[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 98 (Thursday, June 8, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3349-S3358]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
______
COUNTERING IRAN'S DESTABILIZING ACTIVITIES ACT OF 2017--MOTION TO
PROCEED--Continued
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
Planned Parenthood
Mr. LEE. Mr. President, last year the Nation was shocked by
undercover videos produced by investigative journalists with the Center
for Medical Progress exposing Planned Parenthood's sale of fetal body
parts and the callousness with which Planned Parenthood officials
described their grisly work.
As we know, as Planned Parenthood and its allies in the mainstream
media hoped, outrage fades with time, and attention turns--but not for
long, for the abortion industry and its profiteers are never really
beset by scandal. They are a scandal.
Just last month we got another reminder about the reality behind the
talking points. Once again, it was the undercover journalists of the
Center for Medical Progress doing the investigative journalism the
mainstream media refuses to do. Once again, the video has been ignored
by the pro-abortion media elite, whose principal interest is the story
of the prosecution of the journalists for daring to speak this truth to
their power.
The American people and their representatives in the U.S. Senate
deserve to know what the new video shows. It shows the founder of
Planned Parenthood's Consortium of Abortion Providers on a conference
panel. She recounts a harrowing experience while performing an
abortion: ``An eyeball just fell down into my lap, and that is gross.''
Her remarks were greeted with laughter from the audience.
It shows another Planned Parenthood doctor stating: ``The fetus is a
tough little object, so taking it apart in the womb is very
difficult.''
This comment echoes a previous undercover video in which a Planned
Parenthood doctor says that the bones of a 20-week old fetus were so
strong that ``I have to hit the gym for this.''
The video shows the director of abortion services for Planned
Parenthood Gulf Coast saying that she sometimes uses forceps to ``pull
off a leg or two'' to ensure an unborn child dies before being born--in
other words, to avoid the moment when our Nation's laws might protect
that child.
The video shows the medical director of Planned Parenthood in
Michigan talking about surprising common ground between abortion
doctors and pro-life activists.
We might actually both agree that there is violence in
here. Let's just give them all the violence, it's a person,
it's killing. Let's just give them all that.
That is not what they say in public. It certainly isn't what they
tell their patients, the women who come into their clinics--just in
private, at industry conferences, between networking opportunities and
drinks at the open bar. Because they know--deep down, everyone knows
the Center for Medical Progress videos shock, but they do not surprise.
They don't teach us anything we don't already know. All they do is
remind us of an inconvenient truth that demands our attention and our
action.
It is certainly stirring the pro-abortion political machine into
action. As expected, the Center for Medical Progress is once again the
target of criminal and civil investigations designed to intimidate
further questions about the abortion industry's methods and money. But
the truth is out. It is there.
As we know, threats and intimidation are tactics of guilt and
desperation of the losing side in every battle
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that has ever been fought. If Planned Parenthood were what they have
publicly declared themselves to be, they would welcome transparency. We
all know why they hide because we know what they hide.
The question, as always, is not what they will do, but what we will
do. And the answer is always ``as much as we can.'' We can start by
enforcing existing abortion laws and by reforming others, for example,
making the Mexico City policy permanent so taxpayer money is not used
to promote abortions to disadvantaged people overseas or ending
abortion after 20 weeks when unborn children begin to feel pain. We can
confirm Federal judges who follow the Constitution rather than reverse
engineer their preferred policy outcomes.
The truth about abortion is spreading because of advances in medical
imaging, because of brave journalists, tireless activists,
compassionate doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals.
Statehouses are passing laws to protect American women and their
children. The rising generation of young Americans is the most pro-life
in decades because they know too.
Little by little, the truth is fighting free, like green shoots
through the frost. One day soon, we will reaffirm our Nation's
principles in their dignified fullness and avow, once again, that all
men are created equal. All are entitled to life.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Perdue). The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Capito). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Remembering Sam R. Brice and Howard A. ``Buzz'' Otis
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, over the Memorial Day weekend, Alaska
lost two really great men. These men were doers and they were builders
in every sense of the word--both literally and figuratively. They were
family people, and they were the best of friends to one another and to
so many of us.
