John Warner

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. WARNER. That is correct, as a result of the national intelligence estimate.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I send two amendments to the desk which have been cleared by myself and the ranking member. Therefore, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider these amendments en bloc, they be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider laid upon the table. Finally, I ask that any statements relating to any of the individual amendments be printed at the appropriate place in the Record.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I have in mind, and I think other Members do at this juncture, operating under the unanimous consent agreement reached last night. I amend that unanimous consent to the extent that the senior Senator from West Virginia very graciously is willing to withhold the presentation of his amendment until such time that the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts and the Senator from Alaska bring up their amendments, which is sequenced, and they indicate to this manager that it will not take more than 10 or 12 minutes. Therefore, I ask that. I further request, following the disposition of the Byrd amendment, Mr. Feingold be recognized; following the completion of his amendment, the Senator from Illinois, Mr. Durbin, be recognized.

Mr. WARNER. I have no objection.

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

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I am, indeed, very honored to be a principal cosponsor with my friend and fellow member of the Armed Services Committee on this piece of legislation. This is a very important step. China should not perceive this as a threat. China should not perceive this in any other way than a positive step by the Congress to establish or keep in place this ongoing commission for the purpose of advising the Congress from time to time. We do not have as individual Members--of course, our committees perform oversight, but we do not have an opportunity, on a daily or weekly basis, to monitor the various criteria as set forth in the Byrd- Warner legislation. This commission will, again, be established by the Congress with six Members appointed by the Senate and six Members appointed by the House in a bipartisan manner, and it will be the watchdog to inform us from time to time. China in this millennium will compete with the United States, the world's only superpower, on a broad range of fronts--not just foreign affairs, not just national security, not just trade and economics, but in areas which we cannot even envision tonight, as this new millennium unfolds and this cyberspace in which we are all involved engulfs us day after day. The distinguished Senator from West Virginia pointed out some representations by certain individuals in China about their desire to get more involved in cyberspace for national security reasons. That is one of the important functions of this commission. I am very pleased to join with him because China will be the competitor. The Senate and the House--the Congress collectively--needs its own resource, and I underline that. I commend my distinguished colleague and friend from West Virginia.

Mr. WARNER. Yes.

Mr. WARNER. That is correct.

Mr. WARNER. Of course, Mr. President, from time to time, committees of this body--indeed, the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on Armed Services, the Governmental Affairs Committee--take active roles, but they do not do it every single day as this commission will monitor, together with the chairman and members and the staff.

Mr. WARNER. I yield the floor.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a previous unanimous consent agreement regarding the ``boilerplate language'' for completing the Defense authorization be modified with the changes that I now send to the desk.

Mr. WARNER. I share the Senator's concerns regarding the impact the House language might have on competition, and will work with you to ensure that Washington state's issues are addressed during the conference. Any suggestions you may have on this matter would be most welcome.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I believe the regular order would provide that we have concluded the matters in the unanimous consent agreement as it relates to this bill. We can wrap up for the night on this bill. I will yield to my colleague.

Mr. WARNER. I wonder if my colleagues might consider reviewing their position on the Cochran bill, while there may be other opportunities to express affirmation.

Mr. WARNER. I thank my colleague. I daresay the final conference report in the Armed Services bill will draw on this amendment for certain portions of the law that we will write.

Mr. WARNER. It is my understanding that the committee report language may not fully and adequately explain the intent of the Committee. The Committee's intent is to reaffirm the role of the Secretary of Defense to establish policy for and oversee the operation of DOD programs. I intend to see that the conference report language adequately expresses the view that the National Guard is to continue to administer the Youth ChalleNGe program under the oversight and direction of the Secretary of Defense.

Mr. WARNER. I welcome that. We have had a good debate. Having said that, let's wrap it up and pay our respects to the Presiding Officer and the staff who have all indulged us for this period of time.

Mr. WARNER. The Senator may go ahead.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished leader. We are here to try to convenience the Senate tonight. After this next vote, under the order, we go to the defense authorization bill. There are only four amendments scheduled in addition to Mr. Byrd's amendment. That would make five. Senator Levin and I will accommodate the Members who are going to be debating tonight. If we can get into some short meeting with them, in between these votes right now, perhaps at the end we can announce a UC request sequencing the four amendments. That is my intention.

Mr. WARNER. That is correct.

Mr. WARNER. That is correct.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, at 8:30 a.m. the Senate will resume debate of that legislation. By previous consent at 9:30 a.m., the Senate will proceed to the final three votes on the Defense authorization bill. Following the votes, the Senate will return to consideration of the death tax bill with amendments expected to be offered and voted on throughout the day. As a reminder, Senators should be prepared to complete action on the death tax legislation and the reconciliation bill prior to this week's adjournment. As previously indicated by the leader, a late session on Friday and a Saturday session may be necessary.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until the hour of 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 13. I further ask unanimous consent that on Thursday, immediately following the prayer, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate then resume H.R. 8, the Death Tax Elimination Act.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, if there is nothing further on the authorization bill, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period for morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.