[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 38 (Wednesday, April 6, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3240-S3241]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    FOREIGN RELATIONS AUTHORIZATION ACT, FISCAL YEARS 2006 AND 2007

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
resume consideration of S. 600, which the clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 600) to authorize appropriations for the 
     Department of State and international broadcasting activities 
     for fiscal years 2006 and 2007, for the Peace Corps for 
     fiscal years 2006 and 2007, for foreign assistance programs 
     for fiscal years 2006 and 2007, and for other purposes.

  Pending:

       Lugar amendment No. 266, to strike the amendment to the 
     limitation on the United States share of assessments for the 
     United Nations Peacekeeping operations.
       McCain/DeWine amendment No. 267, to authorize the extension 
     of nondiscriminatory treatment (normal trade relations 
     treatment) to the products of Ukraine.
       Baucus amendment No. 281, to facilitate the sale of United 
     States agricultural products to Cuba, as authorized by the 
     Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 200.
       Craig/Roberts amendment No. 282 (to amendment No. 281), to 
     clarify the payment terms under the Trade Sanctions Reform 
     and Export Enhancement Act of 2000.
       Dodd amendment No. 283, to express the sense of the Senate 
     concerning recent provocative actions by the People's 
     Republic of China.
       Dorgan/Wyden amendment No. 284, to prohibit funds from 
     being used for television broadcasting to Cuba.
       Biden amendment No. 286 (in lieu of the language proposed 
     to be stricken by Lugar amendment No. 266), relative to the 
     United States share of assessment for United Nations 
     Peacekeeping operations.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the time until 10 
a.m. will be equally divided between the chairman and ranking member.
  The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum and 
ask that the time be equally charged.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LUGAR. 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the quorum call be rescinded.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. 286

  Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I ask Senators to oppose the Biden 
amendment. I appreciate the perspective of Senators who want to 
preserve the 27-percent cap, as well as those who want the cap to be 
reduced to the 25-percent level in accordance with the Helms-Biden 
legislation.
  In offering this amendment, I am attempting to represent the views of 
those Senators who believe that forthcoming discussions on U.N. reform 
should include additional consideration of U.S. financial obligations 
for peacekeeping. This is a reasonable expectation given the reform 
context at the United Nations. Since our committee marked up this bill, 
John Bolton has been announced as the President's nominee to be 
Ambassador to the U.N., and Secretary General Kofi Annan has put 
forward a sweeping U.N. reform plan.
  Clearly, U.N. reform is going to be high on the agenda. The Helms-
Biden legislation anticipates that the U.S. share of peacekeeping dues 
would decline to 25 percent of the world total. This remains a goal of 
U.S. policy toward the United Nations. I believe we should give the 
U.S. negotiators the most leverage possible to attain U.S. goals.
  It has been suggested that the 27-percent agreement struck subsequent 
to the Helms-Biden legislation is the best we can do. Many Senators 
assert this is true, particularly since we are entering a period when 
substantial reform negotiations will take place at the U.N. But in the 
coming weeks, Congress will have further opportunities to work with 
President Bush to craft the most efficient means possible of reducing 
the U.S. share of peacekeeping assessments.
  I believe defeating the Biden amendment at this time will facilitate 
these consultations and strengthen the hand of our negotiators.
  I reserve the remainder of my time, Mr. President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware is recognized.
  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, how much time do I have?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has 3 minutes.
  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, this amendment implements what President 
Bush is requesting. Specifically, the President requested that for the 
next 2 years we keep our assessment at 27 percent.
  Mr. President, 10,000 forces are being sent to the Sudan under the 
auspices of the United Nations. They are responding as we are asking 
them to respond. We are in the process of making genuine progress. The 
last thing we need to do is start to build up arrearages again; it took 
years to work ourselves out of the hole, both politically and 
financially.
  If my colleague from Indiana is correct that the administration wants 
room to negotiate, the President is going to be President for 3\1/2\ 
more years, God willing and the creek not rising, as my grandpop used 
to say. The truth is, this lasts for 2 years. It gives all the 
negotiating room possible. To now go ahead and change the deal in the 
minds of every Ambassador to the United Nations--here they go again--at 
the very time we are sending the worst person we can possibly send, not 
in terms of morality but in terms of his attitude to the U.N.--the 
double whammy of sending Bolton to the United Nations and cutting our 
commitment that we have kept to for the past years, and over the 
request of the President we cut by 2 percent our commitment, would be a 
very serious problem.
  I strongly urge my colleagues to support the Biden amendment. I fully 
appreciate the position of my friend from Indiana, but I think he is 
mistaken on this point. We do not often disagree that much, but on this 
one we do disagree.
  I urge my colleagues to vote yes on the Biden amendment to keep the 
President's request in this legislation.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to the Biden amendment 
and to second Chairman Lugar's remarks. The chairman is looking to the 
future of the United Nations and not to the past. The negotiations at 
the U.N. regarding U.N. reform and the lowering of U.N. peacekeeping 
dues are underway. Let us ensure that our next Ambassador to the United 
Nations has an opportunity to go to New York and to work on this issue.
  Our Ambassador will be working to lower U.S. dues. By adopting 
Senator Biden's amendment, we will make that job more difficult by 
conceding our willingness to live with the status quo. We have an 
opportunity to lower the U.S. rate to serve the U.S. taxpayers better 
and to make the U.N. more efficient if Congress does not send mixed 
signals to the U.N.
  Next week, the Foreign Relations Committee will have its hearing on 
John Bolton to be Ambassador to the U.N. We will have the opportunity 
to discuss this issue at length with him. Do we want to make his job 
that much harder by adopting this amendment? If we adopt this 
amendment, we undercut him before he gets there.
  It is time for real reform at the U.N. Achieving a sustainable level 
for peacekeeping assessments is an important first step.
  The Congress has spoken to this issue in the past. Let us give our 
Ambassador to the U.N. an opportunity to get up there and to lower our 
rates. Let us also not let this issue be the one item that threatens 
passage of this important legislation.
  I yield the floor.

