American Indian on The Mall.
The National Endowment of the Arts will get $117 million and the
National Endowment for the Humanities will get $142 million. This is an
increase of $15 million for the NEH, for an American history
initiative.
This has been something the new Member of this body, Senator
Alexander from Tennessee, has worked on very hard ever since his
arrival in the Senate and something he and I have discussed many times.
I know Senator Alexander and his staff have been meeting with
administration officials and the authorizing committees to discuss ways
of aligning the administration's American history proposal with his
own.
It is my understanding those discussions are going well.
Certainly we should all be pulling in the same direction on an issue
such as this. I am excited about this initiative, and I want to applaud
our good friend from Tennessee for his hard work.
Finally, I want to talk about funding of wildland fire management.
This is a subject we find ourselves discussing again and again. The
reason is this: The current system we have for the fire suppression
budgeting is broken. Again and again we find ourselves in a situation
where both the Forest Service and the Department of Interior are forced
to borrow massive amounts of money from other budget accounts to fight
the fires. Those accounts are inside their own agencies.
This is a reasonable mechanism when the amounts being borrowed are
relatively modest, when the borrowing occurs only during particularly
bad fire years, and when sufficient surplus carryover funds are readily
available. But the borrowing has become routine and the amounts
involved are massive. We no longer have large carryover amounts in
other accounts. This carryover has disappeared in many accounts with
the decline of the timber program and the revenues it produced.
Last year, we borrowed heavily from a number of Forest Service and
Interior accounts, causing both agencies to stop conducting certain
activities until those amounts were repaid or replaced. In the end,
however, we only repaid about 60 cents of every dollar borrowed, which
is the amount proposed by the administration in its supplemental
request.
As a result of this shortfall, a large number of congressionally
approved projects have either been cancelled or reduced in scope. This
year we find ourselves in the same situation. Prior to the recess, my
colleagues may recall I was very upset that the House sent us a
supplemental appropriations bill that did not include the fire funds
requested by the administration. Those funds were desperately needed in
August when my State of Montana was suffering from dozens of
significant fires. The presence of smoke was almost constant during the
time I spent in Montana over the recess. In fact, two airports had to
be closed for a period of time because of smoke.
In a way, I am glad we did not act then. I say this because the $289
million that is under discussion in the legislative branch
appropriations bill is totally inadequate. I would not want anybody to
believe that this amount begins to take care of our problem. The
Department of Interior has already borrowed $130 million from other
accounts to fight fires this summer. It expects to borrow $30 million
more before the end of the fiscal year. The Forest Service has already
borrowed--and get this figure--$595 million and is contemplating
another $100 million transferred to get us through this fiscal year.
Roughly speaking, we will borrow $850 million from other accounts
before the end of the fiscal year.
Simply providing the $289 million in the pending administration
request does not do the trick. These funds, for the most part, have
already been spent.
There are not options at this point. We need to repay those accounts
soon and we need to repay them in full. Sixty cents on the dollar this
time around would be devastating to a wide variety of programs. They
range from endangered species monitoring to facilities construction,
from acquisition to processing even the simplest forms of grazing
permits. It would amount to a de facto rescission of funds that this
Congress voted to appropriate when it approved the 2003 bill.
My colleagues will hear more from me later on this issue, and I will
likely have an amendment to offer at some point, but for now I want to
use this opportunity to tell my colleagues this is not just a problem
for those States where there has been fire. It is a problem for every
State in this country, because the funds are effectively borrowed from
every State, including the projects and programs that were funded at a
specific request of Members in this body. So I call on the
administration to send up another supplemental request, one that fully
reflects the amounts that will be spent on fire suppression this fiscal
year.
I thank my friend, Senator Dorgan, and his staff. They have been
great to work with. Of course, we come from almost the same part of the
country--in fact, we are neighbors--so it was very easy for neighbors
to get together and to roll up our sleeves and put this bill together.
His input has been very valuable. We have tried to fashion a bill that
reflects the priorities of the Senate as a whole. I think this bill
does just that.
