[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 20201-20204]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. CORNYN (for himself and Mr. Kyl):
  S. 1860. A bill to control violent crime; to the Committee on the 
Judiciary.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a crime bill 
that I hope all of my colleagues will support. Several of my colleagues 
and I have worked with the Department of Justice to develop an 
important comprehensive crime bill which will provide new tools to law 
enforcement and prosecutors across the country.
  This is an important issue. The New York Times wrote recently that 
violent crime was on the rise in our larger cities. Murder, robbery and 
gun assaults seem to be on the rise in midsized to large cities. 
Experts attribute this increase, in part, to the spread of drug use, 
gangs, high poverty, a record number of people being released from 
prison, and easy access to guns and a willingness to settle disputes 
with them.
  This comprehensive crime bill will help law enforcement officers and 
prosecutors beat back this rise in violent crimes. It is an extensive 
bill but let me discuss a few of its provisions here.
  Over the past several years, Congress has worked to crack down on 
child predators. From the PROTECT Act in 2003 to last year's Adam Walsh 
Act, Congress has made clear that those who commit crimes against our 
children will face swift and severe punishment. The bill I am 
introducing today builds on this momentum and adds additional tools to 
the prosecutorial arsenal. Among the changes provided in this bill is 
an increase in the punishments for a variety of sex offenses, including 
providing mandatory minimums for possession of child pornography. The 
bill would triple the criminal fines available against electronic 
service providers who knowingly and willfully fail to report child 
pornography and would make it a Federal crime to participate in the sex 
tourism trade in order to produce child pornography.
  We must protect the most vulnerable of us, children, and these 
provisions will continue this progress.
  The bill amends the armed career criminal statute to create a tiered 
punishment approach such that defendants with more serious criminal 
histories who use guns will face harsher punishments, including 
mandatory minimum prison sentences. Additionally, the bill also 
increases the statute of limitations for violent crimes from 5 to 10 
years.
  The bill also makes some technical but important changes to the gun 
statutes. For instance, the bill inserts an interstate commerce 
jurisdictional statement in 18 U.S.C. 924h cases, the statute that 
prohibits the transfer of firearms to others who intend to use those 
firearms in a drug trafficking or violent crime. This corrects a post 
Lopez congressional oversight and ensures that if this statute is used, 
it will not be struck down. Additionally, this bill provides that those 
felons who are arrested for possession of firearms will be detained 
without bail pending trial.
  We need to send a strong message of deterrence to those who would 
illegally use firearms. This bill sends that message loud and clear.
  Finally, the bill includes some significant changes to critical 
terrorism statutes. For instance, this bill criminalizes providing 
financial support to families of suicide bombers. It also increases 
penalties for those convicted of material support and denies Federal 
benefits to convicted terrorists.
  These are but a few of the provisions contained in this bill. 
Congress must

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continue to evaluate and, when necessary, provide needed tools to law 
enforcement to enable those public servants to effectively do their 
job.
  This bill does that and I hope that my colleagues will support it.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. KYL (for himself and Mr. McCain):
  S. 1862. A bill to provide for the exchange and conveyance of certain 
National Forest land and other land in southeast Arizona, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Southeast 
Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act of 2007. This bill 
facilitates an important land exchange in Arizona that will provide for 
the acquisition and protection of environmentally sensitive lands while 
providing a much needed economic engine for the people of Superior, AZ, 
and the surrounding communities. I am pleased to be joined by Senator 
McCain as an original cosponsor of this bill.
  This is not the first time Senator McCain and I have introduced this 
land exchange legislation. In 2005, we introduced S. 1122. S. 1122 was 
later modified and reintroduced in 2006 as S. 2466. S. 2466, as 
introduced, reflected the painstaking negotiated compromises and public 
feedback that we received with respect to the bill. S. 2466 had a 
favorable hearing before the Subcommittee on Forests and Public Lands 
in the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in May 2006. At 
that hearing, both the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management 
testified in support of the bill. The bill, however, was not enacted in 
the last Congress. I am pleased to say we are back again this year with 
a bill that includes some new provisions based on the work of the 
stakeholders to continue to improve the bill.
