John Warner

Mr. WARNER

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

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I am sure my colleague would want to ask for the yeas and nays on his amendment.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Burns second-degree amendment be modified with the technical changes at the desk.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I would make an offer to my distinguished colleague, if he wishes to advance an amendment on the issue of the ``loose nukes,'' to work with him to see whether, in this bill right now, we could take that one change, if you feel it is inadequately funded.

Mr. WARNER. I thank our distinguished colleague from Alabama. He has been in the forefront of this debate for all the years he has been a member of the Armed Services Committee. At this time, I think it would be fair we allow the distinguished proponent of the amendment to speak for a bit. Then I will follow, and I presume he would like to do a few minutes' wrap-up; is that correct?

Mr. WARNER. I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from Alabama.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, and I shall not object, will the Chair advise both sides as to the time remaining?

Mr. WARNER. I would say 15 minutes.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. I was going to recommend that our colleague from Alaska, who has commitments early this morning, be able to initiate on this side comments in rebuttal to the distinguished Senator from Wisconsin and the Senator from Michigan can follow and then the Presiding Officer wishes to say something, and I will wrap.

Mr. WARNER. Could we speak for a minute before the quorum call?

Mr. WARNER

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

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Bunning, I send an amendment to the desk which makes a technical change to amendment No. 3438 on the Energy Employee Occupational Illness Compensation Program that had been previously agreed to. My understanding is the amendment is acceptable on each side.

Mr. WARNER. I urge adoption of the amendment.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, we have been in consultation with the leadership on both sides. I see the distinguished Democratic whip. I will make this unanimous consent request at this time. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate resumes consideration of the Defense authorization bill the Senate consider the following amendments in this order: Corzine amendment No. 3303, 30 minutes equally divided; Byrd amendment No. 3423, 20 minutes equally divided; McConnell, Iraq report and Kennedy amendment No. 3388, a total of 30 minutes equally divided for both amendments. They will be voted on side by side. Reed amendment No. 3353, 20 minutes equally divided; provided further that after the conclusion of all of the designated debate time, the Senate proceed to a series of consecutive votes in relation to the amendments mentioned above, in the order listed, with no second degrees in order to the amendments prior to the votes.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I do not believe there are further matters in relation to this bill. At this point in time, I will proceed to wrap up on behalf of leadership.

Mr. WARNER. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 3371, As Modified

Mr. WARNER. I would like now to send a package of 26 cleared amendments to the desk and ask for their consideration en bloc.

Mr. WARNER. I have been informed that the first amendment is Corzine, the second is McConnell-Kennedy, the third is Reed, and the fourth is Byrd.

Mr. WARNER. We have two technical matters. Sessions amendment No. 3371 was agreed to last week without a modification. I send to the desk a modified amendment No. 3371 as a substitute for the original amendment and ask unanimous consent that it be substituted for the version agreed to last week.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I realize colleagues are perplexed over the lapse of time here, and I assure you, we are working very hard on this bill. I am going to first thank the staffs on both sides, and indeed our staff before us in the Parliamentary group, for working to make it possible.

Mr. WARNER

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

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleagues in cosponsoring this resolution to honor and celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act, and the contributions of those who have created a glorious wilderness system throughout the United States for all Americans to enjoy. This anniversary provides a time for personal reflection on what wild places mean to us as individuals and society as a whole. As I consider the fact that this July 4 our country will celebrate her 228th year of independence, I marvel at the great changes she has seen. America has seen wars, the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, the Technology Age, times of prosperity and times of challenge. With all of these changes, much of America's landscape has been transformed. I also think back to America as I knew her as a child and how she has rapidly grown and changed during my 77 years. I feel indebted to those whose foresight resulted in the Wilderness Act legislation, and whose tireless efforts saw this act signed into law. In addition, I recognize all those who have championed the expansion of the wilderness system which now encompasses 106,000,000 acres nationwide. During my 26 years in the U.S. Senate, I have worked to pass three Virginia wilderness bills through Congress. In fact, I recently introduced the Virginia Ridge and Valley Wilderness and National Scenic Areas Act of 2004 which, if passed, would create an additional 29,000 acres of wilderness in southwest Virginia. With 177,214 acres of wilderness, Virginia's wild and beautiful landscapes will remain untouched by civilization. Visitors from across America can experience Virginia's wilderness and enjoy great beauty, solitude, primitive recreation, and nature in its true form. I feel very strongly that the Wilderness Act is a vehicle whereby we can pay tribute to our great country by preserving some of her heritage and history. Though development, growth and change continue, we will have pockets of undisturbed lands for solitude, reflection, and recreation. In these areas we can keep America's natural diversity, wildlife habitats, and vegetation intact. Through the efforts, passion, and vision of many, we will leave a natural legacy of wildlands to future generations of America.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I say to the Senator, I concede your point. You need not deliberate further. Fault lies on both sides, both branches of Government. All I am saying is--and I am informed by those who have greater knowledge about the procedures of the Red Cross than I; and I don't know whether it comes out of the executive branch or the Congress--further distribution of this information beyond one branch of Government to another branch of Government does increase the likelihood that somehow it gets out. And it will deal the Red Cross a very serious blow, I am told.

Mr. WARNER. Right after the Brownback.

Mr. WARNER. A lot of those will be voice votes.