Ted Stevens

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 4969 to Amendment No. 4959

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, this bill does reflect the partnership that the Senator from Hawaii and I have shared for many years. I can assure all Senators that this approach is a bipartisan approach and will be followed throughout the conference on this bill with the House. I will make further statements after the vote, if I may. At this time, I yield the remainder of my time and ask for final passage of this bill.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, yesterday during consideration of the defense appropriations bill, the Senate adopted my amendment allocating an additional $11,500,000 in Air Force aircraft procurement funds for modifications to B-52 bombers. I want to explain the source for these funds. In reporting out its version of the fiscal year 1997 Defense Appropriations Act, the committee added operations and maintenance funds to maintain the current force structure for B-52 bomber attrition reserve aircraft. My amendment allocated funds from within the aircraft procurement account to modify these aircraft. These modifications are required to maintain the combat effectiveness of these aircraft should they be called upon to fly combat missions. The funds for the bomber modifications are to be offset by a decrease of funds allocated for the F-15 fighter data link modifications in the same appropriations account. The fighter data link funds are excess to program requirements due to a delay in a projected contract award. The fighter data link program remains fully funded for fiscal year 1997.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I thank the Senate for this overwhelming bipartisan support of this bill. It is a bill that I think meets the needs as best we can of our defense forces and maintains the defense of this country. This year we had a record number of requests to our subcommittee from Members of the Senate and, I might say, also from Members of the House that we had to consider. Were it not for this fine working relationship that the Senator from Hawaii and I have, it would be impossible to deal with a bill of this magnitude in a 24-hour period. But we have done that, and there are a number of people who deserve to be identified now who have worked hard in the preparation of this bill. The Senator from Hawaii has mentioned the people on his side of the aisle. This team works together on a bipartisan basis on the staff level, too. So I want to note the contributions of the subcommittee staff on our side. We have this long record of bipartisan work together: Steve Cortese, who is our staff director; Charlie Houy, staff director on the other side; Peter Lennon, Jay Kimmitt, Mary Marshall, Jim Morhard, John Young, Sid Ashworth, Susan Hogan, Mazie Mattson, Justin Weddle, Candice Rogers, and Emelie East. This year we were assisted by two individuals who were loaned to our committee. As I said, we have just had a tremendous workload this year. We have Darrell Roberson from the Air Force and Mike Gillmore from GAO who worked with us. During the floor debate yesterday, I was pleased to be able to have two of the high school interns from my office who have observed our work and were helpful to me yesterday, Brad Brunsdon from Fairbanks and Meegan Condon of Petersburg. This was my first opportunity to manage a bill in the Chamber since the retirement of Senator Dole, and I want to express my thanks to our new leader, Trent Lott, for his unwavering efforts to help us get this bill passed. I thank the Senate for its patience. Additionally, we have received full consideration from many Members. We started out yesterday morning, I believe, with about 150 amendments, and they have all been handled in one fashion or another in order to get to where we are today. I do thank Senator McCain and Ann Sauer of his staff, who have worked with us this year to review amendments to make certain that we would not meet objections to them in terms of their presentation to the Senate here on a unanimous-consent basis. Today, I have Megan Curry of Juneau and Beth Pozzi of Anchorage with me in the Chamber. I am pleased to once again thank the Senate for the support of this bill. I do think the American people should know that we have firm support here in the Senate now on a bipartisan basis to maintain the level of expenditures which we believe are necessary. I hope we can get the bill into conference and back as soon as possible, because we want time to work with the White House to make sure that the executive branch is willing to share with us this burden of maintaining the funding of our military throughout the world. Mr. President, I now move to reconsider the vote the Senate has just taken to pass this bill.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, after the event of last night, this is a very serious matter. I want to start off by assuring the Senate that we have money for counterterrorism in the Commerce bill, in the Treasury- Post Office bill, in the Transportation bill. I want to tell you as chairman of this committee, there are significant--very significant-- sums in the classified portions of this bill for counterterrorism. So the counterterrorism issue should be set aside. The question is, are the two extra F-16's--the F-4 Wild Weasels are being retired. The F-16's can take their place in that role. The F- 16's--it is true what the Senator said, they first asked for two. When we looked at it, and the authorization bill authorized four, we went into it in depth. I personally talked to General Fogleman, Chief of the Air Force, about the need. He said they do in fact need this. As a matter of fact, General Ralston who is now the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, has said that we are short 120 airplanes if the F-16's are to carry out the two contingency roles. I believe we need these extra two F-16's. That is the issue, not counterterrorism. I moved to table this amendment. This will be a rollcall vote.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, the yeas and nays have been ordered?

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, this amendment would prevent severance pay for employees under a restructuring plan. It would eliminate early retirement incentive payments for employees, employee retraining costs, relocation expenses for retrained and retained employees, placement services for employees, and continued medical-dental-life insurance coverage for terminated employees. In the past 3 years, the Department of Defense has reimbursed contractors $300 million in restructuring costs and will save $1.4 billion, a 450-percent return on the investment. Mr. President, it is my understanding this will be a 20-minute vote, regular vote, and the following votes will be 10 minutes. Is that correct?

