[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 95 (Wednesday, July 19, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7894-S7897]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MORNING BUSINESS
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I further ask unanimous consent there now
be a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up
to 10 minutes each.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, since we will be proceeding to the Voting
Rights Act tomorrow morning at 9:30, I thought you would be interested
to know, since you are on the Judiciary Committee, there will be no
executive committee meeting because Senator Leahy and I cannot be in
two places at the same time. There will be no executive meeting
tomorrow at 9:30. We will try to have a meeting off the floor if we can
to pass out the judges.
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. WYDEN. 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the quorum call be rescinded.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. WYDEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak in morning
business for up to 20 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Senator is recognized for 20 minutes.
OIL ROYALTIES
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, last week a group of Senators announced
they had reached an agreement to open more offshore areas to oil
drilling. For the first time, they would allow nearby States, under
their proposal, to share in the oil royalties from drilling in Federal
waters.
I have come to the floor tonight to say that while I am very hopeful
the Senate can come to agreement on a plan that provides significantly
more relief to the areas that have been ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, I
am also hopeful that the Senate will use this opportunity to finally
address a current program, a current royalty relief program, that is
out of control and is diverting billions of dollars away from the
Federal Treasury.
What the Senate is going to confront, apparently next week, is the
prospect that while there is a royalty relief program now that needs to
be fixed and has not been fixed, the Senate is going to start a new
royalty relief program.
Usually, the first thing you do is fix the program that is not
working today before you start anything else. Apparently, some would
not be supportive of that taking place. I am one who sees this
otherwise.
I also think if you can fix the current royalty relief program, where
the Government Accountability Office says $20 billion to possibly $60
billion is being wasted, you could use that money from the current
program--that even the sponsor, our respected former colleague, Senator
Bennett Johnston, says is out of control--you could use that money from
the current program, that wastes so much money, and get some of that to
these areas that have been ravaged by Katrina.
There were two floods, in effect, that the Congress must now
confront. First, we have to help rebuild the States of Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Alabama that were destroyed by the storm surge of
August 29 of last year. But the second flood that needs to be stemmed
is the flood of billions of dollars of oil royalties that have gone
into the pockets of the world's largest oil companies at a time when
they have enjoyed extraordinary profits. They have enjoyed tremendous
profits. We have seen extraordinary prices, and yet they continue to
get these great subsidies.
As I say, if we can clean up the current royalty program, which is so
inefficient that even its sponsor thinks is out of control, we will
have more money to help these flood-ravaged areas of the gulf that are
the legitimate concern of all of my colleagues from those States.
The existing oil royalty giveaways have grown over the years to
become the biggest oil subsidy of all and one of the largest
boondoggles that wastes taxpayer money of any Federal program.
The General Accountability Office estimates that at a minimum the
Federal Government and the taxpayers are going to be out $20 billion in
lost revenues. If the Government loses pending lawsuits, that amount
could reach as high as $80 billion. This comes at a time when,
according to the Congressional Research Service, the oil companies are
enjoying record profits.
It will be very difficult to explain to the American public how
Congress can be proposing to allow additional billions of dollars of
royalty money to be given away before it first puts a stop to what is
already going out the door.
Now, in opening this discussion tonight--I expect the Senate will
look at this formally next week--I want to be very clear in saying that
I understand the need of the gulf States to secure Federal funds to
restore their coastlines and rebuild their communities. There is no
question that Katrina and Rita flattened New Orleans and other
communities up and down the gulf coast, and that there is a clear need
for all Americans, including my constituents at home in Oregon, to be
part of going to bat for our fellow Americans.
But I do hope, fervently, that as the Senate looks to find additional
resources for these gulf States, the Senate will not be given a false
choice between either aiding the gulf States or standing up for the
public interest in the face of the outrageous oil company windfalls now
being paid for today. We can and should do both.
Helping the victims of Katrina is not mutually exclusive from helping
taxpayers. It is possible to do both. And as
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I have outlined, if you clean up the oil royalty giveaway that is on
the books today, that is so inefficient, you can take those dollars and
give some of them to folks in the gulf States that are suffering.
Mr. President, my seatmate, Senator Landrieu, for whom I have the
greatest respect, is from the great State of Louisiana, and she and
other colleagues from the gulf States have come to the floor again and
again and again to describe eloquently the devastation their States
have faced from these hurricanes. Senator Landrieu has been a tireless
advocate for her State. They have made a compelling case why Congress
and the American people ought to provide real assistance to these
communities.
