[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 128 (Saturday, October 9, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10954-S10957]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            TECHNICAL CORRECTION IN ENROLLMENT OF H.R. 4200

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I believe this has been cleared on both 
sides.
  I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate 
consideration of H. Con. Res. 514, which is at the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the concurrent 
resolution by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 514) directing the 
     Clerk of the House of Representatives to make a technical 
     correction in the enrollment of the bill H.R. 4200.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
concurrent resolution.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the concurrent 
resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the 
table, and that any statements relating to the concurrent resolution be 
printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 514) was agreed to.
  Mr. WARNER. I thank the distinguished Presiding Officer.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The distinguished Senator from Alaska, 
chairman of the Appropriations Committee, is recognized.
  Mr. STEVENS. I thank the Chair.
  The House passed the military construction appropriations bill as 
well as the homeland security bill. No one voted against the bills. The 
first one was 374-0 and the second was 368-0.
  Military construction contains $2.8 billion for the drought and $11.6 
billion for disasters which includes the hurricanes. This bill affects 
all our States with farms that are suffering from the drought and it 
helps states like Florida and Alabama that were in the path of the 
hurricanes. FEMA will likely run out of money tonight, Saturday, 
October 9.
  On October 1 FEMA had $836 million which included a $500 million 
carryover from FY 2004 and a $336 million apportionment under the 
continuing resolution. That means they get 51 days worth of cash since 
the CR takes us through November 20. But FEMA tells me that they burn 
through this money at approximately $65 million to $79 million a day. 
The balance in the disaster, fund yesterday, Friday, October 8, was 
only $150 million. The fund runs dry tonight.
  It is true they can re-apportion under the CR, which means they can 
transfer funds from other areas but it will have to be taken from 
places like our Federal air marshals, air cargo inspections, port 
security, and more.
  On homeland, many believe we will be attacked before the election. 
There is a continuing resolution in affect until November 20 but 
getting this bill increases much of the effort we are making to protect 
the United States.
  It also has new programs that cannot be started until we pass this 
bill. Some of the program I refer to are radiations detection, aviation 
security technology, border surveillance, additional detention and 
removal programs. Getting more screeners at airports is on hold. All 
first responder grant allocations would be put on hold.
  The Coast Guard will not be able to re-engine the HH-65 helicopter 
for at least 6 months, causing the Coast Guard to continue to 
experience alarming rates of engine failures. At current funding 
levels, there are insufficient funds to support the Coast Guard's 
increased force presence in Iraq port security units, patrol boats, and 
security forces on oil rigs.
  Cargo screening will remain only at current levels--we will forgo a 
tripling of cargo screening on passenger aircraft. Research and 
development of new technologies for cargo security will be delayed.
  TSA will not hire replacement screeners to fill vacancies at 
airports, causing longer lines at airports, particularly around the 
holiday period. TSA will delay airport modifications to install 
explosive detection devices to screen for explosives in carry-on 
baggage as recommended by the 9/11 Commission.

  The department will not be able to hire additional Federal air 
marshals, FAMs and, in fact, may have to lay off FAMs that they have on 
staff, up to 500.
  This bill includes significant increases in the intelligence 
capabilities of the department. A continuing resolution will prevent 
that expansion from taking place leaving the nation at risk.
  Under a continuing resolution the Transportation Security 
Administration has very little funding for rail and transit security. 
All of the additional funding available for inspectors, canine teams, 
research and other activities is in the fiscal year 2005 appropriation. 
None of the additional funding for letters of intent for airport 
security modifications will be available.
  Seven hundred and ninety-two new Coast Guard personnel will not be 
hired to enforce maritime security plans.
  It prevents interoperable communications and personal protective 
equipment from reaching rural and smaller communities.
  Fire departments will remain critically understaffed without the 
implementation of the SAFER Act.
  The biowatch program will not be expanded in major urban areas, 
affecting our ability to detect the release of biological agents in the 
air.
  It stops the procurement of 250 additional radiation detection/
inspection systems.
  It delays procurement of border surveillance systems to monitor and 
defend U.S. borders.
  It delays Container Security Initiative, CSI needed to stay on 
schedule to add up 22 more ports to existing 25.
  It delays establishment of fugitive operation teams and hinders 
immigration enforcement--limiting detention and arrest operations of 
criminal alien

