Floor Statements

Mr. President, I really can't tell how long it is going to be. We haven't put any time limit on amendments today. I won't do it on this side. They wouldn't take them on the other side. There will be no time limit on these amendments: Senator Hollings has an amendment, Senator Hutchison has an amendment, and Senator Warner has an amendment. I think there is an amendment on the list for Senator Nickles. There are a series of Senators on this side who still have amendments that could be raised.

My understanding is that once we have measured about the same number of amendments presented by the other side so far today we would come back to our side of the aisle.

Mr. President, that may be the alternative because I have tried all day to speed up that side in terms of consideration of amendments--all day long now. I started at 11 o'clock this morning. We have just finished handling five amendments on that side of the aisle. We haven't had one from this side of the aisle yet. I don't think it is beyond fair to say Senators who notified me they want to bring up their amendments that it is time for us to bring up amendments on this side. We couldn't get any agreement on time over there. I don't know of any reason why we should have time agreements over here.

If the Senator wants to proceed with regular order, I am all for it. There are 16 amendments. We will be on those until midnight. Some of them may not be called up at all. But we can call them up, if the other side wants to do that.

I believe, in balance and fairness, we have been compelled to be balanced on this side now for 5 hours. I think we are now going to be on this side for about 4 or 5 hours.

Mr. President, I remember my good friend from Nevada saying just let things work out this morning at 11 o'clock when I tried to get the time; let things work out.

I don't know how long these amendments are going to take. I haven't seen them, either. I didn't see the ones either from that side this morning. You can't tell how long an amendment is going to take until you look at it and read it.

As a practical matter, I am asking the Senator from Nevada to do on their side exactly what we had to this morning--take the assurance that we are going to move as quickly as we can and turn to some of the amendments on this side for a while.

Mr. President, the Senator is correct in terms of the process. We still have a lot more than six amendments. We have a whole list of amendments, depending on what amendments are raised on that side. All I am asking for is balance and fairness in terms of what we allowed the other side to do in handling their amendments until now. If that means we have to go to regular order, I am prepared to call for regular order. If that is the case, I am saddened to hear my friend from Nevada say a gentlemen's agreement was made on the basis that the Democratic side of the aisle is allowed to call up amendments whenever they want and for how long they want but they want time agreements and assurances on our side. That isn't the agreement we made. That is not the gentlemen's agreement which I understand we made.

If the gentlemen's agreement is broken and we do not finish by tomorrow, we should know that right now. If that is the case, then I can assure the Senate that we will be back in session Saturday and we will be here Sunday. We are going to finish this bill this week. That word I took as a word of a Senator. All leadership agreed that we would finish this bill tomorrow to the best of our ability. I am still relying on that word.

Mr. President, I suggest we proceed with Senator Inouye.

Reserving the right to object, as the Senator knows, we had an amendment as lined up to be considered on this side. Senator Nickles also is not able to be here, but he has given me the information and I am prepared to offer that amendment for him. This is the first of the three amendments we are going to call up. I would be compelled to object to that setting of the Bayh amendment before we have some consideration of amendments on this side.

I will not object to that. I ask unanimous consent to amend this request so that I may be recognized to present the Nickles amendment following the vote on the McConnell amendment, and following that Senator Bayh be recognized to present his amendment.

Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. President, I have three amendments that have been cleared by both sides: Amendment No. 1869, as modified; amendment No. 1870; and amendment No. 1857, as modified. I send them to the desk and ask that they be considered en bloc.

I thank the Chair.

Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. President, I understand we can get an agreement that we would postpone the vote on the Nickles amendment until we consider the Bayh amendment. By a previous order, that is the next business.

I ask unanimous consent that the vote on the Nickles amendment take place following the debate on the Bayh amendment, and the Bayh amendment follow that.

Yes, we are preparing it, but that will be the understanding so Members will know there will not be a vote here until sometime, at least I would say, 8:30 or 9 o'clock.

Mr. President, the time would be equally divided between now and 9 o'clock on the Bayh amendment. Is that the proposal?

Mr. President, we have sent out a hot line for people who want to speak on this amendment. There are 10 Members who want to speak for 5 to 15 minutes. We have really basically 80 minutes left between now and 9 o'clock. I would suggest we ought to at least make the first vote start at 9:30.

Let me ask this: I ask unanimous consent that the pending Nickles amendment be temporarily set aside and Senator Bayh be recognized to offer his amendment; provided further that the time until 9:30 be equally divided for debate in the usual form.

I further ask unanimous consent that at 9:30 p.m. the Senate proceed to a vote in relation to the Nickles amendment to be followed by a vote in relationship to the Bayh amendment with no second-degree amendments in order to either amendment, and prior to the votes there be 2 minutes equally divided before each vote.

Mr. President, I yield 5 minutes to Senator Roberts.

I yield 5 minutes to Senator Sessions.

I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from Pennsylvania.

I yield to the Senator from Georgia 8 minutes.

I have had the Senator from Washington waiting for a substantial amount of time, too.

I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from Washington.

Mr. President, after that, I yield to Senator Burns 5 minutes from our side.

I am sorry, I do not have an additional 5 minutes.

I yield the Senator 1 minute.

Mr. President, I yield the Senator from Virginia 5 minutes.

Mr. President, I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from Tennessee.

How much time remains on our side?

I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from Colorado.

I yield 10 minutes to the Senator from Kentucky.