Today I wish to pay tribute to Sam R. Brice and Howard A. Otis--
although, nobody called him Howard. We all knew him as ``Buzz'' Otis. I
wish to take just a few moments this afternoon and tell Members of the
Senate a little bit about these two very wonderful and great men.
You really couldn't find two more genuine Alaskans than Sam or Buzz.
Yet neither was born in the State. They came to Alaska.
Sam grew up in Florida. He was educated at Columbia University in New
York City. So he was a long way from New York City when he came to
Fairbanks, AK. He served in the Marine Corps, and then he moved to
Alaska to help his parents, Luther and helenka, establish a family
construction business there in the Interior.
The story is pretty legendary about his mother helenka. His mother
spelled her name always with a lower case ``h''. She didn't want the
capital, and always made sure that you put the emphasis on the ``len''
in helenka. She was really the epitome of an independent, self-reliant,
really strong Alaskan woman, and she wouldn't let anyone forget that.
She was very outgoing, vivacious, and had a heart of gold. I think it
all wore off on her children. We certainly saw that in Sam.
It was said that Sam Brice never met a stranger. He was known for
remembering every good deed that others did for him--no matter how many
years in the past it may have been, decades after the event. He always
generously returned the favor and always remembered to just say:
``Thank you for that''--``thank you for that.''
Sam was one who just did good. He did good throughout the State.
Those in rural Alaska have fond memories and affection for a man who
helped build their communities and who was a leader. He was a leader of
the Associated General Contractors, and in his later years was well
known for roasting his fellow contractors at the AGC dinners. He had a
great sense of humor, and that humor was really contagious.
The lines from Sam's obituary really say everything one needs to know
about the man. They are:
In lieu of flowers, the family would wish all to remember
Sam who lived by example, whether a handshake, a smile, or a
contribution; he was always willing to lend a helping hand.
Please remember all the different ways Sam has touched
people's lives and consciously think how you can make the
world a better place, as Sam demonstrated throughout his
life. We ask you honor Sam's memory by emulating his
compassion to others and be a friend to man.
Sam's memorial services were this past Saturday. I was unable to
attend. I know the church was packed to overflowing. But as I was in
another part of the State that day, I couldn't help but think of those
words from the obituary about how we can individually and collectively
think about how we can make the world a better place by being
compassionate to others, being a friend to others, and living that in
our daily lives, as Sam did--truly, truly a great man.
His friend Buzz Otis was also a transplant to Alaska. He grew up in
Michigan. He was educated at Michigan State and came to Alaska in 1975,
thinking he was just going to explore the State for a few months, like
so many who come to our State. They think they are just going to come,
take a peek, and then leave, but as with many Alaskans, that didn't
happen with Buzz. In 1976, he founded a landscaping business in
Fairbanks called Great Northwest, and this was really his ticket to
business success and to a lifetime commitment to Alaska.
I have so many good friends throughout the State who are givers and
doers. I just think we Alaskans have a tendency to want to give back to
our communities. We help our neighbors. Buzz Otis did that in spades.
He was involved in a lot of different levels politically. He was a
strong supporter of mine and other members of the Alaska delegation. He
served on the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly and was elected as
its presiding officer. He chaired the Fairbanks Economic Development
Corporation and managed the North Pole Economic Development
Corporation.
He was just involved in so many different aspects of his community.
He was an outdoorsman and loved sports. He was a rugby player and had a
rugby pitch. He loved the sport of dog mushing and encouraged young
people to take it up. He was just always doing, always engaged.
He was blessed in life to have a great family and a wonderful,
beautiful wife, Renee. That family standing together was a beautiful
thing to watch in terms of the support they all gave one another, and
it was truly so for Buzz, as a father and as a family man. I just can't
think of anything better. Family really does come first.
