[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 124 (Friday, September 21, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9577-S9579]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                RECESS SUBJECT TO THE CALL OF THE CHAIR

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I move that the Senate stand in recess 
subject to the call of the Chair.
  The motion was agreed to, and at 2:45 p.m. the Senate recessed, 
subject to the call of the Chair, and reassembled at 3:07 p.m., when 
called to order by the Presiding Officer (Mrs. Feinstein).
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, I come to the floor this afternoon to 
speak on the subject of our Defense authorization bill.
  First, let me say how appreciative I am of the leadership of Senator 
Levin and Senator Warner. These are two Senators who trust one another 
and who work beautifully together. I have personally witnessed the work 
they have done both publicly and during many hours of private 
negotiations. I cannot thank them enough for their extraordinary 
leadership at this very important time in our Nation. I truly think 
that God has blessed us at this time to have these two fine men helping 
lead the negotiations at this particular time on a very important bill 
for our country.
  President Kennedy reminded us during the height of the cold war that 
to ensure the peace we must prepare for war. September 11 seems to many 
of us literally years ago. It was just last week that our preparations 
for 21st century warfare were cut dramatically short. We had just 
reached the point where the American public was beginning to comprehend 
that future wars would, indeed, be very different; We would need a 
different sort of military to combat them. However, national security 
infrastructure is a large, lumbering ship. It takes time, focus, 
patience, and determination to turn its direction.
  On September 11, early in the morning, the attention of our Pentagon 
turned on a dime to this new threat. As all of us are now beginning to 
understand, 21st century warfare is very different.
  I have referred to the current attack on the United States as a 
silent war. People have asked me what I mean by that. I mean that the 
resources we employ to fight this war may not be visible on CNN. We 
will fight electronically, with our special forces, with our 
intelligence operatives, with psychological operations. It will be a 
war in which our greatest victories may never be fully appreciated and 
in which our full vulnerabilities are perceived by only a few.
  It is also a silent war because silence is the only real asset of our 
enemies. When we can identify our foes, they will be eliminated. For 
that reason, we must be relentless and patient. We are in a chess match 
with killers. A great deal rides upon its outcome.
  My confidence in our victory comes from one simple fact: Our 
opponents rely on a few pathological minds to win this war. Our Nation 
can call upon the minds of free-thinking, freedom-loving people around 
the world to ensure our victory. And ultimately we will prevail.
  We have a long journey in front of us. Today we take another step. I 
commend our chairman, Senator Levin of Michigan, and Senator Warner of 
Virginia for their outstanding leadership at this time.
  As the chairperson of the Emerging Threats Subcommittee, I am clear 
about the work our committee must undertake over the next few months 
and perhaps years until the successful conclusion of this conflict. I 
also sincerely thank the Senator from Kansas, Mr. Roberts, our ranking 
member of this important committee, for his cooperation, his insight, 
his vision, and his passion on this subject. His advice and counsel and 
our excellent working relationship have made a difficult task more 
bearable.
  It should be noted that I have determined a new policy for our 
subcommittee. From now on, all meetings of the Emerging Threats 
Subcommittee will be bipartisan in nature. We have neither the time, 
nor do the American people have the patience, for partisan squabbling 
and bickering because the stakes are so high.
  In formulating the Department of Defense budget for the next fiscal 
year, we considered five priorities. Sadly, recent events have brought 
three of those priorities to the forefront. We have done very good work 
recently in ensuring that our military is ready to meet nontraditional 
threats and to ensure that our Armed Forces are ready to defend our 
Nation on a moment's notice. Now is the time to enact all of our plans 
and defend America and its values against this unprecedented challenge 
to our Nation.
  In addition, we have sought to improve the quality of life for our 
service men and women and their families. It is the service family who 
will keep the hearth warm while our fighting men and women are 
deployed. We must provide them with the quality of life they deserve.
  In almost every war of which we are aware and have studied--and many 
have actually participated in--it was always hard on the family. I 
imagine and predict that in this war, in some ways it will be harder on 
families because the intelligence, the secrecy of what we have to do, 
while it was always important in past wars, is going to be more so. 
There will be families separated from loved ones for long periods of 
time and children who will never be able to receive a letter from a 
father or a mother or to hear their voice for long periods of time. I 
urge that our Nation give some extraordinary and new thinking to what 
we might do to support the families who are going to be called to the 
front lines and, in addition, to recognize while my committee only 
supervises and oversees the military operations, as our President and 
as our leaders have so eloquently stated recently, it is not just men 
and women in uniform who are on the front line, but our firefighters, 
our local elected officials, our National Guard, business people, in 
many instances, are on the front line, depending on what their business 
is. Their families need special consideration.