Mr. President, I yield 10 minutes to the Senator from Arizona.

How much time remains?

How much more time now remains?

Mr. President, I was prepared to yield time to another Senator who is not here.

Let me just say this. I am impressed with the debate. There is clearly a division in the Senate. But I do hope Senators will keep in mind that the President of the United States is traveling

abroad on a very important mission. We have been appealed to before, on this side, when Presidents have been traveling abroad, to honor the position of the Presidency and not to take positions that would embarrass him when he is abroad.

I believe there is no question that the problem we face in Iraq is the populace of Iraq that wants to be part of a new government, wants to have a new government, a new democratic government, really faces a quandary of what can they do? How can they be involved? How can they get their electricity back? How can they get their police service back? How can they get their banks open? How can they get their hospitals open? How can they get potable water? How can they be sure they have the capability to present a firm, new constitution that will be approved by their people?

That takes the money the President has requested. I believe if we do not take action to get this money into Iraq and get it moving so they can have the momentum of building a new government, the hearts and minds of those people will be hardened against us. As they are hardened against us, we will have more violence in the street and our soldiers, people in uniform, even the people who are there in civilian capacity now, will be at greater risk.

I think that is what the Senator from Arizona has been saying. The risk we face is, if we do not support these loans, our men and women in uniform are going to be in greater harm's way.

If you want to support the troops--and I have heard that from every Member of the Senate so far--if you want to support these troops, support the President on this issue and do not approve these loans. As to the concept of loans, I am sure, sometime, there will be some way the people of Iraq are going to under--see the debt they have to the United States when they become a real, strong government.

Look what happened to us after World War II. We did not saddle France and Germany with loans. We forgave all the indebtedness, even the indebtedness we had from prior to that war. We helped them through the Marshall Plan to get going.

These grants that we have in this part of this bill are absolutely essential to the continued safety, improvement of the safety of our men and women in uniform. I appeal to those who say they support the troops to support the President. He is the Commander in Chief of these troops and he has told us, his military commanders have told us, they need this money.

It goes hand in glove with the $66 billion here, to assure they have the right equipment, the right protection while they are there. But let's take the actions necessary to get them out of there.

I hope we would have the support of the Senate to do that tonight.

Mr. THOMAS addressed the Chair.

Mr. President, how much time do I have?

I will yield 2 minutes. I believe the leader is on his way to take the remainder of our time.

I yield the remainder of our time to the leader.

Have the yeas and nays been ordered?

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Is it 1 minute a side or 2 minutes a side? I thought I had a standing order there would be 2 minutes before every vote.

I am sorry. I ask unanimous consent that it be 2 minutes on each side.

Mr. President, I yield 1 minute to the Senator from New Mexico and 1 minute to the Senator from Arizona.

Mr. President, I am compelled to object because I think there are some people who have left the building already. I inquired whether it was going to be a 10-minute vote. I asked the Parliamentarian if we had agreed, and then I told them we had not. I urge the leader to leave it the normal 15 minutes.

Mr. President, there will be no further votes tonight. What we plan to do now is ask Members who still have amendments to be considered to consult with us. We are prepared to accept some of them. We will have an early session of the Senate tomorrow starting at 9. We will start voting on the amendments that are still pending that have not been resolved tonight. There are still a couple of amendments that Members wish to offer tomorrow, but first we will vote on the pending amendments. So all Senators should be on notice there will be votes starting immediately in the morning. After the first vote, I shall ask that the amendments be 10 minutes each so that there will be a series of probably 19 to 20 amendments, as I count them right now, that could well be voted on before we will then take up the several amendments, two to three amendments, that Members wish to debate.

I do yield.

I am not agreeing to any order, Mr. President. We have a list of amendments. We are going to go down the list of amendments and see who is here.

Mr. President, who has the floor?

I am perfectly ready to start considering amendments, but I am not going to have any time agreement right now on any amendment.

Yes.

The Senators are at liberty to offer their amendments as they wish tonight. We will be glad to stay as long as Senators want to offer amendments and present them to us. We are trying to work out those amendments with people who want to settle amendments first, not those who want to bring up amendments and demand a vote tomorrow. There are a bunch of Senators willing to compromise on amendments and I want to let them proceed and have them go home before the other people who want to offer amendments, argue, and then have a vote tomorrow.

I think that is a logical progress.

That is perfectly all right with me, Mr. President. I am here until Saturday, Sunday, whatever it takes. The bill will be finished sometime before the end of this week.

To stand up and say these people are going to come first before those we have been negotiating with, we told them we will accept amendments and can handle those, I think that is wrong. So if Senators want to go home, go home. If they want to stay here and settle this bill, stay.

Mr. LEAHY addressed the Chair.

Mr. President, the Senator from Texas, Mrs. Hutchison, has an amendment that has been cleared on both sides. She wants to make a few remarks on that amendment. I welcome her offering that amendment at this time and discussing it.

Mr. President, this amendment has been cleared on both sides. I ask the Senate consider and adopt this amendment.

I did not ask unanimous consent.

Can we get this amendment adopted? May we adopt the amendment?

I move to reconsider the vote and I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

The procedure we had, and I told people on this side we would do, we have two amendments on this side, one amendment on that side, that have been cleared and we will let them go home. I am perfectly willing to go to anyone else who wants to talk, but as the manager of the bill we have the right to say to people: Look, if you will agree to offer these and make these changes, we will take them up right away, as soon as this vote is over. That I did, so I don't apologize to anyone.

