September 15, 1998 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD Ð SENATE S10335 primary means of smuggling large amounts Is the Los Angeles Times report that there The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under of narcotics into the United States. were no cocaine seizures from trucks at the previous order, the Senator from In 1993, the then-District Director of the three or four of the busiest ports of entry on Arkansas is recognized to offer an Customs Service may have prevented inves- the Southwest border in 1994 and 1995 accu- tigators from the Inspector-General's office amendment relating to mining with rate, and, if so, what accounts for this? the time until 12:30 p.m. to be equally from conducting a surprise inspection of the Is Customs following up and adequately ``line release'' program at the southwest bor- using the intelligence which they gather? divided in the usual form. der, an investigation aimed at determining How vulnerable are Customs' communica- The Senator from Arkansas is recog- whether unauthorized trucks, potentially tion systems to penetration by drug smug- nized. carrying drugs, were allowed to cross the glers? Mr. BUMPERS. Madam President, border without inspection. What steps are Customs taking to address my colleagues will be greatly relieved The news program ``Dateline: NBC'' re- the problem of ``spotters'' (individuals who with my departure at the end of this cently filmed more than 35 trucks in just linger around ports of entry, radioing inspec- year because they won't have to listen four hours of surveillance belonging to com- tion patterns to smugglers on the other side to this debate anymore. They may panies on Customs' ``watch list'' for drug of the border)? How are these steps working? smuggling rolling right through Customs, have to listen to it again, but not from How are the Cargo search x-ray machines me. without being inspected. performing? It has been reported that the organization This amendment arises from a situa- It is imperative that we get to the bottom of recently-arrested Mexican drug kingpin of the problems at Customs, and I appreciate tion which really began last year, Juan Garcia Abrego has paid millions of dol- your assistance in this regard. Madam President. In order to set the lars to U.S. and Mexican law enforcement of- Sincerely, stage for it, I direct my colleagues' at- ficers. It seems inevitable that a substantial DIANNE FEINSTEIN, tention to this chart here. But before portion of that money has gone to Customs U.S. Senator. officials, as they are responsible for inter- doing so, let me just say that we had cepting drugs at the ports of entry along the Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I what I thought was a solemn agree- Mexican border. yield the floor. ment last year on this same issue. I As a Customs supervisor told the Washing- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- won't say it was a handshake contract, ton Post, ``Tons and tons of cocaine are ator from Alaska. but last year the Interior appropria- crossing the border, and we're getting very tions bill contained a provision that little of it.'' Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I The current pattern of drug flow and drug thank the Chair. As I understand it, we was added in the committee markup, enforcement into and within this country are in morning business? which said the Secretary of the Inte- must be changed. To better understand how The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- rior may not promulgate new regula- federal law enforcement approaches these ator is correct. tions for the mining of hard rock min- problems and the efficacy of federal pro- Mr. MURKOWSKI. I ask unanimous erals on Federal lands until every Gov- grams to curtail drugs, I am officially asking consent I be allowed to speak for up to ernor of 11 Western States had individ- the General Accounting Office to investigate ually agreed to it. drug enforcement by the Customs Service. 5 minutes. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without In 1976 we passed FLPMA, an acro- To target your resources, I ask that you nym for Federal Lands Policy Manage- focus initially on evaluating the Customs objection, it is so ordered. Service's drug enforcement operations at Mr. MURKOWSKI. I thank the Chair. ment Act, it was my second year in the Senate when we passed that, but I was Otay Mesa. After you have evaluated Otay (The remarks of Mr. MURKOWSKI per- Mesa, I would like to work with you to taining to the submission of (S. Res. very active in the negotiations and broaden this inquiry to the rest of the South- passage of that bill. It was a com- 276) are printed in today's RECORD west border. Specifically, I would appreciate prehensive bill that determined how all under ``Submission of Concurrent and your addressing the following questions re- Bureau of