[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 137 (Monday, September 12, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5487-S5489]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2017--MOTION TO PROCEED
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to proceed to H.R. 5325.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report the motion.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 516, H.R. 5325, a bill
making appropriations for the Legislative Branch for the
fiscal year ending September 30, 2017, and for other
purposes.
Cloture Motion
Mr. McCONNELL. I send a cloture motion to the desk.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The cloture motion having been
presented under rule XXII, the Chair directs the clerk to read the
motion.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
Cloture Motion
We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the
provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate,
do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to
proceed to Calendar No. 516, H.R. 5325, an act making
appropriations for the Legislative Branch for fiscal year
ending September 30, 2017, and for other purposes.
Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, Orrin G. Hatch, Shelley
Moore Capito, Thom Tillis, Mike Rounds, Marco Rubio,
Cory Gardner, Pat Roberts, Roy Blunt, John Barrasso,
Roger F. Wicker, Steve Daines, Daniel Coats, John
Thune, Thad Cochran, Susan M. Collins.
Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call
with respect to the cloture motion be waived.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Continuing Resolution
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, Members on both sides have been working
toward an agreement to responsibly fund the government. We have made a
lot of important progress already. I expect to move forward this week
on a continuing resolution through December 9 at last year's enacted
levels that includes funds for Zika control and our veterans. Talks are
continuing and leaders from both parties will meet later this afternoon
at the White House to discuss the progress and the path forward.
Recognition of the Minority Leader
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The minority leader is recognized.
Continuing Resolution
Mr. REID. Mr. President, my staff has been working diligently to work
with the majority to come up with a way to go forward on spending. We
especially need to take care of that, but we also need to address Zika
funding. I am not going to lay down any markers here today because we
are still trying to work something out, but I do want to say this.
Republicans need to get away from their vendetta against Planned
Parenthood. We are not going to play any funny games and try to find
the money someplace else. Planned Parenthood should not be part of Zika
funding.
More than 2 million women received care at Planned Parenthood clinics
around the country last year. They didn't go there for abortions. They
went there because they needed help with their health care. The women
needed that, and they still need it. They need it more than ever now
with this scourge that is sweeping our country, which is Zika. I just
want to make sure that everyone understands that we
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are not going to play any games with Planned Parenthood. It is through.
Do your vendetta someplace else because it will not be on the Zika
funding.
Koch Brothers
Mr. President, Webster's dictionary defines an oligarchy as ``a
government in which a small group exercises control for corrupt and
selfish purposes.'' I will state that again: ``a government in which a
small group exercises control for corrupt and selfish purposes.'' By
that definition, it appears that our government is moving ever closer
to an oligarchy just like Putin's Russia.
For the last 8 years, Charles and David Koch and their inner circle
of billionaires have wielded immense power within our democracy.
Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that the Republican Congress is
bought and paid for by the Koch brothers. These two brothers, who are
worth $100 billion, are going to spend any amount necessary to ensure
that their interests are represented in city halls, statehouses, and
even the very Capitol.
Last year, at one of their secret planning meetings, the Kochs and
their cronies vowed to spend unlimited monies to exert influence in
this year's elections. I have been disappointed that this Republican
Senate has done nothing to stop the Koch's crooked oligarchy agenda.
Campaign finance reform is a nasty word to Senate Republicans.
The Senate has a history of standing up to the corrupt interests of
tycoons like the Kochs. The Sherman Antitrust Act was written by the
Judiciary Committee against the wishes of the Carnegie family, the
Carnegie monopoly, the Vanderbilt family, the Vanderbilt monopoly, the
Rockefeller family, and the Rockefeller monopoly. When the system is
broken, we have a responsibility to try to fix it. Our system of
government is being attacked by the Koch oligarchy money, but
Republicans have done nothing to oppose this march toward an oligarchy.
This Republican Senate has showed no spine--zero--in confronting the
Kochs, who are trying to buy America. In fact, the evidence suggests
that they are more than content to go along with the billionaire
brothers from Kansas.
The Republican leader's voting record is a perfect example. Between
2009 and 2015, the senior Senator from Kentucky has voted in lockstep
with the Koch brothers at least 178 times. Think about that--178 times
in 7 years.
The senior Senator from Kentucky is not the only Republican with a
documented history of siding with the Kochs. The junior Senator from
Florida has voted with the Kochs 92 percent of the time. The senior
Senator from Oklahoma has voted with the Kochs 85 percent of the time.
The junior Senator from Pennsylvania has voted with the Kochs 84
percent of the time. The assistant Republican leader has voted with the
Kochs 82 percent of the time. There are many others in the Republican
caucus who I could refer to, but I think the foregoing gives us all an
idea of this unprecedented hold on Senate Republicans by the Koch
brothers.
Let's look at another example. We all remember--and we should if we
don't--what happened earlier this year when the junior Senator from
Kansas, Mr. Moran, had the audacity to admit and suggest that Merrick
Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court deserved consideration. He
didn't say he was going to vote for him. He simply said he deserved
consideration.
What happened after that? Senator Moran may be the Kochs' biggest and
most outspoken supporter in the Senate. He has proven that time and
again. He has defended his home State billionaires here on the Senate
floor multiple times, but even the loyalty he showed could not spare
him from the Kochs' wrath. The Koch brothers rallied their massive
political machine against their home State Senator, Mr. Moran. One of
their groups, the Judicial Crisis Network, threatened to launch an ad
campaign against Senator Moran.
