sitting with senators john mccain and jack reed. his mission to convince anyone that will listen, a military facility on his island and will have to go. >> through the air corp station, encircled by a city of 100,000 it's more than a nuisance to the people that live nearby. it's a danger. there are accidents and a helicopter crash, and crime including rape committed by american servicemen. now a stall to move the marines met with protest. a small amada of kayaks and boats take to speed at the news cycle. expanding the base would damage an eco system. mostly they want the marines off the island. >> we have a governor opposed to the land reclamation here. he was voted in by a huge margin. the people are supporting us. >> that governor campaigned against the u.s. bases and in november was elected in a landslide. more than half the 50,000 u.s. military personnel in japan are stationed on okayina way, but the island was tiny. half of the land mass. abbingin awans think it's not ware. it was rated the highest, and income the lowest. now t

. >> and later on capitol hill, sitting down with senates john mccain and jack reed. >> his mission on a six day trip to washington to convince anyone who will listen a u.s. military a facility has to go. >> marine corps air station encircled by a city of 100,000, it is more than a nuisance of people that live nearby, it is a danger. there have been accidents including a helicopter crash, and crime including rape. now, a long plan to move the marines to another part is being met with protests. at the new site of the bay near the camp, another u.s. airfield, they say expanding the base there would damage a fragile ecosystem mostly they want the marines off. >> the people are supporting us. that governor he campaigned against the u.s. bases and in november was elected in a landslide, more than half the 50,000 military personnel in japan are stationed here. but the island is tiny, just half a% of the entire land mas. and they think that's not fair. >> out of all the measures the jobless rate is the highest, and average income is the lowest, but now tour similar booming and while the u.s.

this amendment which was filed by the ranking member of the senate armed services committee senator jack reed i want to start by thanking chairman mccain and senator reed for their leadership in producing the underlying bill. drafting a national defense authorization act or ndaa is no small task, and i support many important provisions included in the bill. as ranking member of the sea-par subcommittee, i worked with chairman wicker to include provisions that will strengthen and support our navy and marine corps. every defense bill presents challenges and trade-offs. there are competing priorities and compromises. for 52 consecutive years both chambers have debated the details and come up with a product that supports and enhances our national security. however, this year's bill presents more than just a difference over details. the overall framework of this bill is a problem. before us is a bill that presents a serious question about our national values, a question that the reed amendment would help to answer. earlier this year the republicans pushed through a budget resolution. that resoluti

i'm cosponsoring senator jack jackrd's amendment. -- jack reed's amendment. we have to reduce some of the numbers cooked into the bill. it doesn't do our country any good for us to perpetuate this and for the entire federal government to still face ultimately the threat of sequestration, across-the-board cuts. as vice chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee, i've heard testimony from the leadership of the army, the navy, air force marines our guard and reserve that sequestered level budgets really harm our national security. and it makes sense. how can you plan acquisition of important equiment, how can you be sure that you can train our courageous young men and women if there's so much uncertainty with the budget? we know these impacts are going to have a dramatic negative impact on training for our service member, grounded planes, wasted wrongheaded impacts to acquisition programs and more. the defense authorization act includes the same budget gimmick that was offered in the republican budget resolutions. it increases spending on something call

on the defense program bill including an amendment by the armed services committee ranking member jack reed that would limit spending in iraq and afghanistan if sequestration limits were uplifted on defense and domestic programs. the senate would defeat the amendment in a partyline vote. before the vote come armed services chairman john mccain met senator reid could discuss the amendment created area this is 45 minutes. >> mr. president as we consider the amendment by senator from rhode island i would like to again remind my colleagues that the world is in turmoil and has never seen a greater crisis since the end of world war ii. i would repeat my assertion that it wasn't the best or the right way to do business. the worst way to do business is to have an authorized nation that will eliminate our ability to defend the nation for the men and women who serve. i urge my colleagues to read this weekend's "new york times" global struggle to respond to the first refugee crisis in generations. 10 million people were uprooted by violence last year. most propelled by conflict in iraq, ukraine and af

at that time, our leading member committee jack reed, a graduate of the united states military academyid the bill is flawed. it's flawed because he hoped we could fix the funding mechanism that republicans put in this, another unbelievely fictitious way of taking care of our government. the chairman of that committee. i came to the house of representatives here 33 years ago. he came to the senate to get them. and he has been someone who has stood on this floor and berated phony spending. where is he now? how could this man be in favor of deficit spending? how could he be in favor of o.c.o.? we have spoken out against it in the past, but suddenly he is in favor of it. the president said the minute that bill was taken up in the committee, if you don't change that i'm going to veto the bill, as he should. and what we have said here, we're going to support this. we believe that what is in this bill is as fictitious of what his account in obamacare is all about. now, but my friend, the republican leader, keeps talking about well, the left wing, the left wing is trying to kill this bill. we'

