A resolution designating the week of November 7 through November 13, 2004, as "National Veterans Awareness Week" to emphasize the need to develop educational programs regarding the contributions of veterans to the country.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 20, 2004, at 9:30 a.m., in closed session to receive a classified briefing from Major General Keith W. Dayton, USA, Former Commander of the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) regarding the activities of the ISG in Iraq.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, July 20, 2004, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct an oversight hearing on the Semi-Annual Monetary Policy Report of the Federal Reserve.

Concurrent with the hearing, the Committee intends to vote on the nominations of Mr. Stuart Levey, of Maryland, to be Under Secretary of the Treasury for Enforcement; Mr. Juan Carlos Zarate, of California, to be Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes; and Ms. Carin M. Barth, of Texas, to be the Chief Financial Officer, Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, July 20 at 10 a.m. to receive testimony on S. 2590, a bill to provide a conservation royalty from outer continental shelf revenues to establish the Coastal Impact Assistance Program, to provide assistance to States under the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965, to ensure adequate funding for conserving and restoring wildlife, to assist local governments in improving local park and recreation systems, and for other purposes.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet in open Executive Session during the session on July 20, 2004, at 10 a.m., to consider favorably reporting S. 2677, the U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act; H.R. 982, a bill to clarify the tax treatment of bonds and other obligations issued by the Government of American Samoa, and, the nominations of Joey Russell George, to be Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, U.S. Department of Treasury; Patrick P. O'Carroll, Jr., to be Inspector General, Social Security Administration; Paul B. Jones, to be Member, IRS Oversight Board; and, Charles L. Kolbe, to be Member, IRS Oversight Board.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, July 20, 2004, at 9:30 a.m. to hold a hearing on The Road Map: Detours and Disengagements.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet on Tuesday, July 20, 2004, at 10 a.m. in Room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a hearing on S. 2605, the Snake River (Nez Perce) Water Rights Act of 2004.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized

to meet to continue its markup on Tuesday, July 20, 2004, at 9:30 a.m. in Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226. The agenda is attached.

Agenda

I. Nominations: Claude A. Allen to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Fourth Circuit; David W. McKeague to be United States Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit; Richard A. Griffin to be United States Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit; Virginia Maria Hernandez Covington to be United States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida; Michael H. Schneider, Sr., of Texas to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas; David E. Nahmias, of Georgia to be United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia; Robert Clark Corrente to be United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island; Ricardo H. Hinojosa to be Chair of the United States Sentencing Commission; Michael O'Neill to be a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission; and Ruben Castillo to be a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission.

II. Legislation: S. 1635, L-1 Visa (Intracompany Transferee) Reform Act of 2003--Chambliss; S.J. Res. 4, Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States authorizing Congress to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States Act of 2003-- Hatch, Feinstein, Craig, Sessions, DeWine, Grassley, Graham, Cornyn, Chambliss, Specter, Kyl; S. 700, Advancing Justice through DNA Technology Act of 2003--Hatch, Biden, Specter, Leahy, DeWine, Feinstein, Kennedy, Schumer, Durbin, Kohl, Edwards; S. 2396, Federal Courts Improvement Act of 2004--Hatch, Leahy, Chambliss, Durbin, Schumer; S. Res. 401, A resolution designating the week of November 7 through November 13, 2004, as ``National Veterans Awareness Week'' to emphasize the need to develop educational programs regarding the contributions of veterans to the country of 2004--Biden, Chambliss, Cornyn, Durbin, Feingold, Feinstein, Graham, Grassley, Kennedy, Sessions, Specter; and S. Con. Res. 109, A concurrent resolution commending the United States Institute of Peace on the occasion of its 20th anniversary and recognizing the Institute for its contribution to international conflict resolution of 2004--Inouye, Harkin, Warner.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, July 20, 2004, at 2:30 p.m., for a markup on the pending legislation. The meeting will be held in room 418 of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Agenda

1. S. 1153, the ``Veterans Prescription Drugs Assistance Act of 2004;''

2. S. 2483, the ``Veterans Compensation Cost of Living Adjustment Act of 2004;''

3. S. 2484, the ``Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel Enhancement Act of 2003,'' as amended;

4. S. 2485, the ``Department of Veterans Affairs Real Property and Facilities Management Improvement Act of 2004,'' as amended;

5. S. 2486, the ``Veterans Benefits Improvements Act of 2004,'' as amended.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 20, 2004 at 10:30 a.m. to hold a hearing on intelligence matters.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 20, 2004 at 2:30 p.m. to hold a hearing on intelligence matters.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia, be authorized to meet on Tuesday, July 20, 2004 at 9 a.m. for a hearing entitled, ``Building the 21st Century Federal Workforce: Assessing Progress in Human Capital Management.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Subcommittee on Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services be authorized to meet for a hearing on Performance and Outcome Measurement in Substance Abuse and Mental Health Programs during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, July 20, 2004, at 10 a.m.

