John Warner

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I will answer and charge my time to my side. The time of the Senator from Massachusetts will be charged to the Levin amendment on his side. That is my understanding; is that correct?

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I should like to reply. If I can get clarification, I am not sure I understood one word that I think is important. Did the Senator mean ``absolved'' or ``absorbed''?

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, do I understand this document is in the archives of the Judiciary Committee; is that correct?

Mr. WARNER. Is it a matter that is subject to classification?

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I hope my colleague will concur that the McCain amendment, which has been adopted by this Chamber on two occasions, would be dispositive of any confliction as to the definitions as to the future; would I not be correct on that assumption?

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I say to my colleague and distinguished member of the Armed Services Committee, to avoid it in the future, that is precisely the objective of the McCain amendment, to prevent any recurrence. I am not suggesting I corroborate that there have been deviations; I simply say that is a landmark piece of legislation with regard to the future. And it would be, as I said in my remarks a few minutes ago, the guidepost for the future to resolve this issue. Our military has had a great history of correcting through its lessons learned the procedures for the future. The Department of Defense has already implemented substantial reforms in response to its interactions with Congress on these investigations. The areas of concern involving the intelligence community, ghost detainees, and renditions are more appropriately addressed, of course, in the Select Committee on Intelligence. Mr. President, I simply ask that all Senators be informed as to the time remaining on the Levin amendment on both sides.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I indicate to my colleagues that I would be prepared to, at a future time, to yield back our time so we can move to a vote on the Levin amendment as early as possible. So there is 3 minutes remaining, as I understand, under the control of the Senator from Michigan?

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent on behalf of Senator Inhofe to modify his proposed second-degree amendment. It is at the desk and being filed in relation to Senator Harkin's amendment. This is a technical change.

Mr. WARNER. The zero on the chart, I want to make very clear my position. I do not want any censorship imposed by the Department of Defense in utilizing taxpayer dollars to promulgate this programming, which is so important. The Inhofe second-degree amendment sets forth the wide range of recipients. It is uniformed people. It is their families. It is embassy people. It is their families. It is consulates. Quite a spectrum is served by this important outlet. If the Senator can point to where there is any censorship, I would like to address it. I have engaged my distinguished colleague in this colloquy as well. Does anyone make an assertion that there is censorship taking place?

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I think the Senator is endeavoring to answer while it may not be direct and overt, indirectly there could be factual situations that would constitute some sort of censorship. For example, I happen to listen to a wide spectrum--I am sure each of us in this body does. I enjoy programs from Rush Limbaugh to NPR, but NPR has always been associated with, should we say, a bit of the left side. I understand NPR is broadcast on AFR, and yet the zero percent would indicate that program is not considered to be somewhat counterbalancing of the others.

Mr. WARNER. Yes.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, the parliamentary situation is--how much time remains in opposition?

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I did not mean to engender the ire of my good friend. I am simply stating factually, to me, NPR is a very balanced--I have often been on it myself and they have this sort of a format, the modulation of the voices is always quite subdued on NPR. Now, Rush Limbaugh, indeed--occasionally, I listen to him and it is certainly not a modulated voice. He is very forceful in getting his points across, but it is not for the Senate to arbitrate the voice intonation between the different programs. I am simply talking about content, putting aside the means by which it is delivered. It seems to me it is a question of content, and it seems to me NPR is a very--I would use the words ``reasonably balanced'' but a little bit on the left side of the equation more than on the right side of the equation. I find it somewhat misleading that the Senator puts a zero up there, which applies to the NPR.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, it seems to me that I have engendered a spirited debate that I had no intention of doing. So I would drop the issue. I do not intend to be an expert on the political content. Clearly, Rush Limbaugh does have a strong preference for the more conservative issues, but I cannot believe that there are not some programs that have a strong bent for issues which are other than conservative, call them what one wishes. It seems to me that zero percent is something that is indefensible, and we will leave it at that. I see the distinguished Senator from Iowa on the floor. It is his amendment. I yield the floor at this time.

Mr. WARNER. And the Senator from Iowa?

Mr. WARNER. Does your amendment permit the Secretary to select the ombudsman within the current personnel structure of the Department of Defense or must he go outside the Department to get that individual?

Mr. WARNER. I thank the Senator. One last question. I am still troubled by the chart you put up showing zero. My understanding is that the Department of Defense has added the following three programs to the body of programs that each of the 33 individual stations can select from. I am not that familiar with the details of each. Perhaps the Senator from Iowa can help me. The ``Ed Shultz Show,'' that is new this month; the ``Al Franken Show,'' which is new this month; and the ``Sean Hannity Show,'' which is new this month, where would they fall in the context of the zero which is on this chart which you have shown to the Senate?

Mr. WARNER. Sean Hannity.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I thank our distinguished colleague and member of the committee, the Senator from Maine. The Senator has fought hard on behalf of her interests in that State. Indeed, the BRAC process, in some respects due to your efforts, was modified in the end to the interests of the State. While I am not going to be able to support the Snowe-Collins amendment, nevertheless, in other areas the Senator made some progress. I thank the Senator for her work on the committee given her work on the Government Operations Committee. Nevertheless, the Senator finds time to attend our meetings and be an active participant. I thank my colleague. I ask unanimous consent at the hour of 2:45 the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to the Inhofe amendment No. 2439, followed by a vote in relation to the Harkin amendment numbered 2438. I further ask that the Inhofe amendment be modified so it is a first-degree amendment, and that no second-degree amendments to the amendments be in order prior to the votes; provided further that the time from 2:15 to 2:45 be equally divided between Senators Inhofe and Harkin. I further ask on an unrelated matter that Senator Stevens be recognized for up to 10 minutes of morning business following the two votes.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, under the previous order, the time between 2:15 and 2:45 is equally divided between the Senator from Oklahoma and the Senator from Iowa for the purposes of discussing the underlying amendment by the Senator from Iowa and a second degree that I put on on behalf of Senator Inhofe. My understanding is that Senator Inhofe will be here momentarily. But under the order, the Senate is now in session and open to hear comments on this legislation.

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

Mr. WARNER. Well, I am not in a position to rebut that. All I can say is----

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, the Senator from Iowa talked about the two programs which I discussed earlier, Ed Schultz and Al Franken. He mentioned that his check indicated they haven't been contacted. I immediately went back and checked with the Department of Defense. The Department of Defense, I assure the Senator from Iowa, is taking steps to implement the inclusion of those programs. The Department is dealing with the agents who presumably control the time. Therefore, the proffer that I made earlier about these two programs being included, it may be just a question of the tense of the verb, but I am assured by the Department that they are now taking steps to implement the inclusion or option to include these two programs throughout the American Forces Network.

Mr. WARNER. Yes.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, the time remaining on behalf of the distinguished Senator from Oklahoma is?