Ted Stevens

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, the managers of the bill are prepared to accept this amendment and ask that it be accepted on a voice vote.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, we have managers' package No. 2 back again. I wish to restate that request now. It applies to amendment No. 4778, for Senator Smith, regarding airships; amendment No. 4773, for Senator Dayton, regarding postdeployment support; amendment No. 4760, as modified, for Senator Lott, regarding airdrop systems; amendment No. 4796, for Senator Conrad, regarding weapons bays; and amendment No. 4771, for Senator Frist, regarding contracts. I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside and that the Senate proceed to the consideration of this managers' package en bloc, and that they be adopted en bloc, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. STEVENS. Now, what is the pending amendment, Mr. President?

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I am appalled at some of the information that the Senator from North Dakota has brought to us. I will join him, perhaps, in some specific amendment that might have some germaneness to this bill such as an authorization to shoot such people. I can't imagine that anyone would provide to troops in the field contaminated water. I can't believe that we are being charged for a sizable number of clinics and our taxpayers are paying for it and they are imaginary. On the other hand, this is a provision that deals with Government contracting governmentwide. If we include it, we would have to have several subcommittees and the other body confer with us to try to write the amendment in a way that might be pertinent to the matter before us, and that is financing the Department of Defense. I do think we should be indebted to the Senator for his research and what he is doing to try to bring honesty into Government contracting. But I am compelled to say that it is an amendment that should be taken to the Government Affairs Committee, and it should not be on this bill. It is legislation on an appropriations bill. I do make a point of order that it violates rule XVI.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, before the Senator leaves, I am sure Senator Inouye is telling him the same thing. We will instruct our staff to start the process of establishing a series of hearings to investigate this fraud that he has brought to our attention. The Senator is a member of our committee, and we will be pleased to work with him on it. If it gets to the point where we need a commission per se to be outside of the Congress to do this investigating, we can look into that, too. I think we should start the process of investigating into these repeated reports we have had about fraud and corruption in connection with Government contracting, particularly that related to our war effort. I thank the Senator for his work.

Mr. STEVENS. I don't think we need an act. We have authority under our existing rules today to do that investigation. As has been pointed out, President Truman used a subcommittee of the Congress at the time he did his investigations in World War II.

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

Mr. STEVENS. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. STEVENS. The Budget Committee chairman raises literally the things we have been thinking about and mumbling about for months now. We have in this bill a provision that says next year all of this should be within the budget. That, of course, we realize is next to impossible because of the inability to predict in advance--really 18 months in advance--what the costs are going to be to fight a war. I believe the Senator should look at the changes that have been made since the war I was in, World War II. We had draftees. All of the equipment that was used, the transportation equipment was operated by people in uniform. All of the bases were operated by people in uniform. We didn't have security people; we did the guard duty. We didn't have people running the kitchens; we did it ourselves. I distinctly remember peeling potatoes for hour after hour. All I am saying to the Senator is, the concept of handling war materials and emergency issues has gotten out of control. The Senator from North Dakota--I don't know if the Senator from New Hampshire saw his comments about some of the fraud and abuse that is involved in Government contracting. It is fairly clear, because of the nature of the emergency, controls have been thought of after the fact. We are trying to bring it into some kind of perspective for the future. As budget chairman, the Senator from New Hampshire is absolutely correct, I don't know how we could fold into the budget for next year and make everything involved in the fiscal year 2008 the concepts we are dealing with in terms of emergency funding right now. However, I am also convinced that because of the way this conflict has changed and the nature of the conflict, as opposed to wars of the past, even the Persian Gulf war that we fought, we have no way of telling how much it is going to cost. I want the Senator to know that those of us who handle the appropriations bills, particularly those regarding defense, would like to work with the Senator. There must be some way to put some controls over the way this money is spent. I am appalled when I hear of some of the things the money is spent for in a redundant fashion which ends up not achieving the goals, but still have to spend the money after the goals are not achieved. It is difficult for us right now to get our hands on the way this war has been costed out and the way the money has been spent. I don't think it is a political question. I don't think it is a matter of politics. I think it is a matter of practical application, some good money-handling propositions. We have run into that in terms of some of the money we have provided to the Iraq Government, also. I hope the Senator from New Hampshire is familiar with those. I wonder whether the Senator has any suggestions on how we might help him in this endeavor.

Mr. STEVENS. I thank the Senator also.

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

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, the Dodd amendment raises an interesting issue of availability of additional money if needed. It in effect is reprogramming authority granted in advance to move money to meet necessity, if it occurs. On that basis, I think I would be willing to support it, but I think the Senate as a whole ought to vote. Mr. President, I suggest that we agree on a time to commence this rollcall vote. Can we say it occur at 10 minutes after 5? Is that agreeable with Senator Inouye?

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that this vote be scheduled for 10 minutes after 5.

Mr. STEVENS. Is there any further amendment to be discussed at this time? I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask to rescind the previous order regarding the vote that is scheduled, and I now ask consent that at 5:15 today, the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to the DOD amendment No. 4819, with no amendments in order to the amendment prior to the vote; further, that the Senate then vote in relation to the Durbin amendment No. 4781, with no amendments in order to the amendment prior to the vote, and there be 4 minutes for debate equally divided between the votes.

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, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I would like the Senate to know where we are. As of 4:35 this afternoon, we had 68 more amendments. I have asked the Parliamentarian to advise Senator Inouye and me tomorrow morning how many of them are subject to rule XVI. A great many of them are legislation. I point out to the Senate that this bill must be conferenced and we must get this bill to the President in time for the money to be available at the end of the fiscal year. We cannot go over this year. Amendments subject to rule XVI, when we go to conference, require us to confer with another committee on the House side in order to see whether the House will accept these nongermane amendments. It is our intention to raise rule XVI against any amendment that the Parliamentarian tells us is subject to the rule. If some can be rewritten in a way not to do that, we can reconsider them. I apologize to the Senator from Illinois. There is another vote scheduled. Amendment No. 4781, as Modified

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, this is an important amendment. It is one to provide the University of Chicago with $2 million to conduct imaging research on the connection between epilepsy and brain injury. This is not to directly help the soldiers who have been injured. As a matter of fact, this is not a neglected area. We put up a billion dollars in the last 2 years, and there has been substantial research on brain injuries. There is a necessity for money for the treatment and care of those who have this problem, but we do not need more money for research. As a matter of fact, in the past 3 years, we averaged $430 million a year in grants, contracts, and research conducted by NIH. For 2006, we asked NIH to expand research on brain injury rehabilitation. This money is not going to treat soldiers; it is going to the University of Chicago for an imaging research project. We have 20 other amendments here that deal with the question: Should we use more money from defense for medical research? We have said no, we don't want any more money used for brain research. There is $45 million in this bill that the Department of Defense can use for any research project in the health area it wants to. But to take more money now--this is a symbolic $2 million. If this amendment passes, we have to deal with the other 20. We have said no to everybody, not just to one amendment. I urge my colleagues not to support this amendment. As a matter of fact, I move to table this amendment, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

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. STEVENS. Mr. President, I similarly raise a point of order that this amendment violates rule XVI.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask the Chair lay before the Senate amendment No. 4806.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I raise a point of order that this amendment violates rule XVI.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in recess until the hour of 1:30 p.m. today.