Carl Levin

Mr. LEVIN

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume debate on the Kyl amendment No. 1760; that it be in order for Senator Kyl to offer a second-degree amendment to his amendment; that once the second degree is reported, it be agreed to, amendment No. 1760, as amended, be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, let me thank Senator Kyl and all of those who have been involved in working the Kyl amendment to a point where we are comfortable with it. I think all of us had concerns, and those concerns have been fairly met. I thank the Senator from Arizona for his effort, as well as, of course, my ranking member on the committee and all of the others who have been helpful.

Mr. LEVIN. We are not ready yet.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent that Senators Lieberman and Graham call up amendment No. 1650, as modified.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I hope we can quickly get to a voice vote. I would briefly say that the executive branch created a presumption that the cases would be tried before criminal courts--article III courts. I thought it was a mistake. We should not have a presumption one way or the other. The amendment before us redresses the balance to the extent we can do it tonight. Also, we were able to get the agreement on the part of the sponsors to strike a part of the original amendment which would have created some very difficult bureaucratic problems in terms of reporting case by case as to why decisions were made one way or another. So I do hope we can promptly agree to the amendment. I thank Senators Lieberman and Graham. Again, my own preference is there not be either a presumption or a preference one way or the other, but I think this does even the balance. Again, it is a sense of the Senate, so it will be left to the Department of Justice.

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

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I send a series of 46 amendments to the desk, which have been cleared by myself and Senator McCain, the ranking member, and I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider these amendments en bloc, the amendments be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. LEVIN. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. amendment no. 1759

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

Mr. LEVIN. Objection.

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

Mr. LEVIN. First, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to modify a previously agreed to amendment, No. 1799.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I appreciate the efforts of my friend from Ohio on this issue. I know that the committee will continue to consider the views of all stakeholders about this program. I encourage the Department of Defense to include a request for formal authority in its annual legislative proposal to the committee should they find permanent authority necessary.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that no further amendments be in order other than the pending amendments; that upon disposition of the pending amendments and managers' amendments as noted below, the bill be read a third time, and the Senate then proceed to vote on passage of S. 1390, as amended; further, that upon passage of S. 1390, it be in order, en bloc, for the Senate to consider the following Calendar items: 90, 91, and 92; that all after the enacting clause of each bill be stricken and the following divisions of S. 1390, as passed by the Senate, be inserted as follows: Division A, S. 1391; Division B, S. 1392; Division C, S. 1393; that these bill be read a third time, passed, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, en bloc; further, that the consideration of these items appear separately in the Record; further, that the Senate then proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 96, H.R. 2647, the House companion; that all after the enacting clause be stricken and the text of S. 1390, as amended, and passed by the Senate be inserted in lieu thereof, the bill be read a third time, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; that upon passage of H.R. 2647, as amended, the Senate insist on its amendment, request a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate, with the Armed Services Committee appointed as conferees; that notwithstanding passage of S. 1390, it still be in order for managers' amendments to be considered and agreed to if they have been agreed upon by the managers and the leaders; and that no points of order be considered waived by virtue of this agreement.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that amendment No. 1657, Senator Sessions amendment, be further modified and that we agree to it by voice vote.

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

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. LEVIN

Mr. LEVIN. I wonder now if the Senator from New York might be recognized for a brief colloquy with me which will last no more than 5 minutes.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, let me commend the Senator from New York for identifying a very significant problem. She has always shown great sensitivity to the men and women in the Armed Forces. There is a provision in the House bill--we are not sure exactly what it is--that relates to this issue and the need to provide for autistic kids. We will take a look at that in conference and see if there is anything we can do to move in the direction which the Senator from New York has so properly identified. Thanking Staff The proud tradition that our committee has maintained every year since 1961 continues with the Senate's passage of this 48th consecutive national defense authorization bill. We are motivated to pass this bill, as we are every year. In fact, we are inspired to pass this bill for the men and women of our Armed Forces and their families. They give it everything they have 24/7. They never give up and they never give in. We always have to work long and hard to pass this bill, but it is worth every bit of effort we put into it. I thank our leadership on both sides of the aisle and all Senators for their role in keeping the tradition going. Our committee's bipartisanship also makes this moment possible. I am proud to serve with Senator McCain. I am grateful for his partnership and his friendship. To all of the committee members--we have one of our committee members presiding at the moment--your work on a bipartisan basis the entire year is most appreciated. I want to thank not only our subcommittee chairs and ranking members but give special thanks to the six new members who joined our committee this year. We work together in committee. We did not allow our differences on this bill to divide us; we reported the bill unanimously. And to Charlie Armstrong in the Office of Senate Legislative Counsel, after drafting hundreds of amendments to this bill again this year, many, many special thanks to you. Our committee staff members, if they are still here--many of them are--many of them are still in Russell working tonight--you deserve much more than heartfelt thanks, but that is all we can offer to you right now. They were led by Rick DeBobes, our committee staff director, and Joe Bowab, our Republican staff director. Our staff unselfishly sacrifices and works incredibly hard on this bill. So please go home now, staff, enjoy a couple of hours--no more than 3, please--of sleep and enjoy a nonmicrowave meal for a change. We know you will be back at 6 o'clock in the morning fully rested and ready to tackle the conference with your talents, ability, and teamwork. We could not be where we are now without you. They deserve our recognition as a tribute to their professionalism. And as a further expression of our gratitude, I ask that all of their names appear in the Record at this point.

Mr. LEVIN. I again offer my special thanks to my very dear friend, the Senator from Arizona, Mr. McCain, who has amazing energy and passion for this subject. He is an inspiration to all of us that he serves as he does on this Armed Services Committee.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I thank my friend from Arizona for thanking our floor staff. I overlooked that. Even though we look at them hour after hour after hour, somehow or other we manage to overlook that, their great service when it comes to thanking everybody who is involved. We do thank the floor staffs for their phenomenal work.

Mr. LEVIN. Particularly Lula. Amendments Nos. 1572; 1802; 1801; 1606, as Modified; 1808; 1705; 1797, as Modified; 1732; 1753; 1758; 1751; 1661; 1653; 1811; 1516, as Modified; 1812; 1658; 1796, as Modified; 1533, as Modified, En Bloc