[[Page S10955]]

fugitives and hindering our ability to keep jailed aliens from being 
released into our communities.
  It delays staffing up for overseas operations to ensure no visas are 
granted to foreign visitors who pose a security risk.
  It delays adding 750 beds to hold alien detainees, allowing 5,000 
deportable aliens to stay in our communities.
  It delays support to reduce the backlog in immigration prosecutions.
  Delaying the bill delay this Nation's security. Delaying the bill 
delays help to those that are suffering from the after-affects of 
numerous hurricanes. Delaying the bill will delay much needed drought 
assistance.
  Mr. President, I am here because the Military Construction 
appropriations bill, as well as Homeland Security appropriations bill, 
has passed the House. Both of them have passed the House. I know we are 
not supposed to talk about the vote over there, particularly about how 
many people voted. But I think we can say consistent with the rules 
that each one of these bills was passed unanimously with not one single 
opponent. Why? Because the Military Construction bill contains $2.8 
billion to the drought program and $11.6 billion for the disasters, 
particularly those relating to the hurricanes in the Florida area.
  This bill will affect all of the States that have farms that are 
suffering from drought. It certainly helps the Florida area and 
Alabama--particularly in the path of those hurricanes.
  But the reason I have come to the floor now to talk to the Senate is 
I was reliably informed this afternoon that FEMA runs out of money 
tonight.
  I want to say that again. I hope Senators will listen. FEMA runs out 
of money tonight. There will be no more payments made in Florida or 
Alabama. I am told people down there are living in tents. The 
temperature is rising. They are being given buckets of ice to try to 
keep cool. They have patients being moved from medical facilities. They 
are in temporary quarters.
  This is probably the worst series of storms in the history of this 
country.
  On October 1, FEMA had $836 million. That included a $500 million 
carryover from 2004, and they were allocated $336 million under the 
continuing resolution we passed that expires November 20.
  As of tonight, that money is gone. This really is an emergency now.
  We have been delayed for one reason or another as we tried to get 
these bills passed. There were riders offered on the bill in both 
Houses. We tried to work those out in conference. I know there are some 
people who are disturbed about some of the riders that weren't 
included. These were legislative riders that did not pertain to the 
bills themselves, and there are some that were accepted.
  But we have to get this bill done and to the President as quickly as 
possible.
  This covers everything you can think about in terms of the Homeland 
Security bill--Federal air marshals, air cargo inspections, port 
security.
  As I said, we have a continuing resolution in effect until November 
20. As far as the FEMA money, it is gone.
  I think we have an absolute obligation to these people who are 
providing the security for this country to see to it that they get 
their money on time.
  We were unable to get these bills done by the end of the fiscal year, 
which was September 30, because we had no budget resolution.
  We have been working against all sorts of impediments in the 
appropriations process this year.
  We have a number of things in this bill that are absolutely 
necessary.
  We have funds for the Coast Guard, for instance. Many people don't 
realize the Coast Guard has a presence in Iraq. They have port security 
units and patrol boats. They have security forces near the oil rigs 
over there. They are part of our forces over there. They still also 
have this enormous problem in the United States. They need to increase 
money.

