Daniel Inouye: “Mr. President, I rise this day to offer my complete support for the fiscal year 1998 DOD appropriations bill. As noted…”

“Mr. President, I rise this day to offer my complete support for the fiscal year 1998 DOD appropriations bill. As noted by the chairman of this committee, this bill is well within the budget agreement. It is about $1.2 billion below the amount authorized last week by the Senate for these programs. I should point out to all of my colleagues that the chairman and I are hopeful we will not have to reconsider items that were debated and voted upon last week. Let me assure my colleagues that we intend to modify this bill to conform to many of the changes that were approved by the Senate last week. We look forward to working with Members and their staffs over the next 24 hours to ensure that their views are heard. Mr. President, I am pleased to report to my colleagues that this is a good bill. It is a product of a truly bipartisan process. As the chairman pointed out, this bill received unanimous support from members of the Appropriations Committee. For those of us who have had the privilege and great honor of serving in this body for many years, you will know that it is almost impossible to get unanimous support from the members of the Appropriations Committee. Therefore, I wish to commend Chairman Stevens and his capable staff in putting this bill together. It is a tough bill, but, Mr. President, it is a fair bill.”