John Warner

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, at this time I send to the desk an amendment. It has been agreed upon between the ranking member and that I would be recognized for the purpose of an amendment following the disposition of the Lautenberg amendment. So at this time I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its consideration following the disposition of the Lautenberg amendment.

Mr. WARNER. I ask unanimous consent the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the scheduled recess today be extended to 3:30 p.m., further that the cloture vote on the nomination of Richard Stickler be vitiated and at 3:30 p.m. the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 4939, the emergency supplemental appropriations bill.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I say to my good friend from Massachusetts and my distinguished colleague from West Virginia, I am not at liberty--I have no instructions from my leadership beyond propounding this. It was my understanding it was cleared on both sides. I assumed that when it was handed to me, and therefore I proceeded to request by unanimous consent these actions. I think Members are anxious to go to a series of events now, namely the party caucuses, followed by the traditional photograph, and then there is a briefing at 2:30 by the Secretaries of State and Defense, which I believe is very important for Senators to have the opportunity to attend. That is the purpose of this unanimous consent request.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, it seems to me that we could have the certainty, then, if the vote is to be held, that we could go immediately following the vote to the supplemental.

Mr. WARNER. Then I think for the moment that we are confronted with the parliamentary situation whereby there is objection.

Mr. WARNER. No. Leave the unanimous consent request there. I understand there is objection.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry be authorized to conduct a hearing during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, June 13, 2006, at 10 a.m. in 328A, Senate Russell Office Building. The purpose of this committee hearing will be to discuss United States Department of Agriculture Farm Loan Programs.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet on Tuesday, June 13, 2006, at 10 a.m. on the Committee Update of S. 2686 Consumer's Choice and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on ``Examining the Continuing Need for Voting Rights Act Section 203's Provisions Regarding Bilingual Election Materials'' on Tuesday, June 13, 2006, at 9:30 a.m., in Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226. Witness List Panel I: John Transvina, President, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), Los Angeles, CA; Margaret Fung, Executive Director, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, New York, NY; Mauro E. Mujica, Chairman of the Board and CEO, U.S. English, Washington, DC; Deborah Wright, Acting Assistant Registrar-Recorder, Department of Registrar-Recorder, Los Angeles, CA; Peter N. Kirsanow, Member, National Labor Relations Board, Commissioner, United States Commission on Civil Rights, Cleveland, OH.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 13, 2006, at 2:30 p.m., to hold a closed briefing.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland and Governmental Affairs' Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security be authorized to meet on Tuesday, June 13, 2006, at 2:30 p.m., for a hearing regarding ``Autopilot Budgeting: Will Congress Ever Respond to Government Performance Data?''

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, before the Senator parts the floor, I say thank you for your kind remarks. Yes, I do graciously and willingly step down. It is the rules of our caucus, and I respect that. But it has been a marvelous opportunity for me to have this 6 years, and, indeed, a year or 2 before that as chairman. But I want to particularly comment on the long association and continued association of the senior Senator from Colorado with respect to issues of national security. The Senator has served on our committee, I think, about 8 years. How many years?

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

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that this be the pending business, with the understanding that it be laid aside tomorrow, in the morning, for such time as the distinguished ranking member seeks to gain recognition for the purpose of introducing an amendment from his side.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, we are now on the bill. Is that correct?

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent if I may depart from the bill to speak as if in morning business regarding our distinguished colleague, Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, to accommodate Members, we will be on the bill for some period of time. I will be joined by the distinguished ranking member, Mr. Levin, shortly after 5 o'clock today. In the meantime, we are open for statements.

