[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 121 (Monday, September 25, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10073-S10074]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

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      By Mr. FEINGOLD:
  S. 3932. A bill to limit the amount of funds available to the 
Aerobatics Research Mission Directorate of the National Aeronautics and 
Space Administration during fiscal year 2007 and fiscal years 
thereafter; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill that 
would limit the amount of funds available to the Aeronautics Research 
Mission Directorate (ARMD) of the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration. We must ensure that U.S. taxpayer money is being used 
efficiently and effectively, and this measure would help in our ongoing 
efforts to streamline government programs and reduce the Federal budget 
deficit.
  My bill proposes to reduce the amount of funding for the ARMD from 
its 2006 level of $884 million to $724 million for fiscal years 2007 
and thereafter. This represents a savings of $160 million per year, or 
$800 million over five years. This funding reduction reflects the 
President's own budget priorities; in fact, the $724 million figure 
comes from the President's 2007 budget savings proposal. NASA is in the 
process of restructuring and reprioritizing, and the ARMD is a 
directorate that has been identified as an area where savings could be 
achieved. In the past, some of the ARMD's aeronautics work focused on 
developing technologies that could have short-term commercial 
applications in the air transportation industry. This is work that 
could be more appropriately taken on by the

[[Page S10074]]

private sector, and does not require such a massive investment from the 
Federal Government.
  This bill should not be read to imply that the work of the ARMD is 
not important. To the contrary, aeronautics research is perhaps some of 
the most directly relevant work to many Americans that NASA is involved 
in. This bill simply follows up on the President's call for the ARMD to 
focus its research efforts in the areas that are most appropriate. By 
refocusing on long-term fundamental aeronautics research, safety 
research, and ways to address the needs of the future air 
transportation system, ARMD should be able to operate effectively and 
efficiently under this spending cap.
  One of the main reasons I first ran for the U.S. Senate was to 
restore fiscal responsibility to the Federal budget. I have continued 
to work to eliminate wasteful spending and to reduce the soaring budget 
deficit, which is now estimated at $300 billion this year. Unless we 
return to fiscally responsible budgeting, Congress will saddle our 
Nation's younger generations with an enormous financial burden for 
years to come. This bill is one small step in that direction.
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      By Mr. INHOFE:
  S. 3933. A bill to extend the generalized system of preferences; to 
the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation that 
will reauthorize a vital trade and development program--the Generalized 
System of Preferences (GSP). This is a program I have worked to 
reauthorize in the past, and I think it is a vital program for both 
developing countries and the American economy. As someone who 
frequently works to assist those who face the direst of circumstances 
in the poor countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, I feel that we must 
reauthorize this program as a key component of our efforts there.
  The GSP program is an effort of the United States and 19 other 
industrialized countries to aid developing countries through increased 
market access, which in turn fosters industrial development and 
enhanced opportunities for prosperity in some of the least-advantaged 
countries in the world. This program allows a specified list of 
developing countries, from the Asian Continent to Sub-Saharan Africa to 
Latin America, to export certain products duty-free to the U.S. market. 
A beneficiary country's GSP treatment is contingent upon that country's 
commitment to securing intellectual property rights and to protecting 
the rights of workers. In this way, the GSP program promotes the 
development of sound practices and institutions in those countries with 
which we are engaged in trade and thus fulfills some important 
objectives of U.S. trade policy. In sum, the GSP program promotes self-
sustaining production development in developing countries--not 
dependence on foreign aid--and also encourages respect for human 
dignity and property.
  While originally developed as a trade program to aid developing 
countries, GSP over the past 32 years has become an important component 
of the U.S. economy. American consumers enjoy lower prices on diverse 
products from oil to flashlights to broomhandles to cheese. 
Furthermore, numerous American small businesses retain their 
competitive advantage from the duty-free treatment of essential inputs, 
such as electrical equipment and automotive parts. American small 
businesses need every cost-cutting edge available to them in order to 
continue to create jobs and value. I first took an interest in the 
reauthorization of this program when a small business in Oklahoma that 
used GSP-covered drilling components to support domestic energy 
enhancement contacted my office and explained how failure to 
reauthorize GSP would seriously affect his business. After which, upon 
understanding how much this program also assists those in developing 
countries, its reauthorization became a priority for me. Very clearly, 
although designed to make other less-advantaged countries more 
competitive, GSP has contributed to our continued competitiveness here 
in the United States.
  Workers, consumers, and businesses in nearly 120 countries including 
our own will benefit from the continuation of this program, which 
affects the price of over 5,600 finished and unfinished goods. 
Therefore, I ask that you join me in reauthorizing the Generalized 
System of Preferences.
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      By Ms. SNOWE:
  S. 3934. A bill to terminate authorization for the project for 
navigation, Rockport Harbor, Maine; to the Committee on Environment and 
Public Works.
  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I am introducing a bill today for the Town 
of Rockport that would deauthorize a part of the Federal Navigation 
Channel in Rockport Harbor. The town, located on the active Mid-Coast 
of Maine, requested shortly after the Senate passed the Water Resources 
Development Act of 2006 that Congress decommission a 35-foot by 275-
foot area directly adjacent to the bulkhead at Marine Park. With this 
deauthorization, the Town will be able to install permanent pilings to 
secure a set of new municipal floats, which would replace the current 
temporary float system.
  It is my hope that this non-controversial provision will be included 
in the Water Resources Development Act of 2006 conference report rather 
than have the Town of Rockport have to wait possibly for years before 
another WRDA bill is considered. I urge my Senate conferees for the 
WRDA conference to include this language that was drafted by the New 
England Corps of Engineers who have no objection to the 
deauthorization.

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