So I urge my colleagues who have amendments to get them to me or to
my staff as quickly as possible so we can deal with them and get this
bill to conference. I caution, however, that we have allocated the
entire amount of the subcommittee's allocation. Any amendment that
provides additional
[[Page S11607]]
funds will have to be fully offset, and I think I can speak for Senator
Dorgan in saying we will take a dim view of amendments that propose to
use across-the-board reductions or unspecified administrative savings
as offsets.
I ask the support of this Senate for this bill. I would hope we can
have this bill done by tomorrow, and move on and get this bill into
conference. I urge my colleagues to support it.
If I can get the attention of my good friend from North Dakota, I
look forward to working with him on this issue and I appreciate his
good help and his input on this bill.
I yield the floor to my good friend from North Dakota.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, first let me thank Senator Burns. Senator
Burns is the chairman of this appropriations subcommittee. I have been
very pleased to work with him. I think his leadership and his work on
this subcommittee is exemplary.
This is my first year on this subcommittee. I moved to this position
from another subcommittee and so it is the first year I have had the
opportunity to work with Senator Burns, but we have had an excellent
working relationship.
This is a very large appropriations subcommittee bill, and I shall
not repeat that which Senator Burns has already described in any great
detail, but I do want to make some points. I will go through a couple
of the items.
Senator Burns mentioned this bill deals with the BLM, Bureau of Land
Management, and the funding for their programs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife,
the National Park Service, and a number of smaller agencies as
well. There is the Office of Surface Mining, Minerals Management
Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Bureau of Indian Affairs--I am
going to speak a little bit about that in a couple of minutes--and then
the larger departmental offices down at the Interior Department that
includes the Forest Service, which is a very large agency, the
Department of Energy--a portion of the Department of Energy funding is
in this--the Indian Health Service, Smithsonian, National Gallery of
Art, Kennedy Center, National Endowment for the Humanities, National
Endowment for the Arts, and more.
As you can see, these are very important public functions for which
we provide funding. I think we have done as good a job as is possible
to do, given the restraint on financing many of these functions. I
think Senator Burns would probably agree there are a number of issues
that are presented in this appropriations bill for which we would like
to provide additional funding but could not. But that is the process
these days, trying to find ways to stretch limited resources over
unlimited wants that are expressed to the committee.
Let me mention a couple of issues specifically. First of all, payment
in lieu of taxes. My colleague, Senator Burns, mentioned that. For
those who do not understand this issue, it is called P-I-L-T. Payment
in lieu of taxes is a payment the Federal Government makes on land it
owns that otherwise would have borne a property tax but, because it is
in Federal hands, does not pay a property tax. So payment in lieu of
taxes is the payment the Federal Government makes to these counties
that makes up what they should have collected in property taxes had
that land been in private hands.
As you know, in most cases property around this country has to bear a
responsibility to help raise the funds for our school systems. Yet if
you have a substantial amount of Federal land, it doesn't pay property
taxes and therefore you don't have the revenue coming off that land to
support the school system and other governmental functions. That is
what the payment in lieu of taxes is about.
I am pleased Senator Burns and I were able to increase that amount
this year. It is very important. The administration had suggested that
it be decreased a bit. We have actually appropriated, in this bill, $30
million above that which the administration requested. I think that is
something important to highlight.
I want to spend a couple of minutes talking about Indian issues
because, while that is not the largest part of this bill, it is a very
important set of issues. I want to talk a bit about it and then I want
to talk about grazing permits and a couple of other smaller items.
Let me talk about the Indian issues for a very specific reason. We
have trust responsibility in this Government for Indian education,
among other things. That trust responsibility is not something we have
been able to shed. That is a responsibility we have. It is a
responsibility we must meet. I believe we have, on Indian reservations
in this country, bona fide crises in health care, education, and
housing. This bill deals with two of those--education and health care.
Let me talk about how it deals with education first of all. The
administration request on Indian education suggested that we zero out
funding for the United Tribes Technical College in North Dakota and
also the Crown Point Technical College in New Mexico. Both of them
are vocational/technical schools that are wonderful opportunities for
Indian men and women, children, to learn and to get a college
education. I am pleased that Senator Burns and I were able to restore
funding to both of those important institutions.
