[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 98 (Friday, June 28, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7221-S7225]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 1997
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the
Senate will now resume consideration of the DOD bill, which the clerk
will report.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 1745) to authorize appropriations for fiscal
year 1997 for military activities of the Department of
Defense, for military construction, and for defense
activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe
personnel strengths for such fiscal year for the Armed
Forces, and for other purposes.
The Senate resumed consideration of the bill.
Pending:
Nunn amendment No. 4367, to require the President to submit
a report to Congress on NATO enlargement.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Arizona.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
[[Page S7222]]
Amendment No. 4387
(Purpose: To ensure fair and equitable pricing of equipment to be
provided to Bosnia and Herzegovina under current drawndown authorities)
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I offer an amendment which would express
the sense of the Senate that the price of defense articles transferred
to Bosnia be priced at the lowest fair price in order to maximize the
amount of equipment provided under the Bosnia drawdown authority.
I believe this amendment has been cleared by the other side.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Arizona [Mr. McCain] proposes an amendment
numbered 4387.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of
the amendment be dispensed with.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
The amendment is as follows:
At the appropriate place in the bill, insert the following
new section:
Sec. . It is the sense of the Senate that,
notwithstanding any other provision of law, in order to
maximize the amount of equipment provided to the Government
of Bosnia and Herzegovina under the authority contained in
Section 540 of the Foreign Operations Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-
107), the price of the transferred equipment shall not exceed
the lowest level at which the same or similar equipment has
been transferred to any other country under any other U.S.
government program.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I urge the Senate adopt this amendment.
Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, this amendment has been agreed to. I urge
its passage.
Mr. LAUTENBERG. Objection. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
Mr. LAUTENBERG. Objection.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.
The legislative clerk continued with the call of the roll.
Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection? Without
objection, it is so ordered.
Amendment No. 4177, As Further Modified
(Purpose: To provide for defense burdensharing)
Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Harkin, I ask unanimous
consent amendment No. 4177 offered by Senator Harkin, as modified, and
previously adopted, be further modified by the language in the
amendment I am sending to the desk.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection? Without
objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment (No. 4177), as further modified, is as follows:
At the end of subtitle D of title X, add the following:
SEC. 1044. DEFENSE BURDENSHARING.
(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The United States continues to spend billions of
dollars to promote regional security and to make preparations
for regional contingencies.
(2) United States defense expenditures promote United
States national security interests; however, they also
significantly contribute to the defense of our allies.
(3) In 1993, the gross domestic product of the United
States equaled $6,300,000,000,000, while the gross domestic
product of other NATO member countries totaled
$7,200,000,000,000.
(4) Over the course of 1993, the United States spent 4.7
percent of its gross domestic product on defense, while other
NATO members collectively spent 2.5 percent of their gross
domestic product on defense.
(5) In addition to military spending, foreign assistance
plays a vital role in the establishment and maintenance of
stability in other nations and in implementing the United
States national security strategy.
(6) This assistance has often prevented the outbreak of
conflicts which otherwise would have required costly military
interventions by the United States and our allies.
(7) From 1990-1993, the United States spent $59,000,000,000
in foreign assistance, a sum which represents an amount
greater than any other nation in the world.
(8) In 1995, the United States spent over $10,000,000,000
to promote European security, while European NATO nations
only contributed $2,000,000,000 toward this effort.
(9) With a smaller gross domestic product and a larger
defense budget than its European NATO allies, the United
States shoulders an unfair share of the burden of the common
defense.
(11) Japan now pays over 75 percent of the nonpersonnel
costs incurred by United States military forces permanently
assigned there, while our European allies pay for less than
25 percent of these same costs. Japan signed a new Special
Measures Agreement this year which will increase Japan's
contribution toward the cost of stationing United States
troops in Japan by approximately $30,000,000 a year over the
next five years.
(12) These increased contributions help to rectify the
imbalance in the burden shouldered by the United States for
the common defense.
(13) The relative share of the burden of the common defense
still falls too heavily on the United States, and our allies
should dedicate more of their own resources to defending
themselves.
(b) Efforts To Increase Allied Burdensharing.--The
President shall seek to have each nation that has cooperative
military relations with the United States (including security
agreements, basing arrangements, or mutual participation in
multinational military organizations or operations) take one
or more of the following actions:
(1) Increase its financial contributions to the payment of
the nonpersonnel costs incurred by the United States
Government for stationing United States military personnel in
that nation, with a goal of achieving the following
percentages of such costs:
(A) By September 30, 1997, 37.5 percent.
(B) By September 30, 1998, 50 percent.
