[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 20244-20247]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Ms. SNOWE:
  S. 1559. A bill to amend the Ports and Waterways Safety Act to 
provide that certain information be provided before a vessel arrives in 
United States waters; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation.
  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Transparent 
Sea Act of 2001.
  The Coast Guard is a multi-mission agency charged with maintaining 
our national defense and the safety of our citizens. This is an 
extraordinary time in our Nation's history and we need to act now and 
provide the Coast Guard with all of the tools and information necessary 
to protect our Nation's waterways. This bill allows the Coast Guard to 
gather vital information about incoming vessels before they reach our 
ports. This allows them to be pro-active and prevent potential threats 
from reaching our shores. The sum total of all of our available 
resources and knowledge must be brought to bear in the defense of our 
country.
  Specifically, my bill would authorize the Coast Guard to obtain the 
information needed to achieve a greater awareness of possible maritime 
threats. The bill requires vessels to submit to the Coast Guard 
prearrival messages not later than 96 hours prior to entering U.S. 
waters, or such time as deemed necessary by the Secretary of 
Transportation. This will provide the Coast Guard time to thoroughly 
examine the information, including the name and flag-country of the 
vessel, a detailed crew and passenger list, the vessel's cargo, and the 
port the vessel last departed from. Such a database allows the Coast 
Guard to track patterns and identify potential problems. The Coast 
Guard could then deny entry to any vessel that does not meet the 
notification or listing requirements and intercept any vessels that may 
pose a threat.
  The American people place very high expectations on the Coast Guard. 
It is incumbent upon us to provide them with the information they need 
to fulfill those expectations. The Transparent Sea Act of 2001 has the 
support of the Coast Guard and I look forward to moving the bill to the 
Senate floor at the earliest opportunity.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.

[[Page 20245]]

  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1559

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Transparent Sea Act of 
     2001''.

     SEC. 2. PREARRIVAL MESSAGES FROM VESSELS DESTINED TO UNITED 
                   STATES PORTS.

       Section 4(a)(5) of the Ports and Waterways Safety Act (33 
     U.S.C. 1223(a)(5)) is amended by striking paragraph (5) and 
     inserting the following:
       ``(5)(A) may require the receipt of prearrival messages 
     from any vessel destined for a port or place subject to the 
     jurisdiction of the United States, not later than 96 hours 
     before the vessel's arrival or such time as deemed necessary 
     under regulations promulgated by the Secretary to thoroughly 
     examine all information provided, which shall include with 
     respect to the vessel--
       ``(i) the route and name of each port and each place of 
     destination in the United States;
       ``(ii) the estimated date and time of arrival at each port 
     or place;
       ``(iii) the name of the vessel;
       ``(iv) the country of registry of the vessel;
       ``(v) the call sign of the vessel;
       ``(vi) the International Maritime Organization (IMO) 
     international number or, if the vessel does not have an 
     assigned IMO international number, the official number of the 
     vessel;
       ``(vii) the name of the registered owner of the vessel;
       ``(viii) the name of the operator of the vessel;
       ``(ix) the name of the classification society of the 
     vessel;
       ``(x) a general description of the cargo on board the 
     vessel;
       ``(xi) in the case of certain dangerous cargo--
       ``(I) the name and description of the dangerous cargo;
       ``(II) the amount of the dangerous cargo carried;
       ``(III) the stowage location of the dangerous cargo; and
       ``(IV) the operational condition of the equipment under 
     section 164.35 of title 33 of the Code of Federal 
     Regulations;
       ``(xii) the date of departure and name of the port from 
     which the vessel last departed;
       ``(xiii) the name and telephone number of a 24-hour point 
     of contact for each port included in the notice of arrival;
       ``(xiv) the location or position of the vessel at the time 
     of the report;
       ``(xv) a list of crew members onboard the vessel including 
     with respect to each crew member--
       ``(I) the full name;
       ``(II) the date of birth;
       ``(III) the nationality;
       ``(IV) the passport number or mariners document number; and
       ``(V) the position or duties;
       ``(xvi) a list of persons other than crew members onboard 
     the vessel including with respect to each such person--
       ``(I) the full name;
       ``(II) the date of birth;
       ``(III) the nationality; and
       ``(IV) the passport number; and
       ``(xvii) any other information required by the Secretary; 
     and
       ``(B) any changes to the information required by 
     subparagraph (A), except changes in the arrival or departure 
     time of less than six hours, must be reported as soon as 
     practicable but not less than 24 hours before entering the 
     port of destination.

