S7610 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE May 26, 1995

3. Secret evidence.

4. Relevant.

5. Relevant.

6. Relevant.

7. Relevant.

8. Relevant.

Wellstone:

1. Relevant.

2. Relevant.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, let me indicate, I think I count 89 or 90 amendments—they went up 30 as I was getting ready here. Obviously, they will

not all be offered. If they will, I just

will not bring the bill back up again.

I further ask unanimous consent that

no assault weapons amendments be in

order to the terrorism bill, and that

following the disposition of the abovelisted amendments, the Hatch substitute be agreed to. That is as far as

we can go, I think, at this point.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there

objection? Without objection, it is so

ordered.

Mr. DOLE. I thank my friend, the

Democratic leader, and the manager of

the bill. I hope maybe in the course of

the next hour or two, they may be able

to dispose of 30 or 40 of these amendments.

Mr. BIDEN. Fifty or sixty, Mr. President, I am sure we could, if we work

extra hard.

Mr. DASCHLE addressed the Chair.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The

Democratic leader.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask

the majority leader if he can give us

some indication as to the schedule for

the remainder of the day and perhaps

on Monday when we return.

ORDER OF BUSINESS

Mr. DOLE. There will be no more

votes today, and on Monday, June 5, I

suggest, I hope there will be votes, but

any votes ordered not occur prior to 5

p.m., so some Members coming from a

distance will be able to be here if they

leave their homes early Monday morning.

At that point—and I will advise the

Democratic leader hopefully this afternoon—maybe we will move to the telecommunications bill or stay on this

bill, and much will depend on whether

or not the managers believe we can finish this bill rather quickly, say, by

Tuesday afternoon. Then we can still

go on the telecommunications bill for

the remainder of the week.

Mr. DASCHLE. I thank the majority

leader.

Mr. DOLE. I suggest the absence of a

quorum.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The

clerk will call the roll.

The bill clerk proceeded to call the

roll.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the

quorum call be rescinded.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without

objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I think we

have just concluded that it would be a

better procedure if we would give the

managers, starting today, an opportunity to go through these amendments. Some they may be prepared to

take, but they have not been fully reviewed; some have not been fully drafted, but they have the concept. We have

to see the exact language.

The leadership of both sides suggest

that we start that process today and,

in the meantime, I am going to suggest

that we now have a period for the

transaction of routine morning business, with Senators permitted to speak

for not more than 5 minutes each.

Mr. HATCH. Before the leader does

that, I want to say I think the majority leader is right. We are going to get

our staffs together and sift through the

amendments and see which ones we can

agree on and dispose of quickly. Hopefully, we will get that done.

Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, ‘‘Justice

delayed is justice denied,’’ so writes

Montana State Senator Ethel Harding

of Polson. On January 21, 1974, Senator

Harding’s daughter, Lana, was brutally

murdered. It was not until just 2 weeks

ago, over 21 years later, that justice

was finally carried out and Lana’s murderer was executed by the State of

Montana.

This tragedy has haunted Senator

Harding and her family for far too

many years. The unfortunate thing is

that the Harding family is not alone.

And so it is encouraging to see the

Senate act upon true habeas corpus reform as part of the overall Comprehensive Terrorism Prevention Act of 1995.

I cannot agree with some of my colleagues who would suggest that habeas

corpus reform should not be a part of

this legislation. No one, including the

families of the 167 innocent people

killed in the Oklahoma City bombing,

should have to wait as long as the Harding family to see that justice is carried out.

Habeas corpus reform is long overdue

in my opinion and the quicker we can

bring about change in this area of the

law the better. I appreciate the efforts

of Montana’s attorney general, Joe

Mazurek, who along with 11 other attorneys general from around the country wrote to the President in support of

habeas corpus reform. This is not a

partisan issue and should not get

bogged down in partisan politics.

In addition, I am encouraged that

Senators DOLE and HATCH have taken

great pains to ensure that this legislation reaffirms our longstanding commitment to constitutional protections,

and that any provision of the act which

is held unconstitutional, will be severed from the act and will not affect

the remaining provisions.

I am also pleased to see that we have

not weakened the prohibition on the

use of the U.S. Armed Forces for domestic police purposes and that we

have not expanded the authority of

roving wiretaps by removing the requirement of intent.

In the wake of this great national

tragedy, it is critical that we unite behind our law enforcement personnel.

From the local, to the State, to the

Federal authorities, law enforcement

and public service personnel should be

commended for the fine work they have

done thus far.

At the same time, it is important

that we do not overreact out of fear or

heightened emotions. In Montana, we

continue to have situations in which

individuals feel threatened by an imposing, uncaring, and overwhelming

Federal Government and bureaucracy.

As a result, some individuals have been

driven to illegal acts such as a variety

of Federal and felony charges, including gun violations, threatening and impersonating public officials, and tax

evasion.

Such actions cannot be condoned for

we are a civilized nation of laws. The

Montana law enforcement community

has responded cautiously but appropriately to these situations. They have

taken a nonconfrontational approach,

responding swiftly and firmly to any

activities that have resulted in a violation of the law. And they have done so

without jeopardizing human lives.

If we can help our local law enforcement community detect and prevent

future violations of the law by providing our law enforcement community

with the resources to effectively carry

out their responsibilities, we should do

so. This legislation is a reasoned, balanced approach in that regard.

MORNING BUSINESS

fMr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we now have a period for the transaction of morning

business, with Senators permitted to

speak for 5 minutes each.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there

objection to the request?

WAS CONGRESS IRRESPONSIBLE?

Without objection, it is so ordered.

THE VOTERS HAVE SAID YES

fMr. HELMS. Mr. President, as of the

close of business yesterday, Thursday,

May 25, the Federal debt stood at

$4,891,247,403,074.28. On a per capita

basis, every man, woman, and child in

America owes $18,567.26 as his or her

share of that debt.

EXPLANATION OF ABSENCE

fMr. FORD. Mr. President, the Senator from Wisconsin [Mr. FEINGOLD]

has asked me to inform his colleagues

that he is necessarily absent today in

order to attend the funeral of former

Secretary of Defense, Les Aspin, who

represented the State of Wisconsin for

22 years. The funeral is taking place

today in the Gesu Chapel at Marquette

University where Secretary Aspin

taught before his election to Congress.

Some 20 current and former Members

of the House and Senate are expected

to attend the services along with Vice

President GORE.