John Warner

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Would the Senator from Maine advise the chairman as to when you would resume your debate with the Senator from New Jersey?

Mr. WARNER. I thank our colleague.

Mr. WARNER. I ask the Chair to restate the unanimous consent request which we are ready to accede to on both sides.

Mr. WARNER. Yes. The Senator from Texas can state her request.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask the indulgence of all Senators. We are about to vote, but I ask that we give consideration, at this point in time, to an amendment that will be offered by the Senator from South Dakota. I yield the floor.

Mr. WARNER. The Senator is correct. Given the importance of this amendment and the interest in this amendment, I wish to lay down some parameters tonight about my concerns.

Mr. WARNER. Would the Senator be available for further debate tomorrow?

Mr. WARNER. Perhaps we can discuss it. Amendments Nos. 1390 through 1400, En Bloc

Mr. WARNER. I ask unanimous consent that the vote be delayed for a few minutes because we have a series of amendments at the desk which have been cleared by myself and the distinguished Senator from Michigan. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider these amendments en bloc, that the amendments be agreed to and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table. I ask that any statements relating to any of these individual amendments be printed in the Record.

Mr. WARNER. I move to reconsider the vote and lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. WARNER. Now, Mr. President, while we will not have further rollcall votes tonight, it is the intention of the managers to continue tonight to first clear package of amendments that we have, and then there may well be a lot of other Senators who want to discuss their amendments. The Senate will come in tomorrow at such hour as specified by the leadership and there will be filed a cloture motion. Following that, the managers will entertain further amendments and have debate on those amendments. So we have made some progress. We still have a goal to complete this bill as early as we can next week, working with our leadership. But we will need the cooperation of Senators. I again thank the Senator from South Dakota for bringing forth this very important amendment on BRAC. There remains a very important amendment by the distinguished Senator from Michigan and Mr. Rockefeller and others. Perhaps the Senator from Michigan could give us some timetable as to when the Senate could expect to have an opportunity to debate that amendment.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, my understanding is there will not be votes tomorrow.

Mr. WARNER. I say to my colleagues, I accept the responsibility. I listened carefully to these points. I suggest we all do our very best between now and Tuesday morning to put together a record of accomplishments to have the votes--they can be set up quite easily tomorrow, tonight, Monday--and we will reassess this situation. Clearly, with the representations that underlie your statements that we need to move forward, with that momentum on that side, I would be very happy to match it on this side. I assure you it will be forthcoming. But I am not going to sit here and recount the number of instances today I have worked with Senators on both sides of the aisle--of which my distinguished colleague is aware--who, for various reasons, could not do this or that. And I respect that. But we have had a reasonable amount of work achieved today. So might I suggest at this point in time that we have made our case with all points. I accept responsibility. Let's go forward and see what we can achieve.

Mr. WARNER. Rest assured, that will be done. I will prepare a letter. The Senator from Michigan and I will be here tomorrow morning and perhaps we can make a joint request outlining precisely what our views are.

Mr. WARNER. I anticipate that the reply from the administration would be forthcoming on Monday. I think the Senator would be available to debate this matter later in the afternoon.

Mr. WARNER. The Senator has a very distinguished list of cosponsors, I might add.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, in great seriousness, referring to the cosponsors, they are Senators Lieberman, Snowe, Lautenberg, Johnson, Dodd, Collins, Corzine, Bingaman, and Domenici. I stick by my words that it is a distinguished list of cosponsors.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, the managers wish to advise the Senate that we have accomplished a good deal today, and we will be fully in business tomorrow, with the exception of rollcall votes. It is our hope and expectation that we can go through a number of amendments and stack those votes for a time to be decided by leadership. Therefore, Mr. President, I think we can move off of the bill and do such wrap-up as is necessary. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I see the distinguished majority leader. My understanding is he wishes to lay down an amendment, for which I am grateful. We would be happy to lay aside the pending amendment. I yield the floor.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I commend the distinguished majority leader, and I associate myself with his remarks and this report. I just looked at one thing, and the staff advised me that the terms ``Boy Scouts'' and ``Girl Scouts'' embrace what is known as the Cub Scouts. I want to make sure my understanding is correct that was the intention of our distinguished leader, because a lot of families are very active in those organizations.

Mr. WARNER. On that matter, it is contemplated now that we will have a vote in relation to the Warner amendment regarding the wheeled motor vehicles, armored, today at 12:30.

Mr. WARNER. I think it is important. Senator Bayh has been very active on this issue. Amendment No. 1314, as Modified Mr. President, I send to the desk a modification to my amendment in the nature of a technical modification. I believe it has been examined by the other side. This modification identifies an offset of $445.4 million from the Iraqi Freedom Fund for this amendment.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there now be a period for the transaction of morning business.