     The Secretary may deny entry of a vessel into the territorial 
     sea of the United States if the Secretary has not received 
     notification for the vessel in accordance with paragraph 
     (5).''.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. AKAKA:
  S. 1560. A bill to strengthen United States capabilities in 
environmental detection and the monitoring of biological agents; to the 
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. AKAKA (for himself and Mr. Rockefeller):
  S. 1561. A bill to strengthen the preparedness of health care 
providers within the Department of Veterans Affairs and community 
hospitals to respond to bioterrorism; to the Committee on Veterans' 
Affairs.
  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I rise to introduce two separate but 
related bills that address the crucial issue of our national 
preparedness for acts of bioterrorism. I plan to introduce a third bill 
next week. As we have learned firsthand over the past two weeks, 
bioterrorism preparedness is a topic where we have a considerable set 
of available resources combined with an urgent need for additional 
legislative action. The Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on 
International Security, Proliferation, and Federal Services held 
hearings in July to learn what the Federal Government is doing to 
better prepare our communities for acts of bioterrorism.
  This morning, the Committee and Subcommittee held a joint hearing. We 
heard from Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson on the 
government's role in lateral coordination of response efforts between 
federal agencies and vertical coordination of efforts with the local 
and State agencies that are the first to respond to acts of 
bioterrorism. All our witnesses provided excellent testimony on the 
progress in national bioterrorism preparedness since the September 11 
terrorist attacks on America.
  The bills I introduce today address a set of key issues in our 
national response to acts of terrorism. First, I am sponsoring 
legislation to increase funding for research and development of new 
technologies to detect the use of biological weapons against this 
nation. Second, I am offering a bill with Senator Rockefeller to 
strengthen cooperation between the hospital network of the Department 
of Veterans Affairs and community healthcare workers across the Nation. 
And, third, I will introduce a measure next week to establish stronger 
safeguards for our Nation's agricultural system and protection of our 
crops and livestock from agricultural terrorism.
  The first piece of legislation, the Biological Agent Environment 
Detection Act, authorizes appropriations totaling $40 million to 
support research and development of technologies to detect organisms in 
the air, water, and food that cause disease in humans, livestock, and 
crops. This mirrors the President's request of $40 million to support 
early detection surveillance to identify potential bioterrorism agents, 
announced by Secretary Thompson at today's hearing. Funds are necessary 
to encourage cooperative research agreements between the Federal 
Government, industry, and academic laboratories. The anthrax events of 
the past two weeks underscore the need for new detection methods and 
information-gathering systems. These funds will also support ongoing 
efforts to develop satellite-based remote sensing technologies to 
identify weather patterns that contribute to the spread of infectious 
disease and biological or chemical attacks. Finally, this funding is 
necessary to support the rigorous testing, verification, and 
calibration of new biological detection technologies.
  The second piece of legislation, sponsored with my friend from West 
Virginia, Senator Rockefeller, will provide the Department of Veterans 
Affairs with additional funds to develop training programs with 
community health care providers. We need to enhance the cooperation 
between crucial elements of our health care system included in the 
National Medical Disaster System. These increased funds will support 
expanded use of existing telecommunications systems to implement a 
telemedicine training program for VA staff and their community public 
health counterparts. Remote regions of our Nation need the assurance 
that local public health responders will have the training and 
information they need to protect and treat citizens in instances of 
biological terrorism.
  The third bill, the Biosecurity Agriculture Terrorism Act, will 
enhance Federal efforts to prepare for and respond to acts of 
agricultural terrorism or naturally-occurring agricultural epidemics by 
prioritizing efforts, authorizing funding and establishing new policy 
guidelines. Planning, training, and communication are three 
cornerstones of the preparedness and mitigation measures that will 
support the people who initially respond to any agricultural terrorism 
incident. This bill tasks the Federal Emergency Management Agency to 
create an emergency response function for agricultural disaster within 
the Federal Response Plan. This would result in having response and 
recovery plans in effect in the unfortunate event of an actual 
agricultural terrorism incident.
  Together, these three bills will make significant and necessary 
contributions to the urgent task of protecting our Nation from all 
forms of bioterrorism.

