Healthy Forest Youth Conservation Corps Act of 2004

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 21, 2004, at 9:30 a.m., in open session to consider the following nominations:

1. Vice Admiral Timothy J. Keating, USN, for appointment to the grade of Admiral and to be Commander, United States Northern Command/ Commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command;

2. Lieutenant General Bantz J. Craddock, USA, for appointment to the grade of General and to be Commander, United States Southern Command;

3. Peter Cyril Wyche Flory to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy; and

4. Valerie Lynn Baldwin to be Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management and Comptroller.

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 Wednesday, July 21, 2004, at 10 a.m., to conduct an oversight hearing on ``Regulation N.M.S. and Developments in Market Structure.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Wednesday, July 21, 2004, at 10 a.m., to hear testimony on ``Bridging the Tax Gap.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, July 21, 2004 at 9:30 a.m. to hold a hearing on ``The Multilateral Development Banks.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Wednesday, July 21, 2004, at 10 a.m., to hold a business meeting to consider pending committee business.

Agenda

Legislation

1. S. 1230, a bill to provide for additional responsibilities for the Chief Information Officer of the Department of Homeland Security relating to geospatial information.

2. S. 2347, a bill to amend the District of Columbia Access Act of 1999 to permanently authorize the public school and private school tuition assistance programs established under the Act.

3. S. 2409, a bill to provide for continued health benefits coverage for certain federal employees.

4. S. 2628, a bill to amend chapter 23 of title 5, United States Code, to clarify the disclosures of information protected from prohibited personnel practices, require a statement in nondisclosure policies, forms, and agreements that such policies, forms, and agreements conform with certain disclosure protections, provide certain authority for the Special Counsel, and for other purposes.

5. S. 2536, the Homeland Security Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Protection Act of 2004.

6. S. 2635, a bill to establish an intergovernmental grant program to identify and develop homeland security information, equipment, capabilities, technologies, and services to further the homeland security needs of Federal, State, and local governments.

7. S. 2657, a bill to amend part III of title 5, United States Code, to provide for the establishment of programs under which supplemental dental and vision benefits are made available to Federal employees, retirees, and their dependents, to expand the contracting authority of the Office of Personnel Management, and for other purposes.

8. S. 2639, a bill to reauthorize the Congressional Award Act.

9. S. 2275, the High Risk Nonprofit Security Enhancement Act of 2004.

10. S. 593, Reservists Pay Security Act of 2003.

11. H.R. 3797, the 2004 District of Columbia Omnibus Authorization Act.

Post Office Naming Bills

1. S. 2501/H.R. 4427, a bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 73 South Euclid Avenue in Montauk, New York, as the ``Perry B. Duryea, Jr. Post Office''.

2. S. 2640, a bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1050 North Hills Boulevard in Reno, Nevada, as the ``Guardians of Freedom Memorial Post Office Building'' and to authorize the installation of a plaque at such site, and for other purposes.

3. H.R. 3340, an act to redesignate the facilities of the United States Postal Service located at 7715 and 7748 S. Cottage Grove Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, as the ``James E. Worsham Post Office'' and the ``James E. Worsham Carrier Annex Building'', respectively, and for other purposes.

4. H.R. 4222, an act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 550 Nebraska Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas, as the ``Newell George Post Office Building''.

5. H.R. 4327, an act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 7450 Natural Bridge Road in St. Louis, Missouri, as the ``Vitilas `Veto' Reid Post Office Building''.

6. H.R. 4380, an act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 4737 Mile Stretch Drive in Holiday, Florida, as the ``Sergeant First Class Paul Ray Smith Post Office Building''.

Nominations

1. Neil McPhine to be Chairman, Merit Systems Protection Board.

2. Barbara J. Sapin to be a Member, Merit Systems Protection Board.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be authorized to meet in Executive Session during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, July 21, 2004.