(C) By September 30, 1999, 62.5 percent.
(D) By September 30, 2000, 75 percent.
An increase in financial contributions by any nation under
this paragraph may include the elimination of taxes, fees, or
other charges levied on United States military personnel,
equipment, or facilities stationed in that nation.
(2) Increase its annual budgetary outlays for national
defense as a percentage of its gross domestic product by 10
percent or at least to a level commensurate to that of the
United States by September 30, 1997.
(3) Increase its annual budgetary outlays for foreign
assistance (to promote democratization, economic
stabilization, transparency arrangements, defense economic
conversion, respect for the rule of law, and internationally
recognized human rights) by 10 percent or at least to a level
commensurate to that of the United States by September 30,
1997.
(4) Increase the amount of military assets (including
personnel, equipment, logistics, support and other resources)
that it contributes, or would be prepared to contribute, to
multinational military activities worldwide.
(c) Authorities To Encourage Actions by United States
Allies.--In seeking the actions described in subsection (b)
with respect to any nation, or in response to a failure by
any nation to undertake one or more of such actions, the
President may take any of the following measures:
(1) Reduce the end strength level of members of the Armed
Forces assigned to permanent duty ashore in that nation.
(2) Impose on that nation taxes, fees, or other charges
similar to those that such nation imposes on United States
forces stationed in that nation.
(3) Reduce (through rescission, impoundment, or other
appropriate procedures as authorized by law) the amount the
United States contributes to the NATO Civil Budget, Military
Budget, or Security Investment Program.
(4) Suspend, modify, or terminate any bilateral security
agreement the United States has with that nation.
(5) Reduce (through rescission, impoundment or other
appropriate procedures as authorized by law) any United
States bilateral assistance appropriated for that nation.
(6) Take any other action the President determines to be
appropriate as authorized by law.
(d) Report on Progress in Increasing Allied
Burdensharing.--Not later than March 1, 1997, the Secretary
of Defense shall submit to Congress a report on--
(1) steps taken by other nations to complete the actions
described in subsection (b);
(2) all measures taken by the President, including those
authorized in subsection (c), to achieve the actions
described in subsection (b); and
(3) the budgetary savings to the United States that are
expected to accrue as a result of the steps described under
paragraph (1).
(e) Report on National Security Bases for Forward
Deployment and Burdensharing Relationships.--(1) In order to
ensure the best allocation of budgetary resources, the
President shall undertake a review of the status of elements
of the United States Armed Forces that are permanently
stationed outside the United States. The review shall include
an assessment of the following:
(A) The alliance requirements that are to be found in
agreements between the United States and other countries.
(B) The national security interests that support
permanently stationing elements of the United States Armed
Forces outside the United States.
(C) The stationing costs associated with the forward
deployment of elements of the United States Armed Forces.
[[Page S7223]]
(D) The alternatives available to forward deployment (such
as material prepositioning, enhanced airlift and sealift, or
joint training operations) to meet such alliance requirements
or national security interests, with such alternatives
identified and described in detail.
(E) The costs and force structure configurations associated
with such alternatives to forward deployment.
(F) The financial contributions that allies of the United
States make to common defense efforts (to promote
democratization, economic stabilization, transparency
arrangements, defense economic conversion, respect for the
rule of law, and internationally recognized human rights).
(G) The contributions that allies of the United States make
to meeting the stationing costs associated with the forward
deployment of elements of the United States Armed Forces.
(H) The annual expenditures of the United States and its
allies on national defense, and the relative percentages of
each nation's gross domestic product constituted by those
expenditures.
(2) The President shall submit to Congress a report on the
review under paragraph (1). The report shall be submitted not
later than March 1, 1997, in classified and unclassified
form.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Arizona.
Mr. McCAIN. I support the amendment. I would like to point out that
after this amendment technical correction is made, the Senator from New
Jersey has made it clear that he will block further progress on the
Department of Defense authorization bill. The Senator from New Jersey
can speak to it for himself, as to why he chooses to block a bill
concerning the defense and security of the Nation on Friday of the
beginning date of recess.
As I say, I do not pretend to describe it. I think it is
irresponsible. I think it is unnecessary. We worked very, very hard on
this bill for months of hearings, of markup. We have been on this bill
now for many, many days. We are nearing the end. And the Senator from
New Jersey has decided that he will prevent this body from moving
forward.
I hope whatever problems that he has can be resolved, but I believe,
if I might say, from a personal standpoint, this is sort of an
indicator of a very unpleasant kind of environment that has begun to
permeate this body. The Senator from New Jersey has the right, as a
Senator, to block this legislation and suggest the absence of a quorum.
