Tom Daschle

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I yield time to the distinguished Senator from Arkansas for the purpose of offering another amendment.

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

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, it is sadly ironic that at the same time we are asking our young people to fight a war for our security, Republicans are passing a budget that will force those same young people to pay the bill for the reckless fiscal policies of this administration and the Republican Congress. Democrats are proud that we were able to make an irresponsible budget a little less irresponsible. But by showering the most privileged among us with hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks and running up more than a trillion dollars in debt, this amended budget still poses a serious threat to the long-term economic well-being of the Nation. Month after month, more American families are suffering from the failure of this administration's irresponsible economic strategy. With the economy hemorrhaging jobs from every sector, an increasing number of Americans are losing faith that they will ever find a job. With this budget, Republicans have turned their backs on the problems of American families. Instead of offering new ideas and fresh solutions, the administration continues to push a tired ideology that has turned our economy into a job-destroying machine. This budget will hang more than a trillion dollars of debt around the necks of our children and grandchildren. They will be paying for this mistake for decades to come. The President's own chief economist, in his academic writings, agrees that the chronic deficits perpetuated by this budget will raise interest rates and cut off economic growth for the future. And though all Americans' thoughts are with our armed forces today, I would ask that they take a moment to ask, why is this Republican Congress saddling our children with record-breaking deficits and massive debt? It's not to fund the war or the rebuilding of Iraq that will follow. It is not to honor our men and women in uniform. Republicans voted against funding for health care for reservists. It is not to strengthen our homeland defense. Republicans continue to shortchange the police and firefighters who need our help to prevent or respond to a terrorist attack in their own communities, and continue to oppose funding to better secure our borders, ports, and vulnerable infrastructure. It is not to get our economy moving again. Like the President's budget, the Republican resolution before us contains very little to stimulate the economy now. This budget is not about meeting the challenges of the moment or the future. Its focus is on more new tax breaks for the very wealthy at the expense of everyone else. At the expense of deep cuts in domestic priorities. At the expense of record deficits that will be imposed on our children and grandchildren. Democrats have been able to restore a small measure of sanity to this budget. And we are going to keep fighting to make sure that government's resources are used responsibly to meet the fundamental needs of our country. We are going to keep fighting to get our economy moving today with a broad-based tax cut that stimulates job creation; to fund homeland security; to provide a real Medicare prescription drug benefit, and to honor our commitment to our students and teachers. This is not a time to shrink from our responsibilities to one another. We need to meet the test of this demanding moment in our history. This Congress should be producing a fiscally responsible budget that reflects the very best of our Nation, the spirit that our soldiers exemplify, the spirit of honor, community and duty in the service of a better future for us all.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I am sure everyone can appreciate the difficulty that our Senator from South Dakota has experienced in coming to the floor to talk, as he has with pride and enormous appreciation, of the commitment made by a member of his own family. On a regular basis, we want to come to the Chamber with our Republican colleagues and call attention to all those who, like Brooks Johnson, are now serving in the Persian Gulf. I thank the distinguished Senator from Arkansas for agreeing to help organize today's colloquy and reiterate my deep gratitude to my dear friend and colleague, Senator Johnson. We thought it would be appropriate today, as we begin this practice, to call the Senate's attention to the fact that Senator Johnson is the only Member of this Congress who has a child serving in Iraq. As he has noted, Brooks, his son, is a staff sergeant with the Army's 101st Airborne Division. He is 31 years old. I know him, and I can see why his parents are as proud of him as they are. He is remarkable. He has turned down offers to attend recruiter's school because he said he wants to be close to the men he leads. He is 6'1", 215 pounds, almost all shoulders and biceps. He loves the rough-and-tumble of the outdoors. But he also enjoys gourmet cooking and Broadway musicals. He is a very thoughtful man, an eloquent speaker. He loves to read the classics. When he was serving in Afghanistan, he was reading the history of the Peloponnesian wars. He has known since he was a very young man that he wanted to serve and protect our country. He missed his own high school graduation because he was attending Marine Corps Reserves basic training at Parris Island. He went to college at the University of South Dakota, and during college, Brooks served first in the Marine Corps Reserve, then the Army Reserve, then the Army National Guard. The reason he served in so many branches is that he was looking for a unit that was close to college. He wanted to be able to learn and to serve at the same time. When he decided to make a life of the military, he chose the Army. He has now been on active duty for 8 years. This is Staff Sergeant Johnson's fourth war in 5 years. He served in Bosnia. He served in Kosovo. He arrived in Afghanistan in December of 2001, 2 months after the terrorist attack on America. He served in Afghanistan for 6 months. Like so many family members who have loved ones in this war, Tim and Barb aren't exactly sure where Brooks is detailed, but they do know his division has been moved into Iraq. The other day, Tim came to the floor and he shared something with me. I hope he doesn't mind if I share it with our colleagues. Brooks sent him a postcard, but this isn't a normal postcard. This is a postcard carved out of the box of an MRE, one of these portable meals that they take with them. I have eaten them myself. They are a box about like this. Well, Brooks carved out one side of an MRE, brown, cardboard box. On one side of that postcard box he wrote a message to his parents. On the other side was the address to his parents and his return address. Up in the right-hand corner, instead of a postage stamp, it said ``free.'' There are a lot of connotations to the word ``free'' on that postcard. So we think of Brooks and the freedom he fights for, the freedom he has, and all the things that we cherish as Americans, recognizing that Brooks Johnson learned those values from two extraordinary parents. A quarter of a million Americans and several thousand South Dakotans today serve in the Persian Gulf. We are in awe of their courage. Their dedication. Their sacrifice. We are grateful to every one of them and their families. We are resolved to ensure they have everything they need so they can be successful and return home safely. I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I commend the distinguished Senator from New York for his eloquence and his empathy for the family especially of our departed colleague, Pat Moynihan. The Senator from New York used the term ``giant,'' and, indeed, in this case, I can think of no better word to describe the man, the magnitude, the depth, the history, the persona of Pat Moynihan. ``The Almanac of American Politics'' called Pat Moynihan the Nation's best thinker among politicians since Lincoln and its best politician among thinkers since Jefferson. Scholar, educator, statesman, adviser to four Presidents--Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford--Pat Moynihan was the only person in American history to serve in a Cabinet or sub-Cabinet position in four successive administrations. As my colleagues have noted, he represented the State of New York for 24 years in the Senate with unique vision, imagination, intelligence, and integrity. In many respects, Pat Moynihan was larger than life, whether on the streets of New York or in the corridors of this Capitol. He was a beloved father, grandfather, friend, and colleague to so many of us. I, too, extend my condolences on behalf of the entire Senate to his wife Liz, to his children, Tim, Maura, and John, his grandchildren, Zora and Michael Patrick. New York and the Nation have lost a giant. I yield the floor.

