A bill to resolve the boundary conflicts in Barry and Stone Counties in the State of Missouri.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Wednesday, February 11, 2004, at 9:30 a.m. on Protecting Children From Violent and Indecent Programming.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, on Wednesday, February 11 at 10:00 a.m. to consider pending calendar business.

Agenda Item 2: S. 213--A bill to clear title to certain real property in New Mexico associated with the Middle Rio Grande Project, and for other purposes with an amendment.

Agenda Item 3: S. 524--A bill to expand the boundaries of the Fort Donelson National Battlefield to authorize the acquisition and interpretation of lands associated with the campaign that resulted in the capture of the fort in 1862, and for other purposes.

Agenda Item 5: S. 943--A bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to enter into one or more contracts with the city of Cheyenne, Wyoming, for the storage of water in the Kendrick Project, Wyoming with an amendment.

Agenda Item 6: S. 960--To amend the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act and the Hawaii Water Resources Act of 2000 with an amendment.

Agenda Item 9: S. 1107--A bill to enhance the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program for the National Park Service, and for other purposes.

Agenda Item 13: S. 1516--Salt Cedar Control Demonstration Act with an amendment in the nature of a substitute.

Agenda Item 14: S. 1576--A bill to revise the boundary of Harper's Ferry National Historical Park, and for other purposes.

Agenda Item 15: S. 1577--A bill to extend the deadline for commencement of construction of hydroelectric project in the State of Wyoming.

Agenda Item 16: S. 1582--A bill to amend the Valles Preservation Act to improve the preservation of the Valles Caldera, and for other purposes with an amendment.

Agenda Item 17: S. 1848--A bill to amend the Bend Pine Nursery Land Conveyance Act to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to sell the Bend Pine Nursery Administration Site in the State of Oregon with an amendment.

Agenda Item 18: H.R. 408--To provide for expansion of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

Agenda Item 19: H.R. 417--To revoke a Public Land Order with respect to certain lands erroneously included in the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, California with report language.

Agenda Item 20: H.R. 620--To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide supplemental funding and other services that are necessary to assist the State of California or local educational agencies in California in providing educational services for students attending schools located within the Park with an amendment.

Agenda Item 21: H.R. 708--To require the conveyance of certain National Forest System lands in Mendocino National Forest, California, to provide for the use of the proceeds from such conveyance for National Forest purposes, and for other purposes.

Agenda Item 23: H.R. 856--To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to revise a repayment contract with the Tom Green County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1, San Angelo project, Texas, and for other purposes.

Agenda Item 26: H.R. 1598--To amend the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to participate in projects within the San Diego Creek Watershed, California, and for other purposes.

Agenda Item 27: S. 1167--A bill to resolve the boundary conflicts in Barry and Stone Counties in the State of Missouri.

In addition, the Committee may turn to any other measures that are ready for consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, February 11, 2004 at 10 a.m. to hold a Business Meeting.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet on Wednesday, February 11, 2004 at 9:30 a.m. in Room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a hearing on the President's Fiscal Year 2005 Budget Request.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on Wednesday, February 11, 2004 at 2 p.m. on ``Judicial Nominations,'' in the Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226.

Panel I: Senators.

Panel II: Diane S. Sykes, to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; James L. Robart, to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington; Juan R. Sanchez, to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on ``Cable Competition--Increasing Price; Increasing Value?'' on Wednesday, February 11, 2004, at 10:30 a.m., in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Mr. Michael Willner, Vice-Chairman, President and CEO, Insight Communications Company, Inc.;

Mr. Rodger Johnson, CEO, Knology;

Mr. Robert Sachs, President and CEO, National Cable and Telecommunications Association;

Ms. Coralie Wilson, President, National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors;

Mr. Scott Cleland, CEO, Precursor; and

Dr. Mark Cooper, Director of Research, Consumer Federation of America.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on International Trade and Finance of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the Session of the Senate on Wednesday, February 11, 2004, at 1:00 p.m. to conduct a hearing on ``Economic and Financial Reconstruction in Iraq.''

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the American Indian Reservation Transportation Improvement Program Act. I am pleased to be joined, as I have been each time that I have introduced legislation dealing with the Indian Reservation Roads program, by my good friends, Senators Inouye and Campbell. I am confident that we will replicate the success we have had in our previous endeavors to improve this important program.

In 1982, when I served on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, several members of the Navajo Nation Tribal Council Committee on Transportation approached me with an interesting proposition. These Navajo Councilmen believed that the time had come for Indian tribes to participate directly in our National Highway Trust Fund programs.

I agreed with these gentlemen, the Senate agreed with me, and the Congress and President Reagan approved Indian tribal participation in the U.S. Department of Transportation highway construction program for the first time in our Nation's history.

By the mid-1980's, Indian Reservation Roads, IRR, funding was at about $100 million per year nationwide. By the late 1980's, however, IRR funding fell to about $80 million per year. In ISTEA, for the early 1990's, we were able to raise this critical highway construction funding to about $190 million per year.