Like my colleagues, like Senators of both parties, I want to help the
hurricane victims in the gulf rebuild. But I also do not want to
continue wasting taxpayer money in unnecessary giveaways to oil
companies that have been raking in gushers of cash in the past few
years.
As I indicated earlier when we talked about this subject at length on
the floor of the Senate, the mistakes that were made in the current
royalty relief program have been bipartisan. Certainly, the Clinton
administration muffed the ball back in the 1990s when they did not step
in and put a solid price threshold on this program. That caused a
significant amount of money to be given away. But the mistakes made by
the Clinton administration were compounded by Secretary Gale Norton in
the Bush administration, and also by the Congress in the energy bill,
which continued to sweeten the current royalty relief program.
So citizens and taxpayers have a bit of history: The current oil
royalty relief program, which is such a colossal waste of taxpayer
money, began when oil was $19 a barrel, and has been continuing at a
time when oil has been well over $70 a barrel.
So I think it is important for the Senate to look at ways to provide
additional help to the needs of the gulf States without turning a blind
eye to this boondoggle that is on the books today--the oil royalty
giveaway program that came about in the 1990s.
A possible solution to the current predicament is to use some of the
money from the program, which does not work, to try to provide an
additional boost of funding for the gulf States at present. Reforming
the current royalty program could provide more money for areas hit by
hurricanes and possibly other urgent priorities.
As long as we are on that subject, I would very much like to see some
of the money that now goes to this inefficient oil royalty giveaway
program used for the Secure Rural Schools legislation that is so
important in my home State and much of the West and the South.
The oil companies are supposed to pay royalties to the Federal
Government when they extract oil from Federal lands. But in order to
stimulate production of oil in our country--this was back when oil was
$19 a barrel--the Federal Government has been giving oil producers what
has been known as royalty relief for some period of time.
Royalty relief is a nice way of saying that the oil companies are
taking something from the American people without paying for it. That
relief now amounts to billions of taxpayer dollars that are given away
to companies that do not need them.
In fact, the President has said that with the price of oil at $55 a
barrel, companies do not need incentives at all to drill for oil. That
is the President of the United States, not some anti-oil advocate. The
President of the United States has said that you do not need incentives
with the price of oil above $55 a barrel. In fact, with prices shooting
up to more than $75 a barrel--more than $20 higher than the price the
President said meant there should not be any subsidies--I do not see
how you can make a case at all for the current out-of-control oil
royalty giveaway.
I am not the only person who is making this argument. For example, in
May, a few weeks after I spent about 5 hours on the floor talking about
this program, the other body, the House, held a historic vote to put an
end to taxpayer-funded royalty giveaways to profitable oil companies.
The House of Representatives, the other body, voted overwhelmingly, on
a bipartisan basis, to put a stop to this waste of taxpayer dollars.
So what I spent 5 hours talking about on the floor of the Senate
earlier this year--and Senators were saying: What is the point of this?
What are going to be the implications? I think it is important to note
that a few weeks after I took that time on the floor of this great
body, the other body voted overwhelmingly to cut these unnecessary
subsidies.
Even officials in the oil industry are saying that you cannot make a
case for this multibillion-dollar subsidy at this time. The architect
of the program, our respected former colleague, Senator Bennett
Johnston, has said that what has taken place with respect to the
royalty relief program is far removed from what he had in mind when he
wrote the program.
Now, I believe the Senate ought to have another opportunity to debate
and vote on the oil royalty issue, just as the other body did this
spring. I was unable, earlier this year, despite being close to 5 hours
on the floor, to even get an up-or-down vote on my proposal to stop
ladling out tens of billions of dollars of unnecessary subsidies to the
oil industry.
It seems to me if the U.S. Senate is going to vote on a new royalty
scheme that will involve, again, enormous sums of money, the Senate
certainly should have the opportunity to vote on reforming the existing
program at that time.
We are, of course, in the middle of the summer driving season. This
is a time of the year when our citizens drive more, as they go on
summer vacations, when demand for gas goes up, and when prices at the
pump continue to escalate. I am sure our citizens, who are now facing
the highest gas prices ever at this time of the year, will be
interested to know when the Senate will have a chance to vote on the
question of whether, at this time of record prices, oil companies
making record profits should continue to get record taxpayer subsidies
in the form of royalty relief.
