Carl Levin

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, it should be crystal clear to all of us why the health insurance industry opposes reform so strenuously: because the status quo is so profitable. As my colleagues have pointed out, the massive profit announced this week by Humana, Inc. illustrates this vividly. Humana's third-quarter profit of $301 million was a 65-percent increase over the same period a year ago. And Humana executives made no secret of the reason for this ballooning profit. The company's president and CEO said, ``Our government segment continued to perform well in the third quarter particularly in our Medicare business.'' It is no coincidence that Humana is one of the biggest providers of Medicare Advantage plans. These plans, in which private insurers contract with the government to provide coverage to Medicare beneficiaries, were supposed to unleash the power of private-sector competition, lowering costs, improving service, and increasing benefits to our seniors. It has not often worked out that way. While some Medicare Advantage plans have performed well, Medicare pays, on average, 14 percent more for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries than for those in traditional Medicare, and despite this increase in payments to Medicare Advantage plans, the Government Accountability Office has found that seniors often face higher out-of-pocket costs in Medicare Advantage plans. In fact, when the GAO studied the costs and performance of these plans, it found that in 2005, those plans spent significantly less for health care for seniors than they projected to pay. That lower spending on medical care for seniors led directly to windfall profits, $1.1 billion more in profits than the insurance companies had told the government they expected to earn. That $1.1 billion is taxpayer money that should be providing treatment to our seniors, and instead is boosting insurance company profits. Indeed, health insurance companies need no taxpayer help in reaping big profits. From 2002 to 2006, profits at publicly traded insurance providers increased more than tenfold. At the same time these companies are making massive profits, working Americans and their employers have endured year after year of much higher premiums, reduced benefits, and denials of treatment. Our citizens need a sensible health care system. We can not afford a system in which our people are denied treatment because their benefits are capped. We can not afford a system in which they are denied coverage because they have a preexisting condition. Our Nation can not afford a system in which the loss of a job means the loss of coverage and debilitating health costs. Our Nation can not afford a system in which even those with jobs and insurance face rapidly increasing premiums and out-of-pocket costs. Our nation certainly can not afford a system in which our tax dollars boost the ever-higher profits at insurance companies, or in which premiums and out-of-pocket costs constantly go up, while coverage constantly shrinks or disappears entirely. The Senate needs to put the interests of the American people ahead of the interests of insurers. We need to take up a health reform plan that makes comprehensive, affordable health coverage available to every American, and helps keep insurance companies honest. I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I will vote to approve this conference agreement and continuing appropriation resolution to provide over $32 billion for a variety of important environmental, forest and land, national parks and infrastructure purposes; as well as to extend funding for other Federal programs through December 18. I am pleased this bill includes the full $475 million for Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, GLRI, as requested in the President's budget. The GLRI is a multi-agency effort to address the array of current and historic threats facing the Great Lakes, such as invasive species, habitat loss, and pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency has prepared a spending plan for this money based on years of research and cooperative work with other Federal, State, tribal, and local partners, and the EPA will measure results to ensure accountability. This bill includes language, which I supported, to ensure that steamships in the Great Lakes are able to continue to operate. The compromise included in this bill allows the EPA to move forward with a proposed air emission regulation for maritime vessels operating on the coasts while the EPA works with the Great Lakes shipping community on compliance. Additionally, the EPA will conduct additional economic analysis for the Great Lakes region. This bill provides $2.7 billion for our National Park Service, an increase of $200 million from last year's level, which I support. That increase would help maintain and protect the natural, historic and recreational resources of the six National Park units in Michigan. I am pleased conferees favorably responded to my request to waive the match requirement for Quincy Smelter funding, located within Keweenaw National Historical Park in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The bill includes $1 million to stabilize the deteriorating buildings at the Quincy smelting complex, which is the best remaining example of a copper smelter of its era in the country, and possibly the world. The smelter has been identified by the Park Service as a core resource in the park, yet its structures have deteriorated significantly since the smelter closed in 1971. Over the past couple of years, some parts of the smelter buildings have collapsed and last year, a smokestack, which is a critical part of the landscape, had to be removed because it was in danger of imminent collapse. With the waiver language included, this funding can be used to stabilize the buildings to prevent additional structural failures, saving one of the most important resources of the park. Importantly, the bill would provide $1.4 billion to capitalize the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and $2.1 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund for wastewater projects. The funding in this conference agreement more than doubles the amount provided in the fiscal year 2009 omnibus. Michigan would receive about $41 million for drinking water and $90 million for wastewater projects, protecting public health, improving the environment, and creating a stronger economic climate. This appropriations conference agreement would provide a significant boost to protect and clean up the Great Lakes, protect the environment, improve Michigan's parks and lands, provide communities with safe drinking water and improved wastewater infrastructure, and I support its passage.

