Daniel Inouye

Mr. INOUYE

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, much as I would prefer to have amity and comity on this floor and be able to accommodate the concerns of my dear friend from Virginia, I must say that I fully agree with my chairman, Mr. Stevens of Alaska. This procedure will set a terrible precedent, one that we will regret in the years to come. If you look at it very carefully, it will take away some of the rights of people with minority views. So I would hope that another step be taken--I do not know what it is--where we can resolve this matter. I would hope the leadership of the Senate realizes the seriousness of what we are confronting at this moment. It affects the future of this land, and I am not being dramatic. Thank you, Mr. President.

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, like all proud Americans, I share my colleague's concern for the safety and well being of our troops. IED attacks are a very real threat to our troops and it is our responsibility as Members of Congress to help protect our brave men and women fighting overseas. I will work in conference to ensure that we can maintain the Senate's funding level to purchase CROWS for our troops.

Mr. INOUYE. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 1895

Mr. INOUYE. I thank the Chair. Amendment No. 2016

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I ask that the pending amendment be set aside.

Mr. INOUYE. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. amendment no. 1979

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

Mr. INOUYE. No objection.

Mr. INOUYE. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 1889

Mr. INOUYE. We support it.

Mr. INOUYE. No objection.

Mr. INOUYE. No objection.

Mr. INOUYE. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 2017

Mr. INOUYE. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 1925

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

Mr. INOUYE. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendments Nos. 1989, as Modified; 1911, as Modified; 2027, as Modified; 2010; 1947, as Modified; 2030, as Modified, and 2012, En Bloc

Mr. INOUYE. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendments Nos. 1991, as Modified; 1964, as Modified; 1948; 2029, as Modified; 1927, as Modified, En Bloc

Mr. INOUYE

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a legislative fellow, Mike Powers, on the staff of Senator Dayton, be granted the privilege of the floor during the consideration of the Defense appropriations bill.

Mr. INOUYE

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

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, on amendment No. 1903 to H.R. 2863, submitted by the Senator from Colorado, Mr. Salazar, on behalf of the chairman of the committee, Mr. Stevens, and the ranking member, we are ready to accept it. I urge its approval.

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

Mr. INOUYE

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Susan Ball be granted the privilege of the floor during consideration of the Defense appropriations bill.

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that privilege of the floor be granted to Jonathan Epstein, a legislative fellow in the office of Senator Bingaman, during consideration of this H.R. 2863 appropriations for the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2006 and any votes thereupon.

Mr. INOUYE

Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I rise today to offer my strong endorsement of H.R. 2863, the fiscal year 2006 Defense appropriations bill. As the chairman noted, this bill was unanimously approved by the Appropriations Committee. It is a bipartisan bill which was crafted by Chairman Stevens with the full involvement of the minority. In compliance with the committee allocations, this bill is $7 billion lower than the amount requested by the administration. As such, the committee had to make several difficult decisions to meet the reduced level. Even under these conditions, I can assure my colleagues that this is a very good bill which will meet our national security needs for the coming year. The top priority of this measure is to ensure that we provide for the well-being of our men and women in uniform and their families. The bill includes a 3.1-percent pay raise, and it provides $19.3 billion to run our military hospitals and pay for the other day-to-day health care costs for our forces. Not counting the costs of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, this measure includes nearly $125 billion to safeguard military readiness and pay for other routine operations of the Department of Defense. As most of my colleagues are surely aware, recruiting has become a greater challenge in recent years. So I am pleased to note that this bill includes $622 million above the budgeted amount to improve recruiting tools so that we can maintain the highest quality in our military. Furthermore, a total of $146 billion is recommended in this bill for investing in much needed equipment for our forces today and our forces of the future. We all know that the war in Iraq is controversial, on which many of our colleagues have very strong opinions. But I believe what we all agree upon is the need to support our troops who are now serving in harm's way. To that end, the bill provides an additional $50 billion for pay, operations, and equipment to support our fighting forces overseas. These funds are essential to support these brave men and women. Today is September 29. The fiscal year ends tomorrow. It is imperative that we move this bill as quickly as possible. After Senate passage, the committee will still need to take this bill into conference. Because of that, I would urge my colleagues not to offer amendments to this bill which might be better suited for other legislation except to meet truly emergency requirements. I believe there will be plenty of time in the coming months to consider issues which are not relevant to this defense spending measure. This is a good bill. I strongly support it and urge all of my colleagues to do so as well.

Mr. INOUYE

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