[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 51 (Monday, April 25, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4162-S4177]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRANSPORTATION EQUITY ACT; A LEGACY FOR USERS--MOTION TO PROCEED
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the Senate will
resume consideration of the motion to proceed on H.R. 3, which the
clerk will report:
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
Motion to proceed to the consideration of a bill (H.R. 3)
to authorize funds for Federal-aid highways, highway safety
programs, and transit programs, and for other purposes.
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, on Friday, the leader filed a cloture
motion on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3, the highway bill. I believe
the cloture vote has been scheduled for tomorrow at 11:45 am. I
strongly urge all of my colleagues to vote yes.
The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, TEA-21, expired
on September 30, 2003, nearly 19 months ago. Yet we are still
attempting to get a bill done. The Federal-aid program has been
operating under a number of short-term extensions--a total of six to
date.
We need to get this done. The vote on Tuesday on cloture is critical.
If we cannot proceed to this bill, we will miss yet another deadline
and our States will continue to pay the price. The current May 31
expiration date for the highway, transit and safety programs is fast
approaching. The House bill, H.R. 3, has some very significant
differences from S. 732 the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient
Transportation Equity Act of 2005, SAFETEA, the bill reported out by
the Environment and Public Works Committee on March 16. We will need as
much time as possible to work out a compromise. Although we may not all
be in perfect agreement here on the Senate floor on each and every
provision of S. 732, one thing I believe we are all in agreement on is
that we need to get this done. In addition to conversations with
colleagues, I have visited with community leaders and outside interest
groups and the message is clear . . . get the bill done.
My committee colleagues and I are asking the Senate to consider
essentially the same language that 76 Senators voted for in 108th
Congress. The Environment and Public Works Committee used as its mark
the Senate-passed S. 1072 with the exception that we adjusted the
numbers to reflect the President's proposed spending level of $284
billion over 6 years. During our markup we accepted several non-
controversial amendments from committee members. None of these
amendments substantially changed the policy goals of the bill as passed
last year.
Therefore, I strongly urge my colleagues to support the pending
cloture motion and allow us to move to H.R. 3. We really need to keep
this moving. The longer we delay enactment of a long-term bill, we are
negatively effecting economic growth. According to DOT estimates, every
$1 billion of Federal funds invested in highway improvements creates
47,000 jobs. The same $1 billion investment yields $500 million in new
orders for the manufacturing sector and $500 million spread throughout
other sectors of the economy.
State contract awards for the 2005 spring and summer construction
season are going out to bid. If we fail to send a bill to the President
by May 31st, States will not know what to expect in Federal funding and
the uncertainty will potentially force States to delay putting these
projects out for bid. According to the American Association of State
Highway Transportation Officials--AASHTO, an estimated 90,000 jobs are
at stake. This problem is exacerbated for northern States, such as
Alaska, that have shorter construction seasons. Many State
transportation departments have advanced State dollars to construct
projects eligible for Federal-funding in anticipation of our action to
reauthorize the program. Without a new bill, States are essentially
left ``holding the bag.''
Over the past 6 years under TEA-21, we have made great progress in
preserving and improving the overall physical condition and operation
of our transportation system. However, more needs to be done. A safe,
effective transportation system is the foundation of our economy. We
are past due to fulfill an obligation to this country and the American
people.
I am pleased that the President's budget assumed more funding for
reauthorization over his previous level of $256 billion. I and along
with many of you believe we need more. Certainly that is an issue that
will be thoroughly debated on the floor of the Senate, but we can't
even have that debate unless we get to the floor.
Again, if we are able to proceed, the language that the Senate will
be considering is essentially the same bill that was passed on the
Senate floor last year--a bipartisan product of many months of hard
work and compromise. This bill remains a very good piece of legislation
which I hope will require few, if any, changes here on the floor.
However, I am anxious to discuss with Senators their amendments so that
we can debate them and hopefully get this bill in conference with the
House prior to the recess, but we need to get to the bill first.
S. 1072 passed the Senate last year guaranteed all donor States a
rate of return of 95 percent. I can remember that was 75 percent when I
first came here. At a lower funding level we were able only to achieve
a 92 percent rate of return but kept the 10 percent floor over TEA-21.
The scope, or split of percent funding above and below the line, remain
the same at 92.5 percent.
In order to get this bill off the floor, we have to balance the needs
of donor and donee States. I will be the first to acknowledge that this
balance--as with any compromise--is not perfect. My colleagues
representing donee and donor States that receive lower rates of return
or growth rates than they feel fair have made this fact very clear to
me over the past year.
I am very sympathetic to the concerns of both donors and donees in
this
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situation. Both have significant transportation needs that cannot be
ignored. Addressing their concerns has become more difficult in the
last year due to the fact that we have less money. Providing either
group with more money would add significantly to the cost of the bill
or take away from other programs. But holding up even consideration of
this bill will not solve the problem. We need to proceed to H.R. 3 so
that donor and donee States will have the opportunity to offer their
amendments on how to improve their State's treatment.
I am certain my colleagues share my strong desire to get a
transportation reauthorization bill passed. We must act to get a bill
to and through conference prior to the May 31 expiration of the current
extension. This will be a very difficult challenge, but if we act
quickly we can do it.
Now let's look at the alternative. What will happen if we do not pass
a highway bill? There will not be another extension. If we don't pass
the bill there will be no chance of improvement on donor State rate of
return and no new safety core program to help Spates respond to
thousands of deaths each year on our roadways.
Our bill up has many safety provisions, as the ranking Democrat,
Senator Jeffords knows. We didn't agree on all these, but we finally
agreed on a final product. Without a bill, there will be no real
streamlining of environmental reviews, so critical products would be
still subject to avoidable delays. There will be no increased ability
to use innovative financing, thereby giving States more tools to
advance projects.
Out in California, they have done some things that are working very
well. We have studied these and put some very innovative provisions in
this bill to allow us to get more for the dollar than we can get today.
But without a bill, we cannot do that.
Without a bill, we would not have any Safe Routes to School. This is
a program many of the Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate
have embraced. But without a bill, we will not have that.
Without a bill, the States will continue to have uncertainty in
planning, thereby delaying projects and negatively impacting jobs.
It is easy to sit up here in Washington and be indecisive about these
things, but the States have to make plans in advance. For each delay,
that is less they are going to get.
Without a bill, we have no new border program, which is critical to
border States dealing with NAFTA.
Without a bill, we have delay in the establishment of the national
commission to explore how to fund transportation in the future. It is
something we have been doing essentially the same way year in and year
out, but we are studying new methods now as motor vehicles are more
fuel efficient and a tax collection system based solely on fuel
consumption becomes less practical.
Without a bill, we won't have any increased opportunity to address
choke points at intermodal connectors.
The firewall protection of the highway trust fund would not be
continued, thereby making the trust fund vulnerable to raids in order
to pay for other programs.
It is very important that we move forward. We studied this for a year
and a half before coming to the Senate a year ago right now. Certainly
the ranking Democrat on the committee, Senator Jeffords, can remember
the months and months we worked on it. We came to the Senate with a
good bill, passed it, went to conference, and were unable to get a vote
on the conference report. Because of that, all these 10 things I
mentioned did not happen this year. For all these things to happen, to
move forward, we have to have a bill. We cannot have a bill until we
vote on the motion to proceed so that we will be able to move to the
bill. That is what this is all about.
I recognize the ranking Democrat on the Environment and Public Works
Committee, Senator Jeffords.
Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I thank Senator Frist for the
opportunity to debate this important legislation.
I also thank Senator Reid for his leadership in getting us to where
we are today on this bill.
In addition, I thank Chairman Inhofe, Senators Bond, and Baucus, as
well as other chairmen and ranking members for all of their hard work
and cooperation on this legislation.
A little over a year ago, I stood before my colleagues, in the same
place I am standing now, asking for their support of our Nation's
surface transportation system.
I am hopeful now, as I was then, that we will be able to work in a
bipartisan fashion to pass this legislation quickly so our states can
proceed with their critical work.
Today we are in a similar situation as we were a year ago.
Our bill maintains the important principles that were developed over
the years of work in our committees.
We continue to grow and support the core programs that are the
building block of a strong transportation system.
We maintain flexibility for States, because they know best how to
meet their needs.
We also try to increase the funds going out to the States.
This bill will enhance safety on our Nation's highways through
education, better infrastructure, and enforcement.
The increased intermodal flexibility set forth in the bill will allow
States, if they wish to improve freight handling and movement.
The growth in congestion mitigation and air quality funding will help
States improve air quality, reduce pollution and address congestion.
The bill makes it easier for States to mitigate project effects on
habitat and wetlands, and retains and expands popular programs such as
enhancements recreational trails and scenic byways.
This bill also reduces congestion on our Nation's roadways by
enhancing public transportation and promoting intermodal solutions to
regional transportation problems.
These are all critical components to a successful bill and I am glad
that, through much hard work, we were able to develop strong national
policy.
It may not be exactly what any one Member would have crafted on his
or her own, but this is a strong and unified step in the right
direction.
There are, however, some key differences.
A year ago, we presented you with a well-funded bill that struck a
delicate balance between the core programs and flexibility on program
and modal spending at the State and local level.
This time our job was made more difficult by fiscal constraints
insisted upon by the administration.
The White House has suggested an overall funding level for surface
transportation of $284 billion over 6 years.
This despite the President's own Transportation Department saying we
need at least $300 billion to simply maintain the status quo, and
something well above that level to make progress on conditions and
performance.
Last year the Senate passed a highway bill at $318 billion with 76
votes.
It is unfortunate that the President fails to see the value of a
robust transportation program.
It is unfortunate the President fails to see the jobs that will be
lost, and the roads and bridges that will go unrepaired and unbuilt.
It is unfortunate the President doesn't see the lives that could be
saved with better roads and the time that will be wasted sitting in
traffic.
All of this is the result of inadequate funding.
While my colleagues and I have continued to impress upon him the
value of increased funding, we continue to work within the box that the
administration has put us in.
We tried to meet everyone's needs while not neglecting our
responsibilities to the highway trust fund.
This is a very difficult task given the restrictions this
administration has imposed on us.
But we did what was asked of us.
All of the committees have acted and passed a bill at $284 billion.
Make no mistake--we have made sacrifices that none of us wanted.
I am hopeful we will increase the funding in this bill as we move it
through the Senate in the coming days.
That said, I stand here before you with the structure of a bill that
has the potential to move our transportation system forward--not the
giant leap we had hoped to make but meager steps that I hope will be
the first of many in helping us get where we need to go.
[[Page S4164]]
Mr. President, I need not remind you that the authorization for this
program expired 19 months ago.
In that time, there have been nearly 70,000 traffic fatalities with
an economic cost of over $370 billion.
Americans continue to sit in traffic for close to 50 hours a year, 10
minutes more per hour traveled than when the last reauthorization bill
was passed.
Mr. President, 18 percent of our roads are in poor or mediocre
condition; 29 percent of bridges are deficient or functionally
obsolete; over a quarter of our transit facilities are in below average
condition; more than 3 million jobs are waiting to be created.
While we neglect to act, transportation in this country continues to
degrade.
Things are getting worse, not better.
We have lost one construction season and are on our way to missing
another.
In northern States such as Vermont, this is not a little problem. It
is a big one.
We must act on this legislation now.
We must pass a nationwide surface transportation reauthorization bill
this year.
I look forward to working with my colleagues to debate H.R. 3 on the
Senate floor.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Oklahoma.
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I say to my good friend, Senator Jeffords,
we are not political equals in philosophy; yet I, as a conservative,
agree with everything the Senator has said in terms of the need for
roads and the need for infrastructure.
Senator Jeffords talked about some of the deficiencies we have, but I
have to say in my State of Oklahoma the FAWA goes out and they rate
roads and bridges. Oklahoma is dead last in bridges. This is a life-
and-death situation. We lose lives every year.
A lot of my friends say: Well, you did not want to have a robust,
expensive highway bill. I say to them: That is what we are supposed to
be doing here.
I am a conservative. There is no one more conservative, according to
the ACLU, than I am in this Senate. Yet I can say we need to spend
money on infrastructure in the United States.
I will say a little bit about the formula of which I have been very
proud. Both my good friend from Vermont and I used to serve in the
other body before we came to the Senate. At that time, I was on the
Transportation Committee in the House. I watched the way we did things
there and how we do things here. I don't want to be critical of the way
the other body operates, but we do it in a more fair and equitable way.