That is ultimately what claimed the lives of these two wonderful men
who had so much life left in them. Buzz's son was out on the river, and
Sam and Buzz went out to check on him in Sam's plane. It wasn't out of
the ordinary to do this. It was good weather, good visibility, and a
pretty fair day for the Interior. It turns out that Buzz's son was OK,
but the flight ended in tragedy. Sam's plane went down near the Salcha
River on the morning of Saturday, May 27.
If only this story had a happy ending. Instead, it had somewhat of an
Alaskan ending. Sam and Buzz gave their lives doing what so many
Alaskans do; that is, looking out for one another, looking out for
their families.
But we know we don't remember people for how they lost their lives.
We remember people for how they lived their lives. Sam and Buzz were
truly ``salt of the earth'' Alaskans. They were honest, hardworking,
caring, and adventurous. They hired local people, they treated them
well, and they were always welcomed back by the communities they served
so faithfully. They really dedicated their lives to the betterment of
the last frontier, and they never forgot family. Family was always
first.
Everyone says that you can't say enough about these people, and it is
true. So I will conclude my remarks and just simply express the
Senate's condolences to the Brice and Otis families: to Joan Brice, to
Renee Otis, to their children, and to their families--great families--
destined to carry on the legacies of Sam Brice and Buzz Otis.
75th Anniversary of the Aleutian Campaign
We just recognized Memorial Day last week in our respective States. I
[[Page S3351]]
was pleased to be with many Alaskans as we observed Memorial Day. We
clearly revere those who serve in our military. In Alaska, we are home
to more veterans per capita than any other State in the Union.
This year, I was privileged to host a most distinguished veteran at
Alaska's official State veterans' memorial. This is located in a place
called Byers Lake, which is midway on the Parks Highway between
Fairbanks and Anchorage. It is extraordinarily picturesque. It is very
tranquil. It is almost a spiritual place in many, many ways, as we look
out to Denali in the background, being surrounded by the memorials for
honoring those veterans who have served us.
But I was able to bring to that gathering a very distinguished
veteran, our Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, a former Navy SEAL.
This following week, just on Sunday, I was able to do yet another
Memorial Day. Our focus was not on those who gave their lives on
foreign soil but in a battle for American soil. Our focus this past
Sunday was on what is known as the ``forgotten battle'' of World War
II. It was the bombing and subsequent occupation of the Aleutian
Islands of Alaska by Japan. It was a yearlong campaign, and for those
of us in Alaska, it is a campaign that we often speak about and we
share the stories. There are veterans of that campaign who are still
around today, sharing stories with us. They are living legends, if you
will.
I recognize that for many, if you were to ask them whether the United
States has ever been occupied--occupied in World War II--they wouldn't
know. I think, unfortunately, the name the ``forgotten battle'' may be
just exactly that. Most Americans don't recognize that the Aleutians
were occupied by the Japanese, that Americans were killed in defending
our homeland, and that some of the indigenous people were either
transported to Japan as prisoners of war or evacuated to the
southeastern coast of our State, a thousand miles away.
Making sure this ``forgotten war'' is not forgotten is a mission for
me. It is an important part of our Nation's history. Again, that
Aleutian Campaign was a yearlong campaign--fighting weather and terrain
with equipment that was clearly not up to the challenge--to reclaim
U.S. territory from a determined Japanese force.
A little bit of the history: On June 3, 1942, Japanese forces bombed
Dutch Harbor and, over the succeeding days, occupied the islands of
Attu and Kiska. These islands were occupied by Native people who had
been there over a thousand years.
It was not until May of 1943 that Attu was retaken, and 549 U.S. and
Allied troops were killed in combat. But there is evidence that the
U.S. and Allied losses in the Battle of Attu were much higher as a
result of exposure, disease, Japanese booby-traps, friendly fire, and
frostbite. Let me just tell you, the elements out there in the
Aleutians are particularly harsh. When you don't have the equipment, it
makes it even more so.
The war in the Aleutians came at a great price for our Native people
who had lived on those lands for thousands of years before the war. The
homes were burned, churches were burned, and 881 of the Aleut residents
of 9 separate villages were relocated to abandoned mining and fishing
camps in Southeastern Alaska, where they were forced to live under some
pretty tough conditions.
