Ted Stevens

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I am informed it will now be possible to yield back all the time on the Leahy amendment. The distinguished Senator from Vermont is here in the Chamber. I yield any remaining time on our side on the Leahy amendment.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I move to table the Leahy amendment and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. STEVENS

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

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. I yield all time on our side.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Yes.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. I ask unanimous consent that those amendments be set aside for consideration of the Dodd amendment.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, if I may speak for a moment.

Mr. STEVENS. We will be happy to accept this amendment. It has been modified, as has been indicated. I want to state to the Senate, however, although the Senators are correct, this adds to existing law. Existing law at the current time requires competitive bidding on contracts. The contracts that are outstanding now that have been entered into by the United States and its entities in Iraq have been let on the basis of competitive bids. There have been lots of questions raised about that, but some of the contracts were outstanding before the contractors were sent to Iraq, and they were general services contracts, and those were extended to Iraq. But we are now putting, as the two Senators mentioned, additional emphasis on that, and I am pleased to accept the amendment on behalf of the Senate.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, now Senator Daschle and Senator Graham will present their amendment.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, we have worked on this amendment. There is a vast problem out there among Guard and Reserve people. We have a total force now in our military. We passed the concept that the Guard and Reserves are replacements for the regular services when they are sent overseas. The Guard and Reserves are sent overseas almost as much as the regular members of our military. They have volunteered to defend us, as the Senators have said. Their families need the same protection that we offer to those who volunteer in the regular services. We have modified this amendment because we really basically want to see what happens when this change takes place. The cost of this amendment that we have put forward is approximately $400 million this year and by the following year it will be $500 million. We don't know how much it will really cost because we don't know how many will come forward and take this, as compared to what they are doing now as far as their medical is concerned. It is a contributory system for TRICARE, another experiment that we hope we will be able to get some track record on. As I have become more familiar with the National Guard, it is very strong, and the Reserves, also. We want to assure that people will continue to maintain an interest in joining the Guard and Reserves. Most people don't understand that the transition from Guard and Reserves to regular services has reversed history. In days gone by, people came out of the military and entered the Guard and Reserves. Today many people enter the Guard and Reserves and then decide they are going to try to become career military. This will be an added inducement to get more people to enlist in the Guard and Reserves. It might have a reverse effect and we are not sure of that yet. This will give us a track record. I am pleased to say that we have conferred with members of the Armed Services Committee on this amendment, and they have agreed we should go forward with it. I am pleased to accept the amendment on behalf of the Senate.

Mr. STEVENS. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 1821

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, the Senator is correct. We funded in this bill what we thought were a number of these upgraded Humvees that could be produced and were the stated demand of the Army at that time. This demand keeps going up as it is realized how much these Humvees need to be modernized. We have changed to deal with the circumstances in Iraq. They are very interesting modifications. We have both been briefed on them. Some of the modifications are still classified. It is our intention to fund it. Coming out of conference, I will do my utmost to fund the number of Humvees that can be upgraded in a reasonable period ahead of time so we can meet this demand so that every group of the military that needs Humvees for their protection will be modernized and upgraded for self-protection. They do have to have some additional items. There are methods some of the terrorists have used to destroy Humvees that can't be defended against. So it is our intention to modernize these Humvees. They were not defective. Some of the methods terrorists use are unique. We need additional protection from above, and from the side, and from the rear, and underneath the Humvees. We cannot turn them completely into shockproof tanks, but we are going to do our best. This is a No. 1 priority for the Senate, as far as I am concerned--that and the problem of finding these weapons caches and destroying them, or really making certain that the usable weapons, particularly hand-held weapons, are put under guard and assured that they will not get in the wrong hands. I thank the Senator for his willingness to accept our modifications, and I assure him we will keep on top of this. We will confer with the Senator because I know of his distinguished Army career. We are pleased to have his assistance on this matter.

Mr. STEVENS. I move to reconsider the vote and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 1808

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk for Mr. Voinovich and Mr. Lott.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, this is an amendment we discussed earlier on the floor. I was ready to offer it earlier but was prevented. The amendment would require a report from the President concerning the efforts of the United States to increase resources that are available in Iraq from other countries, and to do other matters, such as a description of the bilateral impact on the Iraq action, the question of forgiveness of debts, and other items that we believe are substantial and on which we should have a report from the administration. These reports request no later than 120 days. I will state for the information of the Senate, there are several amendments we are looking at that deal with reports. It is my hope that the conference committee will have a report section. I see in some of these amendments not a conflict but an overlapping of requests, and the timing of them is different. I do not believe we should put a requirement on these people to report one week on one item, another week on another item, and another week on another item when they are all related. We should have quarterly reports from the administration on what is going on with both sections of this bill and how the money is being handled. This is a bill that has considerable discretion because it is a supplemental bill. It is in addition to the enormous bill we passed and the President already signed. Therefore, there is a lot of discretion as to where the money goes. It is a mechanism to avoid what has been done in the past, as I have said repeatedly. In the past, Presidents have dipped into the money available to the Department of Defense and have used it in other places. We have taken the occasion to provide the money in advance and have allowed discretion of the President to put it in the places where it is needed and tell us 5 days before that happens and report to us later on how the money was actually used. Those reports will come to us. I am sure we will keep very good track of the people's money as we proceed. Mr. President, so far as I am concerned, that is the last item to be considered tonight.

Mr. STEVENS. I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, the leader will shortly make a statement concerning the bill. As the manager of the bill, we have an understanding that tomorrow there will be a period during which Senators may bring amendments to the floor and offer them so they will be in the queue, so to speak. There will be no consideration of any amendment tomorrow and no vote on any amendment tomorrow.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I draw to your attention an important event that is taking place this Saturday, October 4 from 10 am until 5 pm--First Lady Laura Bush and the Library of Congress is holding the third annual National Book Festival on the National Mall. The Library of Congress and Mrs. Bush have planned an enjoyable day of presentations by nearly 80 award-winning authors, illustrators, poets and storytellers. Famous fiction, mystery and history writers will read from their works. Children's authors such as R.L. Stine, of the Goosebumps book series and actress and children's writer Julie Andrews will be among those participating. Storybook characters from PBS will stroll the grounds and greet young festivalgoers. There will even be special readings in the teens and children's pavilion by NBA players representing the National Basketball Association's ``Read To Achieve'' campaign. Additional activities will include book signings, musical performances, storytelling, and panel discussions. I am especially interested to hear that specialists will be on hand from the Library's Veterans History Project to provide information about collecting oral histories of America's war veterans. There truly is something for everyone at this year's book festival. The National Book Festival is free and open to the public and promises to be a wonderful family event. I hope that everyone will join Mrs. Bush and the Library of Congress on Saturday in celebration of the joy of reading. For more information, you may visit the Library's Web site <www.loc.gov> or call toll-free (888) 714-4696.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the attached statement from the Office of Compliance be printed in the Record today pursuant to Section 303(b) of the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1383(b)).