[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 4219-4220]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               ASSAULT ON WASHINGTON STATE'S CROWN JEWELS

  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, over the past few years, Vice President Al 
Gore has made a series of trips to my home State of Washington. His 
goals on these trips are simple: to raise money for his political 
campaigns; to recruit supporters for his Presidential endeavors; and to 
distract Washington State voters from the administration's true agenda 
for the Pacific Northwest.
  The Vice President's visits to Washington State are nothing new, but 
recently the administration, of which he is a vital leader, has chosen 
to adopt policies that pose a threat to the continued vitality of our 
economy. Those policies are aimed at the destruction of two of 
Washington State's economic crown jewels: our hydropower system and 
Microsoft.
  During the past year, I have welcomed the Vice President to 
Washington State by repeatedly asking him two questions: The first, 
Will you commit to the preservation of each of the dams on the Columbia 
and Snake Rivers unless Congress or the people of the Northwest agree 
to the removal of each or all of them? The second question: Mr. Vice 
President, if you are elected President, will you end the Justice 
Department's suit against Microsoft?
  At first, these questions were answered with silence. Now the Vice 
President answers them with personal attacks. Whether it is silence or 
personal attacks, the Vice President makes clear that he does not 
intend to answer these two questions so fundamental to every family and 
community in the Northwest. These questions deserve and should receive 
straight answers from the Vice President, and I will continue to ask 
them until the Vice President does so.
  His silence, of course, is eloquent. Vice President Gore's 
administration is responsible for the Microsoft lawsuit and for a 
flatout refusal to subject dam removal either to congressional 
authority or to the consent of the people of the Northwest. What is 
most illuminating is that the Vice President's silence and personal 
attacks in response to these questions about dams and Microsoft run 
counter to positions taken by top Democratic officeholders in 
Washington State. When it comes to protecting dams on the Columbia 
River, our Democratic Governor and Democratic U.S. Senator, two of the 
most powerful Democrats in Washington State, have already publicly 
opposed efforts by national environmental organizations to take out 
dams. But the Vice President is silent.
  Last week I suggested that he had a political motive. That is my 
opinion, but, frankly, it doesn't matter why he pursues policies to 
dismantle our hydro system without being willing to say so openly. What 
matters is whether he will make his position clear. So who loses out on 
the equation? The people of Washington State, of course. And then there 
is Microsoft.
  The good news is that most Democrats in Washington State have come 
forward to defend Microsoft's freedom to innovate, but the Vice 
President won't stand with his fellow Democrats in Washington State in 
support of the company. When he answers this one, he is either silent 
or he attacks and then attempts to evade the question.
  Here is a recent example of the Vice President's verbal dance when it 
comes to the issue of protecting Microsoft: Last week, I admonished the 
administration for its assault on that company. In responding to my 
statement, the Vice President's spokeswoman said that I am ``suffering 
from a Y2K bug'' and have forgotten all the wonderful things Al Gore 
has done for Washington State. Specifically, the spokeswoman cited 
hundreds of thousands of new jobs, higher home ownership rates and 
lower welfare rolls, as if he were responsible for them.
  There was no answer to the central question--will you work to end the 
suit against Microsoft?
  There was another troubling side to this statement. The Vice 
President, of course, was attempting to take credit for the booming 
economy in the State that I represent. He should understand that that 
success comes from the hundreds of thousands of hard-working 
Washingtonians, plus Microsoft and the amazing group of entrepreneurs 
who have developed new and better systems, plus our natural resources, 
not the least of which is our low-cost electricity, or all of the 
smaller high-tech companies that have sprung up overnight. This success 
does not come from the Vice President.
  As to the specifics of the Justice Department's case against 
Microsoft, the so-called high-tech Vice President says he will not 
comment on or involve himself in the Justice Department's case against 
the company. Can we believe that as the administration's point man on 
high-tech issues, he has no opinion whatsoever on the highest profile 
high-tech issue before his administration--the future of Microsoft? I 
do not believe it, nor does anyone else.
  To claim that he is not involved in an action spearheaded by his own 
administration is unbelievable. When the Vice President continually 
refuses to answer the question of whether or not he supports this 
attack, he has not been straight with the people of the State of 
Washington.
  There is a simple answer to the Microsoft question. The answer is for 
the Vice President to tell us that if he is elected President, he will 
stop the Justice Department's pursuit of Microsoft. We Washingtonians 
are 3,000 miles away from the center of Al Gore's universe, but we know 
only too well that the actions of this administration can have a long 
and detrimental impact on our economy, our way of life and on our 
future. We deserve more from the Vice President than silence, 
distraction and personal attacks.
  We will remember his silence on what are perhaps the most important 
Federal public policy questions to face our State in years. We will 
remember his

[[Page 4220]]

evasive comments. We will remember his refusal to denounce or even 
comment on the antitrust case against Microsoft and his unwillingness 
to make clear his position on protecting Columbia and Snake River dams. 
I challenge the Vice President again today to tell us plainly whether 
he supports this administration's assault on two of Washington State's 
economic crown jewels.
  Do you, Mr. Vice President, support the Justice Department's 
antitrust action against Microsoft or not? And do you, Mr. Vice 
President, support the efforts by national environmental groups to 
destroy dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers or not?
  We in the Northwest await the Vice President's answers, and you can 
be sure that so long as silence and evasiveness carry the day, I will 
continue to ask these questions.

                          ____________________