Carl Levin

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Madam President, reserving the right to object, I wonder if the Senator would just seek the right to--the Senator has a right to speak on another amendment without setting aside this amendment. So I ask that the Senator not set aside the pending amendment but just simply speak on whatever amendment he wishes to speak.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, let me just ask Senator Merkley a question, and then I think we can proceed from there. It is my understanding that the original language in this and related amendments had the dates 2012 and 2014 in them, and it could have been interpreted that the Senator was trying to press those dates forward rather than address--as I interpret the Senator's current amendment-- the pace of reductions after consultation with the people the Senator has identified. Am I correct?

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, unless there is someone else here who wants to speak, I yield the floor.

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

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I understand the Senator from New Hampshire----

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, while the Senator from Minnesota is here, let me add my voice of thanks and appreciation for what she continually is fighting for in the area of sexual assault. Her amendment makes great sense. We have cleared it on our side. We hope it gets cleared so that we can get this into a package--and we hope we can get a package that is adopted. But I want to just commend the Senator for her intrepid effort that is awe inspiring on behalf of people who need all of the fight and all of the protection that we can give them, those are people who have been assaulted sexually. I commend the Senator.

Mr. LEVIN. Before the amendment is adopted, I just wanted to indicate our support of the amendment. It is in a very significant area which has to do with our force structure in the Pacific. Senator McCain has been very active wanting to look at that because we have to look at it in depth. He has agreed that this study, which will be done in consultation with people who have knowledge, can be done independently and in a prompt way with an independent study. I think he has reached that conclusion. I think he is right. I believe Senator Webb, if he were here, would want to indicate his strong support because the three of us have worked together for this kind of an effort. With that, I would indicate my strong support. I yield the floor.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, we indeed have been making progress, No. 1. We made significant progress today both on the pending amendments that needed to be addressed by the full Senate, as well as a major package of amendments which has been cleared on both sides. There is another package of amendments to which there has been no-- they have been cleared, which means they are available to everybody, and there is no objection by anybody to the substance of those amendments. If there is any objection, then they are not going to be cleared. They would then have to be brought up to the whole body. Tomorrow we have a number of significant amendments to address, including the Feinstein amendments, the Menendez-Kirk amendment on Iran sanctions, just being a few of them. But there are a number of other ones as well. In a moment, what I am going to be asking for is unanimous consent that when we come in tomorrow the first amendment pending be my amendment, No. 1293, on high-speed ferries, which apparently will require a rollcall vote. So I just want to alert everybody that while we are preparing a unanimous consent agreement laying out what the order will be for tomorrow, what we will start with, that is our intention. I have talked already, of course, to Senator McCain about that. He is agreeable that we start with that amendment, No. 1293.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, the Sessions amendment, as modified, has been reviewed. I know it has cleared on this side. I am confident it has been cleared by both sides of the aisle. The amendment would require the Department of Defense to report to Congress on the findings and conclusions of the Department's Homeland Missile Defense Hedging Strategy Review, including a discussion of the feasibility and advisability of establishing a missile defense site on the east coast of the United States. The administration officials have committed to providing Congress with the results of its Hedging Strategy Review. This amendment would make it clear that the Department is required to do exactly that, and I just want to thank the Senator for his amendment, for modifying it, and I hope now we can adopt it.

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

Mr. LEVIN. Now I believe we have one other, Senator Inhofe's amendment, which now I think is agreeable on both sides. Amendment No. 1098, as Modified

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I thank Senator Inhofe for the modification of his amendment. It is agreeable on our side.

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

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I believe Senator Inhofe may wish to be recognized to talk about another amendment or a couple amendments that he has. We will not take any further action on those amendments now. I think we are perhaps, hopefully, ready soon to offer a unanimous consent on what I described a moment ago--how we will begin in the morning. We will wait for that to be prepared. I yield the floor.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I wonder if while the Senator from Oklahoma is here--we are trying to get a current list of amendments. Is it his intent to withdraw amendment No. 1101 on C-12 aircraft?

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Oklahoma for helping us to get our list of amendments whittled down to where we can hopefully have a manageable group for tomorrow. We are going to have a very busy day tomorrow. We have a lot of amendments to address and dispose of. It is doable because we have had the cooperation of Senators. It is our goal--we must finish this by 6 o'clock. Everybody has a right to a vote if their amendment is germane. We hope we will have a chance to debate all these amendments as well as vote on them. I believe we will be coming in at 9:30. That is the current plan, and we will be back on the bill at 11. We have to start off immediately. I hope we will vote on my amendment within a few minutes after it is offered. There will be some debate in opposition to my amendment, I understand. Hopefully, the Senators who oppose it will be notified tonight that my amendment is first up and we are going to be prepared to debate this at 11 o'clock. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate resumes consideration of S. 1867, the Defense authorization bill, tomorrow, December 1, 2011, the pending amendment be the Levin amendment No. 1293, relative to high-speed ferries.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

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

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, on November 30, 2011, at 10 a.m., in room SD-226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``A Balanced Budget Amendment: The Perils of Constitutionalizing the Budget Debate.''

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Special Committee on Aging be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 30, 2011, at 2 p.m., in room 562 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building to conduct a hearing entitled: ``Overprescribed: The Human and Taxpayers' Costs of Antipsychotics in Nursing Homes.''

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. I wonder if Senator Udall also heard that. I believe, and I think it is the intention of all of us, that we vote on this as soon as possible after 2:15. I yield the floor.

Mr. LEVIN

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

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, and I won't, I have two unanimous consent requests that will take just a couple of moments.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I call for the regular order with respect to amendment No. 1174.

Mr. LEVIN. Secondly, there are two colloquies between myself and Senator Sherrod Brown. At the end of these colloquies, in both cases, Senator Brown withdraws the amendments referred to in the colloquies, amendments Nos. 1260 and 1262. So I ask unanimous consent that those two amendments he then withdraws at the end of the colloquies in fact be withdrawn.