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Tuesday, June 22, 2004 |
Senator Durbin is speaking about the abuse of prisoners in Iraq and the Administration memos on the same subject. He has asked, just what have these memos wrought? Senator Durbin said that we know now that soldiers in the U.S. military did some horrible things which no one has excused, but was this just an isolated incident or more widespread.
5:44:29 PM 
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Senator Feingold is speaking about an amendment that he is proposing regarding FMLA. He said that he wanted to make some important points about this bill, clarifying that it would extend the rights of FMLA to family members of the military that are being deployed abroad. Senator Feingold continued to say that our military families sacrifice a great deal and that the growing burden on these families must be addressed. The Senator said that he hopes this amendment will offer some form of relief to military families and that it will be adopted as part of the underlying bill.
5:10:02 PM
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Senator Allen is speaking on the nomination Walt Kelley to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Senator Allen said that Mr. Kelley will understand how to properly apply the law as opposed to a judge who wants to invent the law. He continued to speak about the nominees resume and the groups that have supported this nomination.
5:00:06 PM
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Senator Leahy is speaking on the floor about oversight of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. The Senator noted that today the Bush Administration released a few documents about the abuse, although these documents raise more questions then they answered. He further pointed out that the Administration only made public three of the twenty-three documents requested by Congress and that two of these documents were previously available on the internet.
4:32:22 PM
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Senator Warner replied to Senator Daschle's comments, saying that he believes that this amendment would change the way we have been funding veteran's health care these many years. Senator Warner said he believes the funding system has worked well, and the changed approach to have both discretionary and mandatory funding would have a negative impact on veteran's health care. He continued to say that we need to have a consistency among benefits and that this amendment would turn the VA health care system into a glorified HMO.
2:58:34 PM
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Senator Daschle has introduced an amendment, S.Amdt. 3049, regarding veteran's health care. In speaking about the need for his amendment, he said that over the past years many veterans have seen delays or gaps in their health care and that this current system is broken. Senator Daschle said that hundreds of thousands have had to wait for months and, some for over a year, to receive even a simple doctor's appointments. He stated that veterans have a fundamental right to health care and that we need a new funding system to ensure that every American serves in the armed forces receives health care.
2:51:28 PM
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The Senate voted 54-46 to adopt the McCain Amendment. The Senate will now recess until 2:15 this afternoon for the taking of the annual Senate photograph.
1:24:09 PM
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After Senator McCain came to the floor to talk about his substitute amendment to Senator Dayton's amendment. Senator Dayton's amendment would call for us to stick to current law regarding 'Buy America'. Following brief comments by Senator Warner, the Senate is now voting on Senator McCain's amendment.
12:43:30 PM
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The Senate agreed to Senator Brownback's 2nd degree amendment with a vote of 99-1. The Senate then agreed to Senator Dorgan's 2nd degree amendment on media ownership, Senator Burns' 2nd degree amendment on small market solutions, and Senator Hollings' 2nd degree amendment on children's programming with voice votes.
12:15:22 PM
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The Senate is now voting on Senator Brownback's 2nd degree amendment, #3464, to S.Amdt.3235 concerning broadcast television decency. The amendment would raise the amount charged to a broadcast station from $27,500 to $275,000 for broadcasting obscene, indecent or profane language.
11:53:27 AM
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The Senate voted 44-56 on Senator Levin's amendment, meaning that it was not adopted.
11:50:17 AM
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Responding to Senator Warner's comments, Senator Levin is stating that the U.S. Department of Energy has claimed that the loose nuke threat is the greatest threat we currently face and is claiming that today is the day to fund a program that deals with the loose nuke threat. Senator Levin is also saying that his amendment would not mean the end of missile defense programs and, if adopted, would mean that there would still be $1.2 billion of funding for interceptors in this bill.
11:14:34 AM
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Senator John Warner is stating that we are at the crossroads concerning missile defense programs and is saying that if the Senate adopts Senator Levin's amendment, it will say to the rest of the world that the United States is not serious about missile defense. He is concluding with urging his colleagues to stay the course and not show the world that we have stumbled backwards.
11:09:05 AM
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Saying that he feels the money could be better spent on the loose nuke program, Senator Carl Levin is saying that his colleagues have supported this program but have not provided any funding for it. He is stating that the loose nuke material is the greatest terrorist threat we face. In addition, Senator Levin is reminding his colleagues that his amendment does not affect the 20 interceptors already authorized but, rather, affects only 10 additional interceptors.
11:03:15 AM
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Joining Senator Allard in voicing his opposition to Senator Levin's amendment, Senator Jeff Sessions is saying that it would be a terrible mistake to cut $515 million from a system that is effective and ready to be deployed and will ultimately cost us more money. He is also saying that he bets most Americans probably do not know that shortly a missile defense system will be placed in the ground in Alaska.
10:56:52 AM
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Beginning with stating that he strongly opposes Senator Levin's amendment, Senator Wayne Allard is saying that the $515 million should not be moved from missile defense programs to homeland security and counterterrorism needs. In addition, he is stating that a distinction should not be made between counterterrorism measures and missile defense programs. Senator Allard is quoting the assessment made by the Missile Defense Agency which states that not authorizing additional interceptors at this time would leave our country inadequately prepared to defend against known and potential threats in the future.
10:42:56 AM
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Senator Carl Levin of Michigan is talking about his amendment which would remove $515 million from the proposed $1.7 billion for interceptors and would use the $515 million for "more needed and more immediate" causes, such as refining systems to identify explosives at a distance. Saying that there are already 20 authorized test beds, he is saying that the Administration is asking for additional test beds. Senator Levin is stating that if his amendment is adopted, it would only affect 5% of the missile defense budget for this year.
10:31:56 AM
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Majority Leader Bill Frist began this morning with saying there will be two votes around 11:00 today and that he hopes to finish consideration of the Department of Defense Authorization bill either late tonight or tomorrow. After the vote on final passage, the Senate will begin consideration on the Department of Defense Appropriations bill. Originally, Senator Frist had said that the Senate would next take up debate of the Class Action bill, but he is now saying that consideration of that bill will be delayed. Changing topics, he is now discussing how lung cancer affects women differently than men and is saying that there is a dismal rate of survival for women who have been diagnosed with lung cancer.
10:00:04 AM
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The Senate reconvenes this morning at 9:45 to resume consideration of S.2400, the Department of Defense Authorization bill. Debate will begin this morning with consideration of Senator Levin's amendment on missile defense, specifically on ground-based midcourse program defense interceptors. The Senate will recess at 12:30 for its weekly policy lunches.
9:27:08 AM
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