[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 169 (Tuesday, November 17, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7978-S7979]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TERRORIST ATTACKS AGAINST FRANCE

  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I rise today to join all of our Senate 
colleagues in sending our deepest condolences to the families and loved 
ones of the victims in the attacks in Paris. Our hearts go out to the 
people of France. The United States stands firmly and united in 
solidarity with France, just as France--our Nation's oldest ally--has 
stood in solidarity with us. We must work to find those responsible for 
those attacks and bring them to justice.
  We remain steadfast as a country, and talking to people in my own 
State, I know this. We remain steadfast in our resolve to defeat ISIS, 
to root out this evil. From those planning these attacks in Belgium to 
those training camps in Syria, our military--our strong and mighty U.S. 
military--has already provided critical leadership with France in 
escalating the airstrikes in Syria and Iraq, and we must continue to do 
that. In the coming months we must focus on building this international 
coalition against ISIS, as well as providing critical intelligence in 
going after these perpetrators.
  Just yesterday Russia announced that it was in fact a bomb that 
brought down the plane over Egypt. Not all the facts are known yet, but 
ISIS has claimed responsibility. There is no limit to what these people 
will do. That plane was filled with innocent families and children 
coming back from vacation, just as the concert hall in France was 
filled with young people there for the music. They now lie maimed in 
hospitals all over Paris or, worse, their families are burying them in 
the ground.
  What can our country do? First, we must have a unified agenda to keep 
America safe and to stand by our allies. We must do all we can to build 
this coalition and to fight this evil at its root with resolve. We have 
unprecedented technology that should allow us to fight this fight. We 
have biometrics. We have ways that we can assist other countries.
  Secondly, we must do all we can to enhance our own security. We know 
our first responders throughout the last decade have done amazing work 
in thwarting attacks. We must continue to support them. If we do more 
in terms of legislation, we must make sure that we are doing something 
that will actually make a difference. We are having a security briefing 
with all Senators tomorrow, and we must listen to our security and 
intelligence experts to make sure that what we are proposing will make 
a difference.
  Third, we must give our first responders and our military on the 
frontline the resources they need. I know Senators Shelby and Mikulski 
are working hard, with their counterparts in the House of 
Representatives, to craft a budget bill. We must take up that bill as 
soon as it is completed. Of course, we have had some positive success 
in reaching a budget that didn't make deep cuts into our military or 
our homeland security capabilities. That was positive. Now we must 
bring it home with the budget.
  The fourth and final action I will mention today as part of this 
unified agenda to keep our country safe and to support our allies is to 
make sure we have our own frontline positions filled. As was mentioned 
earlier, this includes the Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and 
Financial Crimes, a position that must be filled, and military 
positions, including positions within our own Army.
  We have a judiciary that has to take on these terrorism cases. I 
can't comment about what is going on in every jurisdiction in the 
country, but I know Minnesota has one of the highest caseloads. We have 
a well-qualified applicant named Wilhelmina Wright, a former 
prosecutor, who passed through the Judiciary Committee without dissent, 
thanks to the good work of the chair of this committee, Senator 
Grassley, and Senator Leahy. Her name is one that is coming up before 
the Senate.
  Given that we have 15 indictments out of Minnesota alone--and that 
number growing--against ISIS, home-grown terrorists, and people who 
were trying to fight for ISIS abroad and given that our great law 
enforcement in Minnesota on the Federal and the local level were able 
to track them down and our aggressive U.S. attorney's office was able 
to make the cases, we need judges to handle those cases. We have one of 
the highest caseloads already in the country.
  I appreciate the work of the Judiciary Committee, on a bipartisan 
basis, in bringing this nomination to the floor. It is one of several 
that need to get done. Again, these are frontline positions--frontline 
positions dealing directly with the terrorism that we are talking 
about.
  Finally, we have to fill the State Department positions that are 
open--USAID, which provides critical assistance to our allies and our 
friends that are taking on these fights. The fact that we don't have 
anyone confirmed in that position is very disturbing. We have someone I 
know Senator Corker is supporting that we would like to get through and 
we must get through--Ms. Smith.
  We also have open ambassador positions--again, noncontroversial 
nominees--in the European continent, in countries that have not had an 
ambassador for years. I bring up one nominee from the State of 
Minnesota, and that is for the country of Norway, which has been a 
critical ally. Norway is one of our country's strongest and most 
dependable international allies. It was a founding member of the NATO 
alliance, an ally we will be relying on heavily as we look at fighting 
ISIS. Its military has participated in operations with the United 
States in the Balkans and in Afghanistan. Norwegians have worked 
alongside Americans in standing up the Ukraine, and they have worked 
with us in countering ISIS.
  Yet we have not had an ambassador for over 2 years. I recognize part 
of this is because the initial nominee ended up withdrawing--someone 
put forward by this administration. That happened. Now we have a 
noncontroversial nominee, along with a nominee for the country of 
Sweden. The nominee for Norway, Sam Heins, from the State of Minnesota, 
has gotten through the Foreign Relations Committee and was approved by 
voice vote. No one raised any questions about the qualifications of Mr. 
Heins for this position.
  Given that Europe is on the frontline of these ISIS attacks, we must 
join with Europe and make sure that we not only have our military 
positions filled, our State Department positions filled, our USAID 
positions filled, and our judiciary at home with the nominees before 
the Senate so that we can have a strong, united front, but we also have 
to make sure we fill the positions for these ambassadors.
  Again, I am not pushing controversial nominees. These are people who 
will be serving in these positions for the remaining year. But I ask 
that the Senate take up these nominations, as well as get the budget 
done, which we are well on our way to do, as well as come together on 
commonsense solutions for our own security, as well as making sure that 
we put together and

[[Page S7979]]

lead, in America and with our allies, an international coalition to 
root out ISIS.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Flake). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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