[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Pages 21942-21944]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006--Continued

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.
  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, what is the pending business?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. H.R. 2863.


                           Amendment No. 1903

  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I have an amendment at the desk, and I 
ask for its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Colorado [Mr. Salazar] proposes an 
     amendment numbered 1903.

  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading 
of the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

 (Purpose: To provide that certain local educational agencies shall be 
 eligible to receive a fiscal year 2005 payment under section 8002 or 
      8003 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965)

       On page 220, after line 25, insert the following:

     SEC. 8116. APPLICATIONS FOR IMPACT AID PAYMENT.

       Notwithstanding paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 8005(d) 
     of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
     U.S.C. 7705(d)(2) and (3)), the Secretary of Education shall 
     treat as timely filed, and shall process for payment, an 
     application under section 8002 or section 8003 of such Act 
     (20 U.S.C. 7702, 7703) for fiscal year 2005 from a local 
     educational agency--
       (1) that, for each of the fiscal years 2000 through 2004, 
     submitted an application by the date specified by the 
     Secretary of Education under section 8005(c) of such Act for 
     the fiscal year;
       (2) for which a reduction of more than $1,000,000 was made 
     under section 8005(d)(2) of such Act by the Secretary of 
     Education as a result of the agency's failure to file a 
     timely application under section 8002 or 8003 of such Act for 
     fiscal year 2005; and
       (3) that submits an application for fiscal year 2005 during 
     the period beginning on February 2, 2004, and ending on the 
     date of enactment of this Act.

  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, amendment No. 1903, which I am working on 
with my colleagues to resolve, will provide impact aid funding to the 
children of the service personnel in Fort Carson, CO. It will restore 
$1.2 million in needed educational impact aid funding to the El Paso 
County School District No. 8. The money for this amendment has already 
been appropriated within the Department of Education budget.
  The El Paso School District educates the children of thousands of 
service men and women serving our Nation on the Fort Carson military 
base. Many of the loved ones of these students and staff of the El Paso 
County School District have been deployed to Iraq as part of Operation 
Iraqi Freedom. In fact, over 11,000 soldiers from Fort Carson are 
currently deployed in Iraq. That is one-half of Fort Carson's total 
force.
  Due to a technical error, the Department of Education has denied the 
school district access to a $1.2 million set-aside for that school 
district's program. The result is that school district may have to fire 
as many as 12 teachers and teachers' aides. This amendment simply 
permits the school to access the money already set aside for it.
  I recognize this is not the traditional vehicle for this fix, but, 
frankly, given the stakes for the school district and the fact that the 
education of the children of the men and women from Fort Carson who are 
in Iraq is at stake, I believe we owe it to the families there to fix 
this problem, and to do it now.
  I note, too, that I have discussed this issue with the HELP 
Committee. Chairman Enzi and Ranking Member Kennedy have graciously 
consented to the inclusion of this amendment on

[[Page 21943]]

this bill. I have also been in close contact with the Armed Services 
Committee and with Senators--from Arizona and New Mexico--who face 
similar challenges. They all support this measure.
  I will work closely with the managers of this bill to dispose of this 
amendment in the most efficient way.
  And while I am here, Mr. President, I want to discuss four other 
amendments I have offered or will shortly offer to this bill. The 
amendments build on a good bill produced by Senators Stevens and 
Inouye.


                           Amendment No. 1887

  The first amendment--amendment No. 1887--would simply change the name 
of the so-called ``death gratuity'' to the less insulting and more 
appropriate name, the ``fallen hero compensation.'' The Senate has 
considered--and adopted--a version of this amendment before. 
Regrettably, it was dropped out in the conference on the fiscal year 
2005 Iraq and Afghanistan emergency supplemental. I hope it stays in 
this time.
  It fixes something in current law that I consider unfair. We 
currently call the assistance that taxpayers make available to military 
survivors a death gratuity. The term gratuity means gift, and I do not 
believe that any of the widows, widowers, or children left behind think 
of that money as a gift. I refuse the term death gratuity. Senate 
Amendment 1887 will change the term to fallen hero compensation, a term 
that more appropriately describes the sacrifice of these men for their 
country.


