[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 142 (Tuesday, September 9, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8159-S8161]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2009

  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all postcloture time be 
considered expired and the Senate now proceed to the consideration of 
S. 3001.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 3001) to authorize appropriations for fiscal 
     year 2009 for military activities of the Department of 
     Defense, for military construction, and for defense 
     activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military 
     personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other 
     purposes.


                           Amendment No. 5290

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have an amendment at the desk and I ask 
for its consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid] proposes an amendment 
     numbered 5290.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of 
the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

       The provision of this bill shall become effective in 5 days 
     upon enactment.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on that 
amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.


                Amendment No. 5291 to Amendment No. 5290

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk 
and I ask for its consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid] proposes an amendment 
     numbered 5291 to amendment No. 5290.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of 
the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

       In the amendment strike ``5'' and insert ``4''.


                           Motion To Recommit

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I now move to recommit the bill to the Armed

[[Page S8160]]

Services Committee with instructions to report back to the Senate with 
an amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid] moves to recommit the 
     bill S. 3001 to the Committee on Armed Services with 
     instructions to report back with an amendment numbered 5292.


                Amendment No. 5292 to Motion to Recommit

  Mr. REID. I have an amendment at the desk, and I ask that it be 
considered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid] proposes an amendment 
     numbered 5292 to the instructions of the motion to recommit.

  Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment 
be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

       At the appropriate place, insert the following:
       This section shall become effective 3 days after enactment.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second on the motion?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.


                           Amendment No. 5293

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have an amendment at the desk and I ask 
that it be considered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid] proposes an amendment 
     numbered 5293 to the instructions of the motion to recommit 
     the bill S. 3001.

  Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment 
be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

       In the amendment, strike ``3'' and insert ``2''.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.


                Amendment No. 5294 to Amendment No. 5293

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk 
and I ask that it now be considered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid] proposes an amendment 
     numbered 5294 to amendment No. 5293.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of 
the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

       In the amendment strike ``2'' and insert ``1''.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, finally, I now ask unanimous consent that no 
motion to proceed to any calendar item be in order during the pendency 
of S. 3001.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Arizona is recognized.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, for the time being, I would object to that.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. REID. I note the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Chair clarifies for the Senate that pursuant to the previous 
unanimous-consent agreement, the motion to proceed to S. 3001 was 
agreed to.
  The Senator from Michigan.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, on behalf of the majority leader, I ask 
unanimous consent that no motion to proceed to any legislative or 
Executive Calendar item be in order during today's session of the 
Senate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, on behalf of the minority leader, no 
objection.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LEVIN. 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. CASEY. 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. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business for 10 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                          Global War on Terror

  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise today to speak on where America 
stands in the global war on terror. This week, of course, marks the 
seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on our country. While our 
allies in Europe have suffered terrible acts of terrorism in subsequent 
years since September 11, 2001, our Nation has been blessed with no 
attacks since that time. Yet that single fact should not obscure the 
reality that America remains dangerously vulnerable to future attacks 
and that the very policies pursued by President Bush have made our 
Nation less secure.

