Peace and Prosperity Act of 2014 (Voting on Amendment)

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I think we have already cut quite a lot and a 75% reduction is too much.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

TNF is right.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Aye


Though I would like to minimize the use of human pilots, they might still be necessary and we shouldn't completely tie our hands in that regard. Perhaps a language of preference between the two or priority.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

AYE

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

This amendment has not been on the floor the requisite 24 hours of minimum debate time to proceed to a vote.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

This amendment has not been on the floor the requisite 24 hours of minimum debate time to proceed to a vote.

My apologies. I'll halt the vote, then. I was under the assumption that we were good to go ahead for a vote since we already had an objection filed.

The theory is that it provides an opportunity to debate or negotiate the objection away, before getting tied down by procedure having to open a vote. Of course until a few months ago, these votes were five days long and if one could be avoid that was certainly the preference.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Abstain

But I worry what "expansion of Democratic Gov't" entails a as a commitment and just what means are on the table for that.

I object. We shouldn't attempt to push a political system on another country any more than we should attempt to push a social or economic system.

I agree we cannot plant a system with bayonets, but is any form of encouragement or promotion shall we say acceptable?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Anyone want to explain why we should be promoting democracy abroad? Attempting to alter the basic political structure of a foreign country amounts to hyper-imperialism.

Democracy is the antithesis of imperialism. Imperialism requires one nation to be subordinated to another. Democracy is based first and foremost and self-determination. Encouraging democracy, or true democracy could not possibly be imperialist could it?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

And such promotion could be as limited as merely strengthening the institutions and freedoms within one's own country to serve as an example.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Amendment votes are three days maximum and though you can give a 24 hour warning, there is no requirement of such to end it early in the event of a majority.

Either way, this vote needs to be closed.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Nay

I have deep concerns about the impact on the effectiveness of the force with such a radical restructuring in section 4, with so little transitional issues accounted for and processes established to deal with such.

I am supportive of the rest for the most part.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Nay

I have deep concerns about the impact on the effectiveness of the force with such a radical restructuring in section 4, with so little transitional issues accounted for and processes established to deal with such.

I am supportive of the rest for the most part.

Why didn't you introduce an amendment to deal with your concerns?

I didn't think it would pass since the issue was raised previously. And considering my present limitations, writing amendments to no where is something I cannot afford to expend valuable time on. In two weeks or so, hopefully that will be different.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

What are your concerns in particularly Senator Polnut?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Peace has rarely been achieved by engaging in such a massive restructuring of the military with the unintended consequence of debilitating its effectiveness. There are people in the world who take advantage of power vacuums and whilst we have made mistakes that have hurts us in history, hobbling ourselves will neither undo those mistakes any more then it will dissuade rogue states.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Peace has rarely been achieved by engaging in such a massive restructuring of the military with the unintended consequence of debilitating its effectiveness. There are people in the world who take advantage of power vacuums and whilst we have made mistakes that have hurts us in history, hobbling ourselves will neither undo those mistakes any more then it will dissuade rogue states.

Why do you believe this restructuring will hobble us? What power vacuums are you talking about? All of our current bases are still in place.

The restucutring is conducted two quickly and without much concern for capability.

Whenever you pull out or are perceived as pulling out, that is a power vacuum. That doesn't mean you should never draw down or pull out, it just means you have to consider all the factors when doing so.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Peace has rarely been achieved by engaging in such a massive restructuring of the military with the unintended consequence of debilitating its effectiveness. There are people in the world who take advantage of power vacuums and whilst we have made mistakes that have hurts us in history, hobbling ourselves will neither undo those mistakes any more then it will dissuade rogue states.

Why do you believe this restructuring will hobble us? What power vacuums are you talking about? All of our current bases are still in place.

The restucutring is conducted two quickly and without much concern for capability.

Whenever you pull out or are perceived as pulling out, that is a power vacuum. That doesn't mean you should never draw down or pull out, it just means you have to consider all the factors when doing so.

We aren't pulling out of anywhere. The bill just collapses some branches of the armed forces into others and reduces overall troop numbers over a five-year period. Since you are the one urging careful consideration, what are some specific concerns (ie, actual situations where this bill would hamper our capability [what ever that means]) you think should have been considered?

I meant to say weakness. If you remove a capability, that creates a weakness whether real or perceived. You need to have the necessary capabilities and ensure they are preserved throughout this transition in case we are attacked. I am worried about the preservation of various capabilities as the branches are consolidated and also the chain of command. You cannot just stick them together without creating confusion in the chain of command and that reduces the effectiveness of the unit. What are the stages of the transition? What in this will serve to mitigate or ease with the transition and what will minimize those loses to the transition?