Thad Cochran

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 at 5 p.m. in closed session to mark up the emerging threats and capabilities programs and provisions contained in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2006.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on National Parks be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, May 10, 2005, at 2:30 p.m. The purpose of the hearing is to review the National Park Service's funding needs for administration and management of the National Park System.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Tuesday, May 10, 2005, at 2:30 p.m., on Identity Theft.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Airland be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, May 10, 2005, at 3:30 p.m. in closed session to mark up the Airland Programs and provisions contained in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2006.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on ``Continued Oversight of the USA PATRIOT Act'' on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 at 9:30 a.m. in Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226. Panel I: The Honorable Larry E. Craig, United States Senator, R-ID, The Honorable Richard J. Durbin, United States Senator, D-IL. Panel II: The Honorable Bob Barr, Former Member of Congress, Chairman, Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances, Atlanta, GA; David Cole, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC; Daniel P. Collins, Partner, Munger, Tolles & Olsen LLP, Los Angeles, CA; James X. Dempsey, Executive Director, Center for Democracy & Technology, Washington, DC; Andrew C. McCarthy, Attorney and Senior Fellow, The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Washington, DC; Suzanne E. Spaulding, Managing Director, The Harbour Group, LLC, Washington, DC.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety be authorized to hold a hearing during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, May 10, 2005, at 2 p.m. in SD-430.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Seapower be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 at 2:30 p.m. in closed session to mark up the Seapower programs and provisions contained in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2006.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. I have no objection.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, as Senators know, there is time for debate of the conference report, for Senators to come over and speak, if they so choose, about the provisions of this bill and the effort we have made to meet the challenge the President has laid before us, and that is to produce a bill that provides funding for support for our troops and other officials from the State Department and other agencies who are engaged in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the global war on terror. The majority of the money provided in this legislation is for those purposes. I am pleased the committee was able to restrain the temptation that always exists to add money that was over and above the request made by the President. The fact of the matter is that this committee showed discipline and commitment to fiscal restraint. We brought a bill back in the initial stages of this process that was below the request made by the President and that was below the request provided in the House- passed bill. Our Senate Appropriations Committee reported legislation providing funding that was lower than either one of those documents. In conference with the House, we did resolve differences. There was give and take. Both sides had their opportunity to speak. We met on two separate occasions with our Senate conferees, joining representatives from the House in a wide range of discussion. Nobody was cut off when they wanted to discuss the issues or offer alternatives to provisions of the House-passed bill. The REAL ID provision that has come up, which some have complained about, was not a product of the Senate's action. It was put into the bill on the House side, but it was in conference. Because that legislation contained immigration issues and the identification issue, there were those in the Senate who offered germane amendments on the broad, general subject of immigration policy, guest worker provisions, quotas, workers who could come from foreign countries into the United States. The Senate will remember that we have debated several amendments on those subjects. We approved some and we rejected some. In conference with the House, a majority of the conferees of the Senate worked with a majority of the conferees in the House to get a compromise conference report. That has been brought back to the House now and passed by a substantially overwhelming margin, 368 to 40- something, as I recall. The Senate is prepared to wind up debate in a matter of an hour or two, under the order that has been entered. I hope the Senate will give support to this conference report and overwhelmingly approve it. It reflects strict discipline in the appropriations process, but at the same time it provides the funds needed for those who are engaged in the important operations in Iraq and Afghanistan to safeguard the security of our country and to promote democracy and help ensure a safer world. I am hopeful the Senate will approve the conference report. I am prepared to yield the floor. Seeing no Senator seeking recognition, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. COCHRAN. Reserving the right to object, let me ask the Senator, if I may, does the total of that amount of time exceed the amount under the order that your side of the aisle has been granted, or is it less than that?

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I was curious when I put in the suggestion that a quorum be present as to how time would be charged under the time that is being used now under the quorum call.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, since there are no Senators on either side present, I ask unanimous consent that the time be charged equally between both sides.