Mr. LEVIN

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

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, currently the Nation's unemployment rate is higher than it has been since 1983. In my home State of Michigan, the unemployment rate is 15.3 percent, 5.5 percent higher than the Nation's unemployment rate of 9.8 percent. Translated into real people, this means over 15 million Americans are unemployed, more than 740,000 of whom are living in Michigan. As of October 16, more than 44,000 Michiganians have exhausted their much needed unemployment benefits, and by the end of this year, the number will rise to almost 100,000 people. Since the beginning of this year, Michigan has been losing on average 27,000 jobs per month. Our people need help. My constituents make a simple request: Please act so our benefits do not run out. These people are eager, even desperate for work. Until the economic recovery that appears to be starting begins creating new jobs, these Americans need our help. They need us to listen. They need us to help ensure they can still feed and clothe their families and remain in their homes. Economists tell us that direct payments such as unemployment insurance are also the best, most efficient way to boost economic activity in a downturn. In fact, economists estimate that for every $1 we provide Americans in extended unemployment benefits, we generate $1.64 in new economic activity. Michigan's families are waiting. America's workers are waiting. We must pass this legislation extending unemployment benefits. Every day that passes without doing so deepens the pain and suffering of our people. Today's vote on cloture on the unemployment benefits extension is a critical vote for millions of Americans. I hope we rise to the occasion. The people of Michigan, the people who so desperately need work and cannot find it are waiting eagerly and hopefully. I yield the floor.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, for the Committee on Armed Services I report favorably the following nomination lists which were printed in the Records on the dates indicated, and ask unanimous consent, to save the expense of reprinting on the Executive Calendar that these nominations lie at the Secretary's desk for the information of Senators.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Madam President, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, 3,184 children and teens died from a firearm in the United States in 2006, a 6 percent increase from 2005. This breaks down to the life of an American child being taken every 2 hours and 45 minutes by someone wielding a gun. More than five times as many, or nearly 17,500 children and teens suffered a nonfatal gun injury that year, a 7 percent increase from the previous year. The 2009 Children's Defense Fund's report ``Protect Children, Not Guns'' illustrates the problem even more pointedly. The report, which provides key findings on children's gun deaths, states that more preschoolers were killed by firearms in 2006 than were law enforcement officers in the line of duty. This type of violence is preventable. It only requires action. The Children's Defense Fund's report makes a number of recommendations about how to protect children from gun violence. Among other things, they recommend schools provide nonviolent conflict resolution courses for all students and communities create positive activities for children and teenagers to reduce the influence of gangs and drugs. They also recommend passage of such common sense gun safety legislation as closing the gun show loophole, strengthening the Brady background check system and reauthorizing the assault weapons ban. We cannot afford to sit and watch as so many young lives are irrevocably destroyed by gun violence. Passage of commonsense legislation would help end these types of tragedies.

