Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2004-Conference Report

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2004—CONFERENCE REPORT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I am happy to have worked with Senator Campbell of Colorado on this fiscal year 2004 legislative branch appropriations bill. It is a good and fair bill. Considering our limited resources, I think it accomplishes many objectives. The bill totals $3.547 billion, which is $27 million below the Senate and $36 million above the House. The Senate portion totals $717 million.

The Capitol Police funding totals $220 million. The Architect of the Capitol funding is $405 million, including $47.8 million for the Capitol Visitors Center. The funding for the tunnel from the new Capitol Visitors Center to the Library of Congress is capped at $10 million. This is pursuant to an amendment offered by a conferee, Congressman DAVID OBEY of Wisconsin.

The Library of Congress total funding is $528 million. The Open World Leadership Center is funded at $13.5 million. I am especially happy to see the Visitors Center fully funded. This was quite a challenge for Congress but well worth the effort. Beyond everything else this center has to offer, security remains the top benefit.

Many of us can still recall vividly September 11, 2001, when in the early morning hours we were forced to evacuate the
Capitol for fear that this building, this symbol of our great country, was under attack. We learned later from some of the sources available to us that the plane that was brought down by the heroic passengers in Pennsylvania was destined to crash into the U.S. Capitol Building, undoubtedly resulting in a lot of innocent people dying. The heroism of the passengers and crew on that United Airlines plane saved our lives, and we are forever grateful to them and their families for their extraordinary feats of bravery.

I can recall that day, going down the steps of the Senate onto the lawn, and standing there with thousands of people who didn't know which way to turn. Elderly tourists came up to me and said: "Where are we supposed to go, do you know?" The obvious answer was that there was no place to go. You could hardly direct those people or the visitors and staff and Members working in this Capitol Building to a safe location.

At the time, it was my honor to serve as chairman of the Legislative Appropriations Subcommittee, and I felt at that moment that I had to do whatever I could to accelerate the conversation leading to the construction of the Capitol Visitors Center—a place clearly to be designed for security and designed to accommodate the needs of the growing responsibilities of the U.S. Capitol.

I am happy to report that President Bush agreed and the leaders in Congress came to a similar agreement. And if anyone has visited Washington since then, they know we have a massive excavation taking place outside the Capitol Building, which, over time—a reasonable period of time—will be filled with an extraordinary engineering feat, a Capitol Visitors Center, which will give us security and a lot of the space we dearly need to serve the people of the country.

I am glad that this appropriations bill, among others, appropriates some $48 million for that purpose. It makes certain we are going to maintain our responsibility in seeing this through to its completion. We simply cannot afford to put the security of those who visit the Capitol and those who work here in jeopardy. Having been here on September 11, 2001, seeing so many people at a loss as to where to turn for safety, I understand we are going to give them the answer—the very best answer—when it comes to security when they visit one of the most well-known and important buildings in our entire Nation. This project deserves to go forward as planned, and it will when this conference report is adopted for this legislative branch appropriation.

I also wish to say a few words about the Capitol Police. After September 11, we spent a lot of time acknowledging the overtime and extraordinary courage of these men and women who protect us every single day. They had to change their family lives, their personal lives, and make a career commitment to all of us who work here, and they did it. We can never thank them enough for all they have done. Since then, we have tried to increase staffing as necessary and make certain that those who were hired—men and women—met the highest standards of all who have served before them. I am happy to say that funding for the Capitol Police totals $220 million.

The key differences from the bill we passed include no additional hires of sworn officers until they have a final strategic plan. One of the other things we do, though, is really take an important step forward in integrating the security force of the Library of Congress with the Capitol Hill Police.

It is going to become, I hope, a seamless security force on Capitol Hill, and this is an important step forward.

We also provide for Library of Congress police officers to be hired by the Capitol Police and allow for their training by police officers in the Capitol Police Department.

We also make certain that several important projects at the Library of Congress are well funded: $528 million for the Library of Congress. There are funds for "Adventures of the American Mind" totaling over $8 million. From my personal experience, this has been a very successful project engaging the universities and colleges around the country and in my State of Illinois to discover what we have to offer at the Library of Congress. I encourage all who are following this debate to go to the Web site of the Library of Congress, and you will find an amazing array of opportunities for knowledge and information.

Mr. President, I am prepared to recommend to my colleagues when this conference report comes to the floor that they all vote favorably.

I thank Drew Willison, Nancy Olkewicz, and Pat Souders of my personal staff for their very hard work in helping prepare this legislative branch appropriations conference report. I think it is a product well worthy of the support of all Senators of both political parties.

I am prepared to yield the floor to my colleague from Colorado, if he is prepared to say a few words on behalf of the conference report. I suggest the absence of a quorum.