It would be easy--if we needed 60 Senators, we could give them
projects until everyone signed on, and then forget about the other 40,
have a vote, and go home. That could happen, but we did not do that. We
have a complicated formula.
This creates different anxieties in different States where there is
opposition because in one particular area they do not do as well as
another State. Let me give an example of how complicated the formula
is.
In a formula, you take into consideration an abundance of items, such
as interstate lane miles. This is something in the formulas we take
into consideration. Obviously, there is a reason. Or vehicle miles
traveled, which is referred to as VMT. Over the next few days we will
hear that quite often. The vehicle miles traveled on interstate has to
be something to consider in terms of authorizing a 6-year program.
The contributions to the highway trust fund are very significant. We
hear from some of the large States that they give more to the highway
trust fund. I suggest it is not just people in that State who are
making those contributions; people driving through the State also have
to buy fuel in those States.
The lane miles on principal arteries, excluding the intersection, is
weighted in the formula to a percentage. The VMT on principal arteries
is considered. Diesel fuel used on highways is a consideration. Total
lane miles on principal arteries divided by population is considered
when we look at a formula that would affect all 50 States. So total
lane miles on Federal aid highways, total vehicle miles traveled on
Federal aid highways, the contributions to the highway trust fund, or
the highway account, attributable to highway users, the cost to repair
or replace deficient highways and bridges have to be considered. In the
State of Alaska, for example, the Presiding Officer's State, it is more
expensive. They have severe winters in Alaska. We do not have severe
winters in some of the Southern States. This has to be part of the
consideration.
The weighted nonattainment and maintenance area, population, the
equal shares to each eligible State on highways, recreational trails
program, the border planning, borders and corridors--this is
significant to States such as California and Arizona, Texas, Florida,
and, of course, the northern tier of States. The border States' share
of cargo weight, what their share is of cargo value, the number of
commercial vehicles entering the border State, the number of passenger
vehicles entering the border State--all these are part of the formula.
We have low-income States. My State of Oklahoma is a low-income
State. The State of Arizona is a high-income State. That is a
consideration. One of the chief workers on the bill has been Senator
Baucus from Montana. He is the ranking member on the committee; Kit
Bond chairs that subcommittee on transportation within our committee.
He has a low-population State. Obviously, if you have a low-population
State, that has to be a consideration. There still have to be roads so
they can travel and other people can travel through their States. But
if they base it all on getting 100 percent back, and they do not have
extra consideration--that has to be part of the formula.
Low-population-density States is a factor. The high fatality rates
are a factor. The fatality rate in my State of Oklahoma is higher than
average. The guaranteed minimum growth of each State--there is a limit
applied to that--and the guaranteed minimum rate of return for donor
States is a consideration. I remember when that guaranteed minimum rate
of return for donor States was 75 percent, and it only crept up to 80,
85 and 90; now we operate on 90.5 percent. If we passed the bill
offered last year, the way it passed in Senate, we would be at 95
percent. Every State would be guaranteed 95 percent return of donations
of that State.
If we did not do it this way, we could do it the politically easy
way--handing out projects until it is done. But that is where pork
comes in. That is where most of the criticism comes from. I have heard
a lot of the commentators talk about the highway bill the Senate has is
full of projects and pork. My response is they have not read it yet.
There are only two projects in the entire bill. Only two. On the other
side, there are several hundred. It is a totally different approach.
So we have these things that are of major consideration. We have to
get this bill done. The best way to get it done, of course, is to vote
favorably tomorrow on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to
proceed, and then to move on to the bill.
Now, we have several people who may wish to speak. I mentioned
Senator Bond, who is the chairman of the Transportation Subcommittee.
Senator Baucus, who has been very helpful in working with us, is the
ranking member of the subcommittee. There is Senator Jeffords and
myself. Of course, we have 18 members of our committee. We would like
to invite them to come down right now. I will defer to anyone who wants
to come down and talk about this legislation. In the event that nobody
shows up, I have more to say. I think, probably, the Senator from
Vermont might have more to say, too.
So at the present time I will go ahead and suggest the absence of a
quorum and encourage members of our committee and others who want to be
heard on the highway bill to come down and speak.
Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Burr). The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. INHOFE. 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. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be
recognized to speak for up to 30 minutes as
[[Page S4165]]
in morning business. However, I want to say if anyone comes down to
speak on the motion to proceed to the highway bill, I will stop at that
point so they can be recognized. I will yield to them. However, I want
my entire speech to be printed in the Record as if given intact.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Third Pillar of Climate Alarmism
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, today I will continue my series of the
four pillars of climate alarmism. This is the third pillar speech. In
my first speech, I outlined how the media and some of the environmental
extremists distorted, exaggerated, and mischaracterized a major climate
change report from the National Academy of Sciences.
I showed how the left and the media exaggerated a document that
contained numerous caveats about the uncertainties of current knowledge
and the caution that its conclusions were tentative, proclaiming the
report showed conclusively that global warming due to man is occurring.
In my second speech, I described some of the more serious and,
indeed, fatal flaws in the 2001 Third Assessment Report from the U.N.'s
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, known also as the IPCC,
which I will refer to from time to time. In that speech, I exposed how
Michael Mann's now infamous ``hockey stick,'' the flagship of the
IPCC's claims that global warming is real, has been thoroughly
discredited in scientific circles, and that the IPCC's projections of
future carbon emissions, which drive temperature model conclusions,
have been proven to be based on political decisions that, by the end of
the century, countries such as Libya will be as wealthy or wealthier
than the United States.
Now, I would like to examine the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment
Report, which received considerable attention on its release late last
year. Last November, the Arctic Council, described as a ``high-level
information forum'' that includes the United States, Canada, Denmark,
Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, and Sweden, released
its 140-page arctic synthesis report, entitled, ``Impacts of a Warming
Arctic.'' It details the major findings from the Arctic Council's
1,200-page scientific report, which will be released in the coming
weeks.
The essence of the synthesis report is this: The Arctic is
experiencing unprecedented climate change, caused, in large part, if
not entirely, by manmade greenhouse gas emissions, while projections
show dramatic Arctic warming accompanied by even more pronounced
changes that will have serious repercussions for the entire planet.
At first blush, the report appears to be quite impressive. It
contains glossy photos, charts, and graphs, and was produced by some
300 scientists from several nations. But it lacks virtually any
scientific documentation, which casts doubt on the report's page after
page of unqualified, matter-of-fact claims about Arctic warming. That
documentation, we are told, is forthcoming in the more lengthy
scientific report. So it is unclear if the 140-page document accurately
reflects the contents of the scientific report.
If it does, then the scientific report simply ignores or dismisses
reams of peer-reviewed scientific work contradicting the Arctic
Council's conclusions. If it does not, then the synthesis report would
appear to be an exercise in global warming propaganda.
The release of the report created a media sensation with nearly every
major news outlet declaring, once again, that the scientific consensus
on global warming had been reaffirmed.
Here is the Chicago Tribune's report from November 24, 2004:
The council's 140-page report, four years in the making,
warns of immense ice melts, a dramatic rise in ocean levels,
the depletion of the Gulf Stream and other sea currents, wild
fluctuations in weather patterns, increased ultraviolet
radiation and wrenching dislocations in the food chain and
habitat.
In equally dramatic fashion, the Associated Press described the
report this way. It said:
This most comprehensive study of Arctic warming to date
adds yet more impetus to the projections by many of the
world's climate scientists that there will be a steady rise
in global temperature as the result of greenhouse gases
released into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels
and other sources.
Such descriptions of the report are really not far off the mark, and
for good reason. In this case, the media and extremist groups got
exactly what they wished for--140 pages detailing a daunting list of
projected environmental catastrophes: permafrost melting,
infrastructure collapsing, glaciers vanishing, sea levels rising,
coastal communities flooding, polar bears facing extinction.
Worse, the authors left the impression that these scenarios were all
but assured, despite the fact that the assumptions on which they are
based are highly uncertain--a point I will examine later in this
speech. Thus, no spin, distortion, or exaggeration on the media's part
was necessary.
The synthesis report constructs a deceptive picture of climate
changes that have occurred in the Arctic over the last 30 years,
particularly with respect to temperature change. A major piece of
evidence supporting the Arctic Council's alarmist conclusions is the
Arctic's ``unprecedented'' temperature increase over the last several
decades. The report's authors make the following statement on page 23.
I am quoting now. It says:
Examining the record of past climatic conditions indicates
that the amount, speed, and pattern of warming experienced in
recent decades are indeed unusual and are characteristic of
the human-caused increase in greenhouse gases.
Specifically, according to the Council, annual average temperature in
the Arctic has increased at almost twice the rate of the rest of the
world, while winter temperatures in Alaska and western Canada have
increased about 3 to 4 degrees Celsius over the past half century, with
larger increases projected in the next 100 years.
Surely, this is proof of unprecedented, human-induced warming, and of
worrisome warming trends for the future? Not quite. Let's take a closer
look at the peer-reviewed literature on the temperature history of the
Arctic, which the Arctic Council's synthesis report totally ignored.
First, in the November 2002 issue of the Journal Holocene,
researchers examined proxy temperature data in northern Russia spanning
over 2,000 years. They found that ``the warmest periods over the last
two millennia in this region were clearly in the third, tenth to
twelfth, and during the twentieth centuries.'' The earlier periods,
they claim, were warmer than those of the 20th century, while 20th
century temperatures appeared to peak at around 1940.
For a much broader perspective on Arctic temperatures, one can read
the 2003 paper by researcher Igor Polyakov in the journal EOS, a
publication of the American Geophysical Union. In the paper titled
``Trends and Variations in Arctic Climate Systems,'' Polyakov studied
land and ocean data from northward of latitude 62.5 degrees north,
dating back to 1870.
As is obvious from this chart, one can see that current temperature
over the entire region is similar to that measured 70 years ago.
According to Polyakov:
Two distinct warming periods from 1920 to 1945, and from
1975 to the present, are clearly evident.
He goes on to note that ``compared with the global and hemispheric
temperature rise, the high-latitude temperature increase was stronger
in the late 1930s to the early 1940s than in recent decades.''
Strangely there is no mention of this in the Arctic report, but
alarmists don't seem to care. They would probably respond that: 300
scientists from all over the world believe such warming is occurring.
You, sir, have merely identified two whose research presents a contrary
view.
To answer that charge I will submit for the Record an impressive list
of scientists from several countries, including the United States,
whose peer-reviewed work shows current Arctic temperatures are no
higher than temperatures recorded in the 1930s and the 1940s.
Let me quote from a few salient examples. In a 2003 issue of the
Journal of Climate, seven researchers concluded the following:
In contrast to the global and hemispheric temperature, the
maritime Arctic temperature was higher in the late 1930s
through the early 1940s than in the 1990s.
[[Page S4166]]
Here is another excerpt from the 2000 International Journal of
Climatology, Dr. Rajmund Przybylak of Nicholas Copernicus University in
Torun, Poland. It reads:
The highest temperatures since the beginning of
instrumental observation occurred clearly in the 1930s and
can be attributed to changes in atmospheric circulation.
Finally, in 2001, researchers examined a 10,000-year span of sea core
sediment in the Chukchi Sea and concluded that ``in the recent past,
the western Arctic Ocean was much warmer than it is today.'' They also
found that ``during the middle Holocene [approximately 6,000 years ago]
the August sea surface temperature fluctuated by 5 degrees Celsius and
was 3-7 degrees Celsius warmer than it is today.'' Obviously, the
middle Holocene period was not known for SUVs and coal-fired
powerplants.
To get a fuller sense of the report's bias, consider the Arctic
Council's geographical definition of ``the Arctic.'' This is important
because the temperature record differs depending on one's definition.
The Arctic report's temperature record includes data from northward of
latitude 60 degrees North. Why the Arctic Council chose this point is
not explained. In fact, the report's authors responsible for defining
the Arctic admitted last November that their choice was arbitrary.
The Arctic Council's starting point is problematic for two reasons.
First, Dr. George Taylor, Oregon's State climatologist and a past
president of the American Association of State Climatologists, recently
examined Arctic temperature trends using different starting points. As
Dr. Taylor found, ``[u]sing 60 degrees North introduced a lot of . . .
questionable Siberian stations.'' In other words, measurements at that
point are based in part on bad data.
Second, other researchers see the Arctic differently, and probably
more accurately when describing long-term temperature trends. Polyakov,
for example, defined Arctic as northward of 62.5 degrees North. This
2.5-degree difference is not trivial. Temperatures can change
significantly between 62.5 degrees North and 60 degrees North. In fact,
pushing the geographical boundaries southward, as the Arctic Council
did, contributes to a substantial upward bias in temperature
measurements.