He has that right. I do not deny him that right.
But I, frankly, am befuddled as to why he would want to block
legislation that concerns the welfare of hundreds of thousands of young
men and women in the military. It has enormous impact for the security
of this Nation. Frankly, I think the American people might deserve an
explanation from the Senator from New Jersey as to why he chooses to
block a bill that has to do with the defense and security of this
Nation. I regret it. I hope he will reconsider his blockage of further
progress on this bill, as it is important to the lives of hundreds of
thousands of young Americans who are members of the military as well as
the security of the country.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from New Jersey.
Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, lest it be misunderstood, the
insinuation that I have just heard that I want to prevent the armed
services from doing their job, prevent the authorizing legislation from
going through, is hardly the appropriate characterization of the
condition we are in.
The Senator from New Jersey reserves his right, as a U.S. Senator, to
take an action to respond to an action that was begun on the Republican
side. Last week we had a resolution developed, enthusiastically
supported by both sides of the aisle, to caution the Arab countries
surrounding Israel not to gang up on Israel, not to start with
bellicose statements, making demands that were unrealistic before the
Government could even be formed. But someone on the Republican side
chose at the last minute, Friday last, within 10 minutes of the time we
were ready to recess for the weekend--chose to put a hold on it. The
suggestion was the resolution that I wrote--that my name be dropped and
others' substituted. Silly, petty stuff.
So, when there is an accusation here--and I think I have served this
body well--coming from a distinguished Senator like the Senator from
Arizona, no one challenges his right to say what he chooses and to
stand up proudly as someone who served his country well. By the same
token, in fairness, no one has a right to assail my motives. This is
very clear. You have never, never seen Senator Lautenberg on this floor
stopping action in the 14 years that I have been here. So it has to be
an unusual condition that would occasion this.
Mr. President, I want to move this bill along, I want to get it out
of the way, but I want someone on the Republican side of the aisle to
come up and tell me why there is a problem just because it has a New
Jersey attachment. That is hardly the way we do business here. It is a
vendetta against the State; it is a vendetta against the Senator. I am
not going to put up with it.
Unfortunately, we have to call attention to things sometimes. I have
seen the Senator from Arizona and others on that side of the aisle take
advantage of the process to make sure that their voices and their
concerns were heard. And so it is. Thank you, Mr. President.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Coverdell). The Senator from Arizona.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, as the Senator from New Jersey knows, when
I prefaced my remarks, I fully acknowledged the right of the Senator
from New Jersey to exercise his rights as a Senator. I respect those
rights.
The Senator from New Jersey has explained his reasons for not
allowing the Senate to proceed with the Department of Defense bill.
That is his right to do that.
I state again that there is a great deal at stake here. There are
issues that are important to the security of the country that we are
considering. I am sure that the Senator from New Jersey would agree
with that. I simply urge him to allow us to move forward and proceed
with the orderly disposition of a bill that we have been on now since
last Friday.
Mr. President, what is the pending business?
Amendment No. 4387
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair advises the Senator from Arizona
that amendment No. 4387 is pending.
Mr. McCAIN. I urge adoption of the amendment.
Mr. NUNN. I urge the adoption of the amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the amendment.
Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, this is the seventh day of debate on S.
1745. We have been on and off this bill. There have been interruptions.
But for the last 2 or 3 days, we have been on it most of the time.
I would like to acquaint our colleagues, as everybody I know is
prepared to try to leave town today, as to where we are on this bill.
We have had 6 days of debate, with total time of debate 55 hours 10
minutes. We have disposed of 111 amendments as follows: 91 were adopted
by voice vote; 5 were adopted by rollcall vote; 1 was defeated by voice
vote; 3 were defeated by rollcall vote; 5 were tabled by rollcall
votes; 6 were withdrawn; 2 failed to be tabled by rollcall vote.
There have been a total of 15 rollcall votes, including the cloture
vote on June 26.
Of the amendments, 63 were offered by people who were not on the
Armed Services Committee; I believe 32 Democratic amendments, 31
Republican amendments. Armed Services Committee members: 20 Democratic
amendments, 28 Republican amendments.
We really have had a balanced kind of approach to this, including
balanced amendments and bipartisan amendments that were relevant to
this bill. That is about balanced, too.
I have not tried to keep score, but when we have amendments that have
nothing to do with the jurisdiction of this bill or when we have things
poured over on this bill that have no bearing, as we do right now at
the moment, we
[[Page S7224]]
get delayed and it is very hard to finish this bill.