  The exchange facilitates the conveyance to Resolution Copper of 
approximately 3,025 acres of National Forest System land, 3 miles 
outside of Superior, Arizona in the historic Pioneer Mining District. 
The acreage commonly called ``Oak Flat'' would be traded to Resolution 
Copper to facilitate future exploration, and possible development, of 
what may be one of the largest deposits of copper ore ever discovered 
in North America. The 3,025 acres of Federal lands are intermingled 
with, or lie next to, private lands already owned by Resolution Copper, 
and are located south and east of Resolution's existing underground 
Magma copper mine. Approximately 75 percent of the Federal land is 
already blanketed by federally authorized mining claims owned by 
Resolution Copper that give it the right to explore and develop the 
minerals. Given the intermingled ownership, the public safety issues 
that may be associated with mining activities, and the significant 
financial investment Resolution Copper must make to even determine 
whether development of a mine is feasible, it makes sense, for 
Resolution Copper to own the entire Oak Flat area.
  However, we also recognize that there are public impacts associated 
with transferring Oak Flat out of federal ownership. This bill goes far 
in addressing these impacts. Let me explain. First, the land exchange 
is conditioned on the execution of a permanent conservation easement to 
protect Apache Leap, a spectacular cliff area rich in cultural history 
on the western side of the Federal parcel. Although the conservation 
easement has been a feature in this bill since it was first introduced, 
we have expanded and strengthened the protections required by the 
easement. The easement will now apply to the entire Apache Leap 
escarpment totaling approximately 695 acres up from the 562 acres that 
were protected in the original bill. To address concerns that were 
raised that the mining operation might still affect the area, the 
conservation easement will not just prohibit surface development, it 
will also prohibit commercial mineral extraction under the easement 
area. In addition, the exchange includes a fund endowment for the 
implementation of the terms of the conservation easement.
  The Oak Flat Campground, consisting of 16 rustic tent/RV sites, is 
located on the north side of the parcel, adjacent to U.S. Highway 60. 
Recognizing that the campground is used by the community and others, we 
are requiring that this campground be replaced on the Globe Ranger 
District at Resolution Copper's expense. Public access to this 
campground will not immediately terminate on enactment of the 
legislation: The bill stipulates continued public access to the 
campground for two years after enactment.
  We also heard from the public that climbing and bouldering are 
important recreational resources at Oak Flat. For this reason, we 
included a placeholder in S. 1122 for additional climbing provisions as 
a good faith offer to the climbing community to work with us and 
Resolution Copper to address the loss of public access to climbing at 
Oak Flat in a way that would not compromise public safety. A compromise 
was reached by the stakeholders to continue temporary interim access to 
some climbing at Oak Flat; and execute a license between Resolution 
Copper and Access Fund, a national advocacy climbing organization, to 
allow climbers to gain access to popular climbing sites located on 
Resolution Copper's private land. This compromise along with the 
discovery of ``Tamo,'' a climbing gem in the Tam O'Shanter Mountains, 
which is slated to become Arizona's newest State park, are examples of 
how parties coming together can turn an unfortunate situation into a 
win-win.
  We had hoped we would be able to make a similar announcement with 
regard to the cultural resource concerns that were raised by the San 
Carlos Apache Tribe in May of last year. Unfortunately, that is not the 
case. I am still hopeful, however, and I will continue to reach out to 
the Yavapai and Apache tribes as this bill moves through the 
legislative process.
  In return for conveying the Federal land to Resolution Copper, the 
Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management will receive eight parcels 
of private land, totaling 4,583 acres plus $7.5 million to be placed in 
a trust account to be expended by the United States on additional 
conservation lands in Arizona. The parcels included in this bill have 
been identified, and are strongly endorsed for acquisition by the 
Arizona Audubon Society, Nature Conservancy, Trust for Public Land, 
Sonoran Institute, Arizona Game and Fish Department, and numerous 
others. They include lands along the San Pedro River, an important 
internationally recognized migratory bird corridor, riparian and 
wetland habitat for threatened and endangered animal and plant species, 
including the southwestern willow flycatcher and the hedgehog cactus, 
and magnificent canyons and forests that are home to big game species. 