                           Amendment No. 1888

  Senate amendment No. 1888, offered by Senators Reed, Lieberman and 
myself, mirrors an amendment Senators Chambliss, Lieberman, Reed and I 
offered to the Defense authorization bill. I think we have agreement to 
get a modified version of this amendment added to the Defense 
authorization. Pending a clearer picture of the fate of that bill, I 
intend to protect my right to offer that amendment here.
  This amendment will allow the Office of Special Events within the 
Department of Defense to provide more support to Paralympic 
competitions in the United States. This is a matter of basic fairness. 
The Pentagon currently supports Olympic and other international games. 
This amendment just makes it easier for the Pentagon to support such 
competitions. With so many of our men and women coming back from Iraq 
disabled, it is important we provide these Olympic opportunities.


                           Amendment No. 1900

  Senate Amendment No. 1900 requires standards and accountability for 
Afghan security forces trained by the United States.
  It passed by unanimous consent as part of the fiscal year 2005 Iraq 
and Afghanistan emergency supplemental, but was dropped in the 
conference committee--not understandably--because it was deemed 
unnecessary. I could not disagree more with the assessment of my 
esteemed colleagues in the conference committee.
  Press accounts in recent weeks indicate that our training efforts in 
Afghanistan have been even less successful than our efforts in Iraq. 
Earlier this month LTG David Petraus, the top American trainer in Iraq, 
spent 5 days in Afghanistan to prepare a confidential assessment for 
the Pentagon. While I have not seen the results of the assessment, I 
can say without question that the decision to send General Petraus to 
Afghanistan was not an indication that the Pentagon believes things are 
progressing well there.
  And a series of recent press stories--from Stars and Stripes to the 
New York Times--indicate that our soldiers deployed to Afghanistan are 
also concerned about the status of training there.
  A sergeant with the 391st Engineer Battalion was quoted by Stars and 
Stripes as saying, in plain and simple language, ``The Afghan National 
Army just isn't where it needs to be yet.''
  According to the New York Times, by September, the Afghan army had 
grown to about 26,000 troops and the Afghan police force to more than 
50,000. In contrast, the Iraqi army and special police forces have 
87,300 troops, and the Iraqi police force has about 104,300 officers.
  The same article reports that until earlier this month, many Afghan 
police recruits were training with wooden rifles. That is not a 
misstatement. The force we expect to root out the world's worst opium 
production and trafficking efforts has been training--until earlier 
this month--with wooden rifles.
  Our commanding officer there, General Eikenberry, said this: ``When 
you're trying to put the pieces back together again, you need a lot of 
time and a lot of patience.'' He is, of course, right. Ensuring that 
patience--particularly as we consider yet another $50 billion 
supplemental for Iraq and Afghanistan--requires more information. We 
simply need more information about whether and how we are meeting our 
shared goal of an Afghan security force trained to a uniform standard.
  Some of my colleagues have suggested that there are sufficient 
reporting requirements in place on our efforts in Afghanistan.
  It is true that the Afghan Freedom and Support Act requires an update 
on our training effort there. But nowhere in that act or anywhere in 
existing reporting requirements is there a demand for clear reporting 
on the standards to which these forces are being trained, or any demand 
for clear accountability that the forces trained have met the standards 
we are demanding they meet.
  This amendment will ensure that we have the same reporting 
requirements for Afghanistan as we already have for Iraq. It will 
provide the accountability our taxpayers deserve and the success that 
our national security demands.
  My last amendment, which I will introduce later today, is the result 
of a letter I received from one of my constituents. He is an Army 
specialist and is currently deployed to Iraq. He wrote to me because 
one of his friends was killed by an IED while sitting in the exposed 
gunner's seat of a Humvee. His letter reads as follows:

       Two days ago a good friend of mine was killed in action 
     when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) detonated next to 
     his Humvee. He was sitting in the gunner seat and pulling 
     rear security. I have seen automated guns that can go on the 
     top of these same Humvees. These guns are controlled from 
     inside the vehicle. Why are these guns not on every Humvee? I 
     do not have the time or the resources over here to check, but 
     if you were to look into it I believe you would be shocked at 
     the percentage of KIA's that were sitting in the gunner's 
     seat of Humvees since OIF 1 in 2003. All I do know is that 
     the four people that were inside the vehicle were physically 
     unharmed. If the answer is money, then I would really like to 
     know how much my friend's life was worth.

