David Cay Johnston: “the second part of my amendment provides the sense of the Congress on an issue that, if unresolved, will greatly…”

“the second part of my amendment provides the sense of the Congress on an issue that, if unresolved, will greatly increase the difficulty of attracting and retaining the best managers possible for cleanup activities. Under the Federal Facility Compliance Act of 1992, beginning on this October 6, Federal managers in the DOD and DOE cleanup programs will incur criminal liability for instances of noncompliance resulting from funding shortfalls. They literally can be sent to jail under State or Federal law if the appropriations acts do not contain enough funding to satisfy every last requirement of every State and local solid or hazardous waste law. No manager, scientist, or engineer worth having in a cleanup program can be expected to be attracted to a job in which they are exposed to this sort of criminal sanction. This potential criminal liability problem may become very real very soon, depending on the outcome of the conference on the Energy and Water Appropriations Act for fiscal year 1996. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, of which I am the ranking member, reported a bill that was passed by the Senate and that fully funded the President's budget request for the Department of Energy environmental management program for fiscal year 1996. We will strongly support the Senate position in conference against a House mark for this program that is far smaller. I hope that we prevail.…”