John Warner

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. I beg your pardon.

Mr. WARNER. I am not sure. The vote takes place at 9:30 tomorrow morning. As I understand it, there is an order to that effect. My understanding is that the standing order is that the Senate will vote at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning on a cloture motion; is that correct?

Mr. WARNER. Then I would say to my colleague from Connecticut, how do we achieve that?

Mr. WARNER. I would have to object to a voice vote. I am dutybound, you understand, to protect colleagues on this side, particularly those on the Commerce Committee which has overall jurisdiction.

Mr. WARNER. I want to help you. I am going to vote with you. But I am dutybound, as you understand, to protect those on this side. I do not know what the chairman of the Commerce Committee, on your side, has said about this issue, but I do know members of the Commerce Committee, on this side, certainly must be protected--at least be given an opportunity to speak to this amendment if it is brought up for purposes of a rollcall vote.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, that seems to me to be an orderly procedure.

Mr. WARNER. Reserving the right to object, could that be 15 minutes?

Mr. WARNER. He wanted 15 minutes to offer it, which is fine. I have no objection, but I do want to get back to this question of amendments.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I add my commendations to our good friend and colleague. All too often in reflecting on September 11, we, of course, focus on the magnitude of the tragedy in New York and, indeed, in my State, but we should include Pennsylvania.

Mr. WARNER. The firefighters are a band of brothers and sisters, as it was made very clear to me, wherever they are in those States, particularly those three impact areas. I visited the Pentagon not more than 3 or 4 hours after the plane flew into it, and I will have further remarks. I see our distinguished colleague from North Carolina wishes to address another matter for a few minutes, and then I will regain the floor.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, may I say that we worked together on this. I would like to be a cosponsor of this amendment.

Mr. WARNER. I ask unanimous consent that this important colloquy about the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff be printed in today's Record separate from the presentation by the Senator from Connecticut.

Mr. WARNER. I say to the distinguished chairman, Senator McCain has now indicated he joins in full support of this measure, so I am prepared to agree to the amendment, with the distinguished Presiding Officer in the chair; is that agreeable?

Mr. WARNER. I move to reconsider the vote by which the amendment was agreed to.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I acknowledge that from time to time the heart of the Senator from Connecticut needs to be quieted so we are going to bring that little teddy bear to the floor to calm him down on some other matters.

Mr. WARNER. I wish to join my distinguished chairman in commending the hard work of our staff over the course of Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and today, working on this package. It is well known to all members of the committee what is included in the amendments. Therefore, the amendments have been cleared on our side.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Madam President, I commend my distinguished colleague from North Carolina. I, too, want to associate myself with his remarks on the distinguished career of General Shelton. In my 23 years in the Senate, I have worked with many chairmen and each has had his own strengths. The strengths of this fine man were towering. He had a sense of humility and composure that was always with him. I never thought that there was a time when he overreached. He was always calm, collected, and confident and rendered magnificent service to two Presidents, which is unique. Above all, I remember when the Senate Armed Services Committee would have him come before it, most often with the other chiefs, and, frankly, in a respectful way to the Commander in Chief--at that time President Clinton--would properly say, I respect my Commander in Chief but we do not have sufficient funds in the budget for the defense of this Nation to meet our needs. Then he would very carefully lay out those requirements that he and his fellow chiefs sitting there before the committee--and indeed I think it was before the Appropriations Committee--the Presiding Officer who recalls the time that he appeared, and he laid down with clarity the needs of the men and women of the Armed Forces in our defense, even though those figures were at variance with the budgetary submissions by the President. In the very simple, plain language that the foot soldier understands, that man had guts.

Mr. WARNER. Yes.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Whatever you say. I thank my chairman. And I hope he has a safe journey wherever he is traveling on this important observance of the religious holiday.

Mr. WARNER. Madam President, I am not hearing.

Mr. WARNER. Fine. If it requires that I now move to reconsider the vote and to lay that motion on the table, I do that.

Mr. WARNER. Fine. Now, Madam President, first, the chairman and I, together with the two senior appropriators of the Senate and our counterparts in the House, started today at the Pentagon, with the Secretary of Defense, his senior staff, and the designated new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The chairman and I open every day expressing our profound gratitude to the men and women of the Armed Forces and their families, and particularly our concerns are everlasting for those who suffered loss of life and injury, and the families associated with those victims on September 11. After this meeting, I walked around again to that site where that plane committed a terrorist act against the symbol of the U.S. military strength, the Department of Defense. I am pleased to report that, in my judgment, the Secretary is moving forward on a broad range of fronts to address all issues that the President, in his memorable speech, raised before the Congress. Expressing for myself, and I think all others, we have tremendous confidence in the men and women of the Armed Forces in their ability to carry out the diverse set of missions, any one of which may face them at any time as we address the terrorist acts inflicted on the country, and to take every step to prepare that it shall not be repeated. I commend our President and, indeed, the Secretaries of Defense and State, who were here yesterday and briefed almost 90 Senators on a wide range of issues. So the consultation between the executive branch and the legislative branch, particularly those of us who have the oversight responsibility, I think is more than adequate and certainly within the spirit of all the various laws, beginning with our Constitution, which says that the Senate and the House, as a congress, are a coequal branch of the Government. I join with my distinguished chairman in saying how important this bill is for the men and women of the Armed Forces. As we sat there at our breakfast this morning, there were further announcements on callups and movements of these individuals in uniform and the impact on their families. It is absolutely imperative we move forward with this bill. On the matters that were addressed last night, which for a period of time held up consideration of this bill, those Senators were acting within their rights as Senators on matters which are of great concern. I am hopeful that those two issues can be resolved. As our chairman said, Senator Daschle, Senator Lott, and Senator Reid are around the clock working on these issues, together with other Senators. So I am optimistic that we can move forward and continue to work on this bill on Monday and proceed to a resolution and passage in a timely way to show that the Senate of the United States, in joining the House of Representatives, is prepared to have a bill to go to the President shortly, authorizing the very special needs we have at this time in our history. Mr. President, I yield the floor and I thank my chairman. We have been working together for at least 23 years. We have more work to do.

Mr. WARNER. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. WARNER. Madam President, I will address in detail some of the remarks made earlier by my distinguished chairman, but at this point in time may I say this has been worked out mutually. We are in complete concurrence on this side with this block of amendments that we will adopt en bloc. Again, I join the Senator in crediting our staff who have worked long hours into last night and almost every night.

Mr. WARNER. Madam President, I urge the adoption of the amendments.