I would like to yield to my friend from Vermont.

I said I wouldn't apologize. I do apologize to my friend from Nevada if I offended him. I did not intend to offend him. He is a valuable Member of the Senate and has worked, whether in the majority or minority, assiduously to see the Senate does its work. I don't argue with that at all. I have great fondness for the Senator from Nevada.

I wish I lived in Nevada. I might even vote for him if I lived there.

I see the current occupant of the chair is laughing at that, but it is true.

The difficulty I have is I think we don't communicate well enough across this aisle in terms of the plans we each make as manager of our side on this particular bill.

Right now the Senator from Nevada has an amendment by Senator Nelson we agreed to clear. I am pleased to yield the floor.

Amendment No. 1858, As Modified

It is acceptable.

I urge its adoption also.

I move to reconsider the vote and move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Amendment No. 1867

Mr. President, I have the amendment for Senator Warner, for himself, Mr. Sarbanes, and Mr. Edwards. It has been cleared on both sides. According to my information, it is amendment No. 1867.

Mr. President, I also have a second-degree amendment to that amendment. I ask that amendment be adopted. This is the hurricane flood damage amendment. We are taking out of the bill those items which were not relevant to the bill. I send that amendment to the desk.

I ask consideration of the amendment, the adoption of the amendment, and consideration of the amendment as amended.

Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Amendment No. 1843

Mr. President, I want to state to the Senator from California that on amendment No. 1843 we sent a notice to the Senator that we are prepared to accept that retroactive assistance meal reimbursement amendment, if she is prepared to offer it tonight. That is Senator Boxer's amendment.

Mr. President, I wish to make a comment. The Senator from California is absolutely right. If there is a saint in this town, it is Mrs. Bill Young. She has been extremely helpful to all of the soldiers and sailors at Walter Reed and at Bethesda. Just today, she called me and told me that the admiral at Bethesda told her he is under orders to send bills for about $5,000 to several different military people who are in the hospital for reimbursement of their meals. I told my staff to notify the admiral that we had fixed it in this bill, or I would personally guarantee the payment, and not just have standard garnishing of these kids' salaries.

I commend the Senator for the amendment. We attempted to fix that in one former bill. But that bill hasn't become law. I think the bill will become law very fast.

I support the Senator's amendment and urge its adoption.

Amendment No. 1843, As Modified

Is that modification of the amendment we just agreed to the yeas and nays on? I have no objection.

From the funds that are in the bill. Those amounts are de minimis, really. There will be no budget point of order against that.

It will happen. It is in another bill also. The question is which bill gets there first.

The Senator is right. Our current amendment which we have out there somewhere goes through 2004. The Senator's amendment goes back to 2001.

We are happy to accept that, but the moneys are there. It is carryover money from past years.

I congratulate the Senator. It is a good amendment.

We have no objection to Senator Daschle's amendment, if it is cleared by Senator Byrd.

We have that, by the way, in the managers' package. We worked it out with Senator Byrd's staff and mine. We will be happy to adopt it now, if the Senator would like to do that.

I have no objection. I would like to confer with the Senator and Members on that side on items we believe are subject to budget points of order and give notice of that.

Very well.

Amendment No. 1807, As Modified

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

The Senator is correct. It has been approved on our side for Mr. Nelson.

I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent my notice of reconsideration on amendment No. 1834 be withdrawn.

I ask for a voice vote of the Reed amendment.

Yes.

I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. President, I ask that the Chair lay before the Senate amendment No. 1852.

This is the Feingold military family leave amendment. I ask for adoption of the amendment.

I move to reconsider the vote.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at 9 a.m. this morning, the Senate proceed to a series of consecutive votes in relation to the following amendments; further, that there be no amendments in order to the amendments in the below stacked sequence prior to the votes, with 2 minutes equally divided before each vote, and that each vote in sequence after the first be limited to 10 minutes. The stacked sequence is: the Durbin amendment No. 1837, the Daschle amendment No. 1854, the Landrieu amendment No. 1859, the Boxer amendment No. 1843, the Leahy amendment No. 1807, and the Durbin amendment No. 1879.

I further ask unanimous consent that other than the above mentioned amendments, the only other amendments in order to the bill be the following, and they be subject to second-degree amendments that will be relevant to the first-degree amendment to which they are offered: Byrd amendment No. 1819; Corzine amendment No. 1882; Bond amendment No. 1825; Domenici amendment No. 1864; Senator Brownback is to offer an amendment relative to rescission; Senator Collins will have an opportunity to offer an amendment relative to loans; Senator McConnell, a sense of the Senate on troops; Senator Specter on loans; Senator Byrd, the remaining amendments on his list; Senator Dorgan, an amendment related to Iraqi oil; Senators Boxer and Schumer, shoulder- fired weapons; Senator Daschle, a relevant amendment; Senator Frist, a relevant amendment; myself, a relevant amendment; Senator McConnell, a relevant amendment; and Senator Reid, a relevant amendment.

I further ask unanimous consent that budget points of order not be waived by virtue of this agreement and that no other points of order lie against any pending amendments at this time.

I state, as an explanation, that the order of the nonstacked amendments will be determined by when people arrive and they are called up. That second part is not a list of order in which they will necessarily be called up.

