J. Thurmond

Mr. THURMOND

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with.

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I announce to the Senate that if any Members want to speak on this amendment, now is the time. We do not want to stay here days and days when we can finish this bill in a reasonable time. I hope they will come to the floor. Those who are watching on television, if their staffs are watching on television, get the Senators here to present their amendments so we can proceed and make progress on this bill. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum, and I ask it to be charged equally to each side.

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

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk on behalf of myself and Senator Nunn.

Mr. THURMOND

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum, and ask that the time be equally divided.

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I rise today to oppose this amendment offered by my good friend Senator Exon, and will make my statement short. We have had long debates on defense spending, not only on this bill, but during the budget resolution debate. During these debates, some of my colleagues have argued that the money for defense is unnecessary, and they have always found other uses for this money. Mr. President, thankfully, this body has not agreed with these arguments and has provided the resources necessary to meet our national security needs. There are many risks associated with the administration's decision to continue to underfund defense. Our Nation's top military leaders have assessed those risks and have explained their concerns, not only in Armed Services Committee hearings, but in hearings in many of the other defense committees. The Armed Services Committee has received testimony concerning defense spending and here are just a few comments that were offered. Secretary of Defense Perry testified: . . . the modernization account in fiscal year 1997 will be the lowest it has been in many years, about one third of what it was in fiscal year 1985. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Shalikashvili, testified: We preserved our readiness and force structure at the expense of modernization and equipment replacement . . . . So much that our procurement accounts has actually shrunk to just below $40 billion, the lowest level since the Korean War. . . . This procurement hiatus . . . cannot be sustained indefinitely. Each of the Service Chiefs and Secretaries expressed similar concerns, but I will not take the time to go into each of their testimonies to the committee. We have received assurances that next year will be better. But then again, that assurance has been rendered since 1993 and it still has not happened. Admiral Owens highlighted this problem when he said, ``We've got to stop promising ourselves and start doing something about this procurement issue . . .'' The administration proposes to reduce defense again this year by $18.6 billion from fiscal year 1996 levels in real terms. Will the Defense Department do less next year? Will we ask less of our military services--of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines? What will be reduced to account for this $18.6 billion reduction? Already press report indicate that the administration might be considering extending United States forces in Bosnia beyond December 20, the date on which United States forces should be withdrawn. Even without this extension, costs for this operation have increased for the 1st quarter of fiscal year 1997 by $184 million, and we are told these costs will increase again. The decreases in defense spending planned by the administration are occurring at the same time our military personnel are asked to do more and more. It bears repeating that providing for the national security is the Federal Governments's first obligation to its citizens. I ask my colleagues to remember these words by General Fogelman, Chief of Staff of the Air Force: When I look back to the debacles this country has gotten itself into coming out of a period similar to what we are in [now], in many cases it has been because we have ignored the threats that we could not see . . . We were not sharp enough to pick them up . . . If we do not look to the future I think we are going to find ourselves faced with that kind of situation. Mr. President, I thank the Chair, and yield the floor.

Mr. THURMOND. I will take 7 or 8 minutes.

Mr. THURMOND

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the bill, as amended, was passed.

Mr. THURMOND

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

Mr. THURMOND. I have another unanimous consent, if that might please the Senator. I also ask unanimous consent upon the expiration or yielding back of time on the Wellstone amendment, that amendment be temporarily set aside to consider a Thurmond-Nunn amendment regarding the authorized funding levels in the bill, with no second-degree amendments in order, so that the amendment following the debate on the Thurmond-Nunn amendment, S. 1745, be temporarily set aside and the Senate return to consideration of the church burning bill under the provisions of the unanimous consent agreement.

Mr. THURMOND

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

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I urge the Senate to oppose the drastic cuts proposed by the Wellstone amendment. Senator Nunn and I had planned to introduce an amendment to cut the funding by $1.7 billion to bring the bill into compliance with the budget resolution. However, the Senator from Nebraska objected. I want to put the Senate on notice that we will introduce our amendment after Senator Exon completes his amendment. I urge the Senate to support this amendment of the Armed Services Committee to reduce the funding level of the bill by $1.7 billion. Mr. WELLSTONE addressed the Chair.

Mr. THURMOND

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, this amendment makes a technical change to section 532 correcting an error made when reporting the bill. When section 532 limiting the recall of retired officers to active duty as approved by the committee, it was our intent that the limit not apply to chaplains, health care professionals or officers assigned to the American Battle Monuments Commission. Due to an error in drafting, the legislation does not exempt these categories of recalled retired officers. My amendment corrects this error. Since the amendment changes the existing section to conform with the intent of the committee, I urge its adoption. Mr. President, I thank the Chair and yield the floor.

Mr. THURMOND. I urge adoption of the antistalking amendment and the underlying Kempthorne amendment.

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to vitiate the yeas and nays on the Warner-Hutchison second-degree antistalking amendment.

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

Mr. THURMOND

Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I call for order in the Senate.

Mr. THURMOND

Mr. THURMOND. I want to thank the senior Senator from Missouri for raising his concerns on this matter. The Senator has always been a stalwart supporter of Guard interests and the points he raises with the senior Senator from Kentucky are compelling. I assure the Senators that I will insist that the concerns of the National Guard will be adequately represented in the review panel. Department of Energy Liability for Natural Resource Damages

Mr. THURMOND

Mr. THURMOND. I assure the Senator from Oklahoma that I will support such actions if warranted by the conclusions of General Accounting Office report.

Mr. THURMOND. I thank the Senators for bringing this matter to my attention, and I also appreciate Senator McCain's interest. I support this inquiry and would add that it is the committee's desire to receive a report from GAO within 30 days specifically to allow us to resolve this matter to our satisfaction prior to conference and final passage of the fiscal year 1997 DOD authorization bill.

Mr. THURMOND. I yield myself 2\1/2\ minutes.

Mr. THURMOND. I would just like about 2\1/2\ minutes.

Mr. THURMOND

Mr. THURMOND. I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from Indiana.

Mr. THURMOND

Mr. THURMOND. To allow for the two leaders to void this agreement up until the hour of 5:30 p.m. today.

Mr. THURMOND. At this time, I ask unanimous-consent that yesterday's agreement on minimum wage be further modified to allow for the two leaders to void this agreement up until the hour of 5:30 p.m. today.