[[Page 20246]]

We can discourage and detect the manufacture, distribution, and use of 
biological weapons. We can use the existing emergency communication 
infrastructure, emergency response training programs, and community 
partnerships within the 173 VA hospitals across the Nation to train 
both VA staff and local health care providers for bioterrorism 
response. And, we can protect our national agriculture industry from 
attack with biological agents. I strongly encourage my colleagues' 
support as we move forward with this legislation.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. SANTORUM:
  S. 1562. A bill to amend title 39, United States Code, with respect 
to cooperative mailings; to the Committee on Governmental Affairs.
  Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation that 
will protect the right of charities, faith-based organizations, and 
other nonprofit groups to use the nonprofit mail rate for their 
fundraising activities.
  The legislation clarifies ambiguities in the Postal Reorganization 
Act of 1970, PRA, which established a nonprofit mail rate for 
charities. In recent years, the United States Postal Service, USPS, has 
increasingly applied PRA regulations that disqualify nonprofits from 
entering into agreements with commercial printing and mailing 
businesses to produce and administer mailings. Because of this 
misapplication, the USPS has been forcing charities to pay the full 
commercial rate on some fundraising letters merely because they hire 
third parties to print and prepare them. The result is a 40 percent 
increase in postal costs for these charities.
  My legislation would allow charities and faith-based organizations to 
share ownership of their mailing with commercial printing and mailing 
businesses and still qualify for the nonprofit mailing rate. In effect, 
it would permit charities to mail at nonprofit rates whether they 
prepare the mailing themselves or hire someone else to do it for them 
since the purpose of the mailing remains a nonprofit one. 
Representative Dan Burton has introduced similar bipartisan legislation 
in the House of Representatives as H.R. 1169.
  It is important to point out that this bill maintains existing 
federal law that prohibits unauthorized parties from using the 
nonprofit rate to sell goods or services by mail. Moreover, the 
legislation does not limit the USPS' authority to enforce any other 
section of federal postal law. The USPS has been consulted as a part of 
the development of the legislation.
  This legislation will enable charities, churches, synagogues, 
educational, advocacy, and other nonprofit organizations to negotiate 
the best agreements they can for their fundraising programs. The net 
result will be lower fundraising costs and more funds being available 
for nonprofits to serve others. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to 
join me in support of this initiative.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mrs. HUTCHISON (for herself, Mr. Miller, and Mrs. Feinstein):
  S. 1563. A bill to establish a coordination program of science-based 
countermeasures to address the threats of agricultural bioterrorism; to 
the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce, along with 
my colleagues Senators Cochran, Miller, and Feinstein, the Agricultural 
Bioterrorism Countermeasures Act of 2001.
  Due to the growing concerns about threats aimed at America's food 
supply and vital agricultural economies, I am introducing this 
legislation to identify, prepare for, and respond to such bioterrorist 
threats to our farms, ranches, livestock, poultry, crops, and food 
processing, packaging, and distribution facilities and systems.
  As we continue the fight against terrorism, it is critical that we 
dedicate sufficient resources to bioterrorism, a growing threat which 
has the potential of putting the safety of the U.S. food supply at 
risk. The United States currently boasts the world's safest and most 
abundant and affordable food supply, which benefits our citizens and 
helps bolster our economy. Clearly, it would be devastating for the 
public to lose confidence in the safety of our food. We, as a Nation, 
must respond by developing the technology and implementing the 
countermeasures necessary to identify and quickly control these risks.
  The potential threat of bioterrorism to the U.S. population and to 
our food supply has been recognized over the years, from the cold war 
to the gulf war. During the cold war, it was known that the former 
Soviet Union had a bio-weapons program that included bio-agents aimed 
at agriculture, while during the gulf war our own soldiers have shown 
evidence of possible use of biological weapons. Meanwhile, in Japan, 