That is acceptable to us, and we will be pleased to move amendment No. 1807 to be just prior to the Byrd amendment No. 1819. As I said, the amendments on the second list are not in any order of sequence.

That is not in sequence.

Mr. President, I ask there now be a period for morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, October 16, 2003, at 9:30 a.m., in closed session, to receive a classified briefing on the intelligence portion of the fiscal year 04 emergency supplemental appropriations request.

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 October 16, 2003, at 10:00 a.m., to conduct a hearing on ``proposals for improving the regulation of the housing GSEs.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, October 16, 2003 at 2:00 p.m., to hold a hearing on Afghanistan: In Pursuit of Security & Democracy.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, October 16, 2003 at 2:30 p.m. to hold a Subcommittee hearing on US-EU Cooperation on Regulatory Affairs.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be authorized to meet for a hearing on Promoting Access to Postsecondary Education: Issues for the Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act during the session of the Senate on Thursday, October 16, 2003 at 10:00 a.m. in

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet on Thursday, October 16, 2003 at 10:00 a.m. in Room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct an oversight hearing on the Missouri River Master manual.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a markup on Thursday, October 16, 2003, at 10 a.m. in Dirksen Room 226.

I. Nominations

Henry W. Saad to be United States Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit; George W. Miller to be Judge for the United States Court of the Federal Claims; Deborah Ann Spagnoli to be United States Parole Commissioner; Dora L. Irizarry to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York.

II. Bills

S. 1545, Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2003 (the DREAM Act) [Hatch, Durbin, Craig, DeWine, Feingold, Feinstein, Grassley, Kennedy, Leahy, Schumer]

S. 1691, the Wartime Treatment Study Act [Feingold, Grassley, Kennedy]

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on ``Common Sense Consumption: Super-Sizing Versus Personal Responsibility'' on Thursday, October 16, 2003, at 2 p.m. in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Panel I: Senator Mitch McConnell, Kentucky.

Panel II: Victor Schwartz, Partner, Law Firm of Shook, Hardy, & Bacon, L.L.P., Washington, D.C.; Russell L. Sutter, Principal, Tillinghast-Towers Perrin, St. Louis, MO.

Panel III: Wayne Reaves, President, Manna Enterprises, Inc., Anniston, AL; Dr. Gerard Musante, Founder, Structure House, Durham, NC.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 245 which was submitted yesterday.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table and any statements relating to this matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 285, S.618.

Mr. President, this is a bill introduced by Senator Reid and Senator Ensign. I further ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, and any statements relating to this matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I understand that S. 1751 introduced by Senator Grassley yesterday is at the desk and I ask for its first reading.

Mr. President, I now ask for its second reading and I object to my own request.

Mr. President, on behalf of the leader, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9 a.m. October 17. I further ask that following the prayer and the pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day and the Senate then resume consideration of S. 1689, the Iraq-Afghanistan supplemental appropriations bill as provided under the original order.

Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, tomorrow the Senate will resume consideration of this Iraq-Afghanistan supplemental appropriations bill. At 9 a.m., the Senate will proceed to a stacked series of votes on the remaining pending amendments. Senators should therefore expect the first vote of Friday's session to begin at 9 a.m., and votes will continue throughout the day. It is still our intention to complete action on this bill on Friday.

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.

Again, I apologize to the Senator from New Jersey. Our position on this amendment is it is an amendment that should not be brought up in connection with an appropriations bill when changing the reserve compensation system in a very drastic way. As a matter of fact, CBO scored this provision as follows for mandatory/direct: First year spending at $1.486 billion; the 5-year cost, $8.349 billion; and the 10-year cost, $16.466 billion.

Both the House and the Senate have passed a provision that requires a study of this compensation, in part to determine whether retirement systems should be changed in view of the modern requirements and in view of the total force of the United States. The requirement to wait until age 60 to collect reserve pay has long been in effect and there is no basis right now to claim that any reservists who stay for a career have been misled about the level or timing of the compensation they receive. However, it is a matter of fact that we all want to have this changed. Any changes to the Guard and Reserve retirement benefits need to be assessed for the long term, not just in relationship to the current deployment.

I am constrained to point out that the pending amendment 1811 offered by the Senator from New Jersey, Mr. Corzine, increases spending by $2.3 billion in the fiscal year 2004. This additional spending would cause the underlying bill to exceed the Defense subcommittee's section 302(b) allocation. Therefore, I raise a point of order against the amendment pursuant to section 302(f) of the Budget Act.

Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. President, may I have the attention of the Senate for a moment. There is another scheduled amendment to be voted on right now. I ask Members of this side who have not come forward and offered their amendments--we have a series of amendments filed by Republican Members: Senators Hutchison, Specter, and Graham. We have notice that two or three other Senators--Senator Warner and Senator Brownback--have potential amendments. We have heard from the other side with amendments so far. We agree we should consider amendments offered on this side if anyone is ready to offer an amendment.

I urge during this vote that Members consult with me and the staff to see what amendments they are willing to raise now. We are still committed to finishing this bill, and my colleagues are going to have to raise them sometime, so I hope they will consider raising them now.

Regular order, Mr. President.

Mr. President, the Senator from Nevada is absolutely right. I recall the other day when a number of us were missing. The last person had not voted and I asked his assistant where the person was. They said he was at the airport. An hour and 40 minutes later, I said: What airport? They said: Philadelphia.

