the process for deciding when to outsource jobs has got to be a careful one it's got to be fair to contractors it's got to be fair to federal employees and of course it's got to be fair most of all to america taxpayers the kennedy amendment provides federal employees the same right that contractors currently possess to appeal outsourcing decisions in other words when a particular function is propose for outsourcing open to bidding by private contractors there's a process and a good one that's been created where federal employees themselves may bid against those contractors for that outsourcing work and what the kennedy amendment says is that federal employees should have the same rights that contractors have to appeal outsourcing decisions why just have one of the competitors for the outsourcing so to speak have the right to appeal and the other one doesn't to me that's a simply a fundamental issue of fairness the amendment also contains a provision to ensure that contractors competing for department of defense work do not receive an unfair advantage because they offer inferior health or retirement benefits to what we are offering to federal employees i don't think any member of this chamber would want employees of the department of defense to be at a disadvantage in computing for their jobs because they receive health and retirement venomous benefits that we authorize and ordain from the federal government this amendment also addresses a concern that that i've had for quite a long time and that is that it sometimes appears that the office of management and budget pushes agencies to meet arbitrary numerical targets for the outsourcing of jobs decisions on outsourcing should be made on a case by case basis where it makes sense to outsource t jobs where there's a reason to do it as opposed to giving them a quota of outsourcing and say that they've got to hit that quota of arbitrary numerical targets i'm afraid to take agencies off the path of pursuing other means of cutting costs they overtax agencies already struggling to monitor work performed by contractors and i think sometimes they without cause undermine the civil service  which we ought to be elevating as it is elevated in so many other of the of the developed industrial democracies so those those types of numerical targets were prohibited by congress in the fiscal year zero three i'm the biggest appropriations bill but but the office of management and budget seems to be continuing to pressure agencies to cut competitions between federal employees and contractors to conduct competitions excuse me between federal employees and contractors on a certain number of jobs each year and that's not right the amendment before us makes clear that use of such quotas at the department of defense is imprimis a bill so mr president these are all in my opinion sensible modest reforms they do not and are not intended to prohibit the outsourcing of federal jobs which i support when it makes sense but rather ensure that the process is objected objective fair or it essentially puts both parties here on a level playing field the core provisions of this a man and have in fact received bipartisan support in the senate over the last three years i hope we can continue that support when the amendment comes to a vote today i thank the chair and you before wednesday september the twenty six last week two thousand and seven mr president a highly successful businessman and remarkable full answer this mayor mitchell was a personal friend and along with the entire city mobile alabama mourn his passing mayor mitchell was born in new orleans nineteen thirty three and grew up in movil he earned his bachelor of science degree in economics at the university of pennsylvania's wharton military service he returned home to mobile with his wife arlene in one thousand nine hundred fifty eight and he founded with his brother a the mitchell company a commercial and residential real estate development firm he went on to services chairman and chief executive officer for the next three decades selling his interest in the mitchell company in one nine hundred eighty six the company's final total under the oversight of the mitchell brothers was remarkable missed the problem with twenty five thousand single family homes constructed twenty thousand apartments and one hundred and seventy five shopping centers built throughout the south  and in fact occur mitchell company that descended from a partnership of mayor and his brother a remains to this day the largest private firm in mobile and is among the top forty and alabama my state business success hearn earned him an induction into the alabama business hall of fame in two thousand and six mary mitchell leaves a legacy of tremendous philanthropy touching the lives of many residents of south alabama awarded the university of south alabama's national i'm now association distinguished service award in two thousand and five and an honorary doctorate of humane letters in two thousand and seven the mitchell famil philanthropy reached all aspects of the campus of the universe of south alabama from business and medicine to athletics mare will forever be remembered as a legendary legendary figure in the growth of the universe with the mitchell cancer center the mitchell college of business and the mitchell center sports and performance complex proudly bear the family name of mitchell to date the mitchell family holds the distinction miss most presidents of having contributed more than any other single family to a public university in the alabama my state is three dimensional cancer institute alone is a powerful legacy providing state of the art cancer care to people throughout the gulf coast region mayor always explains his deep commitment to cancer treatment through a personal connection because at the age of thirty six he was diagnosed with hodgkin's disease and was given only six months to live after two years of treatments mayer made an extraordinary recovery this victory not only shaped his life but shape the future of mobile alabama region as well he never forgot that he had to leave beale for his own cancer treatment to what rochester new york and he vowed to make certain mobius had its own cancer center in the future this experience shaped his generosity and his will to persevered in the form of improved quality of health care for every resident in south alabama although mayor mitchell and his family were critical to the tremendous growth of the university of south alabama this was not the only object of mayors  a strong friend to israel he serve a term as president of the american israeli public affairs committee and serves on the board of the washington institute for near east policy and the jewish seminary of america which warding him an honorary doctorate mayor supported several others dues and numerous social and religious organizations his fillings dropping service included work with alabama power company rights to bishops they community college the leukemia society of america usa foundation and south bank all to us bank mobilia area united way immobile area chamber of commerce the mobile jewish welfare fun immobile federation an inspiration to many and will be remembered for his dedication and many contributions to his hometown of low below alabama and to the university of south alabama in particular i assume the entire senate to join me  to my colleague senator shelby far recalling the remarkable facts of the life of mayor bob a mitchell one of mowbray old rightists citizens a national leader as well as a local later someone that has friends throughout the country and throughout the world it's really remarkable the extent of his reach and impact and he had a clear vision i gotta tell you that he wanted his life to be a life that made the world a better place and he worked at that he added strong well at that senator shelby now we're talking about that this morning it's just remarkable and he had an ability to get things accomplished war of his most remarkable characteristics by the fact that he could have many different activities going on but he always seemed to complete each one of them and get it done successfully a characteristic aspas of those who are exceptional exceptional and a final banquet he attended a packed banquet he years really applying to others and i think would apply to all of us in the senate knowing that he would not be back he asked these questions have had done enough have done my best have i made a difference now think all of us are asked those questions more and would probably be better performers when we do see is wonderful partner arlene is such a fabulous person so well like to