[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 22]
[Senate]
[Pages 30459-30462]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS

  Mr. STEVENS. Madam President, when I spoke earlier this morning, I 
failed to make the comment that there are many provisions in the 
conference report that are beyond the scope of the original Defense 
appropriations bill and would be subject to rule XXVIII. For instance, 
the hurricane supplemental; we have $29 billion for hurricane victims, 
including funding for education expenses, housing, and reconstruction 
efforts. That was not in the bill as it came out of either House. We 
have the Gulf Coast Recovery Fund. This provides short and long-term 
funding for Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, and Florida. Where 
from? From revenues from the approval of ANWR and from revenues from 
the approval in the reconciliation bill of the sale of spectrum when 
the transition takes place between analog and digital broadcasting.
  Those are predictable funds. They are currently not scored, but they 
are moneys that, when they do come in, will be held in the Treasury to 
help those people in the gulf coast who need assistance.
  There are also provisions in the bill concerning liability with 
regard to the manufacture of vaccines for avian flu. The basic bill had 
a provision dealing with the provision of money for research on avian 
flu, but now the conference report before us ensures that the 
production of avian flu vaccines will be available in the United 
States. Without this liability provision, we cannot assure that a 
sufficient supply of vaccines to protect us against a flu pandemic 
would be available.
  Our American industry moved overseas. Why? Because of decisions 
concerning liability. In this bill is a provision authored by many 
Senators and Members of the House that deals with adding to the money 
that we provide in the Senate version of the Defense appropriations 
bill, the provisions regarding liability and compensation being 
authorized on an emergency basis, if it is ever needed. God help us it 
will ever be needed.
  The avian flu pandemic is a real possibility now. I think it is one 
of the great fears of those who are involved in medicine, and I think 
our majority leader is one of the leaders in trying to develop a 
program to prevent that pandemic, if it hits the United States, from 
being like the pandemic flu in the early 1900s and what it did not only 
to the United States but the world.
  In addition to that, there is real money in this bill for home energy 
assistance, the so-called LIHEAP program. There is $2 billion for home 
heating assistance.
  In addition to that, we provide 5 percent from the ANWR revenues to 
the

[[Page 30460]]