The Member who just voted last was on the subway. I thought that was the subway of the Capitol. I apologize to the Senator.

I put the Senate on notice that we will observe the 20 minutes. In fact, as we get through this bill toward this evening, I hope to have a series of stacked votes, with the first vote being 20 minutes and all thereafter being 10 minutes. We have to stop wasting time on the voting process and get this bill finished by Friday, as we will try to do.

I thank the Chair and ask for the regular order.

Amendment No. 1834

Mr. President, current law allows the services to exceed end strength by 3 percent. Currently, there are about 9,000 soldiers who already exceed the end strength. They have another 5,000 that they can increase. This will take money from the amount they need. I strongly understand the Senator's request, as well as Senator Hagel, but I would like to yield 45 seconds to Senator McCain and 25 seconds to Senator Sessions and then be recognized to make a motion to table.

Mr. President, it will take 3 to 5 years to train those additional soldiers. I do not know from where the Senator is getting his information. I get mine in writing from the Department of Defense, and I stated the figures as we understand them. We do not need any more troops. General Abizaid testified he has troops he does not need, and he is going to start bringing some home.

I move to table the amendment and ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, I enter a motion to reconsider.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Yes.

Amendment No. 1835 Withdrawn

There is no objection.

Will the amendment be called up at that time?

Madam President, the Senator is correct, although we are working on that. As I understand it, does the Senator from Nevada expect to go to a vote right away?

We have two other Senators who are ready on this side.

Senator Warner and Senator Graham of South Carolina are ready to offer amendments on this side.

Is the Senator's amendment already offered?

Madam President, I confess I was in another meeting when I got the word that the vote was not as I expected it. As manager of the bill, I am obligated to take the time to try to achieve the goal that has been set by the administration and by the majority. So I do apologize. But that was an extra amount of time needed to determine what tactic I should use to try to achieve the goal I think the Senator from Nevada would use if he were in my shoes. So we respect one another.

He is right; we went over and we said, just minutes ago, we would not. But a contingency developed that I do not think I need to apologize for. I just need to explain.

I yield the floor.

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

Madam President, I have examined the amendment offered by the Senator from Nevada and it has two basic requirements. One is a certification of the amount Iraq will pay or that will be paid on behalf of Iraq, during fiscal year 2004 to a foreign country to service a debt incurred by Iraq, including any amount used for the payment of principal, interest, et cetera. This deals with the amounts that were debts of the former regime of Iraq. It states:

On May 1, 2004, the Director of the Office of Management

and Budget shall administratively reserve, out of the

unobligated balance of the funds in this title under the

subheading Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund

. . . the amount that is equal to the sum of the amount

certified under paragraph (1). . . .

Namely, it is the amount that has been used from any source to service the debt that Iraq owed under the Saddam Hussein regime.

Madam President, we take the position there will be no such payment. In any event, we don't see any harm in finding out if there is such a payment and dealing with that subject accordingly. Therefore, I am prepared to state to the Senator from Nevada we have no objection to the amendment of the Senator under the circumstances right now, and I will rely upon the statement of the distinguished Senator from West Virginia to determine whether there is objection from his side of the aisle. It is not an amendment I really seek to have enacted. In all probability, it may be substantially changed in conference if it does survive. But it is not something that offends the process we are involved in now. We don't know of any payments that would be made by any country on behalf of the former regime of Saddam Hussein to deal with the debt that existed under that regime.

Therefore, I will not oppose the amendment. I seek the advice of the Senator from West Virginia as to what they intend to do concerning this amendment. Does the Senator wish some additional time to consider this matter? Would he like to take the recess now and come back and deal with this after our weekly luncheon?

Yes. Madam President, I thank the Senator. I think the Senator will remember, as we wound up the session just prior to the recess, there were a series of amendments that were under consideration. Senator Ensign's was one of those. I think Members of our side checked with staff on the Senator's side, but we are probably not dealing with the right people. We had to pull the Ensign amendment at the last minute because we didn't have the clearance we thought we had.

I suggest we just stand in recess now and address this matter when we come back after the scheduled recess.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that we stand in recess, according to the previous order, until the hour of 2:15 p.m.

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

Madam President, the pending business is the Ensign amendment?

I now believe that has been cleared and I urge adoption of that amendment.

Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Madam President, if the Senator will yield.

My understanding was it was time for us to start moving some of the amendments on our side.

Senator Graham of South Carolina, Senator Warner, and Senator Domenici are coming. So I hope to proceed then. I have no objection to the Senator from New Mexico

proposing his amendment and making a statement. We will set that aside when the other Senators appear.

I yield the floor.

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

I ask unanimous consent to set aside the Bingaman amendment in order that the Senator from South Carolina can offer his amendment at this time.

Madam President, I have notified members of the minority that we are prepared to accept the Bingaman amendment and also the amendment of Senator Graham. While we await their response, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendments be set aside temporarily so the Senator from Arkansas can offer an amendment.

Madam President, will the Senator withhold his request for a quorum call?

Madam President, I listened with interest to the statement of the Senator from South Dakota. It is a very interesting proposition that we should support the military budget and not support the budget that is designed to bring our troops home. The $20.3 billion is a lot of money, there is no question about that.

I am informed there are about 22 million people in Iraq. They lived under a despotic regime, and we have destroyed that regime. There are still pockets of terrorists, pockets of resistance to the change to a new form of government. But those who support only the military expenditures are telling us: Let's just occupy Iraq. No one is saying: Let's go home. No one is saying: Let's just bring our forces out and cut and run. We are not going to do that.

