John Cornyn: “thank you. Mr. President, I express my gratitude to the Senator from Georgia for his remarks. Mr. President, I rise to…”

“thank you. Mr. President, I express my gratitude to the Senator from Georgia for his remarks. Mr. President, I rise to speak on the National Defense Authorization Act for 2007, the bill that is on the floor. Passage of the bill is critical to ensuring that our military has the resources necessary to accomplish the demanding missions we have asked them to undertake around the globe. I am privileged to chair, on the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, and to work closely with my colleague on the other side of the aisle, the ranking member, Senator Jack Reed. Together, we ensured that this year's National Defense Authorization Act would make a number of important contributions in the areas of combating terrorism, homeland defense, nonproliferation, and investments in defense science and technology. I want to spend a few minutes highlighting the subcommittee's work as part of this larger Defense authorization bill. But before addressing those specifics, I commend Chairman Warner for his outstanding leadership of the Armed Services Committee in the time I have been in the Senate. This markup, as has already been noted, is his last markup as chairman of the committee. But I am confident that Senator Warner will continue to contribute in many ways and play a key role in the work of the committee, even after he no longer is chairman.…”