Free Flow of Information Act of 2007 - Motion to Proceed - Continued
Floor Speech
FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION ACT OF 2007--MOTION TO PROCEED--Continued -- (Senate - July 30, 2008)
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NASA
Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I want to recall that after the space shuttle Challenger went down 22 years ago, in a Nation that was shocked because the very symbol of technological prowess had exploded in front of our own eyes on our television screens, the President addressed a mourning Nation and noted that even out of that tragedy, we have grown accustomed to wonders in this country. He observed that we had been so accustomed to all of that technological achievement, it was almost as if it was a Sunday afternoon drive in the car. As President Reagan said, it is hard to dazzle us. But America's space program has been doing exactly that. Now for 50 years it has been dazzling us, even in times of loss and even in times of tragedy.
Fifty years ago, it was President Eisenhower who signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act and created NASA. Fifty years ago, in 1958--remember the context of history. The Soviets suddenly took the high ground. The Soviets shocked us because they put the first satellite, sputnik, in orbit. Here, time after time, with the old Navy Vanguard rocket, it would explode on the pad. It was not until the President went to a group of Germans--who were here because we, the United States, had gotten to Peenemunde, Germany, before the Soviets did and got about two-thirds of those German rocket scientists, headed by Wernher von Braun. So years later, the President goes to Wernher von Braun, as America's prestige was on the line because we couldn't get a rocket off the pad, and Wernher von Braun said: Give me 6 months. With the Army Redstone rocket, he put up America's first satellite--Explorer. It was in that historical context that the Congress wrote this new act that set up NASA.
Then, after we had been beaten in space by the Soviets with the first satellite, we were beaten in space by the first human in orbit. As a matter of fact, we didn't even have a rocket that had enough lift capability to get the Mercury capsule into orbit because it was that same Redstone rocket that we put the Mercury capsule on for Alan Shepard to go into suborbit. It was in that context that President Kennedy, after we had been shocked again with the Soviets putting up Gagarin for one orbit and then a few weeks later we put up Alan Shepard only into suborbit, it was at that point that the President, who is the only one who can lead America's space program--that President, in 1961, President John F. Kennedy, set the goal. He gave the vision. He said we are going to the Moon and back in 9 years, before the end of the decade. It was a bold challenge. He did that in front of a joint session of Congress: Send a human to another celestial body. Here we had not even gotten into orbit with John Glenn.
It was 10 months later, on an Atlas rocket--which was an ICBM. It was not rated for humans. We knew it had a 20-percent chance of failure when John Glenn climbed into that Mercury capsule, and then we were off on that space race. The skeptics did not think it could be done. They certainly didn't think we could go to the Moon. But NASA's Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions were all designed because of that bold stroke of leadership and that vision of a young President.
Nine years later, on July 20, 1969, the President's dream became a reality when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. Who can ever forget those immortal words: Houston, the Eagle has landed. And who can ever forget those words as the commander of that mission, Neil Armstrong, climbed down the ladder of those spindly spider legs of the Apollo Lander, when he said: That is a small step for man, but that is a giant leap for mankind.
Since then, we have flown the shuttles, we have built the space station, we have explored Jupiter and Mars, and we have had Rovers all over Mars. Indeed, it looks as if there was water on Mars. As we continue to explore the heavens, if there was water--and when we eventually get there with humans--with water, was there life? If there was life, how developed was it? If it was developed, was it civilized? And if that life was civilized, what happened? What can we learn as we explore the heavens in order to be better stewards of our planet, protecting our planet and this civilization that is on this home called planet Earth?
I am quite excited, as America celebrates NASA's 50 years of history, that we are now preparing to chart a new course into the cosmos. I am excited about the wonders that await us. There is hope for space settlements and perhaps that discovery of life elsewhere in the universe. It is going to be a page-1 story when suddenly there is some kind of transmission that we intercept that indicates there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.
Mr. President, you and I--our human minds cannot conceive the enormousness of the universe. When we look at the size of our solar system around the Sun and we understand that there are billions of other solar systems just in our galaxy and then try to comprehend that there are billions of other galaxies--can you imagine that in a far-distant galaxy, there is another star, similar to our Sun, with planets rotating around it, that has created the climatological conditions that have brought forth the life here on this planet? Given the infinite expanse of the universe--it is going to be quite interesting when we have some discovery of an intelligent message from somewhere else in the universe. This is the excitement of the future.