If we put in the money, $66 billion for the year 2004, that is the amount of money that was calculated that we need for the military, provided we start bringing them home--we have already brought some troops home, and I am one who hopes we will be bringing more troops home this year and early next year. But they will be replaced by security forces, those trained in the Iraqi Army, those trained to be security forces. We do not want to train people to be forces of occupation. That has not been our way of life. Even in Bosnia and Kosovo we used forces who were trained combat soldiers, combat personnel to carry out a lot of functions, but we did not train people to just be forces of occupation.

Our people are trained combatants. They proved they are the best in the world in this current Iraq campaign. There are still threats against this country throughout the world. We do not want them left in Iraq in the numbers that are there now. They must start coming back to meet any contingency to defend this country and our interests at home and abroad.

To say we can just get by with the $66 billion for military begs the question: What do you want us to do? Send more forces over there? Should we increase the cost militarily and send more combat forces over there or should we provide forces, as has been suggested in one amendment, to train constables for maintaining the peace, people in uniform but not trained to be combat forces, not trained to fight wars, but just trained to be policemen at the corner or to guard schools or guard the churches or guard the shopping centers. We can do that. We have been in Kosovo. We have been in Bosnia for over 4 years doing that. We are trying to avoid that in this country.

I hope everyone in the Senate understands this is a unique, new approach to the concept of changing an administration, a nation- building concept, letting them build their own nation as quickly as possible. The $20.3 billion is a great deal of money, there is no question about that. It is an enormous amount of money. It represents a cost to this country, however, that is far less than maintaining our forces there for 3, 4, or 5 years at a rate of $66 billion plus a year for military.

I want to see the scales compared. I want people to understand that the $20.3 billion is going to mean we do not have to increase the defense costs in the years ahead as we occupy Iraq until they finally find some way to create their own government. We are trying to build up their forces so we can bring our troops home, and I believe we will succeed.

There are some people making a little bit of mirth over some of the problems of dealing with a new country. It has its own currency now, and we are trying to convert our money to their money so they can start spending and generating their economy. It is going to cost a great deal to do that; a lot less, however, than occupying that country for a period of 4 more years. We have not been in any of these countries we have been involved with in recent years less than 4 years. We hope to be out of this situation in less than 4 years, and that is why I support the $20.3 billion the President requested.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Madam President, the amendment offered by the Senator from Arkansas is a revenue bill. It cannot originate under our constitutional concepts in the Senate. It would create a blue-slip situation in the House of Representatives. I do not want to put the entire bill at risk by trying to include a tax bill in this supplemental appropriations bill.

Therefore, I make the point of order it violates the pay-go provisions of the Budget Act and ask that it be stricken.

Madam President, there are similar provisions in the pending bill before the Senate. I renew my point of order.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Making my request more specific, I make the point of order that the amendment of the Senator from Arkansas is in violation of section 302(f) of the Budget Act and I ask that it be stricken.

I thank the Chair. I yield the floor.

Mr. President, there are a series of reporting requirements in this bill already. I have conferred with the leadership. We don't have any objection to this amendment by the Senator from West Virginia. I am certain that in conference the House is going to insist on consolidating some of these reports. We will be glad to review that matter with the Senator when that occurs. But we are happy to accept the amendment.

Does the Senator want a rollcall vote?

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, if the Senator wants a vote on this amendment, he is entitled to a vote. I shall not object to that. But I want the Senate to know we have a Boxer amendment to require a report on replacing troops with Iraqi forces or other non-U.S. forces to secure areas in Iraq. We have an amendment by Mr. Feingold to provide transparency and accountability with respect to the Coalition Provisional Authority. He wishes to have an office of inspector general in the Coalition Provisional Authority. As I understand it, he will offer that amendment. We have an amendment offered by Senator McCain and Senator Biden. They wish to have a GAO review on the effectiveness of the Coalition Provisional Authority relief and reconstruction activities, and a report quarterly to the congressional committees on a similar matter to that suggested by Senator Byrd's amendment.

So if the Senator wishes a vote on his amendment, I am prepared to agree to that; that will be the case. It would be my intention to accept all of these amendments and take them to conference and see what we can do to come out with a concept of a process of having adequate information and transparency in the Coalition without burdening the Coalition with a series of different types of reports and different types of officers who will be looking over their shoulders and demanding access to their offices and interviews of their personnel when we are trying to get the business done over there.

I do not think a provisional authority, within an area with the kind of suicide bombers we are seeing there on a daily basis, is something we have to burden with a series of duplicating types of reports and inspectors general and the comptroller general and his people there at the same time.

So again I state to my friend I will not oppose the amendment. I will vote for it. I assume it will get 100 votes. But in conference I intend to see it to these reports are consolidated, and we have a concise-- concise--concept of the type of reports Congress needs to oversee the activities of the Provisional Authority.

Does the Senator wish to renew his request for the yeas and nays?

Mr. President, I state again, I have serious question of whether the Comptroller General of the United States is a replacement for the Inspector General. That, in effect, is what the Senator's amendment does. It creates the comptroller general as a constant inspector general of everything that is going on under the Coalition Provisional Authority.

