Legislative Branch Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2006--Conference Report

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006--CONFERENCE REPORT -- (Senate - July 29, 2005)

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, it is my honor to serve as the ranking member on this appropriations subcommittee with the Senator from Colorado as my chairman. I have had the distinction of being on this committee for several years with several different chairs. Senator BOB BENNETT of Utah, who was the dedicated leader of this subcommittee for many years, became quite expert on all of the areas that it covered, and I learned a lot from him. In fact, many of his suggestions are still being followed; for example, the integration of security forces on Capitol Hill between the Library of Congress and the U.S. Capitol Building.

I also salute particularly my colleague from Colorado. He has done a great job. Our friendship has grown through this relationship. His dedication is exemplary. When it came to the Capitol Visitor Center, this was a mammoth project which he inherited from decisions made years ago. He has shown personal attention to it, given of his time over and over to make sure that we end up with a Capitol Visitor Center that is a source of great pride to everyone on Capitol Hill and is not an embarrassment to the taxpayers of this country.

It calls for a fantastic amount of oversight on his part and the part of the committee staff. Senator WAYNE ALLARD has done that. I joined him partially in his efforts, but he has really led the way. He has been diligent in holding monthly meetings on the Capitol Visitor Center, and I think they have been a great benefit for the public understanding of what is happening underground, as well as holding all of those accountable who were involved in the process. I thank him so much.

Our Senate bill that we brought into conference was a good and fair bill. I thought it addressed all of the demands of maintaining this great Capitol Building and all of the buildings nearby in a very professional way.

There is one aspect of this bill which troubles me, and that is the fact that there is some negative language in the conference committee report relative to our Capitol Police. What frustrates me about this is it was not done in the normal fashion. We did not have time to weigh the wording of this conference report. I think we should have been a little more circumspect in the language used. My reason for saying it is this: The men and women on the Capitol Police Force understand, as all of us who work here understand, we go to work every single day in what has to be described as one of the leading international targets for terrorism. The U.S. Capitol Building is a great symbol of freedom and democracy, and as a result is a great target for those who hate the United States and want to engage in terrorism. What keeps this building and those working here functioning is the men and women of the Capitol Police Force who night and day, around the clock, risk their lives for the visitors and staff who work here. These are fine people. They work extraordinarily long hours at great personal and family sacrifice. They ask little from us, other than the recognition that they are doing a good job. This conference committee report does not give them the recognition they are due.

Let me add another element. The Capitol Hill Police chief is Terry Gainer, a man I have known from Illinois for years. He was superintendent of the Illinois State Police. It is a large and professional organization that he handled extremely well as superintendent. When he was an applicant for this job at the Capitol Police Force, I thought you could not find a finer law enforcement official to professionalize this police force right at the moment when it needed to happen. He came to Capitol Hill, and he achieved that goal. I don't say that just because we are personal friends. I have spoken to many members of the Capitol Hill Police Force who do not know my relationship with him, and I ask them, What do you think of the Capitol Hill Police? And they say it is a truly professional law enforcement organization.

It is true that mistakes are made in a large organization that is growing so fast with so many extraordinary external demands, but everyone who is honest has to concede that Chief Gainer and his professional staff have done an excellent job of putting together an extraordinary police force that protects this building and the people who visit and work here every single day.

I add my words to those that have been spoken and probably will be by others, we owe a great debt of gratitude to the chief. I thank him personally for coming here and taking on such an awesome responsibility not long after September 11 and really bringing peace of mind to those who get up and come to work in this building every single day.

If I can say a word or two about the mounted police, Chairman Ben Nighthorse Campbell, who was a predecessor to Chairman ALLARD from the same State of Colorado, has a passion for the mounted police. He loved horses and believed they were an important symbol in terms of the police force on Capitol Hill. Although we only have five horses-it is hardly a cavalry-the fact is, I think they achieved the goal that Senator Campbell set out for us to reach. They have become friends of visitors to Capitol Hill. I watch as the throngs of tourists gather around our mounted police, petting the horses, feeling as if they are part of an experience, a good and positive experience.

Almost from the start there have been people who have not given this mounted police force a fair chance. I hope we reconsider this someday. I understand the House Members were adamant that the mounted police be removed from the Capitol Hill Police Force. I hope we can reconsider. I honestly believe they could be critically important at important historic moments.

When we evacuated this building on September 11 and sent thousands of people out in front of this building, there was clearly a need for some crowd control and some crowd direction. These mounted police would have been invaluable at that moment. Because of this appropriations bill, they will not have the chance to serve in that capacity in the future unless we make a change.

I will close and yield to the chairman again and particularly thank the staff on both sides of the aisle: Carrie Apostolou, Fred Pagan, Christen Taylor, as well as Terry Sauvain, Drew Willison, Nancy Olkewicz of the minority staff, and Sally Brown-Shaklee and Pat Souders of my personal staff for the extraordinary work they put into this bill.

I yield the floor.

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