Then, in TEA-21, The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, we succeeded in bringing annual IRR funding up to $275 million for fiscal years 1999 through 2003.

As we seek to promote economic opportunities on our Nation's tribal reservations, I believe it is imperative that we once again increase this vital infrastructure funding. I am aware that the National Congress of American Indians, NCAI, is recommending a large jump to $500 million per year for the construction program; $100 million for an Indian transit program; $50 million for Indian bridges; $70 million, plus $26 million in Interior funding, for road maintenance; and several other additions for a total of $907 million in DOT funds in FY2004. By the year FY2009, the NCAI recommendations would exceed $1.4 billion annually.

While I am sympathetic to the need for such large increases, I am keenly aware of competing needs around the country for medical research, economic stimulus, and for our national defense, to name just a few. Therefore, I am compelled to recommend increases for the IRR program that are more likely to win acceptance among my colleagues.

For highway construction, I am recommending an immediate increase of $55 million in the first year to a new total of $330 million. My bill would then increase the amount for construction by $30 million each year so that the program receives $480 million in the final year of the authorization. For the Indian bridge program, I am recommending $15 million per year, an increase of $6 million annually. And for State roads that serve as key bus routes for Indian children, primarily on our Nation's largest Indian reservation--the Navajo Nation--I am recommending increasing this vital funding from $1.5 million per year to $3 million in fiscal years 2004 and 2005, to $4 million in fiscal years 2006 and 2007, and $5 million for fiscal years 2008 and 2009.

My final recommendation is to create a rural transit program for Indian Reservations. Because the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration each have their areas of expertise that can make such a program a success, my legislation will require the two agencies to work together for the benefit of the tribes who participate in this program. My suggestion is to fund this program at $20 million.

In closing, I want to thank the Navajo Nation Transportation Committee and the tribal transportation department for keeping me informed of their progress and continuing needs. I believe my bill will be a positive answer to their requests. In addition, the Pueblo Indians and Apache Indians of New Mexico have continuing development needs, including new and improved roads to reach their many attractions for tourists and other visitors.

I ask my colleagues to join me in increasing the Indian Reservation Roads program funds in our Federal Highways Programs to the degree I have requested in this bill. I thank my colleagues and urge their support for these increases as we reauthorize TEA-21 for six more years.

I ask unanimous consent the text of this bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, November 18, 2003, at 4 p.m., in open session, to consider the nomination of the Honorable Michael W. Wynne to be Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on

Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 18, 2003, at 10 a.m. to conduct a hearing on the ``Review of Current Investigations and Regulatory Actions Regarding the Mutual Fund Industry.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Tuesday, November 18, 2003, in the President's Room, immediately following the first vote, on pending committee business.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Tuesday, November 18, 2003, at 10 a.m., to hear testimony on nomination of Arnold I. Havens, to be General Counsel for the Department of the Treasury.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Tuesday, November 18, 2003, at 2:30 p.m. for a hearing to consider the nomination of James M. Loy to be Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, Department of Homeland Security.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on Tuesday, November 18, 2003, at 9:30 a.m, on ``America after 9/11: Freedom Preserved or Freedom Lost?,'' in the Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226.

Panel I: Bob Barr, Former United States Representative, Atlanta, GA; Viet Dinh, Professor, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC; James Zogby, Arab American Institute, Washington, DC; James Dempsey, Center for Democracy and Technology, Washington, DC; Robert Cleary, Proskauer Rose, LLP, New York, NY; Nadine Strossen, President, American Civil Liberties Union, New York, NY; and Muzaffar Chishti, Director, Migration Policy Institute at New York University School of Law; New York, NY.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, November 18, at 2:30 p.m.

The purpose of the hearings is to receive testimony on S. 1467, a bill to establish the Rio Grande outstanding natural area in the state of Colorado, and for other purposes, S. 1209, a bill to provide for the acquisition of property in Washington County, Utah, for implementation of a desert tortoise habitat conservation plan, and H.R. 708, a bill to require the conveyance of certain national forest system lands in Mendocino National Forest, California, to provide for the use of the proceeds from such conveyance for national forest purposes, and for other purposes; S. 1167, which would resolve boundary conflicts in Barry and Stone counties in the State of Missouri, and S. 1848, which would amend the Bend Pine Nursery Land Conveyance Act to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to sell the Bend Pine Nursery Administrative site in the State of Oregon.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the subcommittee on strategic forces of the committee on armed services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, November 18, 2003, at 2:00 p.m., in open session to receive testimony on space acquisition policies and processes.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Tuesday, November 18, 2003, at 9:30 a.m. for a hearing entitled ``U.S. Tax Shelter Industry: The Role of Accountants, Lawyers and Financial Professionals.''

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation to resolve the unfortunate boundary line disputes in Southwest Missouri that have resulted from conflicting Federal Government land surveys performed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the United States Forest Service, USFS, respectively. The land involving these disputed property lines is located in the vicinity of the Cassville District of the Mark Twain National Forest in Barry and Stone Counties adjacent to Table Rock Lake.

