John Warner

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Absolutely.

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

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, that is correct. I thank the Senator from Arizona. It is my understanding that our distinguished Senator from West Virginia desires to address the Senate, in which case the pending business is the amendment in the second degree, and we will return to that.

Mr. WARNER. I see a Senator seeking recognition, so we will withhold a quorum call. My understanding is the Senator from Arizona wishes to talk about the proposal now under consideration, if that is agreeable.

Mr. WARNER. Yes, I have.

Mr. WARNER. Reserving the right to object, I will not object, but that does not preclude a motion to table.

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

Mr. WARNER. I see the distinguished Senator from Alabama, and I yield the floor.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, the distinguished ranking member, Senator Levin, and myself, together with Senator Lautenberg and Senator Kyl, are endeavoring to structure a program for the next 2 or 3 hours, hopefully. In the meantime, our distinguished colleague, the Senator from New Mexico, would like to respond to some earlier remarks made in the Senate.

Mr. WARNER. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 3165

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, this is a technical amendment which has been cleared by both sides. Am I correct?

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

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I yield our time to Senator Kyl.

Mr. WARNER. Parliamentary inquiry, Madam President: Is not the Lautenberg amendment the pending amendment?

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

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

Mr. WARNER. I yield such time as the distinguished Senator from Kentucky may wish.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, and I ask that we pursue the opportunity to have a time agreement on the Lott-Dorgan amendment. First, I ask the distinguished Senator from Mississippi how much time the Senator desires--and we will talk about it in terms of it being equally divided.

Mr. WARNER. No objection.

Mr. WARNER. That is correct.

Mr. WARNER. The Senator participates in the withdrawal of the quorum call. Yes, the quorum call can now be withdrawn. I ask unanimous consent that the quorum call----

Mr. WARNER. He can file, but I did not hear the word ``file.''

Mr. WARNER. All Presidents have supported BRAC. You know that message is coming up. So what happens to the lobbyist? He tells the community: Keep me on the payroll, that vote is coming, and you do not know which way that vote is going to go. They will breathe fear into these communities, unlike anything before, to keep those lobbyists on the payroll. Those communities will be shelling out the money year after year. I will close with the following comment: We are to soon receive a letter which will have this statement in it: Base Realignment and Closure, BRAC--the administration strongly opposes any provision to modify, delay, or repeal the BRAC authority passed by the Congress 3 years ago. If the President is presented a bill that modifies, delays, or repeals the BRAC authority, the Secretary of Defense, joining with other senior advisers, would recommend that the President veto the bill. Rather than waiting for the resolution of infrastructure issues as proposed by the committee, BRAC needs to move forward so it can be done in concert with such a resolution. A delay would postpone the achievement of a basing structure more suited to 21st century threats and delay billions and billions of dollars in savings. The current excesses in base and facility capacity create unnecessary demands on the Department of Defense resources needed to maintain military readiness and transform for the future. I yield to my distinguished colleague from Michigan.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I express my appreciation to Senator Bingaman and Senator Pryor and acknowledge our colleague in the House, Mr. Snyder. I would like to add to that Congressman Ike Skelton. He talked to me about it. He feels very strongly. He is a marvelous man. He is the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee. So I think this is a splendid initiative. I strongly urge Members of this Senate to support it. It is H.R. 3104, the act to provide for the establishment of separate campaign medals for those uniformed services participating in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The bill before us passed the House in late March by a vote of 423 to 0. During the markup of the Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2005 on May 6, the committee unanimously decided to include the text of this provision in the bill as section 542. At the same time, in order to expedite its enactment, the committee also voted favorably to report out this bill. So we covered it in both ways in the Armed Services Committee, again showing our strong support. I will touch on a little bit of history. Going back to World War II, we had a campaign medal called the Asiatic/Pacific Campaign Medal, and that covered all of the operations in the Pacific region. There was another separate medal for the Philippine campaign, to my recollection, but basically it was one to cover the many actions in the Pacific. Likewise, a second was the European/African/Middle Eastern Campaign Medal awarded to those who served between 1941 and 1946, which covered all of the operations in those three theaters. There was a third medal which was sort of a medal that covered those who saw service, but their training and other duties did not require them to go overseas. They were largely in the continental limits of the United States and participated in actions along the coastlines of America, the Atlantic side, and, of course, the Pacific side. Then when we came down to the campaigns in Korea, there was the Korean Service Medal given from 1950 to 1954. My distinguished colleague, Senator Bingaman, worked on a slight revision for the qualifications, which I supported, expanding the period of time, which I thought was a wise decision. Then when we came down to the question of the service in Vietnam, again, we had the Vietnam Service Medal. So there are many precedents for this type of action regarding the very important recognition of the individuals who participate. These particular categories of decorations indicate the geographic area where that individual saw service during the periods of conflict. Through experience I have found that the men and women of the Armed Forces--again, I say with the deepest humility I was entitled to the Korean Service Medal for very modest service--but I remember this weekend, as other Members do, where we traveled back to our States to seek out those who saw service in Iraq, and I met with six individuals in connection with a graduation speech. They had been reservists at this small college. They had been called back into active duty, and coincidentally with my visit they had just gotten home from their year obligation of service in Iraq. The first question they asked me was, What sort of recognition do we get for service over there? Now, two of them had been wounded and, of course, received the Purple Heart, but they were anxious to know was recognition forthcoming. That is why I have joined in total support of this effort to bring to the attention of those people in this country the remarkable service that has been performed in both these theaters of operation in the past year or so. So I strongly support this bill. The superb service rendered by our Nation's fighting forces since September 11 fully warrants the establishment of campaign medals for service in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. I urge all of my colleagues to vote for it. I again thank those who have taken a leadership role, our distinguished colleagues Senators Bingaman and Pryor, and the two individuals on the House side. I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I can proceed for a minute or two in a colloquy with my distinguished friend from Nevada.