[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 143 (Wednesday, September 10, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8264-S8266]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2009--Continued


                           Amendment No. 5280

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there is now 2 
minutes, equally divided, prior to a vote on the Vitter amendment.
  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. LEVIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Cantwell). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                           Amendment No. 5280

  Mr. LEVIN. Madam President, what is the order now?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The pending question is the Vitter amendment.
  Mr. LEVIN. And is there a time agreement on debate?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There was to be 2 minutes equally divided at 6 
p.m.
  Mr. LEVIN. Does the Senator from Louisiana wish to go first or 
second?
  Mr. VITTER. I would like to go first, and I may reserve some time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.
  Mr. VITTER. Madam President, I rise in strong support of the 
amendment pending before us and would ask all my colleagues to look 
favorably upon this amendment.
  The committee had decided to cut $411 million from the Missile 
Defense Agency budget. That is a significant amount of money. This 
amendment would not restore all of that; it would restore $271 million 
of that amount. I think that is very justified considering the 
significance of missile defense, particularly in a post-Cold War world, 
with threats such as North Korea and Iran and even the technological 
uncertainty of the Chinese military.
  In addition, the committee itself noted that the Joint Chiefs staff 
report said that we need about twice as many THAAD and Standard 
Missile-3 interceptors as the number currently planned. This amendment 
would help get us to that point.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has used 1 minute.
  Mr. LEVIN. Madam President, I will take 30 seconds and yield 30 
seconds to my friend from Florida.
  On the four items that the Vitter amendment adds money to, the 
committee either already added more than the administration requested 
or fully funded. On THAAD, we added $115 billion; on targets, we fully 
funded; and on the Aegis and the SM-3 missile, we added $100 million. 
So on the items he adds money to, we either added money or fully 
funded. We did not cut those items.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Madam President, his cuts would allow the 
Secretary of Defense to make cuts across the board to the budget in 
order to fund his add-back, and that could be the Joint Strike Fighter, 
the B-52, the F-22, the Patriot Missile, and the LPD amphibious ship. 
This is not good policy. Our committee came out, on $9.3 billion, and 
cut only 4 percent on national missile defense.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the amendment. 
The yeas and nays were previously ordered. The clerk will call the 
roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Biden), 
the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy), and the Senator from 
Illinois (Mr. Obama) are necessarily absent.
  Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Arizona (Mr. McCain).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 39, nays 57, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 198 Leg.]

                                YEAS--39

     Alexander
     Allard
     Barrasso
     Bayh
     Bond
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burr
     Chambliss
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Coleman
     Cornyn
     Craig
     Crapo
     DeMint
     Dole
     Domenici
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagel
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lugar
     Martinez
     McConnell
     Roberts
     Shelby
     Specter
     Thune
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Wicker

                                NAYS--57

     Akaka
     Baucus
     Bennett
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Brown
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Clinton
     Collins
     Conrad
     Corker
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Gregg
     Harkin
     Inouye
     Johnson
     Kerry
     Klobuchar
     Kohl
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     McCaskill
     Menendez
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Rockefeller
     Salazar
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Smith
     Snowe
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Sununu
     Tester
     Warner
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--4

     Biden
     Kennedy
     McCain
     Obama
  The amendment (No. 5280) was rejected.
  Mr. LEVIN. Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, I move to lay that on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.


                           Amendment No. 4979

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there is now 2 
minutes of debate equally divided on the Nelson amendment No. 4979. Who 
yields time?
  The Senator from Florida is recognized.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Senators, I can make this very quick. This is 
for the widows and orphans. This is removing the offset from the 
survivor's benefit that a military retiree pays, like an insurance 
premium, and gets a survivor's benefit. But, oh, by the way, under 
current law that survivor's benefit is offset--what they get out of the 
Veterans Affairs Department--in dependency and indemnity compensation.
  We passed this overwhelmingly last year. We need a big vote so we can 
tell the conference committee not to gut it again.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia is recognized.
  Mr. WARNER. Madam President, this is a very laudatory effort on 
behalf of our colleague. It is one I will personally support. I do, 
however, draw to the attention of all colleagues that it is a very 
expensive provision, but it is one that deserves the recognition that 
it has been given by our colleague and further consideration of the 
conference between the House and the Senate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the amendment.
  The yeas and nays have previously been ordered.
  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 Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy), and the Senator from 
Illinois (Mr. Obama) are necessarily absent.
  Mr. KYL. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Arizona (Mr. McCain).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 94, nays 2, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 199 Leg.]

