[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16198-16199]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 RUSSIA AND MOLDOVA JACKSON-VANIK REPEAL AND SERGEI MAGNITSKY RULE OF 
           LAW ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2012--MOTION TO PROCEED

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I now move to proceed to calendar No. 552, 
H.R. 6156, which is the Russia-Moldova trade agreement.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to calendar No. 552, H.R. 6156, an act to 
     authorize the extension of nondiscriminatory treatment 
     (normal trade relations treatment) to products of the Russian 
     Federation and Moldova and to require reports on the 
     compliance of the Russian Federation with its obligations as 
     a member of the World Trade Organization, and for other 
     purposes.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.


                     National Defense Authorization

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I wish to thank the chairman for his 
patience in allowing this legislation to be completed. I would note 
that there were 145 amendments and many recorded votes and good debate 
and discussion over very important issues.
  I also wish to say thank you to the majority leader.
  I wish to note the good work of the staff, showing again that work 
release programs can be successful.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, if I could say a word, I was looking for an 
opportunity to express my appreciation to the two managers of this 
bill.
  This has been hard, but they have done an excellent job. There is 
nothing more important we do here than make sure that our fighting men 
and women have the resources to do what they need to do for our 
country, and there are no two better managers that we could have on 
this bill than these two fine Senators. I appreciate very much their 
hard work.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.

[[Page 16199]]


  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, while the leader is here, I would add my 
thanks to the majority leader. This could not have happened without the 
willingness of the majority leader to take a little bit of risk at this 
time of year with so few days left.
  Senator McCain and I told the majority leader that we thought we 
could do it in 3 days, and I want you to know that we did it in 3 days. 
We don't count half days. If we counted half days, it took us more than 
3 days, I must confess to the majority leader. But, nonetheless, the 
majority leader was willing to let us start down this road. And we did 
it in a unanimous way. I think it is only the second time in 51 years 
that there has been a unanimous vote on a Defense authorization bill, 
and it is because of the willingness and determination of our 
leadership that we proceed with this bill and that we allow the kind of 
process to occur that we did and to take the time we did, and I am very 
grateful.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I took no risk, because Senator Levin from 
Michigan and Senator McCain from Arizona said, We will finish the bill 
in 3 days. So I had no risk because I knew that is what they would do. 
We may have spilled over a few hours, but basically they held to their 
agreement.
  Mr. McCAIN. Again, I thank the majority leader and my friend from 
Michigan.
  I do want to thank our staff who worked many long hours, long after 
we had shut down regular business. They continued to work through a 
total of 392 amendments that were filed on this legislation. I 
appreciate the hard work and the cooperative spirit that enabled us not 
only to dispose of the amendments, but also I heard no complaint from 
any Member that their amendment did not get the consideration they felt 
it deserved. I think that is pretty remarkable, and I thank them.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I want to join in thanking the 
chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Senator Levin, and the 
distinguished ranking member, Senator McCain, for the extraordinary 
bipartisan work they have done on this measure, and also the 
accommodation and consideration they have given to all of us who have 
proposed amendments, as well as to their staff and the majority leader.
  On behalf of Connecticut, which produces many of the key products 
that are affected by this bill, such as the Joint Strike Fighter, our 
submarines, and the Sikorsky helicopter, we have a great deal of pride 
in the support that the U.S. Senate has given today to our national 
defense and the production of these products.

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