As we look back on the accomplishments of 50 years of NASA, we can look with great pride, but excitement, to the future. This is the promise of a new President of the United States making a bold declaration of our understanding and exploration of the heavens.
As President Kennedy promised all those years ago, science and education have been greatly enriched by the new knowledge of our universe and of our environment. Life here on Earth has improved by leaps and bounds from the spinoffs of the space technology--the space tools, the computers, the miniaturization--all of this which has been adapted to our daily lifestyles and to industry and to medicine and to our individual homes. America's space effort has created scores of new high-tech companies and hundreds of thousands of jobs. Simply put, we all reap the harvest of gains from our exploration of space. That is why now, at this watershed point of where NASA is going in the future, that is why we cannot cede our leadership in space or waiver in our support for our space program.
There is another reason we undertake the risk and invest in space exploration.
It is not the pure science, it is not the technology spinoffs, it is not the high-tech workforce, or it is not that we want to extend human civilization beyond our planet. We do it because it is in our character and our nature as a people. We are, as Americans, explorers by nature.
In the past, we always have had a frontier. As this Nation developed, it was a westward-expanding frontier. Now that expansion is upward. It has been said that there are two fundamental differences between humans and other species. As humans, we have souls. As humans, we are curious. It has also been said that the exploration of space is a testament to these differences. Curiosity, which is unique to humans, drives us to explore, and our soul gives us meaning to this endeavor.
As we celebrate 50 years of NASA's history, let us continue to be a bit overwhelmed. Let us be dazzled again. That concludes my comments on NASA. I have some other comments on a different subject unless we are in some restriction here on the time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has 2 minutes 40 seconds remaining.
Mr. NELSON of Florida. When one of our colleagues comes to the floor, I am told that I can continue until that time.
SAMUEL SNOW
I want to share with the Senate the tragedy of a fellow named Samuel Snow, Samuel Snow, 84 years old, African American. The time is 1944 and he is part of the U.S. forces in a military installation in Seattle, WA. It is an installation where there were Italian prisoners of war. Somehow a riot breaks out, and in the course of this riot in the prisoner of war camp, one of these Italian prisoners of war is lynched, and the African-American U.S. soldiers are charged. They are summarily dismissed. They are put in jail. For a year, Samuel Snow was put in jail. He was then dishonorably discharged, all the time maintaining his innocence.
As he was discharged dishonorably, he went back to his hometown of Leesburg, FL. The only work he could get was that of janitor. Yet he was so respected in his neighborhood he became the neighborhood handyman. He married his high school sweetheart. They had children. He raised that family.
In 2005, a journalist in Seattle, WA, an investigative journalist, dug into this situation and found that Sam Snow had been railroaded and showed he was innocent. Now, you can imagine all of those years after that.
Then the Army, the U.S. Army, to its embarrassment, decides it is going to reverse the dishonorable discharge and give him an honorable discharge. And oh, by the way, out of their generosity of heart, they decide they are going to pay him his annual wage for the year he spent in the military prison, so they are going to cut him a check of $725.
Well, when this Senator found out about that happening to a Floridian, this Senator about went into orbit again, and, of course, not only writing to the Pentagon but having direct talks with the Secretary of the Army in front of our committee, the Joint Chiefs of Staff. All of them came back and said: Well, the law is that we cannot pay any more. We cannot pay even what we were asking for.
At least give him the cost-of-living adjustment for those 60 years of his military pay that he was denied. They say: No, we cannot do it. The law does not allow it.
Well, we put it in the Defense authorization bill. It is before the Senate. And as soon as the Senate will finally take up the Defense authorization bill, we will pass it out of here. It is already in the version of the House that has passed the House. It will become law.
