John Warner

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. We will allow him time tomorrow morning to speak.

Mr. WARNER. Senator McCain wishes to be active in that.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, there is a Senator who has concerns about the amendment now pending offered by the Senator from Wisconsin. Frankly, I find a lot of appeal in this amendment. I am not able to indicate to the Senator how we will deal with this on this side until I have had an opportunity to consult with that particular Senator. I suggest this be laid aside with the full understanding that it can be brought up again--maybe this evening or possibly tomorrow morning for such further comments as our side may have.

Mr. WARNER. That is the Senator's prerogative.

Mr. WARNER. Could I leave that as a pending request?

Mr. WARNER. The Chair is correct. I accept the ruling. And the yeas and nays have been ordered; am I not correct?

Mr. WARNER. Let's go to the unanimous consent agreement. The Chair advised the Senate with regard to the unanimous consent agreement that was put in early this afternoon. Mr. President, am I not correct that the vote is now scheduled for 5:30 on the second-degree amendment, and the yeas and nays have been ordered?

Mr. WARNER. I will not characterize it as opposition, but a Senator on this side has indicated to me that he wishes to address this amendment before I as manager can speak for the committee. Actually, this is a matter now before our committee. Out of respect for him, I just ask it be laid aside.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I will divide such time as I have. I believe it is 2 minutes. I will take 1 minute and give the Senator a minute. We had a very good debate. It involves an extremely sensitive subject, the handling of the remains of those who die or perish one way or another in these theaters of conflict as they are brought to the United States. The amendment in the second degree is drawn to preserve the most important priority, and that is the privacy of the families. It is, therefore, my position that the better course of action for the Senate is to go with the amendment in the second degree which is before all parties tonight and not open this matter to great scrutiny by the press, as does the underlying amendment in the first degree. I yield the floor.

Mr. WARNER

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

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I thank our colleague. That leaves the Reed amendment for further discussion on Monday. Am I correct on that?

Mr. WARNER. Thank you. Speaking with the distinguished Democratic whip, I believe we are closing in on the final matters on this bill. One end I am going to try to tie down, then it would be my intention, subject to leadership concurrence, to close out today's activities on the bill and go into a period for morning business; is that correct?

Mr. WARNER. If I may say, Madam President, I feel we are mutually reaching the goal established by Senator Reid and the majority leader and the distinguished Democratic leader. I think we are getting excellent cooperation from all Senators, and we will be able to conclude this matter.

Mr. WARNER. I again appreciate the Senator's assistance. We, frankly, have no more amendments on our side that I know of. Possibly one. I appreciate the cooperation which the other side has given to this matter. 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 Democratic whip on the floor. He has a pending amendment. We are prepared to accept it on this side.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, it is for that reason that I send to the desk a second-degree amendment and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, if my dear friend will indulge me my own recollection, when that tragic incident happened in Beirut, Senator Tower was the leader of the Republican side of our committee, and I was sort of one of the junior members. I remember he came into my office and said: We are leaving for Beirut in 2 hours. If you have time to pack a bag, pack it; otherwise, just bring a toothbrush. We went over there and saw the tragedy that had befallen our marines. I will never forget it. When we came back on the plane, we talked a little bit, and President Reagan did receive the benefit of our trip. He was deeply moved by that incident. I cannot recall exactly the days thereafter when we were working with bringing the remains home, but I let it be known to the President that maybe this would be an opportunity to send a strong message of his deep bereavement for the losses and the resolve that he had to challenge those who brought this about and bring to accountability those who perpetrated that crime. We suggested he go down, and sure enough he did go. I was privileged he asked if I would come down with him. It was a day I will never forget. It was a cold and rainy day. Because of the number of caskets, it was on the outside largely. I recall the schedule, as all Presidential schedules are detailed, and I had a little copy in my pocket. He went down to speak to some of the families. It was just magnificent the way this President stood in that cold rain and spoke to them. He turned to me and he said: You know, we should stay and speak to every single family member. He did that. We found the time to go down very orderly and speak to every single family member. The commanding officer of Camp Lejeune was MG Al Gray. Gray is an extraordinary man. He came up through the ranks in the Marine Corps to become a general. He knew the name--I don't recall he even used any notes--of everyone there, and he stood side by side with the President. I was just a few feet to one side going through and talked to the President. If a wife or a loved one wanted to hug the President, the President hugged them. It was remarkable. It was one of the most extraordinary moments in my long career of working with the men and women of the Armed Forces and a series of Presidents over the many years. I am glad the Senator from New Jersey brought that up because that attack, in a sense, caught this Nation by surprise. We were ill- equipped. I don't know that the Senator from New Jersey would have any reason to remember this, but the guards around the barracks could not even have live ammo in their weapons to try and deter an attack. We were relying on host country security and the like. But that is an incident which I commend the Senator again for bringing up, but we could not, in my judgment, replicate that today because of the regrettable constancy of bringing back our beloved lost ones in the present conflicts, be they Afghanistan or Iraq. Amendment No. 3458 To Amendment No. 3291

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I always enjoy debating my good friend from New Jersey. I have fond memories of a recent trip we took to the 60th anniversary of D-day when he told me some of his own personal experiences as a young soldier in the closing moments of World War II, serving with our forces in Germany. He is a modest man and does not talk about it much, but he is one of the few remaining veterans of World War II in the Senate. I wonder if the Senator might go back to that reference in his statement about the Beirut bombing. Mr. President, would the Senator from New Jersey repeat that because it invoked a memory I have? Did he not talk about how President Reagan went down--I wonder if he will, once again, recite that very important chapter of history.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, regarding the first amendment, during the course of the colloquy with the Senator from New Jersey, if he would like to speak with me, I have some thoughts on that.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, regarding the second amendment we are currently on, I would like to reserve the right to have an amendment in the second degree. I want to make that clear. We will lay this aside, and one of our colleagues, who is as active in this field as the Senator is, wishes to address a certain aspect of this amendment. For the time being, this amendment will be laid aside until, hopefully, some time Monday when our colleague will have time.

Mr. WARNER. Fine.

Mr. WARNER. Fine. Mr. President, I am going to ask that a quorum call be put in while I have an opportunity to take some of the facts which the Senator delivered in his very comprehensive opening statement and check them out. As I am doing that, would you prefer to go on to your other amendment?

Mr. WARNER. Do most of those States do both their National Guard as well as their Reserves or do they just do their Guard?

Mr. WARNER. Well, I see that argument very clearly. Of course, you know the Army proudly has this motto: ``We are one,'' which means every soldier can do a variety of things, and whether you are a guard or reservist, you are respected now just as much as that career person. Do you have that list of 22 States? I think we have it over here on our side. I would like to look at that.