                                YEAS--94

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Allard
     Barrasso
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Brown
     Brownback
     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
     Inouye
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kerry
     Klobuchar
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lugar
     Martinez
     McCaskill

[[Page S8265]]


     McConnell
     Menendez
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Salazar
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Sununu
     Tester
     Thune
     Vitter
     Warner
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden

                                NAYS--2

     Bunning
     Voinovich
       

                             NOT VOTING--4

     Biden
     Kennedy
     McCain
     Obama
  The amendment (No. 4979) was agreed to.
  Mr. WARNER. I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. LEVIN. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  Mr. LEVIN. Madam President, for the information of colleagues, what I 
am about to do is send a series of 14 amendments to the desk which I 
hope we will be able to adopt at this point by unanimous consent. The 
amendments include one on behalf of myself and Senator McCain, which is 
a technical correction to the underlying bill; an amendment on behalf 
of Senators Akaka and Voinovich requiring a report on the security 
clearance review process; an amendment on behalf of Senators Bingaman 
and Domenici requiring a report on the test and evaluation activities 
of the Department of Defense; an amendment on behalf of Senators 
Collins, Lieberman, and others to ensure oversight and accountability 
in Federal contracting; an amendment on behalf of Senators Collins and 
Lieberman to establish a governmentwide contingency contracting corps; 
an amendment on behalf of Senators Lugar, Biden, and others to build 
operational readiness and civilian agencies; an amendment on behalf of 
myself, Senators McCain and Akaka, to establish the position of 
Director of Independent Cost Assessment; an amendment on behalf of 
Senators McCaskill and McCain relating to a database for contracting 
officials; an amendment on behalf of Senators Smith, Bayh, and Nelson 
of Florida relating to travel of family members of the Armed Forces 
with serious mental disorders; an amendment on behalf of Senators 
Lieberman and Collins relating to ethics safeguards for employees; an 
amendment on behalf of Senators Lieberman, Collins, and McCaskill 
regarding whistleblower rights; an amendment on behalf of myself and 
Senator Warner codifying recurring authority on contributions to NATO; 
an amendment on behalf of Senator McConnell on traumatic brain 
injuries; and on behalf of Senator Menendez, an amendment regarding the 
Environmental Protection Agency. Those are the amendments I am hoping 
we can adopt at this time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
  Mr. WARNER. Madam President, at the moment, speaking for myself as 
one of the managers of the bill, I strongly support the package. We 
have worked on it together, as we have all the times we have managed 
these bills. I know of no objections that have been communicated to me, 
but I would like to ask the indulgence of the chairman for a few 
minutes such that I can check with my cloakroom staff.
  Mr. LEVIN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Casey). The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LEVIN. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call 
be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, the Senator from Iowa wishes to speak as in 
morning business for up to 10 minutes. I have no objection, providing 
he would agree that at any time during that 10 minutes we could 
interrupt him, if we get unanimous consent agreement on the series of 
amendments I outlined. I hate to interrupt his remarks, but the timing 
is critical.
  Mr. HARKIN. I have no problem.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. WARNER. I thank my colleague.
  I have been informed by our staff that there are objections to the 
procedure to have this package of amendments cleared at this time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, this week is National Suicide Prevention 
Week. In honor of the families who have lost a military family member 
to suicide, I wish to speak now about an amendment I have to this bill 
to address one of the most critical issues facing our troops right now, 
the issue of suicide. The Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention bill 
was signed into law this past November. But that has to do with 
veterans. However, the Department of Defense has reported an increase 
in suicides among Active-Duty soldiers. With extended combat tours to 
15 months from 12 months, with many servicemembers on their third or 
even fourth rotation to Afghanistan or Iraq, the psychological strains 
are enormous. The Department of Defense Task Force on Mental Health has 
stated that both the VA and the Department of Defense are not prepared 
to deal with this increase in mental health needs of Active-Duty 
service men and women.
  Nearly each year of the 5-year-old war in Iraq and the 7 years of war 
in Afghanistan, the suicide rate has increased. Last year suicides 
among Active-Duty soldiers reached their highest level since the Army 
began keeping records 28 years ago. Suicide was the leading cause of 
noncombat deaths in Iraq in 2007. This trend has begun to repeat itself 
in 2008. So far there have been 62 confirmed suicides as well as 31 
deaths under investigation that are suspected to be suicides, which 
means this year's gruesome numbers could surpass the record of 115 
suicides set last year. The number of attempted suicides or self-
inflicted injuries in the Army, approximately 2,100 last year, has 
risen sixfold since the Iraq war began. These startling statistics 
should serve as a wake-up call that suicide among soldiers and veterans 
is more than a small problem. It is rapidly becoming a very big 
problem. To address this critical concern, I worked with a number of my 
colleagues to introduce the Armed Forces Suicide Prevention Act, S. 
2585, with 20 bipartisan cosponsors. The amendment I am offering to 
this bill merely adds the preventative measures from this carefully 
crafted bill, S. 2585, to the excellent underlying language that is in 
the Defense authorization bill before us.
  The Defense authorization bill before us does increase mental health 
personnel and post-suicide investigations in the military. That is in 
the underlying bill. The amendment I am offering requires the 
Department of Defense to implement comprehensive suicide prevention 
programs within all branches of the military, including the National 
Guard and Reserves. Among other things, the amendment directs the 
Pentagon to conduct a servicewide campaign to reduce the stigma 
associated with mental health issues and to encourage servicemembers 
who are experiencing difficulties to seek help. It also engages 
military leadership by incorporating suicide prevention training for 
all servicemembers.