What happened? Senator Moran performed a breathtaking about-face in
about 10 minutes, and he has since refused to support a hearing or a
vote for Merrick Garland. Whether it is the nomination for the Supreme
Court, the Keystone Pipeline, or the Export-Import Bank, Senate
Republicans always seem to take the Koch brothers' side, and the Kochs'
interest is always based on the profit motive--their profit.
Since Republicans took control of the Senate, they have done nothing
for the middle class, nothing to increase the minimum wage or to help
to ease the burden of student debt--nothing. But the Republican leader
has scheduled multiple votes on Keystone and has tried to roll back EPA
greenhouse gas emissions often.
How long will it take Republicans to deny climate change? Climate
change is real, and it is here. A week ago yesterday, the New York
Times had an unprecedented article giving specific examples of what is
happening now--not in the future but now--with climate change, but
Senate Republicans, because of the Kochs, continue to close their eyes
to the reality that the water levels are rising, putting neighborhoods,
whole cities, bridges, and military installations under water. There
are the islands off our coasts that have causeways that go to them. You
can't go many weeks of the year because they are now swamped with
water.
It is clear who this Republican Senate is trying to help, and it is
certainly not working American families. But Charles and David Koch are
not satisfied. They want to expand their budding oligarchy until it
consumes our American democracy. The Kochs don't even mask their
intention. Their own publicist explained that the Koch brothers are
trying to buy a new government. Here is what he said: ``It is because
we can make more profit, OK?'' That is a direct quote. In order to add
a few more billion dollars to their bottom line, the Kochs are dumping
piles of money in Senate races across the country. They are trying to
tighten their grip on the Chamber by electing more stooges.
The Kochs and their dark-money empire are flooding the airwaves with
misleading and false advertisements. The ads from the Koch brothers are
not always easy to identify. The groups that sponsor them have names
that sound harmless enough. Turn on your TV or open your mailbox, and
you will see a quick disclaimer in tiny print that says who paid for
it. It says things like: ``Sponsored by Concerned Veterans of
America,'' ``Sponsored by Freedom Partners,'' ``Paid for by the LIBRE
Initiative,'' or ``Paid for by Americans for Prosperity.'' They are
afraid to tell us how much money they get from the Koch brothers. Take,
for example, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. No one knows and they won't
tell us. It has been suggested that 80 percent of their money comes
from the Koch brothers. I don't know if that is right, but I do know
that they are doing a lot of spending against the interests of
Democrats. As to this disclaimer, such as being paid for by Americans
for Prosperity, the LIBRE Initiative, Freedom Partners, or Concerned
Veterans of America, it would be accurate to simply say: Paid for by
the billionaires, the Koch brothers.
Take a look at Nevada, where the Koch brothers are spending millions
of dollars through their shadow organizations so they can tip the
scales for their anointed Senate candidate, Joe Heck. He is their
puppet. Who is he going to side with on issues that are important to
Nevada? The out-of-State billionaire barons who spent millions in
buying his election or Nevadans? We already know the answer to that
question. Joe Heck's voting record in the House of Representatives says
it all. He voted with the Koch brothers 90 percent of the time--in the
last year, 90 percent, and in the past, just about the same. So it is
90 percent of the time.
I will give one example from earlier this year. House Republicans had
a bill called the Preventing IRS Abuse and Protecting Free Speech
Act. The names are a little misleading, and that is an understatement.
Notwithstanding that bill's misleading title, the legislation sought
to make it even easier for the Koch brothers to funnel even more dark
money to their dark money groups. That is what it was all about.
The Koch network got the word to House Republicans to vote for this
bill. So how did Joe Heck vote? Of course he voted with the Kochs. He
and his Republican colleagues overwhelmingly voted with the Kochs. That
is whom the Kochs want in the Senate--lackeys who will gut consumer and
environmental protection and streamline Koch Industries' path to even
more profit. Bankrolling extreme candidates is seen as an investment by
the Kochs, and they want these investments to pay off--for them.
[[Page S5489]]
Charles Koch admitted as much in an interview last year. When asked
what he hoped to get from his hundreds of millions of dollars in
political donations, here is what he answered--and this is a direct
quote: ``I expect something in return.'' Yes, he does.
This is not the American democracy our Founding Fathers established.
The Supreme Court's disastrous Citizens United decision has
constructed a political system that has effectively put our government
up for sale to the highest bidder. Because of Citizens United, our
country has no real restrictions on the money a billionaire or anyone
else can spend to buy the government they want. This is proven day
after day with the Kochs. They are in fat city. They have unlimited
amounts of money.
I went to one of these minor billionaires a couple of years ago, and
I said: You have wasted your money. It didn't help. You know what he
said to me? He said: It doesn't matter. I have it to waste. I guess the
Kochs, with their $100 billion--the man I met was just a billionaire,
but they have even more to waste.
As a country we must reject the Koch brothers' efforts to buy our
democracy. We must work to rid the system of this dark money. We must
address the issue of campaign finance and the unrestrained spending
that is squeezing the American people out of their own government.
It is time we revive our constituents' faith in the electoral system
and let them know their voices are being heard and not just the Koch
brothers' voices.
Mr. President, will the Chair announce the business of the day.
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