  The continuing resolution continues all of these agencies at the 
level of money approved by Congress in 2003 for the 2004 period. This 
is the first quarter of 2005.
  The money is for cargo screening. That level of demand has increased. 
We forego a tripling of cargo screening on passenger aircraft by virtue 
of the bill that was passed.
  We have enormous demands now by the Transportation Security Agency to 
fill vacancies in airports. There will be longer lines at airports if 
we don't get this money out to them.
  The Department also has the Federal air marshals. I am told that they 
may have to lay off up to 500 Federal air marshals because they are 
traveling under that continuing resolution. Their moneys are allocated 
on the basis of what we thought was necessary in the fall of 2003. This 
is money for 2005. It must start now.
  Again, I don't understand why we can't vote tonight. The House took 
up these bills and passed them within 2 hours. Each one passed the 
House within 2 hours because they recognized the need for this money.
  Now I am told we may not vote until Monday or Tuesday on these bills. 
I am sort of aggravated. These bills are necessary.
  I would like to identify the people who are objecting to passage of 
these bills tonight. I hope they come to the floor and defend 
themselves.
  I sat in the Chair and presided over the Senate this morning, and I 
heard the distinguished minority leader say we cannot leave until these 
bills pass. We cannot go into recess and go back for the election 
process until these bills are passed. That should be the bipartisan 
position of this Senate.
  Forget these minute details about antagonism because some person's 
ego has been bruised because we have not done exactly what they want on 
these bills. We all have to be bigger than that.
  It is time to pass these bills. These delays on this bill affect 
national security. There is no question that homeland security is the 
second line of defense now. Our first line of defense is protecting our 
perimeter. But we have national security as No. 1. We spent weeks on 
the Homeland Security bill. Now we are refusing to provide the money 
which we came to total agreement on which they need for next year. It 
is being delayed. I don't understand that at all.
  I particularly don't understand why any Member in the Senate is 
opposing these bills when it was unanimously approved. Not one voice 
was raised against these bills in the other House. We represent the 
same constituents. On what basis does anyone want to oppose these 
bills, either for the hurricane, military construction, or Homeland 
Security? I am standing ready. Anyone who wants to debate them, I will 
be here all night. I want these bills passed. They have to pass. There 
is no reason why they should not pass.

  I am pleased to explain any portion of these bills to any Member 
tonight, but I don't know why we can't come here and vote for these 
bills. Someone is objecting somewhere and I would like to find out who 
it is because I think the whole world--I hope someone is watching, 
anyway--will ask why. Why can't we do what the House did and approve 
the bills after such hard work we put in? As I said, it has been 
totally bipartisan. Not one word in the House from either party was 
raised against these bills.
  I will be back.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The distinguished Senator from Utah.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I agree with the distinguished chairman of 
the Appropriations Committee. It is a catastrophic failure not to take 
care of these problems. I salute the chairman for making the statement 
he made and for the leadership he has provided in this Senate. We all 
know what a feisty, wonderful man he is. I hope we can get this 
resolved. I hope whoever has these objections will identify himself or 
herself and why they are making the objections.
  I listened to the statement of the Senator from Massachusetts this 
afternoon, and to hear him you would think we are living in the most 
calamitous times in the history of the world, that our country is 
falling apart, that we are not employing people, that people are 
getting poorer, and nobody has a chance in our society anymore, all 
because George W. Bush became President of the United States. It is 
amazing to me how many comments are made by people who are in the 
business of politicizing these matters rather than talking sensibly 
about them.
  Think about it, we lost over a million jobs shortly after September 
11. Lost them. September 11 was the reason.

[[Page S10956]]

That was no fault of President Bush. That was the fault of the people 
who attacked our country. Over 1.9 million jobs have been created since 
August of 2003. We now have the lowest unemployment rate in the last 4 
or 5 years, 5.4 percent. When I was chairman of the Labor Committee, if 
you could get unemployment below 6 percent, if you got it to 5.6 
percent, you had full employment. When you count those who cannot work, 
those who don't need to work, and those who won't work, you basically 
had full employment. 5.4 percent is incredibly low by historical 
standards.
  I might add that the Household Employment Survey shows 2.2 million 
jobs have been created, many more jobs than shown in the Payroll 
Survey. This is because the Household Survey counts the self-employed 
and the Payroll Survey does not. We have the highest rate of home 
ownership in history, which has been developed during this 
administration. I can go on and on. The fact of the matter is we can 
play politics with about everything in this overheated political 
campaign.
  Since September 11, the employment rate peaked at 6.3 percent last 
year and has come down to 5.4 percent. The current 5.4 percent rate is 
well below the average rates of the 1970s, the 1980s, and the 1990s. 
Some have said the job growth has failed to keep up with population 
growth. That is simply not true. Since last June, total employment has 
increased by 2.2 million. The labor force has increased by 949,000. 
Unemployment has fallen by 1.2 million people.
  In addition, we hear all the time how people are not making a good 
living. Let's be honest. In some respects we have priced ourselves out 
of the marketplace with some of the heavy-duty industries, and we know 
there are many reasons why that happens, and that goods and services 
are being produced elsewhere at a lower cost, and this benefits the 
consumers of America. The consumers of America then have more money and 
they will be spending more so we can create other businesses that will 
compete.