partner in business and in so many of these activities told me afterwards it wasn't all over he still had things he wanted to do and he would continue to work at them and i know that is exactly what mayor would have liked the business school i have visited at the university of south alabama it is so well endowed by the mitchell family the athletics center mitchell center is where his moral service was hail a sports complex and perhaps in the long term the greatest financial investment he's made and the family has made is in the mitchell cancer center that will be a place for research as well as treatment of those who suffered with cancer because he felt so blessed having been allowed to show that what many said at the time was a failed disease happen when a person focuses his life on making a positive difference in the world and living a good life he accomplished those things probably outside of a public official he was on a first name basis with more senators and maybe any other person all in our country maybe some others but not many  did he serve on the board and chairman of the board the university of south alabama on the board for thirty two years he gay hours and hours of his time and attention and and ideas and ability and making that the great university it is so he not only gave money again and of himself to make it the great university that it is and  affairs committee this was a this is a wonderful gentleman this the exemplification of the american dream worked extremely hard made a great success of themself  for his family for his community first country he loved america he was devoted to israel and devoted to the strength of the us israel relationship but this was a great american patriot and  all i personally in ways that i don't want to take the time to describe now i'm personally grateful for him for the ways in which he stuck with me a tough times in my own career and that didn't just stick with me but sort of worked at it to make sure that everything came out all amendment addresses a problem that is huge that is going to continue to grow in coming years and something that the united states congress must address and that is that all of a cross our country veterans of the war in iraq and afghanistan are going to come home with what we believe to be very high levels of post traumatic stress disorder as well as traumatic brain injury these are the signature injuries of the war in iraq and i worry very much that we are not yet prepared to address this serious problem which not only impacts the returning soldiers impacts their wives their kids and their communities mr president the amendment that i have offered would develop a pilot program for state based outreach to assist service members and their families the concerns that i have is that those who return home with that might be available to them so we could have all of the money that we want allocated to addressing t b i or p t s d but unless somebody goes out and brings those people into the system that money is not going to do any good and i worry about that especially for those returning soldiers who are in the national guard who was not part of the active duty who do not have a military infrastructure in front of them i worry about soldiers coming home to small towns in vermont and all across this country who suddenly find that their world is very very different that the world that they left that they have night ma that they have cold sweats that they have panic attacks when they go through a tunnel and that they don't know how to address those very serious symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder and what this amendment does uniquely is it creates an outreach effort by which trained personnel from the national guard or elsewhere literally going to go out and knocking on doors and chatting with the individual soldier returning soldier and his or her family and get a sense of what is going on in the family letting those veterans understand that what they are experiencing is something that is being experienced by tens of thousands of of the soldiers and that there's nothing to be ashamed of about the kinds of problems that that individual is happy having so the essence of this program is its nature as an outreach effort not to sit back but to aggressively go out knock on doors have dialogue and bring people into the system which might be able to help them mr president i would point out that this amendment is supported by the national guard association of the united states and they have pointed out that this amendment with its unique emphasis on outreach is a perfect implement the reintegration readjustment policies laid out by the yellow ribbon program in the previously adopted chambliss amendment to the defense authorization bill so mr president this is a very strong amendment and i look forward to having support on both sides of the aisle for it if we are serious about addressing the problems of the ranking member senator now actually breaking member senator warner has consented the senate consider those amendments and block the amendments be agreed to the motions to reconsider be laid on the table and i ask that any later on the bill that has always heard put in just amazing amount of time in the evenings at night over weekends in order for us to get through hundreds of amendments i think actually the thank mr president i too want to join in thanking our ranking member and eleven center warner for all of their cooperation during the consideration of a number of the amendments that we've offered issues of such importance a consequence for our national security and i'm grateful to the boat i wanted to just take a few months with more than two decades and there's no one that works harder  i just wish there were more programs on which we had a concurrence of philosophy and policy but nevertheless we are a very prodigious worker i think i could just add my one word on that subject to the senator from massachusetts is  not only about as diligent senator is one could imagine that he's had great success on this particular bill that i'm i don't know how he manages to keep all the balls in the air that he does including a chip program an immigration and  earlier on the floor with the chairman of the committee and by last friday included the port provisions dealing with the refugees take leave the select refugees who've been the ones that have been so associated with the american effort in iraq we have differences in this body on the overall policy in iraq but i think all of us admire those extraordinary individuals who worked in many instances as translate as for the american servicemen and risked their lives many of them lost their lives in this effort and a number of others who would work with american forces and now whose lives are at threatened and who by their religious beliefs were being a persecuted as well so this was a small amendment but it will make a big difference and i thank them for their help and assistance on that and a number of other items on i'm a crimes legislation and others mr president one of the pending amendments is the amendment offered by cent of occult skin my self and that was an amendment that effects workers in this case and talking about the defense department workers in this case of those six hundred forty thousand defense department workers we're talking about a third of those who have served in the armed forces of our country  and have proudly served in the forces of our country and they have gone and worn the uniform of our country acquired various skills and then came back and now are serving  the armed services defense department in in a bribe or idea of different areas information and information technologies in supplies and technology and safety equipment a wide variety of different areas that taking their skills which they had their patriotism their dedication of service to the country and are doing so with great scale and determination and means a lot to those were in the armed forces to know that they have the backup first of all by their families but secondly by skilled men and women that are going to make sure that they're going to have the best and technology the best in terms of equipment and that they are going to be able to do their job in the way that they were trained to do so and that is the those are the defense department employees now mr president we have found that in the recent times those employees their futures  risk and they have been put at risk because of the changing in the rules and regulations for what they call the outsourcing the bending of for various contracts these workers are highly skilled highly professional and they