race is really exciting will be crisscrossing the mason to bring you the very latest in political activities campaign announcements candidates speeches and fundraisers will give you an up close look at how the candidates interact with the public as they seek support for their party nomination the kind of unscripted moment you won't find anywhere else and we will just stop at the battleground state we'll follow the race wherever it goes for more information check out our web site a campaign network dot org and click on our video archive section for past programs and political news the c span networks providing you access to public affairs on television radio and on the web now we take you live to capitol hill as the senate returns from weekly party meetings they're working on a four hundred sixty billion dollar defense spending measure for fiscal year two thousand and eight with plans to send it to house senate negotiators this week to keep the spending the senator from california mrs boxer proposes an amendment number thirty one twenty set at the end of title eight add the following section eighty one zero seven no amounts appropriated or otherwise made available by this act individual in the armed forces as follows one aggravated assault with a deadly weapon two arson three hate crime for sexual misconduct by terrorists threatening the president i thank the clerk for reading my men that i hadn't read because it's such commonsense i think if you went out on the street and you asked any american do you think there are people serving in the military within the last five years was convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon or a sex crime or a hate crime or making a terrorist threat that was a phony terror threat they'd say oh no no one like that would be let in not if they did something like that with the last five years and that's what leads me to this commonsense amendment which is hard for me to believe i have to fight for this this thing may not pass which is stunning to me when i think of how clear the issue is and i guess i would ask a mom or dad who has a son or daughter over there would they want your child in a foxhole with someone who was convicted twice of assault with a deadly weapon with a deadly weapon do you want some in the foxhole with your son or daughter who was convicted of a sex crime i think they'd say no so here's where we are in recent years the us army in particular has dramatically increased the number of waivers it grants for admission into its ranks of those convicted of a felony now let me be clear it's against the room to allow anyone to come into the military who has a felony conviction however there is a loophole which says ravers can be corrected in certain circumstances now i totally understand that for example let's say as a young man or woman some potential recruit tried drugs because it was the thing in his school when he did it but he regrets it and he's over it he was convicted but he's promised never to use drugs again ok give someone a chance that's the american way give someone a chance but for these particular felonies which i will outline again and explain what they are i think if someone has been guilty within the last five years it's an open and shut case now i understand the army is under incredible strain right now and he's facing difficult with proof meant environment and i realize i realize that there may be times that they're going to ask for these waivers i know they do it for health reasons and other things but there is a point at which it goes too far there's a point at which it's dangerous and i think when you hear about the increase in felony recruitment i think it's alarming and i think rather than strengthening our military it weakens our military listen to these numbers in two thousand and four the army granted three hundred sixty waivers to recruits with felonies on their records in two thousand and five the number grew to five hundred seventy one and its two thousand and six the number grew to nine hundred and one the nine hundred one figure is a fifty nine percent increase over the two thousand and five number and a one hundred fifty percent increase over the two thousand and four figure so i believe this spirit of the law that allows these waivers is being violated nobody thought that it would reach these proportions again i think people deserve a second chance in this country if they've served their time and they're rehabilitated that's why i have in this amendment a five year cooling off period so we know that they've been clean for five years of these types of crimes but the army shouldn't drastically lowered standards because  can't find enough recruits and it shouldn't seek out individuals who have had disturbing personal histories involving violence and i just read in the newspaper the other day that the military is going to these criminals if they're going rehab they go right there army recruiters actually attended a job fair for x convicts in use than in august of zero six many experts believe this is leading to a spike in gang activity in the military listen to this f b i report gang related activity in the u s military is increasing this is a direct quote and quote members of nearly every major street gang have been identified on both domestic and international military installations and according to this report these members can quote disrupt good order and discipline unquote while in the military and here's the alarming part and this is the f b i the federal bureau of investigation speaking not senator barbara boxer or any other senator upon discharge quote they may employ their military training against law enforcement official officials and rival gang members and such military training they continue could ultimately result in a more organized sophisticated and deadly gang as well as an increase in deadliest assaults on law enforcement officials f b i is saying that an abuse of these waivers is leading to a more dangerous america more dangerous for law enforcement more again this is not what our country needs it is not what our wonderful brave men and women in uniform need right now they have got enough problems to deal with in iraq they're in the middle of a civil war this president has no plan to get them out while the military says there's no military zhen this president is doing nothing about a long term solution so we find our young men and women in harm's way in the middle of a civil war in a mission that has changed about five or six times and now they have to worry that they're serving next to someone who has been convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon arson cherice threatening and sexual misconduct imagine with all they have to worry about now i'm going to share with my colleagues a chart that i don't think has ever been made public before this is this is the list mr president of all the different felony waivers that have been granted adult juvenile and the total look at this list of waivers that has been granted i'm going to go through i'm going to go through for my colleagues and for the american people to see what crimes here have been committed by recruit i mentioned the top two aggravated assault with a deadly weapon arson attempt to commit a felony breaking and entering burglary with burglary tools check check a worthless check five hundred dollars or more embezzlement forgery hate crime larceny narcotics negligent vehicular homicide riot robbery sexual misconduct though improperly property knowingly received terrorist threatening unauthorized use of a motor vehicle criminal libel illegal fraudulent use of a credit card five hundred dollars or more perjury or subordination of perjury car theft mel abstracting destroying indecent acts with a minor manslaughter kidnapping or abducting a child kidnapping kidnapping or abducting a child we took in three recruits so what i have attempted to do i say to my friends and colleagues is pick out the ones that i feel would be an open and shut case here of where we would not want someone recruited into the military who'd been convicted of these particular crimes aggravated assault with a deadly weapon arson hate crime sexual misconduct or terrorist threatening and there were thirteen  i want to protect our men and women in uniform i have deep respect for them in my state we have lost more than any other state twenty three percent of the total