In addition to that, we are restoring some funding that is much
needed for the 28 tribally controlled community colleges in our
country. These are tribal colleges that have been remarkably
successful. Once again, there was a requested cut. We are actually
increasing funding over last year. Senator Burns and I have talked
about trying to do more. We hope to be able to do that as we work
through this process on the floor of the Senate.
I thought it would be useful, instead of speaking in the abstract, to
read a letter from someone because I have visited many tribal colleges.
I said there is a bona fide crisis in education, health care, and
housing on our reservations. If one doesn't believe that, I encourage
you to visit and then ask yourself whether that is what we want to
confine Indian children to, or the adults who live on those
reservations, with respect to access to health care, access to good
education, and more.
Let me read a letter from a woman who wrote to me some while ago
describing the value of tribal colleges in her life. I think it is an
instructive letter. As I said, I have visited many tribal colleges and
this letter says it very well. She says:
I grew up poor and considered backward by non-Indians. My
home was a two-room log house in a place called the ``bush''
on North Dakota's Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation. I
stuttered. I was painfully shy. My clothes were hand-me-
downs. I was like thousands of other Indian kids growing up
on reservations across America.
When I went to elementary school I felt so alone and
different. I couldn't speak up for myself. My teachers had no
appreciation for Indian culture. I'll never forget that it
was the lighter-skinned children who were treated better.
They were usually from families that were better off than
mine. My teachers called me savage. Even as a young child I
wondered . . . What does it take to be noticed and looked
upon the way these other children are?
By the time I reached 7th grade I realized that if my life
was going to change for the better, I was going to have to do
it. Nobody else could do it for me. That's when the dream
began. I thought of ways to change things for the better--not
only for myself but for my people. I dreamed of growing up to
be a teacher in a school where every child was treated as
sacred and viewed positively, even if they were poor and
dirty. I didn't want any child to be made to feel like I did.
But I didn't know how hard it would be to reach the
realization of my dream. I almost didn't make it.
By the time I was 17 I had dropped out of school, moved to
California, and had a child. I thought my life was over. But
when I moved back to the reservation I made a discovery that
literally put my life back together. My sisters were
attending Turtle Mountain College, which had just been
started on my reservation. I thought that was something I
could do, too, so I enrolled. In those days, we didn't even
have a campus. There was no building. Some classes met at a
local alcohol rehabilitation center in an old hospital
building that had been condemned. But to me, It didn't
matter. I was just amazed I could go to college. It was life-
changing.
My college friends and professors were like family. For the
fist time in my life I learned about the language, history
and culture of my people in a formal education setting. I
felt honor and pride begin to well up inside me. This was so
unlike my prior school experience where I was told my
language and culture were shameful and that Indians weren't
equal to others. Attending a tribal college caused me to
reach into my inner self to become what I was meant to be--to
fight for
[[Page S11608]]
my rights and not remain a victim of circumstance or of
anybody. In fact, I loved college so much that I
couldn't stop! I had a dream to fulfill . . . or perhaps
some would call it an obsession. This pushed me on to
complete my studies at Turtle Mountain College and to
ultimately earn a Doctorate in Education Administration
from the University of North Dakota.
I've worked in education ever since, from Head Start
teacher's aide to college professor. Now I'm realizing my
dream of helping Indian children succeed. I am the Office of
Indian Education Programs' superintendent working with nine
schools, three reservations, and I oversee two educational
contracts with two tribal colleges. My life would not have
turned out this way were it not for the tribal college on my
reservation.
My situation is not unique and others feel this way as
well. Since 1974, when Turtle Mountain College was chartered
by the Turtle Mountain tribe, around 300 students have gone
on to earn higher degrees. We now have educators, attorneys,
doctors and others who have returned to the reservation.
They--I should say, we--are giving back to the community.
Instead of asking people to have pity on us because of what
happened in our past, we are taking our future into our own
hands. Instead of looking for someone else to solve our
problems, we are doing it.
There's only one thing tribal colleges need. With more
funding, the colleges can do ever more than they've already
achieved. We will take people off the welfare rolls and end
the economic depression on reservations. Tribal colleges have
already been successful with much less than any other
institutions of higher education have received. That is why I
hope you will continue to support the American Indian College
Fund.
