[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16355]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                  UNANIMOUS-CONSENT REQUEST--H.R. 1555

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now 
turn to H.R. 1555, the intelligence authorization bill, and under the 
provisions of the agreement of May 27, 1999, following the reporting of 
the bill by the clerk, I would send an amendment to the desk regarding 
national security at the DOE.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. REID. There is an objection.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I am surprised by this objection by our 
Democratic colleagues. This issue concerns two very important matters: 
one, the intelligence authorization for the year, and also the very 
important Department of Energy reforms as a result of the Chinese 
espionage that has occurred during the last several years within the 
Department of Energy.
  Needless to say, this issue needs to be debated in the Senate. I am 
truly sorry our Democratic colleagues do not want to debate it at this 
time.
  I have urged the President, the National Security Adviser, Sandy 
Berger, and the Secretary of Energy to engage this issue. The headline 
should read: Senate resolves how in the future the Department of Energy 
will handle these matters to stop the leaks of very important nuclear 
weapons information from our labs.
  That should be the headline, that we are working together to resolve 
this problem, instead of the situation where the Secretary of the 
Department of Energy is still trying to have a diffused system of 
reporting. There should be only one person who is reported to on the 
matters of national security at our nuclear labs, and that is the 
Secretary of Energy, and it should go straight to him and from him to 
the President of the United States. Surely we can work this out.
  Having said that, I now move to proceed to H.R.----
  Mr. REID. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. LOTT. I will be glad to yield.
  Mr. REID. I say to the majority leader, there are ongoing 
discussions. There was a hearing today in the Senate on this very 
issue. There are meetings that are going to take place today on that 
issue. I have spoken to the Secretary of Energy as recently as last 
evening.
  We are really trying to work something out. I think parties on both 
sides are trying to work something out. I think it would be to 
everyone's best interest that when we do bring this up, there is some 
degree of certainty that it will be resolved.
  We also understand, without any question, the importance of the 
intelligence authorization bill. Senator Kerrey, the ranking member of 
this committee, has expressed, on numerous occasions, how important it 
is we move this legislation. So I say to the leader and Members of this 
body, we are doing our utmost to resolve this issue as quickly as 
possible.
  Mr. LOTT. I am glad to hear that.

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