Most of the parcels are in holdings whose acquisition will enable more 
effective management of the federal land. It is in the public interest 
to bring these conservation lands into Federal ownership for the 
enjoyment of future generations.
  Although the focus of this bill is the land exchange between 
Resolution Copper and the U.S., it also includes provisions allowing 
for the conveyance of Federal lands to the town of Superior. These 
lands include the town cemetery, lands around the town airport, and a 
Federal reversionary interest that exists at the airport site. These 
lands are included in the proposed exchange to help the town to provide 
its municipal needs and expand and diversify its economic development.
  Though I have described the many benefits of and the important 
compromises that are part of this exchange, you may be asking why we 
are legislating this land exchange. Why not use the existing 
administrative land exchange process? The answer is that this exchange 
can only be accomplished legislatively because the Forest Service does 
not have the authority to convey away Federal lands in order to acquire 
other lands outside the boundaries of the National Forest System, no 
matter how ecologically valuable.
  This bill contains procedural safeguards and conditions that ensure 
it is an equal value exchange in the public interest. I will highlight 
some of those

[[Page 20203]]

safeguards: First, it requires that all appraisals of the lands must 
follow standard federal practice and be performed in accordance with 
appraisal standards promulgated by the U.S. Department of Justice. All 
appraisals must also be formally reviewed, and approved, by the 
Secretary of Agriculture. Second, to ensure the Federal Government gets 
full value for the Federal parcel it is giving up, the Federal parcel 
will be appraised to include the minerals and appraised as if 
unencumbered by the private mining claims that detract from the fair 
market value of the land. These are important provisions not required 
by federal law. They are especially significant given that over 75 
percent of the Federal parcel is covered by mining claims owned by 
Resolution Copper and the bulk of the value of the Federal parcel is 
expected to be the minerals. Third, the Apache Leap conservation 
easement is expressly excluded from the valuation of the Federal land, 
preventing any possibility that this easement would devalue the Federal 
land. By following standard appraisal practices and including these 
additional safeguards in the valuation process, the U.S., and 
ultimately the taxpayer, will receive full fair market value for both 
the land and the minerals it contains.
  With this land exchange we can preserve lands that advance the 
important public objectives of protecting wildlife habitat, cultural 
resources, the watershed, and aesthetic values, while generating 
economic, recreation, and employment opportunities for state and local 
residents. I hope we approve the legislation at the earliest possible 
date. It is a winning scenario for our environment and our economy.
                                 ______
                                 
      Mr. FEINGOLD (for himself, Mr. Kohl, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. Brown):
  S. 1863. A bill to authorize the President to posthumously award a 
gold medal on behalf of Congress to Robert M. La Follette, Sr., in 
recognition of his important contributions to the Progressive movement, 
the State of Wisconsin, and the United States; to the Committee on 
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the extraordinary 
life of Robert M. La Follette, Sr. This week, on June 14, people around 
my home State of Wisconsin will mark the 152nd anniversary of La 
Follette's birth. Throughout his life, La Follette was revered for his 
tireless service to the people of Wisconsin and to the people of the 
U.S. His dogged, full-steam-ahead approach to his life's work earned 
him the nickname ``Fighting Bob.''
  Robert Marion La Follette, Sr., was born on June 14, 1855, in 
Primrose, a small town southwest of Madison in Dane County. He 
graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1879 and, 
after being admitted to the State bar, began his long career in public 
service as Dane County district attorney.
  La Follette was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1884, 
and he served three terms as a member of that body, where he was a 
member of the Ways and Means Committee.
  After losing his campaign for reelection in 1890, La Follette 
returned to Wisconsin and continued to serve the people of my state as 
a judge. Upon his exit from Washington DC, a reporter wrote, La 
Follette ``is popular at home, popular with his colleagues, and popular 
in the House. He is so good a fellow that even his enemies like him.''
  He was elected the 20th Governor of Wisconsin in 1900. He served in 
that office until 1906, when he stepped down in order to serve the 
people of Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate, where he remained until his 
death in 1925.
  As a founder of the national progressive movement, La Follette 
championed progressive causes as governor of Wisconsin and in the U.S. 