I'm an old timer. The College Fund didn't exist when I was
a student. I remember seeing ads for the United Negro College
Fund and wishing that such a fund existed for Indian people.
We now have our own Fund that is spreading the message about
tribal colleges and providing scholarships. I'm so pleased. I
believe the Creator meant for this to be. But so much more
must be done. There still isn't enough scholarship money
available to carry students full time. That is my new dream .
. . to see the day when Indian students can receive four-year
scholarships so they don't have to go through the extremely
difficult struggle many now experience to get their
education.
I hope you'll keep giving, keep supporting the College
Fund, so that some day this dream becomes reality. I know it
can happen because if my dream for my future came true,
anything is possible. Thank you.
Let me describe to you the signature. The signature is: ``Loretta De
Long, Ed.D.''
This is a woman from North Dakota who has done wonderful things in
the field of education. She describes the circumstance that allowed her
to get this education, the presence of a tribal college that gave her
hope and opportunity. We need to fund them and we are not funding them
adequately. The per-pupil burden that exists on tribal colleges and the
reimbursement we provide to meet that burden is not equal at all to
that which we do for public community colleges. In fact, it is
somewhere very close to half. I have the numbers here. The support per
student for public community colleges is $8,900 and the public support
for tribal colleges is just under $4,000.
One final point. I know this is not a major part of this bill, but I
have spent a lot of time working on tribal college issues. I just want
to tell you one other story about going to a tribal college graduation.
When I spoke at the graduation, I asked who was the oldest graduate.
And they said: That's her over there. And I went over to say hello.
This was a woman who was in her early forties. Here is her story.
I asked her: ``What is your story? `` She was a janitor. She was
cleaning the hallways and the toilets of the community college. She had
four children, her husband had left her, and she was working at low
wages cleaning the hallways and the bathrooms of the community college.
She thought to herself: I would like to be a graduate of this college.
Somehow, by the grace of God, through Pell grants, or through all of
the support we offer to give people opportunity, the day I was there
this woman was not cleaning the hallways or cleaning the bathrooms of
this college, she was graduating, wearing a cap and gown, and wearing a
smile--something no one will ever take from her because she did it
herself with the help of what we put together to provide opportunity to
people.
But, once again, it enriches people's lives. Education is the way up
the steps, up out of poverty.
I spoke about tribal colleges just because I care a lot about them.
These in many instances are places in our country that look like Third
World parts of the globe. Yet they exist in this country with people
terribly disadvantaged. It is the route of progress. Education provides
the opportunity for these people who want opportunity, those who live
on Indian reservations. This woman is an example of that, and there are
so many others. I have a whole list of them here which I could talk
about today.
My hope is that in the time we are on the floor of the Senate,
Senator Burns and I can continue to work on this issue, and we intend
to do that.
I will speak just for a moment about Indian health care. The fact is,
if you visit Indian reservations and take a look at the amount of money
spent on Indian health care, you will decide that there is something
fundamentally wrong. This is about young children and others who do not
have adequate health care. Go and find a reservation with 5,000 people
living on it with one dentist working out of a trailer house and ask
yourself: What kind of care for those people exists with respect to
dentistry? Go to a reservation, for example, and take a look at the
funding through the Indian Health Service and through the BIA,
especially with respect to protecting Indian children against sexual
abuse.
I had a hearing on that in Bismarck, ND. A woman came to the hearing
to testify. On this Indian reservation, she was in charge of the social
services and trying to protect these children. She said to me: I have a
stack of files on my floor a foot and a half high. These are files of
allegations of child sexual abuse and abuse of children. They have not
even been investigated. Why? Because there is no money to investigate
them. She said: Even when I just have to find a way for somebody to
come and take a child to the biggest town 10 miles away, to the
hospital off the reservation, I have to beg to try to borrow a car, to
put a young kid in a car to take them to the hospital or the clinic.
At that point, she broke down and began weeping, at a public hearing.
She just couldn't continue. She said it is just too sad. The fact is we
are not doing what we should do to protect these children.
