Dick Lugar: “while I support Senate passage of H.R. 4200, the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year…”

“while I support Senate passage of H.R. 4200, the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005, and will not object to its passage, I am nevertheless concerned with language appearing in section 1225, ``Bilateral Exchanges and Trade in Defense Articles and Defense Services Between the United States and the United Kingdom and Australia.'' My concerns are shared by the ranking Democratic member of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Biden. We maintain an amicable and beneficial working relationship between the Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees. In many years past, we opposed efforts by the Armed Services Committee to legislate on matters under our Committee's unique jurisdiction. Last June, we offered an amendment to the defense authorization bill because we understood that our own authorization bill would not proceed, and that the Senate Armed Services Committee supported all of the provisions we offered.”