John Warner

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I will have to ask my colleague to withhold that request. I will work on it, and I think we can accommodate all interested parties. Now, my understanding from the Chair is, we proceed to the amendment----

Mr. WARNER. I am not able to hear the Chair.

Mr. WARNER. No. I thought I had a unanimous consent request to proceed to the amendment of the Senator from Washington for a period not to exceed 1 hour, at the conclusion of which there would be a motion to table and then, of course, a vote.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I am ready to propound a unanimous consent request. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now consider an amendment by the Senator from Washington, Mrs. Murray, an amendment re: DOD privately funded abortions, that there be 1 hour for debate prior to a motion to table, with the time equally divided and controlled, with no intervening amendment in order prior to the vote.

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

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, we are under a time agreement, are we not?

Mr. WARNER. I didn't mean to interrupt the Senator, but I am hopeful that we can listen to the important debate. I would like to have the opportunity to respond to the Senator so that Senators following this debate can have framed in their minds where we have a difference of views, and I would like to complete this by 11:45 so we can keep on our schedule. I hope our colleague will try to accommodate as best he can. This is a very important subject. I share some of the views that he has made. I think what he said is a very important reminder to Senators on this subject. It has somewhat drifted from the minds of the Senators given that, regrettably, this stalemate thus far in Russia could move to ratification. Let us proceed, hopefully, in a timely way.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, on the subject of BRAC, again, the distinguished Senator from Michigan, the distinguished Senator from Arizona, Mr. McCain, the distinguished Senator from Rhode Island, Mr. Reed, the distinguished Senator from Maine--my recollection is there was one other Senator who spoke last night in the debate on the BRAC process, so we have had a considerable amount of debate. There are 2 hours allocated. I am not certain that all 2 hours will be needed. But I urge Senators to come over as quickly as possible when that amendment comes up on the schedule, and we can hopefully move through that debate and on to other matters. I yield the floor. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be laid aside.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. I will speak whenever you have completed. I want to accommodate you. You can follow me, if you so desire; whatever your desire may be.

Mr. WARNER. I beg your pardon?

Mr. WARNER. You are thoughtful to say that, because I enjoyed listening to yours but I, regrettably, think you are wrong in this instance, and I will move to table your amendment.

Mr. WARNER. I say to my good friend from Massachusetts, a fellow member of the Armed Services Committee, we have in this bill--you are ranking on that committee--the removal of those submarines as sought by the President and the administration. The essence of what I have to say is that Congress expressed a willingness to do that. Hopefully, this legislation will go through, become law. It seems to me, if the administration has further reductions in the arsenal, let it come before the Congress. That is the procedure that I would follow. So I just say, in opposition to this amendment, the amendment would strike section 1041. Section 1041 renews and modifies the provision that has been enacted in the defense authorization bill each year for the last 5 years. This is a measured, balanced, and needed provision which, in my view, all Members of the Senate should support. It simply prohibits the retirement of certain strategic delivery systems unless START II enters into force. Essentially, this provision seeks to prohibit unilateral compliance with the reduction of U.S. inventory implementation of the START II treaty and make clear to Russia that the benefits of our mutual arms control agreements can only be realized through mutual implementation of those agreements. This year, the Secretary of Defense and the Navy requested we modify the limitation to permit the retirement of four of the older Trident submarines. The Secretary, however, made it very clear that the administration was not advocating any unilateral implementation of START II. The Armed Services Committee reviewed the Secretary's recommendations to reduce the Trident force from 18 to 14 submarines and agreed to authorize such reduction. Section 1041 of the pending bill does, in fact, allow retirement or conversion of these four submarines. In keeping with the administration's policy not to unilaterally implement START II--and that is the policy; I assume the Senator from Nebraska agrees with that--the Secretary also made sure that the fiscal year 2000 budget request fully funded all remaining operational strategic nuclear delivery systems, including the 50 peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missiles deployed at the F.E. Warren Air Force Base. The Armed Services Committee supports this decision, and there is nothing in this bill that prohibits the Secretary from implementing any planned reduction to our strategic forces. Section 1041, which the Kerrey amendment would strike, simply reinforces the administration's policy of remaining at START I force levels until START II enters into force. To strike this provision would send a signal that the Senate no longer supports this policy. This would be a dangerous and unnecessary signal to send, one that could undermine the integrity of the arms control process. Since section 1041 does not prohibit any planned changes to U.S. strategic forces, it would appear that the supporters of this amendment are really interested in some form of unilateral arms control or some other steps that go beyond the administration's policy. At a time when our relations with Russia and China are quite uncertain, I say to my dear colleagues, now is not the time to consider unilateral reductions in our strategic forces. The United States and Russia are now hopefully nearing full implementation of the START I agreement. The administration has worked very hard to get Russia to ratify START II. If the Senate votes to eliminate section 1041, this action could be interpreted as a sign that the Senate is giving up on START II. Unless my colleagues are willing to abandon the arms control process, I suggest that they not support the pending amendment. Indeed, the administration has acknowledged that section 1041 provides significant leverage over Russia to get them to ratify START II. Mr. President, in closing, let me simply reiterate that section 1041 of the pending bill was crafted with the Secretary of Defense's views firmly in mind. Nothing in this provision prohibits the Secretary from undertaking any action he plans for fiscal year 2000. And, since the provision expires at the end of the fiscal year 2000, we will have an opportunity next year to review any new recommendations coming from the administration. For the time being, it would send a very bad message to strike this important provision. I urge my colleagues to oppose the Kerrey amendment and support the bill.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, if I could interrupt.

