John Warner

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, in consultation with the majority leader and the distinguished Senator from Michigan, as to the amendment by Senator Frist, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment be laid aside and that we return to my amendment No. 1314.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator DeWine and Senator Collins be added as cosponsors to the amendment.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, the Senator's amendment will be considered on the floor in due time. But I assume that at least two of the amendments involve another committee, the Banking Committee, other than the Armed Services Committee; would I be correct in that?

Mr. WARNER. I thank the Senator. As to the other two amendments, is it his judgment that they are solely within the jurisdiction?

Mr. WARNER. I accept that.

Mr. WARNER. I yield the floor.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask that the amendment now be laid aside for purposes under the UC agreement so that the Senator from Massachusetts may address the Senate, I believe for 5 minutes.

Mr. WARNER. I will be happy to share my brief time for remarks with my colleague. The Senator has joined our bill and I appreciate him expressing confidence in this amendment of the Senator from Virginia. I commend the Senator from Massachusetts, Mr. Kennedy, the Senator from Indiana, Mr. Bayh, and many others who worked in this area of the up- armoring of our military vehicles. But I must take issue with the Senator's observations that in any way the Department of Defense is open to criticism because it has been a constantly evolving requirements issue before the combatant commanders. When we look at this record in a careful manner, we will see that the Department has responded very quickly to the communication from the combatant commanders to adjust through the military departments, primarily the Department of Army, the procurement of the necessary equipment. This Senator from Virginia and others are very conscious of the IED problem. I just visited Quantico and looked at their research and development facilities dealing with the IED question. Our committee periodically, at least every 60 to 90 days, has the general in charge of the overall responsibility of IEDs in the Department to brief us on what are his needs and are they fully met financially and in every other way. I frankly think the record shows that the Department of Defense is doing its very best for a quickly evolving and changing set of facts requiring the addition of up-armored vehicles. Mr. President, is the amendment the pending business for the purpose of a vote at 12:30?

Mr. WARNER. I believe the vote is in order at this time.

Mr. WARNER. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. WARNER. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, it is always a pleasure to hear my old friend and colleague in the Senate of so many years. At the appropriate time I and others will put forth our case on this issue. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Lautenberg amendment be laid aside and that time be granted to our distinguished colleague and very valued member of the committee, the Senator from Rhode Island, Mr. Reed.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, will the Senator kindly yield so I can inform the Senate of the desire on behalf of this side of the aisle?

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I thank my colleague. If the Senator participated in many of these bills before--for example, tonight, I am not being entirely popular with a number of individuals because I am requesting of the leadership the right to go on into the night with votes, as late as we can possibly go, and then tomorrow morning have more votes and continue tomorrow. After the votes, presumably, if they are scheduled in the morning, it may well be we will continue on the bill with some understanding among Members that the votes we desire, as a consequence of the other work on Friday, will be held on Monday some time. I assure the Senator from Rhode Island, I am working as hard as I can to get this bill passed. I thank the Senator for his cooperation.

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

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

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, in concurrence with my distinguished ranking member, I advise the Senate that we will have a vote on amendment No. 1342, regarding supporting the Boy Scouts, occurring at 2:30, with no second-degree amendments in order prior to the vote; provided further, there be 2 minutes of debate equally divided before the vote.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, clarification: Did 7 go to 15? Which is fine. You have 15 minutes, now, total, under your control.

Mr. WARNER. No objection.

Mr. WARNER. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. WARNER. The distinguished ranking member and myself are prepared to accept this amendment. But I want to talk just a bit about the importance of what these two Senators, primarily the Senator from South Carolina and the Senator from New York, have done. This is a very significant piece of legislation. We laid the foundation last year and had some incremental improvement, but this really carries the ball the balance of the field and scores a touchdown in behalf of the men and women in the Armed Forces and Reserve. As the Senator from South Carolina has pointed out, this is not a free benefit. There is going to be, I say to both of my colleagues, the Senator from New York and the Senator from South Carolina, a reasonable fee. But if I could bring back a little personal experience, in 1950, I was a member of the Marine Corps Reserve, having come up from the enlisted ranks and gotten my commission. The Korean war sprung on us totally without anticipation. I remember at the time Truman was in office, and Louie Johnson was basically the Secretary of Defense who disbanded the military. Suddenly we had to do a rapid turnaround, and we had nowhere to go but to call up the Reserves. I was just a young bachelor then. I was happy to go, but when I was in my first training command in the fall of 1950 at Quantico in the first special basic class, why, over half the class was married and had to leave their families and everything and quickly return. Most of us had been in World War II and gotten our commissions. I simply point out that is another hidden element to this; that is, when you are maintaining voluntarily the status of being in the Select Reserve, you are subject to call at a late hour of the night to pack your bags, leave your family, leave your job, and go. And if you look, there are 1,142,000 members of the total Reserve, and the Select Reserve is only 700,000. I mean, it is a significant number, but it is that group of 700,000 that is subject to call on very short notice. And that is ever present. It sometimes requires a problem with the employer, to maintain that status knowing that valuable employee could leave on less than 30 days' notice and the employer has to seek another to fill the post, and so forth. So there is much to be said about staying in. I recall when I got back from Korea, I was finished my obligated military service and could have cashiered out, but I stayed in the Reserves another 10 or 11 years, to my recollection--I think it was 12 years. There were certain benefits that were an inducement to stay in and, frankly, I enjoyed it enormously. I don't have a military career of great consequence. I am certainly grateful for the opportunity to serve, and I think this is a marvelous thing. I would like to be listed as a cosponsor, as my distinguished colleague from Michigan likewise, and we salute the two Senators who pioneered this approach.

Mr. WARNER. In the beginning we had to look at the dollars and the figures and balance it out. As the Senator said, fight on. And we will be there, and each of these Members will be by our side. I hope Members can walk out of that conference some day with a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. I urge adoption of the pending amendment.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, at this time my distinguished colleague has a matter which he would like to bring to the attention of the Senate.

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

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I wish to be made a cosponsor of this amendment.