Ted Stevens

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Yes.

Mr. STEVENS. That is my understanding.

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

Mr. STEVENS. I can assure the Senator from Alabama that I will give consideration during conference to the House proposal to increase NETRP funding levels.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that immediately following final passage, the Senate insist on its amendments, request a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. 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 July 17, 2003, at 10:00 a.m. to conduct a hearing on ``regulatory oversight of government sponsored enterprise accounting practices.''

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, July 17, 2003 at 9:30 a.m. to hold a hearing on Benefits for U.S. Victims of International Terrorism.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Thursday, July 17, 2003, at 9:30 a.m. on pending Committee business. agenda S. 1389, Surface Transportation Board (STB) Reauthorization (Mary Phillips/Rob Freeman/Debbie Hersman) S.______, Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act (Mary Phillips/Rob Freeman/Debbie Hersman) S. 1250, The Enhanced 911 Emergency Communications Act of 2003 (Paul Martino/James Assey/Rachel Welch) S.______, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Reauthorization (Drew Minkiewicz/Floyd DesChamps/ Margaret Spring) S.______, Ocean and Coastal Observation Systems Act (Drew Minkiewicz/Margaret Spring) S.______, United States Olympic Committee (USOC) Reform Act of 2003 (Ken Nahigian/David Strickland/Matthew Morrissey) S. 1395, Technology Administration Reauthorization (Floyd DesChamps/Ken LaSala/Jean Toal Eisen) Nomination of Nicole Nason (PN 613), of Virginia, to be Assistant Secretary for Governmental Affairs, for the Department of Transportation (Rob Chamberlin/Virginia Pounds/ Sam Whitehorn/Carl Bentzel) Nomination of Pamela Harbour (PN 710), of New York, to be a Federal Trade Commissioner (Pablo Chavez/Virginia Pounds/ David Strickland)

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, July 17, at 9:30 a.m. This is the second in a series of hearings devoted to the improved understanding of the governance of the Department of Energy laboratories and approaches to optimize the capability of those laboratories to respond to national needs.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to meet on Thursday, July 17 at 9:30 a.m. to examine the importation of exotic species and the impact on public health and safety. The meeting will take place in SD 406 (Hearing room).

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Thursday, July 17, 2003, at 10 a.m. to hear testimony on Nursing Home Quality Revisited: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. 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 July 16, 2003, at 10 a.m. to conduct an oversight hearing on the Semi-Annual Monetary Policy Report of the Federal Reserve.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Wednesday, July 16, 2003, at 9:30 a.m. on Marine Mammal Protection Act in SR-428A.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Wednesday, July 16, 2003, at 9:30 a.m. on Internet Tax Moratorium in SR-253.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet on Wednesday, July 16, 2003, at 10 a.m., in Room 106 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building to conduct a joint hearing with the House Committee on Resources, Office of Native American and Insular Affairs, on S. 556, a bill to Reauthorize the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet on Wednesday, July 16, 2003, at 10 a.m., in Room 106 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building to conduct a business meeting on pending Committee matters, to be followed immediately by a joint hearing with the House Committee on Resources, Office of Native American and Insular Affairs, on S. 556, a bill to Reauthorize the Indian Health Care Improvement Act of H.R. 2440, the Indian Health Care Improvement Act Amendments of 2003.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, July 16, 2003 at 2:30 p.m., to hold a closed hearing.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Madam President, we fund peacetime budgets in advance. Congress has never agreed to fund wartime expenses in advance. Instead, we have always, in every instance, as stated by the Congressional Research Service, funded them after those costs have been incurred and with the President's request for the payment. Presidents take the money from existing funds and we replace those funds, rather than having budgets determined in advance. As the Senator from Hawaii so vividly pointed out, it is impossible to know what the costs will be in fighting a war in advance. That is what this amendment urges, and that is why I moved to table that, and I urge the support of the motion.