killed comes from my state i want the men and women from my state in every other state to feel comfortable that their buddies will truly be their buddies and that they share the same values of right and wrong i want to keep it that way larry korb who served as an assistant secretary of defense under ronald reagan said quote the more those people you take the more problems you're going to have and the less effective they're going to be unquote this is larry korb who served as assistant secretary of defense under president reagan the more of those people you take the more problems you're going to have general barry mccaffrey who commanded u s forces during the gulf war said quote by and large these are flawed recruits those getting waivers one of the sergeants general mccaffrey pointed to the lessons of post war viet nam it took us a decade to take a fraction army and turn it around we don't have three years this time that's barry mccaffrey retired lieutenant general william odom who was the army's chief intelligence officer from one nine hundred eighty one to one hundred eighty five has called the increase in waivers quote disturbing unquote the army's chief of intelligence were four years called the increase in waivers quote disturbing the last thing our service members need to worry about is whether there are violent felons in their ranks it sets back the quality of our forces it can serve eerily set back our mission and i'd like to share one particularly horrific story about lowering standards with you i think we're all very familiar with the story of private steven green as you will remember private green is the soldier charged in the deaths of in iraq a family of four according to reports private green went to the home of an iraqi family with three other soldiers he ended up raping raping the fourteen year old daughter before killing her and setting her body on fire he is also alleged to have killed the other family members this turned into an international news story that once again brought negative attention negative attention to our country infuriating iraqis and making the lives of our troops that much more difficult private green was admitted to the army after being given a waiver now in the case of sergeant green it was a waiver for a misdemeanor offense and i'm not even stopping that with my men i'm not even stopping that with my amendment i am going to the most agree just crimes that story illustrates the potential consequences of going down a path where standards are dramatically lowered let me spell out with this sickly how my amendment addresses the issue the amendment simply says that the military cannot offer a waiver for enlistment in the armed forces to individuals convicted of those felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon arson hate crime sexual misconduct and terrorists threatening they cannot get a waiver if they had committed any of these and they were convicted of it in the last five years now if someone stands up and says give people a second chance then they haven't read my memon because we are giving people a second chance you were saying if you're clean for five years ok and we're not even touching all these other waivers unauthorized use of a motor vehicle car theft even indecent acts with a minor i'll tell you if i had my way i'd put that one on and kidnapping but i just picked five so we provide for a cooling off period and we believe that cooling off period five years clean will give the military some information that people are in fact on the straight and narrow path unfortunately mr president we do not see global challenges that we face going away we need our men and women in uniform not only to be soldiers but to be embassadors to the world they're the best we've got and this amendment house to ensure that we have the right men and women to do that job and i hope that we  support for this amendment and i would say to my colleagues who vote against this amendment the only message that you're sending to the people who are serving our glee is you know what we're so desperate we're willing to put you  again i would ask a rhetorical question how would you feel if your son or daughter or grandson or granddaughter went up in a in an awful situation with someone who had committed and was convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon there is one more thing that i would like to do before i yield the floor and that is to describe these felonies how they're defined arson generally it's the malicious burning of another's dwelling you can be intentional or fires that with reckless disregard of obvious risks in some states and seven waivers were granted for arson aggravated assault with a deadly weapon is the intentional creation of reasonable fear of imminent bodily harm by use of a deadly weapon an example would be pointing a gun at someone pointing a knife swinging a baseball bat threatening violence or harm with a weapon in a manner to create a reasonable fear of imminent bodily harm forty waivers for that terroristic threatening intent intentionally making false statements regarding  mass destruction that has placement of government or school property intentionally placing a fake w m d m property without permission threatening to commit an act to cause death or serious injury for the purpose of terrorizing others their property school or teachers a false statement that could cause dangerous evacuation from buildings or airport could be bomb threats threats of poison laced letters or threats of mass shooting at school waivers granted their hate crimes most of the states penalize crimes of violence or intimidation based on race color religion national origin and we're looking at our military we're looking at the face of diversity and someone who has been convicted of a hate crime within the last five years i think they need to think about what this country stands for and how it is based on equality for all before they are taken into the and sexual misconduct rape sexual assault forcible sodomy sodomy of a minor those are non way verbal but the category that is way rable is solicitation of sex indecent exposure illegal possession of pornography so these are crimes that i think simply are too much to ask our men and women in uniform to deal with in new recruits now i would point out something else because the army has been so desperate to get new recruits they are paying tens of thousands of dollars and now we have a situation where these convicted felons are getting this money to boot so you know it may not be that many people you know maybe we're talking about a hundred overall it's been nine hundred we're making a point here that our men and women in uniform form deserve better protection than this we fight so hard and we must fight to get them the bulletproof vests to get them the up armored humvees to protect them from i e d these from all the horrors that they face but yet and still we allow into the military indeed we pa bonuses to get into the military people who have been convicted of very very serious crimes it isn't fair it isn't right it isn't just and i hope that they will be strong support for this amendment and i  in different states certainly to very sick on considered criminal in other states is not even mentioned i was an assistant prosecutor a long long time and i find that in certain states certain activities are considered conservatively and other areas very limited for example in recent days we've been hearing much about the demonstration in louisiana on the jena six with that be a crime in other states in other communities further investigation on this matter if it does work and if it's necessary to provide waivers to get certain skills into our military then we should be told why but as of this moment i cannot ignore the advice that i've received from my colleagues who are leaders of the authorizing committee so according laer at the appropriate time i will make a motion to table this amendment before doing fine may be very personal about this i have been a victim of a and hate crimes so i do know something about hate crimes if you can imagine my returning well in some jurisdiction that was appropriate and proper and today we do that jurisdictions where we do have segregation maybe not legally but understandably we do and so mr president as i've indicated at the appropriate time i will but i do think that we need to use our