I am going to reserve my opportunity to consolidate all of these reports in conference. But I do agree we have the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I do not want to belabor the point. It is an arm of the Congress, but this is an executive function concerning an audit. We have created offices of the inspector general. Two Senators have suggested inspectors general. I do not think this is the place for a continuing presence of an arm of the Congress. But I will vote for the Senator's amendment to take it to conference. As the Chair said, there is a sufficient second.

Mr. President, in view of the vote on the Byrd amendment, I announce that we have a Durbin amendment, a Corzine amendment, a Boxer amendment, and a Feingold amendment that pertain to reporting. If those Senators are willing to offer

them now, I am prepared to accept them, and we will put them all together when we get to conference. They have not been filed.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the two lists of amendments I now send to the desk be the only remaining first- degree amendments in order to the bill other than those pending at the present time.

And provided that second-degree amendments be in order and they be relevant to the amendment to which they are offered.

There are two Leahy amendments here.

In just a moment we will ask for a rollcall vote on Senator Graham's amendment, but I would like to yield to my friend, Senator Feingold, to introduce an amendment, then to approve a series of reporting amendments.

I am not sure about voting on his amendment until we know what it is. Is it on the list?

I have a series of issues I wish to handle before we get to any votes.

Let me yield for the Senator to introduce his amendment.

I yield to the Senator from Nevada to put in an amendment for Senator Corzine to include in these amendments.

Amendment No. 1851

I now call up amendments Nos. 1844, 1847, and 1851: Senator Feingold's amendment, the Boxer amendment, and Senator Corzine's amendment. They are all reporting amendments, requiring reporting. I ask unanimous consent that they be considered en bloc and agreed to en bloc.

I move to reconsider the vote.

I call up an amendment numbered 1805 introduced by Senator Graham and send a modification of that amendment to the desk.

I ask for adoption of the amendment.

I move to reconsider the vote.

I ask that Senator Reid's amendment No. 1836 be laid before the Senate.

Mr. President, I ask for the adoption of that amendment. It is a sense-of-the-Senate amendment.

I move to reconsider the vote.

I ask that the Senate consider amendment No. 1842 from Senator Bingaman, as modified.

I send a modification to the desk.

I ask for consideration of the amendment.

I ask that the Senate consider Senator Reid's amendment numbered 1838.

Mr. President, this amendment offered by my friend from Nevada increases spending by $3.4 billion that causes the underlying bill to exceed the subcommittee allocation under section 302(b). Therefore, I raise a point of order against the amendment pursuant to section 302(f) of the Budget Act.

Mr. President, the Senator is correct. In the authorization conference, this matter is being considered. That is one reason I said it is with reluctance I make a point of order. But I ask the Presiding Officer to rule on my point of order.

Mr. President, I will consult with the distinguished acting leader on the other side. Senator Graham does wish a rollcall vote on his amendment No. 1806.

There are people leaving, and I do wish we would get an agreement on when we could call for a rollcall vote on----

Can we establish a vote on the Graham amendment at 6 o'clock?

The amendment was cleared, but because of a change he wishes a rollcall vote.

Senator Graham had a chance to explain the amendment to us, but he has not explained it on the floor yet. He would like 5 minutes before the vote, and I would ask that the Senator be allowed 5 minutes after the Senator has completed his speech, and then following that, we vote, as indicated by the Senator from Nevada, with no further amendments in order.

We do not know anything about Senator Feingold's amendment.

Subject to the 5 minutes.

We join in that request, Mr. President.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when Senator Feingold has completed his remarks, the Senator from South Carolina be recognized to speak for not more than 5 minutes on his amendment No. 1806, and following that time, there be no further amendments in order, and we have a rollcall vote on amendment No. 1806.

Mr. President, I send the modification to the desk so there will be no misunderstanding about that.

I need time, I say to my friend, to review this with the Armed Services Committee and the Government Affairs Committee before we can consent to that. I am sure there will be a recorded vote at some time, but I hope the Senator will accept a delay in that request.

Mr. President, I was not informed about the request for time. The agreement we have pending would say we have a vote following the Senator's remarks. If there are Senators who wish to speak, I would like to know who they are and how much time they want to speak so we could change the agreement, at least have a vote. Members are coming back, thinking they are going to vote in a few minutes.

Yes.

Mr. President, I have no objection to that request if Senator McConnell can speak and then we can vote.

Mr. President, have the yeas and nays been ordered?

Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Madam President, we are seeking to urge Members to raise some of the amendments that they have indicated they want to have considered so we might have some discussion of those amendments and schedule them for a vote early tomorrow morning. I know Senator Byrd is prepared to offer an amendment. But I yield to the leader.

Reserving the right to object, Madam President, we are being asked to consent to an order. We have not even seen these amendments. We don't even know the names on the amendments.

I remember, when the tables were turned, vehement objections to such

procedure. I object until I see the amendment to see whether we want to stack them automatically for a vote tomorrow.

Is this the loan amendment of the Senator from California?

Is it on the list?

It would be nice to see it.

I thank the Senator.

I withdraw my objection.

Will the Senator respond to a question?

Is it the Senator's intention that the money, one-third, be available at the end of 120 days?

I thank the Senator.

I state for the information of Senators, we will make some agreements concerning time for the vote to take place tomorrow on the Senator's amendment.

