[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Page 1923]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                       COMMENDING SENATOR COCHRAN

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I commend my colleague, the Presiding 
Officer, Senator Cochran, for the remarks he made a few moments ago on 
the floor of the Senate with regard to the defense budget, particularly 
missile defense. He has been very thoughtful in this area. He has been 
involved for a number of years.
  He serves as head of a bipartisan group of Senators who have been to 
Russia on behalf of the Senate, who have met with representatives from 
the government, the Duma of Russia, when they have been in the United 
States.
  To put this in a positive way and note that President Bush intends to 
go forward with it when it is ready to be deployed and that we be 
prepared to have a serious discussion about it is fine, but I thank him 
for the way he has been involved in this issue and express my 
confidence that as we move forward on this very important defense item 
for our future, I know he will be involved in that.
  I feel very good that President Bush and Secretary of Defense 
Rumsfeld will approach this matter in an appropriate way, with our 
defense budget funding but also in the way it is handled with our 
allies. I look forward to working together in the future on this 
important issue.
  I yield the floor.

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