[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 23292-23293]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           AMBASSADOR BREMER

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I wanted to comment on Ambassador Bremer 
briefly.
  I asked Ambassador Paul Bremer to come back and to participate in the 
hearings this week. He has really gone nonstop.
  I express my deep appreciation for his presence every day--both in 
formal meetings, informal meetings, and hearings. He is the U.S. 
administrator of Iraq and head of the coalition of provisional 
authority.
  Early last summer, Ambassador Bremer, who had already retired from

[[Page 23293]]

government service, was asked by the President of the United States, on 
very short notice, to move to Iraq and to lead the coalition effort to 
stabilize the country; indeed, he volunteered to do so.
  We all listen to him, and in listening to his testimony, we all 
realize what a daunting task he has. Iraq has been ruled by a vicious 
dictator for decades, the economy has deteriorated, as we all know, to 
near pre-industrial levels, the population is scarred by the ravages of 
this dictatorship, the Saddam Hussein regime, and now we have the 
foreign terrorists who on a daily basis seem to be sneaking in the 
country, adding to the disorder and death.
  Through all this, Ambassador Bremer continues to lead. He does that 
in spite of personally being under constant threat of attack and even 
constant threat of assassination in that part of the world. Like many 
of our fine service men and women, he has left loved ones behind and is 
living in what we all know are tough conditions in Iraq to serve the 
United States of America.
  Ambassador Bremer may set a record this week for the number of 
committees before which he is testifying. There are at least 6 
congressional committees over 5 days, in addition to speaking 
informally to our policy luncheons. He is a public servant in the 
truest sense of the word, a great man serving our Nation.
  As we debate the appropriate policies in Iraq, I want everyone to 
remember that he and others, military and civilian, are sacrificing for 
us in Iraq. I know we will have our differences. I encourage all of our 
colleagues to be respectful of each other as we move forward and as we 
recognize the great, unselfish leadership of Ambassador Bremer.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the Senator from New Mexico wants to speak 
regarding the Chaplain. I will finish in a minute.
  While the majority leader is on the floor, I say to the distinguished 
majority leader, the reason I stepped off the floor is I got a call 
from one of our Jewish Senators indicating they were speaking for a 
number of other Senators of that faith. They not only have to, as I 
indicated, be home in time for the sundown services but also have to 
prepare meals and things of that nature. They wanted me to let you 
know, if there is some way we could meet the burdensome schedule we 
have tonight, it would sure be good for them because they have a lot of 
things to do other than be home by sundown.
  I also say, while the majority leader is here--I am speaking for me--
I want to do everything I can--and I think I can fairly speak for the 
Democratic caucus--to move this very important supplemental. Senator 
Byrd and others are extremely concerned, for example, about having the 
hearing on Monday. The distinguished President pro tempore has heard 
from Senator Byrd himself. He would rather have that on Tuesday and 
rather have some other witnesses.
  We want to do everything we can to be fair and responsible and move 
this along. However, remember, the House is not going to mark up their 
legislation until the week we are gone.
  The leader is right, we should do everything we can to move this 
along, but I don't want anyone thinking that Democratic Senators who 
have some concern about the large amount of this number, especially the 
reconstruction, are in any way trying to hold this up. We want to 
cooperate in any way we can.
  Now, speaking only for this Senator, I think it may be to the 
advantage of the Senate to take this over and do whatever debate we 
need next week but not complete it until we get back. I have 
complimented the distinguished majority leader on a number of occasions 
since the Senator has taken over the Senate. We have had very few needs 
to file cloture on your side. We have tried to be as cooperative as 
possible. For example, without entering into unanimous consent 
agreements we simply have told you we will finish a bill on a certain 
night and generally we have been able to live up to that. We are not 
trying in any way to slow down or stall this most important 
legislation, but there is not a question of running out of money 
tomorrow, the next day, or the next day. I don't think it would hurt 
until we got back to have some final time to complete this.
  That is coming from this Senator, not the caucus. I am sure the 
Democratic leader will be in touch early in the day. We had a number of 
meetings yesterday to talk about this most important subject.
  For the third time today, we want it understood we on this side are 
going to do everything we can to support the troops. There are serious 
questions about the reconstruction money and how we should handle that. 
I don't think anyone disputes the fact they need reconstruction money. 
I think we need to take a close look at that.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I respect what the assistant Democratic 
leader has put forward. I am not making accusations of stalling or 
obstruction at all. I do feel it is important as we turn on our 
television sets every morning or read the paper and we see the 
importance of the security in Iraq that we address the issue which has 
been brought by our leaders on the ground there, the security issues 
and the request for the supplemental, as expeditiously as possible and 
not delay unnecessarily. That is why from a leadership position I want 
to focus this body on that security issue and spend whatever time it 
takes right now to address that issue.
  I understand we are working in good faith as we go forward. My 
intention is to continue to address thoroughly, with plenty of debate, 
maybe an unprecedented number of hearings in a short period of time, by 
most significant people, and to allow adequate time for floor debate. 
If we can keep working together, it is my goal to dispose of this 
appropriately over the next 9 days before we go on recess. I am going 
to have a hard time leaving the Senate to go on recess and not 
addressing a Presidential request.
  The House of Representatives is staying here. They are not going on 
recess. They are going to be addressing it in early October. That is 
why at least from a schedule standpoint I want to do it as soon as 
possible.
  Mr. REID. If I could just say this, the other problem we have is we 
do not want to have to go through this twice. Under the procedures of 
the Senate, when we just have a Senate bill, we are limited very much 
because points of order will be raised on most everything we do 
relative to amendments. I ask the distinguished majority leader to 
understand we do not need to go through this twice because when the 
bill comes back over from the House, we do not need to go through the 
same amendment procedure again.
  I am not sure we gain anything by trying to complete this by next 
week. We would be well served to see what the House gives us and work 
through that. That way there can be amendments that can be offered 
without points of order being issued to those. Otherwise, we are stuck 
offering amendments, points of order, then coming back with the House 
bill and doing the same thing again.
  I see the distinguished Democratic leader on the floor and I 
certainly will not speak anymore.

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