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I just had a conversation with the distinguished manager of the bill. We are now prepared to go through the list of amendments. Amendment No. 324 Under the agreement, I call up our first amendment, amendment No. 324.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 361.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, Native Americans and Alaskan Natives have a guarantee under law and treaty that we provide health benefits to them and to their families. They are not getting it today. In fact, we are falling dramatically short of the budget required to buy them the services that they must now have. In fact, we are so short that we are now under a life or limb test. Unless your life is threatened, unless you may chance the loss of a limb, you are deferred treatment in most Indian health care facilities today. This amendment would simply provide clinical services funding for any current users--not for anybody who is currently ineligible, but only for those who are eligible today. We must provide this health care under the law. This amendment would do it.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I have great admiration for the Senator from Colorado. There is no one who is more sensitive to many of these issues than is he. He has led us well in the Indian Affairs Committee. This amendment still leaves us over $2.6 billion short in providing health care services. Under the life and limb test: Your life has to be threatened or you are going to lose a limb to even walk in the front door. We are going to be $2.6 billion below that level right now if this amendment passes. That is No. 1. No. 2, this 10 percent is taken out of other Indian Health programs, other Indian education programs and other priorities. So we are really taking----

Mr. DASCHLE. One dollar out of one pocket and putting it in the pocket of the other side, and we are not accommodating the real need or real commitment in health care that is so desperately needed right now.