Agenda

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet on Wednesday, July 21, 2004, at 2 p.m. in Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building to conduct an oversight hearing on pending legislation to reauthorize the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet on Wednesday, July 21, 2004, at 10 a.m. in Room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a business meeting on pending Committee matters, to be followed immediately by a hearing on S. 519, the Native American Capital Formation and Economic Development Act of 2003.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on Wednesday, July 21, 2004, at 10 a.m., on ``An Overview of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Program'' in the Dirksen Senate Office Building room 226.

Witness List

Panel I: Jeffrey S. Bucholtz, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, Department of Justice, Washington, DC.

Panel II: Helen Bandley Houghton, San Antonio, TX; Jeffrey Thompson, San Antonio, TX; Jeffrey Thompson, Jacksonville, AK; Rita Torres, Surprise, AZ.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Subcommittee on Children and Families and Committee on Armed Services, Subcommittee on Personnel be authorized to meet for a joint hearing on The Needs of Military Families: How Are States and the Pentagon Responding, Especially for the Guard and Reservists? during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, July 21, 2004., at 2 p.m., in SD-430.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Personnel of the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 21, 2004, at 2 p.m., in open session to receive testimony on how States have responded to military families' unique challenges during military deployments and what the Federal Government can do to support States in this important work.

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 Wednesday, July 21, at 2:30 p.m.

The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony on S. 738, to designate certain public lands in Humboldt, Del Norte, Mendocino, Lake, Napa, and Yolo counties in the State of California as wilderness, to designate certain segments of the Black Butte River in Mendocino County, California, as a wild or scenic river, and for other purposes; S. 1614, to designate a portion of White Salmon River as a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System; S. 2221, to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to sell or exchange certain National Forest System land in the State of Oregon, and for other purposes; S. 2253, to permit young adults to perform projects to prevent fire and suppress fires, and provide disaster relief on public land through a Healthy Forest Youth Conservation Corps; S. 2334, to designate certain National Forest System Land in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System; and S. 2408, to adjust the boundaries of the Helena, Lolo, and Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forests in the State of Montana.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill with Senators Domenici, Boxer, and Dayton to allow youth service and conservation corps to partner with public land management agencies to restore and protect public lands threatened by severe fire. I have dubbed this public-private partnership the Healthy Forests Youth Conservation Corps.

Last year, I authored a similar provision that was included in the Senate version of the Healthy Forest legislation. Unfortunately, this provision was stripped out of the bill before it was signed into law.

First, this bill aims to help Federal, State, and local governments implement priority projects using the cost-saving resources of youth corps.

It is estimated that youth corps generate $1.60 in immediate benefits for every dollar in costs. This figure is important given the great need and cost associated with fighting fires.

Every year, land management agencies are charged with conserving, protecting, and maintaining millions of acres of public land. This is a daunting task that requires an incredible amount of human and material resources.

For instance, the Federal Government, alone, is responsible for overseeing 689 million acres of this land. Last year, five Federal agencies reported spending $1.6 billion in 2002 on fire fighting suppression efforts--a whopping $300 million more than the previous record. To fight those fires, 28,000 fire and support personnel were activated--the maximum civilian resources available in the Forest Service on top of the 600 Army troops, and 950 foreign firefighters who joined in the effort.

As an example of what can happen in one State, consider last year's catastrophic wildfires in southern California. Before they were contained, the deadly fires of last fall scorched a total of 738,158 acres, killed 23 people, and destroyed approximately 3,626 homes and thousands of other structures--amounting to the most costly and devastating fire ever to hit California. The insurance payouts alone will cost more than $3 billion, with public expenditures to fight the fires and recover from them running into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

And those statistics make no mention of the resources expended to fight fires in other States.

I want to prevent this type of catastrophe in the future. That is why I was an ardent supporter of the Healthy Forest Restoration Act that was signed into law last year.

