I thank my friend. These many years we have worked, really, as partners, and achieved one of the highest degrees of bipartisanship in the discharge of our respective responsibilities, together with the staffs.

Yes, I am. I certainly understand the Senator's concerns, and I can tell him that I am hopeful that as we move forward and reconcile this very important bill with that of the House in conference, we will take a very careful look at these…

The Senator from Georgia is quite correct in his observation and assessment and our committee has urged the Department to move forward with its economic analysis of engine alternatives for this critical fleet of aircraft. The Senator from…

I believe we looked to remedy this with the FAIR Act in 1998. Am I not correct in stating that this law basically says that federal agencies should inventory government services that are commercial in nature, and then review whether these…

Yes. That would clearly be one factor among several that should be considered, consistent with the goal of providing the same type and quality of American radio and television news, information, and entertainment that would be available to…

Thank you for offering me the opportunity to clarify this point. In my view, the intent of this amendment was not to call into question the performance of the AFRTS. Indeed, as my staff and I examined the proposed amendment originally…

Absolutely. The amendment cites word for word relevant portions of the current Department of Defense Directive concerning AFRTS, including a statement of the mission to be accomplished and the key principles that should be followed in…

I understand that accuracy has been a problem with some systems developed to date so new approaches would be welcomed.

I would agree wholeheartedly with the Senator from North Carolina's statement. At a time when we are relying more and more on our National Guard and Reserve forces to defend our national security, we must continue to provide direct and…

Indeed, I was witness to that. But it did bring back a fond memory to me. In the period during the war in Vietnam, there was a very colorful and strong chairman in the House Armed Services Committee named Eddie Hebert from New Orleans, LA…

The concept of the inspector general is a proven concept. It is a valuable concept in the administration of our expenditures to have accountability.

I thank the Senator for the reference to the ITAR amendment, which I put in. I consulted with him, Senator Biden, and a great many Senators who worked with me in making this amendment possible, which is currently a part of the managers'…

I must oppose the Byrd amendment and urge my colleagues to do the same. The provision in the underlying bill to raise the troop cap in Colombia from the current limitation of 400 military personnel and 400 contractors to 800 military…

I say to colleagues, in all candor, this is the third vote on the same issue. They have addressed the issues in this amendment on two occasions, and by significant margin we have decided to reject in any way taking the Missile Defense…

I urge colleagues to give the most careful consideration to this amendment. How well each of us knows the fragility of the Central American band of countries. Colombia has shown the fortitude, the courage, the strength, the sacrifice to…

Fine. I believe our case has been made very clearly to our colleagues that these issues raised by the Senator from Rhode Island have been passed upon by the Senate in the preceding 3 or 4 days after very careful, conscientious, and…

I must say I am fortunate to serve on the Armed Services Committee with Senator Reed and Senator Levin. Throughout the many years we have served together, we have had our honest differences of opinion. I don't mind sharing them. I enjoy…

I once again wish to emphasize to our colleagues, in the past the Committee of the Armed Services most particularly, and I think the Congress in general, has refrained from requiring the Department of Defense to provide detailed planning…

if I might just speak personally, I served in the Reserves some 12, 14 years and we knew what we had as our obligation when we signed up. That is the way it has been throughout our contemporary military history. I share with the Senator…

I accept responsibility for increasing the time. I just feel that these are important issues, and some of my colleagues are very anxious to express their views. I want to make that possible.

I looked at the cost to the American taxpayers for TRICARE for Life, and that is $3.9 billion a year. The concurrent receipts were $22 billion in the 2004 cycle. Through this administration, in veterans funding, there has been a 34-percent…

I am proud of what our Senate has done over the past several years to assist veterans. This is another matter that is now pending and has yet to be resolved. I see the distinguished Senator from Nevada, who has been in the forefront with…

I pointed out that at the present time the United States, in the last fiscal year, sold $63 billion in defense sales and only purchased $5 billion. My point is, the Senator is going after the wrong target, the wrong segment of the industry…

I say to our colleagues, I think the Senator and I can agree on this point that there is no vote on this current 2005 authorization bill of greater significance than the vote we will take momentarily. I frame this vote as follows: The…

I would make an offer to my distinguished colleague, if he wishes to advance an amendment on the issue of the ``loose nukes,'' to work with him to see whether, in this bill right now, we could take that one change, if you feel it is…