  The fact of the matter is, I have listened to these complaints about 
the labor overtime regulations that the Secretary of Labor worked on. I 
happened to have chatted with her during that process and she was doing 
an absolutely wonderful job of trying to make sure we got more people 
eligible to receive overtime pay than ever before. But to listen to 
some on the other side, you would think the whole world was coming to 
an end and the fact is she has come up with very good regulations.
  We could talk about these things all day, and I guess anyone can 
distort any statistical analysis. There is a lot of distortion that 
goes on in this Senate from time to time in these matters. Of course, 
we are in a heated Presidential election campaign and I have to say I 
make a certain allowance for that, but I hope the folks out there 
watching make an allowance for that as well, because we have a lot of 
heated rhetoric in the Senate that sometimes does not make sense.
  I intend to speak about three different things today and I ask 
unanimous consent my respective remarks be placed in the appropriate 
context.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Dole). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                          Justice for All Act

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I come to the Senate to discuss H.R. 5107, 
the Justice For All Act that the Senate adopted this morning. After 
days, months, and now years of hard-fought negotiations, we finally 
reached an agreement on one of the most significant bills that has come 
out of the 108th Congress.
  Just days ago, the House passed H.R. 5107 by an overwhelming 
bipartisan vote of 393-14. I especially commend my friends and 
colleagues, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jim Sensenbrenner 
from Wisconsin and Congressman Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts, for 
their leadership on this important bill. Nor could we have accomplished 
this matter without the cooperation and leadership of my friend from 
Vermont, Senator Patrick Leahy. As we know, the Senate adopted this 
bill this morning and we are pleased to send it to the President for 
his signature.
  Our bill, the Justice for All Act, contains President Bush's DNA 
initiative. It also contains Senator Leahy's Innocence Protection Act 
which has been modified by almost everyone on the committee, and 
Senators Kyl and Feinstein's victims' rights legislation. This is a 
groundbreaking crime bill, one of the most important in history, that 
will allow us to unleash the power of evidentiary DNA and help provide 
law enforcement the ability to find and punish the guilty, yet give us 
the comfort of more certainty in criminal prosecution.
  Passage of the bill is extremely important to people such as Debbie 
Smith and Kirk Bloodsworth after whom individual parts of the bill are 
named. March 3, 1989, Debbie Smith--who I know very well--was the 
victim of a brutal rape in Williamsburg, Virginia. It took 6 long years 
to finally analyze Debbie Smith's rape kit. Debbie Smith's rapist was 
ultimately caught because of this, but it took far too long to catch 
him.
  According to the U.S. Department of Justice, a woman is raped every 6 
minutes in this country and many rapists commit this crime 8 to 10 
times before they are caught, which means that at any given moment 
there are literally millions of rape survivors waiting to hear that 
their attacker has been apprehended.
  Debbie Smith waited 6 agonizing years for justice to be served. It 
was not just waiting for justice to be served; it was agonizing because 
she was never sure when she walked out of her house or even within her 
house whether this brutal rapist would return. It was something that 
affected her all of those years. Thankfully, through the use of DNA 
evidence, this awful person was apprehended and slammed in jail, where 
he deserves to be.
  Some women are not that fortunate. The Justice Department reports 
there are approximately 150,000 to 500,000 rape kits nationwide that 
have yet to be analyzed because law enforcement officials are short on 
both the funds and the skilled personnel necessary to process these 
rape kits and match the evidence collected to existing DNA samples of 
known criminals. Imagine how many rapists we would have caught by now 
had those up to 500,000 rape kits been analyzed. By the way, some of 
those are 20 years old. I have been fighting for this bill for years. 
It is so difficult to get it through, but today is the day it has gone 
through the Senate and has passed the House.
  This bill makes a giant leap in the rape kit backlog and specifies 
when and how DNA tests should and should not be used. The President has 
often indicated his commitment to unlocking the power of DNA to solve 
these crimes. Today the Senate has joined the House in stepping up to 
follow through with the President's plan.