I have this story about some years ago learning of a young lady named
Tamera Damirez. She was a 3-year-old. She was on an Indian reservation.
She was a child from a very difficult set of circumstances. She was put
into foster care by a woman who was handling 150 cases. You get a
social worker handling 150 cases, and do you think that social worker
is going to inspect the home where she assigns that child to foster
care? She didn't. This young girl was sent to foster care at age 3.
There was a drunken party at that foster care residence. Her nose was
broken, her arm was broken, her hair was pulled out by the roots--at
age 3. Why? Because there was not enough money to fund enough social
workers to inspect the house where you were going to send a 3-year-old
child.
I fixed that problem. There is more money there now. There are more
social workers there. They are inspecting where they are sending
children. But this should not happen, and it is happening today across
this country because we are not adequately funding Indian education and
Indian health care by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Part of it is the bureaucracy of BIA, I might also say. I don't want
to suggest that the BIA is an agency that functions very well in many
circumstances. I have a lot of grievances with the BIA as well.
My point is that we have spent a lot of money on a lot of aspects of
this Government. None is quite so important to me as protecting
children. I visit places in this country where I just shake my head and
wonder why it is that these children are not a priority for this
country. This bill is one bill where we have a responsibility to do
more, and we need to keep working and fighting and funding ways to do
more.
Let me mention just a couple of other items as we proceed.
Before I finish that piece of my discussion, I know I am taking one
piece out of this large bill and talking about it some. It is because I
feel so strongly about it. I know my colleague, Senator Burns, does as
well. The dilemma and the disappointment is that we have limited
amounts of money. We need more. We need more to address these issues
with children, particularly on reservations, and address the issues of
education and health care.
[[Page S11609]]
Let me talk just for a moment about an issue in the Forest Service
dealing with grazing permits for ranchers. We have a requirement as a
result of a previous Federal law that says those who graze on public
lands and have grazing permits with which to graze cattle on public
lands, in order to get a renewal of the grazing permit when the permit
reaches its end, have to have a NEPA--the National Environmental Policy
Act--evaluation of that permit.
It was easy enough, I suppose, for the previous administration and
the previous Congress to say this should be done. But it has proven
much more difficult for it to be done.
The Forest Service has done precious little in moving forward on the
NEPA evaluations of the grazing permits. Ranchers out there who are
trying to make a living grazing cattle on public lands don't have the
foggiest idea of whether at the end of this year they will get an
extension of their existing grazing permit because the NEPA evaluation
has not been done. That is not their fault. That is the Forest
Service's fault. The Congress hasn't funded it. The Forest Service
hasn't done it. As a result, the rancher is wondering whether they will
get an extension of their permit.
In recent years, we have extended it a year. This bill extends it a
year. But at end of each year we are in the same situation.
I believe we ought to do a couple of things: No. 1, we ought to say
to the Forest Service: Do this. No. 2, we ought to fund it to get them
to do it, and we ought to stop holding ranchers hostage on the
completion of these duties.
Until we decide to do that, it isn't going to be done this year
because adequate funding does not exist to do what the law would
require with respect to NEPA evaluations on grazing permits. I think we
ought to do more than extensions of 1 year. We don't know exactly what
it should be. We ought to be talking about that during the discussion
of this bill.
Frankly, we should not say to those ranch families out there who have
cattle grazing on public lands: By the way, at end of each year you are
going to be threatened with the loss of the permit. The law says the
NEPA evaluation must be done, but we know it is not being done.
Let us decide either it gets done and provide the resources to do
that or at least have reasonable extensions so ranchers aren't held
hostage at the end of each year by actions of an appropriations
committee each year. Let us find a way to do that if we can. I hope we
can talk about that as we move along.
I will mention one other concern. I have not talked to my colleague
from Montana about this. He talked about the We The People Project. I
am a strong supporter of the National Endowment for the Humanities and
the National Endowment for the Arts. I think both enrich our country.
Both are programs that are excellent. Visit Europe and see what remains
from the 15th century. It is not some fossilized, arthritic, calcified
human being. It is their art. It is this wonderful art that enriches
Europe and tells us something about the 12th century and the 15th
century. So, too, are the arts important to our culture. I think these
are very important--arts and humanities.