At the remembrance event that I attended in Alaska on Sunday, some of
the evacuees were at the ceremony. They were there. They shared their
stories about what it meant to literally be ripped from their village--
without having any idea what was really going on--and then sent to an
area that may have been a foreign country to them. On the Aleutian
Islands, the environment is entirely different from that of a cannery
in in Southeast Alaska. But what was extraordinary about these evacuees
was, despite the very harsh, difficult, and, in many cases, horrible
conditions, they never gave up. They didn't give up hope, and they
certainly didn't give up their patriotism. Twenty-five men from the
evacuated villages chose to join the fight. Three men joined the retake
of Attu. All were awarded the Bronze Star for their valor.
I think it is important to remember that the many lessons to be
learned from the Aleutian Campaign. America once perceived itself as a
nation oceans away from foreign threats. Today, I think it is
unthinkable for us to think that any of our territory could be occupied
by a foreign power. But we must never forget that during World War II,
a portion of the United States was occupied, and it was occupied in
those days, as today, because Alaska is a strategic location. These
lessons cannot and should not be lost to history.
We all know the saying that those who forget history are condemned to
repeat it. The Japanese incursion occurred less than a decade after GEN
Billy Mitchell testified that Alaska is indeed the most strategic place
in the world. The incursion taught our Nation a vital lesson--that the
defense of America begins in Alaska. Fortunately, the lessons of the
Aleutian Campaign and Alaska's strategic location are not lost on
today's military planners.
Let me walk you through what we see in the State of Alaska right now,
recognizing the proximity of Alaska to some of the hot spots around the
world, whether it is North Korea, Russia, or China. Alaska is seeing a
renaissance when it comes to our military presence. We see it at Joint
Base Elmendorf-Richardson, where Air Force F-22s and AWACS launch to
acknowledge their Russian counterparts that are flying in the Air
Defense Identification Zone. We see it at Eielson Air Force Base, which
is preparing to receive two squadrons of F-35s beginning in 2020. We
see it in the soldiers of the 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team in
Anchorage, who are now waiting deployment to Afghanistan. We see it in
the soldiers of the 1st Stryker Brigade, who will soon begin their
rotation of pre-deployment training at the National Training Center. We
see it in the crews who are staffing ballistic missile radars in the
State, looking very carefully at North Korea. We also see it in the
patriotic construction workers who will begin building the new long-
range missile discrimination radar at Clear Air Force Station this
summer and on the missile fields of Fort Greely, ready to intercept an
ICBM aimed at the North American continent from wherever. We see it in
the Navy SEALs who train in Kodiak and in the coastguardsmen who
protect our coastline from Metlakatla in the south, all the way north
to the Arctic.
I think it is very clear that never again will the United States
leave Alaska undefended, which brings me back to the characterization
of the Aleutian Campaign as the forgotten battle. Seventy-five years
ago, U.S. and Allied troops were called upon to repel an invader who
occupied U.S. soil. We in Alaska, particularly, will never forget that
fact, but neither should America.
Ignoring the fact that war has been, in fact, waged on U.S. soil in
this last century is a dangerous and a tragic thing. Let's resolve on
this 75th anniversary of the start of the Aleutian Campaign that the
forgotten battle is be forgotten no longer.
As I prepare to leave the floor, I would be remiss if I didn't add
that at the remembrance event in Unalaska this weekend, it was not only
an opportunity for many of the remaining evacuees to come together in
Alaska--for some it was their former community; others were from the
Pribilof, Kiska, and Attu. It was a coming together. It was a
homecoming for some, but there was also an effort to bring together
many of our veterans who had served in the Aleutian Campaign and whose
only exposure to the Aleutians was when they came in to defend that
territory. To have the exchange between those who had been forced from
their homeland and those Americans, those veterans who had come to
help--to have them united in a conversation for the first time ever was
an exceptional American story.