Not only was the Arctic region arbitrarily defined, it appears that
marine and coastal-based data were arbitrarily excluded from the
report's temperature record. This is strange, considering two-thirds of
the Arctic is covered by the Arctic Ocean. So it seems unreasonable to
use only land-based stations, as the Arctic Council did, and not to
include coastal stations, Russian drifting stations in the Arctic
Ocean, and drifting buoys from the International Buoy Programme, as
Polyakov and his colleagues did.
Using such data reveals a less dramatic temperature picture than the
Arctic Council's. In 1993, University of Wisconsin climatologist
Jonathan Kahal examined declassified data collected over the Arctic
Ocean during the Cold War. In a paper in the journal Nature, Kahl found
an ``absence of evidence for greenhouse warming over the Arctic Ocean
in the past 40 years'' and a net decline in Arctic temperature.
Admittedly, Kahl's temperature history stretches only from 1958 to
1986. But more importantly, it relies on marine and coastal-based data.
Dr. Taylor was among many mystified by these omissions. For him,
there is only one possible explanation: ``The [Arctic Climate Impact
Assessment] appears to be guilty of selective use of data.'' He further
explained, ``Many of the trends described in the document begin in the
1960s or 1970s--cool decades in much of the world--and end in the
warmer 1990s and early 2000s. So, for example, temperatures have warmed
in the last 40 years, and the implication, `if present trends
continue,' is that massive warming will occur in the next century. Yet
data are readily available for the 1930s and early 1940s, when
temperatures were comparable to (and probably higher than) those
observed today. Why not start the trend there? Because there is no net
warming over the last 65 years?
This is kind of interesting because I can remember also giving a
speech where I showed the cover of ``Newsweek'' magazine and the cover
of ``U.S. News and World Report.'' This was back in the 1970s. And the
headlines were: Cooling period is coming; a new ice age is coming. We
are all going to die. It is the same thing people are saying about a
warming climate. If your starting point is at the end of that cold
period, it gives a distortion, if there has been no net warming over
the last 65 years.
In the pop culture version of global warming, there is no greater
attraction than melting glaciers and sea ice. Press accounts appear
daily of new studies purporting to show a widespread glacial retreat
stemming from man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Warnings abound that
this melting will cause a calamitous rise in sea levels. True to form,
the Arctic Council follows the same story line, asserting that,
``glaciers throughout the Arctic are melting.'' ``This process is
already under way,'' the report states, ``with the widespread retreat
of glaciers, snow cover, and sea ice. This is one reason why climate
change is more rapid in the Arctic than elsewhere.'' but is this really
the case?
Interestingly, the IPCC Third Assessment Report references peer-
reviewed studies that contradict the Arctic Council's assessments. The
IPCC, an organization convinced of the validity of the global warming
consensus, noted that, ``Glaciers and ice caps in the Arctic also have
shown retreat in low-lying areas since about 1920,'' but also stated,
`'However, no increasing melting trend has been observed during the
past 40 years.''
Sonar data on sea ice collected in the 1990s also tell a different
story. As the BBC wrote in 2001. ``The latest and most comprehensive
analysis yet of the sonar data collected in the 1990s shows little if
any thinning--at least towards the end of that decade. Indeed, at the
North Pole, there are indications in the data that the ice even got a
little thicker.''
What they are saying is, there are some areas that you can visibly go
to and say yes, glaciers are melting, but in other areas it is getting
thicker.
Among other omissions, the Arctic Council gave little weight to the
observed variability of Arctic sea ice thickness. The term ``observed
variability'' of sea ice thickness has specific meaning in the Arctic:
Scientists estimate that sea ice mass there can vary by as much as 16
percent in a single year. As Dr. Seymour Laxon, a lecturer in the
Department of Space and Climate Physics at the University College
London, explained, ``The observed variability of Arctic sea ice
thickness contrasts with the concept of a slowly dwindling ice pack,
produced by global warming.''
So what causes these variations in sea ice mass? In 2002, Dr. Greg
Holloway, of the Institute for Ocean Sciences in Sidney, Canada, and
his colleagues Dr. Tessa Sou, showed that decadal wind pattern changes
caused a shifting of Arctic sea ice, creating thinner ice in some
regions and thicker ice in others. As Dr. Holloway explained, ``It's a
circumstance where the ice tends to leave the central Arctic and then
mostly pile up against the Canadian side, before moving back into the
central Arctic again.'' Based on this research, Dr. Holloway believes
that ``we have been a little bit overly stampeded into the idea that
here is a terribly alarming melting taking place.''
Holloway is not alone in his assessment. In 2003, German researchers
Cornelia Koeberle and Ruediger Gerdes found evidence of natural ``wind
stress'' strongly affecting variability in Arctic sea ice. ``The
results make connecting `global warming' to Arctic ice thinning very
difficult for two reasons,'' the researchers wrote. ``First, the large
decadal and longer-term variability masks any trend . . . Second, the
wind stress strongly affects the long-term development of ice volume. A
long-term change in wind stress over the Arctic, possibly by an
increase in the number of atmospheric circulation states that favor ice
export, would affect the ice volume in a similar manner as a
temperature increase.''
In addition to questionable claims about Arctic sea ice, the Arctic
report includes dubious projections about the Greenland Ice Sheet.
Climate models, the Arctic Council reports, ``project that local
warming in Greenland will exceed 3 degrees Celsius during this
century.'' The result? ``Ice sheet models project that a warming of
that magnitude would initiate the long-term
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melting of Greenland Ice Sheet.'' And furthermore, ``Even if climactic
conditions then stabilized, an increase of this magnitude is projected
to lead eventually (over centuries) to a virtually complete melting of
the Greenland Ice Sheet, resulting in a global sea level rise of about
seven meters.''
This sounds ominous, but again, peer-reviewed literature on the
subject, excluded from the Arctic report, tells a countervailing story.
For example, a team of experts at Los Alamos National Laboratory
recently examined Greenland's instrumental surface temperatures. Here's
what they found: ``Since 1940, however, the Greenland coastal stations
data have undergone predominately a cooling trend. At the summit of the
Greenland ice sheet, the summer average temperature has decreased at
the rate of 2.2 [degrees Celsius] per decade since the beginning of the
measures in 1987.'' We are talking about a reduction in temperature, of
an increase.
Finally, the report's projections for the Greenland ice sheet,
glaciers, and sea ice were based on data obtained from global climate
models. Those projections assume anthropogenic warming, and proceed to
show a gradual but persistent melting of glaciers and ice, leading to a
dangerous rise in sea levels. However, as climate scientists have
repeatedly pointed out, climate models are highly imperfect. In fact,
they are notoriously inaccurate in how they simulate the complexities
of the climate system.
This is especially true of Arctic climate. According to a letter
signed by 11 climate scientists, sent to the Senate Commerce Committee
last fall, ``Arctic climate varies dramatically from one region to
another, and over time in ways that cannot be accurately reproduced by
climate models. The quantitative impacts of natural and anthropogenic
factors remain highly uncertain, especially for a region as complex as
the Arctic.''
Researchers associated with the University of Alaska-Fairbanks
wholeheartedly endorsed this view. They recently wrote,
``Unfortunately, most global climate models are not capable of
sufficiently reproducing the climatological state of the Arctic Ocean,
sea ice and atmosphere . . . as [an] example, the simulated sea ice
thickness is overestimated, and its overall pattern is in error, with
the thickest ice located in the Siberian instead of the Canadian sector
of the Arctic Ocean.''
Based on these well-documented technological constraints, how can one
take seriously the Arctic Council's claim that ``While the models
differ in their projections of some of the features of climate change,
they are all in agreement that the world will warm significantly as a
result of human activities and that the Arctic is likely to experience
noticeable warming particularly early and intensely''?
The alarmist nature of the Arctic report is to be expected. How else
can they justify its enormous costs of regulating carbon dioxide? We
know the costs of this would be enormous. Wharton Econometrics
Forecasting Associates--this is from the Wharton School of Economics,
not from Senator Jim Inhofe--estimates that implementing Kyoto would
cost the average American family of four $2,715 a year. Acknowledging
the holes in the science underlying claims of catastrophic global
warming would undermine their agenda. What is the agenda? Two
international leaders have said it best.
Margot Walstrom, the EU's environmental commissioner, said that Kyoto
is ``about leveling the playing field for big business worldwide.''
French President Jacques Chirac said during a speech at The Hague in
November 2000 that Kyoto represents ``the first component of an
authentic global governance.'' That is what they want to do, level the
playing field for big business worldwide, bring the United States down
to Third World status eventually, and have an authentic global
governance.
Based on these and other major deficiencies, the Arctic Climate
Impact Assessment hardly serves as compelling proof that greenhouse gas
emissions are causing unprecedented changes in Arctic climate, or that
trends point to a future marred by widespread damage to Arctic
ecosystems. To be sure, the report fails to provide a thorough,
balanced, comprehensive overview of the most compelling research on
Arctic climate.
Instead, the so-called ``synthesis report'' is a biased, selective
examination of climate trends in the Arctic. It completely ignores
well-known, established facts. For instance, it is firmly established
that Arctic temperatures in the late 1930s and early 1940s were higher
than in the 1990s and that Greenland's temperatures in recent decades
have undergone a cooling trend, not a warming trend. It is also well
known that sea ice mass can vary by as much as 16 percent in a single
year. Moreover, this report fails the test of transparency and openness
and lacks virtually any documentation. It reads more like an
ideological tome. Extremist groups are using it as a legal brief to sue
energy producers on behalf of Arctic peoples. Hardly surprising.
Dr. George Taylor, Oregon's State climatologist, succinctly described
the report when he said: ``Nice graphics, but bad science.''
This is what we have been hearing. The extremists have to make us
believe that something catastrophic will happen. The same people who
are talking about global warming today were the ones who, in the 1970s,
were talking about global cooling, saying another ice age is coming. It
is interesting.
I recommend reading a book by Michael Creighton called, ``The State
of Fear.'' Michael Creighton is one of the best-known authors in
America. He writes fiction; these are novels, but he is a scientist and
also a medical doctor. He was going to write a novel on global warming
and the terrible things that could happen. Instead of that, after he
did research, he wrote another novel. While it is fiction, its
footnotes are all scientific. I recommend that book. As any thoughtful
person who has a scientific background will tell you, the idea of
global warming very well may be the greatest single hoax ever
perpetrated on the American people.
With that, I made the comment before speaking that I am anxious for
Members to come down and talk about our bill. We are now under debate
on the motion to proceed to the consideration of the highway bill, H.R.
3. We will have a vote on that motion to proceed tomorrow morning. The
vote is set for sometime around 11 o'clock tomorrow morning. I have
been told there are some Members who wish to speak in morning business.
I would like to inquire, if there are any real long speeches, if at
some point someone comes down to speak on the highway bill, or on the
motion to proceed to that bill--I would not want a commitment, but I
would request they defer to them when they should arrive on the floor.
With that, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota is recognized.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in
morning business.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Challenges in the Senate
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, first of all, I am really pleased we
finally have the highway bill on the floor. I appreciate the leadership
of the chairman and the ranking member. This is an authorization that
is, I think, 2\1/2\ years old or so. Many of us have been frustrated. I
know the chairman and Senator Jeffords have been frustrated that we
have not been able to finish this work. I hope we can finish this bill
and move it through the Senate.
I wanted to comment about another couple of issues. I am worried
about the way things develop here in the Senate. We treat serious
things too lightly; we treat light things too seriously. We have, it
seems to me, the framework for a huge brawl in the Senate over
procedure, and there are so many challenges facing our country that
this President and this Congress are not looking in the eye with the
thought of responding directly to them. I will mention a few of them
today.
Politics, regrettably, in recent times has become a sport in which
one side trashes the other side, and it is either our way, or no way,
or the highway. Now, we have a circumstance where we are facing serious
challenges: we face fiscal policies that are off the rail, the largest
budget deficits in history; we face the largest trade deficit in
history, with massive numbers of American jobs being shipped overseas;
we face energy problems that are causing severe pain and dislocation,
and everybody
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knows what the price of gasoline is these days; we struggle with health
care costs that are skyrocketing; and all of these issues are hard for
families to deal with. And yet, despite these issues, we are confronted
by the prospect of a majority that doesn't like the current rules with
respect to judgeships, so they will try to break the rules of the
Senate, for the first time in history, in order to change the rules
because we have approved only 205 out of 215 judges sent to us by the
President--again, we have approved 97 percent of all of the judges sent
to us by the President for lifetime appointments on the bench. But
because there are 10 that have not been approved, the President and the
majority party believe they want to break the rules of the Senate in
order to change the rules of the Senate.