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, today I submit, with Senators Brownback and Durbin, a resolution expressing the concerns of the Senate over the plight of religious minorities in Iraq and calling on our government, the government of Iraq and the United Nations Mission in Iraq to take a series of steps designed to alleviate the dangers that members of these minority groups are confronting. Regardless of our position on the wisdom of the Iraq war, we can all acknowledge a tragic consequence of that war: the widespread persecution of religious minorities. The statistics are chilling: of approximately 1.4 million Christians of various denominations living in Iraq in 2003, only 500,000 to 700,000 remain. Another minority group, the Sabean Mandeans, has seen its population decline by more than 90 percent. Iraq's Jewish community, once one of the largest in the Arab world, has almost ceased to exist. What has happened to these hundreds of thousands? Many have fled Iraq; my own hometown of Detroit, long home to a large community of Christian immigrants from Iraq, knows firsthand the challenges for families abandoning their generations-long home for a strange new country. Others have not had that opportunity. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom reports that members of religious minorities ``have experienced targeted intimidation and violence, including killings, beatings, abductions, and rapes, forced conversions, forced marriages, forced displacement from their homes and businesses, and violent attacks on their houses of worship and religious leaders.'' Leaders and members of these minority groups have been kidnapped, assassinated or forcibly removed from their homes. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported that in 2008, there were an estimated 2.8 million internally displaced persons living in Iraq. Of that 2.8 million, nearly two out of three reported fleeing their home because of a direct threat to their lives, and, of that number, almost nine out of ten said they were targeted because of their ethnic or religious identity. While violence has declined in Iraq overall, religious minorities continue to be the targets of violence and intimidation. Members of many minority groups who have fled other parts of the country have settled in the north, only to find themselves living in some of the most unstable and violent regions of Iraq. Our resolution addresses this tragedy in several ways. It states the sense of the Senate that the fate of Iraqi religious minorities is a matter of grave concern. It calls on the U.S. government and the U.N. to urge Iraq's government to increase security at places of worship, particularly where members of religious minorities are known to face risks. It calls for the integration of regional and religious minorities into the Iraqi security forces, and for those minority members to be stationed within their own communities. It calls on the Iraqi government to ensure that minority citizens can participate in upcoming elections, and to enforce its constitution, which guarantees ``the administrative, political, cultural, and educational rights'' of minorities. And it urges a series of steps to ensure that development aid and other forms of support flow to minority communities. I encourage the administration and the United Nations to address these steps without delay. I hope our fellow senators will join with Senator Brownback, Senator Durbin and me to voice the sense of the Senate on this important matter.

Mr. LEVIN

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

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, what is now the floor situation?