  It cannot be said any better than in Debbie Smith's own words:

       Each one of these stalled cases represents women's lives. 
     Many women are paralyzed after an attack because their rapist 
     is still out there, and you never know if he's going to come 
     back.

  Now, this bill will not take away the pain and anguish these victims 
have endured. It can, however, allow for health care professionals, law 
enforcement, and other first responders to assist victims by using the 
evidentiary power of DNA to apprehend and prosecute those responsible 
for these horrible crimes.
  This bill was too important to be delayed any longer. As so many of 
my colleagues, I am well aware of the incomparable power of DNA testing 
to solve crimes, particularly sexual assault. This fact is reflected in 
newspaper headlines spread across the country each week. During the 
week of August 16 alone, the media reported that DNA evidence 
pinpointed a suspect in three rapes in Miami, FL, caused a man to be 
charged in a 20-year-old Missouri rape case, and proved critical in 
convicting a New York man accused of committing nine rapes over the 
course of a decade.
  That is what DNA can do. If we had all these rape cases analyzed, we 
would be catching these rapists right and left and we would be 
protecting women all over this country from this type of violent, 
criminal activity in many cases. So I want to stand here and thank 
Debbie Smith from the bottom of my heart for her constant efforts to 
help us pass this bill. I have known her for

[[Page S10957]]

a long time. We have flown together. She has appeared at our hearings. 
She is leading the fight throughout America, along with a number of 
other very courageous women. This has to be a very important day for 
her.
  When this bill is finally signed into law by our President, who will 
sign it into law, it is going to be a big day for the Debbie Smiths of 
this world and, I might add, every woman in this world who is the 
potential target of these vicious rapists.
  Also contained in this bill are provisions that will give us 
assurance that those whom we arrest and convict are indeed those who 
have committed the crime. Kirk Bloodsworth, a former marine with no 
criminal background whatsoever, was arrested in 1984 for the brutal 
rape and murder of 9-year-old Dawn Hamilton on Maryland's Eastern 
Shore. Kirk Bloodsworth maintained his innocence but was convicted and 
sentenced to death. After 9 years in prison, two of them on death row, 
Kirk Bloodsworth, an innocent man, was exonerated by post-conviction 
DNA testing. Last year, prosecutors matched the DNA evidence in the 
case to another man, who subsequently pleaded guilty to the crime, for 
which he was sentenced to death.
  This is the power of DNA when it is used and analyzed properly. I 
want to stand here and thank Kirk Bloodsworth from the bottom of my 
heart for his efforts to improve and pass this bill. The bill will help 
to protect unintentional victims of the criminal justice system.
  I think we all owe a debt of gratitude to Kirk Bloodsworth. One 
reason I have stayed around here all day, although there are no more 
votes, is to be able to stand on this floor and personally pay tribute 
to Debbie Smith and Kirk Bloodsworth. They deserve it. They have been 
with us throughout this process, and I have nothing but respect for 
both of them.
  Moreover, this bill includes Senator Kyl's and Senator Feinstein's 
critical Crime Victims Act that ensures victims rights are protected in 
criminal prosecutions. This bill is truly justice for all.
  It is an important bill, and they fought for this for years and 
years, and we helped them to get it out of committee. I am so grateful 
it was matched with the DNA bill, and we now have these two bills 
brought together in one bill that will do a great deal of good for our 
society.