  So this amendment takes the preventative measures from the bill we 
introduced with 20 bipartisan cosponsors and adds it to the underlying 
Defense authorization bill.
  The language I am talking about was coordinated carefully with each 
branch of the Armed Forces, and their recommended revisions were 
incorporated. The bill complements other recent defense legislation 
such as the Wounded Warriors Act, addressing the well-being and welfare 
of our servicemembers and their families. This Armed Forces Suicide 
Prevention Act has the endorsement of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans 
of America, the Suicide Prevention Action Network, the National 
Military Families Association, and the National Alliance on Mental 
Illness.
  We know these kinds of programs can make a big difference. In the 
early 1990s, one in every four deaths among Active-Duty Air Force 
personnel was from suicide. The Air Force implemented the kind of 
comprehensive suicide prevention program required by the bill we have 
introduced and by this amendment, and by 2002 the suicide rate had been 
reduced by over a third. Violent crime and family violence also were 
reduced after the preventative program was implemented.
  We cannot just sit idly by and watch as these young brave Americans, 
who

[[Page S8266]]

are making great sacrifices, are left alone to fend for themselves, as 
they suffer the pain and anguish of post-traumatic stress disorder, the 
despair of losing friends to roadside bombs, or the depression and 
helplessness felt after multiple deployments that are stressing their 
families to the breaking point. This is not just about the armed 
servicemembers who commit suicide; it is about the deep and painful 
despair that drives them to do it. I know the Army says they have 
effective programs in place. But if that is true, where are the 
outcomes? Why do we have an ever-increasing suicide rate in the 
military?
  The GAO just reported last week that the DOD--Department of Defense--
does not even know if the post-deployment health reassessment surveys 
are being completed. Now, for those who may not have heard about this 
tool, the PDHRA, as it is called, surveys health and mental health 
concerns within 90 and 120 days of deployment. Well, how can DOD say 
they are good stewards of mental health when they cannot show us they 
are even doing these screenings?
  The DOD's position on this amendment I am offering is that it ``would 
establish a legislative mandate for programs already ongoing or within 
the Secretary's authority to establish. However, the administration 
supports the goals of this legislation and we look forward to working 
with Congress to address these concerns.''
  Well, they may have the current authority, but the numbers do not 
bear out they are actually doing it. Frankly, my staff has met--and I 
have also--with veterans in Iowa who say that while programs like this 
are in place and working well in some units, it is not a universal 
experience for Armed Services members. Too many brave young men and 
women are falling through the cracks, and the DOD is simply not doing a 
thorough job here. One ignored soldier who has had mental health 
problems--who is stressed out, who has seen his buddies' arms and legs 
disappear from bombings or had their lives taken away, who is on 
multiple deployments, and he has kids back home--one soldier with those 
kinds of stresses who is ignored is one soldier too many.
  That is why Congress has to act to make this a priority. Yes, this is 
going to be a legislative mandate, and I intend it to be that. When GAO 
tells us that DOD cannot even tell us what they are doing, then I think 
it is time for a legislative mandate.
  The military does an extraordinarily good job of treating our 
warriors' physical wounds and preventing death and disability. It is 
time to place an equal priority to treating their psychological wounds, 
their emotional wounds, and preventing suicides. That is exactly what 
this amendment will accomplish.
  As I have said, there is already excellent language in the underlying 
Defense authorization bill to expand mental health services for Active-
Duty servicemembers. This amendment would add suicide prevention 
training for armed servicemembers and their families. It would add 
additional postdeployment assistance and a stigma reduction outreach 
campaign to aid in those efforts--a campaign to reduce the stigma of a 
soldier who is having mental health problems from seeking help.
  We all know--those of us who have been in the military--what it is 
like. You do not want to admit you are having psychological problems, 
that this, somehow, is something you are not supposed to have happen to 
you. So you have to reduce the stigma of this so these young men and 
women who are having these problems will seek help and by getting that 
help will heal their psychological wounds.
  It is a simple, commonsense approach to a pervasive, disturbing 
trend, as I said, a very growing problem in the military. So I hope all 
my colleagues can join with us to support the dedicated men and women 
serving our country and support this needed amendment.
  With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I see the chairman of the committee. I 
think the work on the bill tonight is concluded, and I recommend we go 
off the bill and open the floor to morning business, if that is 
agreeable.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, would Senator Sanders be willing, as a 
number of other colleagues are, that his remarks, although they relate 
to the bill, be in morning business?
  Mr. SANDERS. Absolutely.

                          ____________________