are prepared to compete on a level playing field with any group of work is probably the private sector and do so and do so well and do it skillfully and also do it in a way that is going to save the american taxpayer the resources but what is added on to the bid in terms of various contracts is the fact that these federal employees have health insurance and also have some retirement benefits  we in this country now are facing a health care crisis we're democratic candidates the president talk about it republican candidates talk about it business leaders leaders of the trade union movement talk about it we program is that's another issue for another time it will be more than that and so we are in real danger of seeing middle class families lose both every time it's in terms of their pensions as well as a health insurance the fact that we have a health insurance and retirement is going to give that make the total cost somewhat higher and therefore the award will be go to the private because this is sending a powerful message to these private contractors don't even think of providing any services health care for the families of your workers don't think about going about retirement don't think about anything because you can win contracts against those that are this time and that is wrong that is wrong and it is unfair we continue that we're just going to find out we're going to have not more than tens of thousands we're going to have hundreds of thousands we're going to have people that are going to see that bad another was bidding for and at the present time if that was the circumstances today the responsible contractor that is looking out after their employees with health insurance for the families and for retirement program they would be somewhat higher then the cost of providing for the air responsible contractor and they would lose out so it isn't only the workers that are working in the defense it's also responsible contract that are providing services for their employees respect their employees if we don't accept this amendment to mr president we are going to see a continuing rush to the bottom where it's going to be virtually impossible to  get these independent contractors to provide any of the kinds of services to these are families that are working in this country and that isn't what we ought to have in terms of the defense e working in the defense department if there is an unfair decision and the private contractor is going to feel that but that work is over here cannot that is unfair we're looking this amendment about fairness and treating people fairly can renew a contract without a competition they can do that with private contractors can do it but if the federal workers have that contract they count do it and we'll find out the most competitive bid there are rules  regulations and administrative rules or regulations that prohibit employees to getting the lowest competitive bid they know how to do it they want to do it and nonetheless they are denied the opportunity to do it and then you have these quotas that are set by o m b which is not to write they establish well so many contracts and so much it's virtually prohibited but it's grown into a practice and a pattern of practices at the present time so this is a mr president this amendment is very very much about fairness it's about how we're going to treat people that are part of the whole defense establishment as those of these a work is and they are indispensable and a great percentage of them have been a part of the of the military served with great distinction over many many years want to continue that sense of patriotism continue that sense of service continue that sense of giving and the men and women that are in the armed forces know that they can rely on the quality of work that the individuals do because these individuals are hiding motivated highly trained have been in the service many of them served for many years come out of the service have scales and say what i'd like to do for the rest of my career is to be able to continue to give support to those that are on the front lines and they do it and they do it with great distinction and they do it with great expertise and with extraordinary patriotism and all they are asking is to have a fair system fair system give them a fair shake give them a fair shake give them some respect give them the respect that they deserve or that they should have give some respect for their their families as well so mr president i hope very much that we will have a good support for this amendment as i mentioned earlier in those particular provisions that we put up here  appropriations in the past and therefore at that time the appropriation expires these provisions expires and now we're back to try to revisit this once once again so mr president there is a strong compelling reason for this amendment thank all of the senator lieberman so many of our co sponsors sent him a cult scale has spoken so well and been such a strong advocate so many of our of our colleagues who have the support of the different sense you know there is there has been in this administration a rush to contract they never saw any function of government that somehow they didn't believe would be better off in the private sector i am not opposed to privatization just for sake of being opposed to privatization i have not a problem with contracting it if it's going to save taxpayers money and we're still going to get quality work on behalf of taxpayers from those contractors working in government but if we've learned anything over the last six years we've learned that you don't always get a good deal when you contract i know that we have been a lot of time talking over the last few weeks about the contracting that went on in iraq and i won't dwell on that here but it is  of how badly governments sometimes do in the name of saving money when they enter into private contracts so what this amendment says is pretty simple and it's kind of what auditor say over and over again so people want to be quiet that is compete compete compete not only should these contracts be competitive among potentilla contractors they must be competitive with the government workers that are currently doing the work there have been many examples of where under the name of saving money some was hired to do the job and it ended up costing us more than had the government employees remained on the job and that's just the basics of this amendment this is nothing new this has been in a number of defense appropriation bills that it is in fact in effect it is in effect for the department of a seventy six rule which this is called is now currently the law within the department of defense this will extend it codified it make it uniform across the federal government if you're going to contract out in the employees have a right to participate in that competition and if the employees of government can show that they can do the job as they have been doing and they can do it for less money than the private contractor then they should get the award in that particular competition this is a way to not only make sure that we're not getting rid of the expertise we have in government it's also a way to reinforce how important competition is we have had competition that have masqueraded as real competition in this administration a number of times this will make sure that we are getting the best value for that very precious taxpayer dollars they're going to have to demonstrate that the contract is going to save money in order for the contract to be put out to a private institution as opposed to a government employee i think it's a very solid commitment in terms of watching out for taxpayer money i know it's characterized this is protect government employees it's not it's called protect taxpayers money that's why i think this amendment is so important that's why i hope my colleagues will join and strike another blow on behalf of fiscal accountability making sure that we treat the taxpayers money competition sometimes this amendment is described as the kennedy mccullough skier mikulski kennedy amendment but both of the senators have been very actively engaged in it and both deserve a great deal of credit for their support department of defense is allowed its workforce of civilian employees to atrophy to the point of a human capital crisis since fiscal year two thousand the number of contractor employees under d o d service contracts has roughly double the number of d o d civilian employees has remained virtually unchanged as a result the department of defense has found an area after area acquisition management financial management even security and