There are so many other important things we ought to deal with. It is
just Byzantine that this issue is what we are fighting about. There is
a constitutional role for the Congress--particularly the Senate--with
respect to judgeships. The President proposes, and we advise and
consent. There is nothing in the Constitution that says we cannot use
the rules of the Senate for those few judges we believe are
inappropriate, those few we think represent the extreme and should not
be on the bench for a lifetime.
Yet, because, again, 3 percent of the judges have not been approved,
while 97 percent have, we have the prospect of what is commonly called
the ``nuclear'' option of trying to change the Senate rules by breaking
the Senate rules.
I will tell you what I think we should be working on. First, health
care costs. The fact is, when most families sit around their supper
table and talk about their lives, they are talking about things that
relate to their everyday existence: Do I have a good job? Does it pay
well? Do I have job security? Do grandpa and grandma have access to
good health care? Are we sending our kids to good schools? Do we live
in a safe neighborhood?
These issues affect the daily lives of the American people. Health
care is not an option. When you are sick, you need health care. We have
45 million people without health insurance. We have the cost of health
care skyrocketing. It is rising at a much more rapid pace than
inflation. The cost of prescription drugs is going out of sight. Yet,
is this Congress tackling health care issues? No, we are not. Will we
allow legislation on the floor of the Senate that would provide for the
safe reimportation of prescription drugs to put downward pressure on
prescription drugs? No. Will we allow the Federal Government to
negotiate lower prices with the pharmaceutical companies like the VA?
Will we allow that negotiation for the Medicare Program? No. In fact,
this Congress explicitly says you may not do that. It is unbelievable.
We have these huge health care challenges, but we will not look that
issue in the eye.
Our budget deficits are the largest in the history of our country. We
just passed an $80 billion emergency bill last week. We knew for 2
years that is what it would cost--$5 billion, $6 billion a month in
Iraq and Afghanistan--and there was zero in the President's budget
request for it. So they proposed spending it on an emergency basis.
Nobody talks about raising money for it; just spend it. In fact, I have
raised questions about how it is being spent--and I offered an
amendment saying we are being stolen blind with respect to contractors
in Iraq--to wit, Halliburton. Halliburton is charging us for 42,000
meals a day served to U.S. soldiers, when it turns out they are serving
only 14,000 meals a day. In my hometown, they have a word for that sort
of thing.
I asked for an investigation into this kind of waste, fraud, and
abuse in contracting. It is massive. But you cannot get a committee to
investigate that. The Congress doesn't want to have a select committee
to investigate that. So it is just throwing the money out the door in
hopes that some of it will stick. In fact, there is massive waste,
fraud, and abuse and everybody knows it. But nobody wants to confront
it.
Education. We have a serious problem with education in this country.
There are 400,000 qualified high-school kids that will not go to
college this year because of financial burdens, and another 220,000
kids won't go to college because they simply cannot afford it. You have
well over a half-million qualified kids who will not be going to
college who should be in college. We know college tuition has risen 28
percent, after inflation, in the last 4 years. We have not considered
the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. We extended it, but
that should have been reauthorized several years ago. It is set to
expire. The President's budget would eliminate the Perkins student loan
program, Upward Bound, and a series of other programs that I think are
very important. Pell grants have largely been stagnant in terms of
their level, while tuition has gone way out of sight.
We don't look energy right in the eye, although I must say there is
hope here. I met with Senators Domenici and Bingaman. I am a senior
member on the Energy Committee, and I hope we can bring a bill to the
floor of the Senate. That is a bipartisan bill.
Go to the gas pump these days, and then read in the paper after you
paid for that gas, that Exxon reported the highest profit ever reported
for one quarter by any corporation. Think of that. We have a revenue-
sharing system by which the American taxpayer, the American consumer
shares their money with the Saudis, the Kuwaitis, the Iraqis, the
Venezuelans, and others who have the oil, and then the oil companies
that are the conduit for that oil are making record profits as well.
If anything demands an investigation, it is that, in my judgment. We
need an energy policy that does not hold this country hostage to oil,
60 percent of which comes from off our shores.
These are a few of the issues we ought to stare straight in the eye,
and those of us who are not part of the political extreme--and there
are too many these days who are perverting the political process in
this country, I think a shameful perversion of the political process in
many ways--but I hope those of us who are part of the strong political
center in America will finally convince this administration and this
Congress to take a hard look at the real challenges our country faces
and then begin the long, challenging work to try to address them.
This is a great place. We are lucky to be here, lucky to be alive
now. There is no place like it on Earth. It is our job as caretakers of
this wonderful democracy to fix problems as we see them, to address
problems, not to go off on these political searches to figure out who
is the worst. The question is not who is the worst in the political
system of ours, the question is whose ideas are the best that can move
this country forward and give our country and our children the prospect
for a better and brighter future.
I have much more to say, but because of time constraints today, I
will leave it at that and say I hope as these weeks unfold we will
begin to address the substance of the real challenges facing our
country--Federal budget deficits, trade deficits, health care,
education, energy, and other issues--all of which have a significant
impact on the way we live in the country and all of which will have a
significant impact on America's future.
Mr. President, 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. INHOFE. 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. INHOFE. Mr. President, I want to make a couple comments in
response to my good friend from North Dakota.
First, I encourage Members to come down to the Chamber. The current
order of business is the motion to proceed to the highway bill. It is
very important. It is critical. There is nothing we are dealing with
right now that is more important. There is so much at stake, as I
already outlined. We need to have more Members come down. Certainly, if
I am talking, I will defer to them if they do come to the floor.
Partnership for Fish and Wildlife
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I wish to share with you an experience
from last Friday. We had a field hearing in Oklahoma on the Partnership
for Fish and Wildlife. This is a program not many people know about. It
is one that has
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not ever been authorized, but it is one that has gone year to year with
an appropriation, whereby a landowner who is trying to do something for
the environment, trying to do something for conservation, trying to do
something for habitat will put up $3 for every $1 the Fish and Wildlife
Service puts up to join a partnership with them. They have come up with
some incredible results, and it shows that those areas of Government
where you work with Government and not have Government dictating
mandates to individuals or to communities works so much better. This is
a model for other programs. Consequently, I thought Earth Day was a
good day for me, as chairman of the Environment and Public Works
Committee, to introduce the bill, which I have introduced, to authorize
this Partnership for Fish and Wildlife Program.
Also, there is a vacancy that has occurred with the Director of the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. We have a Southwest regional director
by the name of H. Dale Hall. He came up for our hearing on Friday in
Oklahoma. He is one of the incredible, dedicated Federal workers. It
seems to me he would be an excellent Director for the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service. I would like to nominate this man for that purpose.
He is a wildlife biologist. Mr. Hall meets the qualifications for the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director as established by 16 United
States Code 742B, being knowledgeable in the principles of fisheries
and wildlife management by reason of education and experience. Mr. Hall
received a bachelor of science degree in biology and chemistry from
Cumberland College in Williamsburg, KY, and a master's degree in
fisheries science from Louisiana State University.
He had military experience prior to joining the Service in 1978. Mr.
Hall served 4 years in the U.S. Air Force beginning in 1968 with
overseas assignments in Italy and the Philippines.
He has private sector experience. After returning to civilian life in
1972, Mr. Hall managed catfish farms in the Mississippi Delta region
for Eden Fisheries and Farm, Inc.
He has experienced all kinds of awards. He joined the Service in 1978
and has worked in the Mississippi Valley, Houston field office, the
Washington, DC, office, the Pacific regional office, the Southwest
regional office, and now serves as regional director for the Southwest
region. That is Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico.
He was honored as one of the Service's 10 most outstanding merit pay
employees for 1986. In February of 1996, he was presented with the
Department of Interior's Meritorious Service Award by then-Secretary
Bruce Babbitt.
I nominate this man for this position. I think he would make an
excellent Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
I again reiterate that the order of business now is on a motion to
proceed to the highway bill. Cloture has already been filed. We will be
voting on cloture tomorrow morning. I cannot think of one thing we are
doing now that is more important than getting a highway bill. We have
been operating on extensions for a long period of time. When we do
extensions, we do not get any of the benefits of streamlining, we do
not get any of the safety benefits, we do not get any of the school-to-
work programs, or any of the other programs. These are things that need
to be done.
All an extension does is extend what is currently out there.
Therefore, the States and communities do not know what to expect. They
do not know how to anticipate how much money is going to be there or
whether any of these programs to protect the environment are going to
be there, or any streamlining programs.
I cannot tell you how important it is we not operate on extensions
but instead that we do pass this highway bill. We should have done it
last year. Last year, we had the bill that came up. The President of
the United States felt it should be a smaller number. We felt if the
bill is paid for--and at that time the Finance Committee, under the
chairmanship of Chuck Grassley and the ranking member, Max Baucus, came
up with money that could be raised for that purpose so it would not add
to the deficit. Consequently, we passed a bill out of the Senate that
was $318 billion for a 6-year reauthorization. That would have been
fine. It went to conference and got hung up in conference. One or two
people stopped us from having this bill. Now all of America is
suffering for it.
This is our second run at it. We are almost out of time. The current
extension expires on May 31. If we do not have a bill by May 31, then
we are going to have to operate on an extension. This is something that
would certainly be to the detriment of all States.
Obviously, we are all prejudiced for our own States. My State is
Oklahoma. Oklahoma has very severe problems with bridges. We need to
correct those problems. Border States have problems with NAFTA traffic
coming up, south to north, and back down. That adds a lot.
We are trying to do something with the Borders and Corridors Program.
If we do not have a bill, we will not have that program. We have a lot
of things that are very significant and need to be addressed.
I encourage my fellow Members to come to the floor and talk about the
motion to proceed to the highway bill, talk about the highway
conditions in their States, and help us to get this bill passed.
I will say this, the bill we had last year, even though it was $318
billion over a 6-year period, we enjoyed a 76-to-21 majority in this
body. I know the distinguished Presiding Officer was not here at the
time, but I had an opportunity to talk to all the Members who were not
here to vote last time about how they would vote, and virtually all of
them are supporting this highway bill.
It is essentially the same bill. We have been working on it, my
friend from Vermont, the ranking Democrat of the committee I chair, we
have been working on this now for 2\1/2\, almost 3 years. We can never
make up what happened. We understand that. When you get into a
complicated formula and consider all the things I outlined a few
minutes ago, there are going to be some people who do not want to have
a bill. There are procedural steps that can be taken to stop us from
having a bill. All we want is to have a vote.
Speaking of a vote, I do not have a better friend than the Senator
from North Dakota. We disagree on issues politically. He made some
comments to which I would like to respond. First on judges.
I do not think my State of Oklahoma is that different from other
States. I do not think it is different from North Carolina. I do not
think it is different from North Dakota or most States. When I walk
around and visit people in my State of Oklahoma--for 19 years I have
gone back on a weekly basis, so I am there talking to normal people,
because there are not that many here in Washington--I find out what
concerns them. They are concerned about a lot of the issues with which
we deal.
Certainly, they are concerned about the war in Iraq. They are
concerned about the fact that we are finally winning the war against
terrorism. We are doing a good job over there. I was there a few days
ago and made a point, since I am on the Senate Armed Services
Committee, to spend some time in the Sunni Triangle where they are
supposed to dislike us the most. I have never seen anything like it. In
Fallujah, there is a guy who was the brigade commander for Saddam
Hussein who hated Americans before. Then he got the title of brigade
commander for the Iraqi security forces, and he started working with
our Marines over there. He started loving them so much, he said when
they rotated out--and this includes embedded training where his troops
were training with our Marines; our Marines were helping to train these
individuals--when our Marines rotated and left, he said they actually
cried. He has renamed the Fallujah Iraqi security forces. They are now
called the Fallujah Marines, named after our marines. That is what is
happening in the Sunni Triangle.
I went to Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein. During the training
process in Tikrit, outside one of the stations they were training in
was a car bomb that killed 10 Iraqis and severely injured 30 more. In
Tikrit, the 40 families who either lost through death or severe
injuries people who are being trained to fight for the Iraqi security
forces substituted other members of their families. It is incredible
because they have this great love.
