Cord Byrd: “the Senate will vote within the next few minutes on a procedural motion relating to the amendment offered by Senator…”

“the Senate will vote within the next few minutes on a procedural motion relating to the amendment offered by Senator Warner and Senator Levin. This amendment proposes to add much of the Defense authorization bill to the Defense appropriations bill. The Defense authorization bill is most complex legislation. The bill deals with a broad array of policy matters, ranging from providing for increased pay and benefits for our troops to changing laws relating to nuclear nonproliferation programs to authorizing military construction projects and so on. The committee report that accompanies this bill is 494 pages in length. It is legislation that deserves close scrutiny, full and open debate, and an opportunity to freely amend. If this motion carries and the amendment is adopted, the Senate will only have a bobtailed debate of just a few hours on this very important bill. I am a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee as well as the Appropriations Committee. I attended a portion of the markup of the Defense authorization bill which lasted several full days. Senator Warner and Senator Levin conducted the markup in an exemplary bipartisan manner, and I commend them for their outstanding efforts. They are always fair and very considerate of others and always courteous to every other Senator. The bill was reported from the committee on May 12 of this year, and it was brought to the floor on July 20.…”