The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the Senate section on pages S9638-S9641 on July 10, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. HELMS:
S. 1015. A bill to provide for the liquidation or reliquidation of certain entries of pharmaceutical grade phospholipids; to the Committee on Finance.
legislation correcting the reclassification of phospholipids
Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, today I once again offer legislation to correct an obviously unintended and mistaken reclassification of pharmaceutical-grade, FDA-approved egg yolk phospholipid by HTS, the Harmonized Tariff Classification System. Another provision of this legislation has been accomplished in the Uruguay round GATT agreement.
Kabi Pharmacia is a U.S. company in Clayton, NC. Kabi has become a leading employer in rural Johnston County; it has 175 employees engaged in high-technology manufacturing and research work. The main product manufactured by Kabi Pharmacia in Clayton is intralipid, a unique intravenous feeding solution. Kabi must import a key, unique intralipid ingredient--pharmaceutical-grade, FDA-approved egg yolk phospholipid, because it is made only by Kabi's parent company in Sweden.
The duty on Kabi's phospholipid was set at 1.5 percent in the 1970's when Kabi began operations in Clayton. Beginning in March 1991, the unintentional HTS reclassification of the phospholipid more than tripled this duty, a situation that could not be corrected in the GATT agreement because it is a matter of U.S. law--which, of course, only Congress can change.
Mr. President, my legislation would return the rate on the phospholipid to 1.5 percent for the period from March 29, 1991, until January 1, 1995, when the duty for Kabi's phospholipid and other pharmaceutical components and products became zero under the GATT agreement, and refund the unintended duty increase. The amount of the unintended duty increase is $396,779.16.
Mr. President, there has been no disagreement that the duty increase on Kabi's phospholipid was unintended and unwarranted. Simple fairness emphasizes the need for the legislation I offer today. The correction of the erroneous HTS reclassification must be retroactive in order that there can be an equitable redress. It is a matter of simple fairness and equity.
I ask unanimous consent that the text of this legislation (S. 1015) be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 1015
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. PHARMACEUTICAL GRADE PHOSPHOLIPIDS.
Notwithstanding section 514 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1514) or any other provision of law, upon proper request filed with the Customs Service not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, any entry, or withdrawal from warehouse for consumption, of pharmaceutical grade phospholipids that--
(1) was made under subheading 2923.20.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States;
(2) with respect to which a lower rate of duty would have applied if such entry or withdrawal had been made under subheading 2923.20.10 or 2923.20.20 of such Schedule; and
(3) was made after March 29, 1991, and before January 1, 1995;
shall be liquidated or reliquidated as if such lower rate of duty applied to such entry or withdrawal.
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By Mr. KERRY (for himself and Mr. Kennedy):
S. 1016. A bill to authorize the Secretary of Transportation to issue a certificate of documentation with the appropriate endorsement for employment in the coastwise trade for the vessel Magic Carpet; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
jones act waiver legislation
Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleague, the distinguished senior Senator from Massachusetts, in introducing a bill to allow the vessel Magic Carpet to be employed in coastwise trade of the United States. This boat has a relatively small passenger capacity, carrying up to 6 passengers on a charter business based out of Martha's Vineyard, MA. The purpose of this bill is to waive those sections of the Jones Act which prohibit foreign-made vessels from operating in coastwise trade. The waiver is necessary because, under the law, a vessel is considered foreign-made unless all major components of its hull and superstructure are fabricated in the United States and the vessel is assembled entirely in the United States. This vessel was originally built in a foreign shipyard in 1959, but since then has been owned and operated by American citizens. The owners of Magic Carpet have invested substantially more than the cost of building the boat in making repairs to it and maintaining it--in American shipyards with American products. This particular vessel is also of some historical value--Magic Carpet is a classic wooden yawl--few of these vessels still exist today and very few operate along the east coast. The owners wish to start a small business, a charter boat operation, seasonally taking people out of Martha's Vineyard.
After reviewing the facts in the case of the Magic Carpet, I find that this waiver does not compromise our national readiness in times of national emergency, which is the fundamental purpose of the Jones Act requirement. While I generally support the provisions of the Jones Act, I believe the specific facts in this case warrant a waiver to permit the Magic Carpet to engage in coastwise trade. I hope and trust the Senate will agree and will speedily approve the bill being introduced today.