  We have also done important work in improving the efficiencies of the 
Department of Defense. This will become more crucial in the coming days 
as our Nation commits its treasury to the present struggle. We must 
ensure that we invest wisely in the best possible means toward ensuring 
absolute victory.
  There are a few aspects of this legislation of which I am 
particularly proud. We have made a significant investment in upgrading 
and sustaining our fighters and our bombers. Any student of modern 
history cannot overlook how important these are to conducting modern 
war and how vital they will be to achieving victory in this new type of 
war.
  In this bill, we have authorized a 5-percent pay raise for all of our 
service personnel. Perhaps it can be more. Perhaps 5 percent is not 
enough. We can revisit that issue. It is another step along with an 8-
percent pay raise that was done the year before and raises the year 
before to make the paycheck begin to match--which it can never quite 
do, obviously--the sacrifices our men and women are called on to 
perform.
  As we contemplate the tasks that our men and women in uniform face, 
we are made aware of our duty to properly compensate them and their 
families and to support them financially, psychologically, emotionally 
and, in many ways, spiritually.
  We have provided a guarantee that our fighting men and women will be 
able to fully participate in democracy while being deployed abroad. We 
included language in this bill to ensure that their right to vote will 
be uninhibited, barriers taken down, and that valid votes will be 
counted.
  This Nation set a precedent in 1864, when we conducted a Presidential 
election in the midst of a paralyzing war. This bill ensures that we 
will not allow the current crisis to disrupt our democratic process.
  I now focus, briefly, and in conclusion, on the work done by the 
Emerging Threats Subcommittee in the last

[[Page S9578]]