own brains and our own common sense here and i do think when i look in the eyes of parents who are sending their kids into the military they need to know they need to know that in addition to the dangers of this war in addition to the danger of being thrust of the middle of a civil war they should not have to deal with the danger of a convicted felon who has used a gun and put that gun against somebody whose head within the past five years we all know that the committees are very close to the military i understand that but isn't there a time for us to stand up and show a little spunk and spine here and state the obvious that although we all support waivers because there are certain cases where waiver may make sense there is such a thing as an abuse of a waiver and if you look at the numbers and you see we're up to almost a thousand of these waivers things are getting out of control now i know that both the armed services committee the authorizer and the appropriations committee which is which is very powerful committee don't like this amendment and they want me to go away and they've offered now twice in the authorizing an appropriations won't you just take a study and go away yes i want to have a study but no i don't think we should walk away from the yes this is the commonsense amendment this just takes five five of the whole list of crimes and i repeat what they are arson aggravated assault with a deadly weapon sexual crimes hate crimes and making up a terrorist threat and i'm just saying for this year don't pay bonuses to these people who have been convicted of these crimes in the last five years and don't get them and take them into the military and that was then the signal to the military that they need to do their own study it is stunning to me that we would have to have a study about this conference because they don't even want to study this thing they just want to meet the recruitment goals and we all want them to meet their recruitment goals but if it means putting someone a dangerous criminal next to one of my men and women in uniform no thank you it's tough enough to survive iraq and we have worked with veterans on this amendment so that we have gotten to the point where yes we give people a chance to turn over a new leaf so i'm disappointed that senators in a way and stevens do not support this amendment but i am not surprised and i'm going to keep talking about this issue better president senator from north dakota better president i come to the floor to talk about the underlying appropriations bill first let me thank the chairman and the ranking member of the subcommittee i think the work they have done on this bill is very very important i want to talk especially about one aspect and that is the issue of the bomber fleet in this country be twos be ones b fifty two so and i do that for a very specific reason i think first of all our soldiers are in the field in harm's way in many cases they strap on body armor in the morning get shot at that they were at war and all of us want to make certain that our soldiers who have answered the call have everything they need to do what they need to do i do think however there are times in the pentagon when a substantial amount of money is spent far more than is necessary and there is some waste i want to describe one of the things that i find interesting and also somewhat troubling our bomber force is a part of what we describe as providing air superiority and when you provide air superiority and have control of the air then you have a combination of fighters and bombers as you fight a war and we've seen some recent examples about what impact that has well we have the b fifty two bombers they were produced decades ago they're sixty s but of course most of the plane has been rehabilitated and changed the electronics and so on but former chief of staff to africa general john jumper said the b fifty two and other aircraft will have greater access to targets in the future because of twenty two is pretty unbelievable next generation fighter we're told that we should support that because the next generation fighter the f twenty two goes into the century clears out the airspace knocks out the radar knocks out all of the things that could be a threat at which point the airspace is owned and you can bring in a bomb truck for example well here the cost of flying our bombers the cost is seventy eight thousand dollars an hour to fly a b to forty eight thousand dollars an hour to fly a b one and thirty four thousand dollars an hour to fly a b fifty two we are told that basically two will be usable for another twenty to thirty years and yet we are told by the planners what they'd like to do is retire the least cost bomb truck after we've cleared the the air and had air superiority they want to fly the most expensive bomb trucks and then have the least cost from truck retire makes little sense to me from a taxpayer standpoint that that's what we would try to do but they're working on a new bomber and there are some funding for planning and so on earliest date it might be available as the year two thousand and eighteen  of course that will slip they also left and the new bomber we are told that when completed would have been on refueled range of two thousand miles the b fifty two has doubled that and more weapons payload of fourteen to twenty  thousand pounds the b fifty two seventy thousand pounds the b fifty two is a bomber that's paid for fully paid for usable for two to three more decades flies that much much less cost than the other two bombers and it is one the air force has indicated it would like to move in to larger quantity today this month i'm in retirement and i make the point that the authorization committee has indicated that the air force should keep seventy six of the b fifty two and as we work through this my hope is that not only will our defense be a primary subject but also the effect for the american taxpayer be a primary subject in terms of what our bomber fleet should look like as we proceed i'll be happy about seven better president i know i have a colleague that wish to speak i want to make a couple of other points and it relates not to this specific bill but relates to the appropriations bill for emergency supplemental appropriations for the pentagon we have a one hundred forty five billion dollars request in front of us with another i believe forty three billion requested on top of that all emergency none of it paid for which will take us somewhere to the neighborhood of three quarters of a trillion dollars that is when spent with respect to the war in iraq and afghanistan and other related matters none of it paid for all added directly to the top of the debt i want to make the point that during wartime in most cases this country has decided that we should pay for things that we consume and pay for the cost of wars we did in the civil war we did it the spanish american war we did it world war one and world war two and vietnam we began a process by which we tried to pay for some of that which the war was costing the question about whether we should commit ourselves as a country to pay for a wars an interesting question in this war the iraq war our soldiers are sent to fight and president bush indicated that we could best serve our country by going shopping we should go to the mall keep our economy moving well we can also best serve our country in my judgment by deciding not to send our soldiers to fight and then come back later and pay the bill because we decided to charge it all put it right on top of the federal debt i mean it's something franklin roosevelt said during one of his fireside chats he said not all of us can have the privilege of fighting our enemies in distance parts of the world not all of us can have the privilege of working in a munitions factory or a shipyard or on the farms or in the fields or mines producing the weapons or raw materials that are needed by our armed forces but there is one front and one battle where every one of the united states every man woman child is in action the front is right here at home in our daily lives and in our daily tasks here at home everyone will have the privilege of making whatever self denial is necessary not only to supply our fighting men and women but to keep the economic structure of our country fortified and secure president johnson said the test before us as a people is not