Mr. DASCHLE

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

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, through treaties and Federal statute, the Federal Government has promised to provide health care to American Indians and Alaska Natives. Sadly, we haven't come close to honoring that commitment. Tomorrow, I intend to offer an amendment to the budget resolution to rectify this situation. The IHS is the only source of health care for many Indians, and is required to provide that help and that support, yet funding has never been adequate. The chronic underfunding has grown even worse in recent years, as appropriations have failed to keep up with the steep rise in private health care spending. While per capita health care spending for the general U.S. population is about $4,400, the Indian Health Service spends only about $1,800 per person on individual health care services. The Government also spends considerably less on health care for Indians that it spends for Medicare beneficiaries, Medicaid recipients, and veterans. This level of funding is woefully inadequate to meet the health care needs of Native Americans--who have a lower life expectancy than other Americans, and disproportionately suffer from a number of serious medical problems. Indians have higher rates of diabetes, heart disease, sudden infant death syndrome, and tuberculosis. There is also a great need for substance abuse and mental health services. More funds are needed at the IHS to provide necessary health care services to Indians. The current shortage of funds has startling and disturbing results. Native Americans are often denied care that most of us would take for granted and, in many cases, consider essential. They can be required to endure long waits before seeing a doctor and may be unable to obtain a referral to see a specialist. As incredible as this may seem, many Indians and Alaska Natives seeking health care are subject to a literal ``life or limb'' test; that is unless their life is threatened or they risk losing a limb, their care is postponed. Others receive no care at all. This rationing of care means that all too often Indians are forced to wait until their medical conditions become more serious--and more difficult and costly to treat--before they may have access to health care. This is a situation none of us would find acceptable. Yet today this is the reality in Indian country. Last year, Gregg Bourland and Harold Frazier, then the chairman and vice chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, sent a letter to the IHS. This is how they describe the situation in Eagle Butte, SD: In January and February 2002, the Eagle Butte Service Unit on the Cheyenne River Sioux reservation has been swamped with children with Influenza A, RSV [Respiratory Syntactical Virus], and one fatal case of meningitis. There are only three doctors on duty, one Physician Assistant, and one Nurse Practitioner. The only pediatrician is the Clinical Director who will not see any patients, even though there is a serious need for the services of a pediatrician. Several of these children have presented with breathing problems, high fever, and severe vomiting. The average waiting time at the clinic has been four and six hours. The average time at the emergency room is similar. Most babies have been sent home without any testing to determine what they have and with nothing but cough syrup and Tylenol. In at least three cases, the baby was sent home after these long waits two or more times with cough syrup, only to be life- flighted soon thereafter because the child could not breathe. The children were all diagnosed by the non-IHS hospital with RSV [Respiratory Syntactical Virus]. No babies have died yet, but the Tribe sees no justification for waiting until this happens when these viruses are completely diagnosable and treatable. It is absolutely unacceptable to put the lives of these children at risk. And we can do something to help. On more than one occasion, I have heard horror stories of pregnant mothers delivering children in circumstances that no expectant mother or child should have to endure. For example, right now the service unit at Eagle Butte in South Dakota does not have an obstetrician. The Eagle Butte service unit is funded at 44 percent of the need calculated by the Indian Health Service. The facility has a birthing room and 22 beds, but there are only two to three doctors to staff the clinic, hospital and emergency room. Naturally, as a result, many children and expectant mothers do not receive the care they need and deserve. Due to budget constraints, the IHS policy is to allow only one ultrasound per pregnancy. The visiting obstetrician is available only every couple of weeks. The story of Brayden Robert Thompson points out how dangerous this situation is. On March 3, 2002, Brayden's mother was in labor with a full-term, perfectly healthy baby. Brayden's umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, but, without