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We got in a Blackhawk helicopter and flew all over the Sunni Triangle
at less than 100 feet. It is the safest way to fly. There are
terrorists out there who can hit the helicopter.
As we went across, we saw little kids come up on villages waving
American flags. There are many people, I am sure, right now who send
care packages to our troops over there. What these troops are doing
with the care packages is taking the candy and cookies and repackaging
them. Then we go 100 feet over the Sunni Triangle, when the kids are
waving, and they throw the candy out to the kids. There is a love that
is indescribable. We never hear that from the media back here. The
media is very biased. The networks are biased, and we do not hear the
success stories. Good things are happening.
I was there a few weeks before that after the January 30 election.
Everyone was saying the election was not going to go off. People risked
their life to vote, and they told me they could not see the ballot
because of the tears in their eyes. Another one told me it occurred to
her when she voted that it was not only ending a 35-year bloody regime
of Saddam Hussein, but it was the first time in 7,000 years she and the
Iraqi people were having a right, an opportunity for self-
determination. It is a huge thing happening over there.
We all know about the weapons of mass destruction and trying to
discredit the President. We knew there were terrorist training camps.
We have gotten rid of them. We are seeing a new democracy emerge and
totally change the Middle East. It has been successful.
I only say that because there are a lot of important things going on,
and one is, of course, dealing with the current deficit. We are going
to have deficits. My good friend from North Dakota was critical of the
deficit that is taking place right now. I think it has been pretty well
established--in fact, even the Democrats have agreed--that this
recession actually started in March of 2000, which was under the
Clinton administration. When you go into recession, for every 1-percent
decrease in economic activity, that translates to $46 billion in
revenues.
We had the revenue going down at the same time we had 9/11. We are in
a war and we cannot come out of a deficit while we are in a war. We had
a reduction in the military. I do not criticize the Clinton
administration for what happened to the military after the first gulf
war, but when the military is downsized, some of our modernization
programs are stopped and it is expensive.
Right now I do not know how many American people realize that we are
actually sending our kids out to battle with equipment that is not as
good as our potential adversaries. Our best artillery piece, for
example, is the Paladin. The Paladin is World War II technology. After
each shot, you have to get out and swab the breach, like you used to
have to do during World War II. Yet there are five countries right now,
including South Africa, that are making a better non-line-of-sight
cannon than our Paladin. Our kids do not have as good equipment, and
that is because our modernization program came to somewhat of a
screeching halt.
I was very proud of GEN John Jumper back in I think it was 1998 when
out of his frustration he was trying to say we have to do something
about our modernization programs; that our best strike vehicle is
currently the F-15 and the F-16 and the Russians are making the SU-30s
and 31s, as they were at the time, and selling them to potential
adversaries, and they are better than our F-15s and F-16s. When we have
our F-22s online, and our Joint Strike Fighter, we will change that,
but we have to progressively do this, and it is expensive. That is why
we will continue to have deficits for a while until we get this thing
done.
In all fairness, we have to realize that, No. 1, the administration
inherited a deficit; No. 2, we are at war; and, No. 3, we are
rebuilding a military operation.
Getting back to the judges, as I said, I do not think Oklahoma is a
lot different from other States. When I go down the street and I talk
to people, they are much more concerned about what is happening with
the judicial decisions and liberal judges trying to make law from the
benches. They are concerned about school prayer, gay marriage, and the
Pledge of Allegiance with ``one Nation under God'' coming out. These
things bother people back in Oklahoma. Maybe they do not bother people
in other States but they do in Oklahoma. All we want are circuit judges
to be nominated and then given a simple majority vote on the floor, so
that we can determine whether that nomination by the President can be
confirmed.
I do appreciate what the Senator from North Dakota was saying.
However, I have to say to my knowledge never in the history--sometimes
people say, well, how about Judge Bork back several years ago? That was
a different situation altogether. Never in history has there been a
filibuster of circuit judge nominees. It should not be 60 people to
confirm a judge; it should be 51 people. All we want is a vote. We do
not care how it comes out. That is going to be the will of the Senate,
but the Constitution specifically says ``Advice and Consent of the
Senate.'' That is a majority, and that is all we really want.
I know there are liberals who have a liberal agenda who do not want
to have conservatives or constructionists confirmed on the various
circuit courts and Federal benches, and ultimately the U.S. Supreme
Court. But I can assure my colleagues that the vast majority of people
in Oklahoma do.
Lastly, I do agree with the Senator from North Dakota when he talked
about the need for an energy policy. I became aware of this and
concerned with this way back in the early 1980s when Ronald Reagan was
President of the United States. I believed that he should have had an
energy policy for America. Quite frankly, even though he was my
favorite guy in contemporary history, he did not do it. There were so
many other things facing his two terms that he was not able to come up
with an energy policy.
I can remember when Secretary Hodel and I would go around the
country, we would make speeches about how our dependence on foreign
countries for our ability to fight a war for our energy supply was not
an energy issue, it was a national security issue. We tried to convince
people of that, and we were not successful.
Then, of course, along came other administrations and they did not do
it, either. I thought certainly the first Bush administration, since he
had an oil background, would be more concerned about it. But this
President does. He says we should have a comprehensive energy policy
for America, and one of the cornerstones should be a limit as to how
much we should be dependent upon foreign countries for our energy
supply--or I will put it a different way, for our ability to fight a
war.
So here we have a situation where back when I started making speeches
about our dependency on foreign countries for our oil was when we were
dependent for about 34 percent. Now it is up to 65 percent. We are
dependent upon foreign countries for our ability to fight a war twice
as much as we were back in the 1980s. So it is going in the wrong
direction.
What we need is an energy bill. I was very glad to see the vote on
ANWR. It is kind of interesting, the Arctic National Wildlife, that
tiny little part of the wildlife reservation that people are concerned
about, all of the Natives in Alaska want it, all the Alaskans want it,
the House wants it up in Alaska, the Senate wants it, everybody else
wants it, but we refused to give it to them to allow them to explore
and produce on ANWR. Now they can do that.
A comprehensive energy bill should have an oil and a gas component to
it. It should have fossil fuels, coal, nuclear energy, and renewable
energy. If we can have that, we can have an energy bill. I think we are
going to have one. I am particularly concerned about it because I chair
the Environment and Public Works Committee and about one-third of the
Energy bill is in the jurisdiction of my committee. We are going to do
what we can to work with the distinguished Senator from New Mexico, Mr.
Domenici, to try to make that happen.
I encourage Members to come to the floor, and in the event they do I
would certainly relinquish the floor to anyone who wants to talk about
the highway bill.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
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The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. KERRY. 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. KERRY. What is the pending business?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion to proceed to the highway bill.
Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent I be permitted to
speak as in morning business for a period not to exceed 15 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Dependency on Foreign Oil
Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, this morning, Americans braced themselves
for another week of devastating news about the gas pump. This morning,
Americans learned again of the record increases in the price of oil in
America. When they turn on the news tonight, they are not going to
learn of anything that has been done by this Congress or the
administration in the past months or even past years. They are not
going to see Washington taking the necessary steps to end our
dependency on foreign oil. Instead, people will see President Bush
meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, a stark reminder of our
dangerous dependence on foreign oil and how much that dependence
threatens our economy as well as our national security.
The President offers strong words against nations that sponsor
terror, but for those in control of 65 percent of the world's oil
supply, those words are compromised from the get-go. That is wrong, but
it is fundamentally what happens when the administration is committed
to an energy future that is dependent on oil, oil, and more oil, at all
costs, even if that cost is our national security.
The fact is, we are more dependent on foreign oil today than ever
before. Despite the sharp rhetoric of the 1970s and the initial effort
to try to be less dependent on oil, it has consistently increased. This
dependence slows our economy, harms our environment, dilutes our
national security, and it burdens Americans with the high gas prices
they face today. Sadly, the President's energy bill, which we are going
to soon debate in the Senate, fundamentally ignores these problems, and
it does nothing to lower gas prices.
In the last days, the administration has conceded ``changes to
production, consumption, imports and prices are negligible under the
plan submitted to the Congress.'' Frankly, Washington has danced around
this statement for a year now. But last week, President Bush himself
acknowledged the truth. He said:
[The] energy bill wouldn't change the price at the pump
today. I know that and you know that.
So if we all know that, why pass this Energy bill along in its
current form when real solutions are staring us in the face? Americans
are paying an average of $2.28 a gallon at the pump. That is up 6 cents
in the last week, over 50 percent in the last year, and up a staggering
56 percent since 2001. The President's so-called energy plan does
nothing to reduce our dependency on foreign oil. The President's own
economists found oil imports will actually increase 85 percent by 2025
under a proposal such as the one we see in the Congress. Less than 5
percent of the incentives in this bill are devoted to developing
alternative sources of energy. That is 5 percent for the future, 95
percent for the status quo.
In 2002, when the Senate passed an energy bill with a bipartisan vote
of 88 to 11, the bill provided for a balanced tax package: 50 percent
of the benefits to oil and gas and 50 percent to renewables. By
abandoning that balanced, forward-looking approach, this bill sells out
our Nation's dream of an energy independent future.
Why are we taking the time in the Senate and the House to discuss an
energy bill that does not take the steps available to begin to free us
from our dependency? The failure to aggressively address the dependency
will condemn a generation of Americans to higher gas prices, and the
problem will only get worse. The era when the United States, Japan, and
Europe comprised the bulk of the world's demand for oil is long over.
Oil consumption from developing Asian nations is going to more than
double in the next 25 years, from 15 million to 32 million barrels a
day. Chinese consumption will grow from 5 million to nearly 13 million
per day. India's consumption will rise from 2 to more than 5 million
barrels per day.
The escalating demand for foreign oil is simply unsustainable. Every
American who has taken an economics class, who owns a small business,
or who balances the family checkbook understands that when demand for
the product goes up and supply of that product is limited, prices are
going to go through the roof. If you do not own your own product, that
is great, but if you do, you are in trouble. Obviously, we do not. The
fact is that the United States only has 3 percent of the world's oil
reserves. So no matter what happens, we are going to remain dependent
if fossil fuel and oil are going to remain the staple of our
transportation, heating, and other product sources in the United
States.
In reality, international demand for oil is going up, and prices are
going up as that demand goes up. There is little we can do to stop it
unless we change the fundamentals on which we are currently producing
and providing for the various oil needs of our Nation. We cannot drill
our way out of this problem under any scenario whatever. Whether we
drill in Alaska or even the oil in the deep water of the gulf, we
cannot drill our way out of it.
America needs to move forward in the technology race. We need to
invent our way out of it. The spectacle of an American President
literally reduced to asking--some would describe it as begging--another
country to open the spigots and try to provide some momentary relief is
really its own statement about where we find ourselves today. The fact
is, what we ought to be doing is accelerating research and development
in our country.
Today's meeting with the Saudis really underscores what is wrong with
the energy policy of our country. The danger of maintaining our
dependence on foreign oil is so obvious that Americans cannot help but
question the actions of this administration. The actions do not meet
their words. The President has said the right things. Last week, he
said:
With oil at more than $50 a barrel . . . energy companies
do not need taxpayer funded incentives.
So he said the right thing. But the facts tell a different story. The
Energy bill provides 95 percent of the tax benefits to oil and gas
companies, with over $8 billion directly going to the oil and gas
companies of the country. Only 5 percent--less than even in the bill we
passed 2 years ago in the Senate, or 3 years ago--is going to go to
those things that would actually provide Americans with relief. At a
time when oil and gas prices are at historic highs, our energy policy
ought to be aimed at investing in new and renewable sources of energy,
not lining the pockets of the special interests.
On energy, the administration has not been leveling with the American
people. I think the President and Congress continue to miss an
extraordinary opportunity. Most public policy forces us to make
difficult tradeoffs: foreign versus domestic, urban versus rural,
consumer versus business. But energy policy does not require us to do
that. Other than the big oil companies, everyone benefits from reducing
our dependence on foreign oil. Energy policy provides us with a unique
opportunity to address a huge group of challenges all at the same time.
If we lead the world in investing in new energy technologies, we
create thousands of high-paying jobs right here in America. If we learn
to tap clean energy sources, we preserve a clean environment for our
families and future generations. We reduce mercury and acid rain. If we
remove the burden of high gas prices, American consumers will have more
cash in their pockets to spend on consumption products or on savings or
on college or other things. That will all give our economy the boost it
needs. Most importantly, if we end our dependence on foreign oil, we
strengthen our national security.
The Energy bill before the Congress accomplishes none of these goals.