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I yield myself 20 minutes.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, the conference report on H.R. 2647, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, would fully fund the fiscal year 2010 budget request of $680 billion for national security activities in the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy. This bill is the product of months of hard work by our committee, culminating in more than 6 weeks of negotiations with our House counterparts. I thank all of the members of the Senate Armed Services Committee for the commitment they have shown to the best interests of our men and women of our Armed Forces. I want to particularly thank Senator McCain, our ranking minority member, for his great work throughout the conference. It has been a real pleasure to work side-by-side with Senator McCain as we worked through issues with our counterparts from the House of Representatives. I also want to thank the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Ike Skelton, and his ranking minority member, Buck McKeon, for the cooperative spirit with which they worked with us throughout the conference. This conference report contains many important provisions that will improve the quality of life of our men and women in uniform, provide needed support and assistance to our troops on the battlefield in Iraq and Afghanistan, make the investments we need to meet the challenges of the 21st century, and require needed reforms in the management of the Department of Defense. First and foremost, the bill before us continues the increases in compensation and quality of life that our service men and women and their families deserve as they face the hardships imposed by continuing military operations around the world. For example, the bill contains provisions that would authorize a 3.4 percent across-the-board pay raise for all uniformed military personnel--a half a percent more than the budget request and the annual rate of inflation; increase the Army's active-duty end strength by nearly 30,000, and authorize an additional 30,000 increase during fiscal years 2011 and 2012, if the Secretary of Defense deems it necessary to increase dwell time and reduce the stress created by repeated deployments; authorize payment of over 25 types of bonuses and special pays aimed at encouraging enlistment, reenlistment, and continued service by active-duty and reserve military personnel; extend the limitation on charges for inpatient care in a civilian hospital under TRICARE Standard; enhance the ability of military voters to vote by absentee ballot; increase the authorization for the Homeowners Assistance Program by almost $300 million to provide relief to homeowners in the armed forces who are required to relocate because of base closures or change of station orders; and increase the maximum amount of supplemental subsistence allowance from $500 to $1,100 per month to ensure that service members and their families do not have to be dependent on food stamps. The conference report also includes a number of provisions to support the civilian workforce of the Department of Defense. For example, the bill contains provisions that would: provide for the application of unused sick leave toward length of service for purposes of computing a retirement annuity under the Federal Employee Retirement System; phase in locality comparability pay in place of cost of living allowances for Federal civilian employees working in Hawaii, Alaska, and other nonforeign U.S. territories, so that they are treated the same as federal employees in other States; terminate the National Security Personnel System--NSPS--and replace it with a provision that provides a series of personnel flexibilities applicable to the entire civilian workforce of the Department of Defense and an opportunity for the Secretary to propose additional flexibilities; freeze the Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System--DCIPS--until an independent review can be completed; and authorize the Secretary of Defense to establish a new Defense Civilian Leadership Program to help recruit, train, and retain highly qualified civilian employees to help lead the Department of Defense over the next 20 years. The conference report also includes important funding and authorities needed to provide our troops the equipment and support that they will continue to need as long as they remain on the battlefield in Iraq and Afghanistan. For example, the bill contains provisions that would provide $6.7 billion for the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected--MRAP-- Vehicle Fund, including an increase of $1.2 billion above the President's budget request for MRAP All-Terrain Vehicles--M-ATV--which are deploying to Afghanistan; add $100 million for unfunded requirements identified by the Commander of Special Operations Command, including MC-130 airships to provide improved fire support for our ground forces in Afghanistan and Iraq; provide full funding for the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization--JIEDDO--to continue the development and deployment of technologies to defeat these attacks; provide nearly $7.5 billion to train and equip the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police, so that they can begin to carry more of the burden of defending their country against the Taliban; and authorize up to $1.3 billion for the Commanders' Emergency Response Program--CERP--in Iraq and Afghanistan for humanitarian relief and reconstruction projects that directly benefit local communities, including up to $50.0 million to support the Afghanistan National Solidarity Program to promote Afghan-led community development. The bill would implement almost all of the budget recommendations made by the Secretary of Defense to terminate troubled programs and apply the savings to higher priority activities of the Department. For example, the bill would end production of the F-22 fighter after 187 aircraft; terminate the Air Force Combat Search and Rescue X--CSAR-X-- helicopter program; terminate the VH-71 Presidential helicopter; end production of the C-17 airlifter program; cancel the manned ground vehicle portion of the Army's Future Combat Systems program, with assurances those funds will be available for the newly designed vehicle portion--ground vehicle portion; terminate the Multiple Kill Vehicle program; cancel the Kinetic Energy Interceptor and we cancel the second Airborne Laser prototype aircraft. Finally, the bill contains a number of provisions that will help improve the management of the Department of Defense and other Federal agencies. For example, the bill contains provisions that would enhance the ability of the DOD inspector general to conduct audits and investigations by authorizing the IG to subpoena witnesses to provide testimony; improve DOD financial management by requiring the Department to engage in business process reengineering before acquiring new information technology systems and submit regular reports on its progress toward auditable financial statements; require the Department to develop a comprehensive plan to address longstanding problems in its inventory management systems, which lead it to acquire and store hundreds of millions of dollars worth of unneeded items; place a moratorium on public-private competitions under OMB Circular A-76 until the Department complies with existing statutory planning and budget requirements relevant to such competitions; and streamline and restructure DOD management positions by eliminating 22 of the 28 current Deputy Under Secretary of Defense positions and requiring the Department to develop a new organizational plan within 6 months. The conference report incorporates two pieces of legislation from in the Senate-passed bill: the Military Commissions Act of 2009 and the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The Military Commissions Act of 2009 would replace, and dramatically improve, the procedures enacted in the Military Commissions Act of 2006. In its 2006 decision in the Hamdan case, the Supreme Court held that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions applies to the Guantanamo detainees and requires that the trial of those detainees be conducted in a manner consistent with the procedures applicable in trials by courts-martial. The Supreme Court concluded that this requirement ``is not an inflexible one; it does not preclude all departures from the procedures dictated for use by courts