ultrasound, that went undetected. The available medical staff didn't know what to do about his lowered heartbeat, abnormal urinalysis or the fact that his mother was not feeling well. Despite the symptoms, IHS refused to provide an ultrasound or to send her to Pierre to see an obstetrician. Bryden was stillborn. This tragic death was completely preventable, but tough choices are being made every day at IHS facilities throughout the country because there simply isn't enough money to provide the care that every American deserves. The Pine Ridge Indian reservation in my State of South Dakota built a beautiful new hospital and health care center. In many ways, they are equipped to provide state-of-the-art, coordinated care. But they cannot retain healthcare professionals because of low payment schedules and inadequate training opportunities for local people. Their shiny new labor and delivery rooms, surgery rooms and even dental chairs stand empty, and individuals on the reservation are forced to travel long distances to receive these vital services. This also is the case on the neighboring Rosebud Indian reservation. But this is not solely an Indian issue. It affects surrounding rural community hospitals, ambulance services, and other health care providers who work with IHS. For example, the Lake Andes-Wagner ambulance district in northeastern South Dakota is facing financial disaster, in part because they have not been reimbursed properly by the Indian Health Service. This ambulance service offers emergency transport for citizens of Charles Mix County and Yankton Sioux tribal members, since the Wagner IHS hospital cannot afford to operate its own service. If this ambulance service shuts down, what will these residents--Indian and non-Indian--do when they face an emergency? Bennett County Hospital in the southwestern part of South Dakota is located between the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Indian reservations, and suffers similar IHS reimbursement problems, as do other non-IHS providers in South Dakota and throughout rural America. From 1998 to 2001, the most recent year for which IHS has data, IHS contract denials have increased 75 percent. In his budget request for the next fiscal year, the President requested only $1.99 billion for clinical services for Indians. This represents only a small increase over what the President requested for fiscal year 2003, and virtually no increase over what was finally included in the omnibus appropriations bill. We can and must do better. The amendment I am proposing would increase funding for clinical services by $2.9 billion over the President's request for fiscal year 2004. It is the minimal amount that is necessary to provide basic health care to the current IHS user population. The full cost over the next 10 years would be $38.7 billion. The amendment also devotes an equal amount to deficit reduction, all offset by a corresponding decrease in the top tax rate reduction. The amendment is cosponsored by Senators Inouye, Bingaman, Dorgan, Murray, Wyden, Johnson, Leahy, Cantwell, Reid, Kennedy, and Lieberman. It is also supported by a wide range of health organizations, native and non-native. This budget resolution is a test of this Nation's priorities. Some will say that it doesn't matter, that it is purely symbolic. But the whole point of the budget resolution is to establish an enforceable fiscal framework and make room in our budget for needs that we believe are worthy or our national attention. I know there are some in this body who honestly believe that it is more important to accelerate huge tax cuts for our Nation's wealthiest citizens than to provide Native Americans the health care they have been promised but denied. Some defend that position by saying that someday, somehow, these Native Americans will benefit from the tax cuts extended to others, that the benefit will ``trickle down'' to them as well. It is their right to take that position, but they could not be more wrong. A woman going into labor cannot wait for economic benefits to trickle down to her. A child in respiratory distress cannot wait either. How is it possible that we can afford to delve deeper into debt to fund additional tax cuts for those doing relatively well in this country, but we cannot afford to dedicate a small fraction of that amount to fund the most basic health care services for some of the poorest people in America, today? We must not tolerate this situation. The problem is real; the solution is simple. Give the Indian Health Service the funds it needs to provide Native Americans the health benefits they were promised. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, we have been in discussions for the last hour or so. I am calling a caucus for 6:45 to discuss our current situation and a series of ideas that might allow us to bring this debate to closure. I do not want to discuss it here and now, but I hope Senators will attend at 6:45 and we will have more information at that time.