But I must say that doing a new start of We The People--no one, in my
judgment, would say that We The People--whatever that acronym attaches
to; in this case, it attaches to the study of history--no one would say
that is unimportant. It is very important. But we have added money
previously to the Department of Education for this. To the extent we
are going to do something new, I really would prefer that it be in the
Department of Education, or some other device, rather than starting a
new program in the National Endowment for the Humanities.
I think history is critically important. The issue of how we are
going to enhance the learning and the teaching of history is really a
function of doing so in the classroom.
I will not object to it being here this year, but the problem with
all these things, once they stick, it is kind of like Velcro. It gets
stuck in here and next year it will be here and it becomes a permanent
program. I think this program belongs somewhere in an education piece
of legislation. I understand $100 million was added in an amendment by
Senator Byrd for that purpose and I prefer we do that.
Those who are pushing for the enrichment of the education of history
in our school system, absolutely, I fully support it. We have spent a
lot of time talking about the maths and sciences, which I think is
important. It is very appropriate to say we want kids coming out of our
schools to have a great sense of the history of this wonderful country
of ours. But I don't believe the place to do that in terms of nurturing
that is in the National Endowment for the Humanities. I believe, as
Senator Byrd has appropriately pushed, the right place to do it is over
in the education legislation. I know we have colleagues who feel very
strongly about that. I hope they can perhaps work with Senator Byrd and
with us so next year we do not have to have this as another continuing
and building program in the National Endowment for Humanities.
Having said that, I know there are some who think, boy, this is a
terrific expansion of National Endowment for the Humanities. I am
someone who supports the National Endowment for the Humanities. I think
it is important. But I also believe this particular piece that is now
added to it is more appropriate with the Department of Education, if we
are going to do this, and I believe we should do this initiative to
enhance and stimulate the education of the history of this wonderful
country in our school system.
I yield the floor.
Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, our staff and the staff of Senator
Alexander and the Department of Education and the administration did
get together. They are moving to an agreement. I agree maybe the
Department of Education is where it should be and those funds be
allocated to be used there.
But what the Senator from Tennessee was trying to do was highlight
something of national interest that is happening in North Dakota and
Montana now. As I said, the Dakota territory and Montana was the heart
and soul of the book that was written, ``Undaunted Courage.'' Now that
we are approaching the 200th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase and
the trek of Lewis and Clark, there is a lot of interest in our part of
the country. What was started in the humanities, the interest of Lewis
and Clark, the interest of the Louisiana Purchase and the impact it had
on this country, has been very positive for all of us out there and all
of America.
Some of the original 13 States got the idea that maybe this country
is big enough right where it is. If you read another book, ``A
Wilderness So Immense,'' you get an idea--this was before our
Constitution was ratified--some of the events that went on in the
history of the Louisiana Purchase. It is very interesting.
That is why we are very supportive of history initiatives. We have
young people coming out of our schools who do not have a sense of
history. They do not know who they are, why they are, or how they got
here. This initiative is very important.
In regard to the Forest Service permit, it is fire suppression money
that was taken from the accounts that would enable them to issue the
permits and to complete the NEPA studies. We have to understand that
and how important these funds are to be replaced in the accounts of the
BLM and the Forest Service so this work can be completed. The Senator
from North Dakota is exactly right. These do not have to be done on a
yearly basis. There should be a longer term with monitoring. I like the
10-year lease. That is the way it used to be. We find now everywhere we
had grazing we did not have fires, which is something we should take a
look at as far as fire prevention and fire suppression and the use of
the land.
The other day, I will even tell my good friend from North Dakota, I
saw a truckload of sheep being unloaded in Missoula County, Montana.
They were paying the sheep man to run his sheep on public lands for
weed control, spotted nap weed, and of course earlier in the spring, we
had the spurge problem. But I thought, what a novel idea. I wished I
had thought of it.
We will let that program go to the benefit of the land and also to
the people who graze the land and make their living and are in the
business of feeding and clothing.
Those are the challenges we have ahead of us. This bill impacts a
lot.
