John Warner

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. We do not have any of these.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, the distinguished Senator from Louisiana had the floor. She very graciously allowed me to intervene. I am happy to take a question.

Mr. WARNER. I say to my colleagues, this is a matter that we will carefully review in conference. It has failed to survive in previous conferences, but I think this time it may, particularly because of the question of recruiting and the difficulty of the Reserves and Guard and the adjustment to family life. As the Senator pointed out, hundreds upon hundreds of thousands--700,000 I believe--have been involved in this conflict.

Mr. WARNER. If I can make one comment before our distinguished colleague from Louisiana leaves the floor.

Mr. WARNER. There comes a time every now and then to reflect on the past with a sense of humor. When I was a young Senator many years ago, one of the Senator's predecessors was Russell Long. His expertise was in the area of taxes. How many times, I ask my good friend from Michigan, would I hear him in these vigorous floor debates come over and say: We will drop it in conference; accept it?

Mr. WARNER. With his arm around you shaking you like a tree. But we are not saying that. I just thought maybe that little bit of color might remind Louisianans of his proud record in the Senate. Mr. President, this is another example of how the managers, in the course of colloquies, can work out amendments. I strongly urge colleagues to come forward because we are getting down to the few amendments that are remaining in the hopes that this bill can be acted on for final passage tomorrow, as early as possible in the day. I yield the floor.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I wish to say to my colleague at the present time I am drafting an amendment in the second degree. As soon as I have it, I will be prepared to debate it on the floor and let the matter go to a vote.

Mr. WARNER. I would propose to do it. I would have to check. There are three amendments, and actually the fourth is the pending amendment. I will see if he cannot possibly bring up his amendment right after the two votes.

Mr. WARNER. I thank my partner, who has been most helpful in getting this bill passed. We are going to try and facilitate that.

Mr. WARNER. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. WARNER. The Senate is now in session on the bill; is that correct?

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I object.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, my understanding of the parliamentary situation is that the ruling of the Chair is correct, that a Senator may send an amendment in the second degree. But under the underlying unanimous consent agreement on which we are operating on this bill, all time has to be yielded back before the second-degree amendment may be offered.

Mr. WARNER. Objection.

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

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, in consultation with the distinguished Senator from Michigan, I send a managers' package of some 40 amendments to the desk which have been cleared by myself and the ranking member.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate consider those amendments en bloc, the amendments be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table. Finally, I ask unanimous consent that any statements relating to any of these individual amendments be printed in the Record.

Mr. WARNER. In studying the amendment over the night--now it is not the pending amendment, but I want to bring these issues to the attention of the Senator, in fairness. The Senator, though, appreciates that so many of these families, particularly those abroad, are often separated because a spouse, male or female, as the case may be, the serving member in uniform, could be detached from the family homesite and sent into other areas of the globe for periods of time to perform missions. For example, there is a number of families resident in Europe whose spouses are then part of cadres of individuals going into the Iraq situation, some into the Afghan situation. That poses some difficulty, as I see it, in trying to work out a communication between family members, which communication is relative to life and death, and very important. I am concerned that we are reaching down to a very small number of individuals, i.e., the military families, and could be imposing upon them, should this amendment be adopted and become law, a difficult situation. I am of an open mind, but I am concerned about having that type of legislation on this bill.

Mr. WARNER. And then if the Senator would address also the issue of the U.S. Federal district court being a participant in this situation.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, if I could interject at this time, personally, my own philosophy is in agreement with the objective. My only concern as manager of the authorization bill of the Department of Defense is that I cannot let my personal beliefs override my judgment as to how best to treat these families of our military.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, again, I strongly support the principle and the goals the Senator is seeking, but I have to be mindful of the practicalities of military life. It is so different than the families who are in our several States, wherever they may be, and that, of course, brings up another question. Suppose this particular military family's members are residents of a State, which State thus far has not addressed this issue. This State has no requirement for the parental consent in that State, yet they are now being subjected to a Federal law which, of course, would have supremacy over the State law. But is that not an invasive practice in the States rights?

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I thank the Presiding Officer and all members of our Senate staff who are assisting managers and other Senators in the completion of a good deal of work on the bill today. I look forward to tomorrow and completion of this bill. I express my profound gratitude to our leadership and all those who made it possible.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Tomorrow, we will complete action on the Defense authorization bill. I firmly hope that, as does Senator Levin, and our respective leaders. Senators can expect votes throughout the day and tomorrow and should plan accordingly. We will finish this tomorrow. I remind my colleagues we will also consider three appropriation conference reports ready for action before we leave this week.