[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 21878-21880]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                     THE CRISIS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I am thoroughly upset about what is 
happening in the Middle East--watching people cower in fear, and some 
dying moments later as violence escalates. It is a terrible sight to 
see on television. It is a terrible sight to see in pictures and in the 
newspapers. It is terrible news to hear reports that after so much 
effort and so much concern for peace there is this carnage.
  I think everyone probably knows that I have had a longtime interest 
in Israel. I have been there many times.

[[Page 21879]]

But I also have an active interest in a peace resolution. I got to know 
some of our friends in the Palestinian community. I got to know Mr. 
Arafat and the people who assisted him--and the Palestinian Authority.
  Whether a child is Jewish or Moslem or whether he or she is an 
Israeli citizen or whether he or she is someone out of the refugee 
camps in Palestine and the surrounding areas, or from the nation of 
Lebanon, I don't like to see any child taken from a family.
  I want to make a point. I visited Gaza. I was at the airport just 
weeks before it opened--maybe days. It was very close in time. I was 
very enthusiastic about giving help to the Palestinians to get their 
economy going and providing some hope and vision for them so their 
lives could be improved and their freedoms expanded.
  I think it is fair to say that Israel is taking enormous risks in 
that promotion, particularly the Prime Minister of Israel, Mr. Barak, 
who went further, I believe, than anybody else in Israel. We all know 
that Prime Minister Rabin was assassinated because of his beliefs by 
someone in the Israeli community of the same faith--Jewish. He died for 
his interest in peace.
  But I don't understand how there can be joy expressed in the 
destruction of Joseph's tomb or to see books and artifacts destroyed 
and burned, and people taking joy and gloating over the killing of an 
Israeli. They are people who are beyond control. We condemn their acts 
of violence against the Arabs in the area and within the state of 
Israel. I condemn that violence. It is not acceptable wherever it 
occurs.
  However, I say to the Palestinian Authority, they have no right to 
use weapons that were given to provide police and law enforcement 
against the country that gave it to them in the first place. They have 
no right to promote violence, no right to have television programs 
coming over Palestinian television that talk about it being necessary 
to kill people in Israel, to destroy the country.
  That kind of action, that kind of encouragement, is antithetical to 
the possibilities of peace or the possibilities of life. Anti-Semitic 
articles, cartoons, and newspapers, whether it be in Syria or even with 
our friends in Egypt or Lebanon, are unacceptable. Those are the kinds 
of things that ultimately promote violent action from one people to 
another.
  I want our friends--Mr. Arafat, the people in the Palestinian 
Authority--to understand they will get nowhere by promoting assaults on 
Israel, whether they be on person or territory. It is not going to do 
them any good in the final analysis. A state of conflict, of war, is 
going to be painful to people on both sides. There will be no victors.
  Help came from the United States to try to elevate the standard of 
living in the Palestinian community because people such as I promoted 
it. I was active on the issue. I wanted to show good faith and provide 
funds for the Palestinians to get their airport open. I visited the 
economic settlements they were erecting, development settlements to 
give jobs to people, to give hope to people. I supported it 
enthusiastically.
  I think what is going on is unacceptable by any standard. The United 
Nations resolution issued last week was so lopsided that it looked as 
if they were trying to eliminate Israel from the family of nations. I 
don't understand it--encouraging the criticism of Israel and 
denigrating Israeli efforts to make peace, at some considerable risk 
again, as we have seen. Those young men captured and taken someplace in 
Lebanon or wherever, captured by a group that considers violence the 
way to resolve things--Hezbollah is proud of the fact they kidnap 
people. That is not the way peace is going to evolve or relationships 
develop.
  I hope sense will come to the area very soon because what we see 
there is not, in my view, a limited conflict but, rather, a possibility 
that we will be seeing a conflict that will be very hard to put out. I 
hope we will soon hear better news from that area. I urge Mr. Arafat to 
curb violence where he sees it among his people. It cannot be fostered. 
It cannot be encouraged and at the same time gain the advantages that I 
am sure he would like to see for his people; that is, a peaceful 
existence and an improved quality of life.
  I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BROWNBACK. 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. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I hereby submit to the Senate the budget 
scorekeeping report prepared by the Congressional Budget Office under 
section 308(b) and in aid of section 311 of the Congressional Budget 
Act of 1974, as amended. This report meets the requirements for Senate 
scorekeeping of section 5 of S. Con. Res. 32, the first concurrent 
resolution on the budget for 1986.
  This report shows the effects of congressional action on the 2000 
budget through September 30, 2000. The estimates of budget authority, 
outlays, and revenues are consistent with the technical and economic 
assumptions of the 2001 concurrent resolution on the budget (H. Con. 
Res. 290), which replaced the 2000 concurrent resolution on the budget 
(H. Con. Res. 68).
  The estimates show that current level spending is above the budget 
resolution by $19.3 billion in budget authority and by $20.6 billion in 
outlays. Current level is $28 million below the revenue floor in 2000.
  Since my last report, dated September 5, 2000, the Congress has 
cleared, and the President has signed, the Department of Defense 
Appropriations Act, 2001 (Public Law 106-259). This action changed the 
2000 current level of budget authority and outlays.
  This is my last report for fiscal year 2000.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the following 
material.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                    U.S. Congress,


