John Warner

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Under the previous order, the Senate turns its attention to the amendment by the Senator from West Virginia, with 2 minutes of debate on either side, a 10-minute vote, to be followed by the Reed amendment, 5 minutes by the Senator from Rhode Island, and 2 or 3 minutes to the Senator from Virginia. Then that is a 10-minute vote. Amendment No. 2442, as Modified

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

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, we will now return to the vote on the Snowe amendment, am I correct?

Mr. WARNER. Have the yeas and nays been ordered?

Mr. WARNER. I want to make it known now that the Senator from West Virginia has substantially revised his amendment in accordance with recommendations, if I may say with a sense of humility, that I made. He fully adopted those. I am going to support the amendment strongly, so it should be a very swift vote. No further debate would be required except for maybe a minute for you and a minute for me.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that following the 10-minute vote on the matter raised by the Senator from Rhode Island that we proceed to a third vote of 10 minutes on the amendment of the distinguished Senator from West Virginia.

Mr. WARNER. I have no objection.

Mr. WARNER. Subject to the concurrence of the ranking member, I ask the Senate to turn its attention to the Senator from Nevada, who has an amendment which I personally strongly endorse and so recommend to other colleagues. It could well be the subject of a rollcall vote sometime tomorrow. I thank him for his consideration of laying down the amendment tonight such that colleagues have the time within which to study it.

Mr. WARNER. I thank my distinguished colleague. We will have, perhaps, opportunity in the morning to further debate this amendment. I do want to posture myself so I can support your amendment.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, subject to the order by the majority and Democratic leader as to the sequence of events tomorrow, the Ensign amendment would remain the pending business at such time as the leadership directs the Senate return to this bill; am I correct in that?

Mr. WARNER. At this time, I ask unanimous consent the Ensign amendment be laid aside for the purpose of the distinguished Senator from Michigan and I clearing some amendments.

Mr. WARNER. I bring to the attention of my good friend and colleague, we have provided the Senator with copies of the amendments by Senator Chambliss, Senator Ensign, Senator Talent. The amendment by Senator Graham is still under work. Senator Inhofe, you have that amendment. Senator Frist's amendment we have not as yet distributed. The Brownback amendment will be provided to you tonight. And we have not as yet provided you with the one of the Senator from Virginia.

Mr. WARNER. That would not be the proposed second degree to the Chambliss amendment? The Chambliss amendment is Guard and Reserve, too.

Mr. WARNER. This is helpful to colleagues as they are doing their work tonight in support of what we are trying to achieve with final passage tomorrow. amendment no. 2423

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Superfund and Waste Management be authorized to hold an oversight hearing at 2:30 p.m., on Tuesday, November 8, on the impact of certain government contractor liability proposals on environmental laws.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I wish to be supportive of this amendment of my colleague from Oklahoma. But at the same time, I do believe the amendment by Senator Harkin is deserving of consideration. I say to my colleague, my concern, is--and I wish to have the record reflect this-- is it your understanding, having carefully examined how this is done by the Armed Forces Network, that in no way are they directly or indirectly trying to impose any censorship?

Mr. WARNER. That we simply cannot have.

Mr. WARNER. I say to the distinguished Senator, let me read section 2 of his proposed amendment: The American Forces Radio and Television American Forces Network provide a ``touch of home'' to members of the armed forces, civilian employees of the Department of Defense and their families stationed in bases, embassies, and consulates in more than 179 countries, as well as the Navy, Coast Guard, and Military Sealift Command ships at sea. So it reaches an entire family, and it is a very important function. This Senator wants to make sure that audience, irrespective of whether they are conservatives or liberals, whatever the case may be--I am not sure that is the right criteria we should be using--does get a touch of home, which is a very wonderful expression that you have included here, by providing the same type--reading on--and quality of radio and television programming, including news, information, sports, and entertainment, that would be available in the continental United States. To me, if you impose a certain market criteria, even though they may not hit a certain number of listeners, you are not getting the full spectrum that this amendment calls for. In other words, I would prefer to have just this amendment that you have here be the decision by the Senate and then leave it up to the 33 stations to ensure that is done. Maybe we shouldn't condone a marketing policy that just cuts off a whole lot of programs at the bottom because they don't have enough listeners.

Mr. WARNER. You would prefer what.

Mr. WARNER. Well, I don't see anything in the language you use here because you are very explicit. By providing the same type and quality of radio and television programming, including news, information, sports, and entertainment, that would be available in the continental United States--that is what we should follow.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. So, Mr. President, the document speaks for itself?

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I thank the Presiding Officer for advising that the bill is now up and the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts will continue his framework remarks on behalf of Senator Levin, whatever time the Senator desires.

Mr. WARNER. I simply say, I don't have firsthand knowledge of all of the important oversight that was conducted by the Judiciary Committee. The Senator does raise fundamental questions about this policy, but I will only say, as recently as in the past few days, our President has reassured our Nation that we do not tolerate or permit torture. I would have to believe that is a consistency of the policy of the administration. Not having examined this document, I would hope there would be a continuity of that throughout the administration.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I would like to reply to my distinguished colleague from Massachusetts. It is a very strong belief within the Senate that simply this is not the time nor is there the need to establish another 9/11 type commission. First, it would duplicate the thorough investigation into the matter that has already taken place by a number of committees of the Senate. And as stated by my distinguished ranking member yesterday, he acknowledged that our committee has had a very major role in the matters and has conducted a number of hearings. The Department of Defense on its own initiative has conducted 12 probes of detainee operations in the last 18 months. I wish to draw the attention of the Senate to one of those probes because it was conducted by individuals who in my judgment--and I say this with no restriction whatsoever--have just about as high a credibility that I know of any public or former public servant; that is, James Schlesinger, former Secretary of Defense; Harold Brown, former Secretary of Defense; General Hoerner, four star general of the U.S. Air Force who conducted the air operations during the first gulf war, a man whom I have known very well; and our distinguished and much beloved late Member of the Congress of the United States, Tillie Fowler. I would like to, for the benefit of my colleagues, quote directly from their report. On page 5, they find as follows: There is no evidence of a policy of abuse promulgated by senior officials or military authorities. On page 66: Despite the number of visits and intensity of interest in actionable intelligence, however, the panel found no undue pressure exerted by senior officials. Mr. President, the McCain amendment, which has been adopted now twice by this body, is the subject of a conference now with the appropriations conferees. It is also on our bill, the first amendment accepted. This was a bipartisan call to the best instincts of our American character. I call on the Senate to use that powerful statement of American values, not another commission, as our instrument of change. Mr. President, I would like to ask at this time the time remaining on the Levin amendment----

Mr. WARNER. Yes, I would be happy to do so.