[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Page 27196]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                 CORRECTING THE ENROLLMENT OF H.R. 4577

  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the consideration of S. Con. Res. 162.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the concurrent 
resolution by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 162) to direct the 
     Clerk of the House of Representatives to make a correction in 
     the enrollment of H.R. 4577.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
concurrent resolution.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
concurrent resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid 
upon the table, all without intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 162) was agreed to, as 
follows:

                            S. Con. Res. 162

       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That the Clerk of the House of Representatives, 
     in the enrollment of the bill (H.R. 4577), making 
     appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human 
     Services, and Education, and related agencies for the fiscal 
     year ending September 2001, and for other purposes, shall 
     make the following correction:
       In section 1(a)(4), before the period at the end, insert 
     the following: ``, except that the text of H.R. 5666, as so 
     enacted, shall not include section 123 (relating to the 
     enactment of H.R. 4904)''.

  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I regret deeply that last concurrent 
resolution, and at some time in the future I will explain it.
  I am awaiting some other papers. For the time being, let me say this. 
I have stood on the Senate floor several times talking about the 
Steller sea lion problem. I personally thank Mr. John Podesta, the 
President's assistant, for talking to me for so long and working with 
our staff and myself for so long, into the early hours this morning and 
through the day, to bring about a resolution of the problem I have been 
discussing.
  I cannot say we won this argument, but I can say we have reached a 
conclusion that will allow a substantial portion, approximately 90 
percent, of the fishermen affected by this issue to return to fishing 
next January. These are people who live along a stretch of coastline 
and on islands, as I said, that are the same distance as from this city 
to the end of the Florida chain. They are people who live in very harsh 
circumstances and have one basic source of income, and that is fishing.
  We have been able now to agree on a process by which the fishing 
season will commence on January 20. Incidentally, it has nothing to do 
with the Inauguration; it just happens to be the first day of fishing 
season. We are delighted we have found a way to resolve the conflict. 
It still means there is a long hard task ahead of not only this 
Secretary of Commerce and his personnel but the next Secretary of 
Commerce and personnel to carry out the agreement we have crafted and 
to see that it works.
  I am pleased to say we have had a great many people who have assisted 
us. As I said earlier, the distinguished majority leader and minority 
leader were personally involved, as were their staffs, along with the 
staff of the Assistant to the President, and the Office of Management 
and Budget. I cannot leave out, and would not leave out, the 
distinguished chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, the 
Honorable Bill Young, a Representative from Florida, who waited for 
this resolution.
  I know it was a harsh task he had, and there are many Members in both 
the House and Senate who were inconvenienced by this delay. I can only 
thank them for their cooperation. As I have said before, not one Member 
of Congress argued with me about the delay. They all understood that we 
had a substantial problem.
  It is not easy to represent a State and people who live closer to 
Tokyo than Washington, DC. These people really have but three spokesmen 
in Washington compared to the many that other States have. They rely on 
us to convey their wishes and to convey their dilemmas over potential 
Federal actions and to seek solutions.
  I am delighted we have received the cooperation that led to a 
consensus today that I believe will assist them and will start the 
resolution of this problem and bring it to a conclusion where we can 
abide by the Magnuson-Stevens Act that governs the fisheries off our 
shores and, at the same time, respect the findings that are made under 
the Endangered Species Act.
  I thank Sylvia Matthews, Office of Management and Budget; Michael 
Deitch, Office of Management and Budget; Penny Dalton of NOAA; Mark 
Childress of Senator Daschle's office; Dave Hoppe of Senator Lott's 
office; and Lisa Sutherland and David Russell of my office for their 
hard work on the issue pertaining to Steller sea lions.

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