intelligence it must now rely upon contractors to perform functions that were formerly performed by federal employees these adverse trends have been exacerbated by an administration that has consistently pushed to have more federal work reforms in the private sector in two thousand and one the office of management and budget the stablished a goal of subjecting half of the work performed by federal employees to private sector competition within four years while the administration subsequently backed off this government weigel o m b continues to establish agency specific goals and degrade agencies and their performance in converting work to private sector performance amendment would end this artificial effort to drive contracts to the private sector i cut a fine a common sense set of rules to govern competition between federal employees and private contractors some of these rules of already been enacted through appropriations act in previous congresses the kennedy mccoskey amendment would make these rules permanent law others have already been  enacted for the department of defense the kennedy mccoskey amendment would make these provisions government wide i'd just like to focus on one provision of this amendment which addresses a fundamental element of fairness in competition between the private and public sectors o m b circular a seventy six which governs public private competitions establishes rules for what happens after one side or the other wins a competition if the private sector wins a competition the work stays in the private sector forever and if the public sector wins however the work must be subject to a new competition within five years attachment be to zero in the circular a seventy six pacifically states that if the public sector competitor wins a competition quote an agency show can p to another computation of the activity by the end of the last performance period close quote in the performance agreement rule is fundamentally unfair it also undermines the morale of federal civilian employees by contributing to the view of civil service as second class citizens at a time when the department of defense should be recruiting thousands of new civilian employees to address a human capital crisis this rule is clearly contrary to the department's own interests the kennedy mccoskey amendment would address this problem by stating that  not require that part of the fans to conduct a new public private competition with a within any specified period of time after the public sector wins a competition that's the right answer the o d s human capital policy should be driven by the department's human capital needs not by arbitrary policies established by the office of management and budget so i hope that our colleagues will support the kennedy m and i know the absence of sort of michigan the president asked for the proceedings of the corn call be dispensed with without objection mr president last week the senate adapted and historic amendment offered by senators webb and mccaskill and others to establish an independent commission review the many problems with fraud waste and abuse that isn't in iraq relative to contracting in the give us recommendations on how we can avoid similar problems in the future i want to commend the senators that were involved in this effort for their leadership as they showed in drafting the amendment and getting it adopted by the senate the department of defense faces huge problems in its acquisition systems today over the last few years we have seen an alarming lack of acquisition planning across the department and the excessive use of contracts that make open ended commitments of d o d funds a pervasive failure to perform contract oversight and management functions necessary to protect taxpayers interest these problems have been particularly acute in iraq and afghanistan that they are no way limited to iraq and afghanistan the contracting commission established pursuant to the we help us identify the sources of these problems and provide us with constructive recommendations to avoid similar problems in the future in addition to the commission language which was adopted last week there are significant acquisition reform measures already in this bill as it came to the floor that will make improvements in the d o d acquisition system and to wartime contracts taken together these provisions will make the bill that is now before the senate by far the most significant acquisition reform measure to be considered by congress since the enactment of the federal acquisition streamlining act and the federal acquisition reform act more than ten years ago for example section eight twenty one of the bill would require increased competition in large so called umbrella contracts awarded by the department of defense the senate armed services committee held a hearing in april on the department of defense's management of the twenty billion dollars or so called log cap contract under which a company called k b r until recently a subsidiary of halliburton has provided services to u s troops in the field now here are some of the things that we learned in our hearing that the company was given work that appears to have far exceeded the scope of the contract all of this added work was provided to the contractor without competition the contractor resisted providing us with information that we needed to monitor and control costs there were almost two billion dollars of overcharges on the contract and the contractor received highly favorable settlements and those over charged when asked why the army had waited five years to split the massive log cap contract among multiple contractors allowing for greater competition of the work to be performed under the contract the assistant secretary of the army for acquisition technology and logistics gave the following answer quote i don't have a good answer for you close quo provision in our bill would avoid the kind of abuses that we get in sole source contracts by ensuring that future contracts of this type provide for the competition of task and delivery orders unless there is a compelling reason not to do so if our language stays intact we should never again see the kind of abuses which existed with the halliburton k b r umbrella contracts similarly section eight seventy one of the bill would require tighter regulation and control over private security contractors aberrated in areas of combat over the last four years there been a number of reports of abuses by private security contractors operating in iraq there have been allegations even films of contractors shooting recklessly at civilians as they drive down the streets of baghdad and other iraqi cities some of these contractors work for the department of defense but many others work for other federal agencies or for contractors of other federal agencies most recently the iraqi government h complained about an incident in which employees of blackwater allegedly opened fire on innocent iraqis in downtown baghdad according to published reports blackwater employees shot into a crush of cars killing at least eleven iraqis and wounding twelve blackwater officials insist their guards were ambushed that witnesses have described the shooting is unprovoked and iraq's interior ministry has concluded that blackwater was a fa last week the washington post reported that senior military officials are deeply concerned about the shoot out and other similar incidents which could undermine our efforts to combat terrorists and insurgents in iraq and this is what the washington post article reported the military is very sensitive to its relationship that they built with iraqis being altered or even severely degraded by actions such as this event this is a nightmare a senior u s military official said quote we had guys who saw the aftermath and it was very bad this is going to hurt us badly and maybe worse than abu ghraib and it comes at a time when we're trying to have an impact for the long term in interviews involving a dozen u s military and government officials many expressed concern over the shooting this is a big mess i don't think anyone has their hands around yet said another u s military official it's not necessarily a bad thing these guys are being held accountable iraqis hate them the troops don't particularly care for them and they tend to have a know it all attitude which means they rarely listen to anyone even the folks that patrol the ground on a daily basis their tendency another said lieutenant colonel said their tendency to shoot first and ask questions later is a is a problem referring to the shootings of september sixteenth the officer said none of us believe they were engaged