Congress. As governor, he advanced an agenda that included the 
country's first workers compensation system, direct election of U.S. 
Senators, and railroad rate and tax reforms. Collectively, these 
reforms would become known as the ``Wisconsin Idea.'' As governor, La 
Follette also supported cooperation between the state and the 
University of Wisconsin.
  His terms in the House of Representatives and the Senate were spent 
fighting for women's rights, working to limit the power of monopolies, 
and opposing pork barrel legislation. La Follette also advocated 
electoral reforms, and he brought his support of the direct election of 
U.S. Senators to this body. His efforts were brought to fruition with 
the ratification of the 17th Amendment in 1913. Fighting Bob also 
worked tirelessly to hold the Government accountable, and was a key 
figure in exposing the Teapot Dome Scandal.
  La Follette earned the respect of such notable Americans as Frederick 
Douglass, Booker T. Washington and Harriet Tubman Upton for making 
civil rights one of his trademark issues. At a speech before the 1886 
graduating class of Howard University, La Follette said, ``We are one 
people, one by truth, one almost by blood. Our lives run side by side, 
our ashes rest in the same soil. [Seize] the waiting world of 
opportunity. Separatism is snobbish stupidity, it is supreme folly, to 
talk of non-contact, or exclusion!''
  La Follette ran for President three times, twice as a Republican and 
once on the Progressive ticket. In 1924, as the Progressive candidate 
for President, La Follette garnered more than 17 percent of the popular 
vote and carried the State of Wisconsin.
  La Follette's years of public service were not without controversy. 
In 1917, he filibustered a bill to allow the arming of U.S. merchant 
ships in response to a series of German submarine attacks. His 
filibuster was successful in blocking passage of this bill in the 
closing hours of the 64th Congress. Soon after, La Follette was one of 
only six Senators who voted against U.S. entry into World War I.
  Fighting Bob was outspoken in his belief that the right to free 
speech did not end when war began. In the fall of 1917, La Follette 
gave a speech about the war in Minnesota, and he was misquoted in press 
reports as saying that he supported the sinking of the Lusitania. The 
Wisconsin State Legislature condemned his supposed statement as 
treason, and some of La Follette's Senate colleagues introduced a 
resolution to expel him. In response to this action, he delivered his 
seminal floor address, ``Free Speech in Wartime,'' on October 16, 1917. 
If you listen closely, you can almost hear his strong voice echoing 
through this chamber as he said: ``Mr. President, our government, above 
all others, is founded on the right of the people freely to discuss all 
matters pertaining to their government, in war not less than in peace, 
for in this government, the people are the rulers in war no less than 
in peace.''
  Of the expulsion petition filed against him, La Follette said:

       I am aware, Mr. President, that in pursuance of this 
     general campaign of vilification and attempted intimidation, 
     requests from various individuals and certain organizations 
     have been submitted to the Senate for my expulsion from this 
     body, and that such requests have been referred to and 
     considered by one of the Committees of the Senate.
       If I alone had been made the victim of these attacks, I 
     should not take one moment of the Senate's time for their 
     consideration, and I believe that other Senators who have 
     been unjustly and unfairly assailed, as I have been, hold the 
     same attitude upon this that I do. Neither the clamor of the 
     mob nor the voice of power will ever turn me by the breadth 
     of a hair from the course I mark out for myself, guided by 
     such knowledge as I can obtain and controlled and directed by 
     a solemn conviction of right and duty.

  This powerful speech led to a Senate investigation of whether La 
Follette's conduct constituted treason. In 1919, following the end of 
World War I, the Senate dropped its investigation and reimbursed La 
Follette for the legal fees he incurred as a result of the expulsion 
petition and corresponding investigation. This incident is indicative 
of Fighting Bob's commitment to his ideals and of his tenacious spirit.
  La Follette died on June 18, 1925, in Washington, DC., while serving 
Wisconsin in this body. His daughter noted, ``His passing was 
mysteriously peaceful for one who had stood so long on the battle 
line.'' Mourners visited the Wisconsin Capitol to view his body, and 
paid respects in a crowd nearing 50,000 people. La Follette's son, 
Robert

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M. La Follette, Jr., was appointed to his father's seat, and went on to 
be elected in his own right and to serve in this body for more than 20 
years, following the progressive path blazed by his father.