martial. But any departure must be tailored to the exigency that necessitates it.'' The Military Commissions Act of 2006 created a cloud over the use of military commissions because it failed to live up to that standard. The conference report would address this problem by, one, precluding the use of coerced testimony; two, limiting the use of hearsay testimony; three, establishing new procedures for handling classified information similar to procedures applicable in civilian courts; four, providing defendants with fairer access to witnesses and documentary evidence; and five, requiring the defendant to be provided with appropriate representation and adequate resources. The Military Commissions Act of 2009 is intended to meet the standard imposed by the Supreme Court's ruling in Hamdan and should help ensure that convictions obtained through military commissions will hold up on appeal and will be perceived as fair by the American public and by the rest of the world. I thank Senators McCain and Graham as well as the lawyers at the White House, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Justice, who worked with us and for the great effort they put into this provision. The conference report incorporates the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Similar provisions have been previously adopted by both the Senate and the House of Representatives. This legislation is intended to help deter people from being targeted for violent attacks because of race, religion, disability, gender, or sexual orientation, among other aspects. The Senate adopted the hate crimes legislation when we adopted the Defense Authorization Act, and it was kept in conference. The House of Representatives has now adopted the conference report, and so it is now hopefully going to be before us after a cloture vote. The hate crimes legislation includes, for the first time, a provision that makes it a Federal crime to attack a member of the U.S. Armed Forces on account of his or her military service--a hate crime that is of particular interest to the armed services. According to the FBI, the trend is up for hate crimes based on sexual orientation. There has been a 6-percent increase in such crimes in the most recent year for which statistics are available, which is the year 2006. This is a category of hate crimes that would be covered for the first time by this bill. The language has been written to ensure it does not intrude on first amendment rights, that State and local law enforcement retain the primary jurisdiction over investigations and prosecutions. We all know Senator Kennedy was long the Senate's leading advocate for hate crimes legislation. As he said when the Senate debated and passed this legislation in 2007: America has taken many steps throughout our history on a long road to becoming a more inclusive Nation, and our diversity is one of our greatest strengths. Our tolerance for each other's differences is part of the lamp that can help bring light to a world which is enveloped in bigotry and intolerance. The enactment of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act through this, which is the last National Defense Authorization Act in which Senator Kennedy participated in his 26 years of service on the Armed Services Committee, would be a fitting tribute to one of the truly great Senators in the history of this body. Finally, I thank Senator Leahy for the leadership role he has played on this issue in his capacity as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. As of today, we have almost 130,000 U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines on the ground. Over the course of the next fiscal year, we will undertake the difficult task of drawing down these numbers--these are numbers in Iraq--while maintaining security and stability on the ground. At the same time, we have dramatically increased our forces in Afghanistan, with more than 60,000 engaged in increasingly active combat and combat-support operations, with more on the way. This conference report includes numerous provisions that need to go into effect immediately to ensure that they benefit our troops immediately. These provisions cannot be implemented before this conference report is enacted but will go into effect, without the need for appropriations, immediately upon enactment. They include the following in the area of compensation and benefits. The conference report includes provisions that would prevent the implementation of large increases in the copayments military retirees must pay for in-patient care at civilian hospitals under the TRICARE Program; provisions which would authorize new special compensation for caregivers of catastrophically injured servicemembers; and a provision which will increase the maximum amount of supplemental subsistence allowance to ensure servicemembers do not have to rely on food stamps to meet their nutritional needs. Those important provisions and others which I am going to now talk about will not go into effect until this conference report is enacted. With regard to our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the conference report includes provisions that will immediately go into effect without the need for appropriations. For instance, there is a provision which would authorize the Secretary of Defense to transfer defense equipment that would otherwise be withdrawn from Iraq and transfer it to the security forces of Iraq and Afghanistan, their national forces. The use of that equipment by those national forces in Iraq and Afghanistan will assist in the transfer of security responsibilities to the Iraqi forces and the growth of the Afghan Army and police forces more quickly. Another provision which will go into effect immediately upon enactment would allow the Secretary of Defense to use funds from the CERP in Afghanistan to pay for reintegration programs to separate local Taliban fighters from their leaders. This is a new program modeled on the Sons of Iraq Program which was so successful in getting large numbers of young Iraqis who had been attacking us to switch sides and support the government. These are two programs which I think people strongly support regardless of their position on the question of strategy and the troop levels. Those provisions will make it possible, immediately upon enactment, to use funds to support the reintegration of those young Afghans into their civilian life, just the way we did with the Sons of Iraq. This provision will permit the shipping of equipment that is so important to strengthen the Afghan Army and police from Iraq instead of bringing it home. These are critically urgent provisions, particularly in Afghanistan. Another provision, as soon as a conference report is enacted, would permit the Secretary of Defense to use up to $500 million in operations and maintenance funds to meet urgent military construction needs of the commander of the Central Command in Iraq and Afghanistan that were not previously forecast. But these new authorities are not there until the conference report is enacted. As I mentioned earlier, this bill includes the Military Commissions Act of 2009, which is needed to make trial of detainees by military commissions a viable alternative to trial in Federal court. Until it is enacted, any conviction obtained before a military commission will be at serious risk of being overturned on appeal. For that reason, the administration has suspended all military commission trials until this language goes into effect. We have enacted a defense authorization bill every year for almost 50 years now. We have done so because Members of Congress have understood, on a bipartisan basis, the importance of supporting our troops and making the policy decisions that are necessary to support them. This year is no different. With almost 200,000 men and women of the Armed Forces currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and many more supporting them and engaging in other demanding activities on our behalf and their behalf around the world, we cannot afford not to enact this legislation. For all these reasons, I would urge our colleagues to vote for cloture on the conference report and then to adopt the conference report itself. I yield the floor.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, very briefly, I yield myself just 1 minute. There is no conference to send this back to. The conference, by rules, has been disbanded. I yield the floor.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, how much time remains?