Mr. WARNER. The schedule of the Senate would permit additional time, if you so desire, I say to my colleagues, to seek additional time.

Mr. WARNER. I will ask unanimous consent that I have about 5 minutes on this matter.

Mr. WARNER. I thank my colleague from Oklahoma. Mr. President, the chairman of the committee sat here and listened to the differences of views of three of his stalwarts. But as I listened, I said to myself, possibly you could work it out. We are at the point in time where I would like to go on another amendment. Senator Harkin will return at circa 7 o'clock, and he desires to speak for about 15 or 20 minutes. We made in the unanimous consent agreement that provision. There is time within which you might consider it, because I stand very firmly with the decisions of the committee. I listened to the debate. As a matter of fact, ironically--I hate to keep dating myself--along about circa 1943, or 1944, I was associated somehow with the Civil Air Patrol, because I always wanted to join the Army Air Corps. It was called the Army Air Corps in those days. Also, it gave a young person-- as I was 16--an opportunity to hop in a plane and fly. It was exciting to fly in those days. It was not a matter of routine in those days. It was a dream. So much for that trivia. The point is that this is a very respected and venerable organization that has to be preserved. As I listened to our colleague from Oklahoma recount the potential problems, ``60 Minutes'' is going to tune in on this pretty soon. There are just a few of us that understand the value of the Civil Air Patrol, and we could lose it. For example, the junior ROTC and the junior NROTC and other programs to encourage young people to direct some portion of their life devoted to the military, I have seen those programs scaled back, funding reduced, and support reduced. It concerns me that this program, likewise, could face those situations. I am going to support the Senator from Oklahoma in his position because it is a committee position. I listened to the debate and I believe some remedies have to be addressed. With a little luck, maybe we can work it out.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, the Senate resume the DOD authorization bill, and that the Allard amendment No. 396 be the pending business, and that there be 30 minutes remaining on the amendment with 20 minutes under the control of Senator Harkin and 10 minutes equally divided between Senator Allard and myself, with a vote occurring at 10 a.m. on or in relation to the amendment, with no amendments in order prior to the vote.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, in light of that agreement, there will be no further votes this evening. The next vote will be at 10 a.m. on Thursday relative to the Allard amendment. Mr. President, at this time there will be no further action on the DOD bill.

Mr. WARNER. As the Senator from Tennessee is aware the C-141 aircraft has served this nation well but its useful life is coming to an end. In the report to accompany the Defense Authorization Act, the Committee urges the Secretary of the Air Force to designate a follow-on aircraft for those Air Force Reserve units affected by the retirement of the C- 141, and notify the relevant congressional committees as soon as the new mission assignments are available.

Mr. WARNER. I have completed my statement. I yield the floor.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I leave it to the experts on this.

Mr. WARNER. At that time, we will have debate by Senator Harkin for a period not to exceed 15 to 20 minutes, and then we propose to vote, unless good fortune strikes and these able Senators are reconciled. The pending business now would be the amendment from the distinguished majority leader, Mr. Lott; would that not be correct?

Mr. WARNER. Could I say to my colleagues, is it possible we could conclude this debate? We are anxious to bring up another amendment which we hope to vote on tonight.

Mr. WARNER. I thank my distinguished colleague.

Mr. WARNER. I thank my colleagues. Mr. President, we will ask unanimous consent that this amendment be laid aside until such time as I bring it up again.