whether our commitments match our will and courage but whether we have the will and courage to match our commitments when the emergency supplemental bill comes to the floor of the senate this time i at least i'm going to ask if we shouldn't begin to pay for some of this should begin to ask for at least some sacrifice and let me ask at least in the easiest of areas for all of us to make a decision let me show you a twenty three billion dollars worth of revenue right now that we might use to offset some of that which otherwise will be described as an emergency a piece of legislation that will shut this practice down this is one i described two years ago on the floor of the senate as the ugly house four story white house in the cayman islands on church street it is on twelve thousand seven hundred forty eight corporations now they're not there that's a legal fiction created by a lawyer to avoid those companies to avoid paying taxes in the united states to allow those companies to avoid their tax obligation i have a piece of legislation s three ninety six that says if if they're moving overseas and and they've decided that they're going to simply try to find a tax haven to avoid paying taxes the united states is not going to work with close that loophole here's an obvious one that we could change immediately sale and lease out we can use some of these immediately to pay for some of that which we're spending on the war this is a case of the least of sixty five streetcars in germany by u s corporation for union bank or here's one in which  bank bought a sewage system in a german city why do they want to own a german sewer system now they don't they wanted to do that so they could save one hundred seventy five billion dollars in u s taxes through a tax loophole we could close this right now and i'm going to suggest finally when we bring another emergency bill to the floor in this case nearly two hundred billion dollars that maybe it's time long past the time for us to meet the obligation that we have and that is to ask all of us to sacrifice just a bit in this case ask those who have opened up huge loopholes or exercised huge loophole to avoid paying their taxes in the united states there's a picture of another bill i have and we can do that the three of them that i've just described will save twenty three billion dollars in this year alone this call radio flyer i suspect every member of the united states senate when their little toddlers rode in a little red wagon called radio flyer this by the way was made in illinois and it was made by an immigrant who over a century ago built the company that created the little red wagon with flyer the reason a name that radio flyer is he was he really liked marconi and he also was a he really enjoyed airplanes so he decided to make his little red wagon a wet red wagon they called radio flyer we've all read in them well guess what after a century this is gone there's no more little red wagon radio flyer in america they've all gone to china and by the way the company that shut down the plant in the united states and moved our little red wagons to china in search of cheap labor got a tax cut a tax incentive from this congress to do it we can shut that down immediately so there are three ideas to raise twenty three billion dollars that we need to wait if we need a month a year ten years i don't think so all we need is the will and the commitment to do what's right with respect to these issues i believe that we could do plenty of things that would begin to reduce the cost that our soldiers who valiantly to fight when this country asks them the fight to reduce the cost that will in order to them when they come back to this country and discover we've spent a lot of money but we charge it all so they get to fight today and pay the bill tomorrow i just think we can do much much and we should do much much better than that and i describe in shorthand these proposals three short ideas that i hope we will consider when we do the second piece of this issue of defense appropriations let me finish by saying this is a senator in a way and senator stevens worked very hard on this legislation this is one of the largest bills that we consider the united states senate there are a lot of issues some very controversial issues and i appreciate the work they have done and their staff has done to put this together it is not an easy appropriations bill to to do my hope is that as we work through this in the next day or so that we will be able to have final passage in a couple of days and and air force to retire any additional c five aircraft until the first three that have been fully modernize our flight tested in and then evaluated a number of us signed that letter and a number of years and then the same letter also called for the  and others in different phases of training or in some cases retraining or rest after they've been deployed abroad as we have to appropriate these funds for our nation's defense that we're reminded of one of the fundamental duties of of our military and our armed forces are charged with providing our commander in chief our military leaders with flexible options for responding to a wide variety of threats in iraq iraqi armed forces are keeping the lid on a civil war and protecting civilians from terrorists and from literally from one another in charge of guarding allies border and deterring aggression on the part of a large conventional military just on the other side of the korean border in the pacific in the persian gulf our armed forces protect america's interests either projection of naval power or carrier based air power at home our national guard provides the nation's governors with critical response capability to cope with natural disasters like katrina at times it can seem as though the demands on our military are almost limitless unfortunately the resources available for  quipping our military to meet these demands are not limitless at a time when our federal budget remains mired in red ink we need to be looking for ways to effectively made our military requirements on the one hand but to do so in a fiscally responsible manner i left is important and to offer a little history of how we got into this position we're in today then i'd like to share with my colleagues some of what we learned that hearing last week the bottom line is that regardless of whether strategic airlift is performed by fives seventeen some other capability airlift is essential nation's ability to project power and meet thread threats abroad i would remind us that roughly ninety percent of the material that we move military material that we move around the world goes by maybe ten percent goes by when it comes to moving military personnel almost all of them are moved around the world by by ellen when you think of the ten percent of the cargo this move by aircraft roughly half of that is moved by c five by c seventeen by c one thirty the other half is side of the globe during the current war in iraq airlift joni's have made up the majority of the nearly thirty thousand total sorties flown by u s aircraft the majority so t j carol if unable to our military responded threats wherever they occur in the world of real time not only must our fighting men and women be transported to the fight they must be continually supplied and airlift helps to make that happen close races like those of others around the world our ability project our power by air power as well as by sea power is more important than ever one of the ways we sought to keep the strategic airlift fleet a healthy and ready to meet these challenges by moderniz is a program called reliability enhancement and reengineering program where we literally take all c five engines take them on they break down about every thousand flyers at finers anyway and replace it with a new engine that will give us ten thousand hours between engine changes to change out the hydraulic system of the landing gear system fix some seventy systems and all and then again to replacing the cockpit those are the kinds of things that are done with with the modernization process that's it is underway with so far three aircraft even fully modernized three c five of them fully modernized and are going to fly tested literally as we speak here today in fact collectively they've been flown over five hundred hours and the full of valuation of c five modernization program they're