I have offered legislation on it and some of that legislation has been incorporated, thanks to Senator Byrd and Senator Stevens, the ranking people on the Appropriations Committee, in various Department of Defense appropriations bills. The General Accounting Office and the Pentagon's inspector general have issued report after report after report exposing these same problems. In fact, their investigative work has been the basis for some of my remarks in the past. So here we have, again, last week, this issue being raised by the Senator from West Virginia. I am glad to have somebody of Senator Byrd's stature asking pertinent questions because then people pay attention.
People listen up.
That also applies to my listening and reading what the Senator from West Virginia had to say last week. Senator Byrd started his inquiry maybe months and years ago, for all I know, but it came to my attention when he was participating in a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on January 11, the hearing on the nomination of Mr. Rumsfeld for Secretary of Defense. My gut sense tells me Senator Byrd's question sent shock waves through the Pentagon. When I read about it in the newspaper the next day, I asked my staff to get the transcript and fax it to me because I was home in my State of Iowa. What I heard was music to my ears.