Mr. LEVIN. How much on the other side?

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I am going to be very brief and will not use the 10 minutes, unless there is somebody else who wishes to speak in support of the motion to invoke cloture. I yield myself, Mr. President, 6 minutes.

Mr. LEVIN. Just very briefly, let me say that the Senate has adopted hate crimes legislation on a defense authorization bill, I believe, three times. This is not the first time we would do this. It is not the second time we would do this. So it is not unique. It is not unusual. It is not unprecedented. It is important that we provide the same kind of protection for the additional groups who are being protected under this legislation, including groups who would be attacked physically based on sexual orientation. It would protect men and women in uniform for the first time from these kinds of hate crimes. That is something in which the Armed Services Committee has a special interest. The language has been written to ensure that it does not intrude on first amendment rights, that State and local law enforcement retain primary jurisdiction over investigations and prosecutions. It would punish violent acts only, not beliefs. No Federal prosecution could take place under the provision unless the Justice Department certifies that the State in which the hate crime occurred either does not have the jurisdiction, has asked the Federal Government to assume jurisdiction, or has failed to vindicate the Federal interest against hate crime motivated violence or that a Federal prosecution is necessary to secure substantial justice. Senator Kennedy was the champion of this provision. Over and over again, he attempted successfully in the Senate to get this kind of language adopted. He pointed out, and I think with eloquence that is unmatched, that the values men and women in uniform fight for are these kinds of values: the value of diversity, the value of nondiscrimination. To say this has no place on this bill, it seems to me, is wrong for that reason as well as a number of other reasons. We have had strong support for this provision from the Department of Justice and from law enforcement groups across the country that want this kind of support. The Senate, again, has authorized this legislation on the Defense authorization bill and has supported it twice before. This is at least the third time now that it is part of this bill. There are good reasons for it being part of Defense authorization, one of which is the values that are reflected here that when the men and women put on the uniform of our country, they fight to protect. This would be a real tribute to Senator Kennedy for this language to be included. I remember going over with him to urge the House to adopt this language a couple years ago. The House did not do it then, although we in the Senate did do it. But now the House has adopted it. The Senate voted on this language just a few weeks ago with, I believe, 63 votes to incorporate this language into the Defense authorization bill. So we have already voted to do this. There is nothing unique or unprecedented about doing it again. I hope we will invoke cloture. The stakes are huge. When I spoke before, I was quoting some of the things this bill will provide which are essential. Now, some of the things in this bill required an appropriation. The Appropriations Committee hasn't acted on--excuse me--we haven't adopted an appropriations bill yet. Those things are not going to be held up if we don't pass this bill today, but there are a few things that will be held up. Our veterans are going to have to pay more for prescriptions and copays if we don't act on this bill, and acting on this bill will prevent that increase in copays without an appropriation. We all talk about the importance of getting to Afghanistan equipment that is in Iraq. This bill has language which will permit that to happen. There is great disagreement as to what the right policy is in Afghanistan, but there seems to be no disagreement that we ought to strengthen the Afghan Army. One of the key ways to strengthen the Afghan Army is to get them equipment that is currently in Iraq which, if we don't pass this bill, is going to have to be shipped back here not only at great expense but also denying to the Afghan Army that we are trying to build up the kind of equipment that will make it possible for them to assert greater control for the security of their own country. That equipment cannot be transferred until this bill passes because that is nonexcess equipment. The moment this bill passes and is signed by the President, that equipment can be shipped to Afghanistan. That will protect our troops. To try to pass another bill--have the House pass another bill, have another conference created if we can get one, have the conference, go through the process of conferees--is going to deny and delay an essential item going to Afghanistan to help protect our troops and our interests. We talk a lot about: Why can't we do in Afghanistan what they did in Iraq? Why can't we have the Sons of Iraq be the Sons of Afghanistan? Why can't we put a policy in place which will attract those young Afghans who are on the payroll of the Taliban not because they believe in the extreme religious fanatic position the Taliban takes, but because it is a check or, more importantly, more accurately, cash they can put in their pockets? With the Sons of Iraq we were able to wean away from the attackers, the people who hated us, 100,000 young Iraqis because we had a program which would help to fund that. This bill contains the authorization for our commanders to use CERP funding for that purpose. That is going to support our troops. Those funds can't be used until the President puts his name on this bill. Delaying that jeopardizes our troops, jeopardizes our interests, and it is one of the many essential provisions in this bill, and until they become law cannot be put into effect. But the moment it does become law, if and when it does, it can be placed into effect. So the stakes on this first vote are great. If we delay adopting this bill by not adopting cloture, we are going to be taking a step backwards in terms of the support of our troops and our interests in Afghanistan and Iraq. The delay is unacceptable. I hope our colleagues will vote for cloture. I note the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I yield back the remainder of my time. Cloture Motion