obligated to produce c five whose mission capable rate or exceeds seventy five percent that's well above where the c five is today and is frankly slightly below where the c of a little less than ninety million dollars per for aircraft whether the congress and the administration decided to monitor modernize half of the c five fleet two thirds of the c five liter or the one hundred eighty five that there are  lockheed can deliver c five at a mission capable rate of seventy five percent or higher at a flyweight cost of eighty five million dollars ninety five million one hundred five million dollars aircraft capable of flying another quarter of a century or more we would be foolish not to modernize all the remaining one hundred eighty five if we cannot deliver cannot deliver aircraft that are seventy five percent m cable rate or higher they can deliver on that or cost it we're willing to pay then we need to find another alternative now the air force is question whether like you will actually the able to deliver what the company has as promise air force is suggesting that the cost of fully modernizing the c five may significantly exceed original expectations this is where the air force to conclude that c five modernization may not be as cost effective as we all had of the originally thought and and hope in three areas number one propulsion systems that's air craft engines number two installation cost of what they call touch labor costs amount of of man hours would be invested in these exchanges and finally overhead costs overhead costs which includes among other things the kinds of problems that might be uncovered is likely goes through a conductor modernization of of of the c five problems that aren't even related to the other modernization changes that are being installed now this disagreement eales a c five modernization cost discrepancy of over four billion dollars not a small amount of money and with this fundamental cost disagreement coming to light here and try to get a true cost of five modernization what we found was a temporary stalemate and we also found what appears to be a way forward and their cost calculations of the c five modernization the air force determine that the cost of the five modernization has grown they have a different calculation to show some growth but not enough to trigger a non medically breach lackies witness at our hearing last thursday stated that the contract that's lacking is ready to alleviate the air force's concerns and therefore increase decrease the amount of growth that the c five modernization would realize by providing the air force with a firm fixed price contract to modernize all one hundred eight are craft that is that cost flaxseed exceeds this price and the cost is really on them unlocking the only obstacle major one to as many as twelve several years down the down the down the line but the contractor contractors need to know how many aircraft are going to be modernized and norton for them to be able to to be held there be bound to  an engine that gets about one thousand hours between between engine changes and said miserable performing engine it's on a sci fi lead to all kinds of problems there's a question about what is g going to charge lackey to sell is expecting are calculating and if he is good to their word and lackey is good too to its word then this one point two trillion dollar deficit or in the case of the air force the  the second piece here it deals with labor touch labor cost the amount of the man hours are going to be used to to or to build these or rebuild these aircraft first of the three c five it was modernize two hundred forty three thousand man hours second  optimistic interestingly enough though it like it is said to the air force and to us at our hearing if we're wrong on the number of man hours that we say it's going to take two to modernize the fourth fifth or sixth aircraft we're on the learning curve it's never not as successful as we think we're going to nothing against the russians god bless you but i don't know that how you feel i don't feel all that comfortable relying on russian cargo aircraft to supplement our needs around the world going forward and my hope is that what we'll do is we'll have our friends from lockheed our friends from the air force will step back just for a moment and then reengage in a way that seeks to narrow this what you call a four billion dollars difference and the assumption of cost for  a cost of eighty five ninety five or even hundred five million dollars a copy on a flyaway basis we'll be forced to turn that deal down they can do it we can to deliver aircraft with that kind of mission capable right we can do it at a price along the lines that i've just quoted added at a price that we can be assured of and we need to look for another alternative and my hope coming out of our hearing last week there's a will there's a way forward on the screen and we need the best efforts of the air force and the will report the senator from vermont mr sanders proposes an m m a number thirty one thirty at the end of title eight and the following sections eighty one zero seven a additional amount for operation and maintenance army defense authorization bill of that amendment would establish a pilot program at the popping of the fence to deal with a very important problem and that problem is that all across our country men and women are returning home from the war in iraq from the war in afghanistan and they are coming home to big cities small towns and rural communities and they and their families in many cases are hurting these are soldiers and military family members was suffering with post traumatic stress disorder were suffering with traumatic brain injury was suffering from depression who were watching their marriages and their families coming apart they know that they are suffering nightmares they are suffering panic attacks sometimes uncontrollable anger in various physical symptoms and because of the stigma many of these brave soldiers do not come forward for help and others where the military infrastructure is not strong simply don't know where to turn they're hurting but they don't know how to get help and madam chair in my view we have a moral responsibility to reach out to these soldiers and their families and to help them the program approved by  yesterday would create a pilot program at the department of defense under this pilot funds would be provided to adjutant general's to conduct person to person outreach the soldiers who are returned from iraq and afghanistan and other words the heart of this program is this outreach quality we can't be successful in dealing with p t s d if soldiers do not get involved in the program if they are not involved in counseling and i we have very much that unless we are aggressive in our outreach efforts especially in rural areas especially with national guards people you're going to see folks who just don't know where to turn these trained outreach personnel could meet with that we'll be meeting with their the soldiers and their families they will be able to make sure the soldiers and the families know about the help that is available to them the words it doesn't matter how much help we have if our soldiers don't know where to turn what's available these outreach workers would make sure that america's heroes and our military families don't fall through the cracks as i mentioned this body unanimously approved this brown i would also like to point out that this amendment is supported by the national guard association of the united states of my amendment today which is co sponsored by my colleague from vermont senator leahy is to make sure that the commitment that we made yesterday to returning service members and their families is a real commitment backed by the necessary resources of this amendment would provide ten million dollars to carry out the pilot program for the state based outreach programs to assist service members and their families created by the santa sununu kerry hawk and brown amendment number twenty nine zero five to the defense authorization bill of madam president this amendment is fully offset and i would ask for the  that is there a physician second in relation to the amendment that wonder senate resumes consideration of h r thirty two twenty two on wednesday the following morning business there will be thirty minutes of debate prior to the vote in relation