I also believe that we must use every resource at our disposal to meet this challenge. In my opinion, youth service and conversation corps can play a significant role in reducing the physical and financial strain that public land management agencies bear and help protect our Nation's public lands from wildfires.

Secondly, this bill allows young people, particularly those youth who are people of color, low income, or are at high risk of dropping out of school, to integrate themselves into their communities and to learn skills that could lead to jobs or a greater interest in higher education in the future.

I have seen firsthand the benefits that youth corps bring to their communities and the difference that the work can make in the lives of at-risk youth.

In 1983, I founded the first urban youth corps as mayor of San Francisco, and during that time I saw a great improvement in the quality of life of the corps members and of the city itself.

When we first began the program, we ran it on a million-dollar budget employing 36 disadvantaged young people ranging in age between 18 and 23 years old who needed some direction, wanted a challenge, and wanted to make themselves socially useful.

That first year, we paid corps members $3.35 an hour to repair bathrooms in affordable housing for senior citizens and ex-offenders, build a park in Hunter's Point, clear scotch broom from the Twin Peaks hillside, and fix up Alcatraz Island. And in the 21 years since the program began, it has grown into a multisite, multifaceted agency that engages more than 500 young adults annually who have completed over 3.5 million hours of community service.

It has given thousands of corps members a sense of personal pride, helped to connect them with their community and see for themselves that hard work pays off.

I started the San Francisco Conservation Corps to help young people break out of the cycle of poverty and crime and improve their job skills by giving them guidance and support through labor-intensive activities.

For this same reason, I am introducing this bill with the hope that the success of the San Francisco Conservation Corps can be duplicated nationwide.

Specifically, this bill does the following: It authorizes the Agriculture and Interior Secretaries to enter into contracts or cooperative agreements with existing State, local, and nonprofit youth conservation corps to carry out land management initiatives on public lands.

It directs the Secretaries to give priority for projects that will reduce hazardous fuels on public land, restore land located in near municipal watersheds and municipal waters supplies, rehabilitate land affected or altered by fire, assess lands afflicted or imminently threatened by disease or insect infestation, work to address windthrown land or at high risk of reburn, provide emergency assistance and disaster relief to communities.

It allows the Secretaries to grant, at their discretion, noncompetitive hiring status for corps alumni for future Federal hiring.

It authorizes $25 million for the alliance for fiscal year 2005- fiscal year 2009.

I know this program will not take all of the burden off public land management agencies as they work to protect and restore public lands, and I know this program will not reach every disadvantaged young person in need of guidance and support. But it is a start and I urge my colleagues to join me in my efforts.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill with Senators Domenici, Boxer, and Dayton to allow youth service and conservation corps to partner with public land management agencies to restore and protect public lands threatened by severe fire. I have dubbed this public-private partnership the Healthy Forests Youth Conservation Corps.

Last year, I authored a similar provision that was included in the Senate version of the Healthy Forest legislation. Unfortunately, this provision was stripped out of the bill before it was signed into law.

First, this bill aims to help Federal, State, and local governments implement priority projects using the cost-saving resources of youth corps.

It is estimated that youth corps generate $1.60 in immediate benefits for every dollar in costs. This figure is important given the great need and cost associated with fighting fires.

Every year, land management agencies are charged with conserving, protecting, and maintaining millions of acres of public land. This is a daunting task that requires an incredible amount of human and material resources.

For instance, the Federal Government, alone, is responsible for overseeing 689 million acres of this land. Last year, five Federal agencies reported spending $1.6 billion in 2002 on fire fighting suppression efforts--a whopping $300 million more than the previous record. To fight those fires, 28,000 fire and support personnel were activated--the maximum civilian resources available in the Forest Service on top of the 600 Army troops, and 950 foreign firefighters who joined in the effort.