In fact, it weakens all of them. Let me focus on one of those things
that it weakens, our national security. Increased American energy
dependence further entangles our Nation in unstable regions of the
world and forces us
[[Page S4172]]
even to compromise our values. In exchange for oil, we transfer wealth
to people who have done us harm and would do us harm in the future.
This is, obviously, as bad for our troops and for those serving
abroad as it is for people who experience the high gas prices here. We
risk being drawn into dangerous conflicts because of our dependency in
a particular region. We also see an already overburdened military that
has to bear the consequence of that.
In recent years, U.S. forces have had to help protect the Cano Limon
pipeline in Colombia. Our military had to train indigenous forces to
protect the pipeline in Georgia. We plan to spend $100 million on a
special network of police officers and special forces units to guard
oil facilities around the Caspian Sea and to continue to search for
bases in Africa so we can protect all of the facilities there. Our Navy
patrolled tanker routes in the Indian Ocean, South China Sea, and the
Western Pacific.
The reality is, we have to protect oil because that is what protects
our way of life today. This is a serious issue, with real consequences,
because of the unstable nature of conflict-ridden, oil-producing areas
which challenge our security.
In the spring of 2004, insurgents attacked an Iraqi oil platform.
There was violence against oil workers in Nigeria. The result was to
press global oil output and record-high gasoline prices. We were
helpless to stop it. I do not think any American wants to be helpless
where national security is concerned.
Our dependence on foreign oil creates just the sort of alliances that
George Washington warned against in 1796. These alliances with foreign
suppliers leave us more vulnerable, and they can crumble the
foundations of our economic and national security.
The most dangerous aspect of this is that we are not alone in this
dependency. I mentioned it earlier: International demand for oil is
rising at an alarming rate. Another word for ``demand'' is
``competition.'' Another word for ``competition'' is ``race.'' At this
rate, the great powers of the world may resume the race to secure the
remaining energy reserves. That is an alarming scenario, but it is
exactly the course we find ourselves on. With strong leadership, we can
avoid it. But we cannot do it without a balanced energy plan that ends
our dependence on foreign oil.
If anyone needs an example of how energy dependence can shortchange
national security, look no further than the war on terror itself. If we
assume oil miraculously drops back to $30 a barrel--no one assumes
that, but if you did--over the next 25 years, the United States will
send over 3 trillion American dollars out of the country, much of it to
regimes that do not share our values, and even, in many cases, our
goals.
It is bad enough to think that those $3 trillion are not going to go
directly into the American economy, that they are going to go to other
countries. It is worse to consider the impact on our volatile
relationship with regimes such as the House of Saud, fragile as it
finds itself increasingly today.
Our dependence on Saudi oil is a bad bargain for the war on terror.
In the past, Hamas received almost half of its funding from Saudi
Arabia. We know al-Qaida has relied on prominent Saudi Arabians for
financing, and Saudi Arabia sponsors clerics who still, after all the
rhetoric, promote the ideology of terror.
We all know what is going to happen today. The President is going to
ask Prince Abdullah to raise production. But we have to be honest with
the American people and acknowledge it is a short-term fix at best, and
it is one that carries its risks.
In the year 2000, Governor Bush said he would ``jawbone OPEC'' to
``open the spigots.'' But 5 years later, either he has not jawboned
enough or it is not important. It is time the administration learned
the only long-term solution to America's energy crisis and to our
security itself is to end our dependence on foreign oil.
National security is the most inexcusable casualty of our energy
policy. But again, it is not the only one. Federal Reserve Chairman
Alan Greenspan has said:
Markets for oil and natural gas have been subject to a
degree of strain over the past year not experienced for a
generation.
I might say, respectfully, it may not have been experienced for a
generation, but it was entirely predictable that this would come around
again, particularly when you look at the development rates of China,
India, and other Asian and South Asian countries.
As the chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers said:
High energy prices are now a drag on our economy.
That is the Republican administration speaking for itself.
This administration's energy policy works for Saudi Arabia, it works
for the countries that get those trillions of dollars, it works for big
oil and gas companies--all of which have record profits. I think one of
the top companies had a 213-percent increase in profits, others 146
percent, others in the double digits. Show me the American family whose
income went up commensurately. Show me most American businesses that
are struggling with health care costs and now have increased costs of
transportation. The American trucking industry has billions of dollars,
perhaps $20 billion paid out because of the rise in the cost of fuel.
So everyone is losing: consumers, small businesses, the environment,
our troops, our security--everyone but the oil and gas companies.
We need an energy policy that works for America and works for the
21st century. We have successfully moved from different sources of fuel
in our history. We went from wood to coal. We went from coal to oil.
We went from oil to a mix of oil and gas and coal and nuclear and
hydroelectric, and now we are talking about wind power and other
sources. We have the capacity to have various kinds of additives and
even biodiesel and other forms, but we are not moving rapidly to secure
the marketplace for those alternatives.
It is time now for America to make its next transition in fuel, to
move to a mix of solar and wind and biomass and fuel cells and clean
coal and other wonders of American ingenuity. We have huge reserves of
coal. But despite all the rhetoric, the administration hasn't even
adequately funded the clean coal technology program. We need to tap
America's strength. The new president of MIT wrote a couple of articles
the other day pointing out how America is slipping backwards in
technology. All you have to do is pick up any of the analyses on
competitiveness in technology in America today. America is producing
fewer engineers, fewer scientists. Fewer kids in college are going into
science and the physical sciences. Less money is being put into the R&D
to move us into that competitive edge.
That competitive edge is what built the economy of the 1990s. It is
what helped us to be able to create the high value-added jobs so we
moved to an unemployment rate that was the lowest in the modern history
of our Nation, and we paid down debt. We invested in the long-term
future of our country. We have seen a complete reversal of that in the
last 4\1/2\ years.
I hope this Congress will do what it ought to do, not start pitting
people against each other according to definitions of faith, but come
here with faith in America and American ingenuity and understand that
we need to tap America's strength. We need to tap our markets, our
capacity for invention, innovation, and our values. That is the way we
will control our own destiny. We need to embrace and foster a
revolution toward an energy world that benefits our environment, our
economy and, most importantly, our security.
The President's energy plan will bring us more of the same--the
status quo, a more dangerous future of energy dependence and high
prices. It is time we came together with a real energy policy that
works for the American people and puts Americans back in charge of
their future and liberates our children from the stranglehold of fossil
fuel.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, the regular order is the cloture motion on
the motion to proceed to the highway bill. This is one we are very much
concerned about. I have said several times I am hoping Members will
come to the floor and speak on the highway bill. I know the
distinguished Senator from
[[Page S4173]]
Illinois wants to be heard right now. Let me only make one comment.
Earlier on I talked a little bit about the Energy bill. The
distinguished junior Senator from Massachusetts started off with a
quote by the President that was not quite complete. What the President
said was the Energy bill would have no immediate impact on gas prices
but long-term gas prices will be affected by an energy bill. I made
that very clear a few minutes ago when I talked about the fact we have
been trying to get an energy bill since the 1980s.
I don't say this in a partisan way because we tried to get an energy
bill during the Reagan administration and the Carter administration
before that, the first Bush administration, and the Clinton
administration. We were unable to do it. It was not until this
President came along and offered an energy bill or an energy policy for
America. It is long in waiting. Obviously, supply and demand tells us
that portion of energy that is generated by oil and gas is going to be
cheaper if we are able to do it locally and do it in this country
without depending upon foreign sources of oil.
We know what happened in OPEC days back in the 1970s. We know we can
be held hostage again. It is a very serious problem. But an energy bill
should include all forms of energy. I agree with the Senator from
Massachusetts, we should be concentrating also on technology, on
renewables. Certainly I disagree with the Senator from Massachusetts
when he says he wants clean coal technology and he wants to be able to
utilize coal. It was the Democrats in the committee I chair who killed
the Clear Skies--didn't kill it, but delayed it--Initiative of the
President which would have the most dramatic reduction on pollutants,
on NOx, SOx, and mercury pollution than any
President has ever advocated in the history of America, a 70-percent
reduction. To do this we had to continue to have clean coal technology.
That is part of the bill, as are oil and gas and nuclear and
renewables.
We made an effort to do that and were unable to do it on a partisan
line. If the Senator from Massachusetts is interested in having a
bipartisan approach to the use of clean coal technology and to expand
the use of coal, we need to look at all of the above, all of the forms
of energy. I will join him in that program.
The Senator from Illinois wants to be recognized as in morning
business. Since I do want to get back to the highway bill, I ask
unanimous consent that the Senator from Illinois be recognized for 30
minutes as in morning business and then immediately following his 30
minutes, I be recognized for 30 minutes as in morning business, and
then we would go back to the regular order. I encourage Members who are
interested in the motion to proceed to the highway bill to come to the
floor, to be heard, and so we can recognize them for that purpose.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Senator from Illinois.
Mr. DURBIN. If I overheard the request, the Senator from Oklahoma
suggested 30 minutes in morning business.
Mr. INHOFE. Yes, for the Senator from Illinois, unless he desires
more.
Mr. DURBIN. That should be adequate. I thank the Senator.
Judicial Nominees
Mr. President, I come to the floor with some feelings of
disappointment. I had hoped that on reflection, Majority Leader Frist
would change his mind about taking part in a rally yesterday in
Kentucky with groups that claim anyone who opposes President Bush's
judicial nominees is opposed to ``people of faith.'' The organizers of
that rally, the Family Research Council, called their rally ``Justice
Sunday.'' I agree with Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National
Council of Churches. A better name would have been ``Just Us Sunday.''
This Republican religious group is trying to redefine faith to fit
its own narrow definition. What is their test? Does their definition of
faith turn to the Bible? You know the biblical test, how do you treat
the least of your brethren. No, the litmus test of faith for this group
is as follows: Do you agree that a President--namely President Bush--
ought to be able to ignore the Constitution, the rules of the Senate,
and 200 years of Senate tradition to appoint people to the Federal
bench for lifetime appointments even if those nominees hold extreme
political views outside the mainstream of America?
That is their test of faith. If you say yes, then you are a person of
faith. If you say no, they would brand you as anti-God and antifamily.
The depth we have reached in this political debate that the majority
leader of the Senate would add his name and his words to a rally which
is so divisive, which tries to make a constitutional issue a religious
issue. I had hoped Senator Frist would decide not to take part in it. I
hoped he would have used his leadership position to discourage those
who are using this religious McCarthyism that seems to be gripping our
political system now that the Republicans are in control of the House
and the Senate. Unfortunately, he did not.
He sent a taped message which contained within it, I will concede,
some conciliatory words warning those involved not to go too far, as
Senator Lindsey Graham did yesterday on a television show which I
shared. But unfortunately, I am sure those who were involved with the
Family Research Council were heartened by the appearance of Senator
Frist.
Now we are learning that placing your own candidates in lifetime
Federal judgeships is not enough for this group.
They are also plotting to rid the bench of Federal judges they don't
like. The Los Angeles Times ran a story last Friday about a private
conference of evangelical leaders in Washington, attended by Senator
Frist and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, whose name appears
constantly in this national debate. They had an audiotape of the
conference. The story quotes two of the organizers of yesterday's rally
in Kentucky, talking about working with congressional Republicans on
plans to get rid of the Federal courts they don't like. This is a quote
from Tony Perkins, one of the lead spokesmen yesterday for the Family
Research Council. He said this at this Washington, DC, conference with
Tom DeLay and Bill Frist:
There's more than one way to skin a cat, and there's more
than one way to take a black robe off the bench.
According to the Times article:
Mr. Perkins said he had attended a meeting with
congressional leaders a week earlier where the strategy of
stripping funding from certain courts was ``prominently''
discussed. ``What they're thinking of is not only the fact of
just making these courts go away and recreating them the next
day, but also defunding them,'' Mr. Perkins said.
The story reports Mr. Dobson, a reverend also involved with this
effort, as saying:
Very few people know this, that the Congress can simply
disenfranchise a court. They don't have to fire anybody or
impeach them or go through that battle. All they have to say
is the Ninth Circuit doesn't exist anymore, and it is gone.
Mr. Perkins said these plans to remake America's courts are ``on the
radar screen, especially of conservatives here in Congress.''
We have valued, since the creation of this great Nation, our
independent and balanced judiciary. I am certain that members of the
judiciary are angered at times with positions taken and things said by
those in the executive and legislative branches. It works both ways.
Yet we understand the nature of our checks and balances, the nature of
three separate branches of government is unique to America and has
given us the strength to survive in this democracy for over 200 years.