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

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, the caucus, for the information of our Democratic Senators, will be in the LBJ Room, our normal caucus room. I have something else, though, that I want to share with my colleagues. Congratulating Senator Paul Sarbanes on Casting his 10,000th Vote

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, at 3:45 this afternoon, our friend and colleague, Paul Sarbanes, joined what is truly one of the most exclusive clubs in the world. He cast his 10,000th vote as a United States Senator. Of the 1,875 people ever to serve in the Senate, only 20 others have ever reached this remarkable milestone. Remarkably, eight of the 21 ``10,000 vote'' Senators are serving in this Senate. In addition to Senator Sarbanes, they include our friends Joe Biden, Senator Byrd, Pete Domenici, Fritz Hollings, Dan Inouye, Ted Kennedy and Ted Stevens. I'm proud to note that, at least in this very distinguished caucus, Democrats still have a majority. Reaching this historic milestone is just the latest remarkable accomplishment in what has been, by anyone's standards, a remarkable American success story. Paul Sarbanes is the proud son of Greek immigrants. His parents, Spyros and Matina Sarbanes, emigrated from the same town in Greece, but met in America. The Sarbanes family owned a restaurant in Salisbury, MD. They gave it a quintessentially American name: The Mayflower Restaurant. Paul worked in the restaurant, and he and his family lived above it. He graduated from a public high school and won a scholarship to Princeton University. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. After Oxford, he came home and, in 1960, earned a law degree from Harvard. From Harvard, Paul Sarbanes went to the White House, one of the ``best and brightest'' who answered President Kennedy's call to public service. He worked as Administrative Assistant to Water Heller, chairman of President Kennedy's Council of Economic Advisors. He won his first elected office in 1966, to the Maryland House of Delegates, where he served for 4 years. In 1970, the people of Maryland elected him to the House of Representatives. In 1976, he won his first election to the United States Senate. In November 2000, he won his fifth election to the Senate, making him the longest-serving Senator in Maryland's history. It's been said that there are two kinds of Senators: those who are here to make headlines and those who are here to make history. Paul Sarbanes is one of the history makers. He is one of the most modest men I know. He is also one of the most intelligent. He was a voice of reason on both the Whitewater and Iran-Contra committees. It was his leadership and his refusal to accept defeat--more than anything--that enabled us, in the last Congress, to pass the most far-reaching corporate accountability reforms since the Securities and Exchange Commission was created 70 years ago. The Sarbanes-Oxley reforms will help prevent the kinds of corporate abuses that have so damaged our economy and shaken people's faith in the economic markets these last few years. They will protect people's investments, and their economic futures. I learned a Greek word from Paul Sarbanes: ``idiotes.'' It is the Greek root for the English word ``idiot.'' But it has a different meaning in Greek. It means ``someone who takes no part in the affairs of his community.'' In the Sarbanes family, it was almost a curse. Paul Sarbanes' parents taught him that serving one's nation is a noble calling. I know they would be proud of him. So are we. I congratulate my friend on casting his 10,000th vote in the Senate--and on his long and exemplary career. I look forward to seeing him cast a few thousand more votes. Mr. President, I yield the floor and congratulate our colleague. (Applause, Senators rising.)