As an example of what can happen in one State, consider last year's catastrophic wildfires in southern California. Before they were contained, the deadly fires of last fall scorched a total of 738,158 acres, killed 23 people, and destroyed approximately 3,626 homes and thousands of other structures--amounting to the most costly and devastating fire ever to hit California. The insurance payouts alone will cost more than $3 billion, with public expenditures to fight the fires and recover from them running into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

And those statistics make no mention of the resources expended to fight fires in other States.

I want to prevent this type of catastrophe in the future. That is why I was an ardent supporter of the Healthy Forest Restoration Act that was signed into law last year.

I also believe that we must use every resource at our disposal to meet this challenge. In my opinion, youth service and conversation corps can play a significant role in reducing the physical and financial strain that public land management agencies bear and help protect our Nation's public lands from wildfires.

Secondly, this bill allows young people, particularly those youth who are people of color, low income, or are at high risk of dropping out of school, to integrate themselves into their communities and to learn skills that could lead to jobs or a greater interest in higher education in the future.

I have seen firsthand the benefits that youth corps bring to their communities and the difference that the work can make in the lives of at-risk youth.

In 1983, I founded the first urban youth corps as mayor of San Francisco, and during that time I saw a great improvement in the quality of life of the corps members and of the city itself.

When we first began the program, we ran it on a million-dollar budget employing 36 disadvantaged young people ranging in age between 18 and 23 years old who needed some direction, wanted a challenge, and wanted to make themselves socially useful.

That first year, we paid corps members $3.35 an hour to repair bathrooms in affordable housing for senior citizens and ex-offenders, build a park in Hunter's Point, clear scotch broom from the Twin Peaks hillside, and fix up Alcatraz Island. And in the 21 years since the program began, it has grown into a multisite, multifaceted agency that engages more than 500 young adults annually who have completed over 3.5 million hours of community service.

It has given thousands of corps members a sense of personal pride, helped to connect them with their community and see for themselves that hard work pays off.

I started the San Francisco Conservation Corps to help young people break out of the cycle of poverty and crime and improve their job skills by giving them guidance and support through labor-intensive activities.

For this same reason, I am introducing this bill with the hope that the success of the San Francisco Conservation Corps can be duplicated nationwide.

Specifically, this bill does the following: It authorizes the Agriculture and Interior Secretaries to enter into contracts or cooperative agreements with existing State, local, and nonprofit youth conservation corps to carry out land management initiatives on public lands.

It directs the Secretaries to give priority for projects that will reduce hazardous fuels on public land, restore land located in near municipal watersheds and municipal waters supplies, rehabilitate land affected or altered by fire, assess lands afflicted or imminently threatened by disease or insect infestation, work to address windthrown land or at high risk of reburn, provide emergency assistance and disaster relief to communities.

It allows the Secretaries to grant, at their discretion, noncompetitive hiring status for corps alumni for future Federal hiring.

It authorizes $25 million for the alliance for fiscal year 2005- fiscal year 2009.

I know this program will not take all of the burden off public land management agencies as they work to protect and restore public lands, and I know this program will not reach every disadvantaged young person in need of guidance and support. But it is a start and I urge my colleagues to join me in my efforts.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation to reauthorize the Department of Homeland Security's Emergency Food and Shelter Program. This vital program enables communities nationwide to provide services to help individuals who are at risk of becoming homeless or going hungry due to an emergency or economic disaster. As a 1999 General Accounting Office report concluded, ``in most areas of the United States, the Emergency Food and Shelter Program is the only source of funding for the prevention of homelessness.''

I am pleased to have the support of Senator Lieberman, the ranking member of the Governmental Affairs Committee, which oversees this important program as well as the Department of Homeland Security generally. I commend Senator Lieberman for his work on this important issue, including his efforts in the 107th Congress to pass legislation very similar to the bill that we are introducing together today.

