Don Nickles: “Mr. President, I wish to compliment my friend and colleague, Senator Warner, for his stewardship of this bill, for his…”

“Mr. President, I wish to compliment my friend and colleague, Senator Warner, for his stewardship of this bill, for his chairmanship of the Armed Services Committee, and for his dedication to improving our national defense. He has a proven record in national defense, both as a Secretary of the Navy and his service in the Senate. I understand the support that this bill has by colleagues, and certainly I feel supportive of our military and national defense as well. I have always believed that for the Federal Government our No. 1 priority should be the protection of our people, protection of our country, and the protection of our freedom. This bill will help do this in some ways. So I support those efforts. I support a lot of what is in this bill, but I don't support everything in this bill. I think it would be less than forthcoming if I didn't express my displeasure with at least two provisions in this bill. Maybe by expressing that displeasure we can remedy that before this bill becomes law. I say that in all sincerity. I want a lot of this bill to become law. Frankly, when my staff asked me earlier, 'Do you want to sponsor S.4, one of our first bills? It improves national defense, increases pay.' Well, I have 35,000 to 40,000 troops in my State, and I definitely want to increase their pay.”