  Since receiving that letter I have been in close contact with the 
Pentagon about the technology this young specialist is referring to. 
The Common Remotely Operated Weapons Station, known as CROWS, can move 
our soldiers out of the exposed gunner's seat and inside the protective 
shell of an up-armored Humvee. Behind me is a picture of how the CROWS 
system works. The CROWS system sits on top of the Humvee, with the 
gunner operating the weapons system from inside. My friend's friend who 
was killed could have been safe because he would have been inside the 
protective armor of the vehicle.
  In a CROWS-equipped vehicle, the gunner controls a powerful weapons 
platform through a computer screen. The system can be mounted on a 
variety of platforms, and it gives a soldier the capability to acquire 
and engage targets while protected inside the vehicle--out of range of 
enemy fire or IED attacks.
  Right now we have a few of these systems deployed in Iraq, and I am 
told that our soldiers ``hot seat'' them, which means that when one of 
these Humvees comes back from a patrol or an escort mission, another 
group of soldiers takes the vehicle out again as soon as they can gas 
it up.
  According to an article I read in the American Legion magazine, CROWS 
gives our soldiers a powerful color daylight camera, a Generation 2 
forward-looking infrared camera, and a laser range finder. According to 
another article, the CROWS system has 98 percent accuracy and can 
engage the enemy beyond 2,000 meters with one-shot, one-kill accuracy 
and no collateral damage.

[[Page 21944]]

  My amendment would add funding for the CROWS system in Title IX of 
this bill so that the Pentagon can meet its target for production and 
deployment of this important weapons system this year. As of June 27, 
there were 24 CROWS systems in Iraq. If the Pentagon meets its funding 
targets in this year's supplementals, we will be able to field 245 
systems into Iraq this year. To meet this target, this important system 
needs another $28 million in the Senate bill--and another $103 million 
on the next supplemental in early spring.
  My amendment would add that additional funding so that we can meet 
this important target.
  These are five very important amendments to the Department of Defense 
appropriations bill. I look forward to working with my colleagues--with 
Senator Stevens and Senator Inouye and all my colleagues in the 
Senate--to move forward and ensure that we enact these amendments for 
the benefit of our men and women in uniform.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. President, 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. INOUYE. I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be 
rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                           Amendment No 1903

  Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, on amendment No. 1903 to H.R. 2863, 
submitted by the Senator from Colorado, Mr. Salazar, on behalf of the 
chairman of the committee, Mr. Stevens, and the ranking member, we are 
ready to accept it.
  I urge its approval.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I am gratified that it was possible for the 
Senate to consent to the adoption of amendment No. 1903, offered by 
Senator Salazar of Colorado. I am grateful to Senator Salazar for 
introducing this amendment, which will ensure that students attending a 
number of schools receiving assistance through the Impact Aid program--
including the Window Rock Unified School District located on the Navajo 
Nation in Arizona--are not punished for administrative errors made by 
district personnel. I am also grateful to the chairman and ranking 
member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and the Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee for consenting to the 
inclusion of this amendment in this bill.
  The Window Rock district is known is a 100 percent impacted district. 
That is, because the land it encompasses is federally owned, it cannot 
rely on a local property tax base to fund school operations as most 
districts in our country can. It is important to note that the 
administrative error that triggered this penalty--the loss of $1.2 
million--was a one-time occurrence, and that Senator Enzi, the chairman 
of the committee with jurisdiction over this matter plans to address 
that ongoing administrative problem that has occurred here the next 
time Impact Aid is reauthorized. Moreover, as Senator Salazar rightly 
emphasized, the money here is not new money but previously appropriated 
funds that had been withheld.
  There is no question that district must take pains to ensure that 
rules and procedures are adhered to but in this case I agree with 
Senator Salazar that the penalty here was disproportionate and that, in 
any case, punishing reservation schoolchildren is not a particularly 
well-targeted penalty. This amendment will rectify that, and I am 
pleased that it will be accepted.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate on the amendment? The 
question is on agreeing to the amendment.
  The amendment (No. 1903) was agreed to.
  Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. SALAZAR. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Hawaii, a great 
friend and truly an inspiration and hero for all of us in this Nation, 
for his great contribution, not only during World War II but also his 
continuing contribution in the Senate--likewise, to the chairman of the 
committee, Senator Stevens, for an equally remarkable contribution to 
our country during World War II, and their understanding of the 
importance of doing everything we can to defend our country.
  I thank the Chair and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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