[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 149 (Thursday, November 10, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12643-S12645]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006--Continued
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, under the order, the Senate is about to
address the amendment by the distinguished Senator from North Dakota.
Amendment No. 2476
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.
Mr. DORGAN. How much time remains?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time for debate has expired.
Mr. DORGAN. I ask unanimous consent for 30 seconds.
Mr. WARNER. Yes.
Mr. DORGAN. The Senator from Virginia is quite right that we have
twice before voted on this amendment and I believe ignored the value of
the amendment. In almost all cases, there is virtue in being
consistent, but being consistently wrong is hardly virtuous. My hope is
the Senate will understand the value of this amendment this morning as
we vote on it for the third time.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have 30
seconds to respond?
Mr. WARNER. Yes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, respond on this amendment?
Mr. SESSIONS. I ask unanimous consent to make one point on this
amendment.
Mr. WARNER. With time being given to the Senator from North Dakota if
he wishes to rebut.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, he asked for 30 seconds, and I thought I
would get 30 seconds after all time had expired.
[[Page S12644]]
The Department of Defense inspector general is working on this. I say
this in response to the idea that nothing is being done and nobody
cares. That is not true. The Army inspector general's office is fully
engaged. The Army Criminal Investigation Department is engaged. The
Defense Contract Audit Agency is engaged. The Defense Contract
Management Agency is looking at these things. Most important, in
response to Senator Dorgan's concerns and others, a Special Inspector
General for Iraq Reconstruction is engaged and is very tough and
capable.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
Mr. DORGAN. In 30 seconds, I say the Senator has just made my point.
He recited a long description of people interested in this, none of
whom reside in the Congress. The oversight responsibility belongs to
the Congress. It belongs here, and it is not happening here. That is
precisely the point I believe the Senator made on the floor just a
moment ago. That is precisely why we ought to support this amendment.
Mr. WARNER. Regular order. Have the yeas and nays been ordered?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. They have not been ordered.
Mr. WARNER. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
Mr. WARNER. I further request the yeas and nays on the Talent
amendment which follows.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The yeas and nays have been ordered on the
Talent amendment.
The question is on agreeing to the amendment.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. McCONNELL. The following Senator was necessarily absent: the
Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander).
Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Tennessee (Mr.
Alexander) would have voted ``no.''
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Corzine)
and the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Inouye) are necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 44, nays 53, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 316 Leg.]
YEAS--44
Akaka
Baucus
Bayh
Biden
Bingaman
Boxer
Byrd
Cantwell
Carper
Chafee
Clinton
Conrad
Dayton
Dodd
Dorgan
Durbin
Feingold
Feinstein
Harkin
Jeffords
Johnson
Kennedy
Kerry
Kohl
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lincoln
Mikulski
Murray
Nelson (FL)
Nelson (NE)
Obama
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Rockefeller
Salazar
Sarbanes
Schumer
Stabenow
Wyden
NAYS--53
Allard
Allen
Bennett
Bond
Brownback
Bunning
Burns
Burr
Chambliss
Coburn
Cochran
Coleman
Collins
Cornyn
Craig
Crapo
DeMint
DeWine
Dole
Domenici
Ensign
Enzi
Frist
Graham
Grassley
Gregg
Hagel
Hatch
Hutchison
Inhofe
Isakson
Kyl
Lott
Lugar
Martinez
McCain
McConnell
Murkowski
Roberts
Santorum
Sessions
Shelby
Smith
Snowe
Specter
Stevens
Sununu
Talent
Thomas
Thune
Vitter
Voinovich
Warner
NOT VOTING--3
Alexander
Corzine
Inouye
The amendment (No. 2476) was rejected.
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move
to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
Amendment No. 2477
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, if we could have order in the Senate, can
the Senators with this amendment be recognized for, I think, 2 minutes
each?
Mr. TALENT. Mr. President, Senator Lieberman and I have introduced
this amendment which we believe is crucial in providing our Armed
Forces with the air transport capabilities they need. The amendment is
cosponsored by Senators Stevens, Boxer, Feinstein, Cornyn, Chambliss,
and a number of others. We have worked with the chairman, the ranking
member, and the managers, and are grateful for their help. It has been
cleared on both sides. It is an important amendment. I encourage the
Senate to agree to it.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I oppose the amendment. There has been a
mobility capability study which indicates that we have an acceptable
number for this capability.
We are looking at cuts in defense spending, and there are a lot of
tremendous cost overruns. We are looking at rapidly escalating
procurement costs. These additional aircraft are not needed. They are
not needed today. I believe we have to at some point have some kind of
discipline and listen to what we need and have in capabilities, and
this is not one of them.
I yield the floor.
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, as many of you may know, almost every person
in uniform who has looked at this believes that this program is of
critical importance to our national security structures in the 21st
century. There is not any debate that exists there. We believe it is an
important element. If we don't do this, there is a great fear that this
line will be dropped and the C-17 will be lost.
We, obviously, have an interest in Connecticut. The engines are made
in our State. But this aircraft is far more important than where the
engines or the bodies are made. It is important to our national
security needs. That is why we have this bipartisan support.