  La Follette has been honored a number of times for his unwavering 
commitment to his ideals and for his service to the people of Wisconsin 
and of the U.S.
  During the 109th Congress, I was proud to support Senate passage of a 
bill introduced in the House of Representatives by Congresswoman Tammy 
Baldwin that named the post office at 215 Martin Luther King, Jr., 
Boulevard in Madison in La Follette's honor. I commend Congresswomen 
Baldwin for her efforts to pass that bill and I am pleased she is 
introducing House companion measures of the legislation I am 
introducing today in the Senate.
  The Library of Congress recognized La Follette in 1985 by naming the 
Congressional Research Service reading room in the Madison Building in 
honor of both Fighting Bob and his son, Robert M. La Follette, Jr., for 
their shared commitment to the development of a legislative research 
service to support the U.S. Congress. In his autobiography, Fighting 
Bob noted that, as governor of Wisconsin, he ``made it a . . . policy 
to bring all the reserves of knowledge and inspiration of the 
university more fully to the service of the people. . . . Many of the 
university staff are now in State service, and a bureau of 
investigation and research established as a legislative reference 
library . . . has proved of the greatest assistance to the legislature 
in furnishing the latest and best thought of the advanced students of 
Government in this and other countries.'' He went on to call this 
service ``a model which the Federal government and ultimately every 
state in the union will follow.'' Thus, the legislative reference 
service that La Follette created in Madison served as the basis for his 
work to create the Congressional Research Service at the Library of 
Congress.
  The La Follette Reading Room was dedicated on March 5, 1985, the 
100th anniversary of Fighting Bob being sworn in for his first term as 
a Member of Congress.
  Across this magnificent Capitol in National Statuary Hall, Fighting 
Bob is forever immortalized in white marble, still proudly representing 
the state of Wisconsin. His statue resides in the Old House Chamber, 
now known as National Statuary Hall, among those of other notable 
figures who have made their marks in American history. One of the few 
seated statues is that of Fighting Bob. Though he is sitting, he is 
shown with one foot forward, and one hand on the arm of his chair, as 
if he is about to leap to his feet and begin a robust speech.
  When then-Senator John F. Kennedy's five-member Special Committee on 
the Senate Reception Room chose La Follette as one of the ``Five 
Outstanding Senators'' whose portraits would hang outside of this 
chamber in the Senate reception room, he was described as being a 
``ceaseless battler for the underprivileged'' and a ``courageous 
independent.'' Today, his painting still hangs just outside this 
chamber, where it bears witness to the proceedings of this body--and, 
perhaps, challenges his successors here to continue fighting for the 
social and government reforms he championed.
  Mr. President, to honor Robert M. La Follette, Sr., during the week 
of the anniversary of his birth, today I am introducing two pieces of 
legislation. I am pleased to be joined in this effort by the senior 
Senator from Wisconsin, Senator Kohl; the senior Senator from 
Massachusetts, Senator Kennedy; and the junior Senator from Ohio, 
Senator Brown.
  I am introducing a bill that would direct the Secretary of the 
Treasury to mint coins to commemorate Fighting Bob's life and legacy. 
The second bill that I am introducing today, 1864, would authorize the 
President to posthumously award a gold medal on behalf of Congress to 
Robert M. La Follette, Sr. The minting of a commemorative coin and the 
awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal would be fitting tributes to 
the memory of Robert M. La Follette, Sr., and to his deeply held 
beliefs and long record of service to his state and to his country. I 
hope that my colleagues will support these proposals.
  Let us never forget Robert M. La Follette, Sr.'s character, his 
integrity, his deep commitment to Progressive causes, and his 
unwillingness to waver from doing what he thought was right. The Senate 
has known no greater champion of the common man and woman, no greater 
enemy of corruption and cronyism, than ``Fighting Bob'' La Follette, 
and it is an honor to speak in the same chamber, and serve the same 
great state, as he did.

                          ____________________