Mr. COCHRAN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I am pleased to see that Senators have endorsed the conference report in a bipartisan way. We appreciate the support that this is receiving. In every conference, there are always issues that arise that cannot be resolved to suit all Senators or all Members of the other body. But I must say to the Senate that this was a conference that was open, fair, and it allowed for the participation of all conferees, both parties in the Senate, and the same with the House. We had two sessions; one was in the Capitol over on the House side and another was on the Senate side in the Mansfield Room, where any Senator or any Member from the House who wanted to speak before the conference had the right to do so. In addition, Members had the opportunity to offer motions, amendments, or suggestions for the benefit of members of the conference. I was very pleased to acknowledge, at the time, the important participation of the ranking member on the Democratic side in the Senate committee, Senator Byrd, who took an active role in the discussions, who offered a motion at one point to insist upon the position of the Senate in the conference. Other members could have done the same or argued against including any provision of the House-passed bill. There has been some discussion today about the REAL ID provision. I didn't think that was a wonderful idea myself. It was not included in the Senate bill. It was a House provision. But the House Members insisted that it be included in the conference report. Anyone who wanted to resist that had an opportunity to argue against it or to offer a motion that the Senate insist upon its position that it not be included. No Senator elected to do that. I didn't know how many meetings were going to be required of the conference. I had no idea what the House would do in terms of insisting on provisions in this bill as that conference began. I was, frankly, surprised that we didn't have but two meetings of the conference. I expected that we would have other meetings. But the House didn't think it was important or necessary, and I got the impression that there were going to be no more meetings but only after the second meeting had concluded. Members of the committee continued to discuss issues with House conferees, and we finally reached agreement. I think this is a good conference report. It is a reasonable compromise between the two bills that were passed by the House and the Senate. We didn't get everything we wanted in the conference with the House; neither did the House get everything they wanted in conference with our Senate conferees. But I think this is a fair conference report. It reflects a commitment to support the President, to provide funding that is needed for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is an urgent supplemental bill, and it ought to be passed today by the Senate. I am confident that it will be. I appreciate very much the assistance and the affirmative way members of our conference worked to ensure that we could get a conference report that would be adopted by the Senate. I think we have accomplished that goal. I am proud of the work that was done by the members of our staffs. They worked very, very hard in the preparation of the conference report that is before the Senate today. I especially want to thank our staff director, Keith Kennedy; Terry Sauvain, his counterpart on the Democratic side; Chuck Keiffer on the Democratic side, who also worked very hard; Charlie Houy, who has been a stalwart member of the staff of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee for many years; Rebecca Davies on the Homeland Security Appropriations Committee; Sid Ashworth, the clerk of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. Senator Stevens, chairman of that subcommittee and former chairman of the full committee, was enormously influential in this conference. I have been very grateful for his support and assistance. I also thank Clayton Heil, counsel to our Senate Committee on Appropriations, who has been very helpful as well. And there are others. Mr. President, I appreciate the assistance of other Senators on the full Committee on Appropriations. We had strong support in the signing of the conference report. It has been a bipartisan achievement. It is not a partisan bill, and we appreciate the fact that it is not. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum and ask unanimous consent that the time under the quorum be charged equally to each side.

Mr. COCHRAN. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. How long does the Senator expect to talk?

Mr. COCHRAN. I have no objection, and I have no objection with that being done in spite of the agreement we have reached on the time for debate of the supplemental.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, will the Senator yield for a question?

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, before the Chair announces the recess for the policy luncheons, I have eight unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. I ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and the requests be printed in the Record.

Mr. COCHRAN. I do not want her to talk forever.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, the Senate now has under consideration the conference report to accompany H.R. 1268, the fiscal year 2005 emergency supplemental appropriations bill. This bill was requested by the President to carry forward the spending and accounts of the Department of Defense, the Department of State, and other agencies and departments of the Government through the remainder of this fiscal year which will end on September 30. The bill was passed in the Senate on April 21, and we began conference discussions with our colleagues from the other body on April 27. A bipartisan majority of the conferees reconciled differences between the two bills and reached agreement on the provisions of a conference report on Tuesday, May 3. The House approved the conference report on May 5 by a rollcall vote of 368 to 58. The conference agreement provides a total of $82.041 billion, slightly less than the President's request of $82.042 billion. Almost $76 billion in emergency supplemental appropriations is provided to the Department of Defense to cover the costs of continuing the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Title II of the conference agreement provides $4.128 billion for international programs and assistance for reconstruction and the war on terror. Title III provides $1.184 billion for domestic programs in the war on terror. And title IV provides $907 million in relief for the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster. Finally, division B of the conference agreement carries the House- passed REAL ID Act and other provisions relating to immigration issues. This conference agreement embodies a genuine compromise between the two bodies on legislation that is of utmost importance to our troops who are deployed in the war on terror and for our allies around the world. It is supported by the administration, and I hope the bill, as reflected in the conference report, will receive bipartisan support in the Senate. We are pleased to have the benefit of comments by other members of the committee or Senate to explain specific provisions of this conference agreement. We are prepared to try to respond to any questions that any Senators may have about the provisions of the conference report, and we will be hopeful, however, that the Senate will proceed with some dispatch to the approval of the conference report because it is an urgent supplemental appropriations conference report. The funds provided in this conference report are urgently needed by our forces in the field and by our State Department for accounts that have been depleted in connection with programs administered by that Department. The administration is urging that we act quickly, and I hope we will not unnecessarily prolong consideration of the conference agreement in the Senate but respond enthusiastically with the challenge from the administration to act with dispatch on this conference report. Mr. President, before I yield the floor, if I may have one more moment of indulgence from the Senator from California, on behalf of the majority leader, I ask unanimous consent that there be 3 hours and 15 minutes of debate under the control of the ranking member and 1\1/2\ hours of debate under the control of the chairman; provided further that following the use or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to a vote on adoption of the conference report, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I am curious to know when the Senator plans to complete her remarks. At the beginning of her remarks, she assured the Senate that she would take about 30 minutes. We are on the conference report on the supplemental appropriations bill which is an urgent supplemental bill. We have about 4 hours divided among Senators on both sides to complete debate. I don't want to push the Senate into the evening hours, if we are going to have a prolonged discussion of this issue when we thought it was going to be 30 minutes. It is almost an hour now.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I have no objection to the Senator speaking as in morning business.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Con. Res. 31, which was submitted earlier today.