LYNN NEARY, host: If there's one thing that gets New Yorkers' blood boiling, especially around the United Nations, is cars with diplomatic license plates parked every which way with seeming impunity. Oh, those cars get tickets, but many of the diplomats just invoke diplomatic immunity and refuse to pay them. This week, the US Senate unanimously backed a proposal that its sponsors, New York Senator Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton, say will solve the problem. Senator Clinton joins us now from the Capitol. Thanks for being with us, Senator. Senator HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (Democrat, New York): Thank you, Lynn. NEARY: What exactly will this bill do? Sen. CLINTON: Well, this is an effort to try to collect on the $21 million owed New York City for 186,000 unpaid tickets from up to 175 countries. And what we have done in the foreign operations bill is reduce a country's foreign aid package by whatever amount that country owes in unpaid New York City parking tickets, plus an additional 10 percent penalty. It's the only way we can think of to get the attention of all of these scofflaws who, you know, clog the streets and don't pay their tickets. NEARY: And do you know how far back this debt goes, by the way? Sen. CLINTON: Oh, it goes back between April 1997 and September 2003. NEARY: Well, what does this mean for a country like Egypt, for instance, in terms of foreign aid? Sen. CLINTON: Well, we give quite a bit of foreign aid to Egypt, and we will be deducting the amount of unpaid fines plus the 10 percent penalty. These diplomats are, of course, covered by diplomatic immunity, but that has always been the idea that they couldn't be unjustly imprisoned or kept from returning home. But parking tickets; my goodness, that's in a totally different category, and we're going to try to put an end to it. NEARY: Do you really think this is going to solve it once and for all? Sen. CLINTON: Well, I don't know. I mean, there have been other attempts, but at least we now have legislation on the books. I have to add that the administration demanded that the secretary of State could invoke a waiver if the penalties against the country were not in line with America's national security interests, although for the life of me, I have a hard time understanding that. But, you know, we did give the administration that option. But given New York City's budget crunch, you know, that $21 million could go a long way toward making sure we had enough teachers to avoid overcrowded schools and keep our Medicaid and children's health programs going. So I just hope that we can finally get this behind us. NEARY: And how is this going to work? Does the money go directly to New York City or any other city that has unpaid tickets? Sen. CLINTON: Actually, not. It's one of the problems that we had, is that the money is withheld from foreign aid, but then the next step I'm hoping to take is to go to the administration and say, `You know, we really need you to pass that money on to New York City, which, you know, foots the bill for the police and traffic control and the other costs that come right out of the New York City budget.' NEARY: Thanks so much for being with us. Sen. CLINTON: Thank you, Lynn. NEARY: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. The amendment isn't quite law yet; it still has to pass the House. And it's 22 minutes before the hour. Copyright © 2003 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions page at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.