But let me tell you the sad ending to this story. Last Saturday, Sam Snow and his son Ray traveled to Seattle for the ceremony conducted by the U.S. Army to give him his papers for his honorable discharge. He became ill in Seattle before the ceremony. His son went in his place. His son received the honorable discharge, brought it back to his dad, and with a big smile on his dad's face, his son read him the honorable discharge from an incident, a terrible mark upon the U.S. Army that had occurred 60 years before.
I am sad to tell you that 3 hours later, Sam Snow passed away to go on to be with his Maker. He is still owed that back pay, and he is owed more than some $725. This Senator, when we pass that Defense authorization bill, is looking forward to the day that that sum, adjusted, will go to his grieving family.
I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
CLEAN BOATING ACT OF 2008
Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, until another Senator has come to the floor to seek recognition, I have another subject I have been waiting patiently to speak on, and we have been so busy on the floor that I have not had a chance to speak on it.
This is another good news story. We have finally passed, by the Senate working together across the aisle, bipartisan, we have passed a bill, we have passed legislation, and it is anticipated that it will be signed shortly by the President into law, averting a total disaster where the Environmental Protection Agency, pursuant to a judge's decision in Federal court on the west coast of the United States, the EPA was going to require a permit of every little recreational boat owner for any kind of runoff from that boat, whether it be in washing down the deck, whether it be the bilge water, whether it be water coming out of an outboard motor, whether it be trying to scoop out the water filling up in a little motorboat. Whatever it is, they were going to require, for the 23 million recreational boat owners, 2 million of which are in my State of Florida, they were going to require going to the EPA in order to get a permit.
By working it out on both sides of the aisle in a bipartisan fashion, we were able also to get a delay of an additional 24 months for commercial vessels under 79 feet and all commercial fishing vessels regardless of size.
All of this came from the decision of a judge who was trying to protect the interests of the United States. Because what happened is these foreign vessels that come in with ballast water in order to weigh down a vessel before it then comes to the United States and takes on cargo that weighs down the vessel would then dump this water that was there for ballast in the waters of the United States. The problem was they would take on water elsewhere in the world that was contaminated, and a certain kind of snail was one of these contaminants that would then go into any kind of drain under the water and start to clog up the drain. So there was clearly an environmental interest to be protected against all of these big commercial vessels bringing in this foreign ballast water that was contaminating our waters.
But the fact is, the court's ruling became so expansive that it said in incidental runoff from little recreational boats, you are going to have to get an EPA permit as well.
Fortunately, common sense prevailed and we have been able to overcome that. We passed it in the House and the Senate. It is on its way to the White House. Presumably the President will sign this momentarily and it will be law, averting this disaster that was about to occur in September where all of these recreational boat owners and the commercial small fishing vessels were going to have to get this EPA permit.
That is a commonsense story. It is also a good news story. I wanted to share that with the Senate. I thank the folks who have worked with me on this legislation, particularly the chairman of the Environment Committee, Senator Boxer, and Senator Murkowski of Alaska, who helped work with us with regard to the commercial fishing vessels that were 79 feet and less. I am glad to bring this good news to the Senate.
I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. NELSON of Florida. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
9-1-1 SERVICE
Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I have the opportunity to clear the decks today with another speech I have been waiting to give. Since one of our colleagues is not coming, I am going to take advantage of this lull of the Senate and, since a Senator is walking in, I will make it short.
A tragedy occurred in Florida about 4 years ago, when a child in Deltona, FL, which is north of Orlando, started choking. The mom raced to the phone and dialed 9-1-1 and then she ran back to the child when she could not get anyone to answer on 9-1-1 to help the child. But it was to no avail. And what we found out was, in fact, this was a voice over the Internet telephone conversation and that, in fact, there was no emergency 9-1-1. So for the last 3 or 4 years, some of us have been trying to make sure there is a mandate for 9-1-1 service on a telephone that happened to be transmitted over the Internet instead of over the normal telephonic wires. Happily, I can say to the Senate we worked that legislation out. It was comprehensive. We worked out the differences between the House and Senate. On another happy occasion, the President invited a bunch of us to come down for a signing ceremony. I'm happy to say that in the future, when anybody runs to a telephone to dial 9-1-1, it is not going to be the technical difference of that phone. They are going to know it is hooked up to emergency services. That is my good news story.
I yield the floor.
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