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

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

Mr. STEVENS. I thank the Chair. Mr. LOTT addressed the Chair.

Mr. STEVENS. I thank the Senator from Pennsylvania for his efforts in keeping the committee informed of his actions on this matter. I will work with my colleagues during conference to examine this matter more closely. Sacrifices for Defense

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, this morning the Senate will immediately resume consideration of the Department of Defense appropriations bill. Under a previous order, the Senate will proceed to a series of three rollcall votes on the remaining amendments and passage of the Department of Defense appropriations bill. Following passage of the defense bill, the Senate will then proceed to the reconciliation bill, S. 1956. That matter will be considered under a 20-hour statutory limitation, and the majority leader is hopeful that under the 20-hour statutory time limitation, some time can be yielded back. Senators can expect rollcall votes throughout the day on amendments to the reconciliation bill and a late-night session is anticipated by the majority leader in the hopes of completing action on that matter today.

Mr. STEVENS

Mr. STEVENS. I thank the distinguished Senator from New York for bringing this problem to the attention of the Committee. I can assure the Senator that we will look into this matter and further discuss it with our colleagues in the House when we go to Conference. DoD NATURAL RESOURCES ASSESSMENT

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

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask the Senator from Wisconsin if he has any comment to make.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, this amendment restricts the obligation of 10 percent of the funds appropriated for the procurement of the Navy F/A-18E/F fighters until the Secretary of Defense submits a report on the F/A-18E/F program. The amendment is similar to an amendment adopted in the defense authorization bill, and I believe that this is acting in concert with our colleagues on that Armed Services Committee. This amendment is now acceptable to us. I believe I speak for my friend from Hawaii, also. Does the Senator want to be listed as a cosponsor?

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. STEVENS. I add 3 minutes to the time of the Senator from Arkansas and yield back the remainder of our time.

Mr. STEVENS. I yield to the Senator from Hawaii such time as he may use.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, it is true that the budget did not request any funds to buy more F-18C's for the Navy. The Armed Services bill included six F-18C's for the Navy. This is authorized. The committee, our subcommittee, added and the Appropriations Committee approved $234 million to buy six single-seat F-18C's for the Navy. Before his untimely death, we asked Admiral Boorda to list the 10 highest priorities for the Navy this year, and Admiral Boorda listed as the sixth priority, as the CNO, buying six more F-18C's. These replace the less capable F-18A's that are still in the active inventory. The C model has substantial upgrades over the A model. It has better radar and carries more sophisticated weapons. It can fly at night and in adverse weather. The Navy really needs at least 30 more F-18C's to upgrade its force and accomplish its war-fighting mission. The F-18C procurement was ended because of financial considerations in the past. We still have financial considerations, but these F-18C's we buy now in fiscal year 1997 will be in the inventory of the Navy through at least the year 2018. I say to my friend from Arkansas, as a pilot, these C models give Navy pilots the ability to fly at night, in adverse weather, with more sophisticated weapons and the best radar in the world. I think it is a needed addition to our Navy. I yield the floor and reserve the remainder of our time.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President will the Senator yield to me just a moment?

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, the Senator from Arkansas is seeking recognition.

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

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I regretfully disagree with the Senator from Iowa and state again that our act does not allocate funds to the entities of the Department of Defense by the roster, or in any way related to the force structure. If the Senator wishes to limit the funds so it cannot be used to support more than 68 general officers, that is an issue for the authorization committee. At the request of the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, I move to table the amendment of the Senator from Iowa, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture vote scheduled to occur today with respect to the pending bill S. 1894 be vitiated and during the Senate's consideration of S. 1894, the following amendments be the only first-degree amendments in order, and limited to relevant second-degree amendments, and following the disposition of the amendments, S. 1894 be read for a third time, the Senate proceed immediately to House companion bill H.R. 3610, all after the enacting clause be stricken, the text of S. 1894 be inserted, H.R. 3610 be read for a third time, and the Senate proceed to vote on the passage of H.R. 3610, all without further action or debate. The list is a Grassley amendment we are about to vote upon; a Bumpers F/A-18C/D amendment, on which there is a 30-minute time agreement; two relevant Daschle amendments; a Dorgan amendment pertaining to funding reduction, on which there is a time agreement of 30 minutes equally divided; Senator Ford's amendment on chemical demilitarization; Senator Harkin's amendment on defense merger, on which there is a 45-minute agreement, 30 minutes for Senator Harkin and 15 minutes to the managers of the bill; a Heflin amendment on pump turbines; a relevant amendment for Senator Inouye; a Levin amendment on counterterrorism; a relevant amendment for Senator Nunn; Senator Simon, a labor related amendment; and one relevant amendment for myself as Senator managing. I add Senator Feingold's amendment, on which there is a time limit of 30 minutes, if we do not work it out. He has two amendments. I further ask that following the passage of H.R. 3610, the Senate insist on its amendment, request a conference with the House, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate, and S. 1894 be returned to the calendar.