I will oppose the amendment. It is an amendment that would limit the discretion and use of these funds. These funds are designed to as quickly as possible bring about the reconstruction of Iraq and the training of Iraqis to take over their own affairs, to defend themselves, to provide their own security, provide their own water, provide their own electricity, run their own schools--a whole series of things to have this money available, as the Senator says, in the tranches. We can do so much for 120 days. You have to wait for another 120 days before you can have the next money, and another 120 days for the next money.

Now, when you look at that, what it really means is you are going to have to decide we are going to be there for at least a year just doing what is designed in this process to be an upfront program to move quickly as possible to turn this government back to them.

I think that is a restriction on the use of these funds that would hamper the ability of Ambassador Bremer and General Abizaid to carry out their instructions they have already received from the Congress and the instructions that are generally contained in this bill.

It is my intention to speak further on the amendment tomorrow, but just so there would be no question about it, I will oppose the Senator's amendment and urge that it be defeated. It remains to be seen whether I will ask to table the amendment or to just have a vote on it. We will determine that tomorrow.

But I do thank the Senator for her response to my question, and I yield the floor on this matter.

There will be a vote, but we will confer with the Senator when that vote will occur sometime tomorrow. Last-vote notices have gone out for tonight.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the attached statement I send to the desk from the Office of Compliance be printed in the Record today pursuant to section 303(b) of the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995, 2 U.S.C. 1383(b).

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 October 15, 2003, at 9:30 a.m., to conduct a markup of S. 811, the ``American Dream Downpayment Act'', of S. 300, the ``Jackie Robinson Congressional Gold Medal bill.'' The committee will also vote on the nominations of Mr. Harvey S. Rosen, of New Jersey, and Ms. Kristin J. Forbes, of Massachusetts, to be members of the Council of Economic Advisors; Ms. Julie L. Myers, of Kansas, to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement; and Mr. Peter Lichtenbaum, of Virginia, to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration.

Following the votes, the Subcommittee on Securities and Investment will meet in open session to conduct a hearing on ``The Future of the Securities Markets.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to meet on Wednesday, October 15, at 9:30 to conduct a business meeting to consider legislation S. 1643, S. 1066, S. 1663, and S. 1669, and the nomination of Michael O. Leavitt, to be Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The meeting will take place in SD 406, hearing room.

committee on finance

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Wednesday, October 15, 2003, at 10 a.m., to hear testimony on ``Company Owned Life Insurance.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, October 15, 2003, at 2 p.m. to hold a hearing on The Middle East Road Map: Overcoming Obstacles to Peace.

THE PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

committee on indian affairs

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet on Wednesday, October 15, 2003, at 10 a.m. in Room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a Hearing on S. 550, the American Indian Probate Reform Act of 2003.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a Judicial Nominations hearing on Wednesday, October 15, 2003, at 10:00 a.m. in the Dirksen Office Building room 226.

Agenda

Panel I: Senators.

Panel II: D. Michael Fisher to be United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit.

Panel III: Dale S. Fisher to be United States District Judge for the Central District of California; Gary L. Sharpe to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of New York.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on Wednesday, October 15, 2003, at 2:00 p.m. on ``Indecent Exposure: Oversight of DOJ's Efforts to Protect Pornography's Victims,'' in the Dirksen Senate Office Building room 226.

Witness List

Panel 1: Mr. John Malcolm, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, Department of Justice, Washington D.C., Mr. J. Robert Flores, Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Department of Justice, Washington D.C.; Mr. Lawrence E. Maxwell, Inspector in Charge, Fraud and Dangerous Mail Investigations, United States Postal Inspectors, Washington D.C.; Honorable Mary Beth Buchanan, U.S. Attorney

for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, PA.

Panel 2: Mr. Bruce A. Taylor, President and Chief Counsel, National Law Center for Children and Families, Fairfax, VA; Mr. Victor Cline, Emeritus Professor, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; Mr. Steve Takeshita, Officer in Charge, Pornography Unit, Organized Crime and Vice Division, Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles, CA.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Water and Power of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, October 15, at 2:30 p.m.

The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony on S. 943, a bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to enter into one or more contracts with the city of Cheyenne, Wyoming, for the storage of water in the Kendrick project; S. 1027 and H.R. 2040, bills to amend the Irrigation Project Contract Extension Act of 1998 to extend certain contracts between the Bureau of Reclamation and certain irrigation water contractors in the States of Wyoming and Nebraska; S. 1058, a bill to provide a cost-sharing requirement for the construction of the Arkansas Valley Conduit in the State of Colorado; S. 1071, a bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior, through the Bureau of Reclamation, to conduct a feasibility study on a water conservation project within the Arch Hurley Conservancy District in the State of New Mexico, and for other purposes; S. 1307, a bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Reclamation, to assist in the implementation of fish passage and screening facilities at non Federal water projects, and for other purposes; S. 1308, a bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to pursue and complete actions related to the implementation of a U.S. District of a U.S. district court consent decree; S. 1355, a bill to authorize the Bureau of Reclamation to participate in the rehabilitation of the Wallowa Lake Dam in Oregon, and for other purposes; S. 1577, a bill to extend the deadline for commencement of construction of a hydroelectric project in the State of Wyoming; H.R. 1284, a bill to amend the Reclamation Projects Authorization and Adjustment Act of 1992 to increase the Federal share of the costs of the San Gabriel Basin Demonstration Project; and S. Res. 183, a resolution commemorating 50 years of adjudication under the McCarran amendment of rights to the use of water.