[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the quorum call be rescinded.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.
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