[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 19]
[Senate]
[Pages 25723-25724]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006--Continued

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, under the order, the Senate is about to 
address the amendment by the distinguished Senator from North Dakota.


                           Amendment No. 2476

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.
  Mr. DORGAN. How much time remains?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time for debate has expired.
  Mr. DORGAN. I ask unanimous consent for 30 seconds.
  Mr. WARNER. Yes.
  Mr. DORGAN. The Senator from Virginia is quite right that we have 
twice before voted on this amendment and I believe ignored the value of 
the amendment. In almost all cases, there is virtue in being 
consistent, but being consistently wrong is hardly virtuous. My hope is 
the Senate will understand the value of this amendment this morning as 
we vote on it for the third time.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have 30 
seconds to respond?
  Mr. WARNER. Yes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, respond on this amendment?
  Mr. SESSIONS. I ask unanimous consent to make one point on this 
amendment.
  Mr. WARNER. With time being given to the Senator from North Dakota if 
he wishes to rebut.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, he asked for 30 seconds, and I thought I 
would get 30 seconds after all time had expired.
  The Department of Defense inspector general is working on this. I say 
this in response to the idea that nothing is being done and nobody 
cares. That is not true. The Army inspector general's office is fully 
engaged. The Army Criminal Investigation Department is engaged. The 
Defense Contract Audit Agency is engaged. The Defense Contract 
Management Agency is looking at these things. Most important, in 
response to Senator Dorgan's concerns and others, a Special Inspector 
General for Iraq Reconstruction is engaged and is very tough and 
capable.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  Mr. DORGAN. In 30 seconds, I say the Senator has just made my point. 
He recited a long description of people interested in this, none of 
whom reside in the Congress. The oversight responsibility belongs to 
the Congress. It belongs here, and it is not happening here. That is 
precisely the point I believe the Senator made on the floor just a 
moment ago. That is precisely why we ought to support this amendment.
  Mr. WARNER. Regular order. Have the yeas and nays been ordered?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. They have not been ordered.
  Mr. WARNER. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  Mr. WARNER. I further request the yeas and nays on the Talent 
amendment which follows.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The yeas and nays have been ordered on the 
Talent amendment.
  The question is on agreeing to the amendment.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. The following Senator was necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander).
  Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. 
Alexander) would have voted ``no.''
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Corzine) 
and the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Inouye) are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 44, nays 53, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 316 Leg.]

                                YEAS--44

     Akaka
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Carper
     Chafee
     Clinton
     Conrad
     Dayton
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Harkin
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Mikulski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Obama
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Rockefeller
     Salazar
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Stabenow
     Wyden

                                NAYS--53

     Allard
     Allen
     Bennett
     Bond
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Burr
     Chambliss
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Coleman
     Collins
     Cornyn
     Craig
     Crapo
     DeMint
     DeWine
     Dole
     Domenici
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Frist
     Graham
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Kyl
     Lott
     Lugar
     Martinez
     McCain
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Roberts
     Santorum
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Sununu
     Talent
     Thomas
     Thune
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Warner

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Alexander
     Corzine
     Inouye
  The amendment (No. 2476) was rejected.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move 
to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.


                           Amendment No. 2477

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, if we could have order in the Senate, can 
the Senators with this amendment be recognized for, I think, 2 minutes 
each?
  Mr. TALENT. Mr. President, Senator Lieberman and I have introduced 
this amendment which we believe is crucial in providing our Armed 
Forces with the air transport capabilities they need. The amendment is 
cosponsored by Senators Stevens, Boxer, Feinstein, Cornyn, Chambliss, 
and a number of others. We have worked with the chairman, the ranking 
member, and the managers, and are grateful for their help. It has been 
cleared on both sides. It is an important amendment. I encourage the 
Senate to agree to it.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I oppose the amendment. There has been a 
mobility capability study which indicates that we have an acceptable 
number for this capability.
  We are looking at cuts in defense spending, and there are a lot of 
tremendous cost overruns. We are looking at rapidly escalating 
procurement costs. These additional aircraft are not needed. They are 
not needed today. I believe we have to at some point have some kind of 
discipline and listen to what we need and have in capabilities, and 
this is not one of them.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, as many of you may know, almost every person 
in uniform who has looked at this believes that this program is of 
critical importance to our national security structures in the 21st 
century. There is not any debate that exists there. We believe it is an 
important element. If we don't do this, there is a great fear that this 
line will be dropped and the C-17 will be lost.
  We, obviously, have an interest in Connecticut. The engines are made 
in our State. But this aircraft is far more important than where the 
engines or the bodies are made. It is important to our national 
security needs. That is why we have this bipartisan support.
  We thank the chairman and ranking member for their support as well of 
the amendment being offered by the Senator from Missouri and the 
Senator from Connecticut. I am proud to be a sponsor of it.