We thank the chairman and ranking member for their support as well of
the amendment being offered by the Senator from Missouri and the
Senator from Connecticut. I am proud to be a sponsor of it.
We urge adoption of the amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the amendment.
The yeas and nays have been ordered, and the clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. McCONNELL. The following Senator was necessarily absent: the
Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander).
Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Tennessee (Mr.
Alexander) would have voted ``yea.''
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Corzine)
and the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Inouye) are necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Graham). Are there any other Senators in
the Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 89, nays 8, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 317 Leg.]
YEAS--89
Akaka
Allen
Baucus
Bayh
Bennett
Biden
Bingaman
Bond
Boxer
Brownback
Bunning
Burns
Burr
Byrd
Cantwell
Carper
Chafee
Chambliss
Clinton
Coburn
Cochran
Coleman
Collins
Conrad
Cornyn
Craig
Crapo
Dayton
DeMint
DeWine
Dodd
Dole
Domenici
Dorgan
Durbin
Ensign
Enzi
Feinstein
Frist
Graham
Grassley
Gregg
Hagel
Harkin
Hatch
Hutchison
Inhofe
Isakson
Jeffords
Johnson
Kennedy
Kerry
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lincoln
Lott
Lugar
Martinez
McConnell
Mikulski
Murkowski
Murray
Nelson (FL)
Nelson (NE)
Obama
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Roberts
Rockefeller
Salazar
Santorum
Sarbanes
Schumer
Shelby
Smith
Snowe
Specter
Stabenow
Stevens
Talent
Thune
Vitter
Voinovich
Warner
Wyden
NAYS--8
Allard
Feingold
Kohl
Kyl
McCain
Sessions
Sununu
Thomas
NOT VOTING--3
Alexander
Corzine
Inouye
The amendment (No. 2477) was agreed to.
Mr. WARNER. I move to reconsider the vote.
Mr. KERRY. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, we are making progress on this bill. It is
the intention of the joint leadership, the majority leader, and the
Democrat leader, that this bill be finished. Senator Levin and I are
doing the best we can to accommodate all colleagues.
[[Page S12645]]
The amendments we know of that remain--one by the distinguished Senator
from South Carolina. At this time I would like to set the hour of 2:30
to consider that. Is that agreeable?
We simply bring it up at 2:30 and we determine how it unfolds with
regard to second degrees.
Mr. LEVIN. The Senator from Massachusetts is ready to proceed with
his amendment.
Mr. WARNER. There is no objection to that.
Mr. LEVIN. Senator Akaka needs 5 minutes--have you gone through this?
Mr. WARNER. What I am trying to get at the moment is the amendments,
and then we will try to splice in periods of time for our colleagues to
speak to other matters on the bill.
Mr. LEVIN. We are hopeful we can complete the drafting of an Iraq
amendment in the next half hour which, if we succeed, we would want to
show it to the Senator from Virginia, but it may take some real time
this afternoon.
Mr. WARNER. Fine. Let's deal with the known quantities.
The Senator from Massachusetts wishes to bring up an amendment which
is within the 12 amendments of the Senator from Michigan. That is to be
taken up now. We will proceed with that. There may well be an amendment
in the second degree; I cannot anticipate that.
Mr. LEVIN. If I could ask the Senator to yield, the Senator from
Minnesota has an amendment or needs morning business?
Mr. DAYTON. To speak on two amendments already included in the
managers' package.
Mr. WARNER. We will try and package, for the moment, two items. The
Senator from Massachusetts will now proceed on his amendment. We cannot
predict how long it will take because we do not know of the potential
for second degrees. That will take place under the underlying unanimous
consent. At 2:30 we take up the amendment of the Senator from South
Carolina and proceed on that.
Mr. LEVIN. With a second-degree amendment expected on that.
Mr. WARNER. So let us get those two locked in for the moment.
Mr. LEVIN. Excuse me. We made reference to two other Senators within
that period of time. Senator Akaka would get 5 minutes for morning
business, and I want to make sure the Senator from Minnesota, within
that same time period, will have 10 minutes that relates to the pending
amendments, as I understand the Senator.
Mr. DAYTON. Amendments to the bill that are in the managers' package.
Mr. WARNER. And Senator Burr needs 5 minutes.
Within that period of time we will accommodate the three colleagues
for the matters they wish.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. WARNER. Further, I wish to inform Senators that the likelihood of
any votes between, say, the hour of 12:45 and 2 o'clock is most
unlikely. As a matter of fact, I ask unanimous consent there be no
votes during that period of time to accommodate a number of Senators on
both sides.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. LEVIN. Does the Senator expect the possibility of a vote before
12:45?
Mr. WARNER. No.
Mr. LEVIN. So it is unlikely between now and when?
Mr. WARNER. 2:15.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. KERRY. I understand the Senator from Hawaii wants to speak for 5
minutes. I ask unanimous consent the Senator from Hawaii be recognized
for 5 minutes and I be recognized at the conclusion.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Senator from Hawaii.
____________________