Dan Coats

I agree with the Senator. If the Congress does not choose to give the President the military force, he has nothing with which to command. But if the Congress does give him forces and raises an Army and a Navy, this Constitution designates…

I understand how Congress has the power to establish the level of the militia, the level of the Army, the number of individuals. I suppose if Congress said there shall be no more than 5,000 members in the U.S. Navy, that would impose a…

Yes. Perhaps I was extrapolating wrongly. I thought the Senator was indicating that power would be vested with the Congress relative to the Byrd-Hutchison amendment which sets a level--attempts to set, to dictate a process which would set…

But as a condition, that level is required; a level is required to be reached on the basis of an average of ground force levels of other NATO troops, specified troops from Great Britain, Germany, France, and Italy that arrives at a…

I would respectfully say to the Senator, my reading of the amendment indicates that it would do more than that. It doesn't just ask the President as Commander in Chief to tell us what the numbers shall be. It tells the President of the…

I think there is a great distinction between asking the President, ``What do you think the force should be? What, in your judgment as Commander in Chief, with the advice and consent and assistance of your military commanders, should the…

This Senator interprets the power given to the President to be the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States. "Commander in Chief" implies that person is in charge. That person makes the decision.

I struggled with this issue when I was, first, ranking member and then chairman of the Personnel Subcommittee. I visited most of the training facilities for the various services around the country. I talked to those in charge. We held…

last year DOD had an initiative to have NATO adopt the JSTARS system as the NATO alliance ground surveillance system, but NATO subsequently decided not to acquire the B-707-based US JSTARS aircraft. After that decision, the US offered a…

this amendment allows for the inclusion of budget authority to continue work on the expeditionary common automatic recovery system (ECARS), which is a launch and recovery system that DoD is using for unmanned aerial vehicles. ECARS would…

I would hope we could. I talked to the Senator from New York, indicating we are flexible in terms of moving this on. I agree with the Senator there may be some need to have additional negotiations. Since the Senate passed this before and…

No. 1, we passed this legislation in 1996. So the agreement that we had reached relative to using 1993 was acceptable to the State of New York, the State of New Jersey, and other exporters just in the last Congress. In fact, we passed it…

Well, let me say this to the Senator. First of all, I know that, given the 4 weeks we spent on the tobacco legislation, things are desperately behind. We are desperately behind the curve, and I know the Senate is anxious to move this…

Well, Mr. President, I certainly think we have the makings of an offer here, if we can get clearance from the rest--the Senator from New Jersey who helped in the past to reach this compromise. Obviously, nothing has changed. In fact, it…

I am not going to insist on my rights to allow this amendment to tie up this appropriations bill. I think there is important work in the Senate that needs to be done. I will just say to my fellow Senators, this is an issue that is not…

With that, Mr. President, I will tell the Senator from Nevada that he can assure the senior Senator from New Jersey that what is being offered here is identical to what was offered and agreed to in the past by the Senator and is exactly…

We have not. All I know is, what we are offering here is exactly what the Senator from New Jersey agreed to and voted for in the past.

I think to go back to the original agreement that gives States some authority to make reasonable rules relative to how much they receive and so that they can manage their own environmental affairs, something that has been approved and…

It is all about garbage. It is all about municipal solid waste, which is a diplomatic term for garbage, the stuff that each of us throws out every day from our kitchen--puts in a plastic bag, puts out at the curb once or twice a week…

It has truly been an honor for me and a privilege to serve for 10 years on the Armed Services Committee. I say without reservation that my service on that committee is the most enjoyable aspect of anything I have done in the U.S. Senate…

there has been significant, considerable debate on this issue over the past several days, and then several days before that before the Easter recess. Many of the arguments have been made, discussions have been had, and debate has been…

I am here today to announce, along with several Members--in fact, a coalition of 30 Republican Members from both the House and the Senate called the Renewal Alliance, which has been in business now for a considerable amount of time--more…

Mr. President, in summary, let me state that what we are attempting to accomplish here is a third alternative. We believe that the well-intentioned, well-motivated programs of the past, at great cost to the taxpayers, have failed to…

this amendment Members will be voting on shortly simply adds an incentive to the current deduction that is allowed for individuals making contributions to tax-exempt organizations that provide scholarships for low-income children…

No. The Senator is correct. There seems, however, to be some considerable degree of confusion in the Congress about how that test is going to be structured and what the process is and an expression on the part of many Members that Congress…