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By Mr. KERRY (for himself and Mr. Kennedy):
S. 1017. A bill to authorize the Secretary of Transportation to issue a certificate of documentation with the appropriate endorsement for employment in the coastwise trade for the vessel Chrissy; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
jones act waiver legislation
Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleague, the distinguished senior Senator from Massachusetts, in introducing a bill to allow the vessel Chrissy to be employed in coastwise trade of the United States. This boat has a relatively small passenger capacity, carrying up to 6 passengers on a charter business based out of Gloucester, Massachusetts. Chrissy is a historical vessel, built in 1912 in Friendship, Maine and is one of the last remaining Friendship sloops. The purpose of this bill is to waive those sections of the Jones Act which prohibit vessels from operating in coastwise trade without proper documentation of its chain of ownership. The vessel was built 83 years ago in Maine, but along the way the documentation has been lost. It is my hope that a document will be issued which will allow the owner to start a small business, a charter boat operation, seasonally taking people out of Gloucester.
I hope and trust the Senate will agree and will speedily approve the bill being introduced today.
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By Mr. HELMS:
S. 1018. A bill for the relief of Clarence P. Stewart; to the Committee on Governmental Affairs.
the clarence p. stewart relief act
Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, today I offer a private bill to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to right a wrong committed against a dedicated public servant.
Clarence P. Stewart of Lillington, NC, served 23 years with the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service [ASCS] at the Department of Agriculture. In April 1981, Mr. Stewart was North Carolina State Executive Director when, during the transition to a new administration, the ASCS decided to remove all State Executive Directors as part of an what the Department described as a reduction-
in-force [RIF].
Mr. Stewart considered appealing the ASCS decision but was told by his superior at the ASCS not to bother, that he had no right to appeal the dismissal action. Unfortunately, Mr. Stewart accepted this information at face value and did not appeal the ASCS decision.
Mr. President, years later, Mr. Stewart learned that, as a veteran, he did in fact have a right to appeal his dismissal from the ASCS. He also learned that 24 other State Executive Directors who had been dismissed at the same time as Stewart had appealed their dismissals to the Merit Systems Protections Board and they had won. In this appeal, known as the Blalock case, the Merit
Systems Protection Board found that the State Directors had in fact been removed for cause rather than separated pursuant to RIF and as a result could be removed only if they were given advance notice and an opportunity to reply. The Merit Systems Protection Board ordered the Department of Agriculture to reinstate, retroactively, the appellants to their positions.
Although none of the appellants actually returned to work, the Department of Agriculture, as part of a settlement agreement, gave each appellant 1 year and 10 months salary and recomputed retirement benefits based on this increased salary.
Once Mr. Stewart learned of the Blalock decision he filed an appeal with the Merit Systems Protection Board. Because his appeal was filed late, the MSPB dismissed Mr. Stewart's appeal. He then filed a petition for review with the MSPB, but that too was denied. Mr. Stewart, therefore, has exhausted all possible avenues of administrative review.
Mr. Stewart is a North Carolina citizen who gave years of faithful service to his State and country. He was wrongfully removed from his job as North Carolina State Director of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service. At the time, he was told he had no right to appeal the dismissal when, as a decorated veteran who served his country valiantly in World War II, he had a very real right to appeal. Mr. President, I doubt that any of our colleagues believe that this good man should be punished for having taken the word of his superior.
But for his superior's mistake, Mr. Stewart would have filed a timely appeal and would have prevailed just as the other 24 appellants did in the Blalock case. Mr. President, I do hope that in the interest of equity Mr. Stewart will receive the same benefits that were afforded the other State Directors.
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By Mr. BAUCUS:
S. 1019. A bill to direct the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to examine the impacts of whirling disease, and other parasites and pathogens, on trout in the Madison River, MT, and similar natural habitats, and for other purposes.
whirling disease response act of 1995
Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, in ``A River Runs Through It,'' Norman Maclean wrote, ``in our family, there was no clear line between religion and flyfishing.''
These words sum up the way we Montanans feel about our blue ribbon trout streams. Great flyfishermen--men like Bud Lily and Dan Bailey--
are legends in Montana. And Montana rivers--the Madison, Yellowstone, Missouri, Bighorn, and Bighole--are the heart and soul of our State. We mark our calendars and plan our weekends around caddis and stone fly hatches or peak grasshopper season. These outstanding trout streams are in large part what makes Montana ``the last best place.''
