[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 17079-17082]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007

  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
resume consideration of H.R. 5631, which the clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 5631) making appropriations for the Department 
     of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30th, 2007, 
     and for other purposes.


                   recognition of the majority leader

  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader is recognized.


                                schedule

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I have a short statement to make, and then 
I will reframe what I expect to happen over the course of this week and 
in the near future.
  Similar to many of my colleagues, I spent the month traveling the 
country. I began in Tennessee and ended in Tennessee. I visited a 
number of States, from the west coast to the east coast, from 
Washington State to Florida. At each stop, I spent a lot of time doing 
what I hope, and I am sure, all of my colleagues did, listening, 
listening very carefully to what the American people are thinking and 
what they are feeling.
  As I summarize and step away from the messages that were sent to me, 
it is pretty clear how we need to spend the next 4 weeks in the Senate 
before taking a break before the elections themselves. I will recite a 
few of the items and point out the direction that will lead us into the 
next several weeks.
  I listened carefully, and again and again people confirmed what I 
already knew: The Republican-led policies that we put into place are, 
indeed, working. To begin with, although despite derision from my 
colleagues on the other side of the aisle, the economy continues to 
grow. As we saw yet again last week, month after month we consistently 
have added new jobs. Productivity, the driving impetus that raises the 
standards of living, continues to accelerate, continues to go up. We 
have faced down many adverse developments, many adverse events in the 
past few years, including the 2001 recession, the terrorist attacks of 
September 11, corporate governance scandals, and more recently, the 
devastating hurricanes and substantial increases in the cost of energy.
  People do feel the rising cost of energy at the pump each day. They 
feel the rising cost of health care.
  As Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke pointed out last week, 
despite all of these obstacles, our economy continues to advance and 
continues to grow. I am convinced, as are the constituents I met with 
during each stop across the country, the economic security we enjoy is 
due in large part to the Republican-led policies of tax relief and 
fiscal restraint we have implemented.
  What is forefront in the minds of the American people is the economy; 
even more so is security--yes, economic security but security in 
general.
  From Georgia to California, and each stop in between, the people I 
met want reassurance. They want to know when their family boards a 
plane, for example, on vacation or going to Disneyland, that plane will 
be safe. They want to know, when they hop on the subway or the Metro to 
go to work, that train will be safe. They want to know, when they fill 
up their gas tank, the money in their wallet is not going to end up in 
the hands of some terrorist overseas.
  I share these same concerns. That is why we have set a very 
aggressive agenda for the remainder of this session that does focus on 
fighting and winning this war on terror.
  Last week, one of my colleagues said that 99 percent of Democrats 
want to fight a strong war on terror. This week we will hold this 
Senate to that as we continue to debate Defense appropriations.
  Our troops provide us an invaluable service. They fight daily on 
behalf of those enduring principles of freedom and liberty. For their 
invaluable service, we owe them the very best of resources.
  The Defense appropriations bill is crucial to fighting a strong war 
on terror and to winning it. The bill provides our soldiers with the 
resources, the training, the technology, the equipment, the authorities 
they need to win the war on terror.
  I encourage each of my colleagues to demonstrate their commitment to 
fighting and winning a strong war on terror by engaging in a productive 
debate, a debate that is on point and focused on how we can keep our 
troops strong to win this war.
  At the end of the debate, I hope each and every one of my colleagues 
will

[[Page 17080]]

