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Mr. Cochran: Mr. President, I am pleased to be able to come to the floor and urge the Senate to expedite the consideration of the supplemental appropriations bill that is now in conference between House and Senate members on the Appropriations Committee. This supplemental request for funding for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has been pending now for way too long, without action to send this bill to the President for his signature.

Over 2 weeks ago, I received a letter from the Joint Chiefs of Staff outlining the urgency of this appropriations bill. I am going to read a couple of excerpts from that letter now:

With the increasing pace of operations and material needs in Iraq and Afghanistan, we ask that the Congress expeditiously complete its work on the Fiscal Year 2007 Emergency Supplemental. Timely receipt of this funding is critical to military readiness and force generation as we prosecute the war on terror. Given the current status of this legislation, we are particularly concerned that funding could be significantly delayed.

It is very clear that delay is occurring, and it is a serious matter. We are talking about life-and-death situations, the ability to furnish the equipment, the weaponry, the training that is necessary for our Armed Forces to carry out their mission.

This is not a time to play politics with the well-being of troops in the field. I am afraid that is what we are witnessing. I do not have any particular problem with the Senate and House members of our conference committee seriously engaging in a discussion of our differences and resolving those and submitting a final conference report as soon as possible. I urge that is what we do. But we are seeing more and more delay. That is just not justified under the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

In this letter I received the other day, here is another thing that is pointed out by the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

Without approval of the supplemental funds in April, the Armed Services will be forced to take increasingly disruptive measures in order to sustain combat operations. The impacts on readiness and quality of life could be profound. We will have to implement spending restrictions and reprogram billions of dollars. Reprogramming is a short-term, cost- inefficient solution that wastes our limited resources. Spending restrictions will delay and disrupt our follow-on forces as they prepare for war, possibly compromising future readiness and strategic agility. Furthermore, these restrictions increase the burden on servicemembers and their families during this time of war.

I do not know how the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and those who are working closely with him in this very difficult period could be more clear about the importance of action now on this supplemental appropriations bill.

I am not going to belabor the point, but I think for us to continue to engage in who is going to win this political struggle about deadlines, forced redeployments from Iraq and Afghanistan, suspension of activities of this kind or the other, and who is in charge, it makes the world wonder whether our Nation is competent to deal with an emergency that threatens the very security of our country.

I know when I came to Congress, you would hear it said that partisan politics should stop at the water's edge, that whatever is going on in other parts of the world that affects our security, our economic well- being, threatens us all as a nation, Democrats, Republicans, young and old, the military, and the civilian leaders of our country--we are all in this together.

We need to work out our differences and resolve them somehow. Let's look to compromise that is fair, that carries out the intent as expressed in these bills by those who have supported and passed an appropriations bill in the Senate and one in the House. Let's resolve the differences. That is what we are waiting on. And do you know what. The conference committee has not even met. There has been no meeting of the conferees on the part of the House or the Senate to discuss the differences. Now, that is inexcusable, and I lay that at the feet of the leadership of the Senate and the House. We are all in this together. I am not saying just the Democratic leadership or the Republican leadership, but we as Members ought to call on our leaders now.

Let's end this logjam. Let's end this confrontation and the political grandstanding that is going on on the part of some. I think we need to immediately move to conference. Let's work on these bills. Let's get them resolved in a conference report that the President can sign.

We are talking about a supplemental appropriations bill for our military forces. There have been other things added in both the Senate and the House. Well, that is not unusual. That happens. What we can agree on, let's agree on and send it to the President. But let's stop the delay, the procrastination, the finger-pointing, the political accusations that the President does not have the interests of the country at heart--whatever is being said in so many words. It is a political attack against the President. This is not the time for partisan politics. This is the time for the Senate and the House to get together, resolve our differences, and move on, support our troops, and protect our national security interests. That is what this bill does.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a copy of the letter signed by Peter J. Schoomaker, General, U.S. Army, Chief of Staff; Michael G. Mullen, Admiral, U.S. Navy, Chief of Naval Operations; T. Michael Moseley, General, U.S. Air Force, Chief of Staff; James T. Conway, General, U.S. Marine Corps, Commandant of the Marine Corps, be printed in the Record.

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:

Mr. Cochran: Mr. President, I yield back the remainder of the time available on this side.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

The Presiding Officer: The clerk will call the roll.

The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

Mr. Brown: Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

The Presiding Officer: Without objection, it is so ordered.