but we all are carrying their black eyes many of my peers think blackwater is oftentimes out of control the u s commander serving in iraq said quote they often act like cowboys over here not seeming to play by the same rules that everybody else tries to play by madam president the provision in our bill would address this problem by ensuring that the department of defense and its combatant commanders are in a position to regularly the conduct of all armed contractors in the battle space regardless whether they are employed under contracts of the department of defense or other federal agencies under the provision in our bill private security contractors employed by any federal agency or any contractor or sub contractor for a federal agency would be required for the first time to comply with d o d rules on the use of force and with orders directions and instructions issued by combat commanders relating to force protection security health safety or relations and interaction with local nationals other provisions in our bill would provide added protection for contractor employees who blow the whistle on fraud waste and abuse they would require the d o d to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the billions of dollars that it spends every year to purchase contract services our bill a tight rules for the acquisition of major weapons systems ensure that we get fair prices when we purchase spare parts for those weapons systems enhanced competition requirements for prada next purchase from federal prison industries and an address abuses of undef in a ties contract actions the root cause of these and all the other problems that we read and hear so much about or at least most of the other problems in the defense acquisition system is our failure to maintain an acquisition workforce with the resources and skills that are needed to manage that apartments acquisition system earlier this year the acquisition advisory panel chaired pursuant to the national defense authorization act for fiscal year two thousand and four reported that quote curtailed investments in human capital have produced an acquisition workforce that often lacks the training and resources to function effectively close quote and they went on that quote the federal government does not have the capacity in its current acquisition workforce necessary to meet the demands that have been placed on it the failure of the part of the fence and other federal agencies to adequately fund the acquisition workforce the panel concluded is quote penny wise and pound foolish is it seriously undermined the pursuit of good value for the expenditure of public resource now madam president senior d officials have recognized the deficiencies in the defense acquisition workforce but they have been unable to obtain significant funds that are needed to remedy the problem section eight forty four of our bill will address this issue by establishing an acquisition workforce development fund to enable the department of defense to increase the size and quality of its acquisition workforce in the first year we will provide roughly five hundred million dollars for this purpose it's a large sum of money that it is a small investment to ensure the proper expenditure of more than two hundred billion of taxpayer money every year we look forward to working with the i want to speak on the final passage of the bill we're going to be having it shortly what is the parliamentary procedure that we're in the senate is currently considering the kennedy amendment all right madam president if i may be recognized i will use these remarks to tell the senate that it has been a pleasure to work with the chairman of the full committee senator levin who has consistently given this senator free reign as the chairman of the strategic subcommittee of the armed services committee and what it looked like last winter is that all the thorny issues of nuclear weapons and the follow on nuclear weapons and the question of national missile defense the strategic posture of the united states as if those things would get us all welled up around the axle but it didn't turn out to be that way and i want to give credit to my colleagues senator sessions the ranking member of our subcommittee in working with me and the members of the committee in working out these issues and what we worked out  subcommittee basically is what is in the bill and that is although the administration would like to go ahead and start building national missile defense sites in eastern europe the fact is they have any w out with the countries involved in eastern europe and so what we did was we put a fence around any funding other than the acquisition and the prep was a preparation of the land for such a site at the end of the day there's going to have to be continued research and development should the need arise for locating those missiles in eastern europe because they're not the same version that is in the silos in alaska that's a three stage version this is a two stage version and it's not the same missile or rocket and therefore it has to go through all of its subsequent testing now general obering just had a he had a successful test a couple of days ago and for that we want to congratulate him but if the threat is the hobday missile from a range shooting into europe or into the united states with a nucular weapon on top of the rocket and if that is the reason to have national missile defense in eastern europe well we just simply don't know that iran is going to have that capability and as we continue to look at this on down the road that's going to be an evaluation as to whether or not at the end of the day we are going to need that national missile defense in eastern europe but since we don't know all these answers we have provided in this bill that if they they concluded the agreement with those eastern european countries that they could go about the process of acquiring the land in the site and the preparation of the side we also noted in our committee that they have not had tremendous success with the airborne laser and all of the approximately five hundred million half a billion dollars that they wanted to continue that program we cut that program by two hundred billion and use that money elsewhere in kinetic energy intercepts on the boost phase of an intercontinental ballistic missile so those are are just some of the things that are in here and i want to thank all the parties that worked with us to get a bipartisan resolution which is the way a defense bill  be managed and it ought to be passed and we had that this year and i'm very grateful now there's another part in here i want to thank senator levin that he and the ranking member of the full committee approved to go in and that is the question of the widows in the orphans current law a service member pays for survivors benefit they pay once they retire and they pay for that benefit it's like an insurance policy on the other hand there's another body of law in the bed a veteran's administration that there are survivors benefits for the widows and orphans they are when the service member passes away those two l j abilities under current law cancel and that's not the way we ought to be treating widows and orphans it was no less than president lincoln who said in his second inaugural address that the mark of a country is how it treats the victims of war the widows in the or and taking care of the widows in the off and in fact is a cost of defense it's a cost of doing business in defense just like you buy tanks and airplanes and and guns and and materiel and so forth taking care of not only the veterans is  cost of war but taking care of their survivors is a cost of war too and this nation has long canceled out those two l g abilities and it's time for us to change this now because we were down at the end of our discussion of this bill last week i did not ask for a roll call vote as i had last year and of course the roll call was something like ninety five to three in favor of the widows and orphans and we would have gotten some kind of vote like that again i was trying to accommodate my chairman in the the ranking member in the crush of the business they are and they were kind enough to put it into the manager's package this will become a conference item and it's always a question about money few years ago it was estimated that it would cost an additional nine billion dollars over ten years that it is now down to somewhere in the range of about seven or eight billion dollars over ten years and so when we get into the conference committee this senator is going to be trying to find how we could get the conferees to accept this provision