Since its creation 21 years ago, the Emergency Food and Shelter Program has provided a helping hand to local social service organizations that assist thousands of people in need of food and shelter. This program is effective because of the way it is structured. A national board, chaired by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, governs the program. The board itself is composed of representatives from organizations who work every day to look out for those who are less fortunate--representatives of the American Red Cross, Catholic Charities, United Jewish Communities, the National Council of the Churches, the Salvation Army, and the United Way.

This program is a model for an effective public-private partnership. The volunteer participation by these charitable organizations has kept administrative costs to less than 3 percent of the total program, making even more funds directly available for communities.

Funds are distributed by the national board to local boards according to a formula that takes into account unemployment and poverty statistics in each community. Once local boards in counties and municipalities across America receive the funding, they decide how to best address the needs of their residents. These local boards are key to this process. That is because they are composed of individuals and organizations who live and work in the communities they serve. Therefore, they can best decide how to meet the needs of those who are at risk of becoming homeless.

In recent years, communities in Maine have put the funding to good use. Communities in Cumberland and Franklin Counties, for example, have used most of these funds to supplement the efforts of local soup kitchens, Meals-on Wheels programs, and food pantries. The Wayside Soup Kitchen in Portland, ME, uses this funding to enhance their efforts to provide three separate food assistance programs to those in need.

Demonstrating the flexibility of this program, communities in northern Maine's Aroostook County used more than 30 percent of their 2003 funding to address emergency shelter and housing needs. This diversity in how communities spent these funds highlights the importance of letting local organizations decide how best to spend these resources, tailored to local needs.

The Emergency Food and Shelter Program helps individuals maintain their dignity during difficult times. It also prevents dependency by providing emergency services to individuals and families on a limited basis so they can remain self-sufficient.

Although Congress has continued to provide funding, the program's authorization expired in 1994. My bill, the Emergency Food and Shelter Act of 2004, seeks to again authorize this program and provide modest increases to reflect an increasing need.

I urge my colleagues to join me in cosponsoring this legislation to help families across America who are at risk of losing their homes or going hungry because of circumstances beyond their control.

Mr. President, I would like to announce for the information of the Senate and the public that the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs will hold a hearing entitled ``Money Laundering and Foreign Corruption: Enforcement and Effectiveness of the Patriot Act.'' The Subcommittee hearing will examine current enforcement of key provisions in the Patriot Act combating money laundering and foreign corruption, using a single case study involving Riggs Bank. The hearing will examine Riggs' anti-money laundering program, administration of accounts associated with senior foreign political figures and their family members, and interactions with its primary regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The hearing will also examine the OCC's anti- money laundering oversight and enforcement actions. In addition, the hearing will examine the activities of some oil companies in Equatorial Guinea.

The hearing will take place on Thursday, July 15, 2004, at 9 a.m., in Room 342 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. For further information, please contact Elise J. Bean, Staff Director and Chief Counsel to the Minority, of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, at 224-3721.

subcommittee on public lands and forests

Mr. President, I would like to announce for the information of the Senate and the public that the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs will hold a second hearing on the danger of purchasing pharmaceuticals over the Internet. The Subcommittee held a hearing on June 17, 2004, on this issue and will hold a second day of hearings, entitled ``Buyer Beware: The Danger of Purchasing Pharmaceuticals Over the Internet-- Federal & Private Sector Response.'' The Subcommittee hearings are examining the extent to which consumers can purchase pharmaceuticals over the Internet without a medical prescription, the importation of pharmaceuticals into the United States, and whether the pharmaceuticals from foreign sources are counterfeit, expired, unsafe, or illegitimate. In addition, the Subcommittee hearings are examining the extent to which U.S. consumers can purchase dangerous and often addictive controlled substances from Internet pharmacy websites and the procedures utilized by the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Postal Service, and the Food and Drug Administration, as well as the private sector to address these issues.

The Subcommittee hearing is scheduled for Thursday, July 22, 2004, at 9 a.m., in Room 342 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. For further information, please contact Raymond V. Shepherd, III, Staff Director and Chief Counsel to the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, at 224-3721.