During the 1970's, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, through various private land surveyors, surveyed this area around Table Rock Lake. In its surveys, the Corps found that most of the original ``corner monuments'' or boundary lines laid out by the U.S. General Land Office, GLO, in its original land surveys performed in the 1840's were either lost, stolen or had eroded over the years. Because of this, Corps surveyors used existing de-facto land markers in the vicinity of the original GLO monuments as the basis for its new survey. Prior to the Corps surveys, these defacto monuments were recognized by local surveyors as legitimate boundary markers and were used in survey after survey over the decades.

For almost 30 years, private landowners in Barry and Stone Counties bought and sold their land based on the surveys performed by the Corps in the 1970's. However, several years ago, the USFS performed new land surveys using surveying technology that had only recently become available. As a result of these new surveys, the USFS now claims that the boundary lines in its surveys conflict with the boundary lines established in the previous corps surveys. In addition to this, the USFS has announced that the Corps surveys are incorrect and that property lines all over this area are in the wrong place.

Because of these new revelations, many private property owners in the vicinity of the Mark Twain National Forest, who bought and paid for their land in good faith based on a previous Federal Government survey, are now being told that they have encroached on USFS land.

USFS has begun telling these private landowners that their land now belongs to the Federal Government, and that they will have to reimburse the USFS for the Federal land that the landowners now occupy. Naturally, these actions have produced chaos, confusion and anger among landowners in these two counties.

Needless to say, it is inherently unfair and absolutely devoid of any common sense to expect private landowners to compensate the Federal Government for land that they have already purchased simply because the government has changed its collective mind about where Federal property begins and ends.

Over the past 18 months, I have repeatedly asked the USFS and the Army Corps of Engineers to work together to find a solution that would resolve this problem. Unfortunately, after 18 month of debate and disagreement, the Corps of Engineers and the USFS have been unable to agree on a resolution of this problem. In the meantime, the lives of many of these Missouri residents continue to be disrupted.

Therefore, I have concluded that Federal legislation represents the only feasible solution to this boundary problem. This legislation authorize the Secretary of the Agriculture to convey, without consideration, title to land in which there is a boundary conflict, with adjoining federal land, to private landowners, who can demonstrate a claim of ownership because they relied on a subsequent land survey approved by the Federal Government.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation to resolve the unfortunate boundary line disputes in Southwest Missouri that have resulted from conflicting Federal Government land surveys performed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the United States Forest Service, USFS, respectively. The land involving these disputed property lines is located in the vicinity of the Cassville District of the Mark Twain National Forest in Barry and Stone Counties adjacent to Table Rock Lake.

During the 1970's, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, through various private land surveyors, surveyed this area around Table Rock Lake. In its surveys, the Corps found that most of the original ``corner monuments'' or boundary lines laid out by the U.S. General Land Office, GLO, in its original land surveys performed in the 1840's were either lost, stolen or had eroded over the years. Because of this, Corps surveyors used existing de-facto land markers in the vicinity of the original GLO monuments as the basis for its new survey. Prior to the Corps surveys, these defacto monuments were recognized by local surveyors as legitimate boundary markers and were used in survey after survey over the decades.

For almost 30 years, private landowners in Barry and Stone Counties bought and sold their land based on the surveys performed by the Corps in the 1970's. However, several years ago, the USFS performed new land surveys using surveying technology that had only recently become available. As a result of these new surveys, the USFS now claims that the boundary lines in its surveys conflict with the boundary lines established in the previous corps surveys. In addition to this, the USFS has announced that the Corps surveys are incorrect and that property lines all over this area are in the wrong place.

Because of these new revelations, many private property owners in the vicinity of the Mark Twain National Forest, who bought and paid for their land in good faith based on a previous Federal Government survey, are now being told that they have encroached on USFS land.

USFS has begun telling these private landowners that their land now belongs to the Federal Government, and that they will have to reimburse the USFS for the Federal land that the landowners now occupy. Naturally, these actions have produced chaos, confusion and anger among landowners in these two counties.

Needless to say, it is inherently unfair and absolutely devoid of any common sense to expect private landowners to compensate the Federal Government for land that they have already purchased simply because the government has changed its collective mind about where Federal property begins and ends.

Over the past 18 months, I have repeatedly asked the USFS and the Army Corps of Engineers to work together to find a solution that would resolve this problem. Unfortunately, after 18 month of debate and disagreement, the Corps of Engineers and the USFS have been unable to agree on a resolution of this problem. In the meantime, the lives of many of these Missouri residents continue to be disrupted.

Therefore, I have concluded that Federal legislation represents the only feasible solution to this boundary problem. This legislation authorize the Secretary of the Agriculture to convey, without consideration, title to land in which there is a boundary conflict, with adjoining federal land, to private landowners, who can demonstrate a claim of ownership because they relied on a subsequent land survey approved by the Federal Government.