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Mr. SPECTER (for himself, Mr. Craig, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Kempthorne, and Mr. Brown) proposed an amendment to the bill, S. 534, supra; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following new section:

SEC. . SENSE OF THE SENATE.

(a) Findings: The Senate finds that--

(1) There has been enormous public concern, worry and fear in the U.S. over international terrorism for many years;

(2) There has been enormous public concern, worry and fear in the U.S. over the threat of domestic terrorism after the bombing of the New York World Trade Center on February 26, 1993;

(3) There is even more public concern, worry and fear since the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995;

(4) Public concern, worry and fear has been aggravated by the fact that it appears that the terrorist bombing at the Federal building in Oklahoma City was perpetrated by Americans;

(5) The United States Senate should take all action within its power to understand and respond in all possible ways to threats of domestic as well as international terrorism;

(6) Serious questions of public concern have been raised about the actions of federal law enforcement officials including agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms relating to the arrest of Mr. Randy Weaver and others in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in August, 1992 and Mr. David Koresh and others associated with the Branch Davidian sect in Waco, Texas, between February 28, 1993, and April 19, 1993;

(7) Inquiries by the Executive Branch have left serious unanswered questions on these incidents;

(8) The United States Senate has not conducted any hearings on these incidents;

(9) There is public concern about allowing federal agencies to investigate allegations of impropriety within their own ranks without congressional oversight to assure accountability at the highest levels of government;

(10) Notwithstanding an official censure of FBI Agent Larry Potts on January 6, 1994, relating to his participation in the Idaho incident, the Attorney General of the United States on May 2, 1995, appointed Agent Potts to be Deputy Director of the FBI;

(11) It is universally acknowledged that there can be no possible justification for the Oklahoma City bombing regardless of what happened at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, or Waco, Texas;

(12) Ranking federal officials have supported hearings by the U.S. Senate to dispel public rumors that the Oklahoma City bombing was planned and carried out by federal law enforcement officials;

(13) It has been represented, or at least widely rumored, that the motivation for the Oklahoma City bombing may have been related to the Waco incident, the dates falling exactly two years apart; and

(14) A U.S. Senate hearing, or at least setting the date for such a hearing, on Waco and Ruby Ridge would help to restore public confidence that there will be full disclosure of what happened, appropriate congressional oversight and accountability at the highest levels of the federal government.

(b) Sense of the Senate: It is the sense of the Senate that hearings should be held before the Senate Judiciary Committee on countering domestic terrorism in all possible ways with a hearing on or before June 30, 1995, on actions taken by federal law enforcement agencies in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco, Texas.

END