December 6, 2006: Gates Confirmed; Defense Appropriations Bill Will Go To Conference w/ House

Summary:  Gates won an easy confirmation...Santorum said Iran is the enemy and that we must not negotiate with Iran but must confront it...several GOP senators including veteran Domenici griped about Frist's reliance on continuining resolutions to fund the government in FY 2007...Voinovich warned about the problems that not having budgets in place would cause...Hutchison made assurances that the defense appropriations bill would not be loaded up on in conference with the House and secured appointment of conferees, moving the bill to conference...it is the only thing moving in Congress right now...word began to circulate of a wild omnibus extravaganza bill, the last hurrah of this leadership, including Vietnam trade, tax cuts, and offshore drilling...


[15:54]
Sen. Rick Santorum sounds off.  He says our enemy is Iran, and has been since 1979 when it declared war on us.  He says the body count is the lead story every day, and has been for three years.  He says that Islamic Fascism is the problem, the real enemy, not people in caves, and that it threatens every continent "with the exception of Antarctica."  He says the Baker-Hamilton Report is a "prescription for surrender."  That there is no willingness to confront the problem.  He says that Robert Gates is not the appropriate choice for Defense Secretary but that we need someone who knows the enemy.  It's a Shia-dominated problem, he says, even though it was Sunnis that struck the most glaring blow.  That two of the persons planning to bomb up planes over the Atlantic were a mother and father who were going to carry their six month-old child in their lap. That "This is evil."  

[15:31]
Gates confirmed 95-2, with Sens. Jim Bunning (KY) and Rick Santorum (PA) the only votes in opposition.

[14:35]
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX) has returned to the floor to request once again that the defense appropriations bill a.k.a. the military construction bill be submitted to conference and senators be appointed to that conference.  She made the same motion this morning but Senator Jim DeMint (SC) objected on behalf of the majority leadership.  It now appears that the leadership will acquiesce to this bill moving to conference committee ON THE CONDITION THAT the conferees "keep the bill clean."  
This military construction bill, which is really a suite of defense department appropriations, will now go to conference.  The question: Can Hutchison live up to her promise to "keep the bill clean"? Does she have such power?  Who wants to load it up?  In any event, compliments to Hutchison who says she will work all night to get this thing done.  At least someone is willing to do some work this week in DC.

[14:20]
Senator Pete Domenici (NM) joins the crowd of senators griping about the senate's inability to pass budgets for the majority of the government's departments for FY 2007.  He said it is Congress's "most basic responsibility" to approve government spending and it is shameful that the senate would rely on the crutch of continuing resolutions—"which we're relying on more and more around here"—to fund the government.  He can't figure it out.  It seems to be that the leadership has gotten lazy, that debating these bills would take too much time.  What else does Congress have to do?


[12:45]

It now appears that the Defense Appropriations Bill, a version of which has passed both houses, will not go to committee, and therefore cannot become law, because some senators believe it will become an omnibus bill once it hits committee.  In other words, it is the only bill moving in Congress right now and committee members will not promise to "keep it clean".  In other words, once it goes to committee it will be loaded up on because nothing else is moving.  So, there's some work to do on getting an agreement to take this bill to committee but also to keep it clean, and prevent it from becoming an omnibus chassis.


From earlier today:

The Senate opened at 9:30 est.  It is now in a period of morning business and will proceed to vote, as a body, on the nomination of Robert Gates for defense secretary.  As you might know, the senate armed services committee voted yesterday 21-0 in favor of the nomination.

Senator Jack Reed (RI) spoke first, saying a goodbye to his colleague Lincoln Chafee (RI).

Following him were adieus from Sens. George Allen (VA) and Conrad Burns (MT).

Now Sen. Richard Durbin (IL) is saluting the Iraq Study Group, saying it is clear from their report that we are ready to start pulling our troops out of Iraq.  He is adding some farewells, especially to Paul Sarbanes (MD).