The strategy of Tom DeLay, Senator Frist, and groups like the Family
Research Council challenge this premise of our constitutional
democracy. I would like to address the questions raised about what
might happen if the Republicans go forward with the so-called nuclear
option. First, let me tell you that the phrase ``nuclear option'' was
not conceived by a group of Democrats in a back room. As I understand
it, Senator Trent Lott, a leading Republican, called this approach a
nuclear option, understanding, as he did, that it is an assault on some
of the most fundamental principles of the Constitution and the Senate.
It was, in fact, nuclear war and the use of a nuclear weapon from a
procedural point of view. It assaulted one of the most basic principles
of America, the principle of checks and balances.
Look at the political landscape in America today. Republicans control
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the White House, the House, the Senate, and the Supreme Court. Not in
60 years has so much power been vested in one party. But from the point
of view of many of their special interest groups, it is not enough;
they want more. They don't just want to govern in America; they want to
rule. That means they need and want powers beyond those given to a
political party under our Constitution.
Think about why we have a Senate. It was part of the Great
Compromise. Thirteen colonies came together, deciding whether they
could work together as one government, and the smaller colonies said we
don't have a chance. If you count numbers, the more populous colonies
will always win the debate. So the Great Compromise said the House of
Representatives will have more people, with more representatives in the
more populous States, so they will have more votes. But the Senate is
different. Every State gets two Senators. The rules of the Senate were
written so, even within the Senate, when one Senator objected to a
major change in law, the Senate rules respected that minority Senator.
In fact, it wasn't until right after World War I that there was a way
to even stop what was known as a filibuster. If you saw ``Mr. Smith
Goes to Washington,'' you saw Jimmy Stewart, that new idealistic
Senator, take to the floor arguing for something he believed in until
he ran out of breath and collapsed. Well, that is the filibuster. The
way you can stop it is with a certain number of votes. Beginning in the
20th century, that number of votes is 60. It recognizes that this
unique Chamber in America's Government will always recognize the rights
of the minority.
We have built on that principle, and that is why the filibuster was
created. Sadly, the Republican majority today wants to break the rules
of the Senate and change the filibuster rule. They want to end the
checks and balances that have been part of this institution since the
Constitution was written. For what? So President Bush can have every
judicial nominee he proposes to Congress, without debate, without
dissention, and it would not be subject to a filibuster.
I think the filibuster is one of the most basic tenets of our checks-
and-balances system. It prevents a tyranny of the majority and
encourages compromise and moderation. Think about it; if it takes 60
votes, you need to compromise. If it takes 60 votes, neither side has
that, so you need bipartisanship. It works every single day on
legislation and on nominees.
What about the President's track record when it comes to judges?
Consider this: Since President Bush came to office, he sent 215 names
of judicial nominees to the floor of the Senate; 205 have been
approved. Only 10 have not been approved. More than 95 percent of the
President's nominees have been approved by the Senate but, sadly, the
point of view of the White House is that it is not enough. They want
them all. They are willing to assault the Constitution and change the
Senate rules. With an approval rate of 95 percent, this is not a
crisis; it is a manufactured political crisis.
Republicans claim it is unconstitutional to filibuster. They are
wrong. The Constitution makes it clear that the rules of the Senate are
the decision of the Senate. Here is what article I, section 5 of the
Constitution specifically states:
Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings. . .
.
That means the House and the Senate may determine the rules of its
proceedings. From the beginning, the Senate has allowed filibusters. In
1789, the first Senate filibustered a bill about moving the capitol
from New York City to Washington. But these Republicans, under
President Bush and Vice President Cheney, want to change that time-
honored rule. They claim the use of the filibuster to block judicial
nominees has never happened, that it is unprecedented. That is what you
hear from them. They are wrong.
Before George W. Bush became President, 11 judicial nominations
needed 60 or more votes--cloture--to end a filibuster.
On two other judicial nominations--one in 1986 and one in 1994--
cloture was filed in order to end filibusters, but it was later
withdrawn. Of those 11 nominations on which cloture was needed to end a
filibuster, 4 occurred during the Clinton administration.
Let me just point to one. March 8, 2000, the nomination of Richard
Paez to be a judge of the Ninth Circuit. Fourteen Republican Senators
voted on the Senate floor to filibuster Judge Paez's nomination. Look
at the list of the 14 Senators, and do you know what name you will
find? Senator Bill Frist. He is now the majority leader, and he claims
this never happened in the history of the Senate. He, in fact, voted on
the floor of the Senate for a filibuster against Richard Paez, a
Clinton nominee to the Ninth Circuit. For the record, it was vote No.
37, 106th Congress, second session, March 8, 2000.
In addition to the 4 Clinton judicial nominees who were filibustered,
60 additional Clinton nominees never received a hearing. It was a
pocket filibuster. What is unprecedented is what Republicans are
threatening now, to fundamentally change the rules and traditions of
the Senate and the constitutional principle of checks and balances. To
argue that no judicial nominee will ever need more than 51 votes--7
times since 1949, the Senate has faced this question: Can a simple
majority change the cloture rule? Every single time, the answer has
been no, whether it was Democrats in the majority or Republicans in the
majority.
In 1953, Minority Leader Lyndon Johnson, the ``master of the
Senate,'' as he was dubbed, a man who knew something about finding and
using power wherever he could legitimately find it, worked with
Majority Leader Taft to protect the Senate from the nuclear option of
his day, when a single Democratic Senator threatened to use it.
Time and again, there have been threats to change this filibuster,
and it has never happened. There has been ample opportunity to do that.
One Senator who was involved in that was Senator Fritz Mondale of
Minnesota. He led a 1975 effort to change the cloture rule. Twenty-
seven years later, in September 2002, an older and wiser Fritz Mondale
came back to the Senate to talk about his years as part of the Leader's
Lecture Series.
He admitted he made a mistake to try to push through a nuclear
option. I want to read part of what he said. This is what Fritz Mondale
said on reflection:
When I came to the Senate, I thought a simple majority
should be enough to end debate. I had seen the cloture rule
abused in the past, especially on civil rights. The old rules
permitted virtually endless talk. In recent years, many
Senators had developed a postcloture strategy where, even
after a successful cloture vote, they could still carry on
forever, reading and amending the Journal, reading and
amending the Chaplain's prayer--as we did for several days--
filing hundreds of amendments with no end in sight.
Listen to what Fritz Mondale said:
It had to be changed, and it was, to what is now called the
Byrd rule. But to end a filibuster still requires 60 votes,
and I believe that is about right.
It is a balancing act. You need to be able to close off
debate, but you also need to give an individual Senator the
power to stop everything in the country and to rip open an
issue in a way that no other institution in America can. It
can't happen in the House. Their rules of debate are very
different. It can't happen in news conferences. It can't
happen on talk shows. That is entertainment, not debate. Only
the Senate can stop the Nation in its tracks, and it is the
only body in the world that allows it.
To claim, as nuclear option supporters do, that the 1975 effort
proves the constitutionality of their plan is simply wrong. It is a
misrepresentation of the facts. They argue we are simply talking about
judicial nominees. Yet we know from a Congressional Research Service
analysis of this issue that if they went forward with the nuclear
option on judicial nominees, nominees who are being appointed to the
bench for a lifetime, more could follow from that.
I still hope we can avoid this constitutional confrontation, this
crisis. I hope the destruction that will be brought to the Senate can
be avoided. I hope we can have a positive view toward the Senate's
future. But let me say this: If the Republican majority in the Senate
exercises the nuclear option, breaks the rules of the Senate for the
first time to change the rules, to eliminate the filibuster on judicial
nominees, to attack the principle of checks and balances, the
constitutional principle of our Government, then I think the response
from the Democratic side can easily be described as
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this: If the Republicans are going to break the rules, the Democrats
are going to play by the rules. Let me tell you what I mean.
We believe we must defend the Senate and the Constitution. We will
not allow one party to eliminate an essential part of checks and
balances. The Senate operates according to customs. The minority party
defers to the majority party regarding what bills come to the floor,
and other questions. It is a system that requires trust and cooperation
every day.
If Republicans choose to use the nuclear option, they are choosing to
assault that trust and cooperation. We can no longer routinely give our
unanimous consent to whatever procedural request the majority leader
makes. Instead, we will use the existing rules and precedents to have
the Senate focus on the real crises facing America's families and
businesses. Instead of granting deference to the Republican majority to
set the agenda on the Senate floor, Democrats will use the existing
rules and the precedents of the Senate to focus on issues such as
health care, energy, education, minimum wage, making certain we take
care of our veterans and soldiers.
We have already placed a number of important bills on the Senate
calendar, any of which can be brought up at once if the Republicans
trigger the nuclear option. These bills address real priorities and
challenges we face: funding our schools, bringing down the price of
gasoline at the pump, finding a way to provide health insurance and
health care for Americans, veterans benefits, and imposing fiscal
discipline with Government spending.
Let me make it clear. We are not going to set out to close down the
Senate or to close down the Government. Senator Reid, our Democratic
leader, and all the Members of the Senate feel as I do, that shutting
down the Government was the hapless tactic of the Gingrich revolution.
It was a terrible idea. Rush Limbaugh was the only American applauding
it every day, but the American people knew better. They want our
Government to continue. They want Government services that are
essential not to be in danger. So we are prepared to use the Senate
rules to make certain that the defense of our Nation and the defense of
our Armed Forces will be paramount, that passing key appropriations
bills will occur, the Government will go about its business.
But when it comes to the rest of the debate in the Senate, when it
comes to the agenda of legislative issues, we believe we can and will
use the rules, if the nuclear option is exercised, to make certain that
this debate is broadened--broadened beyond the special interest
debates of K Street, the lobbyists who sit around the corridors out
here begging for their bills to be called. We will expand this to
include a debate over issues American families are begging us to
consider, such as the cost of health insurance, help in putting
children through college, finding a way for us to deal with the energy
crisis in a responsible way that will conserve energy and bring about
more fuel efficiency, in addition to environmentally responsible
exploration for new energy sources.
Let's talk about gasoline for a minute. Americans are paying nearly
50 cents a gallon more for gas today than they were a year ago. Gas
prices have surged an average of 19 cents per gallon in the last 3
weeks. What is the Republican solution? Many times it is more of the
same. Keep increasing America's dependence on increasingly expensive
oil from increasingly volatile parts of the world.
If Republicans are insisting on changing the rules of the Senate,
Democrats will use the opportunity to press for an end to price gouging
at the pumps today. We will also push for real long-term solutions,
including conservation and new sources of alternative energy that will
make America more secure in the future.
Think of it, 45 million Americans in our country, 1 in 7 have no
health insurance. Tens of thousands more are underinsured. Rising
health costs are eating up every penny of the profits at many
companies. Did you read the report in the paper in the business section
last week? General Motors lost $1 billion in the last quarter. When
they were asked why they were losing money if they were still selling
cars, they said: With every car we sell is $1,500 in health insurance
costs and $500 in pension costs. So before we can compete with the
foreign manufacturers, we have to pay for the health insurance and the
pension costs.
What we are saying is this ought to be part of a national debate.
There has not been a single suggestion on the floor of the Senate from
the Republican leadership that they are ready to even discuss health
care, nor from the White House.
If we move beyond the nuclear option, we on the Democratic side feel
this debate has to take place, and we will move proactively to put this
on the calendar for debate during this session of the Senate.
In recent months, we found the new prescription drug benefit under
Medicare will cost hundreds of billions of dollars more than first
estimated. Now this week a new report warns the drug benefit will not
provide adequate coverage for seniors with cancer and other chronic
illnesses, and leave them with huge personal prescription drug bills.
If the Republicans in the Senate use the nuclear option to try to
change the rules of the Senate, Democrats will use whatever rules we
can, whatever leverage we can find to fix the Medicare prescription
drug bill.
Millions of young people across America are going to graduate from
high school next month. Many are off applying to colleges, fingers
crossed they will get into that great school. But there is a fear in
every family--at least in most families--that some of the sons and
daughters who are accepted at the best schools will not be able to go
because the families cannot afford it. If the Republicans insist on
using the nuclear option, the Democrats will push to bring to the floor
Senate measures to make college more affordable for families across
America.
We will look for ways to bring to the floor a bill to fund properly
VA health facilities and end the deficits that are forcing Americans
all across America to wait months to see a doctor.