few months. Our committee is charged with the task of concentrating on 
the efforts of the Department of Defense to counter new and emerging 
threats to our national security interests. Our jurisdiction includes 
terrorism, the subject that is absorbing the attention of the entire 
world at this time.
  I stress that as the threat of terrorism has emerged in a most 
horrific way, we must not overlook our other jurisdiction of 
counterproliferation and chemical warfare. Those responsible for the 
tragic events of last Tuesday know they must find new ways to threaten 
our security, and we must be ready for them.
  I will concentrate on the subcommittee's work on counterterrorism 
initiatives just for a moment.
  The threat of terrorism can no longer be described as emerging. It 
has, unfortunately, emerged. The subcommittee has done substantial work 
in protecting our Nation from the terrorist threat, but it is obvious 
that we must do more.
  There is no doubt in my mind that in the coming days we will see the 
work of this committee increase and our efforts redouble to stem the 
tide of terrorism here on our homeland. We have sought to meet the 
immediate needs of the services and commanders for counterterrorism 
initiatives and force protection. These initiatives include $14.3 
million to fund enhanced counterterrorism training for the special 
operations command--a very special command now in this new war with 
this emerged threat --which has a mission of defeating terrorist 
actions. This is a crucial investment. There will be more to be made in 
the future, and I call on all Members of Congress and the President to 
understand the critical importance of significant investment in this 
particular area.
  In our bill, we have $10 million to increase and formalize the 
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff combating terrorism readiness 
initiative fund, which allows commanders in the field to fund emergent, 
high-priority requirements. Again, this was the amount of money put in 
prior to 9/11. I am certain, as we have time to confer with each other 
and revisit the budget allocations again, there can be additional 
funding authorization so that our commanders in the field have no 
barrier to protect their forces and to protect Americans wherever they 
may be in the world.
  We also devoted $107 million to the Departments of Defense and Energy 
for detecting, defending against, and responding to the use of weapons 
of mass destruction. This includes funds allocated for chemical and 
biological detection and prevention.
  The attack initiated against the United States last week was 
committed with a rather crude weapon of mass destruction. It is 
important that we keep our guard up against other more sophisticated 
weapons.
  Additionally, we have devoted over $77 million to establish minimum 
access and entry controls at military installations abroad. As security 
is increased on installations both domestically and abroad, these funds 
are needed now more than ever.
  But while we focus on the threat that has emerged, it is important 
that we also address the proliferation of nuclear weapons. As our enemy 
searches for new and innovative and very destructive ways to attack us, 
it is important that we deny him access to the most destructive 
weapons. The markup package fully funds--and I am very proud that this 
decision was made last week--the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program 
at the DOD budget request level of $403 million. Included in the $403 
million is $50 million for destruction of Russian chemical munitions. 
Before the program can spend the money to destroy the Russian chemical 
munitions, however, DOD must meet certain prerequisites. These 
prerequisites include a Russian commitment to contribute $25 million to 
the program per year. These prerequisites are based on those originated 
by Senator Roberts last year.
  We also cannot overlook chemical and biological weapons that can 
inflict unthinkable, unbearable harm on our civilian population and our 
men and women in the field. That is why our committee devoted over $1.2 
billion for demilitarization. Additionally, we have acquired vaccines 
to combat the threat of chemical and biological weapons and are in the 
process of making that entire system much more robust, and that work is 
well underway.
  Let me close by proclaiming my extreme confidence and admiration for 
the men and women of our Armed Forces. They have trained day in and day 
out for their ultimate mission. And now we must all call on them to 
fulfill that mission. I am confident they are up to the task because, 
as I said in my opening, this war that we fight does not necessarily 
rely on the genius and strength of our President, although he showed 
great strength and genius last night. It doesn't just rely on the great 
strength of the 100 of us in this Chamber, but it rests squarely and 
stably and securely on the shoulders of every American everywhere, our 
allies, and of free-thinking people who have been inspired by God over 
the centuries to fight this war. That is why I know we will win and we 
will all do our part.
  I yield back the remainder of my time.
  Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, at this tragic time in our Nation's 
history, it is time for the Senate to lay aside politics and focus on 
the needs of our country, especially those of the men and women of our 
military services. The National Defense Authorization Bill for Fiscal 
Year 2002 is the key legislation that this Senate will consider this 
year to provide critical funding and legislative authority to the 
Department of Defense so it can carry out its national security role. 
The bill also includes important provisions to improve the quality of 
life for our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. These men and women 
will be the spears in the fight to rid this world of the terrorist that 
threaten not only this great Nation, but all peace loving people 
throughout the world.
  The fact that we are considering this important legislation at this 
time is a reflection of the bipartisan effort to support this nation. I 
joined my Republican colleagues on the Armed Services Committee in 
voting against reporting out the Defense Authorization Bill for Fiscal 
Year 2002. I would have joined my colleagues in voting against final 
passage of this bill if the onerous provision on the future course of 
the deployment of ballistic missile defenses had not been not struck 
from the bill. By removing the provisions that would have hindered the 
President's ability to deploy an effective National Missile Defense 
System, Chairman Levin has come a long way toward assuring passage of 
this important legislation and laid aside partisanship in favor of 
unity.
  I will support this important legislation in its current form, 
although I have significant reservations regarding the section 821 
which severely restricts Federal Prison Industries' ability to sell to 
the Department of Defense. Since the Department is FPI's largest 
customer, my concern is that this provision would severely harm FPI and 
its essential mission in keeping inmates safely and productively 
occupied.
  FPI is an essential program that maintains prison safety and 
security. It keeps thousands of prisoners working and productively 
occupied, which helps prevent mischief and violence. Also, it is the 
most successful government program for teaching inmates job skills that 
they can use in the private sector when they are released. It does all 
of this without any cost to the taxpayers. Because of these concerns 
and the fact that this matter is under the jurisdiction of the 
Judiciary Committee, I will join any effort to strike this provision 
and am optimistic that it will not survive to see the light of day.
  Under the leadership of our new Chairman Senator Levin and the 
Ranking Member, Senator Warner, the Armed Services Committee included 
many provisions and funding items that the administration supports and 
will have a significant impact on readiness and quality of life. The 
bill provides $10.5 billion for military construction and family 
housing construction. It adds more than $232.0 million to increase the 
Basic Allowance for Housing to further reduce the out-of-pocket 
expenses housing costs for service members and their families. It adds 
more than $1.0 billion to the budget request to improve the readiness 
of U.S. forces.
  The bill also includes significant funding to improve the capability 
of our forces to meet the nontraditional threats that we will face in 
the coming

