Ted Stevens

Mr. STEVENS

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, there is a substitute amendment at the desk and I ask for its consideration. For the information of all Senators, the amendment is the text of the Senate-reported bill.

Mr. STEVENS. 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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.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, just before I left the floor, I asked that the substitute amendment, which is the text of the Senate-reported bill, be reported. I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate adopt this amendment, make it original text for the purpose of further amendment, and the usual boilerplate language that goes along with that. But I would like to proceed at that point, and I do have Senator Byrd's concurrence on this at this time.

Mr. STEVENS. I yield the floor. Mr. President, I understand the Senator from New Mexico wishes some time.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I have now served with 11 Directors of Intelligence during my tenure as a Senator. I think I have known each of them personally. In fact, my roots in connection with the intelligence process go back to World War II when I flew an OSS plane into China frequently, and I have had a great deal of interest in the CIA and its operations. I have learned in that timespan that intelligence--good intelligence--is essential to force projection and protection of our Nation. Unfortunately, we cannot publish a list of the numerous occasions in which men and women in the intelligence community have literally saved the lives of U.S. military and civilian personnel. Sometimes I wish we could tell the whole story. It would put into better perspective the few mistakes the intelligence community sometimes makes. However, mistakes in interpreting intelligence data can and will be made. The CIA has not often admitted blame for serious mistakes. Taking responsibility has not been their strong suit in the past, and I have not always been happy with the information the CIA has produced. In working with the intelligence chief, George Tenet, to fully disclose information we have needed to determine proper funding levels in our Appropriations Committee for programs and projects he oversees, I can assure the Senate he has always been fair, just, and open with us. Mr. Tenet is responsible for the accuracy of intelligence information his agency provides to the President and the Congress, and he has now acknowledged the CIA's error in interpreting data relating to the President's State of the Union comment about Iraq. For this I think he should be commended, and that is why I have come to the floor: to commend him for his action. Few in this town often take the clear path to acknowledge error. The intelligence and defense committees are rightly investigating the events leading up to this mistake, but I am hopeful that as the Congress and the executive branch proceed to determine how this mistake occurred, all realize that those of us who work with him on a daily basis, including the President, trust and rely on George Tenet and are ready to defend him as a good man and excellent DCI and a man of intelligence, honesty, and candor. 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 have been conferring with our staff, with Senator Inouye's staff, and with Senator Inouye. We request any Member who wants to present an amendment for inclusion in a managers' package to disclose that amendment to us by 3 tomorrow afternoon. We make that request because we do have the necessity of having full disclosure of what is in that package. It is often easier to handle some of these very small amendments that move money from one place to another or have a particular interest for one post or one military establishment or another, and we prefer to handle it in the way of offering those as one series of amendments in a managers' package if we can. We cannot do that unless people come forward and contact us. We have knowledge of several Members who have small amendments of that type, and we wish them to know at this time that in order to get this package cleared in advance with Senator McCain and others we want to have those disclosed to us by 3 tomorrow or the Members will be compelled to offer the amendments individually. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. STEVENS. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, this is an example of some of the amendments that we are trying to process as quickly as possible. They have been referred to Members involved, including Senator McCain. They have been cleared for action. I urge Members of the Senate to come forward if they have such amendments so we might be able to dispose of them this afternoon. 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, for the leader, I ask unanimous consent that at 5:30 today the Senate proceed to executive session and an immediate vote on the confirmation of Calendar No. 293, Samuel Der- Yeghiayan, of Illinois to be a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois, without further intervening action or debate; provided further that immediately following that vote, Calendar No. 292, Robert Brack, to be a U.S. District Judge for the District of New Mexico, be confirmed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. Finally, I ask unanimous consent that following that action, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate resume legislative session.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there now be a period for the transaction of morning business until the hour of 5:30 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak therein for not to exceed 5 minutes each.

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

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, we are ready to go on either bill. We are trying to assure the presence of the ranking members and chairmen of those subcommittees. I prefer to give you that information later today if I may.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent, on behalf of Senator McCain, that a legislative fellow, Navy CDR Edward Cowan, be granted the privilege of the floor during the consideration of H.R. 2658, the Defense appropriations bill.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Mikulski, I ask unanimous consent that Michael Hadley, a defense fellow in her office, be granted the privilege of the floor during consideration of H.R. 2658, the Defense appropriations bill.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Aaron Ver, an intern for the Defense appropriations subcommittee, be granted privileges of the floor for the duration of the consideration of this bill.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Eugene Moran, a fellow serving in Senator Cochran's office, be granted floor privileges during the consideration of this Defense appropriations bill.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Kathryn Kolbe, a legislative fellow in the office of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, be granted floor privileges during the consideration of the Defense appropriations bill.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. I ask unanimous consent that the modification I send to the desk to amendment No. 1201, offered by Senator Reid and myself and Senator Feinstein, previously agreed to, be modified pursuant to this amendment, and I ask unanimous consent that the following technical modification to amendment No. 1206, offered by myself and Senator Landrieu, be further modified by the language at the desk. These amendments were modified on the floor, and last evening we discovered they had to be perfected, so I ask unanimous consent.

Mr. STEVENS. The Senator has 7\1/2\ minutes.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I yield 3 minutes to the Senator from Maryland, and 4 minutes to the Senator from Missouri.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, for the information of the Senate, it is my intention to ask the majority leader to bring the Defense appropriations bill before the Senate on Monday. That will be announced later, I hope. We hope we can have the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee bill, then the Labor appropriations bill, then the Homeland Security bill considered next week by the Senate. I thank the Senate for their cooperation on this bill. This is another 10-minute vote; is that correct, Mr. President?