[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 28 (Wednesday, February 14, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S1951]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                                  BRAC

  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, I wish to make a point. My colleague 
from Oklahoma was talking about the BRAC funding. I think everybody 
here supports the BRAC funding. I certainly do. It is not a part of 
this agreement, but it is not, as the Senator from Oklahoma suggested, 
the Democrats' fault.
  Just so people understand, we inherited a heck of a mess. We 
inherited a huge mess. What was the mess? The fact is, last year, 10 of 
the appropriations bills never got to the floor of the Senate. We never 
got here. They never had any discussion on them. Had that happened, we 
would have had those appropriations bills passed and signed into law, 
and we wouldn't be discussing these issues.
  As a result of inheriting an unbelievable mess, we had to put 
together something between the House and the Senate. Let me make this 
point: That which was done between the House and the Senate included 
discussions with Republicans and Democrats on every single 
subcommittee. We engaged the staff of the Republicans and the Democrats 
as this was put together.
  I wanted to make that point. We inherited a mess. We have tried to 
make the most of it.
  This BRAC issue is going to get resolved. I support resolving it. The 
President is going to ask us for, apparently, $100 billion in the 
coming couple of weeks.
  Mr. INHOFE. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. DORGAN. Let me finish my thought.
  He is going to ask for $150 billion above that next year with respect 
to Iraq and Afghanistan.
  The point I am making is this: I understand that not just the Senator 
from Oklahoma but any number of Senators might come and say: I wish 
this had been in it, I wish that had been in it. I personally wish a 
number of items had happened that didn't happen in this continuing 
resolution. But I was involved in working on it as chairman of the 
Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittee. Last year, I was ranking 
member of the Appropriations Interior Subcommittee. That bill didn't 
get to the floor of the Senate. The Energy and water bill didn't get to 
the floor of the Senate. The bill that would have carried the BRAC 
funding didn't get to the floor of the Senate. Why not? Don't blame 
that on Democrats. We didn't control this Chamber last year.

  But I don't come to blame one side or the other. I only come to say 
we have tried to make the best of a bad situation. We were left with 
quite a mess. How did we make the best of this? We worked with the 
House and the Senate--bicameral; we worked with the staff of the 
Republicans and the staff of the Democrats, bipartisan--to try to see 
if we could put together something that would allow us to put the 
fiscal year 2007 appropriations bills behind us and move ahead, because 
we need to move immediately now to begin to put together the fiscal 
year 2008 appropriations bills. We need to do that now.
  So I only make the point that that is why we are here. No one likes 
it. We have done the best we could to make the best out of a bad 
situation.
  Mr. INHOFE. Madam President, will the Senator yield for a very 
friendly question?
  Mr. DORGAN. I will be happy to yield.
  Mr. INHOFE. We had authorized $5.7 billion to be spent this year on 
the BRAC process and $4.1 billion was taken out, with $1 billion put 
back. My question to you is: Can we have that made up without taking it 
out of a supplemental that would be pulling it out of other wartime 
activities? I would say that probably would work. That is my concern.
  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, reclaiming my time, it is not going to 
be taken out of other funding in a supplemental. It will be added to a 
supplemental, I presume. The President has proposed sending us $250 
billion in emergency funding in two tranches, the first for this fiscal 
year and the second for the next fiscal year. My assumption is that 
everyone here believes those BRAC funds need to be dealt with and will 
be dealt with in a supplemental, not by taking it away from other 
military expenditures.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time has expired.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination 
of Nora Barry Fischer, of Pennsylvania, to be United States District 
Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
  Mr. DORGAN. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Biden), 
the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Inouye), and the Senator from South Dakota 
(Mr. Johnson) are necessarily absent.
  Mr. LOTT. The following Senator was necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Wyoming (Mr. Thomas).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Obama). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 96, nays 0, as follows:

                       [Rollcall Vote No. 47 Ex.]

                                YEAS--96

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Allard
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Brown
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burr
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Chambliss
     Clinton
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Coleman
     Collins
     Conrad
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Craig
     Crapo
     DeMint
     Dodd
     Dole
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Graham
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Klobuchar
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     Martinez
     McCain
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Obama
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Salazar
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Sununu
     Tester
     Thune
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--4

     Biden
     Inouye
     Johnson
     Thomas
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to 
reconsider is considered made and laid on the table.
  The President will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I was pleased that today a fellow 
Pennsylvanian, Nora Barry Fischer, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to 
serve on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of 
Pennsylvania. I was also happy to help expedite her nomination before 
the Judiciary Committee to help ensure a speedy consideration by the 
full Senate.
  Ms. Fischer is a native of Homestead, PA, and a graduate of Notre 
Dame Law School. In private practice, she has gained extensive 
experience in litigation and mediation. Ms. Fischer will bring a wealth 
of knowledge to the bench, and I am confident that she will serve 
western Pennsylvania and the Nation well.

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