Federal Government to provide a long-term funding stream to deal with 
the problems related to increasing fuel prices and its effect on those 
people who need assistance to provide heating for their homes.
  We also have in the bill provisions regarding interoperable 
communications equipment. All of us have been trying to prepare those 
people, called first responders, to have the equipment necessary to 
carry out their work. There is money in this bill for equipment grants 
to State and local governments to assure that first responders can 
communicate during national disasters and terrorist attacks.
  We also have--again, there is not any other provision in either the 
House or Senate bill--we have emergency preparedness grants. We have 
money to give all State emergency preparedness people grants, and these 
grants are based upon population and risk. It is a fair distribution of 
these grants. Some of my friends in the Senate from the larger 
population States have worried about distribution of such funds. These 
funds will be on the basis of population and risk.
  We also have for the first time--really at the basic insistence of 
the Senator from New Hampshire, Mr. Gregg--border security 
improvements. We have funds for increased border security, helicopter 
replacements, and security infrastructure, particularly in Arizona and 
California.
  In addition, there is agricultural assistance that provides much-
needed funding for conservation at a time when our farmers are paying 
such record-high energy costs. This is assistance to farmers.
  Why do I point these out? Those who attack this conference report on 
the basis of being beyond the scope of rule XXVIII are attacking the 
whole conference report. The subjects I have mentioned are beyond the 
scope of the original Defense appropriations bill, no question about 
it. We added it. I urged the conference to add it because I know of the 
need in these areas for these funds and this legislation.
  As I said before, I read the statements I made in 1996 when the 
Senate at another time had before it a bill pertaining to aviation 
where we did, in fact, have an appeal of a ruling of the Chair, and it 
was overruled.
  The concept of overruling the Chair is not a disaster for rule 
XXVIII. It is an opinion. It is a disagreement on the basis of the 
sentiments on the floor. It is really the Senate that decides these 
questions. But it is true that as a result of having such a vote--by 
the way, I have before me now a report of the Congressional Research 
Service that pertains to S. Res. 160 reversing the Hutchison FedEx 
precedents. On two occasions in the past regarding another rule, rule 
XVI, there has been an overturning of the ruling of the Chair, and by 
adopting this S. Res. 160, the Senate directed the Presiding Officer to 
once again enforce the Senate rule, permitting points of order to be 
raised against amendments to appropriations bills authored by other 
Senators.
  That is what we have done in this bill. The bill contains a provision 
which is similar to S. Res. 160, which was offered by Senator Reid, to 
reestablish the vitality of rule XVI.
  Let me say this: By adopting, as the report says, S. Res. 160, the 
Senate directed the Presiding Officer to once again enforce the Senate 
rule permitting points of order to be raised. That is what we have done 
in this bill. We have added a provision which is like S. Res. 160 which 
directs the Presiding Officer to enforce the rule as was intended.
  There is a basic disagreement. We are looking to waive the rule for 
one time. We are not seeking a precedent. We are not seeking to find 
some way around rule XXVIII permanently. We are saying that in this 
instance, because of the vastness of the problems we face, the problems 
of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, the problems of avian flu, the 
problems of LIHEAP, the problems of interoperable communications, the 
problems of the emergency preparedness grants, the homeland security 
and border security problems, the agricultural assistance that is 
needed, and the fact that ANWR, having passed both the House and the 
Senate, has been blocked by a filibuster.
  What we are really trying to do is to avoid a filibuster being 
continued against a bill that passed the Senate and passed the House in 
this Congress. By putting it in the conference report, we do that. It 
cannot be filibustered. Conference reports can't be filibustered, but 
there can be points of order. We will be happy to face those.
  I hope my colleagues in the Senate will understand the reason for 
what we have done and why we have done it. We have done it because of a 
sincere belief that production of oil domestically has a great deal to 
do with our national security and that our national defense cannot 
operate without the basic potential for our own production of oil.
  In the event of a blockade, such as we had in the seventies, we have 
to depend primarily on our own oil. Today, we import almost 60 percent 
of our oil. In order to operate the Department of Defense in time of 
emergency if there is a blockade, we have to have domestic production, 
and that is a matter of national security. That is why we have pursued 
this.
  Beyond this, there is no question about it, this is important to my 
State--to our State, Madam President. You are from our State. The 
Presiding Officer dignifies the Senate by presiding over it. When we 
look at the problem we have in oil pipelines carrying 2.1 million 
barrels a day--that was its production at the height of the gulf war. 
At this time, we are somewhere around 400,000 barrels a day. One-third 
of the oil is available to supply what we call the South 48 States. By 
law, that cannot be exported except by approval of the President. It 
has only been waived one time that I know of.
  As a practical matter, what we are looking at is finding out if it is 
possible to increase the supply of oil that is brought by the Alaska 
oil pipeline to the rest of the country. That means a lot. We are here 
because it means jobs in our State, and it means income for our State. 
But this is Federal land this time. Prudhoe Bay was on State land. We 
are talking about Federal land.
  By the way, some people argue that this is a pristine area that has 
never been explored for oil and gas. That is wrong. One well was 
drilled in this area, drilled at Kaktovik. We have had oil exploration 
there for years. When I was with the Interior Department in 1958, I 
helped draw the order that established the Arctic Wildlife Range, 9 
million acres in the northeast corner of Alaska. Oil and gas 
exploration was permitted. Then along came the withdrawals and demands 
of President Carter for additional withdrawals. We had a long debate. 
It was a debate that lasted 7 years. It culminated in the act that was 
called ANILCA, Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, in 
1980. That act specifically reserved 1.2 million acres of that coastal 
plain for oil and gas exploration. When that is over, it will become 
part of the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, but at this time it is reserved for 
oil and gas exploration.
  What this provision in this bill says is go ahead with that 
exploration, which was the commitment made to us in 1980 by Senator 
Jackson and Senator Tsongas. I will continue to talk about this, but I 
want to make sure every Senator understands, although I did say if this 
conference report fails, we can quickly reconstitute another conference 
committee. The provisions I have mentioned that are beyond the scope 
will be challenged. They will be challenged and some of them are part 
of the ANWR provision. We have taken the funds that will be received by 
the Federal Government and committed them to assist in the recovery of 
the disaster areas. We have committed them to assist in terms of low-
income heating, the LIHEAP program. We have committed them across the 
board in many places in order to assure that funding is available for 
these emergency areas where it normally takes time to have Congress 
come in to being and consider a bill usually in a year to a year and a 
half.
  We are saying in advance the moneys are in the Treasury and if they 
are needed for these emergency purposes they are to be released. In 
other words,