[[Page 25724]]

  We urge adoption of the amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the amendment. 
The yeas and nays have been ordered, and the clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. The following Senator was necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander).
  Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. 
Alexander) would have voted ``yea.''
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Corzine) 
and the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Inouye) are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Graham). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 89, nays 8, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 317 Leg.]

                                YEAS--89

     Akaka
     Allen
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Burr
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Carper
     Chafee
     Chambliss
     Clinton
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Coleman
     Collins
     Conrad
     Cornyn
     Craig
     Crapo
     Dayton
     DeMint
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Dole
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Feinstein
     Frist
     Graham
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     Martinez
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Obama
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Salazar
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Shelby
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Talent
     Thune
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wyden

                                NAYS--8

     Allard
     Feingold
     Kohl
     Kyl
     McCain
     Sessions
     Sununu
     Thomas

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Alexander
     Corzine
     Inouye
  The amendment (No. 2477) was agreed to.
  Mr. WARNER. I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. KERRY. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, we are making progress on this bill. It is 
the intention of the joint leadership, the majority leader, and the 
Democrat leader, that this bill be finished. Senator Levin and I are 
doing the best we can to accommodate all colleagues. The amendments we 
know of that remain--one by the distinguished Senator from South 
Carolina. At this time I would like to set the hour of 2:30 to consider 
that. Is that agreeable?
  We simply bring it up at 2:30 and we determine how it unfolds with 
regard to second degrees.
  Mr. LEVIN. The Senator from Massachusetts is ready to proceed with 
his amendment.
  Mr. WARNER. There is no objection to that.
  Mr. LEVIN. Senator Akaka needs 5 minutes--have you gone through this?
  Mr. WARNER. What I am trying to get at the moment is the amendments, 
and then we will try to splice in periods of time for our colleagues to 
speak to other matters on the bill.
  Mr. LEVIN. We are hopeful we can complete the drafting of an Iraq 
amendment in the next half hour which, if we succeed, we would want to 
show it to the Senator from Virginia, but it may take some real time 
this afternoon.
  Mr. WARNER. Fine. Let's deal with the known quantities.
  The Senator from Massachusetts wishes to bring up an amendment which 
is within the 12 amendments of the Senator from Michigan. That is to be 
taken up now. We will proceed with that. There may well be an amendment 
in the second degree; I cannot anticipate that.
  Mr. LEVIN. If I could ask the Senator to yield, the Senator from 
Minnesota has an amendment or needs morning business?
  Mr. DAYTON. To speak on two amendments already included in the 
managers' package.
  Mr. WARNER. We will try and package, for the moment, two items. The 
Senator from Massachusetts will now proceed on his amendment. We cannot 
predict how long it will take because we do not know of the potential 
for second degrees. That will take place under the underlying unanimous 
consent. At 2:30 we take up the amendment of the Senator from South 
Carolina and proceed on that.
  Mr. LEVIN. With a second-degree amendment expected on that.
  Mr. WARNER. So let us get those two locked in for the moment.
  Mr. LEVIN. Excuse me. We made reference to two other Senators within 
that period of time. Senator Akaka would get 5 minutes for morning 
business, and I want to make sure the Senator from Minnesota, within 
that same time period, will have 10 minutes that relates to the pending 
amendments, as I understand the Senator.
  Mr. DAYTON. Amendments to the bill that are in the managers' package.
  Mr. WARNER. And Senator Burr needs 5 minutes.
  Within that period of time we will accommodate the three colleagues 
for the matters they wish.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. WARNER. Further, I wish to inform Senators that the likelihood of 
any votes between, say, the hour of 12:45 and 2 o'clock is most 
unlikely. As a matter of fact, I ask unanimous consent there be no 
votes during that period of time to accommodate a number of Senators on 
both sides.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LEVIN. Does the Senator expect the possibility of a vote before 
12:45?
  Mr. WARNER. No.
  Mr. LEVIN. So it is unlikely between now and when?
  Mr. WARNER. 2:15.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Mr. KERRY. I understand the Senator from Hawaii wants to speak for 5 
minutes. I ask unanimous consent the Senator from Hawaii be recognized 
for 5 minutes and I be recognized at the conclusion.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Hawaii.

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