to the pending graham amendment just chairman daniel and i was chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee talking about what to expect over the next few hours and tomorrow morning a vote in about ten minutes on the boxer on my mind and tomorrow morning a vote on the graham amendment which would add three billion dollars for border security the senate debating defense spending four hundred fifty nine billion dollars in discretionary spending that's a three and a half billion dollars less than president bush requested colleagues who may be listening to this debate to vote no on the motion to table i think that this this amendment deserves to be heard it doesn't deserve to be shut down and the amendment i'm talking about is my modified amendment which i death and it basically says that there could be no more waivers granted for folks who want to join the military who have been convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon of our than a hate crime of sexual misconduct of threatening a terror attack of kidnapping or of ducting a child or indecent acts with a minor and if we could just show you this chart madam president right now it's against the military's policy to allow any of the people into the military who have been convicted of a felony but there is a waiver process and what has happened is and we all agree that there's there are occasions when there ought to be a waiver now and then but we've seen an alarming increase in these waivers because the army in particular is having a hard time meeting its recruitment goals so what we see is in zero four the army granted three hundred sixty waivers to recruits who had felonies on their record in zero five they granted five hundred seventy one in zero six they granted nine hundred one waivers and that is a fifty nine percent increase over the two thousand and five number and a one hundred fifty percent increase over the over four figure so what we have seen is an alarming increase in the number of waivers and what my amendment simply says is enough of this first seven felonies and the seven felonies we say are aggravated assault with a deadly weapon this is someone who has been convicted perhaps of putting a gun to someone's head and threatening them bodily harm arson someone who has obviously started a fire and put other people's lives in danger hate crimes we've just discussed that a lens is america fact we have a very fine amendment the center of kennedy our freedom that is now on the defense authorization bill which would say that people have a right to be free of hate crimes because of the fact that they may be different than the next person and here you sent people like this into the military and this is one of the most diverse is the titians that we have so in conclusion we're saying please don't table there sexual misconduct terrorist threatening indecent acts with a minor kidnapping your ducting a child you don't want somebody like that next to your throne or daughter who is serving so honorably in the military i hope will vote no on the most of the table and i'm very disappointed that that that's what  process is working and has worked it is not an easy amendment to speak against but i am reminded of something that happen during my days of use after world war two there was a german a very distinguished german was and not seem to help to develop the was the prime person that helped to develop the rockets and bombs that devastated london who was then in the process of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile to devastate the united states but we provided him with a waiver and it came through the united states and worked to develop rockets all the united states if it were but this process does work and isaac at this moment to flat out determined this process cannot be used in certain eleven to lieberman and this is lincoln to test are no mr conrad no mr casey no mr pryor no mr sessions  buy a vote of fifty three eyes and forty one was the motion to table is agreed to fifty three forty one fifty three forty one the senate just voting to table or kill the boxer amendment which would require a clean record for five years to enlist in the military tomorrow the senate expected to vote on the graham amendment that would add three billion dollars for border security both democratic and republican leaders say they plan to keep any iraq related amendments out of the defense spending bill in order to ensure quick passage but democratic senator russ feingold has said he plans to bring up an iraq withdrawal right now waiting for a senator just speak the defense spending bill that the senate is working on includes a pay raise for military personnel three point five percent so that's how the percentage points more than requested by the administration which congressional quarterly reports strongly opposes the higher increase not update on the fund raising by two senators the associated press reporting that presidential hopeful hillary rodham clinton is the top democratic breadwinner for the just completed quarter she's reported raising twenty seven million dollars from july through september and in an e mail to supporters clinton's campaign says it's her best fund raising quarter yet and senator barack obama the chief financial rival for senator clinton brought in twenty million dollars for the period including nineteen million dollars for the primary the pending business on the side of floor defense spending and up next in the senate after the members finish work on this defense spending bill commerce justice science spending and majority leader harry reid says he hopes to finish up work on both of these spending bills this week today the house oversight and government reform committee held a hearing looking into the blackwater security firm or job rates in iraq dissociated press reporting that blackwater chairman erik prince vigorously defend private security company on tuesday rejecting charges that his staff act like a bunch of cowboys immune to two legal prosecution while protecting state department personnel in iraq and afghanistan print saying quote i believe we acted appropriately at all times you'll be able to see the house hearing again on c span immediately after the house is out right now the house is voting on a measure that would require president bush to turn in a plan for pulling troops out iraq that's right now on c span just a moment ago daniel in a way chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee urging senators to bring their amendments to the floor on the defense spending bill there is a scheduled for tomorrow on the graham amendment which would add three billion dollars for border security today house appropriations committee chairman david obey offered a proposal and speaker nancy pelosi has come out against that proposal would require congress to create surtax on income ranging from two percent to fifteen percent of every american tax bill that would be to raise about one hundred fifty billion dollars a year to pay for the war in iraq and afghanistan and a chairman obie's think quote if you don't like the cost then shut down the war unquote you can find more on this story at capitol news dot org senators working on defense spending and after this pending bill moving on to commerce justice and science spending members want to get this these two spending bills wrapped up this week because they'll be out all next week because of the columbus day holiday already the senate has passed four spending bills for homeland security military construction veterans affairs state foreign operations and the department of transportation and housing and urban development undersigned senators in accordance with revision of rule twenty two of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close the debate on counting number three fifty three h r thirty two twenty two the department of defense appropriations act of two thousand and eight signed by sixteen senators as follows and now with those around us for the reading the names be weighed without objection is present i would hope we are we can just totally avoid this but of course cloture what would not occur at the earliest until wednesday anyway and i would hope that's not necessary the closure be invoked but we want to make sure that we are able to complete this legislation including the manager's package with these two that run legislators  early