join me in demonstrating our commitment to our troops, our commitment 
to strengthening and maintaining and enhancing our security at home and 
their commitment to winning the war on terror by voting to pass the 
Defense appropriations bill.
  But there is more we in the Senate can and will do to help alleviate 
the concerns and fears the American people have about security and 
winning the war on terror. We need to strengthen port security. After 
months of negotiations on this critical issue, it is time to act. We 
need to pass the Homeland Security appropriations conference report. We 
need to confirm critical security nominees such as John Bolton, U.S. 
Ambassador to the U.N.; Alice Fisher, DOJ's Assistant Attorney General 
for the Criminal Division; Kenneth Wainstein, first Assistant Attorney 
General for DOJ's new National Security Division.
  We need to address the Supreme Court Hamdan decision, authorizing 
military commissions for terrorist combatants.
  We need to send an energy package to the President so we can reduce 
that dangerous dependence on foreign sources of oil. Let's face it, we 
have a serious threat to our national security when nearly 60 percent 
of the oil we consume comes from foreign countries.
  We need to strengthen the Terrorist Surveillance Program by 
modernizing the important Intelligence Surveillance Act definition of 
``electronic surveillance'' and ``communication'' and by enhancing 
congressional oversight. We need to consider legislation that builds on 
the progress we made last year with the bioterror bill, by further 
refining and enhancing our defenses against nontraditional terrorist 
attacks. We need to secure America's prosperity by bringing budget 
process reform to the Senate and by finalizing a very exciting 
bipartisan competitiveness agenda package.
  We need to continue securing America's health by bringing health 
information technology legislation to conference. We must continue to 
secure America's values by promoting sound Government that begins with 
fulfilling our constitutional duty of advice and consent by bringing 
more judicial nominations to the Senate for confirmation.
  And it continues with addressing Internet gambling. As it is now, 
this industry threatens to undermine the quality of life of millions of 
Americans by bringing an addictive behavior right into our living 
rooms.
  As you can see, we have a lot on our plate. Bipartisan support on 
each of these issues is absolutely necessary. It is election time. The 
tendency is to make everything political. For the American people, we 
need to rise above this. We need to come together. We need to work 
together on these important issues that so dramatically impact the 
security of the American people, the security of our homeland.
  As we learned last year with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, on 
September 11, almost 5 years ago, complacency and passiveness have no 
place in the Senate. We must work together to ensure that we anticipate 
and address the problems facing everyday Americans. We must work 
together to keep America moving forward. We must work together to fight 
and, yes, win the war on terror.
  Mr. President, let me take a final minute and update our colleagues 
on the specific schedule for today.
  Under the order, we are to immediately return to the consideration of 
the Defense appropriations bill. We began this important funding 
measure prior to our adjournment. We were unable to finish it prior to 
that recess. Although we do not have a unanimous consent agreement on 
the bill, the Democratic leader agreed prior to the recess that we 
would finish the bill no later than Wednesday of this week, although 
discussions prior to our beginning today's session indicate it may be 
Thursday.
  Chairman Stevens is here today occupying the chair and is ready to 
consider amendments and make progress during today's session. I 
understand no one is ready, at this point, to offer an amendment.


                           Order of Procedure

  Therefore, I ask consent there be a period of morning business until 
2:30 today, with the time equally divided in the usual form; and 
further, that at the conclusion of that period, we resume consideration 
of the Defense appropriations bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, as an additional reminder to Senators, this 
afternoon at 4:30 we will proceed to executive session for the 
consideration of Kimberly Ann Moore to be a U.S. circuit court judge. A 
vote will occur at 5:30 on the confirmation of this judicial 
nomination.
  Having said that, I expect a productive week as we wrap up our 
business on the Defense appropriations bill.


                   Recognition of the Minority Leader

  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Democratic leader is recognized.


                           DoD Appropriations

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, as I indicated in conversation with the 
Presiding Officer and the majority leader, I indicated that we, the 
Democrats, would complete this bill in 2 days. We will do that. It will 
be Thursday because today, for a lot of reasons, not the least of which 
is the weather, we will not have much time to work on it. We will 
finish it Thursday. I indicated that to the manager of the bill and to 
the distinguished majority leader.


                           The Senate Family

  Mr. President, we are a family in the Senate. That includes not only 
the 100 Senators but the staff we have. Although he is off the Senate 
floor now, Jack Hickman, who has worked for the Senate for many years 
and sits right in front of me, had knee surgery or knee replacement. As 
a result of some things that do not work out as well as one could 
expect, he became gravely ill. We are so happy that all worked out, 
that he is now strong and healthy, and his knee works well, although 
the surgery was very traumatic, especially the side effects.
  We are glad Jack is back and he is healthy. He represents the Senate 
family that works long Senate hours with little recognition--
recognition which they deserve.


                         Legislative Priorities

  Mr. President, the Chaplain, this morning, said the thoughts that 
were on my mind before coming here, and I certainly could not say them 
as well as he did, so I will read what he said in his own prayer:

       Bless this legislative body today. Give Senators, during 
     these challenging times, the calmness of Your abiding 
     presence. Break the tensions of partisan divisions with the 
     soothing music of unified effort.