Land Management lands Senate Resolutions.'' garding Otay mesa: would be handled. In it we said that the Mr. MURKOWSKI. I suggest the ab- Does the Commissioner of Customs provide Secretary of the Interior is charged clear direction to Customs personnel regard- sence of a quorum. with the responsibility of ensuring that ing Customs' drug enforcement mission? The PRESIDING OFFICER. The on Bureau lands, no unnecessary and How have Customs' drug enforcement ef- clerk will call the roll. undue degradation would occur. forts been, or how will they be, affected by The assistant legislative clerk pro- their programs to facilitate trade and pas- Now, as my friend, the Governor of senger movement, including but not limited ceeded to call the roll. Florida, Lawton Chiles, who used to be to: line release; re-engineering primary pas- Mr. GORTON. Madam President, I our colleague, used to say on this floor, senger processing; and expanded access by ask unanimous consent that the order ``The mother tongue is English.'' You Mexican trucks to the U.S. pursuant to the for the quorum call be rescinded. cannot say it any better in English North American Free Trade Agreement The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. than to say the Secretary is hereby (NAFTA)? HUTCHISON). Without objection, it is so charged with the responsibility for How have the percentage rates of inspec- ordered. tions of trucks, cars, and ships by Customs making certain that there is no undue, changed over the last three years? f unnecessary degradation of Federal What increases in border crossings by CONCLUSION OF MORNING lands. trucks, cars and ships does Customs expect We have about 450 million acres of BUSINESS over the next several years? Does Customs Federal lands, and an awful lot of it is have a reasonable basis for the projections it The PRESIDING OFFICER. Morning eligible to be mined for various has made? If Customs has not made such pro- business is closed. jections, why haven't they, and was any con- hardrock minerals, notably gold, plati- sideration given to making them? f num, silver, zinc, lead, you name it. So in 1980, the Secretary issued regula- Has Customs made adequate plans to meet DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR any expected increases in such border cross- tions to comply with FLPMA and in AND RELATED AGENCIES APPRO- ings? 1981 they were finalized and went into PRIATIONS ACT, 1999 What is the basis for Customs' allocation effect. Everybody applauded and said it of personnel resources for carrying out their The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under is wonderful. Now we have regulations drug enforcement responsibilities? Is this the previous order, the Senate will now in place that will govern mining com- basis reasonable? Have Customs' actual allo- cations of personnel matched their projec- resume consideration of S. 2237, which panies. tions? the clerk will report. What brought these regulations What are Customs' processes for training A bill (S. 2237) making appropriations for about? It was the first time we had their personnel in their drug enforcement re- the Department of the Interior and related ever tried to regulate mining on Fed- sponsibilities? agencies for the fiscal year ending Septem- eral lands. Why did we do it? Because Why are trucks on Customs' ``watch list'' ber 30, 1999, and for other purposes. at that very moment, there were 557,000 passing through without inspection? Is it The Senate resumed consideration of abandoned mines in this country. Who human error, corruption, systematic flaws, or something else, and in any case what is the bill. do you think had been left with the necessary to fix this? Do Customs personnel Pending: pleasure of cleaning up those 557,000 actually implement, on an operational level, Daschle amendment No. 3581, to provide abandoned mines? You guessed itÐ what Customs' law enforcement plans de- emergency assistance to agricultural produc- ``Uncle Sucker.'' The cleanup costs, ac- scribe that they do? ers. cording to the Mineral Policy Center, S10336 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD Ð SENATE September 15, 1998 for those 557,000 mine sites is cal- each Western Governors had veto ing companies to mine on Federal culated to be between $32.7 billion and power over the revised regulations. lands with virtually no regulations to $71.5 billion. Within the 557,000 aban- That was, obviously, a little too much, guide them, being able to put up an in- doned mines, 59 of those are now Super- even for some of my friends in the sufficient bond, and when they take fund sites. We don't put things on the West, to stomach. bankruptcy and go south again, will Superfund list just for fun. That is a So Senator REID and I worked to- leave the taxpayers of America to pick big-time environmental disaster. In ad- gether in good faith and mutual friend- up the tab.