[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 126 (Thursday, October 7, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10631-S10632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page S10631]]

Senate

            INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE REORGANIZATION--Continued

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who seeks recognition?
  The Senator from Nevada is recognized.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, everybody should stay where they are. We are 
going to have a vote in a few minutes, unless something goes awry. In 
the next 3 or 4 minutes, there will be a vote.
  With that, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (The remarks of Mr. Daschle pertaining to the introduction of S. 2938 
are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                           Amendment No. 3994

  Mr. REID. What is the matter now before the Senate?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chambliss-Kennedy amendment No. 3994.
  Mr. CHAMBLISS. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  Mr. REID. Will the Senator reconsider?
  Mr. CHAMBLISS. I withdraw that request.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to amendment No. 
3994.
  The amendment (No. 3994) was agreed to.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. KENNEDY. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.


                           Amendment No. 3995

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the pending business is the Bayh 
amendment?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.
  The Senator from Nevada.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, if I can make a suggestion, there are 
negotiations that need to take place on the Bayh amendment that has 
been offered. I respectfully suggest that there are two important 
meetings that are going to take place: one we are having and one the 
Republicans are having. I am wondering if it wouldn't be in the best 
interest of all--1 o'clock is the filing deadline for amendments--that 
the Senate stand in recess from 1 p.m. until 2 p.m. today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kentucky.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I will not object to that request--in 
fact, I agree to it--but I also want to make the point that one of the 
most important amendments we anticipate is an amendment by Senator 
McCain. I know earlier he had contacted us indicating he wanted to come 
over and offer it. Since we will be in recess under the consent 
agreement Senator Reid is going to offer from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., it is 
my hope Senator McCain will be able to come over and offer that at 2 
p.m. and we can get that in the queue.
  Mr. REID. I make that request.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to a request for a recess 
from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.? Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. REID. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from New Mexico.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business for 5 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


     Using Indian Health Service Facilities to Register New Voters

  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I wish to speak briefly about an article 
that was in yesterday's Washington Post that I thought raised a very 
disturbing issue of which the Senate needs to be aware. The article is 
entitled ``Indian Health Agency Barred New-Voter Drive.'' I will read a 
couple of paragraphs from the article so that people understand the 
issues.
  It says:

       Officials at a federal program that runs hospitals and 
     clinics serving Native Americans this summer prohibited 
     employees from using those facilities to sign up new voters, 
     saying that even nonpartisan voter registration was 
     prohibited on federal property.
       Staff members at several Indian Health Service hospitals 
     and clinics in New Mexico, a presidential battleground state 
     where about one-tenth of the population is Native American, 
     were trying to register employees, patients and family 
     members who use the facilities.
       In a July e-mail, Ronald C. Wood, executive officer of the 
     program's regional Navajo office, told his hospital and 
     clinic directors that ``we are in a very sensitive political 
     season'' and he outlined a policy that he said came from 
     Indian Health Service headquarters.
       ``There have been some recent questions about whether we 
     can do nonpartisan voter registration drives in our IHS 
     facilities during non-duty hours''. . . .``The guidance from 
     HQs staff is that we should not allow voter

[[Page S10632]]

     registration in our facilities or on federal property.''

  This is of concern because of the history of Native Americans being 
denied the right to vote in my State and perhaps in other parts of the 
country as well.
  The history of this issue in New Mexico, very briefly, is that a 
returning Marine Corps veteran, someone who served in the Second World 
War in the Marine Corps, named Miguel Trujillo, was denied the right to 
vote in our State. In 1948, he had to bring suit in Federal court to 
obtain the right to vote. He was an Isleta Pueblo Indian member, and he 
was teaching at Laguna Pueblo in my State and was denied the right to 
vote as a Native American.
  I should point out that his son Michael Trujillo went on to become 
the head of the Indian Health Service. His daughter Josephine Waconda 
was the first American Indian woman to be a rear admiral in the career 
Indian Health Service. So they have a tremendous part of our history in 
that family.
  It is absolutely inexcusable that the Indian Health Service would be 
giving direction saying that it is inappropriate or illegal or 
prohibited for people to use Federal property or Indian Health Service 
facilities to register people to vote on a nonpartisan basis.
  Yesterday, I sent a letter to Tommy Thompson, Secretary of Health and 
Human Services, urging that even though it is not going to affect this 
year's election since voter registration in our State is essentially 
over this week in New Mexico, even though it does not affect voter 
registration, it is imperative that he, as head of that Department, 
issue a policy and clarify that this is not the policy of the 
Department of Health and Human Services, this is not the policy of the 
Indian Health Service.
  We have a very strong policy that is recognized in the Defense 
Department that they encourage military personnel and others who are 
part of the military family to participate in registering others, 
either on or off base, to vote. That is as it should be. That is on a 
nonpartisan basis. I think we all support that. We need to have the 
very same policy with regard to Indian Health Service facilities and 
Indian Health Service personnel.
  I hope very much that Secretary Thompson will respond to my letter 
positively, will issue a directive so that it is clear from now on that 
Indian Health Service personnel are not in any way prohibited from 
participating in voter registration drives on a nonpartisan basis. This 
is an issue that deserves attention before it is lost in the shuffle of 
this campaign. I hope we can get a response from the Secretary in the 
near future.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to print in the Record the 
letter I sent to Secretary Thompson.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:


                                                  U.S. Senate,

                                                  October 6, 2004.
     Hon. Tommy Thompson,
     Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services, 200 
         Independence Ave. SW, Washington, DC.
       Dear Secretary Thompson: I was dismayed to read a report in 
     the Washington Post this morning that officials at the Indian 
     Health Service were prohibiting employees at several 
     locations in New Mexico from using IHS facilities to register 
     new voters. While it would certainly not be appropriate or 
     legal under the Hatch Act for federal employees to be 
     involved in partisan political activity on federal property, 
     the proposed Indian Health Service (IHS) voter registration 
     program, as described in the Washington Post article, would 
     not be prohibited under the Hatch Act because the program is 
     described as nonpartisan. In addition, according to the 
     article, the activity would take place during non-working 
     hours, which should allay the fears of anyone concerned that 
     the IHS employees would feel coerced to take part in the 
     activity or that the program would interfere with employees' 
     regular duties. As long as the program were conducted in a 
     nonpartisan way, e.g. employees leading the effort do not 
     attempt to influence the registrants in any way, and 
     employees were free to choose whether or not to participate, 
     it would be perfectly legal.
       It is well known that the Defense Department has undertaken 
     efforts to make sure that as many of its employees are 
     registered to vote and participate in next month's elections 
     as are eligible to do so. The Defense Department's efforts, 
     like those proposed by Indian Health Agency employees, are 
     designed to increase citizen involvement in one of the most 
     important elections in our history. These are admirable goals 
     that should be encouraged, not prohibited.
       While it is clearly too late to clarify the Department's 
     policy with regard to this year's election, I would still ask 
     that you act as expeditiously as possible to issue a 
     directive that makes it clear that the Department of Health 
     and Human Services will not prohibit its employees from 
     engaging in non-partisan voter registration on federal 
     property. In fact, I would hope that you would encourage your 
     Department to engage in the same active voter registration 
     efforts that the Department of Defense does. It is the right 
     thing to do in the service of full participation in the 
     democratic process, a goal that I know you share with me.
       Please let me know of your plans to encourage voter 
     registration as soon as possible.
           Sincerely,
                                                    Jeff Bingaman.

  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the 
absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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