  That phrase in the prayer says it all. We need to work together. I 
want to focus on one thing, on one number, and that is 12. Twelve is 
very likely the number of legislative days remaining in this Congress, 
the 109th Congress. With the schedules we have kept in the past, we 
basically work 3 days a week. We have 4 weeks, counting today. That 
leaves 12 days. In a normal year, in a normal Congress, it would be an 
enormous challenge to complete the work we have ahead of us in 12 days.
  In this Congress, which I have not said but which pundits and 
editorials have called the do-nothing Republican Congress, it is 
mission impossible. Think about all that remains to be done.
  On the domestic front, the start of the new fiscal year is just days 
away. The Senate has yet to pass a single appropriations conference 
report. There has not been a single appropriations bill sent to the 
President. There are 13 of them. Normally, we would have basically 
completed them by now, or at least have them all in conference. We in 
the Senate have completed one appropriations bill.
  With millions of children returning to school this week, this 
Republican-controlled Congress has yet to pass an education funding 
bill. In addition, there are middle-class tax breaks that have been 
sidetracked. There has been a big detour. These need to be extended. 
Why aren't they extended? There was an agreement before we left between 
the House and the Senate conferees to have the so-called tax extenders 
passed. They agreed. But someone

[[Page 17081]]

came up with an idea, as absurd as it now sounds, that they would stick 
the tax extenders on a flawed minimum wage increase and, of course, 
estate tax repeal. It came here. We wasted a significant amount of time 
on it. The extenders were not passed. People are still waiting to have 
them passed. These are not extenders that help only Democrats, they 
help the country.
  I had the head of the Business Roundtable call me. He said it is so 
important we pass the research and development tax credit. It was one 
of the extenders that did not pass because of this crazy idea to lump 
them all together. As a result, we have nothing. We have no minimum 
wage increase. We did not do the extenders. And, of course, the 
American people, they are not out there fighting for 8,100. That is who 
benefits from the estate tax repeal. The American people knew this was 
a foolish idea, and the Senate responded by making sure that so-called 
``trifecta,'' that we named ``defecta,'' did not pass.
  The Medicare prescription drug bill needs to be fixed. Are we going 
to do that? Not likely. We have a crisis in health care. I used to talk 
about 40 million people having no health insurance during this 
administration. In these 6 years it has gone to 47 million Americans 
with no health insurance, and millions more who are underinsured.
  Energy: Because of the demand being lessened, energy costs have 
dropped a little bit in the last few weeks. But that has not taken away 
from the fact that we use 21 million barrels of oil every day in 
America 7 days a week, and we import more than 60 percent of that. Are 
we doing anything about that? No. Twelve days to do all these things.
  On the national security front, just as much work remains to be done, 
if not more. We are a nation at war. We are still vulnerable 5 years 
after 9/11, and we have yet to pass the Defense and Homeland Security 
bills. We are going to pass the Defense appropriations bill. We are 
going to do that sometime on Thursday. But we have to take that bill to 
conference, along with the other 12 appropriations bills before we can 
send them to the President.
  Because of delays by this Republican Congress, our borders remain 
open and immigration reform remains stalled. There is also port 
security to be considered, a phase II investigation where we had the 
assurance from the Republican leaders of the Intelligence Committee 
that they could complete phase II. They have not done that. We still do 
not know how the intelligence information was manipulated in an effort 
to take us to war in Iraq. The American people are entitled to that 
information.
  Twelve days to finish all this work. And do you know what. It appears 
we are not even going to try to finish the work. The Republican-
dominated Congress is not even going to try to finish this work.
  Today's New York Times has the headline: ``GOP Lawmakers Set Aside 
Work on Immigration.'' Sunday's Washington Post had a similar article 
entitled: ``GOP Focus on Security Issues to Sideline Other Matters.''
  The papers report that Republicans plan to leave in September with 
immigration undone, Medicare undone, ethics reform undone, and a budget 
undone. We do not have a budget. Then, after leaving here with nothing 
done, they are going to go out and try to convince the American people 
that after years of getting it so wrong, they now have the right 
prescription for our Nation's security.
  Democrats welcome a national security debate. I hope we can have one. 
America needs one. There is no excuse for the Senate not completing its 
work. And I say, referring back to the Chaplain's prayer:

       Give Senators, during these challenging times, the calmness 
     of Your abiding presence. Break the tensions of partisan 
     divisions with the soothing music of unified effort.