[[Page S3241]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. BIDEN. Does the Senator from Delaware have any time remaining?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware has 58 seconds 
remaining.
  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, the leader has much better access to the 
President than I do, but to the best of my knowledge there is no 
negotiation, has been no negotiation, no discussion, no comment 
whatsoever about changing the U.S. provision from 27 percent to 25 
percent. I know of nothing. The State Department has never said 
anything to me. The Defense Department, the White House, Kofi Annan, 
nobody has raised this, except my friends on the conservative right in 
the Republican Party.
  If we do not want to send a mixed signal, do not vote against the 
President. The President of the United States, not our conservative 
friends on the right side of the aisle, says 27 percent. Do not 
undercut the President and send a mixed signal.
  I yield whatever time I have remaining, and I ask for the yeas and 
nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time has expired. Is there a sufficient 
second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The question is on agreeing to amendment No. 286.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. The following Senator was necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Idaho (Mr. Crapo).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Minnesota (Mr. Dayton) 
and the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Rockefeller) are necessarily 
absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 40, nays 57, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 84 Leg.]

                                YEAS--40

     Akaka
     Bayh
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Cantwell
     Carper
     Clinton
     Conrad
     Corzine
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Harkin
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Mikulski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Obama
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Salazar
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Stabenow
     Wyden

                                NAYS--57

     Alexander
     Allard
     Allen
     Baucus
     Bennett
     Bond
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Burr
     Byrd
     Chafee
     Chambliss
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Coleman
     Collins
     Cornyn
     Craig
     DeMint
     DeWine
     Dole
     Domenici
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Frist
     Graham
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Kyl
     Lott
     Lugar
     Martinez
     McCain
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Nelson (NE)
     Roberts
     Santorum
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Sununu
     Talent
     Thomas
     Thune
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Warner

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Crapo
     Dayton
     Rockefeller
  The amendment (No. 286) was rejected.
  Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move 
to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.


                           Amendment No. 266

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the Lugar 
amendment No. 266.
  The amendment (No. 266) was agreed to.
  Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move 
to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

                          ____________________