[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 17480-17481]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the majority and minority leaders have 
agreed that in the near future, the two managers, Senators Warner and 
Levin, will move forward with the Defense authorization bill. The 
opening statements will take some time because this is such an 
important piece of legislation.
  At some point later in the day, when the House, we hope, completes 
their work on the airlines legislation, which they have worked on 
during the night, and we worked on during the night, we will move to 
that. The managers understand that.
  I hope that people will understand how hard these two veteran 
legislators--Senator Levin and Senator Warner--have worked on this 
legislation. I personally know of the time they have spent on this bill 
in the past week, and prior to that they spent much more time on it. 
This is a very crucial time in the history of this country, and 
although it is always important, it is even more so now.
  I hope Members will be very cautious in trying to make a Christmas 
tree out

[[Page 17481]]

of this piece of legislation. The two leaders want as little 
controversy with this legislation as possible. We understand the Senate 
rules, that any person can do anything they want with this legislation. 
But we certainly ask that they be very cautious with this legislation. 
We have a timeframe within which we very badly need to complete this 
bill--as soon as possible. By next Wednesday at 2 o'clock, we not only 
have to complete this legislation but also do the continuing resolution 
to get us past the fiscal year. So there is really a lot to do.
  I repeat for the third time, I hope that Members will be very 
discrete in what they do with this legislation as it relates to these 
two managers.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan is recognized.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, let me first thank the Senator from Nevada 
for his very kind words and for his efforts and the leadership on both 
sides of the aisle in helping to bring this bill forward. Senator 
Warner and I have indeed worked very hard on it and, as always, we have 
worked together to bring a bill forward that hopefully the Senate can 
pass and pass quickly. But without the support of our leadership, that 
would not have been possible. As hard as we and our staffs work, it 
takes leadership support to make it happen. We are grateful that 
Senator Reid is on the floor, and we thank all leaders not on the 
floor.
  Mr. WARNER. If the Senator will yield, I join that with respect to 
the leadership provided by our distinguished majority whip. Yesterday 
on the train, as we were going to New York, we had Senator Daschle, 
Senator Lott, Senator Reid, Senator Levin, and I, and I think we 
finished up basically the procedural and, to some degree, the 
substantive points that remain, under the circumstances on which we 
concluded on the eve of visiting ground zero.
  That is an example of how, throughout the last six or seven days, 
Senator Levin and I have collaborated on bringing together a closure of 
the differences that were experienced in the committee, when the 
committee for the first time in living memory had a partisan division 
on reporting out a bill.
  I commend our chairman and the leadership. I think we are prepared 
today to present to the Senate a very fine bill on behalf of the men 
and women of the Armed Forces, their families, and those who are 
dependent and work with our Armed Forces. It would be my hope that in 
the course of the day, we can address such items as Members wish. But I 
think on our side, having participated in our caucus this morning, 
there is a feeling that we would like to move forward on this bill; and 
depending on the number of hours today, quite possibly we can bring to 
closure a number of issues and possibly begin to focus on when final 
passage could be achieved, subject to the leadership's desire for the 
time of the vote.
  I thank my colleague.

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