Legislative History of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989, Public Law 100-180, 101 Stat. 1019 V. 7

7 Legislative History of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989, Public Law 100-180, 101 Stat. 1019 S6616 (1989)

handle is hein.leghis/ehidaut0007 and id is 1 raw text is: ï»¿S 6616 CO
it-or-lose-it X type of sitting duck-
stationary 1 unchers that would invite
attack. It eans arms control to stress
instant co munication between the
superpower . It means arm control to
assure tha both superpowers main-
tain the mo t meticulous. detailed, and
constant co trol of their own nuclear
arsenal.
Mr. Presi ent, I yield the floor.
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORI-
ZATION ACT FOR FISCAL
YEARS 1988 AND 1989
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, does the
Senator from Georgia wish time?
Mr. NUNN. May I inquire of the ma-
jority leader about the plans for this
morning? What time will the vote
occur? Is there to be debate between
now and 11 o'clock?
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, the time
between now and 11 a.m. will be equal-
ly divided and controlled by the major-
ity leader and the minority leader.
The debate should go forward on the
motion to invoke cloture. At 11
o'clock, the Chair will ask the clerk to
call the roll to establish a quorum.
Once a quorum has been established,
the vote on the motion to invoke clo-
ture will occur.
Mr. NUNN. I thank the majority
leader.
Mr. President, the Senator from Vir-
ginia was on the floor a moment ago.
As soon as he returns, we can com-
mence a brief debate between now and
11 o'clock. We ate trying to bring for-
ward the defense bill, which contains
the authorization for the Army, Navy,
Marine Corps, Air Force, and the Re-
serves. We are trying to get the debate
started. We have been precluded from
doing so. We hope to get cloture this
morning.
As I said last week to the majority
leader, and this has to be fitted into
the overall schedule, if we do not get
cloture this morning, it would not be
my intent to ask for any further clo-
ture votes until our Republican col-
leagues and the White House decide
they want a defense bill. When they
decide they want a defense bill, we can
proceed. Otherwise, we would be wast-
ing the time of the Senate. We would
just be running around the flag pole.
If there are not enough votes to
invoke cloture, it appears nothing will
be done about it. In voting on whether
or not to invoke cloture this morning,
as far as I am concerned, this will be
the last opportunity for quite a while.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I entered
another cloture motion on Friday
which will mature on tomorrow, so
there will be another cloture vote on
tomorrow. I will say to the distin-
guished Senator from Georgia, I hope
that Senators will vote to invoke clo-
ture today. We have today and tomor-
row and Thursday. We will then have
the Memorial Day recess which will
occur beginning on Friday. I hope we
will be able to make progress in the
Senate this week.

NqGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SEN
The supplemental appropriations
bill was called up a few days ago, and
there was a point of order made
against that bill. I had offered a
motion to waive the provisions so that
the point of order would not survive.
But we. were able to get only nine
votes from the other side of the aisle.
We produced 42 votes on this side of
the aisle. It requires 60 votes to waive.
I hope that we will be able to get the
supplemental appropriations bill up
and get some votes from the other side
of the aisle to help us with a waiver.
Otherwise, if we do not invoke cloture
on the motion to proceed to take up
the defense bill, the bill will not be
before the Senate. The bill is not
before the Senate and the motion to
invoke cloture is only to bring the bill
before the Senate. If we do not invoke
cloture on that motion to proceed, ap-
parently we are going to just mark
time the rest of the week debating a
motion to proceed to take up the de-
fense authorization bill.
By the end of the week we will have
nothing to show for our time and our
words.
I urge Senators to vote for the clo-
ture motion today so that we can at
least get the bill up and begin debat-
ing the bill.
Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, could I
just respond to the majority leader
and then I will yield the floor.
Mr. President, we are trying to work
out something on the supplemental if
cloture is not invoked this morning. I
will say again, I want to cooperate
with the majority leader. It is difficult
enough to get things done. Sometimes
we have a fundamental difference of
opinion we cannot do much about. But
on the supplemental, I have been ad-
vised in the last 5 minutes there may
be a way out of that. There will be a
meeting this afternoon with some of
the principals. Perhaps we can do
that.
Mr. BYRD. I thank the distin-
guished Republican leader for his ex-
pression of support.
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I want
to assure my distinguished colleague,
the majority leader, and the distin-
guished chairman of the Armed Serv-
ices Committee, and others listening
this morning, that there is an equal
desire on this side to proceed with the
1988-89 authorization bill for the De-
partment of Defense.
The chairman has pointed out, as
have I in earlier statements on the
floor, the importance of this bill to the
Nation.
But it is quite clear, Mr. President,
and we have dramatized this by the
steadfast coherence on this side, there
is a determination on this side not to
let this bill go forward so long as the
decision made here is to continue to
have that amendment remain in the
bill. The Armed Services Committee
prides itself in approaching its respon-
sibilities in a spirit of bipartisanship.
Throughout the many long months of
this year's hearings, and of markups,

ATE ' May 19, 1987
we have followed that spirit of biparti-
sanship. The chairman and I are re-
spectful of our Members for their con-
tribution to this effort.
But when this amendment was put
on, Republicans made it very clear
that it could not be accepted on this-
side for reasons which we believe are
valid. Our President has said that the
foremost responsibility that he has at
this time is to work in Geneva through
the negotiators to try and lessen the
presence of nuclear weapons through-
out the world. All sides acknowledge
that progress is being made.
This amendment goes to the very
heart of those negotiations. Many of
us have characterized the amendment
as pulling the rug from beneath the
negotiators. But I shall not take time
now to repeat those arguments. I say
to my distinguished chairman he has
yet to answer the question; when he
says he is going to pull the bill down,
he is taking a mighty responsibility.
The Senator is really thwarting the
ability of this institution to try to
reach a compromise.
In a spirit of compromise late last
week, I indicated to the chairman that
we would, on this side, be willing to
discuss a freestanding bill which would
in every way protect the rights of
those, again, whom I respect, although
disagree with, in terms of the authori-
zation for the SDI Program. My good
friend from Georgia characterized it
as a joke, and I am sure he meant
nothing personal in that. But I say, if
that were a joke, that effort I under-
took, then what happened in the Ap-
propriations Committee when the dis-
tinguished chairman from Mississippi,
faced with a like situation, determined
on the supplemental appropriations
bill that this type of legislation would
be taken out? I say to those on the
Foreign Relations Committee that a
similar situation arose in their com-
mittee, and again it was the determi-
nation of the committee to take out
and allow in a freestanding situation
the ability to address the arms control
issue.
So it was not considered a joke in
the Appropriations Committee, nor
was it considered a joke in the judici-
ary and foreign relations arena where
they are jointly addressing that
matter. And my distinguished col-
league from Pennsylvania, who has
done a lot of work over the weekend,
will soon address the future work and
the assurance that the chairman of
the Foreign Relations Committee gave
him-or was it the Judiciary Commit-
tee-that hearings are going to be held
on the very issues embraced in the
Nunn-Levin amendment.
So I say to my good friend from
Georgia, let us not say the only solu-
tion to this disagreement is to bring
down the defense authorization bill.
Let us proceed, on the assumption
that cloture is not invoked today, to
determine if there is not a means by
which to protect the rights of both

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.

Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

What Is HeinOnline?

Purchase Access

Contact Us

Log In

NEED HELP?

CONTACT US

Get started

Subscribe to our Newsletter