Carl Levin

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. No. 2, that determination shall not interfere with any interrogation which is undertaken by civilian or any other authorities; is that not correct? And, finally, on top of that, there is a waiver that is provided. We have all of that protection. So the statements that are made on this floor and in some of the press that somehow or other we are pushing everybody who is determined to be al-Qaida into the military detention system is not accurate because we have those three protections, the procedures for that decision as to whether someone is al-Qaida, our procedures, which the President is going to adopt; secondly, we only apply this to al-Qaida, not to everybody who might be captured; and, third, we have a waiver for triple protection to protect what the Senator rightly is sensitive to, and that is there be flexibility in the executive branch. All of us may say we want it done one way or another. We may presume it be done one way or another, we may wish that it be done one way, civilian or military. Some of us may have different opinions. That is not the point. That is not the issue. The issue is what does this bill provide. This bill provides a reasonable amount of flexibility and does not tell the President you must turn somebody who is suspected of being al-Qaida over to the civilians at any point or to the military at any point.

Mr. LEVIN. If this bill contained the provisions as described by our friend from California, I would vote against our bill.

Mr. LEVIN. Will the leader yield for a question?

Mr. LEVIN. I just have a question, if the Senator would yield, of the Senator from Illinois.

Mr. LEVIN. Is the Senator aware of the fact that section 1031 in the bill we adopted months ago in the committee had exactly the language that the Senator from Illinois thinks should be in this section 31, which would make an exception for U.S. citizens in lawful residence? That was in our bill. I am wondering if the Senator is aware that the administration asked us to strike that language from section 1031 so that the bill in front of us now does not have the very exception the Senator from Illinois would like to see in there.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, first, I ask unanimous consent to add Senators Akaka, Chambliss, Blumenthal, Inhofe, Gillibrand, Ben Nelson, Stabenow, and Mark Udall as cosponsors of amendment No. 1092, which is the pending Levin-McCain amendment on counterfeit parts.

Mr. LEVIN. Secondly, Mr. President, we are going to move now, I believe, to the conference report. But I do want to remind folks of what Senator McCain said; which is, we will be here tomorrow morning. We are here to try to clear amendments. We want to be able to give our colleagues as much opportunity as possible to debate and to clear amendments. But we have to move this bill. We are not going to be given a whole week after we come back to get this bill passed, hopefully.

Mr. LEVIN. No. Regular order.

Mr. LEVIN. The Levin-McCain amendment.

Mr. LEVIN

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

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, if I could, there are a number of Senators here who want to offer their amendments and make them pending tonight. That is fine with us. Then if they have speeches, I would suggest that they withhold speeches until everybody who has amendments here can offer them and set them aside so that we can allow people to leave and then have the speeches come, if there are speeches tonight, after anybody who wants to make their amendment pending has that opportunity. That is the process I would suggest, and Senator McCain is supportive of that process. So that is my suggestion: that the Chair recognize people as the Chair wishes, call up your amendment, set it aside, let the next person call up their amendment, set it aside, and if there are any speeches, that they come after everybody who is recognized to call up their amendment has that opportunity. Now, one other thing. This relates to what will happen, hopefully, tonight and tomorrow; that is, we are going to try to clear amendments, if we can, tonight and tomorrow. We will be here at 9 o'clock, and we are going to try to clear as many amendments as we can because we have to make progress on this bill. I just want to thank Senator McCain for all he is doing to help that process and help our leaders.

Mr. LEVIN. Are his two amendments cleared on your side? We have cleared one.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, on No. 1188, I believe this amendment has been cleared on both sides, and we could actually agree to it tonight, right now.

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

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

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask for the regular order on the Levin- McCain amendment.

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

Mr. LEVIN. I ask unanimous consent that on Thursday, November 17, 2011, Senator Bennet be authorized to sign duly enrolled bills or joint resolutions.

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

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. 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

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to Calendar No. 232, H.R. 1059.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 333 which was submitted earlier today by Senator Feinstein.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 17, 2011, at 9:30 a.m.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 17, 2011, at 10 a.m.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources by authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 17, 2011, at 9:30 a.m., in room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.