  Finally, let me say I am grateful for the hard work and determination 
of so many people to get such a vital bill passed.
  I thank my cosponsors of this bill. First, let me thank my good 
friend from Vermont, Senator Leahy, for his commitment and willingness 
to set aside politics in a very political year and work with me to get 
such a critical bill passed.
  I also want to recognize and specifically thank Senator Biden, 
Senator Specter, Senator Feinstein, and Senator DeWine for their 
calming voices of wisdom throughout the negotiations, our difficult 
committee markup, and in the final preparations to achieve a properly 
balanced bill. Without their unwavering support and counsel, this bill 
would not have occurred.
  I also thank the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jim 
Sensenbrenner, and Representative Delahunt for their dogged 
determination on the House side in leading the House in passing this 
bill through the House on two occasions by overwhelming majorities.
  I have worked side by side with Chairman Sensenbrenner on many 
occasions. He is a true friend and he is a man of his word. I am 
pleased to have had the opportunity to work closely with Congressman 
Delahunt on this measure, and I can tell you, he is a man of honor and 
wisdom. I have enjoyed working with him. I will look forward to working 
with both of them again in the future.
  I also want to make special mention that without the thorough 
consideration of this bill by Senators Kyl, Sessions, and Cornyn, we 
would not be here today. Nearly two dozen changes were addressed and 
implemented at the insisting of these fine Senators, and this bill is a 
better bill because of it. And I have to admit, they have helped to 
improve the bill.
  At times the process through the committee was a bit tension filled, 
but I commend Senators Kyl, Sessions, and Cornyn for working to improve 
and refine this legislation. Some have unfairly criticized their 
efforts, but that is only because these critics apparently do not 
understand the committee process. I commend these colleagues and all of 
my colleagues for giving this bill the scrutiny it deserves.
  Now, let me say that many have worked to make this bill a successful 
effort. We could not get much done around here if we did not have such 
an intelligent and dedicated staff. I want to thank those on my staff, 
including Reed O'Conner and Ted Lehman, for their commitment and 
dedication in getting this bill done. I especially want to single out 
Brett Tolman, a bright, young assistant U.S. attorney from Salt Lake 
City who is on assignment to the Judiciary Committee. We are fortunate 
to have him, and he has made a tremendous difference on this bill. 
Brett took the initiative for undertaking a lot of the analysis and 
negotiations that led to the final compromise language.
  I am proud of him, and I think everybody else ought to be, too.
  I want to thank Senator Leahy's chief counsel Bruce Cohen and his 
lead counsel on this issue, Julie Katzman. Their efforts helped guide 
and drive this effort throughout and are greatly appreciated. We are 
also indebted to chief counsel Neil MacBride, Jon Meyer, and Louisa 
Terrell from Senator Biden's office. They continuously helped move the 
ball forward.
  I give special thanks to Rob Steinbuch, a senior counsel in Senator 
DeWine's Judiciary Committee office. Rob and Brett Tolman were key 
players on our side of the aisle in educating Members and staff about 
this bill and proposing creative solutions to problems that surfaced.

  I also thank Joe Matal, William Smith, and Chip Roy, who ably 
represented the views of, respectively, Senators Kyl, Sessions, and 
Cornyn.
  On the House side, Phil Kiko, chief counsel for Chairman 
Sensenbrenner, Jay Apperson, Katy Crooks, and Christine Leonard were 
instrumental in building the overwhelming support for this bill.
  As well, I give special thanks to Matt McGhie and Bill Jensen from 
legislative counsel. On this type of bill it is critical to get the 
language exactly right, and they did so time and time again.
  The list of contributors could go on and on because so many private 
and governmental organizations have also provided critical assistance.
  Let me also say, while I had to get a little rough with the Justice 
Department--and I am still not over it--I am, nonetheless, grateful for 
their help in coming to compromises and getting this bill in acceptable 
form. I call upon Attorney General Ashcroft to urge the President to 
sign this good bill, and to do it quickly.
  I thank the leadership, Majority Leader Frist and Senator McConnell, 
as well as Minority Leader Daschle and Senator Reid for giving us floor 
time to get this done today.
  Most of all, I am pleased to send to the President a bill that will 
make such a difference in the lives of victims of crime, including 
those wrongly accused or convicted of crimes across this country.
  This bill passed 393 to 14 over in the House. We amended it in many 
ways to make it a far better bill because of the work of all of these 
people I have been chatting about. I have to say that it passed 
unanimously by the Senate today. This body sent that version back over 
to the House, and I am pleased to report that they took it up and 
passed it so that it may be sent to the President for his signature.

                          ____________________