weekly party lunches more work on the dod bill with a vote at 3:00 eastern on and invite senator jack reed ranking democrat on the armed services committee which would limit funding for the overseas contingency fund unless caps are lifted on defense and nondefense spending. the overseas fund was great after the september 11 attacks and is used to fund military operations related to the global war on terrorism. a number of other amendments also a weight votes. live coverage of the senator on c-span2. the president pro tempore: today's opening prayer will be offered by guest chaplain rabbi harold kravitz from minnetonka minnesota. the guest chaplain:god of all that is good, it is a privilege to be inside this capitol building, richly designed to inspire those who govern to achieve the loftiest

on our side, we have the senator from jack reed from rhode island. senator reed is a graduate of the west point military academy. he served as well in the active army. and he brings that service and that part of his life to his work on the democratic side of the aisle when it comes to putting this bill together. i don't think we could have picked two more able leaders from the senate, a republican and a democrat, to bring this bill to the floor. they have their differences but for the most part they agree on this bill. it was troubling this morning to hear the republican majority leader suggest that the differences we have over this bill suggest a lack of commitment by democrats to the military of the united states. that's not true and it's not fair. we are as committed on our side of the aisle as those on the other side of the aisle when it comes to the men and women in uniform committed to making certain that they have what they need to be trained to fight effectively and to come home safely. we're also committed to bringing them home to a welcomin

host: yesterday there was an amendment by senator jack reed. he takes issue with the republicans are into the emergency war fund. do you agree with that strategy of republicans who get away from sequestration by moving it over to this emergency war fund? guest: i voted against the measure yesterday afternoon. we have to make sure we have the resources that are necessary to continue to carry out the mission of men and women around the world who are defending our nation. while everything is not perfect in terms of what everybody would like to do, it is important we provide the resources to complete the job. host: when you're talking about the national defense authorization bill, you had an amendment that deals with the department of veterans affairs. what are you trying to find out? guest: if you are a veteran in colorado you have watched for over a decade as you have received the promise from this government that you would have a new veterans hospital, a facility to replace world war ii era facility. for 10 years they have made this promise. we

for the d.o.d., and i first want to congratulate the chairman, chairman mccain and ranking member jack reed for working together on a very important bill. there are a lot of important issues a lot of important priorities in this legislation for our home state in michigan. the fact that we are supporting the a-10's so our troops have the close air support they need is very important. it's important that we are continuing to invest in research and development new kinds of technologies. we're very proud in michigan to be the ones that are on the front lines providing research and development for the army, if the army drives it, we design it fix it, build it at warren, michigan surrounding area in macomb county that we call the defense corridor, and we're very proud about that. we have vital military equipment manufactured here in the united states and in michigan specifically that is supported in this legislation and it provides a very important pay increase and support for our troops that is absolutely critical. my concern is that is not with the contents of what we are doing in this particul

so i would just ask the leader on the other side -- or the handler on the other side, senator jack reed, if he would consider a waiver of your commitment to allow me to bring one of these up for -- to get in the queue? i yield to you. mr. reed: the senator from oklahoma, we have been trying to move forward on a basis of equal amendments. at this juncture, i am not prepared to make another amendment pending. there is a possibility that we spoke about briefly of including these amendments in the managers' package or, since its germane, of trying to arrange for consideration after cloture along with other -- another germane amendment. so at this point i would not be prepared to -- mr. inhofe: i would only -- regaining the floor, i would only say to my good friend that, you know, second ranking on the armed services committee. i tried to do them before we left for four days on business. and also senator mikulski is my cosponsor on amendment number 1728. and so i've got to make a motion to lay the pending amendment aside for purposes of consideration of amendment number 1728. mr. reed: i wou

and it was a huge honor for me as a new member of this body to travel with john mccain, jack reed two veterans who have survived a lot for -- sacrificed a lot for their country, to vietnam and other places. they did a fantastic job on this bill. then this bill came to the floor. and it all stopped. everything cam -- everything came to a halt. there are over 500 amendments of senators who want to move forward on a bipartisan basis to try and improve this bill. we have gotten to barely a trickle, barely a trickle. nothing is happening. for two weeks we've been on this week. nothing is happening. after the great work that we did in the senate armed services committee. so what's gimmick on going on here, mr. president? it's the same obstructionist playbook that my colleagues, and particularly the minority leader used for the last few years, and the american people have rejected it. they rejected it last november. they rejected it when they realized that this body heard 14 amendments roll call votes 14 amendments in the entire year of 2014. that's not how this body is posed to work. -- sup