and this cloture is only to protect us in case something goes wrong now they have  senator reid saying that he'd like waiting for senators to bring their amendments to the floor on this defense spending bill four hundred fifty nine billion dollars for fiscal two thousand and eight defense spending the senator also invoking cloture a motion to limit debate calling for a vote that would happen earlier than thursday that saying that he hopes a final vote on this defense spending bill would happen before then senators are also hoping to bring up the commerce justice science spending bill this week majority leader harry reid saying that we'll be in a period of morning business starting at five thirty waiting for members to senators to bring their amendments to the floor to the defense spending bill a couple of items in that defense spending bill a billion dollars in equipment for the national guard and almost nine hundred fifty million dollars for military health care both democratic and republican leaders on both sides say they plan to keep any iraq related amendments out of the bill in order to ensure qui bush has threatened to veto the fence spending bill if congress attaches any restrictions to his iraq policy but both sides in the democratic and republican sides in the senate have said they planned to keep an iraq related amendments out of the bill in order to ensure a quick passage but reading from congressional quarterly in a statement of administration policy the white house office of management and budget also complained about reductions both the house and senate made to the president's request the senate bill would provide three point five billion dollars less than president bush's reclast and thirty nine point seven billion or nine point five percent more than in fiscal two thousand and seven continuing now with this article from congressional quarterly proposed reduction of eighty five million dollars from ballistic missile defense in europe and a delay of a planned third missile defense light there would endanger quote endanger u s security and that of our european allies and put our allies reid saying that the senate could go into a period of morning business in about ten minutes at five thirty p m eastern time today one vote in the senate on the boxer amendment that was to table the boxer amendment that would have required a clean record for five years to enlist in the military there isn't a moment vote scheduled for tomorrow on the grammar that meant which would add three billion dollars for border security following work on the defense spending bill the senate will move on to consider the spending bill for commerce justice and science senate trying to wrap up these two spending bills this week because of a columbus day break next week the banking committee committee hearing to go out to our arlington national cemetery to meet with a group of world war two veterans a woman by the name of miss best was had served in world war two and was laying the wreath on behalf of miami county ohio veterans some thirty five or so veterans from ohio that took a bus under the sponsorship ship of glen dave or glen raised money so that these veterans could come to washington and lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier at arlington cemetery then proceed to see the world war two monument most of them had not yet seen that monument and i was struck first of all by the stories of mr mrs whitehead for instance mr whitehead was called off to the service went overseas his child was born a few months after he left and when he returned as a child he saw his son for the first time at the age of two is son is now more than sixty years old and i was taken by the stories of so many of these world war two veterans and and their courage and their heroism and their love of country and their duty and commitment and their patriotism and they surely without over using a phrase they surely were part of the greatest generation and if you have asked for any credit you have asked for any recognition but it was such a pleasure to go to them and talk to them today and  had one request of them i of course thank them over and over and over but i had one request of them and that is that that these veterans men and women tell their stories to their children and their grandchildren because like my father was a world war two veteran and listed in about a year after pearl harbor enlisted sometime during one thousand nine hundred eighty two was overseas for much of the war my father didn't talk about it much he sends passed away six years ago at the age of eighty nine but he like most world war two veterans did much talk about it and  i encourage these these men and women who served our country so valiantly in world war two or any veterans sense to share their stories with their children in their grandchildren because it will enrich their lives and they don't need to brag about it  but they got to tell their tell their friends and their families because it's a tragedy they aren't they are accomplishments and feats and trade that they that their children and grandchildren and great grandchildren will will treasure for the rest of their lives i thought out of that visit yesterday before i made a visit as i was planning it i thought yesterday when the senate passed the defense reauthorization bill of an amendment that congressman bart stupak of michigan and i have been working on currently the department of defense prior to this amendment the department of defense is allowed to use any combination of air rail or road transportation to bring a body of a fallen soldier home but what that's done is because the rule is so so broad the law so broad department offense in many cases has brought the body of a of a just soldier killed in action brought them to the nearest airport and the nearest airport not the nearest airport the nearest big city airport which often is fifty or one hundred or two hundred or even three hundred miles away congressman stupak represents a district in northern michigan the northern yapper financial and often the bodies would be brought back to detroit sometimes to green bay but too often too far from these families these families had to go to the airport two or three hours away with a funeral home pay the expenses in a company the body back to the hometown in that happened in southern ohio where there is an airport maybe they would go to charleston or columbus or pittsburgh or what happened in rural northwest ohio and it's something that is frankly outrageous that department of defense doesn't bring the body to the community where the family lives where they already so distraught at losing their loved one we were able to get what we called to call the fallen service member respect for return amendment included in the department of defense bill this means when our soldiers make the ultimate sacrifice and service to their country that the least the government can do in the department of defense for reasons i don't even understand and failed to do this we talk so much about honoring our soldiers had failed to do this all the money we're spending hundreds of that hours they didn't get these bodies back to the funeral home in the local community and it's incumbent upon us to do that congressman stupak in the house my amendment in the senate finally has done that the very least we can do is either ease the path for these families as they confront the loss of their loved ones mr president i ask unanimous consent that the following comments be in a different place and in the record at least have a break in the record the following comments without objection  thank you mr president the children's health insurance plan legislation was delivered to the white house this afternoon for i hope the president's signature but unfortunately i fear the president's veto the the the the problem is that this legislation it's just it's unbelievable to me that president states would veto legislation that means this much to so many working families in ohio and the presiding officer state the great state of colorado and any of the other forty eight states in our great nation the children's health insurance program was conceived in one nine hundred ninety six took effect in one thousand nine hundred seven democratic president republican house and senate now insure some six million children these are the son in our country these are