Dan Coats: “Second, Mr. President, let me state that there are a number of programs in the past that the Department of Defense has…”

“Second, Mr. President, let me state that there are a number of programs in the past that the Department of Defense has not requested, which this Congress has determined are important to be added to the Department of Defense budget. And we have done so. Looking back, in hindsight it is a good thing that we did. Strategic sealift: Now the Department of Defense comes and says it is one of their top priorities. They did not require it, nor request it before, maybe because the administration said do not do it. They are darned glad that we did not abide by their request. Some of the C-17's, the V-22, countermine efforts--we find that we were seriously underfunded and underprepared in the past in terms of dealing with countermine activity. This Congress made a decision to go forward and fund some of that. We are darned glad they did, and the Defense Department is darned glad that they did. So let us be realistic on this. I urge my colleagues to vote against the Wellstone amendment for the reasons stated. It is simply a misstatement of what the request is from the Department of Defense.”