Mr. President, last week I had the honor of joining with 52 of my colleagues in introducing a resolution, S. Res. 401, expressing the sense of the Senate that the week that includes Veterans' Day this year be designated as ``National Veterans Awareness Week.'' This marks the fifth year in a row that I have introduced such a resolution, which has been adopted unanimously by the Senate on all previous occasions.

The purpose of National Veterans Awareness Week is to serve as a focus for educational programs designed to make students in elementary and secondary schools aware of the contributions of veterans and their importance in preserving American peace and prosperity. This goal takes on particular importance and immediacy this year as we find ourselves again with uniformed men and women in harm's way in foreign lands.

Why do we need such an educational effort? In a sense, this action has become necessary because we are victims of our own success with regard to the superior performance of our armed forces. The plain fact is that there are just fewer people around now who have had any connection with military service. For example, as a result of tremendous advances in military technology and the resultant productivity increases, our current armed forces now operate effectively with a personnel roster that is one-third less in size than just 15 years ago. In addition, the success of the all-volunteer career-oriented force has led to much lower turnover of personnel in today's military than in previous eras when conscription was in place. Finally, the number of veterans who served during previous conflicts, such as World War II, when our military was many times larger than today, is inevitably declining.

The net result of these changes is that the percentage of the entire population that has served in the Armed Forces is dropping rapidly, a change that can be seen in all segments of society. Whereas during World War II it was extremely uncommon to find a family in America that did not have one of its members on active duty, now there are numerous families that include no military veterans at all. Even though the Iraqi war has been prominently discussed on television and in the newspapers, many of our children are much more preoccupied with the usual concerns of young people than with keeping up with the events of the day. As a consequence, many of our youth still have little or no connection with or knowledge about the important historical and ongoing role of men and women who have served in the military. This omission seems to have persisted despite ongoing educational efforts by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the veterans service organizations.

This lack of understanding about military veterans' important role in our society can have potentially serious repercussions. In our country, civilian control of the armed forces is the key tenet of military governance. A citizenry that is oblivious to the capabilities and limitations of the armed forces, and to its critical role throughout our history, can make decisions that have unexpected and unwanted consequences. Even more important, general recognition of the importance of those individual character traits that are essential for military success, such as patriotism, selflessness, sacrifice, and heroism, is vital to maintaining these key aspects of citizenship in the armed forces and even throughout the population at large.

The failure of our children to understand why a military is important, why our society continues to depend on it for ultimate survival, and why a successful military requires integrity and sacrifice, will have predictable consequences as these youngsters become of voting age. Even though military service is a responsibility that is no longer shared by a large segment of the population, as it has been in the past, knowledge of the contributions of those who have served in the Armed Forces is as important as it has ever been. To the extent that many of us will not have the opportunity to serve our country in uniform, we must still remain cognizant of our responsibility as citizens to fulfill the obligations we owe, both tangible and intangible, to those who do serve and who do sacrifice on our behalf.

The importance of this issue was brought home to me five years ago by Samuel I. Cashdollar, who was then a 13-year-old seventh grader at Lewes Middle School in Lewes, DE. Samuel won the Delaware VFW's Youth Essay Contest that year with a powerful presentation titled ``How Should We Honor America's Veterans''? Samuel's essay pointed out that we have Nurses' Week, Secretaries' Week, and Teachers' Week, to rightly emphasize the importance of these occupations, but the contributions of those in uniform tend to be overlooked. We don't want our children growing up to think that Veterans Day has simply become a synonym for department store sale, and we don't want to become a nation where more high school seniors recognize the name Britney Spears than the name Dwight Eisenhower.

National Veterans Awareness Week complements Veterans Day by focusing on education as well as commemoration, on the contributions of the many in addition to the heroism and service

of the individual. National Veterans Awareness Week also presents an opportunity to remind ourselves of the contributions and sacrifices of those who have served in peacetime as well as in conflict; both groups work unending hours and spend long periods away from their families under conditions of great discomfort so that we all can live in a land of freedom and plenty.

Mr. President, last year, my resolution designating National Veterans Awareness Week had 66 cosponsors and was approved in the Senate by unanimous consent. Responding to that resolution, President Bush issued a proclamation urging our citizenry to observe National Veterans Awareness Week. I ask my colleagues to continue this trend of support for our veterans by endorsing this resolution again this year. Our children and our children's children will need to be well informed about what veterans have accomplished in order to make appropriate decisions as they confront the numerous worldwide challenges that they are sure to face in the future.