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

Mr. WARNER. That is correct. And you are distinguished in your steadfastness on the subject of missile defense and how to protect this country. How many times have you taken the floor and asked and received silence from the Senate: Do we have one--one--system that can knock down an intercontinental ballistic missile should we have the misfortune, be it accidental or otherwise, to have it targeted against our country? There has been silence in this Chamber until we started the missile defense program, and you steadfastly fought for that. I say to the Senator, I also commend you for Rocky Flats. Year after year after year, you shepherded through the Senate, in the appropriations cycle, the funds to do that because of not just the importance of Rocky Flats but the importance of the overall program, what we call the cleanup program, the environmental program, in the Department of Defense to clean up a lot of the former military installations and particularly those associated with the production of fissionable material. So I commend the Senator.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Monday, June 12, 2006, at 3 p.m. to hold a hearing on the U.S.-Uruguay Bilateral Investment Treaty.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the staff members of the Committee on Armed Services--both Republican and Democrat--appearing on the list that I send to the desk be extended the privileges of the floor during the consideration of S. 2766, the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2007.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I have been very much looking forward to this moment. First, I ask unanimous consent that an article which appeared in the Charleston Gazette on June 12, 2006, be printed in the Record following my remarks.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, this article embraces the comments of many dear friends of the Senator, and I say with some humility, a few of my own comments as well. I think back to reminisce on the 28 years that I have been privileged to have represented the Commonwealth of Virginia in this Chamber. There is no single individual for whom I have greater reverence or respect than my dear friend, the senior Senator from West Virginia. We were bonded together early on. When I arrived here, he sought me out, and I sought him out because our two great States at one time, were one State, the State of Virginia. But now, even though we are two States, our states have so many issues in common. How many times Senator Byrd and I have come to this floor with regard to the subject of the coal miners, their safety, their ability to operate and provide that essential component to America's energy needs, coal; how dangerous is the profession, how much we respect their families and other ones who share the risk that the miners take every day. Then, more specifically, I remember so well how we have worked together all of these many years in support of clean-coal-burning technology. Coal is the largest single reserve of energy that this Nation possesses--the largest, far beyond petroleum, far beyond natural gas, far beyond the other renewables, and so forth. Coal is there. Our research and industrial base works year after year to try to see how we can consume these vast coal reserves and thereby become less and less dependent on importing our energy needs, but burning it in such a way that it does the least possible harm to the environment, be it the air we breathe or the problems associated with acid rain, and so forth. I commend my dear friend for all the work that he has done and will continue to do for years on clean coal technology. Virginia and West Virginia also share a common border that is basically established by the Appalachian Mountains. This part of Virginia and West Virginia has its own magnificent qualities, particularly the sturdy lifestyle of the people who choose purposefully to live in those hills and valleys and those mountains which are so often ravaged by heavy floods and so often ravaged by other natural disasters, such as snowstorms. Senator Byrd and I many times have gone to visit those regions in the aftermath of a natural disaster. We find no desire on the part of those people to leave those regions, only to remain. Senator Byrd was instrumental in passing legislation which provides recognition for those geographic areas of the Appalachian range that are deserving of financial assistance and other forms of assistance because of the rigorous, challenging lifestyle in these regions. He has seen that funding has remained these many years equitably allocated between the several States. I think of him foremost as one who is a family man. How often he has reminisced about the members of his family. He speaks with a great sense of pride and humility on how his family, much like every Member of this Senate, is closely involved in the life of the Senate, closely involved because of the commitments the families make: the many long hours Senators are required to either be in the Chamber or traveling throughout their States, traveling throughout the 50 States, or, indeed, around the world. It is a challenge for the families, and Bob Byrd is a family man, along with his beloved wife Erma. I remember so well early on in my career, I had the privilege to be invited by Senator Byrd, to join him on a number of codels to various parts of the world. We served