Patty Murray: “last Monday I introduced an amendment that could have helped ensure this bill is not vetoed by President Clinton because…”

“last Monday I introduced an amendment that could have helped ensure this bill is not vetoed by President Clinton because it violates the bipartisan budget agreement. Today, we have reached agreement on that amendment--but it does not go nearly far enough. Let me lay out what this defense authorization bill does in very large terms. This bill adds $5.1 billion to the Pentagon's request. It does this by moving $2.4 billion from defense-related activities of the Energy Department to the Defense Department--primarily in procurement and R&D. The two Energy programs hardest hit are privatization of cleanup efforts and forward funding of asset acquisition. My amendment sought to restore some of the privatization money because we have a huge problem at the Hanford Reservation that could be solved with this new funding. We have 177-million-gallon tanks filled with chemical and high-level radioactive waste located near the Columbia River. The environmental devastation at Hanford and other former defense nuclear sites is truly mind-numbing. We must clean up the mess we have made. Privatization offers us an opportunity to do that and reduce costs and increase efficiency. My amendment sought to restore $300 million of the $1 billion the President sought in this one-time shot in the arm of the environmental management program. Instead, I was successful in securing only $59.7 million, making the amount this bill funds only $274.7 million.”