Congressional Record—Senate S8662
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S8662 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE June 28, 2007 legislation have, throughout this proc- mittee hearings, expert testimony, and The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- ess, voted as a block to prevent the a public markup. ator from Michigan is recognized. passage of any so-called ‘‘deal-break- Strangely enough, this is the precise Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I yield ing’’ amendments. At several points criticism meted out by the Democrats myself 8 minutes. during the debate, members of this coa- when they were in the minority last I support the nomination of LTG lition have admitted that the amend- Congress. Now that control of the Sen- Doug Lute to be Assistant to the Presi- ments in question would, in their opin- ate has changed hands, it seems the dent and Deputy National Security Ad- ion, improve the overall bill. Yet, in an Democrat requirement for regular viser for Iraq and Afghanistan. effort to preserve the coalition, they order is not necessary anymore. Lieutenant General Lute is an ac- have worked together to prevent the Mr. President, we have been told that complished senior officer with a distin- passage of even some of the most rea- this is our last chance to pass immigra- guished record and great experience in sonable, commonsense amendments. tion reform for several years. I dis- both military tactics and national se- Then, after an initial attempt to end agree. Once again, there were other ap- curity strategy and policy. Lieutenant the debate failed, the majority leader proaches that could have been taken to General Lute has been serving as the agreed to let the debate go forward and pass this legislation, and these options Director of Operations, J–3, on the to have votes on a number of amend- remain available. In addition, there are Joint Staff since September of 2006. Im- ments. Initially, this sounded good. many areas of agreement when it mediately prior to this assignment, he However, it soon became clear that, in comes to immigration. Therefore, I be- served for more than 2 years as the Di- another effort preserve this shaky, lieve that we can find a way to address rector of Operations, J–3, at U.S. Cen- flawed compromise, the only amend- our immigration problems that will tral Command, overseeing combat op- ments that would be voted on were satisfy the American people. erations in Iraq and Afghanistan and those of the majority leader’s own But, to do that, we need a process other operations in the CENTCOM area choosing. that is fair and open. The process we of responsibility. I don’t believe that anyone should be have followed in this case has been too While I know of no concerns as to criticized for their willingness to com- limiting and, as a result, we have a bill General Lute’s qualifications for the promise. Clearly, compromise is a vital that the vast majority of Americans position to which he has been nomi- part of what we do in the Senate. How- will not support. That being the case, I nated by the President, there have ever, we simply cannot value com- oppose this effort to end debate and to been some other concerns expressed promise for compromise’s own sake. In- push this bill through. about this nomination. The first con- deed, we should not push through such Mr. President, I yield the floor and cern questions the need for the position fatally flawed legislation simply be- suggest the absence of a quorum. itself as well as the potential for confu- cause it is the product of compromise. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. sion as to who is responsible for Iraq Compromise—the means by which the SALAZAR). The clerk will call the roll. and Afghanistan policy. On the one Senate passes legislation that will ben- The legislative clerk proceeded to hand, the position implies a direct and efit our Nation—is not an end unto call the roll. independent relationship with the itself. Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask President as Assistant to the Presi- Yet, too many of my colleagues seem unanimous consent that the order for dent, and on the other hand, as Deputy all too willing to simply push this leg- the quorum call be rescinded. National Security Adviser for Iraq and islation through simply to preserve The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without Afghanistan, the position implies sub- this great compromise. In fact, it al- objection, it is so ordered. ordination to the National Security most appears as if some would consider f Adviser. our efforts successful if we were simply One can argue that the responsibility able to bring this bill to passage, re- EXECUTIVE SESSION for Iraq and Afghanistan policy clearly gardless of what the bill looked like belongs to the National Security Ad- and regardless of what its effect would viser, as well as the responsibility for NOMINATION OF LIEUTENANT be on our immigration system. How- directly advising the President on GENERAL DOUGLAS E. LUTE TO ever, I believe that if we were to follow those issues. Creating a position with BE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESI- this course, we would be wasting an op- ambiguous subordination to the Na- DENT AND DEPUTY NATIONAL portunity to provide real reforms to tional Security Adviser could need- SECURITY ADVISER FOR IRAQ our Nation’s immigration policy and to lessly complicate and confuse an al- AND AFGHANISTAN provide real solutions for our Nation’s ready confused policy process. I, too, many immigration problems. Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask have some concerns in this regard but It is not a novel idea to suggest that unanimous consent that the Senate not to the extent that I will oppose the there was a better way to approach now proceed to executive session to President’s decision to create such a this problem. That way, Mr. President, consider Calendar No. 165, the nomina- position. was the process by which we approach tion of LTG Douglas Lute; that the The other concern which has been ex- all issues of this magnitude. This bill time until 3 o’clock be for debate on pressed is that appointing an Active- was brought to the floor without hav- the nomination, equally divided be- Duty military officer to such a polit- ing gone through the committee proc- tween myself and Senator WARNER or ical position is a practice which should ess. This is never a good sign for any his designee; that at the conclusion or be avoided in that for the officer in piece of legislation. Whenever you by- yielding back of time, the nomination question, it needlessly blurs the dis- pass the regular order of the Senate, be laid aside and the Senate return to tinction between recommendations he there will undoubtedly be a significant legislative session in morning business; might make based on unbiased profes- portion of our constituents who feel as and that at 4 p.m., the Senate return to sional military judgment and those if their views don’t count. The Senate executive session and the vote on con- based upon or colored by political con- has used and maintained the com- firmation of the nomination of Lieu- siderations. In a larger sense, it is mittee structure for over 200 years, and tenant General Lute. counter to the traditional American it has served the American people well. I also am hopeful that there will be approach to civil-military relations. In this case, refusing to use the time- some votes on judicial nominees as For the individual officer, it may also tested committee structure has been a well today, but that has not yet been create difficulties in subsequently re- recipe for disaster. cleared. turning from a political position to a The decision to bring this bill di- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without uniformed, apolitical, military posi- rectly the floor robbed many Senators objection, it is so ordered. tion. I emphasize that General Lute of an opportunity to examine the bill The clerk will report. will remain on active duty during this thoroughly and publicly express their The assistant legislative clerk read period. concerns. In addition, it made certain the nomination of Douglas E. Lute, De- However, this would not be the first that the bill would come before the en- partment of Defense, Army, to be Lieu- time that uniformed military officers, tire Senate without the benefit of Com- tenant General. remaining on active duty, have served VerDate Mar 15 2010 22:29 Mar 13, 2014 Jkt 081600 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\2007SENATE\S28JN7.REC S28JN7 mmaher on DSKCGSP4G1 with SOCIALSECURITY June 28, 2007 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S8663 in such positions, one of the most nota- producing car bombs against Iraqi citi- the judgments of General Sheehan and ble examples being Colin Powell’s own zens and improvised explosive devices others. No disrespect to the chairman, service as, first, the deputy National against United States and Iraqi forces. but they are of no significance here. Security Adviser, and then as the Na- The stated principal purpose of the This is a highly distinguished officer. tional Security Adviser, and subse- surge was to give space and time for He fought in the second armored cav- quent outstanding service as Chairman the Iraqi politicians to make progress alry regiment in Operation Desert of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. While I on the critically important political Storm. He later commanded the second don’t believe it should be the norm for reconciliation benchmarks, such as im- armored cavalry regiment in 1998 to a military officer to serve in these plementing legislation for the equi- 2000, and the multinational brigade kinds of positions, I do not believe this table distribution of revenues from oil east in Kosovo in 2002.