together on the Senate Committee on Armed Services these many years. So often we would visit the troops and others throughout the world. One trip I remember ever so vividly, he took the first congressional codel to the then-Soviet Union to visit with Gorbachev, who had risen to a powerful position in the Soviet Union after a lot of strife and turmoil. That man exhibited extraordinary courage. I so looked forward to our important visit, as did every member of that codel--I think there were about a dozen of us who joined Senator Byrd to go over to the Soviet Union. Senator Strom Thurmond, whose record Senator Byrd, with a sense of humility, passes today, was on that codel. And as we flew to the Soviet Union, I had the privilege--and maybe with one or two others--of working with Bob Byrd on remarks he wanted to make. That was an important set of remarks. Strom Thurmond represented the Republican side of that delegation. We were basically equally divided. I remember working through that statement well into the wee hours of the night as that plane was traversing that long distance. The following day, Gorbachev announced he was going to allocate an hour and a half time to meet this delegation. The time was carefully allocated by Senator Byrd and Senator Thurmond to members of the delegation. I recall that I was the junior man on that delegation. When he got to me, I had 2 minutes. I was proud to get 2 minutes. Our dear colleague and friend, the retiring Senator this year, Senator Sarbanes, senior, of course, to me at that time, turned to me and said: I will give you my 3 minutes so you can have 5 minutes because you are on that Committee on Armed Services, and there is nothing more important to be covered today than the issues relating to national defense. I will never forget that act of courtesy by Senator Sarbanes. Senator Byrd delivered his remarks flawlessly. Gorbachev listened very carefully. Gorbachev made a few notes on a pad. He was followed, then, by Strom Thurmond, who delivered one of his thunderous, heartfelt remarks, beginning with how he stormed the shore on D-Day and how the Soviet Army was pressing on Germany from another direction. It was a confluence of primarily those two forces and Great Britain and, of course, their allies and the free French who brought a conclusion to the war. Gorbachev's father had been in the war. Strom reminisced, jokingly saying that he hoped he had not hurt his father. I recall Gorbachev very much was moved by that comment. That was the type of thing for which Senator Byrd was so famous: putting together those delegations, going to those places in the world around which the axle of history was evolving at that time, or the spokes of history around that axle. What a privilege it was to travel with this great man. I think of him as a historian. This Senator does not have the temerity, and I don't know of anyone who would challenge Bob Byrd on the history of this great institution. No man hath greater love for this Senate than Robert Byrd. He has expressed that with a sense of humility many times in speeches in the Senate. When he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a copy of the Constitution--he almost knows it by heart--he always opens that little book. He can, as quickly as anyone in this Senate, find those passages that are relevant to the debate at hand or the issues at hand. Those are things we remember about him with such great respect. He is a humorist. He can be tough. He can be firm. But, oh, can he bring a chuckle about in the hearts of all of us. Sometimes in this Senate when things hit the high point of stress, I have seen Bob Byrd take to the floor with his very soft voice, dispel tension, dispel some of the rancor, and inject a note of humor. Bob Byrd is also, it might surprise Members, an artist. One painting he did many years ago, some of us through the years have been privileged to get a copy of that painting. He has an eye for art. He also has an eye for music. I do recall the times when he played the fiddle, the music that he loved and still loves. I think he composed a little bit on the side from time to time. I can recount so many things where he is far more capable than I. I have never considered myself a poet, but Bob Byrd can recall from memory hundreds of poems and recite them at times when it seems most appropriate. He is a family man, historian, humorous, artist, musician, composer, poet, and then we think back always to his respect for the Bible, and second only to the Bible, his respect and love for the United States Constitution. I went back and checked a little history. This Chamber honored me the other night after I cast my 10,000th vote, a very modest accomplishment in the face of Bob Byrd's accomplishment, my 28 years. He has been here just short of twice as long. Also, someone thoughtfully said that I was the second longest serving Senator from Virginia. Lo and behold, who was the longest serving Senator from Virginia? None other than Bob Byrd's close friend of years past, Harry F. Byrd, Sr. I repeat, senior, because when I came to the Senate, Harry F. Byrd, Jr., was the Member of the Senate with whom I was privileged to serve as his junior Senator. But it is interesting, Harry F. Byrd, Sr., was born in Martinsburg, Berkeley County, WV. There you have it. He was the longest serving Senator and remains with that record at 32 years and 8 months for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Now