Department of Energy National Security Act for Fiscal Year 2005

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY NATIONAL SECURITY ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2005

The bill (S. 2403) to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2005 for defense activities of the Department of Energy, and for other purposes, was considered, ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, read the third time, and passed as follows:

(The text of the bill will be printed in a future edition of the RECORD.)

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, with respect to H.R. 4200-Calendar Order No. 537-the House-passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate turn to its immediate consideration; that all after the enacting clause be stricken and the text of S. 2400, as passed, be substituted in lieu thereof; that the bill be advanced to third reading and passed; that the Senate insist on its amendment to the bill and request a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees; that the motion to reconsider the above-mentioned votes be laid upon the table; and that the foregoing occur without intervening action or debate.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, we are not prepared to go to conference tonight. We will consult with some of our colleagues tomorrow morning, and we certainly have no intention of delaying conference. But it is our hope that we will have an opportunity to consult a little bit more about some of the issues we expect to be raised.

For that purpose, I object to the portion of the request which would allow the conference to begin.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.

Without objection, H.R. 4200, as amended, is passed.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, that concludes the matters addressing the bill. I thank the leadership of both sides, members of our committee, and the wonderful, fine staff we have, particularly my staff, Mrs. Ansley, and my good colleague over here, my partner for these 26 years we have been in the Senate. Guess we landed another one, not necessarily in record time. Our calculation is 16 legislative days. So perhaps we have set something of a record as the days were fairly consecutive.

I thank the chief of staff sitting here.

Thank you, Captain.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, as always, the Senate is very much in the debt of our chairman, John Warner, an extraordinary human being and leader. This could not have happened without his leadership.

My staff, Dick Debobes, and all of our minority staff deserve extraordinary credit for getting this done. It would have taken twice as long but for our staff. I don't know-16 legislative days. It would have been double that number of days but for our staff, Judy Ansley and her staff. We thank them. Our staff worked together on a bipartisan basis. The Nation and our men and women in the Armed Forces owe them a huge debt. It is our staff-they will never know the names of our staff, probably, but they will be safer, more secure, better trained, better equipped, and have better benefits because of the work of our staff and the members of our committee who worked on a bipartisan basis under the leadership of John Warner.

Again, I take my hat off to our chairman. He has really done a wonderful job on this bill. It took a little longer than expected, but again we worked through a huge number of amendments, perhaps a record number of amendments.

Mr. WARNER. 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.

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, we would not be at this point in our deliberations were it not for the extraordinary work and cooperation on a bipartisan basis of all of our committee members and all of our committee staff. Once again, our Committee and the Senate have put the interests of our country first and we all can be very proud of that.

I take just a moment to acknowledge and thank the minority staff members of the Committee on Armed Services for their extraordinary work on S. 2400, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005. You don't get to final passage of this massive and important bill without having staff who are willing to give hours and hours of hard work and make many personal sacrifices. The committee and the Senate are so fortunate to have men and women of their expertise and dedication so ably assisting us on this bill. Rick DeBobes leads our minority staff of seventeen. Though small in numbers, they all make huge contributions to the work of the committee each and every day. Mr. President, as a tribute to their professionalism and with my thanks, I recognize Chris Cowart, Dan Cox, Madelyn Creedon, Mitch Crosswait, Rick DeBodes, Brie Eisen, Evelyn Farkas, Richard Fieldhouse, Creighton Greene, Jeremy Hekhuis, Bridget Higgins, Maren Leed, Gary Leeling, Peter Levine, Mike McCord, Bill Monahan, and Arun Seraphin.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have the names of staff printed in the RECORD.

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES

Judith A. Ansley, Charles W. Alsup, Michael N. Berger, June M. Borawski, Leah C. Brewer, Alison E. Brill, Jennifer D. Cave, L. David Cherington, Marie Fabrizio Dickinson, Regina A. Dubey, Andrew W. Florell, Brian R. Green, William C. Greenwalt, Ambrose R. Hock, Gary J. Howard, Jennifer Key, Gregory T. Kiley, Thomas L. MacKenzie, Elaine A. McCusker, Lucian L. Niemeyer, Cindy Pearson, Paula J. Philbin, Lynn F. Rusten, Joseph T. Sixeas, Scott W. Stucky, Diana G. Tabler, Richard F. Walsh, Bridget E. Ward, Nicholas W. West, and Pendred K. Wilson.

Mr. WARNER. I am happy at this time to yield the desk back to the majority leader. I hope I never see this again for another year.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader.

Mr. DASCHLE. I think the most recent tribute by each of the managers to each other is yet another illustration of the kind of bipartisanship that is so routinely achieved in the Armed Services Committee. Thanks for the extraordinary leadership and effort of these two genuine patriots. I admire the work they do. They set a standard for the rest of us. I admire, especially, the manner with which they have managed this legislation. This has been one of the toughest jobs we have had in a long time. They have done it admirably. We owe them a debt of gratitude, not only for the work done but for the manner with which they have done it. I congratulate them both.

Mr. WARNER. I thank the distinguished minority leader very much for his words.

Mr. FRIST. I, too, congratulate both of the managers. It has been a long month. It has been 16 days, but since March 17 we actually started the bill. There was a lot in the background people did not see in terms of progress being made, setbacks along the way and negotiations and discussions, both inside each caucus as well as debate on the floor. It is a real privilege to be the leader of both managers and of both caucuses, working together to produce a bill that a few minutes ago we passed, a bill we can all be very proud of. I appreciate everyone's cooperation, participation, diligence, and focus throughout.

Mr. WARNER. I thank our distinguished majority leader, truly a very gracious soul and of pure heart.