Thad Cochran

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.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

Mr. COCHRAN

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

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I am pleased to bring to the Senate's attention the distinguished career of Charles W. Capps, Jr., who has served with distinction and honor as a member of the Mississippi State House of Representatives from Bolivar County since 1971. My friend, Charlie Capps has announced that he will retire from the legislature in June. As a member of the House of Representatives, Charlie Capps has earned the respect of eight governors, the members of the Mississippi Congressional Delegation, and all who have called upon him for advice and assistance over the past three decades. Charlie Capps is well known throughout our State for his contributions to higher education, highways, wildlife conservation, job development, and job training. He made special efforts to improve the quality of life in the Mississippi Delta. He has held many positions of responsibility including service as Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations from 1988 to 2003. During those years, the State has experienced unprecedented economic growth. Today, workforce training centers, mental health facilities, university libraries, recreational lakes, and distance learning centers are part of the legacy of this great Mississippian. I congratulate Charlie Capps for his distinguished career of public service and for his indelible contribution to our State.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. I ask unanimous consent the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. COCHRAN. We are not going to join that request.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, we have no objection to the amendment being called up. We have discussed the amendment with the Senator from New Jersey and the Senators from Kansas and Ohio. We have no objection to proceeding to consider the amendment.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. COCHRAN. 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.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. Madam President, I thank all Senators for their cooperation in the passage of this bill. There were a lot of amendments offered, and we agreed to some of them. Some of them were adopted. We are going to conference with the House now to work out differences between the two bills. I am confident we will be able to come back with a product in the form of a conference report which the Senate can support, which will continue to support the additional funding that is needed for this fiscal year for our troops in the field, for those who are deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world in the war on terror, and will meet the needs of our State Department through replenishment of accounts that have been depleted because of the disaster in the tsunami episode and for other needs the Senate and House have seen fit to include in this appropriations bill. As my first bill to manager on the floor of the Senate as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, I have to give great credit to the assistance I received personally from staff members here in the Senate, other Senators as well who are more experienced and who chaired important subcommittees in the past and this full committee, as a matter of fact. Specifically, I am thinking about Senator Byrd, the distinguished Senator from West Virginia, who has served as chairman of this committee and ranking member of the committee; Senator Stevens, who is chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee; Senator Inouye, who is the senior Democrat on that subcommittee, both of whom helped shape the content of this bill in areas under the jurisdiction of their subcommittee; and the staff director, Keith Kennedy, who is back from a leave of absence he had doing other things for the last several years but who, as a former staff director of this committee, provided strong leadership for our staff and gave me tremendous support which I needed to get this bill to this point. I am very grateful to him for his support and those who worked closely with him, like Terry Sauvain on the Democratic side; Sid Ashworth, who is the clerk of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, and her counterpart on the Democratic side, Charlie Houy; Paul Grove; Tim Rieser; Clayton Heil, who is counsel to the committee; and Chuck Kieffer, all of whom provided very important and appreciated support to me during the handling of this legislation.

Mr. COCHRAN. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. COCHRAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that amendment No. 487 be modified so as to appear on page 187 after line 18. This request only changes the placement of the amendment in the bill. It does not change the text of the amendment.

Mr. COCHRAN. I move to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed.

Mr. COCHRAN

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

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. I reserve the remainder of my time and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. COCHRAN. How much time remains under the order?

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

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. 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.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. 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. 342, As Modified

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I send to the desk another modification of an amendment in behalf of Senator DeWine, No. 342.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 20, 2005, at 2 p.m., in open session to receive testimony on the readiness of military units deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Ending Freedom in review of the defense authorization request for fiscal year 2006.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Science and Space be authorized to meet on Wednesday, April 20, 2005, at 10 a.m., on International Space Station Research Benefits.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on ``A Review of the Material Support to Terrorism Prohibition Improvements Act'' on Wednesday, April 20, 2005, at 2:30 p.m., in Dirksen 226. Witness List Wednesday, April 20, 2005, at 2:30 p.m., Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226. Mr. Barry Sabin, Chief of Counterterrorism Section, Criminal Division, Department of Justice; and Mr. Dan Meron, Deputy Assistance Attorney General, Civil Division, Department of Justice.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on April 20, 2005, at 2:30 p.m., to hold a briefing.