president first let me commend the senator from florida as chairman of the strategic subcommittee with his ranking members they in the members of that subcommittee have worked through some of the most difficult  issues that we faced on this bill this year he had done a fight a few of them and he very modestly gives credit to others that truly senator nelson deserves most of the credit for working out those very very difficult issues on a bipartisan basis and as a passionate defender of what we should do as a country for the survivors of those men and women that we lose in war i can only assure him we are going to do everything we can possibly do in conference because i assume that if that had been brought to a roll call vote it would have been either unanimous or nearly unanimous on the floor of the senate and we have preceded his willingness to have that go as part of a manager's package but for the purpose of that conference i can assure my dear friend from florida that there is an assumption on our part is that would have been a unanimous or near unanimous vote by the senate because so obviously is the right thing to do we will have if i just if we just feel for one second  and i also will have a longer statement later because five thirty is arrived about our work as a committee the subcommittee chairs and the ranking members and the staff i will say that statement for after our vote on final passage which will come equally divided and controlled in the usual form that upon the use or yielding back of time the senate proceed to vote in relation to amendment three zero five eight that upon this position of that amendment the substitute amendment as amended be agreed to and that the senate then vote on the passage of h r fifteen eighty five that all other provisions of the previous order relating to a chair fifteen eighty five remain in effect and that on tuesday october second following a period of mourning business the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar number three five three h r three two two two the defense department appropriations act without objection sor from the president of maryland thank you i think recognition in two minutes and support on this and then they're joined by my college kennedy and akaka who spoke friday about why this amendment is important it's important that this amendment deal with the contracting out at walter reed i've lost that amendment on the four or five votes we went from three hundred employees to fifty employees and we only money after they had six sure that our contractors have their retirement benefits as part of the contract this amendments for you but madam president senator from south dakota better president the kennedy mccall's key amendment is intended to cause us seventy six process to become so cumbersome and expansive expansive that it would effectively eliminate the ability of the federal government to conduct the future a seventy six competitions what is specifically does is it mandates that private contractors match government health and retirement benefits a deal deal loaned to save taxpayers over five billion dollars as a result of competitions completed between fiscal year two thousand wanted fiscal year two thousand and six d o d expects the savings to grow to over nine billion dollars after the completion of all plan competitions initiated an f y o two a two thousand and seven are completed right now the government went over eighty percent of the competition eighty percent can hardly be characterized as an unfair process that supporters of this amendment portray madam president this is designed to save taxpayer dollars it has five billion dollars over the past five years this amendment makes it so cumbersome by mandating that private contractors match government health and retirement benefits that the a seventy six process will be completely undermined ms madam president i would ask that my colleagues urge my colleagues to vote against the amendment mr coleman ms collins mr conrad mr corker mr corn and mr cragg m mrs lincoln mr lott mr lugar mr martinez mr mccain mrs  mr menendez mrs murray mr nelson of florida mr nelson of nebraska mr obama mr pryor mr reed of rhode island mr reid of nevada mr roberts mr rockefeller mr salazar mr sanders mr mr sessions mr warner mr webb mr white house mr wyde roberts shelby stevens and  mr conrad mr mr lott no mr sanders mr sanders mr lugar mr lugar no mr hatch now mr byrd mr byrd  are there any members wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote if not the eyes are fifty one the nays are forty four the amendment is agreed to without objection under the previous order the substitute as amended is agreed to the clerk will read the bill for the third time a number one eighty nine h r fifteen eighty five act to authorize appropriations for fiscal year two thousand and eight for military activities of the department of defense and so forth and for other purposes they have not is there sufficient second there is a suspicion second the clerk will call the roll mr r caccamo mr alexander mr all mr casey mr chambliss mr durban mr and s mr feingold mrs feinstein mr sanders mr sessions mr white house mr widen webb whitehouse and wyde senators voting in the negative byrd coburn and feingold does any senator in the chamber still wish to cast their vote if not the gays are ninety two the nays are three and the bill as them as consent require as far as i am as content to send a proceed to the immediate consideration calendar number one seven two s one three two seven a bill to create temporary district court judge agreed to the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table is there objection mr president object constantin start a written statement into the record as to the facts about my objection without objection so ordered then or for michigan bill that we have just adopted is the forty six consent of annual defense authorization bill has come out of our committee and brought to the senate for debate and passage and it's no secret that this is one of the largest and most complex and important pieces of legislation that comes before the senate every year every year since nine hundred sixty one it's a challenge to get it passed thankfully because of its vital importance to our nation we've always found a way to do so this year is particularly difficult as we continue to debate the war in iraq today is the eight days history shows that in time of war the senate acts as it should take the necessary time to carefully consider this bill and its impact on our nation we had over four hundred amendments that were filed with this bill we were able to work with all senators and passed several large packages of managers amendments while we were wrestling with iraq related amendments all told we acted on a total of two hundred fourteen amendments during the bill's consideration whenever we reach the point of final passage of legislation we take a moment to think members and staff to some this may sound and be a routine matter it is all of us who make up the senate should honor this custom and  tradition they are really the foundation of the senate that is my motivation i just want to take a moment to express my thanks to those who work so hard and cooperated so well to bring us to final passage of this bill first my thanks go to senator mccain who is serving as our ranking member for the first time this year senator mccain's leadership the determination helped forge this bill through the committee and i the final passage next i want to thank and acknowledge our former chairman senator warner senator warner is always has made in numerable contributions to this bill this bill would not be here but for the work of senator warner working within arm's reach of senator warner each year for the past twenty eight years has been truly one of the highlights of my senate career he's a good friend of mine more importantly he is a good friend to the national defense and the people who and who work for it in this country to our majority leader senator reid his floor staff a special word of thanks for giving us the time and the tools to get this bill through the senate to all of our committee members who again work on a bipartisan basis we appreciate their work we don't often take the time to express it i'm afraid that this will kind of have to be that moment people just do not realize that our committee has one quarter of the senate as members of the committee we work together in the committee our differences on the bill did not divide us the report of the bill by unanimous vote to charlie armstrong in the office of senate legislative council he did his work skillfully