[[Page 30461]]

the ANWR bill is not only a bill to proceed with oil and gas 
exploration development; it says the bonus that will be received and it 
will be shared in the LIHEAP program, it will be shared in the 
communications area and in the disaster area. As we get revenues from 
royalties to the Federal Government, those will be committed to further 
protect the completion of recovery from the disaster of these terrible 
hurricanes. It will be there to assist in our transition to a new form 
of digital communication. It will be there to assist the first 
responders throughout the country. The ANWR revenues are very important 
revenues. They are revenues that come to the Treasury from the 
production of oil and gas. As the price of oil goes up, those revenues 
go up. They are real revenues, and we are saying to the people of the 
United States, if we develop this area, the money that is received by 
the Federal Government will be committed to those people who are in 
great need.
  So I tell the Senate, if this conference report comes down because of 
a point of order, we will go back to conference, but many of these 
provisions cannot be in there if ANWR is no longer there. I urge the 
Senate to listen to what is in this bill and to understand that the 
motivation of this Senator in regard to those provisions came out of 
the trip I took when I took the Commerce Committee to New Orleans. This 
is not something dreamed up. I see the distinguished Senator from 
Louisiana is in the Chamber. We went down there and, along with the 
people from the city and the State, we toured that area of devastation. 
As I told my own people at home by television programming just 
recorded, I have seen devastation in my day. I saw the earthquake in 
Alaska in 1964. I saw the great interior of Alaska flooded in 1966. I 
saw enormous devastation in China in World War II where the Japanese 
had bombed villages and areas out of existence. But I have never seen 
devastation as has occurred in the New Orleans area as a result of 
failure of those levees and Hurricane Katrina. It is something one 
cannot believe unless they see it, and when they see it they come home 
filled with sadness. How can we possibly help those people? The Federal 
laws do not contemplate that kind of devastation. The Federal laws 
assist people from normal types of hurricanes and even typhoons and 
tidal waves that have hit our States, but the real possibility is that 
unless we pass this bill, a lot of those people are not going to 
receive the assistance they should have.
  I see the Senator from Mississippi is behind me. I would be happy to 
yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Isakson). The Senator from Mississippi.
  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I am pleased to congratulate my good 
friend from Alaska and commend him for his work as chairman of the 
Defense Appropriations Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations. 
He and the distinguished Senator from Hawaii, Mr. Inouye, provided 
bipartisan and strong leadership in the crafting of this appropriations 
bill that is now before the Senate as a conference report. I am pleased 
as chairman of the full committee to have been a part of that 
conference as a member of the subcommittee and am very pleased that the 
leadership of Senator Stevens and Senator Inouye has been followed by 
the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations so that we have 
before us a bill that not only funds the Department of Defense and 
related agencies for the next fiscal year, 2006, but also contains 
amendments that were proffered and accepted by the conference dealing 
with relief from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and others that have 
devastated the Gulf Coast States of our country.
  As the Senator from Mississippi, I have been in close touch with 
friends and residents of the Mississippi gulf coast area and I have 
been pleased to join other Senators in trips to visit Louisiana and 
Alabama and get an impression and find out what the facts are about the 
seriousness of the devastation. The provisions of this conference 
report will go a long way toward providing assistance that is needed 
right now, not over a period of years but right now, so people can 
rebuild and truly recover from this devastating hurricane.
  I am hopeful the Senate will approve the conference report. The 
Senator from Alaska did a good job of outlining all of the provisions 
of the conference report. We are particularly grateful that the 
amendment relating to disaster relief due to hurricanes in the amount 
of $29 billion was approved by the committee last night. There are 
other provisions in the bill, as Senator Stevens pointed out, that will 
directly affect our recovery efforts in a very positive way that are 
included in this bill. There is money that goes directly to levee 
assistance in the Louisiana area, a very high priority of the local 
officials there. We have specified amounts that can be reconsidered in 
the next fiscal year. All the money cannot be spent in 1 year. This is 
something people are realizing. We cannot appropriate in 1 year all 
that is going to be needed in the outyears. Some of these projects are 
going to take not a few months to complete but a few years to complete. 
So we are hopeful that with the full understanding of the Senate this 
conference report will be agreed to by a large vote of support for the 
committee's work in this area.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.
  Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I rise to speak this morning on the great 
success of the conference committee in reaching this package and urge 
all of my colleagues in the Senate, Republican and Democrat, to come 
together to have these necessary votes and to pass this important 
legislation.
  Let me start by thanking and recognizing the vital work of the two 
leaders in this endeavor. Senator Thad Cochran, the chairman of the 
Senate Appropriations Committee, has worked tirelessly on this package. 
Of course, he had all the motivation in the world coming from 
Mississippi, but he has also reached out to all of us from all of the 
devastated areas, certainly me and my colleague Mary Landrieu from 
Louisiana. I want to thank him for all of his great work and for being 
so generous with his time, thoughts, and efforts with regard to helping 
us meet our Louisiana needs as well.
  I also thank and recognize the vital work of my chairman of the 
Commerce Committee, Ted Stevens, who spearheaded another crucial 
component of this overall package. Ted came down at my invitation, as 
he mentioned on the floor a few minutes ago, to tour the devastated 
area in greater New Orleans. Nobody can come down there and see the 
devastation on the ground in New Orleans--or Mississippi, for that 
matter--and not help but be truly moved and have their whole 
perspective changed. Perhaps the single best example of that is Ted 
Stevens. He was very helpful and very sympathetic even before that 
visit in early November. But when he was there on the ground, when he 
saw that devastation, particularly in Lake View and the lower Ninth 
Ward, when we were standing there together and he saw the levee breach 
on the Industrial Canal and just hundreds upon hundreds of homes 
everywhere as far as the eye could see ravaged as a result of that, his 
level of understanding and his commitment grew even more. He has 
clearly been a vital partner in this important work. So I thank and 
recognize his work, along with that of Chairman Cochran.
  I urge all my colleagues in the Senate, Republican and Democrat, to 
come together to make sure we have these crucial votes as soon as 
possible and to make sure we pass this important package.
  I have been disappointed to hear some of the comments from the other 
side of the aisle, particularly those of the minority leader. He has 
expressed outrage at some of the procedures that are involved in 
passing this crucial bill. I chuckle a little bit when I hear those 
comments, for two reasons.
  The first reason is that every procedure involved, every step that we 
will take this year to complete this important work, has been done 
before in the Senate and has been done before in the Senate with his 
support. He has voted for these same procedures in the past, every 
single one, every step of the way.