Mr. STEVENS. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. STEVENS. Madam President, I strongly oppose Senator Dorgan's amendment. The Secretary of Defense has testified that the cost for this last month was $3.9 billion in Iraq and $900 million in Afghanistan. As was stated, we provided, in a supplemental, $62.6 billion in late April. By the time it was available, it was May. And $30-plus billion, as the Senator said, went to pay costs that had already been incurred in moving our forces to Iraq. But the Senator's proposal would instruct the President to submit a fiscal year 2004 budget amendment for the cost of the war in Iraq. Congress has not and should not instruct the President to submit such an amendment. As a matter of fact, Congress should not instruct the President to request funds now for future contingency military operations. We have opposed that concept in the past. We have not done it, and we should not start now. We only need to review the recent history of financing military contingencies to know this would be a dangerous precedent. Just take into account that the number of times the Congress has directed a President, any President, to submit a budget to pay for future operations is zero. We did not do it in Desert Storm. We did not do it in Somalia. We did not do it in Haiti. We did not do it in Bosnia. We did not do it in Kosovo. We did not do it in Afghanistan. And we should not do it now. The reason is clear: because to try to estimate contingency costs in the future would lead us to creating contingency funds, which could be spent in any way the Department wants them. Any submission would be inaccurate because the operational situation could change repeatedly during any time in the future. The Department does not know how much it might need for Iraq. They do not know what accounts they might need it in. That depends on the strategy that evolves as we deal with the situation in Iraq. I personally believe the costs in Iraq are coming down. Slowly but surely, they are coming down. The amendment would force the administration to request a large, unspecified fund from which they would transfer money to pay for whatever contingency developed. We denied that. We denied that this year. The administration made such a request and we said no, we will not do that. That would only reduce congressional oversight and would give the Department of Defense a blank check. I asked the Congressional Research Service to look at this matter and tell us how we budgeted for wars in the past. I quote from the CRS report: Presidents have not requested and Congress has not provided funding for wars in advance [never]. Rather, administrations have requested . . . and Congress has subsequently appropriated money to meet specific, documented budget requirements. That is what the O&M account is for. Presidents use the O&M account. We subsequently get their requests to add money and replace it in the accounts from which they have taken it. They show us what they have spent it for, and we go ahead and budget after the amounts have been determined. In keeping with longstanding practice, the Department did supply us, in the President's submission, a peacetime budget for fiscal year 2004. That is for the ongoing baseline programs of the Department of Defense. It is not a wartime budget. As operational requirements change, we will see such a budget. Funding war costs separately, and in a supplemental, if necessary, makes the costs visible to Congress and ensures we do not distort the baseline funding. We believe the Department will be able to define what the costs are when they determine what they are going to do. As they spend their money, they will come to us with fully explained, well justified, reasons for their expenditures of the moneys they have, and we will replace those moneys. I do oppose Senator Dorgan's amendment. If he is going to present it as it is currently before us, I will move to table it. Again, let me say, as I did yesterday, Congressman Young and I did meet with the President about the problem of the total amount of money in this bill for defense and other matters, and we took $3 billion out of the President's 2004 request. His budget request has been reduced by Congress, and this amendment would require him to submit us a supplemental now to pay for costs for Iraq. We have already agreed, in effect, that the money the President has now, the Department of Defense has now, should fund the requirements of Iraq until we determine what permanent relationships there will be there. Hopefully, that will be done by early next year, and we will know. As these account amounts decline--and I believe they will--they should not average more than $2 billion a month, in my opinion, for this calendar year. If that is the case, there will be money left in the supplemental that has already been passed and adopted by the Congress and accepted by the President. I believe we should follow the tradition of appropriations and handle money for defense based upon a firm understanding of what the costs are, not upon predictions of what the costing will be when we are at war. We deal with a prediction budget in the overall concept of 2004. Every year we get the President's prediction of how much money needs to be spent and will be spent in the coming fiscal year, and based on that prediction we provide money. Wartime expenses have always been treated differently. No President has asked for money in advance, no President has ever received money in advance for a wartime budget. They have had concepts, like the supplemental we passed for 2003 to carry through in terms of the 2003 actions which will carry into 2004. And we will get a supplemental for 2004 when the time comes, if that is necessary. I yield the remainder of my time to the Senator from Hawaii.

Mr. STEVENS. I thank the Chair. Amendment No. 1268

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, these people are being held consistent with the Geneva Convention. The Intelligence Committee of the Senate has access to names and information concerning those who are detained. The Red Cross is fully engaged and has meaningful access to the detainees. We need to have the interrogation process continue so that we can see if we can get information from these people that might lead to us having the ability to prevent further terrorist attacks against the United States. They are enemy combatants. There is fully published, in the Federal Register, the procedure under which they will be handled. This amendment, as a matter of law, forces the disclosure and a plan of when they are to be released. It is contrary to the best interests of national security, in my opinion. I made a motion to table and I urge its support.

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

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, pursuant to the previous order, I ask that the Senate proceed to a vote on the passage of H.R. 2330, the Burma sanctions bill.

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