[[Page S11610]]
I have a few clarifications of items in the committee report that I
would like to have printed in the Record.
I ask unanimous consent those corrections be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Clarifications of Committee Report
On page 28 of the Committee report, the table includes $3
million for ``Independence Square site rehabilitation''. The
$1.25 million provided in addition to the budget request is
for landscaping improvements to Independence Mall.
On page 40 of the Committee report under ``Other Recurring
Programs'', the reference to the ``Dry Prairie Rural Water
System'' should have been to the ``Assiniboine and Sioux
Rural Water System.''
On page 52 of the Committee report, the amount provided for
Forest Health Management is $82,073,000, as displayed in the
table on that page.
Mr. BURNS. I remind Senators to get their amendments down here. We
want to complete this bill by noon tomorrow so we can watch the rain.
Those folks are worried about forest fires. I don't think anyone on the
East Coast has to worry about that.
Mr. DORGAN. I am tempted to talk about the intelligence of sheep and
enjoying munching on leafy spurge, but I will not do that.
My colleague describes the real serious problem with spurge and nap.
We have known in North Dakota when you put sheep on the land, baby
spurge and leafy spurge is gone and the sheep seem happy.
Having said that, I go back to make a point on this issue of, we, the
people. We have Lewis and Clark money to celebrate the bicentennial in
a number of different places in legislation in several different
appropriations bills. It was a wonderful expedition, perhaps the
greatest expedition certainly in the history of this country, perhaps
ever. The greater the education and the bigger the celebration of that,
the better for our country and the better for our children to
understand the richness of that history, as well.
My only point is, as we think through this in the longer term, this
money is in the bill and I would like to see if we can find a way with
the administration to put it where I think it really belongs, and that
is education.
The other point I would make in terms of priorities, if we have $15,
$20, $25 million here and there, we have urgent priorities, especially
dealing with Indian health, that we need to find some additional
resources for.
I did not mention in my opening statement something my colleague from
Montana mentioned, and that is the forest fire issue. Fire suppression
money has been borrowed from every account. It is the wrong way to do
business. What we should do--and we talked about this in the spring
when we received the budget request; we traditionally get a budget
request that does not ask for the money that all of us know will be
necessary and then when the need comes for fire suppression money, they
take it from virtually every corner and come back with a request for
emergency funding.
We ought to understand that forest fires are events that cause a lot
of television cameras to record them, and cause a lot of angst for
people who are in the way, but they happen every year. This isn't like
some big typhoon some place that happens every 10 or 15 years. We know
we are going to have forest fires every year. We know about what it is
going to cost us if we have a moderate season of forest fires, or more
forest fires than a moderate season, and we just as well ought to begin
to plan for it. Both the administration and the Congress should;
frankly, neither have.
I fully support the comments made by my colleague from Montana. We
need to find a way to come at this up front, in the spring of the year
each year, to put in sufficient money. In some cases, it may not be
enough, if we have an extraordinary season of massive forest fires, but
in most cases we could put money in to cover the kind of year that we
would have in most situations in this country. So I hope we can do
that.
Let me also say, we have some folks on this side of the aisle who
will have amendments. As my colleague has indicated, I would prefer if
they would just bring them over and offer them. And let's deal with
them quickly. We do have a little rain coming to the east coast. It
would be nice to be able to finish this bill. The bill is going to be
open for amendment, and I would ask colleagues to come over and work
with us, offer the amendments, and let's work through them today.
Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that amendment No.
1724, the pending substitute amendment, be agreed to and considered
original text for the purpose of further amendment, provided that no
points of order be waived by virtue of this agreement.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment (No. 1724) was agreed to.
Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I again say to my colleagues, we are going
to try to finish this bill before this storm hits tonight. We are
working now on a managers' package of known amendments, and if there
are some unknown amendments, I suggest Senators come to the floor,
submit their amendments, and let us deal with them. If not, we are
going to move right along in completing this legislation.
We understand the House is not going to be in tomorrow. So we do not
want to be caught in that pickle. We want to complete action on this
appropriations bill if we possibly can. I suggest my colleagues bring
their amendments to the floor.
I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sununu). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
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