Bob Byrd takes it not only for the State but for the whole of the history of the Senate. There has to be something, I say most respectfully, in the water down in West Virginia, or the lifestyle, the hardiness, or the courage of the people that enabled these two distinguished Virginians, Robert C. Byrd and Harry Flood Byrd, Sr., to become the longest serving in their respective States. Exhibit 1 [From the Charleston (WV) Gazette, June 12, 2006] The Pillar of the Senate: 10 Presidents Later, Byrd Longest-Serving Senator (By Paul J. Nyden) Sen. Robert C. Byrd becomes the longest-serving member of the U.S. Senate today, having represented West Virginians for 17,327 days in the chamber. Byrd began serving in the Senate more than 47 years ago, on Jan. 3, 1959, after spending six years in the House of Representatives and six years in the West Virginia Legislature. He also has cast more votes by far than any member of the Senate: 17,662 times, as of last Friday. ``I consider him to be the pillar of the Senate,'' says Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Md. ``His commitment to the United States Senate and its history, customs and procedures is equaled only by his commitment to the state of West Virginia, our nation and our Constitution.'' Byrd's impact on fellow senators personally rivals his institutional role, some of his colleagues said. ``Senator Byrd has been a very, very important figure in my life,'' said Sen. John Warner, a Virginia Republican. ``He is such a magnificent teacher of the history the Senate.'' Warner recalls a conversation he had with Byrd when Warner was new to the Senate. ``He said, `At one time, our states were together. I don't want to put them back together, but I want to work together as full and equal partners,' '' Warner said. ``I enjoy the man, ``Warner said. ``He is wonderful.'' Up to now, the Senate's longest-serving member had been the late Strom Thurmond, R-S.C. The third- and fourth-longest- serving members are Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii, both of whom have been there more than 43 years. ``Byrd epitomizes the role that the framers of our Constittion envisioned for the legislative branch,'' Sarbanes said. In fact, The Almanac of American Politics, a widely consulted volume on federal politics, describes Byrd as the politician who ``may come closer to the kind of senator the Founding Fathers had in mind than any other.'' Since President Bush took office, Byrd has been one of the Senate's leading voices on challenging the war in Iraq, preserving Social Security and protecting workers' jobs and safety. Despite his strong positions, however, Byrd said he regrets the increasing animosity in both legislative bodies. He said he has always worked to be bipartisan. ``I thank the people of West Virginia for having repeatedly expressed their faith in me,'' Byrd said. ``I never lose sight of that. Every morning of every day of my life, my first thought is, `What can I do today for West Virginia?' '' Byrd's contribution to the state has been immense, said Gov. Joe Manchin and members of West Virginia's congressional delegation. ``I don't know of a person in West Virginia who has not been touched, or benefited in a most positive way, by Senator Byrd's service,'' Manchin said. ``I mean, Democrats, Republicans, independents and people who don't vote--they all benefit.'' Byrd has long been known as a ``legend'' in West Virginia, said Jay Rockefeller, Byrd's junior Democratic colleague for the state. ``But now he has surpassed even the great legends of the Senate to become the longest serving senator in U.S. history.'' He can take credit for ``highways, dams, bridges, federal facilities and jobs, health centers and educational institutions,'' Rockefeller said. ``And the best part is, he's not finished.'' ``What do you get when you multiply the power of the beacon by the strength of a workhorse by the steadiness of an anchor? Robert C. Byrd,'' said Rep. Nick J. Rahall, D-W.Va. Byrd's ``ability to deliver for our state'' is awe- inspiring, said David Hardesty, the president of West Virginia University. ``His votes are guided by his understanding of the Constitution and by his dedication to the people of this state.`` Manchin also emphasized Byrd's future. ``People also need to know that Senator Byrd has a lot of years of service left in him,'' he said. ``When people ask about what he has done, he says, `I want to talk about people who can help me do what we still need to do.' '' Born in Wilkesboro, N.C., in 1917, Byrd grew up in a coal mining family in Sophia, Raleigh County. Nearly 20 years later, he married Erma Ora James, who passed away on March 25 of this year. Today, Mrs. Byrd would have turned 89.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, before the distinguished Senator departs, I thank him for his kind remarks and thank him for his service on the Armed Services Committee. He mentioned Richard Russell. Indeed, he had many years of service on the Armed Services Committee. I know he would be very proud of what Senator Chambliss has done to carry on the traditions which he instituted. I earlier shared my respect for Robert Byrd and that great class of Senators with whom he worked in this institution, among them Harry F. Byrd, Sr., Richard B. Russell, and John Stennis. They were quite a team, and we have all learned from them. I must say, Senator Chambliss carries on those traditions with his great State.