approved over four hundred times that those four hundred amendments that he knows how to draft amendments to our committee staff members they truly are in the thanks and recognition of the entire senate for their time and their efforts on this legislation to just mention two of the members of our staff who lead our staff and one woman who has served on our committee for the past committee staff for the past nineteen years to rick to bowl this committee staff director he serv so brilliantly and well and so on selfishly twenty four seven he's within earshot so i won't embarrass him and have him blush that other to say he is so to really indispensable not just to me but to the senate and all of the staff that work so well with him our gratitude senator mccain's new republican staff director mike cassidy his leadership is so effective it's quite difficult to believe that this is mike's first year cindy pearson our system chief clerk and security manager special work of thanks and encouragement cindy's been serving the committee for the last nineteen years she is the consummate professional in every aspect of her work she is away from us right now as he undergoes treatment for breast cancer we want her to know that he is ever present in our thoughts and in our prayers we would we all look forward to welcoming cindy pearson back to the committee family sue so rick and mike and all the other committee staff members the long and hard work and the personal sacrifices day in and day out to get this bill and acted again this year paid off they are the backbone of the senate they and other people who work for us in the senate they make it possible to turn our ideas into policy into legislation i thank them all and i know i do this for all members of the committee for their expertise and for their dedication they brought us again through the point of conference with the house we're hopeful they'll bring back promptly a conference report but in the meantime thanks to them their professionalism their hard work we are where we're at and i would ask unanimous consent that a list of the entire armed services committee staff made a part of the record at this time without objection to yield the floor and again i see my dear friend senator warner's here again just the i can't to say too often what it means to have as a partner a john warner  senator john i very much value the friendship and they working relationship that we've had together it be interesting if somebody wanted to try and look at records i suppose since this is our twenty ninth bill working on it that might be a bit of a record but i think also both of us have been chairman three times i might be a bit of a record too but i give you the most sincere and warm congratulations for your in years past and i think that reflects a lot of credit on the distinguished chairman and distinguished ranking member and i want to stay up and very active membership by each and every one of the as you say twenty five members of the senate armed services committee we work well together as a team people are very proud of the on this committee and they feel that they're serving a most noble cause and that is the men and women the armed forces and their families who denied her own two battle fronts and did many other places of personal danger throughout the world for the sole purpose of guarding freedom most importantly the freedom that we have here at home so i thanked him thank all who made it possible and also how well our two staff work together in a bipartisan way to achieve as you say a consensus on almost two hundred of those amendments so i think we've done our job senator and it's a tricky time and most of our country and again i wish the men and women the armed forces and their families only the best i yield the floor under the under the under the previous order the senate insists on its amendment and requests a conference with the house on the disagreeing votes of the two houses thanks to presiding officer and just the absence of a quorum the clerk oh i think par be smith a brookings fellow in his office be granted the privileges of the floor during consideration of the defense appropriations act without objection and now i would ask that we proceed to morning business with each senator about a story unfolding right now in coastal rica this country of four million people is having a national referendum on october seventh next week on the central american free trade agreement the trade deal this congress passed by a narrow margin a couple of years ago cast a stipulates that the last signatory country must approve the deal no later than two years after the first signatory implements the remind me we have order pl will center suspend for a moment the senator from ohio thank you mr president caf to stipulate to the last signatory country must approve the deal no later than two years after the first signatory country implements the agreement so for the past two years the united  salvador honduras guatemala nicaragua in the dominican republic and the act of the nafta expansion the coastal rican people have resisted it my colleagues have seen news reports this weekend about a massive rally of fair traders people who w trade but under different rules of fair traders against cafe in close to rica some one hundred fifty thousand citizens in a country of four million people spoke out expressing their opposition to the agreement one hundred fifty thousand people in most thought that a conservative estimate the pro cast a government gave up efforts to pass cast in the legislature after continued protest against it including a two day general strike last october the strong opposition to a nafta style agreement in fact yeshua whether approved calf has stirred up such political upheaval if the government chose to go to a public referendum instance that of to the legislature legislators not to on like our peers in congress did want of a face voters in their home districts if they voted for the pact the agreement must be implemented as domestic law meaning kosta rica has to enact new laws in order for the trade agreement to take effect that bothers hundreds of thousands of coast to reconsider because they have in place today strong laws on health on the environment on education on privatisation on generic drugs  all the kinds of issues that helped have helped to build the middle class in costa rica costa rica's a progressive country more than a third of their land is protected in national parks more than ninety percent of elects to its electricity comes from to rica's high literacy rates are well known it has a strong health care system and its life expectancy is not too different from our own in this country costa rican citizens of also seen what nafta the north american free trade agreement did to mexico's middle class what if specially it's done to mexican farmers false small peasant family farmers these factors have created strong resistance to entering into an agreement that can handcuff policymakers from setting pro growth pro development policies in their own country as this chamber knows nafta cap to deals are about a whole lot more than just tariffs and quotas these agreements are top down pacts that lock in new rules on investment on food safety on services on procurement this month the united nations nations conference on trade and development issued a report warning developing countries to be wary of bilateral and regional free trade deals as they're currently written warned them against signing these agreements the un report cited nafta is an example of a trade agreement that may have short term benefits but has long term does long term harm you hear a lot of talk from the bush administration that free trade is necessary to address poverty here that the people as they say of these mostly poor countries what trade deal like nafta but what we're seeing in costa rica right now it's what we're seeing around the globe when it comes to trade deals that pure and simple give too much power to multinational corporations what we're seeing is a loud and clear demand for change we see it in the w t negotiations which continue to falter as developing countries resist w t o expansion we see it in ohio and lorraine in mansfield in youngstown in lima in dayton in chillicothe e where hard working men and women who have made america the strongest nation in the world are betrayed by washington's trade policy puffer of presidents from both parties have entered into trade agreements agreements like nafta promising they create millions of new jobs in the rich communities instead too many of these agreements too often it cost millions of jobs and devastated