                                  Congressional Budget Office,

                                  Washington, DC, October 5, 2000.
     Hon. Pete V. Domenici,
     Chairman, Committee on the Budget, U.S. Senate, Washington, 
         DC.
       Dear Mr. Chairman: The enclosed tables show the effects of 
     Congressional action on the 2000 budget and are current 
     through September 30, 2000. This report is submitted under 
     section 308(b) and in aid of section 311 of the Congressional 
     Budget Act, as amended.
       The estimates of budget authority, outlays, and revenues 
     are consistent with the technical and economic assumptions of 
     H. Con. Res. 290, the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for 
     Fiscal Year 2001, which replaced H. Con. Res. 68, the 
     Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2000.
       Since my last report, dated July 26, 2000, the Congress has 
     cleared, and the President has signed, the Department of 
     Defense Appropriations Act, 2001 (Public Law 106-259). This 
     action changed budget authority and outlays.
           Sincerely,
                                                 Barry B. Anderson
                                   (For Dan L. Crippen, Director).
       Enclosures.

 TABLE 1.--FISCAL YEAR 2000 SENATE CURRENT LEVEL REPORT, AS OF SEPTEMBER
                                30, 2000
                        [In billions of dollars]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                Current
                                         Budget     Current   level over/
                                       resolution  level \1\     under
                                                              resolution
------------------------------------------------------------------------
On-budget:
  Budget Authority...................     1,467.3    1,486.6        19.3
  Outlays............................     1,441.1    1,461.7        20.6
  Revenues...........................     1,465.5    1,465.5       (\2\)
  Debt Subject to Limit..............     5,628.3    5,579.2       -49.1
Off-budget:
  Social Security Outlays............       326.5      326.5         0.0
  Social Security Revenues...........       479.6      479.6         0.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Current level is the estimated revenue and direct spending effects
  of all legislation that the Congress has enacted or sent to the
  President for his approval. In addition, full-year funding estimates
  under current law are included for entitlement and mandatory programs
  requiring annual appropriations even if the appropriations have not
  been made. The current level of debt subject to limit reflects the
  latest information from the U.S. Treasury.
\2\ Less than $50 million.
 
Source: Congressional Budget Office.


[[Page 21880]]


   TABLE 2.--SUPPORTING DETAIL FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 2000 SENATE CURRENT LEVEL REPORT FOR ON-BUDGET SPENDING AND
                                       REVENUES, AS OF SEPTEMBER 30, 2000
                                            [In millions of dollars]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                              Budget
                                                                            authority     Outlays      Revenues
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enacted in previous sessions:
    Revenues.............................................................         n.a.         n.a.    1,465,480
    Permanents and other spending legislation............................      876,140      836,751         n.a.
    Appropriation legislation............................................      869,318      889,756         n.a.
    Offsetting receipts..................................................     -284,184     -284,184         n.a.
                                                                          --------------------------------------
        Total, enacted in previous sessions..............................    1,461,274    1,442,323    1,465,480
Enacted this session:
    Omnibus Parks Technical Corrections Act of 1999 (P.L. 106-176).......            7            3            0
    Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act (P.L. 106-181)....        2,805            0            0
    Trade and Development Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-200).....................           53           52           -8
    Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-224)..............        5,500        5,500            0
    Military Construction Appropriations Act, 2001 (P.L. 106-246)........       15,173       13,799            0
    Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2001 (P.L. 106-259)........        1,779            0            0
                                                                          --------------------------------------
        Total, enacted this session......................................       25,317       19,354           -8
Entitlements and mandatories: Adjustments to appropriated mandatories to           -35            0         n.a.
 reflect baseline estimates..............................................
Total Current Level......................................................    1,486,556    1,461,677    1,465,472
Total Budget Resolution..................................................    1,467,300    1,441,100    1,465,500
    Current Level Over Budget Resolution.................................       19,256       20,577         n.a.
    Current Level Under Budget Resolution................................         n.a.         n.a.           28
Memorandum: Emergency designations for bills enacted this session........       35,261       16,108            0
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Congressional Budget Office.
Notes: P.L.=Public Law; n.a.=not applicable.



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