[[Page S9579]]

years. These threats, as so tragically evidenced on September 11, are 
not only focused on our Armed Forces, but the heart and soul of our 
nation, its citizens.
  I am especially pleased that this bill contains significant funding 
levels to support the operations, especially environmental clean-up, at 
the Savannah River Site in my home State. Additionally, the bill 
includes the bill makes a strong statement, which was inserted at my 
request, regarding plutonium disposition. I believe that now more than 
ever we must eliminate the threat that this material pose. I strongly 
urge the Department of Energy to follow the Record of Decision on 
plutonium disposition and build the MOX fuel fabrication plant 
otherwise the Savannah River Site may be forced to store plutonium 
indefinitely, which is an unacceptable situation.
  Although this bill came to the floor under a shadow, I urge the 
Senate to unite and put aside the partisan interest for the sake of the 
Nation and, more importantly, for the sake of the men and women who may 
soon be thrust into harms way.
  Mrs. CARNAHAN. Mr. President, I would like to associate myself with 
remarks of the chairman and ranking member on the pending legislation.
  Several months ago, I called for a new national commitment to our 
armed forces. I said that we need to reassess who the enemy is, 
redesign our military for a new century, and rededicate ourselves to 
our men and women in uniform and their families.
  I am pleased to report that the Defense Authorization bill does all 
of those things. As our armed forces prepare for a long struggle 
against terrorism, they count on full support from this Congress.
  This legislation authorizes $343.5 billion for national defense 
programs, the full amount requested by the administration. And it goes 
beyond what the administration requested in pay increases and quality 
of life improvements for the men and women of the armed forces.
  The bill also provides additional investments to redesign our 
military capabilities. It will enhance our airlift capabilities, which 
will allow US forces to mobilize quickly and respond to crises and 
terrorist threats around the globe. A centerpiece of this effort is the 
C-17, produced in my home State of Missouri. I am proud to have worked 
closely with Senators Levin, Warner, Kennedy, and Sessions, to 
authorize an additional multi-year contract for this versatile 
aircraft.
  In addition, the committee worked to improve the country's defenses 
against emerging threats. It adds $600 million to the administration's 
budget proposal to combat terrorism and weapons of mass destruction 
attacks.
  The bill will help us shape a new force structure to respond quickly, 
forcefully, and effectively against terrorists. Senators Landrieu and 
Roberts, in particular, helped develop an important framework for 
responses to threats against our homeland. We have recommended that the 
Pentagon review its antiterrorism defenses. It should ascertain how 
various parts of the Defense Department can better coordinate 
preventative measures and responses to such attacks.
  I have the honor of being my State's first Senate Armed Services 
Committee member in nearly 25 years. I have enjoyed working with my 
colleagues, Senators Levin and Warner, to help craft this bill. This 
legislation is good for Missouri, but far more importantly, it is good 
for America. It will strengthen our military, enhance quality of life 
for our armed forces, and prepare our Nation to confront the terrorists 
head-on.
  In every generation, Americans have risen to threats against our 
freedom. Now we must do so again. We must make a new national 
commitment to our armed forces.
  By passing this bill, let us send a message to the terrorists and 
those who harbor them: America is ready. Your days are numbered.
  Mr. President, I thank the Chairman and the Ranking Member for their 
leadership, and I enthusiastically support this bill.

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