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, while our thoughts are with our troops, the business of Congress continues. And we need to approach our challenges at home with the same resolve and the same seriousness of purpose with which our sons and daughters are confronting the threat abroad. It is sadly ironic that at the very time when our service men and women are inspiring us with their courage in the face of danger, this budget runs and hides from one challenge after another while showering $1.4 trillion in tax breaks primarily to the most prosperous among us. Month after month, more American families are suffering from the failure of this administration's irresponsible economic strategy. With the economy hemorrhaging jobs from every sector, an increasing number of Americans are losing faith that they will ever find a job. But with this budget, Republicans have turned their backs on the problems of American families. Instead of offering new ideas and new solutions, the administration continues to push a tired ideology that has turned our economy into a job-destroying machine. This budget will hang some $1.5 trillion of debt around the necks of our children. They will be paying for this mistake for decades to come. The President's own economists agree that these chronic deficits will raise interest rates, hold back our economy today, and rob opportunity from even more Americans. And though all Americans' thoughts are with our Armed Forces today, I would ask that they take a moment to ask, why is this Republican Congress saddling our children with record-breaking deficits and massive debt? It is not to fund the war or the rebuilding of Iraq that will follow. It is not to protect our homeland. Republicans continue to shortchange the police and firefighters who need our help to prevent or respond to a terrorist attack in their own communities, and continue to oppose funding to better secure our borders, ports, and vulnerable infrastructure. It is not to get our economy moving again. Like the President's budget, the Republican resolution before us contains very little to immediately stimulate the economy. It is not to provide all of our seniors with a real Medicare prescription drug plan or strengthen Social Security for the coming generation of retirees. This plan starves Medicare and raids the Social Security surplus. It is not to come to the aid of States and local governments that are suffering the worst fiscal crisis in 50 years. This budget will place an even greater burden on our States. And it is not to build world-class schools so our children have the tools and skills they need to make the most of their own lives. While some schools around our country will be forced to shut their doors early this year due to budget cuts, the President's plan falls $10 billion short of his own promise to education. This budget is not about meeting the challenges of the moment or the future. This budget is about one thing, and one thing only. More new tax breaks for the very wealthy at the expense of everyone else. At the expense of deep cuts in domestic priorities. At the expense of record deficits that will be imposed on our children and grandchildren. Any other year, this budget would be seen as mean-spirited and divisive. Today it is shameful. Across the globe, on display for all the world to see, young men and women are risking their lives to secure the lives and liberty of others. And yet here in this Capitol, on display for the world to see, a Republican Congress is taking money out of the pockets of our own children. It is choosing not to provide the necessary resources to make our homeland more secure. It is choosing not to give States any help to deal with their mounting fiscal crisis. It is choosing not to keep its commitments on education. It is choosing not to provide needed health care and prescription drug coverage to our most ill and vulnerable. With all those challenges and needs, this Congress instead is choosing to give hundreds of billions in new tax breaks to the wealthiest among us. Democrats are going to keep fighting to fund homeland security, provide a real Medicare prescription drug benefit; honor our commitment to our students and teachers; restore funding to make up for Republican cuts to national defense and veterans programs, and offer relief to our States and local governments. This is not a time to shrink from our responsibilities to one another. We need to meet the test of this demanding moment in our history. This Congress should be producing a budget that reflects the very best of our Nation, the spirit that our soldiers exemplify the spirit of honor, sacrifice, and duty in the service of a better future for us all.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I want to thank all of our colleagues, especially colleagues on my side of the aisle who have a great deal of skepticism, I would say, about this particular proposal. I think it is equally clear that there is skepticism on both sides. We have been through a good deal of debate over the last several days. I think we have made progress. This will accommodate adequate progress on both sides. I will say, as the majority leader and I have discussed on a few occasions, that this agreement requires a good deal of trust on both sides. We are trusting our Republican colleagues to work with us to accommodate the consideration of 40 amendments. They are trusting us that we will share with them those amendments, that we will be able to work through them, that they will have an opportunity to review them, and that we will complete our work at 4 o'clock. So it does require cooperation and a level of trust that I hope will set a standard and example for other action we take later on. So I hope that our colleagues will continue to cooperate in the course of the next couple of days. I have designated the ranking member of the Budget Committee and our extraordinary assistant Democratic leader. They have been tasked with the responsibility of determining these 40 amendments. So we will work over the weekend and we will, as this agreement requires, provide those amendments on Monday. I appreciate very much the cooperation and the trust of the distinguished majority leader and the chairman of the Budget Committee. This certainly is the best way to accommodate the needs of both of our caucuses. I congratulate my colleagues for doing so.

Mr. DASCHLE. No; we tried that, Mr. President.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, let me simply add that it is our hope we can have a vote at about the time that the votes have been called this afternoon. We have a cluster of votes on the budget resolution that will be voted upon at around 4 o'clock. My hope would be that we could have a vote on this resolution as we have those votes as well, providing an opportunity for Senators on both sides. I assume time will be controlled by Senators Warner and Levin or their designees and that we will alternate back and forth until that time. Senators, then, would have the opportunity to continue to express themselves after these votes, either on the resolution supporting our troops or in support of amendments that will be offered during the vote-athon beginning tomorrow. I think this is as reasonable and as prudent a way possible with which to address the challenges that we face as we close out this week. We have worked in good faith on both sides in drafting a resolution that I hope will enjoy unanimous support within the Senate. I think it deserves that depth and breadth of support. I am proud to be a cosponsor. I think if we can accommodate the need to address the resolution, as the distinguished majority leader has suggested, if everybody keeps their remarks relatively brief, we will have ample time as the days unfold to come back and express ourselves again. I hope to set the example. With that, I am going to yield the floor.