Along with several colleagues, I have written to the distinguished
majority leader asking for the Senate to hold an up-or-down vote on
ending royalty relief to profitable oil companies before the August
recess. I will continue to press for a floor vote on reforming the oil
royalty program at the earliest possible opportunity. I am going to do
everything I can to see that this vote happens in a fashion that will
expedite aid to the people and communities in the Gulf States who await
our best efforts.
It is my understanding that the legislation to open up more offshore
areas to oil drilling will come up under expedited procedures next
week. I am going to work with colleagues who I know have a great
interest in this. I have already spoken with Senator Kyl, for example,
who helped me greatly when we tried to roll back the oil royalty
program earlier this year. I have also spoken with Senators Lott and
Landrieu and Chairman Domenici. I will continue to have those
discussions. I simply wanted to take the time tonight, with the Senate
having completed business for the week, to go through some of the
implications of this offshore oil drilling program that will be debated
next week.
What it comes down to is, before you start a brandnew program that
will involve vast sums, you ought to clean up one that is on the books
today and is currently out of control, wasting billions of dollars,
according to the Government Accountability Office. Secondly, if you
clean up the program that doesn't work today, you save some dollars and
you can apply them to those devastated gulf States which have such a
great need.
I intend to talk about this further next week. I do think it is time
for the Senate to start thinking about the implications of what happens
if you start a new program and you haven't fixed the one on the books
today that even its author thinks is completely out of control and far
removed from what he intended.
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, today we have the opportunity to do
something very important for a precious national resource: our
children.
We must seize this opportunity and approve H.R. 4472, the Adam Walsh
Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006.
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As the father of six and the grandfather of 22, and about to be 23,
my heart reaches out to parents whose children become the victims of
sexual predators.
I cannot imagine what a nightmare that must be.
And as a legislator, I want to assure those parents that we are doing
all we can to make certain this never happens again.
I am very confident that due to passing this legislation, there will
be fewer sex offender victims in America, and fewer sex offenders
roaming free.
This bill has enjoyed vast bipartisan support. When Senator Biden and
I first introduced the legislation in the Senate, in the form of S.
1086 the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act--42 Senators
quickly signed on as cosponsors.
In particular, I thank for their support my colleague from Utah, Bob
Bennett, and Senator Grassley. I also thank Representative Mark Foley
who introduced a companion bill in the House and Chairman Jim
Sensenbrenner, who moved this through the House Judiciary Committee.
Majority Leader Bill Frist and Speaker Hastert are to be applauded
for coming together to make sure this bill passed. I thank them all.
Technology of the 21st century, such as DNA testing, has empowered
law enforcement to identify, prosecute, and punish sex offenders--the
most despicable of criminals--as never before.
But advanced technology has also empowered sexual predators in way
that outrages and disgusts me.
Some have compared the Internet to an ``open game preserve'' where
sex offenders can prey on vulnerable children, meeting them in chat
rooms and luring them into horrible situations.
Pedophiles use the web to hunt our children; now we will start using
the web to hunt down sexual predators when this bill passes.
Today, there are more than 500,000 registered sex offenders in the
United States.
Unfortunately, many of them receive limited sentences and roam
invisibly through our communities.
With too many, we don't know where they are until it is too late.
We have tried tracking sex offenders through Web sites before, but
these sites are virtually useless because the information is frequently
wrong and outdated.
Most offenders register once a year, by mail. Moreover, state Web
sites do not correspond with each other, and sex offenders are under
penalty of only a misdemeanor if they lie or just decide not to
participate. There are 150,000 out there that we do not know where they
are.
This bill will enhance the web technology available for tracking
convicted sex offenders and replace outdated, inaccurate Web sites with
meaningful tools to protect children.
It will be a searchable national Web site that interacts with state
sites.
Citizens in every state will be able to inform themselves about
predators in their communities with accurate information.
Under this legislation, offenders will be required to report
regularly to the authorities in person, and let them know when they
move or change jobs.
And if they don't want to follow the rules, they will go to jail,
because failure to provide truthful information will become a felony.
