John Warner

Mr. WARNER

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

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, we jointly yield back all time. The vote may proceed.

Mr. WARNER. I ask for the yeas and nays on the McCain-Levin amendment.

Mr. WARNER. It is my intention to yield back the time, I say to my colleagues. I will wait momentarily, and we can proceed to the vote. Has the vote been ordered, Mr. President?

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, the pending business is the amendment offered by the Senator from Arizona; am I not correct?

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I would like to pose a question or two to my very dear friend and good colleague from Delaware.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, will the Chair state the allocation of the time remaining between the distinguished Senator from Nebraska and myself.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, ultimately we will go lower. But we should take into consideration the actions of the Duma and the fact that we should study very carefully this nuclear posture in view of the actions taken by the Duma.

Mr. WARNER. It seems to me that is a fair allocation in the course of a colloquy.

Mr. WARNER. I simply say to my good friend, I strongly disagree. This President signed this five times. We saw an example where the distinguished Senator from West Virginia and I had the Byrd-Warner amendment regarding the deployment of our troops and taking certain steps by the Congress. What happened? Not only this President but the candidates for President, both Vice President Gore and George W. Bush, communicated in various ways they believed that amendment was an encroachment on Presidential power, and we missed that by a mere three votes, is my recollection, because of that very issue. It was an abridgement of Presidential power. Nothing is fought on this Chamber floor with greater vigor than protecting the powers of the President of the United States.

Mr. WARNER. In quick summary, he cites what the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs said in 1995. Fine. But General Shelton and others were acting on the predicate, on the assumption, which was a fair assumption, that the Russian Duma would adopt START II as it was written and not put these conditions on it. Once they put these conditions on, it was a clear signal to all of us, we had better go back and reexamine what in effect is the desire of Russia on arms control. These are conditions which they know this Chamber, as presently constituted, would never accept. I yield the floor.

Mr. WARNER. We did. I talked to him last night after we departed the Chamber. Guess what. He sat and watched us and critiqued us very carefully. We are proud of Bob Dole.

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

Mr. WARNER. I urge adoption of the amendment. THE PRESIDING OFFICER. If there be no further debate, the question is on agreeing to the amendment.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, Senator Inhofe, I believe, desires some time, and then I will yield to Senator Hatch for 10 minutes.

Mr. WARNER. I yield the floor.

Mr. WARNER. Let's continue to work toward 6 o'clock tonight. I think it is important we do so. So many Senators have plans, and we want to accommodate them.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I urge all Senators--we are trying to move towards a 6 o'clock deadline tonight with respect to first-degree amendments. We are making considerable progress on both sides.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, we now have a unanimous consent request. Piece by piece we are working and succeeding in putting forth UC requests to keep this bill moving forward. I ask unanimous consent that at 3 p.m. on Thursday, June 8, the Senate temporarily lay aside any pending amendments and Senator Daschle and/or his designee be recognized to offer his amendment re: HMO, and that there be 2 hours, equally divided, prior to the vote in relation to the amendment, with no second-degree amendments in order prior to the vote. I further ask consent that during today's or tomorrow's session, Senator Inhofe be recognized for up to 10 minutes and Senator Snowe be recognized for up to 30 minutes, each for general debate on the bill.

Mr. WARNER. At an appropriate time.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, a hotline will be going out to both cloakrooms. I thank my colleagues. We are still awaiting the arrival of Senator McCain, at which time we will proceed to the McCain-Levin amendment, which is described in detail in the unanimous consent request. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I assure our distinguished leadership on this side that Senator Lott, I, and others believe very strongly that this bill is essential for the United States and essential for the men and women in the Armed Forces. I think considerable bipartisanship has prevailed up to this moment. I hope it continues and we can complete this bill.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I certainly appreciate the expression from our distinguished leader on the minority that it is the minority's desire to move this bill to completion. That is very reassuring.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be granted permission to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, June 7, for purposes of conducting a Full Committee business meeting which is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. The purpose of this business meeting is to consider pending calendar business.