Daniel Inouye

Mr. INOUYE

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

Mr. INOUYE

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, yesterday, the Senate adopted several amendments to the Defense appropriations bill. It is my understanding that S. 1 requires that a Senator who offers any amendment is required to list the name of any Senator who submitted a request for each respective item in the Congressional Record. In compliance with this, I note that on amendment 3117, Senators Gregg, McConnell, Vitter, Corker, Kyl, Domenici, Chambliss, Cornyn, Sununu, McCain, Specter, and Isakson cosponsored the amendment regarding funding for border security. On amendment 3129, Senator Mikulski cosponsored the amendment regarding the Troops for Nurses program. On amendment 3131, Senator Levin submitted a request for the Virtual Systems Integrated Laboratory. On amendment 3135, as modified, Senator Kerry submitted a request for High Temperature Superconductor Motors. On amendment 3141, Senators Nelson of Florida, Kyl, Lieberman, Vitter, Inhofe, Nelson of Nebraska, Pryor, Lautenberg, Bayh, Lincoln, and Webb cosponsored the amendment regarding the Aegis Ballistic Missile System. On amendment 3152, Senators Brown, Specter, Warner, and Webb submitted requests for the Minuteman Digitization Demonstration Program. On amendment 3153, as modified, Senator Mikulski cosponsored the amendment, and Senators Dodd, Kerry, Lieberman, Lautenberg, and Menendez submitted requests for the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System. On amendment 3163, Senators Grassley and Durbin submitted requests for the Molecular Sieve Oxygen Generation Systems for F-15 aircraft. On amendment 3167, Senator Nelson of Florida cosponsored the amendment regarding MARK V replacement research. On amendment 3192, Senators Domenici, Dole, Ensign, and Kyl cosponsored the amendment regarding Operation Jump Start. On amendment 3204, Senator Gregg submitted a request for Side Scan Sonar for USV and Harbor Surveillance Applications.

Mr. INOUYE

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment be set aside for future consideration.

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I wish to speak on amendment No. 3214. This amendment would establish a commission to investigate the circumstances surrounding the relocation, internment, and deportation of Latin Americans of Japanese descent from December 1941 to February 1948. The story of the internment of U.S. citizens is a story that has been made well known after a fact-finding study by a commission authorized by Congress in 1980. However, far less known is the story of Latin Americans of Japanese descent. Toward the end of its investigation, the 1980 commission discovered this extraordinary effort by the U.S. Government soon after December 7, 1941. However, because information surfaced so late in its study, the commission was unable to fully review the facts but found them significant enough to include in the appendix of its published report to the Congress. It appears that soon after December 7, 1941, the Government of the United States called upon certain governments in Latin America and requested that certain Japanese be sent to the United States to be used for prisoner exchange programs. Approximately 2,300 civilian men, women, and children--who had committed no crime--were taken from their homes in Latin America. They were stripped of their passports, brought to the United States, and interned on American soil. Some were taken from this camp and used for civilian exchange with Axis countries. You can imagine the anxiety and the fear in the hearts and minds of these men, women, and children not knowing where they were headed for and for what purpose. Despite their personal tragedies, these Japanese Latin Americans were not included in the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 because this program appears to have been executed outside of Executive Order 9066, and the internees were not citizens of the United States. Under this amendment, nine commission members--three appointed by the President, three appointed by the Speaker of the House, and three appointed by the President pro tempore of the Senate--would have a year to report their findings to Congress. This amendment does not authorize any payment for restitution and would not affect direct spending or revenues. It was reported out of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Authorizing Committee and was approved by the Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Subcommittee to attach to the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill. Today I seek your support for this amendment, which would establish a fact-finding commission to extend the study of the 1980 commission. I believe examining the extraordinary program of interning citizens from Latin America in the United States would give finality to, and complete the account of, Federal actions to detain and intern civilians of Japanese ancestry. As a footnote, when the war was over, and these internees were released from their camps, they were persons without a country. They were soon arrested for not having a permit or passport to be in the United States. So they were scheduled for deportation to their supposed home, and these Latin American countries said: Oh, no, we are not responsible. We are not taking them. So there they were not knowing where to go. This is the subject of my amendment. I think the United States would like to have this clarified. It is a blight on our record. I am certain my colleagues will go along with this. I thank you very much. I yield the floor.

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

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

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to call up my amendment No. 3214, the Latin American internees bill, and I ask that it be the pending business.

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

Mr. INOUYE

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

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

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, what time do I have?

Mr. INOUYE. Madam President, the debate suggests very strongly that there is much uncertainty in this amendment. Therefore, I move to table the amendment.

Mr. INOUYE

Mr. INOUYE. What is the pending business, Mr. President?

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, with the approval of Senator Allard, I ask unanimous consent that amendment No. 3146 be withdrawn.

Mr. INOUYE. Madam President, I thank the Senator from Alabama for his generous remarks. I thank him very much. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. INOUYE. I thank the Senator. As the Senator surely knows, we fully funded the Patriot pure fleet effort, one of the Army's top priorities in the past 2 years. We will certainly consider the additional information provided as we conference the bill. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Mr. INOUYE. I thank the Senator from Indiana for raising this important issue and agree with my good friend that improving our intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities is a critical issue for our military today.

Mr. INOUYE. I can assure the junior Member from Indiana that my committee will examine this program carefully and give this request all due consideration as the committee reviews the supplemental appropriations bill. I thank my colleague for his concern and leadership on this important issue.

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

Mr. INOUYE. My colleague from Michigan raises some important points. Reducing fuel consumption in the field is an urgent need of our military. It will not only reduce costs but also reduce the risk to our troops because fewer fuel deliveries will need to be made to dangerous areas. I also agree that future combat systems, and especially the new robotics technologies it will bring, are critically important to our troops. These technologies will continue to play an important role in the transition of our military to a more mobile, lethal, and effective force. I commit to my colleague from Michigan that the committee will reevaluate the cuts he has highlighted when the bill goes to conference with the House.

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

Mr. INOUYE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that no further amendments be in order and that the bill be read a third time.

Mr. INOUYE

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, October 3, 2007, at 2:30 p.m. in order to hold a hearing on Burma.