  Today, the President announced that he will redeploy 8,000 soldiers 
out of a total of 146,000 U.S. troops in Iraq over the remainder of 
this year and early next year. The scheduled replacements for those 
8,000 forces will instead head to Afghanistan to respond to the sharply 
deteriorating circumstances there. I am pleased the President has 
started to come to grips with the severity of the threat we face in 
Afghanistan and the need to devote more U.S. troops and resources to 
what remains the central front in the war on terror. But let's be 
serious. Shifting 8,000 American troops to Afghanistan is wholly 
inadequate when we see Taliban extremists using sanctuary bases in 
Pakistan to increase attacks on U.S. and NATO forces there, when we see 
the Karzai government struggling to maintain the confidence of the 
Afghan people, and when we see the Taliban gaining new recruits by the 
day.
  Against all evidence, President Bush continues to view Iraq as the 
central front on the war on terror. We have heard him say that over and 
over again. He refuses to acknowledge al-Qaida established a presence 
in Iraq only as a by-product of our invasion in 2003. He ignores recent 
intelligence reports that al-Qaida leaders are sending senior level 
commanders and new recruits into Afghanistan, not Iraq. President Bush 
disregards the fact that al-Qaida has reconstituted its global 
headquarters to plan future worldwide attacks of terrorism in the 
frontier regions of Pakistan, ungoverned territories that remain off-
limits to Pakistani military. After September 11, 2001, this President 
vowed al-Qaida would never again enjoy sanctuary to target the American 
people. Yet we are seeing it happening again before our very eyes.
  So, unfortunately, President Bush will end his Presidency in the same 
manner he started--with a disastrous miscalculation of the threat posed 
by al-Qaida and the necessary tools to combat Islamic extremism. When 
the President took office in January of 2001, he and his senior 
advisers dismissed the focus on terrorism held by the preceding 
administration, refusing to believe a superpower such as the United 
States could be threatened by nonstate actors. That mindset allowed the 
administration to ignore repeated warnings by the intelligence 
community that al-Qaida was preparing for a major attack on the United 
States.
  Following the 9/11 attacks, the President rightfully moved to topple 
the Taliban regime in Afghanistan after they refused to turn over 
senior al-Qaida leaders. Yet the administration failed to recognize 
that only a long-term investment of troops, developmental assistance, 
and economic benefits was essential if Afghanistan was to not once 
again collapse into a failed state. Instead, the President shifted his 
focus to Iraq, redeploying such critical

[[Page S8161]]

assets as Special Forces units and unmanned aircraft to the Persian 
Gulf to prepare for what was an inevitable war.
  Five years later, we are still living with the consequences of this 
administration's rush to war in Iraq. Afghanistan teeters on collapse, 
with the drug trade resurgent and Taliban forces controlling more and 
more territory. Pakistan remains dysfunctional, with a difficult 
transition of power occurring now and an extremist insurgency taking 
root in its border regions. Iran has grown immeasurably stronger over 
the past 5 years, taking advantage of America's inattention to move 
forward on its nuclear program and support extremist groups throughout 
the Middle East. And what we can never forget, the men who perpetrated 
the most deadly attacks on American soil remain free 7 years after the 
fact. This is not only a slap in the face to the families of the 3,000 
Americans murdered on September 11, it remains a continuing danger as 
al-Qaida plots new attacks on our Nation.
  In his speech today at the National Defense University, the President 
made the following assertion:

       Together, with our allies, we made substantial progress 
     towards breaking up terrorist networks--and we will not rest 
     until they are destroyed.