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

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, we have just adopted a landmark Defense authorization bill. We are sending to the President the 48th consecutive Defense authorization bill--I move to reconsider the vote on that bill and lay that motion upon the table. The motion to lay upon the table was agreed to.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, we have an unbroken tradition on our committee, 48 consecutive national Defense authorization bills. It is never easy to get this bill through the legislative process. But with perseverance, a lot of good-faith work has never let us down. We maintain our focus because we are acting on behalf of our true heroes, the men and women of our Armed Forces and their families. The enactment of this conference report is going to provide the men and women of our Armed Forces, both Active and Reserve, and their families with the pay and benefits they deserve, the equipment and training they need. The conference report includes $164 billion for military personnel, including costs of pay, allowances, bonuses, survivor benefits, and military health care. It would authorize a 3.4 percent across-the-board pay raise for our troops, a half a percent above the budget request and the annual increase in the employment cost Index. The conference report would authorize $130 billion in funding for our ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would provide more than $2.0 billion for the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Fund, to help take on the threat that has claimed so many American lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would fully fund the President's request for $7.5 billion to train and equip the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police. This legislation sends a vital message to our men and women in uniform that we, as a nation, stand behind them and appreciate their service. We are at this point because all our dedicated Members and all our dedicated staff members--on both sides of the Capitol--were all willing to hit on all cylinders and keep this bill rolling along. Of course, I want to start by thanking my partner and my friend, Senator McCain, as well as all committee members, for their active roles in getting us to this point. Our counterparts on the House side, Congressmen Ike Skelton and Buck McKeon and the House Armed Services Committee staff lead by Erin Conaton and Bob Simmons, also have our gratitude. Senator McCain and I are extremely grateful to our own committee staff members who so willingly put all their legislative expertise into this bill. Not only is there a tremendous amount of legislative craftsmanship involved, but there is a mind-boggling number of administrative details that have to be meticulously tracked in this massive bill. I again thank my partner and my friend, Senator McCain, as well as all committee members for their active roles in getting us to this very historic moment when there is much in this bill that is so important to our troops, as well as a number of other provisions which are critically important to success in Afghanistan and Iraq. Our dedicated, hard-working staff assistants in particular deserve a special mention for their extraordinary efforts in this regard. As a visible sign of the high regard in which we hold our staff, I ask unanimous consent to have all staff members' names printed in the Record. I offer here a list of the staff of the Armed Services Committee for that purpose.

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

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

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; that during morning business, Senator Brown control up to 1 hour; and that during that time, he be permitted to enter into colloquies.

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