  We want to work on a bipartisan basis to resolve the Hamdan decision. 
That is how we bring these terrorists to justice. We want to work with 
our colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle to work something 
out on the domestic spying front.
  There is no excuse for the Senate not completing its work. But if 
Republicans want to work with Democrats during the next 4 weeks to 
address the mistakes of national security, we welcome that. It is about 
time. There is a reason the Senate faces this predicament. It is a 
reason we stare in the face: September 5. None of the people's 
legislative priorities have been addressed in this Congress. It is 
because this do-nothing Republican Congress has wasted 20 months 
avoiding the people's priorities so they could play partisan games 
instead.
  Think back over the last 2 years. Just take 2 years, not 4 years. We 
began, first of all, with a month-in and month-out debate dedicated to 
the so-called nuclear option, the Republicans' attempt to rewrite 
Senate rules so we would be another House of Representatives; that we 
would throw away the Constitution of the United States so the Federal 
courts could be packed.
  Then, instead of addressing the crisis in health care or the crisis 
in energy, the Republican Senate moved to pet issues of their political 
base, such as the Terri Schiavo affair--a very personal issue that took 
an inordinate amount of time of the Congress. And, of course, we have 
spent weeks and weeks on a billion-dollar giveaway to repeal the estate 
tax to the richest of the rich.
  This past summer was no different. The weeks in June and July were 
given to the marriage amendment and then flag desecration--two of the 
least pressing issues facing Americans today. In fact, I was stunned to 
read in the Washington Post today that Circuit Judge Wilkinson, who was 
said to be in line to be the President's selection to go on the Supreme 
Court, wrote an editorial saying: Do not amend the Constitution with 
the marriage amendment. It is unnecessary. It is wrong. Let the States 
take care of it.
  Judge Wilkinson did that, one of the President's own: a waste of 
time, the marriage amendment.
  Then, the 1 week we worked in August was given to the Republicans' 
infamous ``trifecta'' bill that I have spoken about earlier, the 
``defecta'' bill, as we call it. In the words of Republican Congressman 
Zach Wamp, Republicans tried to ``outfox'' the country into repealing 
the estate tax. Remember his famous quote: The only reason the 
Democrats are mad is we outfoxed them.
  In the end, it was the Republicans who were outfoxed.
  With 20 months wasted and just 12 days ahead of us, it is time for a 
new direction. We live in a very dangerous world. As we saw in Britain 
last month, there are terrorists around the world who want to do damage 
to Americans. Unfortunately, there are too many politicians in 
Washington who want to divide the country and play politics with 
national security instead of finding real solutions to keep America 
safe.
  Again the Chaplain:

       Give Senators, during these challenging times, the calmness 
     of Your abiding presence. Break the tensions of partisan 
     divisions with the soothing music of unified effort.

  That is what we need: unified effort. It is time for a new direction.
  Next week our country will mark a solemn anniversary: 5 years since 
9/11. I remember where I was on 9/11, right across the hall. Every 
Tuesday Senator Daschle had a leadership meeting. At 9 o'clock in the 
morning, September 11, the towers were on fire. I saw them, as did all 
of America. I remember where I was, and I will bet every American can 
remember where they were.
  Five years after 9/11 America is less safe than it should be. Today, 
only 5 or 6 percent of our ports are secure; cargo containers, 5 
percent. Our chemical plants are vulnerable to attack. Our first 
responders do not have the materials to be the best they could be.
  Interoperability all over America is not there. The man responsible 
for 9/11, Osama bin Laden, remains on the loose. The recommendations of 
the 9/11 Commission have been ignored by the administration.
  This is the Republican record of the last 5 years. It is no wonder, 
with elections looming, they want to try to fix it in the next 12 days. 
Democrats have

