[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Page 23814]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            VOTE EXPLANATION

  Mr. WEBB. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in 
the Record my letter to Senator Byrd regarding my absence for rollcall 
vote No. 315.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                  U.S. Senate,

                                Washington, DC, September 6, 2007.
     Hon. Robert C. Byrd,
     President Pro Tempore, U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. President: Mr. President, due to my presence at a 
     critically important Armed Services Committee hearing 
     regarding the Iraq war, I was unavoidably absent during 
     rollcall vote No. 315. This vote concerned Senator Brown's 
     amendment No. 2673 to the Military Construction-Veterans 
     Affairs Appropriations bill. I was questioning committee 
     witnesses at the time the floor vote was called, and I 
     abbreviated my questioning in order to arrive for the vote. 
     However, I arrived on the floor shortly after the vote 
     concluded. Had I been present, I would have supported Senator 
     Brown's amendment, which I cosponsored. That amendment 
     prohibits the Department of Veterans Affairs from outsourcing 
     certain VA jobs to private contractors.
           Sincerely,
                                                         Jim Webb,
     U.S. Senator.

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