Starting about 10 o'clock, everybody will be walking in demanding to
know when we are going to finish this bill and when they can catch a
plane. If they are really interested in doing that, then what they
should do is--right now on our side, we have an amendment by Senator
Conrad, an amendment by Senator Daschle, an amendment by Senator
Feingold, an amendment by Senator Feinstein, two amendments by Senator
Ford. Senator Harkin has one; Senator Johnston has two; Senator
Lautenberg has one; Senator Levin has three; Senator Conrad has one.
These are all amendments that are not worked out and appear to either
have to be substantially altered or they will require rollcall votes
and debate.
We have two unanimous-consent requests which we are going to be
posing in a little while. If those two consent agreements go through,
then we have a chance of finishing this bill at a reasonable hour
today. If they do not go through, no chance--no chance.
In addition, though, if those two unanimous-consent agreements go
through, we are going to have to have time agreements on these
amendments. I believe there are probably three or four amendments on
the Republican side of the aisle. We are going to have to have time
agreements on them. The time agreements are going to have to be short,
and by short, I mean 20 minutes each equally divided. If we do not,
then there is not going to be any way to go home this afternoon. The
majority leader will make that determination, not me. The floor
managers will have recommendations to the majority leader and the
minority leader, but they will make the decision.
The majority leader has said over and over and over again he intends
to finish this bill. I believe it, and I think that is the appropriate
course. If we come back here with this bill hanging out there for the
next 10 days, based on my experience, we will have an average of 40 new
amendments a day that staff will be dreaming up, unless we send all the
staff on vacation, which might be a good idea, because 40 amendments a
day times 7 or 8 days, we will have somewhere around 300 more
amendments to this bill. It will just grow and grow and grow. It is
easy.
We can easily spend the rest of this session on this bill. It would
not be difficult at all. We can just say we will have all the
amendments come on the armed services bill. We will take them all to
conference. The Speaker will appoint the whole House of Representatives
to the conference. We cannot get 435 people in the room, but here we
go, because so many amendments do not have anything to do with this
bill.
When we get to conference, our conferees on the House side and Senate
side cannot make decisions that relate to the Judiciary Committee or
others. When people continue to put amendments that are not relevant on
this bill, that is what happens, and we simply will not be able to get
it done.
If we do not get this bill passed, we will have a hard time passing
the appropriations bill on Defense, and everybody knows we must pass
these two bills.
It is my hope, No. 1, that we can clear this immediate problem we
have with the Senator from New Jersey and that we can move forward to
get all these cleared amendments done by 9:30; otherwise, we are going
to eat into time on the other side of the cloture vote.
I have to tell everyone that, if we do not clear these amendments by
9:30, any of them that are not only not relevant, but not germane--and
that is a very technical term; a lot of them are not germane to this
bill--they will be ruled out if cloture is invoked. So if cloture is
invoked, we will have a lot of people who thought they had amendments
worked out or who are getting them worked out, who will not be able to
get them passed. That is another consideration.
It is my hope, No. 1, that the Senator from New Jersey and the
Senator from Texas will have a conversation and we can get that matter
ironed out and moved forward and clear these amendments in the next 20
minutes; No. 2, that we can get these two unanimous-consent agreements
entered into as soon as the leadership is prepared to propose them;
and, No. 3, that we can get this list of amendments and get a time
agreement on every one of them. The time agreements are going to have
to be anywhere from 10 minutes to 20 minutes; otherwise, I hope no one
will walk in at around 11 o'clock and say, ``Can I catch my 11:30
plane?" because it will be beyond the ability of the managers of this
bill to make that happen.
Mr. President, I thank the Senator from New Jersey for permitting me
to make those remarks.
Mr. LAUTENBERG. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, I am not calling an amendment up here, for
the information of my friend from New Jersey. I just want to make it
clear, Mr. President, we are voting on a cloture motion at 9:30. There
is nothing I would rather do than invoke cloture, but I do not think we
can do it at this stage, in fairness to our colleagues on both sides of
the aisle. I will vote against cloture for that reason.
No. 1, we do not have unanimous-consent agreements, that are very
important, that relate to things beyond this bill, that relate to the
whole ballistic missile debate, which we hope to have. We hope to lay
down three different proposals on ballistic missile defense, including
the Dole-Gingrich proposal, the Clinton administration proposal, and
the proposal I will have. We think we are on the verge of working that
out.
