April 27, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5853

be spent for these activities during each of

the six remaining years of the authorization

period. In addition, we estimate that annual

support for the two advisory commissions

extended by Title II would cost the federal

government a total of about $20,000 annually

beginning in fiscal year 1996.

Finally, costs to operate and maintain all

of the new facilities authorized by the bill

would be between $0.1 million and $0.2 million annually over the next five years, and

would grow to about $1.5 million annually

once all development has been completed.

Other provisions of the bill would have no

significant impact on federal spending.

For purposes of the above estimates, CBO

assumed that H.R. 694 would be enacted by

the end of fiscal year 1995 and that funding

for all projects or activities would be appropriated as needed. All estimates are based on

information provided by the NPS.

Enactment of this legislation would have

no impact on the budgets of state of local

governments.

Previous CBO Estimate. On February 23,

1995, CBO prepared a cost estimate for H.R.

694 as ordered reported by the House Committee on Resources on February 15, 1995.

The estimated costs for provisions that are

common to both bills are identical. The Senate version of the legislation, however, contains additional provisions that add $13 million to $14 million to one-time costs and up

to $0.5 million to annual expenses.

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be pleased to provide them.

The CBO staff contact is Deborah Reis, who

can be reached at 226–2860.

Sincerely,

JUNE E. O’NEILL,

f Director.∑

ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

∑ Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, Sunday,

April 23, marked the commemoration

of the 80th anniversary of the 1915–1923

genocide of the Armenian people.

In a world that seems to have gone

mad with violent acts of maniacal individuals, from Oklahoma City to Tokyo,

we must remember the victims of a

government organized terror, the genocide perpetrated by the Turkish Ottoman Empire against the Armenian people.

Eighty years ago this week, the 8-

year-long savagery against the Armenian people began.

Each year we remember and honor,

the victims, and pay respects to the

survivors we still are blessed to have in

our midst.

We vow to remember, to always remember the attempt to eliminate the

Armenian people from the face of the

earth, not for what they had done as

individuals, but because of who they

were.

History records that the world stood

by, although it knew. It knew.

Our Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau, telegraphed

the following message to the American

Secretary of State on July 16, 1915:

Deportation of and excesses against peaceful Armenians is increasing and from

harrowing reports of eyewitnesses it appears

that a campaign of race extermination is in

progress under the pretext of reprisal against

rebellion.

Later, when Ambassador Morgenthau

wrote a book about his experiences, he

wrote:

When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race:

they understood this well and in their conversations with me they made no particular

attempt to conceal the fact.

I am confident that the whole history of

the human race contains no such horrible

episode as this. The great massacres and persecutions of the past seems almost insignificant when compared to the sufferings of the

Armenian race in 1915.

Oh, there were a few voices, there

were a few leaders like Winston

Churchill who tried to warn us.

Churchill wrote the following in 1929:

In 1915, the Turkish Government began and

carried out the infamous general massacre

and deportation of Armenians in Asia Minor

. . . the clearance of the race from Asia

Minor was about as complete as such an act,

on a scale so great, could be. There is no reasonable doubt that this crime was planned

and executed for political reasons.

But, for the most part, nations did

not learn from history—the world

looked away and genocidal horrors revisited the planet.

As Elie Weisel said, the Armenians

‘‘felt expelled from history.’’

Hitler counted on the world forgetting the Armenian genocide when he

undertook the extermination of the

Jewish people.

So the genocide we remember each

April, the century’s first genocide—is

the genocide the world forgot, to its

shame and for which it paid dearly.

Each year we vow that the incalculable horrors suffered by the Armenian

people will still somehow not be in

vain.

We make this solemn vow because we

believe that it is within our power to

confront evil in the world, and to prevent genocidal attacks on people because of who they are.

That is surely the highest tribute we

can pay to the Armenian victims and

how the horror and brutality of their

deaths can be given redeeming meaning.∑

THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF

EARTH DAY

f∑ Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, Saturday

April 21, 1995 marked the 25th anniversary of Earth Day. Created in 1970 by

former Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day has played a major role

in heightening the awareness of environmental problems in the United

States. In the past 25 years, much

progress has been made to protect the

environment. Congress passed vital

laws to clean up our air and water, and

to prevent and reduce pollution. We

also enacted the Endangered Species

Act, which has helped to protect vital

plant and animal species in danger of

extinction. In addition, Americans

have become dedicated recyclers—now

collecting upward of 22 percent of our

trash in over 6,600 communities. But

much work remains to be done—particularly in the field of energy conservation.

The United States is in desperate

need of a plan to conserve our energy

supply. We are currently more dependent on foreign oil than we were in the

1973 crisis. Nearly one-half of the oil

used in the United States is imported,

and this has a significant adverse impact on the U.S. balance of trade. Alternative forms of fuel, such as solar

energy, need to continue to be explored.

About 10 years ago, former Senator

Charles ‘‘Mac’’ Mathias and I visited

refugee housing in Nicosia, Cyprus,

built 55 percent with American funds.

Each house had a solar heating unit on

it for hot water. If American taxpayers

can help provide solar heating in Cyprus, why not in Carbondale, IL, and

Bakersfield, CA. In 1981 my wife and I

built a house and made it passive solar.

In below-zero weather, we have the experience of a warm house during the

daytime, with the furnace kicking on

when the sun goes down. Clearly, we

could do much more to encourage widespread use of solar energy.

For some years I have also been trying to promote greater research and

use of electric cars. Automobile ownership is expected to increase worldwide

by up to 50 percent in the next 20 years.

If we do not take action, the environmental and energy problems that will

result from the use of gasoline-powered

cars will be monumental. The resulting

air pollution and oil consumption will

create problems that simply will be intractable. Widespread use of electric

cars would go a long way toward resolving this problem.

I am pleased to report that we are

making progress toward widespread use

of electric cars. New rules have been

adopted in California, New York, and

Massachusetts that require 2 percent of

the cars sold to be electric starting in

1998.

There is great interest in the electric

car abroad. Japan wants to have 200,000

electric cars in use by the year 2000,

and Europe will not be far behind. We

must encourage U.S. auto companies in

every way we can to produce electric

cars so that the United States is on the

cutting-edge of this technology. This

type of conservation effort will be an

investment that saves both dollars and

energy resources for the future.

The question we need to face is

whether we are doing what we should

for future generations in environmental matters. Focusing on renewable

and alternative energy sources is a

good place to start.

f∑

HONORING HARRY WEINROTH

∑ Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I

rise today to honor Mr. Harry Weinroth

on the occasion of the 50th anniversary

of his liberation from concentration

camp, April 30, 1995. Mr. Weinroth was

born in Sosnowiec, Poland. At the age

of 13 he voluntarily entered a concentration camp so that his father