We do not have to manufacture crises. There are real, urgent problems
with which this Senate ought to be dealing. If the Republicans are
interested in governing, they will join the Democrats in addressing
these issues. If they are more concerned about political gains, they
will object. Democrats will not break the rules and we will not stand
by idly if others try to destroy the rules of the Senate for temporary
political advantage. We will use the rules, we will live by the rules,
we will follow the rules at every opportunity to protect the
Constitution and do the people's business.
Senators can expect if the nuclear option is called and passes we
will spend more time at our desks, more time in session, more time on
the floor, more time in Washington. The old complaint about 1,000-page
bills coming to the Senate never having been read, they will be read.
The complaint that amendments come to the floor Senators have not had a
chance to read, they will be read. The complaint about speaking to an
empty Chamber with few Senators around, that may change. There will be
Senators on the floor, part of a debate over amendments that are
important to this country.
I sincerely hope the Republican majority will think twice. Senator
McCain said, and I think rightly, you never know what the next election
might bring. You might find yourself in a minority status, and it is
important for us to understand that as Senators have come and gone,
almost 1,900 now in the history of the United States, as issues have
come and gone, as Congresses have come and gone, the traditions and
rules of the Senate have endured. The Constitution which guides this
Chamber, which brings us to the floor today and every day, the
Constitution we have all sworn to uphold and defend is worth fighting
for.
When a White House with any President of either party tries to extend
their power at the expense of the Constitution, historically the Senate
has said no.
This time, unfortunately, this President is demanding more power than
any President in the history of the United States when it comes to
judicial nominees. This President is demanding powers that have never
been exercised under this Constitution. Sadly, his party, the proud
Republican Party, is not willing to say no. They should. In the past,
Franklin Roosevelt's Democratic Party said no to him when he
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overextended. Thomas Jefferson's party said no to him when he tried to
extend his Presidential power. They understood that the Constitution is
more important than the power of any 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. INHOFE. 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. INHOFE. Mr. President, right now, the regular order is the motion
to proceed to the highway bill. It is one of the most significant bills
we will be addressing this year. It is one that we are very hopeful
will pass. Last year, the highway bill passed with a vote of 76 to 21.
Having received that very strong majority, we believe that this bill is
so much like it that we should be able to do the same thing.
I understand that tomorrow morning at 11:45 there will be a vote.
Again, as I have said since 2 this afternoon, I encourage Members to
come to the floor to be heard on the motion to proceed to the highway
bill, and I am hoping that will happen. I will only make a couple of
comments.
I do not want to sound redundant, but I will respond to the
distinguished Senator from Illinois. A couple of hours ago I commented
that the people from Oklahoma maybe are different from the rest of the
country. When I go down the street, people are concerned about the
decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court. They are concerned about liberal
judges legislating from the bench, and this President has been
concerned about that. I am talking about things like school prayer, gay
marriages, and ``one nation under God'' in the Pledge of Allegiance.
These things are very important. These things are probably important to
people all over the country.
It can be talked about hour after hour. Threats can be made about
what one would do, but it is not a nuclear option, it is a
constitutional option. This has been true for 214 years now, where
there has not been a filibustering of circuit court judges. This is
something that should not require a supermajority of 60 votes. If there
is one thing my people in Oklahoma want changed, it is to be able to
select judges who will interpret the Constitution and not use the bench
for legislation purposes.
As far as the Energy bill is concerned, I do agree with the Senator
from Illinois that we need to do something about our dependence on
foreign oils for our energy supply. It is going to be absolutely
necessary to have this Energy bill, and I believe we will have it. We
need to address drilling. We need to do something about fossil fuels.
We need to do something about nuclear and renewables. Just one example:
In the House bill that was passed, there is a tax provision that will
encourage people to go after marginal production. My State of Oklahoma
happens to be a very large marginal producer. For those who are not
familiar with this, a marginal well produces 15 barrels or fewer a day.
We have the largest number of marginal wells in our State of Oklahoma.
If we had every marginal well producing today that has been shut down
or plugged up in the last 10 years, it would be more than we are
currently importing from Saudi Arabia. These are little things that can
be in an energy bill.
The President was misquoted on the Senate floor a few minutes ago,
but certainly everyone realizes it is just a supply and demand issue.
If we are able to produce more here, it is going to be cheaper. That is
what we need to do. Those individuals who are somehow living in this
mythical world that we can run the greatest machine in the history of
the world on windmills are wrong. By the way, speaking of windmills, I
find even some of the environmentalist extremists now do not want
windmills because they are killing the birds. We have to realize we
have the most powerful, largest machine ever in the history of the
world, and we need to have an energy bill to run that machine.
china's threat to national security
Mr. President, over the past 3 weeks I have given three speeches
calling our attention to the rising threat that China is becoming to
our national security. Today I will highlight the areas that most
directly affect our national security: weapons proliferation and
military modernization. These two aspects are interrelated and add an
alarming dynamic to our complex relationship with China.
It is a difficult situation, one in which information is our best
resource. Five years ago, Congress created the bipartisan U.S.-China
Commission to study the significance of recent events and the impact
these events have on our national security. The Commission has held
hearings and enlisted the services of experts across the world to gain
clarity about what is happening with China. The conclusions are
compiled in the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission's
2004 report to Congress, a document that reveals an alarming picture of
where we are heading.
China has made commitments to stop proliferating illegal technology
over and over since 1992. However, its actual practice has been
markedly different. Just this past January, the Bush administration
sanctioned eight Chinese companies for aiding Iran's missile
development. Two of these companies, China Great Wall Industry
Corporation and China North Industry Corporation, have been repeatedly
sanctioned for over a decade. Another penalized company, China Aero-
Technology Import and Export Corporation, is suspected of transferring
technology from McDonnell-Douglas to China's military. The fact is that
China has been unable to control its own companies. According to State
Department testimony, China has a ``serial proliferation problem,'' and
while the official line is to crack down on the weapons trade,
``reality has been quite different.''
Over recent years, these transfers have become even more problematic,
as the Commission details in its report:
. . . Chinese transfers have evolved from sales of complete
missile systems, to exports of largely dual-use nuclear,
chemical, and missile components and technologies . . .
Recent activities ``have aggravated trends that result in
ambiguous technical aid, more indigenous capabilities, longer
range missiles, and secondary proliferation.'' Continuing
intelligence reports indicate that Chinese cooperation with
Pakistan and Iran remains an integral element of China's
foreign policy . . . Beijing's failure to control such
transfers gives the appearance that these are allowed in
accordance with an unstated national policy. China has
generally tried to avoid making fundamental changes in its
transfer policies by offering the United States carefully
worded commitments or exploiting differences between
agreements.
In mid-2003, the CIA reported to Congress that ``firms in China
provided dual-use missile-related items, raw materials, and/or
assistance to . . . countries of proliferation concern such as Iran,
Libya, and North Korea.'' With these recently sanctioned companies, we
see that China is fully willing to proliferate regardless of the
consequences. Why? Well, perhaps we need to consider that something
else is going on here besides profits.
China seems to proliferate with countries that have been terrorist
sponsors, countries such as Iran, Iraq and Libya. These countries in
turn offer China something they desperately need: oil. In my last
speech I discussed China's search for oil sources and the implications
this has on economic and national security. But the connection here is
beyond energy. The Commission report describes what it looks like:
This need for energy security may help explain Beijing's
history of assistance to terrorist-sponsoring states, with
various forms of WMD-related items and technical assistance,
even in the face of U.S. sanctions . . . But, this pursuit of
oil diplomacy may support objectives beyond just energy
supply. Beijing's bilateral arrangements with oil-rich Middle
Eastern states also helped create diplomatic and strategic
alliances with countries that were hostile to the United
States. For example, with U.S. interests precluded from
entering Iran, China may hope to achieve a long-term
competitive advantage relative to the United States. Over
time, Beijing's relationship-building may counter U.S. power
and enhance Beijing's ability to influence political and
military outcomes. One of Beijing's stated goals is to reduce
what it considers U.S. superpower dominance in favor of a
multipolar global power structure in which China attains
superpower status on par with the United States.
I cannot say it stronger than that. China is exploiting our timidity.
The Commission recommends that we pressure the administration to
develop and
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publish a coordinated, comprehensive strategy. I think that is very
sound advice and I will be introducing a resolution shortly to that
effect.
Another major area of concern is China's military modernization. The
weapons China is investing in include cruise missiles, amphibious
assault ships, submarines, long-range target acquisition systems, and
advanced SU-30 and SU-31 fighter aircraft it has been purchasing from
Russia.
I have always been very proud of GEN John Jumper, who had the courage
back in 1998 to stand up publicly to say right now we have other
countries that are producing better equipment than we have, such as our
strike vehicles. The very best we have is the F-15 and F-16. The SU-
30s, according to General Jumper, are in many ways superior to ones we
make in this country. We have to correct that situation and we are
going to with the advent of the FA-22 and joint strike fighters that
will be coming on line, but in the meantime China is buying these
vehicles. We have always known they have a nuclear capability, but what
is more concerning now is they have developed a conventional capability
that is equal to or greater than ours in many respects.
The commission believes that this force is being shaped to fit a
Taiwan conflict scenario:
[China's] military advancements have resulted in a dramatic
shift in the cross-Strait balance toward China, with serious
implications for Taiwan, for the United States, and for
cross-Strait relations.
The commission states that there are two ways we can prevent a
military escalation over Taiwan. The first is to pressure the EU to
maintain its arms embargo on China. This is a group of bipartisan
experts saying this. Second, we should have harsher punishments for
contractors who sell sensitive technology to China. We need a
comprehensive annual report on who is selling what to China because,
quite frankly, right now we simply don't know exactly how deep this
problem goes.
Opting to ignore the situation with China is not a choice that we as
representatives of the American people can afford to make. I urge this
body to listen closely to the commission's conclusion:
We need to use our substantial leverage to develop an
architecture that will help avoid conflict, attempt to build
cooperative practices and institutions, and advance both
countries' long-term interests. The United States has the
leverage now and perhaps for the next decade, but this may
not always be the case . . . If we falter in the use of our
economic and political influence now to effect positive
change in China, we will have squandered an historic
opportunity . . . China will likely not initiate the decisive
measures toward more meaningful economic and political reform
without substantial, sustained, and increased pressure from
the United States.
In the resolution I introduce, I will be asking you to stand behind
the US-China Commission's recommendations. These recommendations are
listed in the Commission's 2004 Report to Congress. I have highlighted
a few of these in my recent speeches, but there are many more. We need
to send a message of urgency to the administration to adopt what our
own commission recommends. This is not a partisan move. This is a real
and legitimate need to respond to the facts before us. We have a clear
picture of where the trends are heading--economically, militarily and
in ideology--and the security of the United States demands our
response.
In my last speech that will accompany the resolution I will be
introducing, I will summarize all the recommendations from the
commission. I hope it will be the first--but not final--step in the
development of a more proactive and comprehensive policy toward China.
It needs to be a policy that adequately addresses our national
security, especially the proliferation of military technology. It also
needs to address free trade, human rights and, of course, Taiwan. I
fear the track we are on does not adequately address any of these.
This is very distressing. In some of the previous talks we quoted
some of the Chinese colonels when they said we can do this to America,
we can compete not only militarily but economically. This is something
we have to be concerned about. I cannot think of anything that would be
more important to address from a national security objective than that.
However, there is something that is most important to address right
now and that is the subject we are on, which is the reauthorization of
the highway bill.
I will make a couple of comments about that. I know there are some
other people who want to come down. I will yield to them at that time.
But when you look at the way the Senate has historically approached the
reauthorization of the highway bill, it is different than has been done
on the other side. It is the more difficult way because there are so
many things that are in a formula. Formulas address problems in low-
income States, in low-population States, in low-population density
States, in States with high fatality rates, with guaranteed minimum
growth and guaranteed minimum rate of return from donor States. We have
donee States. All of these things are part of a very complex formula.
We will tomorrow be talking about this for an hour, from 10:45 to
11:45. There will be 1 hour equally divided between both sides. I will
be controlling the time on this side. I hope at that time we have
Members come down who are concerned about this bill, who have problems
with this bill, so we can respond to those problems but, most
importantly, so we can have cloture on a motion to proceed and have a
vote. That vote will take place at 11:45 tomorrow morning. I look
forward to coming down and debating the merits of the highway bill.
The bill passed last year--and this is substantially the same as last
year's bill--passed this body by a margin of 76 to 21. I anticipate the
same thing will happen, but it will not happen until we get to the
bill. We will not get on the bill until the cloture on the motion to
proceed is voted on, which will be at 11:45 tomorrow morning.
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. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________