But these rivers hold more that recreational value for Montanans. Fishing is big business. It is the engine that drives the economies of many communities throughout Montana. In fact, the net economic value of fishing in Montana is estimated to be nearly $300 million a year.
The discovery of whirling disease on the Madison River in late 1994 puts Montana's wild trout fishery at great risk. Whirling disease is a parasite that attacks the cartilage of young trout, particularly rainbow trout. Its impact has been devastating to rainbow trout populations on the Madison River, where whirling disease has caused a 90-percent decline in the last 3 years.
Whirling disease has also been detected in four other Montana river drainages as well as in Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, California, Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah.
Montana has taken the challenge of fighting whirling disease head on. Flyfishermen, scientists, State and Federal officials have joined together to learn more about this disease and find solutions. Today, I am introducing legislation that will better equip concerned Montanans to effectively deal with whirling disease and minimize its impacts to our world class wild trout fisheries.
The Whirling Disease Response Act of 1995 focuses on three objectives: coordination, containment, and research.
First, the Whirling Disease Response Act coordinates all existing data and research conducted to date on whirling disease. The act requires the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to compile, within 180 days, a report that summarizes all efforts to date with respect to whirling disease, to identify gaps in the available scientific information, and to make recommendations as to how the Federal Government can be a more effective partner to States confronted with whirling disease.
Second, the act requires the U.S. Fish and Wildlife to modify the Ennis Fish Hatchery so that it is a complete containment facility. This hatchery is critically important to wild trout research as well as to maintaining healthy trout fisheries throughout the United States. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must make sure that this hatchery is not infected with whirling disease or any other water borne parasite.
Third, and most important, this act requires the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to significantly increase its role in whirling disease research. As debilitating as this disease is, relatively little is known about how to stop its spread. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must make the fight against whirling disease a top priority. They must work with affected States, universities, and sportsmen toward a solution on whirling disease. This act makes whirling disease research a priority for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
While Montana has a significant stake in fighting whirling disease, it is not alone--19 other States are impacted by whirling disease. It is in America's best interest that we work aggressively to minimize the impact whirling disease has on our trout fisheries. I look forward to working with my colleagues from other affected States to see that we make headway in minimizing the impact whirling disease has on America's blue ribbon trout streams.
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By Mr. FEINGOLD:
S.J. Res. 37. A joint resolution disapproving the extension of nondiscriminatory treatment--most-favored-nation treatment--to the products of the People's Republic of China; to the Committee on Finance.
disapproval of most-favored-nation status for china
Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President in 1974 Congress passed the Jackson-Vanik amendment to the 1974 Omnibus Trade Act establishing a linkage between human rights and most-favored-nation [MFN] trade status for nonmarket economies. The legislation was largely responsible, in my view, for the fantastic success of United States efforts to secure the freedom of movement for over 1 million Jews and other persecuted minorities from the Soviet Union.
Since 1989, when the Chinese military brutally gunned down hundreds of protectors in Tianmen Square and cracked down on the blossoming dissident movement in China, there have been efforts to link Chinese MFN to human rights improvements.
In 1991, legislation to set conditions for the extension of MFN to China was passed by overwhelming majorities in both the House and the Senate, only to be vetoed by President Bush. The House overrode the veto, but the Senate sustained it by a mere one vote. In 1992 Congress again passed bills to revoke MFN status for products manufactured by Chinese state-owned companies. President Bush vetoed that as well, and once again the Senate sustained the veto.
When President Clinton came to office in 1993, he issued an Executive order specifying seven areas in which the Chinese would need to make
``significant progress'' if MFN were to be extended in 1994. I was one of those who strongly condemned the action of the administration when it abandoned this position in 1994, because I believe it undermined the President's own credibility on human rights, and relegated U.S. human rights advocacy from a policy with teeth to one of rhetoric and symbolism. For the same reasons, I am disappointed that despite a year in which freedoms further diminished in China, President Clinton announced on June 2 that he would seek to extend MFN status to China again this year.
I am most outraged, though, Mr. President, that the United States would even consider extending MFN to China at precisely the moment that the Chinese have arrested a prominent human rights activist and American citizen, Mr. Henry Wu, and threatened to try him for espionage and subject him to the death penalty. This is yet another disgraceful mark on China's human rights record, and will hopefully compel us to respond finally with the toughest human rights policy possible.