the sons and daughters of working families parents who are working hard playing by the rules paying their taxes but make too much to be in medicaid but make too little to be able to afford a sure insurance especially if one of their child children has a preexisting condition of any serious nature at all so these are families making twenty thirty forty thousand dollars a year the president is senator grassley has pointed out in criticism the president has said these are we don't want to give this help to these rich children these aren't rich these are rich these are families making twenty thirty forty sometimes as much as fifty or sixty thousand a year in few cases mostly families making less than that and families that are struggling it's not easy to pay the bills at thirty or forty thousand a year let alone these health care bills let alone health insurance the president also says he doesn't want this big government program it's i talked about socialism or something and i don't understand i mean the present united states and most members of congress glad to bethesda that's that's a care system they get great health care at bethesda naval hospital the veterans administration has terrific the syllabus not just the c box the community based outreach clinics and in mansfield in youngstown and lorraine and  and in springfield in marion and lyme all over this state and all over this country but the big v a hospitals too in places like brecksville and columbus and chillicothe the and what all of that means and i  saw the president says these are kids who should be covered by private insurance sure they should i wish these children did after i've had insurance but the fact is millions of children in our country don't have private insurance and if they don't have private insurance at relatively little cost because most children don't cost much to insure we can put them in the children's health insurance program if the president vetoes this bill it will immediately mean that some number of children several hundred thousand we calculate will lose their health insurance immediately and it will mean a lost opportunity for four million other children in colorado and ohio all over this country to get health insurance and again these are these are children of working parents parents who are struggling parents who are doing the best they possibly can to to to make a go of it and all they want is is health insurance for their children now the president talks about the call you also critics critical of the cost of this bill this bill forty percent of republicans in the senate voted for this bill in all the democrats this is a bipartisan bill the house of representatives the same way dozens of republicans in the house voted for it so it's clearly a bipartisan bill in and the president says it cost too much will  cost seven billion dollars a year the next five years well what does that mean well can contrast it to this we spend in one week in iraq we're spending close to three billion dollars in one week so we're spending three billion dollars a week in iraq we want to spend seven billion dollars a year to cover four million children four million more children some sixty or seventy or eighty thousand we're not sure in ohio would take advantage of this for seven billion dollars a year the president says no to that and he says he wants more than three billion dollars additional per week in iraq something is wrong with those priorities and i'm just hopeful that the president i said the president's now gotten the legislation delivered to  delivered to the white house this afternoon and i'm hopeful the president will reconsider some of his public comments will listen to middle class families this is just a this is one of those times when government can write directly help the middle class can make a difference in the lives of so many middle class families families that are struggling families like the dems cofan lee in columbus families i've met with i just i just wish the president would open his mind in his years in his eyes for the next few days he would let us send some children some families we've met that you've met in boulder and denver that you met in colorado springs that i've met in columbus or cincinnati or dayton or zanesville are our st ville let us invite some of those families to the white house sit down with the president mr president here's what the children's health insurance plan means to me and to my family into a lot of my neighbors please mr president sign this bill and i i think the president because i think you as a decent person if you would open his ears and his eyes in his mind for that conversation to those families that it that it would be a very different outcome i'm hopeful the next couple days the present state signs a children's health insurance plan if he doesn't and i'm confident that we will override his veto in the senate i'm hopeful that enough republicans get on this bipartisan bipartisan bandwagon in the house of representatives and join the democrats in overriding that veto because it will mean a stronger more vibrant more humane policy in a stronger middle class for our country without objection present asked and answered that the senate proceed to the meeting consideration of asked rest three forty two submitted earlier today the clerk will report senate resolution three forty two recognizing hispanic heritage month with without objection the senate proceeds the major i ask unanimous consent must present the resolution be agreed to the preamble agreed to the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table and block that any amendments relating there to appear at the appropriate place in the congressional record as if re without objection the committee is discharged and the senate proceeds the m center resolution three nineteen expressing the sense of the senate regarding the united states transportation command on its twentieth anniversary mr president i further asked the man at the desk he agreed to resolution as amended be agreed to the preamble be agreed to the motion reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate for the rest of the statements relating to the measure be printed in the congressional record at the appropriate place without objection present asked and answered sent the senate proceed to meeting consideration the calendar number three ninety seven asked raz as joint razz thirteen the clerk will report county number three ninety seven senate joint resolution thirteen granting consent of congress to the international emergency management assistance memorandum of understanding without objection the senate proceed the measure the president asked me as consent the joint resolution be heard a third time and passed the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate and then any statements related to the joint resolution be placed in the record it's appropriate place as if read with the action present i ask you understand as a built the desk i ask for its first reading the clerk will read the bill for the first time as twenty one twenty eight a bill to make the moratorium on internet access taxes and multiple and discriminatory taxes on electronic commerce permanent its present now as for a second reading in order to place the bill in the calendar under the provisions of rule fourteen i object to my own to date 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 mourning business for sixty minutes with senators permitted to speak there and for up to ten minutes each and the time equally dividing control between the two sides with the majority controlling the first half of the republican strolling the second half the following morning business the senate resumed consideration of h r three two two two as provided under a previous order mandatory quorum be waived as required under rule twenty two the senate's working on a four hundred sixty billion dollar defense spending measure for fiscal year two thousand and eight with plans to send it to house senate negotiators this week to keep the bill moving senate leaders are asking colleagues to delay in iraq related issues till the supplemental spending bill comes up in a few months the weeks agenda also includes the commerce science and justice spending bill colleague colleague of mine and a friend spoke on the other side of the al a few moments ago about the budget process and they too specifically