communities two years ago when i served in the house we created a bipartisan coalition against the central american free trade agreement religious organizations labor unions environmentalists small businesses all human rights advocates manuf s mall manufacturing companies were part of this bipartisan opposition the opposition that was evident in washington and more importantly in congressional districts around the country because the bush administration to make deals and promises and in the words of one sympathetic lawmaker the bush administration helped us so that we twisted arms until they break into a thousand pieces the bush administration got what it won when it pushed gav to through but we won the debate today in costa rica we're seeing similar scare tactics taken by the pro caf to administration a memo was leaked to the coaster rican pr caused an uproar for good reason in this memo the coaster rican vice president in a member of congress outlined a plan to president arias that uses fear threats to local officials in attacks on cast opposition his tactics to win the lead when the referendum the second vice president one of the memos authors had to resign from his government office while invest if officials investigate whether any laws had been broken the memo states clearly quote the mayor does not when this can't on which is their their political jurisdiction the mayor that is not when his area will not get a penny from his the government in the next three years one quote pretty  memo says the government then needs to quote unquote stimulate fear among coaster weakens it even lists the kinds of fear that are affected stimulate fear create fear of the loss of jobs of captives not approve stimulate a fear of violence and civil strife stimulate a fear of chavez and castro if coaster we cannot approve kaftan specifically there has been an information in kim campaign and close to rica that if this agreement fails then the united states will punish reka by revoking the existing trade benefits that coaster reka has under the caribbean basin initiative that is simply patently false kosta rica will continue to benefit from c b i because it's the law it's a permanent program its existence depends on the u s congress not an edict from the bush administration these tactics should sound familiar to my colleagues to recall the calf to debate those tactics made it very clear that what it was at stake in costa rica this week and when this chamber takes up issues of trade and globalization is that there are very different competing ideologies there is the nafta ideology and there is the fair trade ideology in truth the defeat of this referendum may actually i believe do more to improve kosta rican u s relations because it's clear there's a fair trade movement on the rise here in this for in the house of representatives in surely across the land look at elections last year in the end the presiding officer state of rhode island and ohio and pennsylvania and missouri and minnesota and virginia and montana because it's clear there's a fair trade movement on the rise in this country and in coastal rica we have reason to hope the referendum is defeated we created three a we can create a new trade agreement that benefits workers and communities small businesses people religious folks people who care about an economy that works for more of us that helps us to create a solid strong middle class not just supporting but multinational corporations we have a choice here the people of coastal rica have a choice there this week we can continue with the fair trade model or we can reject that nafta capital model nafta and taft a model and work together on a new trade deal a fair trade deal with the president you know the floor and i know the absence of we're waiting for senator to refer returned to the floor senators are now in a period of general speeches but in the past hour after more than two weeks of debate the senate passed by a vote of ninety two to three the appropriation  defense programs bill this is the senate's forty sixth annual defense authorization bill and it authorizes six hundred forty eight billion dollars for defense programs of this school two thousand and eight including one hundred twenty seven billion dollars for the wars in iraq and afghanistan now h r fifteen eighty five includes no amendments to end the iraq war the senate democrats have spent the past two weeks trying to attach provisions calling for troop pullout but they have failed tomorrow morning the senate will begin debate on the defense appropriations bill it's unclear whether the president will veto this bill he has threatened to veto the bill because it includes new language on hate crimes rise up against the oppressive regime that rules that country then the tyrannical junta that has helped our for some forty years the state peace and development council brought out its soldiers and brought out its gun they arrested brutalized and killed many who bravely stood up to the misrule of this and so while last week the streets were filled with brave monks adorned in saffron robes demonstrating for freedom today those same streets are occupied by uniformed thugs and lined with barbed wire barricades and for now the people of burma have largely fallen silent but the silence  deafening one that we can still hear even if the freedom loving people of burma have been temporarily quiet the rest of us can still end our voices with their call earlier today senator kerry and i introduced a sense of the senate resolution condemning the s p c for its brutality and snuffing out these cries for freedom we have already been joined by scores of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle and i know we will be joined by many more the house of representatives as slighted to pass a similar measure later this week and this way the entire congress of united states will be able to speak on the burmese that is and the buddhist monk and democracy leader aung san suu kyi herself  forced to be silent mr president i would already all of my colleagues to join me and join senator kerry on this resolution i yield the floor and with respect to h r one five eight five senators levin kennedy byrd lieberman reed of rhode island akaka nelson of florida nelson of nebraska by clinton its president as an executive session i ask unanimous consent the injunction of secrecy be removed from the following treaty transmitted to the senate on october first two thousand and seven by the present of the united states protocols of two thousand and five the convention concerning safety of maritime navigation and to the protocol concerning safety of fixed platforms in the continental shelf three document number one ten dash eight i further ask that the treaty be considered as having been read the first time that it be referred to the coming papers of the committee on foreign earlier today the clerk will report senate resolution three thirty supporting the goals and ideals of national passport month without objection the senate proceeds to the measure is present i ask unanimous consent this resolution be agreed to the preamble agreed to the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table and that any statements relating there to appear at the appropriate place in the congressional record as if read without objection so ordered to present i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to meet consideration of as now proceed to consideration of ass read as three four zero which is submitted earlier today the clerk will report senate resolution three forty recognizing the efforts and contributions about stana hispanic scientists in the united states until nine am i'm sorry excuse me until ten a m tuesday october second then on tuesday following the prayer in the pledge the journal proceedings be approved today the morning hour be deemed expired the time for the two leaders reserved for their use later in the day there then be a period of morning business for sixty minutes with senators permitted to speak there and for up to ten minutes each in the time equally divided and controlled between the two sides with the republicans controlling the first half a majority controlling the final portion the following morning business is sent to proceed to h r three two to two is provided for under previous order that on tuesday the senate stand in recess from twelve thirty to two fifteen in order to accommodate the respective party conference meetings without objection so ordered mr president there's no for their business i now ask that the senate stand adjourned under the previous order the senate will stand adjourned until tuesday october second at ten a