Mr. President, that is why I am introducing today a joint resolution of disapproval, consistent with the Jackson-Vanik amendment of 1974, of the extension of nondiscriminatory treatment to products of the People's Republic of China.
There is no evidence, Mr. President, that the granting of unconditional MFN status to China--an element of a so-called policy of
``constructive engagement''--has improved China's human rights behavior at all. Both Assistant Secretary of State for Asia and Pacific Affairs Winston Lord and Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs John Shattuck have said publicly that the human rights situation has not improved in China. The State Department's own 1994 report acknowledges that ``In 1994, there continued to be widespread and well-documented human rights abuses in China.'' From the events of the last 6 months, in fact, one can only conclude that the situation has worsened--even with MFN and robust trade.
The Chinese Government continues to exercise significant control on opposition and dissent; to abuse systematically is prisoners, including the use of slave labor and the alleged organ transplant of executed prisoners; and to impose harsh regulations in Tibet, while refusing to engage in any dialog with Nobel Peace prize laureate the Dalai Lama.
In the last 2 months alone, several prominent intellectuals have been detained while their homes have been searched simply for signing petitions in support of more political openness. More have been taken into custody and interrogated about their activities. Some have been questioned, released, and then sent away from Beijing, while others have just disappeared, including China's most prominent dissident, Wei Jeisheing, whose whereabouts since February are unknown, except to the extent that he is confirmed to be in police custody. Two weeks ago, Chen Ziming, another well-known prodemocracy activist, was suddenly reimprisoned after being released on a medical parole last year.
Stricter security laws have been adopted by the Politburo, and Beijing seems intent on limiting access of Chinese citizens to the tens of thousands of international nongovernmental organizations that will be in China this September for the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women.
As the leader of the free world, the United States has the responsibility to work to protect human rights worldwide. The most recent action of the Chinese Government against an American citizen makes it a personal issue for many us.
On June 19 Mr. Harry Wu entered northwest China, with a legal Chinese visa and with a valid United States passport, and was immediately detained by Chinese officials. For several days, China refused to confirm that it was in fact holding an American citizen, and in effect denied United States officials the access to our citizens that is supposedly protected under a United States-China Consular Convention. A U.S. diplomat was even sent on a wild goose chase throughout the northwest provinces earlier this month in search of Mr. Wu.
The announcement this weekend that Mr. Wu is going to be tried as a spy and potentially subject to the death penalty is the one of
the most egregious violations I can think of. After spending 19 years in Chinese prison camps, and then seeking refuge in the United States, Mr. Wu has been actively researching the abuse of Chinese prisoners, including the trade of human body parts from executed prisoners to party officials. He has produced a film which was aired on the British Broadcasting Corp., published articles on the subject, and testified before congressional committees. He has publicized what can happen when the State has the will and instruments to take these actions, and has fought to halt this gruesome practice in China.
Mr. President, no one can possibly be deceived into thinking that Mr. Wu was arrested by Chinese officials for any other reason except to silence him. He is being threatened with death for uncovering horrid human rights abuses in China. The U.S. and international reactions must be anything but muted or conciliatory.
Earlier this year, the administration was willing to play hardball with trade when it came to Chinese piracy of software, and threatened to impose $1 billion worth of sanctions against products of specific state-owned industries. The threat worked, and the United States achieved its goals. I would entreat the administration to address the plight of a human being just as seriously.
My joint resolution is intended to send the message that we cannot have business as usual with China when human rights advocates, such as Harry Wu, are under the threat of death. In my view, MFN should not have been extended to China this year at all given its human rights record, but now, especially, we cannot offer conciliations of this kind.
China's human rights record is deteriorating, despite MFN, and there is little, if no, evidence that economic engagement is improving the human rights situation in China, as was earlier promised. Though China's economy is expanding brilliantly, political change is not coming: in fact, the Chinese Government appears to be doing everything within its power to ensure that economic development does not bring political liberalization. If anything, the Chinese need MFN to continue the trade and investment on which its economic development depends. For this reason, we must use MFN as a lever to protect human rights in China, and an American human rights crusader who is facing death.
I ask unanimous consent that the text of resolution be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the joint resolution ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
S.J. Res. 37
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Congress does not approve the extension of the authority contained in section 402(c) of the Trade Act of 1974 recommended by the President to the Congress on June 2, 1995, with respect to the People's Republic of China.
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