mr. brown: thank you, madam president. i have an amendment that has been accepted, almost, sort of, kind of accepted. amendment 1090. that i would like to discuss briefly. i want to thank senators wyden and coons for their bipartisan leadership as cosponsors of this amendment. i believe we're going to vote on it shortly, and i would ask that it be accepted either by vote or by u.c. vote. it's a simple amendment that will make sure that the national guardsmen who get deployed will receive the housing allowances that they need and deserve. this is a bipartisan amendment, and the defense department has agreed that the situation needs to be fixed. something that recently was developed. there is a little bit of history behind this, but i really don't think it's important because senator wyden and senator coons and i have taken the lead on this issue, which is critically important to providing the funds that have been taken merely by a change in the regulations, and this is a time quite frankly that our men and women who are fighting need that money. i'm introducing the amendment as a result of a bill i introduced last september entitled the national guard basic allowance for housing equit

mr. wyden: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon is recognized. mr. wyden: i ask unanimous consent that vacate the quorum call, madam president. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. wyden: madam president, i understand that cloture has been filed on the motion to proceed to the pip pa legislation. as one of the bipartisan group of senators who strongly objects to proceeding to this bill, i believe it's important to begin to outline the very real dangers that are posed by this bill. now, the primary architects of the internet and our leading cybersecurity experts have made it clear that this legislation will undermine the key technologies that prevent fraud and protect consumers on the internet. our nation's leading first amendment scholars have made it clear that this bill poses a serious threat to speech and civil liberties for all who use the internet, and our nation's leading technology employers warn that this bill presents a clear and present

mr. president, i'd like to explain what has happened this long afternoon. originally some of us -- namely, senators leahy, durbin, udall of colorado, kirk, lee, harkin, webb, wyden, merkley, and myself -- realized that there was a fundamental flaw in section 1031 of the bill, and there is a difference of opinion as to whether there is this fundamental flaw or not. we believe that the current bill essentially updates and restates the authorization for use of military force that was passed on september 18, 2001, and despite my support for a general detention authority, the provision in the original bill, in our view, went too far. that the bill before us would allow the government to detain u.s. citizens without charge until the end of hostilities. we have had long discussions on this. the distinguished chairman, the distinguished ranking member, the senator from north carolina believe that was not their intent. and these discussions went on and on. and they resulted in two amendments: our original amendment which covers only u.s. citizens, which says that they cannot be held without charge or trial, and a compromise amendment which i shall read. on page 360 betwe