[[Page 30462]]

This is regular order. This is all under the Senate rules. So for him 
to express this level of outrage is ironic at best.
  Second, what he proposes in rejecting moving forward is to reject 
everything in this bill save Defense appropriations. It is not simply 
to reject ANWR, which is the focus of his wrath, it is to reject all of 
the hurricane relief, the entire package Senator Cochran has worked so 
hard to put together and fashion with his House counterparts. It is to 
reject all of the revenue from not only ANWR but DTV, which would also 
go to the devastated region. It is to reject all of that. What Senator 
Reid is proposing is to reject $2 billion for LIHEAP funding, which is 
absolutely crucial for our citizens in the Northeast and elsewhere. 
What he is proposing is to reject crucial funding for communications 
interoperability, which is a key need and a key priority for homeland 
security.
  Let's be clear. The path Senator Reid is urging us to go down is not 
simply to vote against ANWR. We have had votes on ANWR. We are free to 
vote for or against ANWR. We had a clear and fair vote on ANWR earlier 
this year, and it passed, no ifs, ands, or buts; perfectly fair. So he 
is not really just talking about that. He is talking about everything 
in this vital package save Defense appropriations. He is talking about 
all of the hurricane relief. He is talking about all of that DTV and 
ANWR revenue that would also go to the devastated region. He is talking 
about all that crucial help for LIHEAP, $2 billion upfront additional 
money into the future. It is very important for Northeastern States and 
citizens and for others. He is talking about the crucial 
interoperability piece for our first responders, a very important, top 
priority for homeland security.
  We must do all that work now, this year, before Christmas, before we 
leave. The way we get this work done is to have these important votes. 
Every Member of the Senate will be free to vote for or against. Every 
Member of the Senate will be free to vote as their conscience deems 
they should on all of these procedural matters.
  Again, Senator Reid has voted for all these procedures in the past. 
Let's be clear about that. So I urge us to put the politics aside, to 
not make this yet another Washington partisan political fight. Far too 
much is at stake for us to do that. Far too much in my State of 
Louisiana. Far too much in the devastated State of Mississippi and 
Alabama and Florida, with Wilma, and Texas with Rita, and southwest 
Louisiana with Rita.
  If there is ever a time for us to look at the substance and the 
national good and not Washington politics, it is now. That is what 
people sent us here to do, not play these partisan games. I urge 
everyone to put that substance first, to put the American people first, 
to put the people of the devastated regions of the gulf coast first and 
have these votes and pass this crucial package of relief.
  Let me be clear. ANWR is directly related to this relief because 
significant revenues from ANWR would go to the devastated region for 
crucial needs in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, and Florida. 
That is very much a part of this hurricane package.
  Let me close as I began, by thanking the chairman of Appropriations, 
Senator Cochran, and Senator Stevens, the chairman of the committee on 
which I am proud to serve, the Commerce Committee, for their vital 
leadership, for their vital work. But for them, we would not be in this 
moment of huge opportunity to meet the crucial needs of the still 
suffering citizens of the gulf coast.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.

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