terrorists have already tried once to use chemical and bioagents on the 
subways. In addition, the recent outbreaks of foot and mouth disease in 
Europe and ``mad-cow disease'' have increased public awareness and 
concern about exotic diseases that may affect the public through 
agricultural infection.
  The Agriculture Bioterrorism Countermeasures Act of 2001 will 
authorize the U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA, to strengthen its 
capacities to identify, prepare for, and respond to a bioterrorist 
threat including an attack on the United States' food supply and 
agriculture. This bill will expand the capacity of the USDA to enhance 
inspection capability, implement new information technology, and 
develop methods for rapid detection and identification of plant and 
animal disease.
  This legislation will also strengthen America's research and 
development capacity by promoting collaboration between organizations 
that are addressing the use of agricultural bioterrorism, such as the 
federal government, universities, and private sector. The USDA will 
establish a Consortium for Countermeasures Against Agricultural 
Bioterrorism to form long-term programs of research and development to 
enhance the biosecurity of U.S. agriculture. America's institutes of 
higher education that have a demonstrated expertise in animal and plant 
disease research, strong linkages with diagnostic laboratories, and 
strong coordination with state cooperative extension programs will 
provide the resources and expertise that will prove invaluable in the 
war on agricultural bioterrorism.
  Protecting our agriculture is critical to my home state. Food 
production and agriculture make up some of Texas' largest and most 
diverse economies. Countless amounts of food products, grains, 
livestock, and poultry travel across our 1200 mile border with Mexico 
and through our ports of the Gulf of Mexico. We--along with other major 
agriculture states included Mississippi, Georgia and California--are 
vulnerable to a bioterrorist attack. However, we will also serve as the 
first lines of defense for our entire country.
  To protect our food supply, our citizens, and our economy, I urge my 
colleagues to support the Agricultural Bioterrorism Countermeasures Act 
of 2001.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. COCHRAN (for himself, Mr. Frist, and Mr. Leahy):
  S.J. Res. 26. Providing for the appointment of Patricia Q. Stonesifer 
as a citizen regent of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian 
Institution; to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, today I am submitting a Senate Joint 
Resolution appointing a citizen regent to the Board of Regents of the 
Smithsonian Institution. I am pleased that my fellow Smithsonian 
Institution Regents, Senators Frist and Leahy are cosponsors.
  The Smithsonian Institution Board of Regents recently recommended the 
following distinguished individual for appointment to a six year term 
effective December 8, 2001: Patricia Q. Stonsifer of Washington.
  I ask unanimous consent that a copy of her biography be included in 
the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

   Patty Stonesifer, Co-Chair and President, Bill and Melinda Gates 
                               Foundation

       Patty Stonesifer leads the foundation's mission to improve 
     access to advances in

[[Page 20247]]

     global health and learning for all people as we move into the 
     21st century.
       She serves on the Board of the Vaccine Fund, launched in 
     1999 to address the need for vaccines among the world's 
     poorest countries, as well as on the Board of the African 
     Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnership, a multi-sectoral approach 
     to slowing the spread of AIDS in Botswana. Stonesifer served 
     as an official member of the U.S. delegation to the United 
     Nations General Assembly Special Session on AIDS.
       In addition to her responsibilities with the foundation, 
     Stonesifer is an active community volunteer, donating both 
     time and resources to a number of regional nonprofit 
     organizations, and serves on the board of directors of the 
     YWCA of King County and the Seattle Foundation. She is also 
     on the board of directors of Amazon.com and Viacom Inc.
       Prior to being asked by Bill and Melinda Gates to launch 
     the work of the Gates Learning Foundation in 1997, Stonesifer 
     held a senior vice president position at Microsoft and ran 
     her own management consulting firm, working with such 
     corporations as Dream Works SKG.

                          ____________________