We have also a couple provisions in this bill that, unless they are
changed, this bill is very likely to be a veto candidate. All of us who
want to see this enacted into law would like to see those changes so we
do not go into the House conference with two provisions that are
identical to the House provisions, which means that they would not have
the flexibility of changing them, which means the administration is
likely to veto any bill coming out. So changing those two amendments
relating to missile defense and the ABM Treaty is also important. So
without those unanimous consents we cannot do that. If we vote cloture,
we are not likely to get the unanimous consents.
In addition, we have 27 amendments that have been cleared on both
sides. We had hoped to have all these done this morning, but they are
not done because we have not been able to get them done.
So everyone should know and be warned that if cloture were to be
invoked, these amendments, I am informed, would not be germane, would
not be in order, and could not be agreed to.
We have an amendment by Senator McCain on Bosnia that we do not
believe is germane; we have an amendment by Senator Exon on the Lincoln
Airport we do not believe is germane; Senator Robb has an amendment on
budget request displays we do not think is germane; Senator Sarbanes
has an amendment that is on the Forest Glen Annex we do not believe is
germane; Senator Bingaman has an amendment on the White Sands land
exchange which is not germane.
All of them are relevant to the defense bill, relate to defense, but
they do not meet the technical definition of germaneness, which is very
narrow, as Bob Dove, the Parliamentarian, knows, and the occupant of
the chair from Georgia knows.
We have an amendment by Mr. Smith which is not germane; we have an
amendment by Mr. Johnston which is not germane; worked out, we can
accept it, but it cannot be done if cloture is invoked. We have one by
Mr. Domenici which is not germane, another one by Mr. Domenici not
germane. Mr. Heflin has an amendment that is not germane; Mr. Lott, Mr.
Exon, Mr. Glenn, Mr. Thurmond, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Levin, Mr. Stevens, Mr.
Domenici another one, Mr. Chafee, Mr. Smith, Mr. Robb, Mr. Levin, Mr.
Smith, Mr. Glenn, Mr. Chafee, and Mr. Thurmond. We do not believe these
are germane. There may be one or two of them we have on this list that
are. But 95 percent of them are not.
[[Page S7225]]
I want to inform our colleagues on both sides, if the cloture vote is
passed, none of these amendments will be able to go on this bill. I do
not have a problem myself, but I do think a lot of our colleagues will
have a problem.
I hope that cloture is not invoked. It is also my hope, though, that
we are going to be able to get this list down and people are going to
drop amendments and that we are going to break this impasse between the
Senator from New Jersey and the Senator from Texas. I hope that can be
done and that we can move this bill forward.
It is also my view that a lot of these amendments, even those that
look like they are going to take rollcall votes, are likely to
disappear as the planes start flying out this afternoon. But if we do
not get these unanimous consent requests, we are going to be here a
long time, according to the majority leader, and we are going to be
here tonight. So everyone should be on notice of that.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
Mr. LAUTENBERG addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Senator from New
Jersey.
Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I, too, want to see this bill moved.
There has been a lot of hard and very thoughtful work that has gone
into it. We are at a time when passage, or at least an attempt at
passage, would be the best order of business.
Mr. President, this is the defense authorization bill. The effects of
this bill begin on October 1 of this year. The results of the
authorization that might pass here today will be put into place
starting October 1, 1996, 4 months from now. So there is an urgency
because of the amount of work that has gone into it.
My friend and colleague, the Senator from Georgia, and the floor
manager, Senator McCain, have worked very hard to get us to a point in
time when action can be taken to resolve some differences. I would like
that done. I feel badly that we are in this momentary state of
suspension. When I hear from our friends on the other side that they
want to work cooperatively, then I am prepared to move things along
expeditiously.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
______
EXECUTIVE SESSION
______
NOMINATION OF ALFRED C. DeCOTIIS, OF NEW JERSEY, TO BE A REPRESENTATIVE
OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO THE FIFTIETH SESSION OF THE GENERAL
ASSEMBLY OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate
immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following
nomination: Calendar No. 529, Alfred C. DeCotiis, of New Jersey, to be
a representative of the United States of America to the 50th session of
the General Assembly of the United Nations.
I ask for immediate consideration of his nomination.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of Alfred C.
DeCotiis, of New Jersey, to be a representative of the United States of
America to the 50th session of the General Assembly of the United
Nations.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the nomination be
confirmed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, the
President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the
Senate then immediately return to legislative session.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The nomination considered and confirmed is as follows:
department of state
Alfred C. DeCotiis, of New Jersey, to be a Representative
of the United States of America to the Fiftieth Session of
the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Mr. NUNN. I thank the Senator from Arizona for working this out. That
was a big roadblock. I appreciate his diligence in doing that.
____________________