John Warner

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Please proceed. Amendment No. 1428

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, my understanding is that the Senate now returns to the Defense authorization bill. Is that the pending business?

Mr. WARNER. I know the Senator from Wyoming desires to address the Senate. I yield the floor. Amendment No. 1342

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, before my distinguished colleague leaves the floor, I regret to say that I just got a call from the Department of Defense in which I was advised that at the jamboree being held just a short distance down 95 in Virginia, a power line collapsed, and at the moment there is one deceased and five critically injured and an assortment of other problems associated with this. So I am delighted that you gave that speech. I am a cosponsor of the bill. I support it. I was a Scout myself, and I got a lot out of it. I think we ought to close this set of remarks out by offering our prayers and hearts and minds to this tragic accident that occurred an hour or so ago. I thank my colleague.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, we are still on the bill and speakers are coming to the Senate floor. At this time, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, the Senator is free to go. He spoke with me. It is an important element before the Senate. The general subject is BRAC. Amendment No. 1389

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. And in no way do I wish it to substitute for Senator McCain's amendment. This is a complicated subject. Essentially, my amendment simply says it will be the Secretary of Defense that will establish uniform standards and procedures for two separable subjects, detention and interrogation. While I have not had a chance to go through in detail the Army's Field Manual, I am not sure there is the emphasis placed on the detention rule in such a manner as equivalent to the detention and regulation that will be and is on the interrogation. Those responsible for detention are often quite different than those responsible for interrogation. If there is any mistreatment in the course of the detention, depending on the timing between such treatment and the follow-on interrogation, it seems to me we have a problem. Therefore, my amendment entrusts to the Secretary of Defense the task to put together basically all of the objectives as enunciated by my distinguished friend from Arizona.

Mr. WARNER. I ask unanimous consent the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. WARNER. Well, we will allocate the time among the three of us in an equitable way. I yield the floor.

Mr. WARNER. That is correct.

Mr. WARNER. I believe the Senator has just come on the floor. We have been on this now for about 45 minutes covering the parameter of the issues that would be brought up. I respect his desire to speak. We will try to accommodate you at any point. I would urge that we allow the Senator from Arizona to perfect this amendment and then in due course he will speak to it. I will speak to it, and we will lay it aside. And we will find the time for the distinguished Senator from Alabama to speak.

Mr. WARNER. That is correct.

Mr. WARNER. We definitely will make that happen. But I want to inquire of the Senator from South Carolina, you also have a third amendment. I am not sure of the status. You have it at the desk. You have spoken to it.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I think that is a very orderly manner in which to accommodate. Then the Senator from Alabama--let's get the time remaining and I will yield some of my time to the Senator from Alabama.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I will assure you, working with the distinguished Senator from Michigan, we will arrange--he has time immediately following the 1 hour being divided between three Senators and now a fourth. I want to make sure we have the time remaining to satisfy the needs of the Senator from Alabama. We now are proceeding on the second McCain amendment.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, that is followed by a vote, is my understanding.

Mr. WARNER. Reserving the right to object, and I do not wish to object, it seems to me that reality dictates that in 6 minutes we will go on the ADA; am I correct?

Mr. WARNER. In effect, the Senator from South Carolina, unless he wants to take the 6 minutes and put his amendment in, we would have to come back to it at the conclusion of the ADA. Would that be acceptable?

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the previous order, the Senate resume consideration of S. 207 at 5:15 today, with 15 minutes to debate under the control of Senator Harkin. I further ask that following the use or yielding back of the time, the Senate proceed to a rollcall vote on the resolution as under the previous order.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I believe that will accommodate our distinguished colleague from South Carolina to introduce his amendment beginning now, concluding at 5:10, at which time the Chair will recognize the junior Senator from Michigan for a period not to exceed 5 minutes.

Mr. WARNER. I do so to accommodate Senator Levin. We have 2 minutes now for the Senator from Alabama to complete his remarks before the Chair recognizes the Senator from South Carolina; is that correct?

Mr. WARNER. We certainly want to accommodate the Democratic leader. The Senator from South Carolina indicated that perhaps he would like to take up his amendment following the vote, giving him then such time as he requires, and giving the Senator from Michigan such time as he may require. So perhaps let us allocate the remaining time between now and 5:15 between the Senator from Alabama, the two colleagues on that side, and the distinguished Democratic leader.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, following the completion of the rollcall vote, I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from South Carolina be recognized.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, that is correct.

Mr. WARNER. That is acceptable.