[[Page 17082]]

a better plan to keep America safe. It is called real security. It is 
tough, it is smart, and, as we laid out in a letter to President Bush 
yesterday, it starts by doing what the other side has refused to do: 
change course in Iraq.
  While Iraq was not part of the war on terror before we invaded, today 
it is emboldening terrorists and recruiting new ones. For 2 years, the 
Republicans have been content to say ``stay the course'' in Iraq. They 
have stood with President Bush when he says: We're not leaving Iraq as 
long as I'm President.
  That is wrong. They may think it is smart political strategy, but we 
know from what is happening around the world it is a failed security 
policy. Each day this Republican Government stays the course in Iraq, 
America grows less safe.
  Since we last met, 75 American soldiers have been killed. I do not 
know how many have been wounded. It is approaching 21,000. My friend, 
the distinguished minority whip, has focused on doing something about 
head trauma with our veterans. In articles written this past week: 10 
percent of those wounded have head trauma--10 percent. That means 2,100 
probably. And that is only those who now recognize they have it.
  As we know, as all the articles have said, a lot of the problems 
dealing with one's ability to think come later. A lot of times you 
can't see these head injuries, but these explosions cause the brain to 
do things it is not capable of handling. Yet we have been turned down 
in getting financial help for these people who have been wounded in 
Iraq.
  Since we last met, I don't know how many Iraqi civilians have been 
killed, well over 1,000. I don't know how many have been damaged for 
life by their wounds. And since we last met, we have spent $12 billion 
of the taxpayers' money in Iraq on this mismanaged war. The Pentagon 
now believes all the conditions exist for a civil war in Iraq. We have 
a civil war in Iraq. When this many people are killed, it is a civil 
war. The administration's most recent report to Congress says it is 
only going to get worse.
  Our military faces shortages of equipment and personnel that haven't 
been seen since Vietnam. Not a single Army nondeployed combat brigade 
is currently prepared to meet its wartime mission, and the chief of the 
National Guard has said the Guard is ``even further behind or in an 
even more dire situation than the Army.'' At the same time, the war has 
emboldened regimes in North Korea and Iran, two countries which have 
grown their nuclear arsenals during this administration's watch.
  These are the consequences of staying the course in Iraq: We are less 
safe, we face greater threats, and we are less prepared to meet them. 
Throughout this Congress, Democrats have come to the floor to demand--
we have done it on the Senate floor, in interviews, through speeches in 
our States, and press conferences--that the President change course in 
Iraq; fight a better, smarter war on terror and secure the homeland; 
get good grades for the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, not 
failed grades, as this administration has received.
  Republicans have obstructed our efforts. We have offered amendment 
after amendment, and they have turned them down on a separate, party-
line vote--amendments to protect nuclear plants, chemical plants, 
nuclear-power-generating facilities, amendments to help first 
responders--party-line votes, no. Republicans have obstructed our 
efforts and chosen to rubberstamp President Bush's failed security 
strategy.
  With just 12 legislative days left before the end of this Congress, I 
once again ask my Republican colleagues: Is now the time for the Senate 
to hold President Bush accountable for his failed policies and demand a 
new direction? With the 5-year anniversary of 9/11 fast approaching--
next Monday--it is time for America to refocus its efforts in the war 
on terror by implementing the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, 
changing course in Iraq, and taking a smarter, better approach to 
hunting terrorists and preventing the next threat. We have 12 days to 
work together, not as Democrats and Republicans but as Americans doing 
everything we can to keep America safe.
  On this side of the aisle, we are willing to work on these national 
security issues that we have read in the papers is what the Republicans 
want to focus on. We welcome that. But let's do it on a bipartisan 
basis so that when we finish our work, we are safer than when we 
started; not political diatribe, not an effort to embarrass one another 
but reflecting on what the Chaplain said today:

       Give Senators, during these challenging times, the calmness 
     of Your abiding presence. Break the tensions of partisan 
     divisions with the soothing music of a unified effort.

  We look forward to a unified effort. We take the challenge of 
spending this month debating national security issues, if that is what 
the majority chooses. In the meantime, we recognize what has not been 
done with the domestic agenda, which is also extremely important.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sununu). The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. I ask unanimous consent to be recognized as in morning 
business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________