Those who break such a sacred trust and harm our children, no matter
who they are, where they are from, or where they commit their crime,
will have obligations under this law to make their whereabouts known
voluntarily or subject themselves to additional prison time.
The bill also provides money to put tracking devices on high-risk sex
offenders who are released from jail. If we convict these monsters, we
can't lose track of them.
These are all common-sense solutions to a dark and horrible problem
in our society.
We have all heard with horror the tales of sexual predators.
One of those tales that has captured national headlines comes from my
home state of Utah. Elizabeth Smart, then a 14-year-old girl, was
kidnapped from her home in 2002. Miraculously, she was rescued nine
months later.
Since then, she and her father, Ed Smart, have vigorously labored on
behalf of sex-crime victims and laws to help them, including this law.
Ed and Elizabeth have joined me in the Senate today. I thank them
publicly, both for standing up and for fighting back. It means so much
to all of us.
I have come to know and love them both, and I am grateful for the
devotion they have shown for the children of this country.
This bill will call for the creation of a new office within the
Department of Justice--called the SMART Office--the Director of which
will be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. SMART
is an acronym which represents the reaffirmed efforts of the Justice
Department to, Sentence--Monitor--Apprehend--Register--and Track, sex
offenders. It is also named after Elizabeth Smart.
I thank the Department of Justice for their commitment to the issues
of sex offenders, child pornography and the creation of the SMART
Office--and I want to, again, thank the Smart family for their active
participation in this debate and for helping to move this bill forward.
This legislation is truly ``smart'' legislation.
Also included in this legislation are child protection provisions
first introduced in the House by Representative Mike Pence, and which I
introduced here in the Senate.
This legislation will help prevent children from participating in the
production of sexually explicit material.
It strengthens current law by requiring producers of sexually
explicit material to keep records regarding the identity and age of
performers.
I thank the Senator from Kansas, Senator Brownback, who was this
bill's original cosponsor, and the 29 other Senators, on both sides of
the aisle, who joined as cosponsors of this bill.
As my colleagues are aware, Congress previously approved the PROTECT
Act of 2003 against the backdrop of Department of Justice regulations
applying recordkeeping statutes to both primary and secondary
producers.
Along with the act's specific reference to the regulatory definition
that existed at the time, this signaled Congress's agreement with the
Department's view that it already had the authority to regulate
secondary producers.
A Federal court in Colorado, however, recently enjoined the
Department from enforcing the statute against secondary producers, a
decision that conflicted with a DC court ruling on this point.
Title V of the Adam Walsh Act will eliminate any doubt that the
recordkeeping statute applies to both primary and secondary producers.
It clearly expresses Congress's agreement with the Department's
regulatory approach and gives the Department the tools to enforce the
statute.
I want to thank the American press corps for the attention it has
given to this issue. News outlets have diligently raised the American
public's awareness of the grave threat posed by today's sexual
predators. And the press have followed the lead of John Walsh, host of
``America's Most Wanted.'' He and his wife, Reve, have waited nearly 25
years for the passage of this bill.
Next Thursday, July 27, 2006, marks 25 years since the abduction and
murder of their son Adam. And on that 25th anniversary, it is our hope
the President will sign into law legislation that will help law
enforcement do what John has been doing all along--hunt down predators
and criminals.
Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children, along with Robbie Callaway, John Libonati, and
Carolyn Atwell-Davis were also very prominent spokespeople for this
legislation, and I want to personally thank them.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is one of the
unsung heroes in the efforts to stop the abduction, exploitation, and
murder of children. Their staff works long hours, and their commitment
to stopping child pornography and sexual assault against kids is hard
to match.
I am grateful that the Senate will soon act on this bill. In the
preamble to our Nation's great Constitution, we the people promise to
establish justice, promote the general welfare, and provide for the
common defense. There is no defense more sacred, nor welfare more
precious, than those of our children.
[[Page S7897]]
Currently, we track library books in this country better than we do
sex offenders. With this measure, however, law enforcement will have
the best means possible to protect our Nation's most precious national
resource: our children.
Now, I appreciate the help of all of my colleagues. I certainly
appreciate this time from the distinguished Senator from Oklahoma
because I wanted to make this statement, and this was a good time to
make it. I am grateful to him for providing the time. I yield back the
remainder of my time and ask everybody in the Senate to vote for this
bill.
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