  We have heard similar statements from President Bush and senior 
administration officials dating back to 2002--that America is taking 
the fight to al-Qaida and winning the war on terrorism. The only 
problem is the administration has never defined what victory means nor 
provided a set of benchmarks to allow the American people to judge 
whether we are making real progress.
  For that reason, I am joined today by Senator Hagel in introducing an 
amendment to the Defense authorization bill to require the executive 
branch to produce, on a semiannual basis, a comprehensive report on the 
status of our Nation's efforts and the level of resulting progress to 
defeat al-Qaida and related affiliates in the global war on terrorism. 
The Congress receives numerous reports on the status of our efforts in 
individual theaters, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, but we have never 
received a basic update from the administration on what the United 
States is doing to ensure that al-Qaida never again succeeds in 
launching the type of devastating attacks such as those we suffered 7 
years ago this week. This amendment, if adopted, would allow the 
Congress and the American people to hold administration officials--this 
or future administration officials--accountable when they claim we are 
winning against al-Qaida.
  Let me briefly conclude by returning to a topic on which I have 
spoken previously on this floor--the danger of nuclear terrorism. 
Tomorrow, a high-level panel convened by the Partnership for a Secure 
America, consisting of some of the men and women who served on the 9/11 
Commission, will release a report card on America's efforts to combat 
the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and prevent a 
catastrophic act of terrorism involving such weapons on American soil. 
Press reports indicate the final grades will not be good. Our 
Government will receive an overall grade of C, with sharp criticism 
focused on our lack of a coherent governmentwide strategy, our acute 
vulnerability to an act of bioterrorism, and our continuing failure to 
secure loose fissile materials and nuclear stockpiles around the world.
  Four years ago, this President declared in a campaign debate that he 
agreed with his opponent that the prospect of a nuclear weapon 
destroying an American city is the single greatest threat to U.S. 
national security. Yet while there have been useful efforts in recent 
years, it remains clear the U.S. Government has not marshaled all of 
its resources to combat this threat. For instance, we have spent more 
funds securing our aviation system against another hijacking than 
preventing a future act of nuclear terrorism. However, I fear when al-
Qaida strikes our Nation the next time, they will not be using their 
old playbook.
  America stands today less secure than it should be. Our massive 
military presence in Iraq, now approaching its seventh year, has 
strained our most precious resources--our men and women in uniform. It 
has reduced our flexibility to respond to various other threats 
throughout the world, including Russia's recent military incursion into 
Georgia, and emboldened other enemies--Iran most notably. We have 
failed to finish the job we started in Afghanistan. For too long, we 
tolerated a dictator in Pakistan on the basis that he was best equipped 
to serve as an ally in the war on terrorism, only to find out al-Qaida 
had reconstituted its central headquarters in that very nation.
  The President and those who seek to continue his policies 
indefinitely will make speeches all week long that we are winning the 
war on terror. But they make those statements in direct contradiction 
to the assessments of our intelligence community, and they fail to 
offer the evidence to back up their assertions. Enough is enough. We 
cannot afford to continue the same misguided policies that have made 
America less safe for another 4 years.
  Madam President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. McCaskill). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Menendez). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, with the consent of the Republican leader, 
I ask unanimous consent that the motion and pending amendments be set 
aside so the Senate may consider the following first-degree amendments; 
that no amendments be in order to the amendments prior to a vote; and 
that any debate time provided under the agreement be equally divided 
and controlled in the usual form; that if a sequence of votes is 
established under the provisions of a separate consent, then there be 2 
minutes equally divided and controlled prior to any vote; and that in 
any sequence the succeeding votes be 10 minutes in limitation:
  Leahy amendment regarding statute of limitations, the Vitter 
amendment regarding missile defense with 2 hours of debate, the Nelson 
of Florida amendment regarding SBP-DIC offset, and the Kyl amendment 
regarding X-ban radar.
  Further, that during Wednesday's session, the ban on motions to 
proceed continue to be in effect.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                           Amendment No. 5323

  Mr. LEVIN. And now, Mr. President, I call up the Leahy amendment at 
the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Michigan [Mr. Levin], for Mr. Leahy, for 
     himself, and Mr. Byrd, proposes an amendment numbered 5323.

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading be 
dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

     (Purpose: To provide for a suspension of certain statutes of 
  limitations when Congress has authorized the use of military force)

       At the end of subtitle G of title X, add the following:

     SEC. 1083. SUSPENSION OF STATUTES OF LIMITATIONS WHEN 
                   CONGRESS AUTHORIZES THE USE OF MILITARY FORCE.

       Section 3287 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
       (1) by inserting ``or Congress has enacted a specific 
     authorization for the use of the Armed Forces, as described 
     in section 5(b) of the War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C. 
     1544(b)),'' after ``is at war'';
       (2) by inserting ``or directly connected with or related to 
     the authorized use of the Armed Forces'' after ``prosecution 
     of the war'';
       (3) by striking ``three years'' and inserting ``5 years'';
       (4) by striking ``proclaimed by the President'' and 
     inserting ``proclaimed by a Presidential proclamation, with 
     notice to Congress,''; and
       (5) by adding at the end the following: ``For purposes of 
     applying such definitions in this section, the term `war' 
     includes a specific authorization for the use of the Armed 
     Forces, as described in section 5(b) of the War Powers 
     Resolution (50 U.S.C. 1544(b)).''.

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, for Members' information, in view of the 
agreement we have received, there will be no further votes today.

                          ____________________