Over the course of 3 days, the sharing of stories was a remarkable
opportunity for us. I had a chance to speak with one of our World War
II veterans who said: I always knew what our part of the fight was
about, but I had no idea how what we were doing from the war effort had
impacted these displaced people--the original people of the Aleutian
Islands. To have that sharing, again, was a remarkable part of the
story.
[[Page S3352]]
Then, to complete that picture, there were several individuals who
were part of a Japanese film production company and were there to do
the filming of this 75th remembrance because, as they said: This is an
exceptional part of our history coming together too.
Recognizing, sharing that, and allowing the stories, again, to ensure
that this is not forgotten was a very significant and, I think, healing
opportunity for so many.
Madam President, I thank you for the opportunity to share this
important part of our history, ensuring that the forgotten battle is
not forgotten.
With that, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
Deportation of Andres Magana-Ortiz
Ms. HIRONO. Madam President, today the Secretary of Homeland Security
has the opportunity to prevent an injustice and keep a family together.
At 9 a.m. Hawaii time, Andres Magana-Ortiz was scheduled to report to
the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Honolulu to be
deported from his home of nearly 30 years.
Andres was brought to America when he was only 15 years old. In the
years since, he has raised three children who are U.S. citizens, is
married to a U.S. citizen, has built a business, and has distinguished
himself as a hard worker and a pillar of the South Kona community in
Hawaii.
Andres' immigrant story is one familiar to so many American families.
After working for more than a decade as a laborer on coffee farms
across the Big Island, Andres saved enough money to buy his own farm.
In the years since, Andres has taken on management of 15 other area
coffee farms.
Suzanne Shriner, president of the Kona Coffee Farmers Association,
put it best in her letter of support for him when she said:
Mr. Ortiz is a true example of the American Dream. Rising
from a farm worker to a farm owner, he has created a
successful business through hard work.
He has sent his children to college. And he has given back
to his community, by working with other farms and farmers to
control an invasive pest. His story is why we need to find a
path to citizenship for these vital members of our farming
community.
Andres has three children. Victoria, age 20, is a junior at the
University of Hawaii. Paola, age 14, and Hector, age 12, are still in
middle school. Their lives will be shattered without their father.
Andres remains on very good terms with his first wife, Veronica
Ledesma Magana. In a letter she wrote to me, Veronica shared how much
Andres cares for his children and how devastated they would be if he is
forced to leave. She said:
Andres is a wonderful father to our children. They depend
on him for so much and need him during these years that are
so important to their development as human beings and
citizens of the United States. Paola and Hector are children
with special education needs.
This has been very hard for us as parents, but together we
have worked to help her through school and life.
I am not able to support this family by myself.
Andres is an amazing role model to my children. He is a
patient, loving, and supportive father to them in whatever
they need. Victoria, Paola, and Hector love Andres very much
and would go through extreme emotional hardship if he is
deported.
She continues:
My oldest daughter will need to halt her college career to
help me support Paola and Hector, especially because this
deportation would bar him from returning to the [United
States] for 10 years.
My children deserve a father to care for them, they deserve
the educational opportunities he can offer them, and the love
he shares with them every day.
I couldn't agree more.
In September 2014, Andres received a stay of removal in order to
pursue various paths to achieving legal status. In fact, he has a
pending application to receive such legal status.
Last November, he applied for an additional stay. Without warning or
explanation, the government changed its position in March 2017 and
ordered that he be removed.
At that point, Andres filed for relief in Federal court. His case
ultimately reached the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, where his
request for an emergency stay was denied. Although the Ninth Circuit
found it could not stay his removal, the chief judge of that court,
Judge Reinhardt, issued a powerful, concurring opinion that clarifies
the injustice in this case and made a powerful moral argument against
President Trump's immigration policy.
Judge Reinhardt wrote:
It was fully within the government's power to once more
grant his reasonable request. Instead, it has ordered him
deported immediately. In doing so, the government forces us
to participate in ripping apart a family. Three United States
citizen children will now have to choose between their father
and their country. If they leave their homeland with their
father, the children would be forced to move to a nation with
which they have no connection. All three children were born
in the United States. None has ever lived in Mexico or
learned Spanish. Moving with their father would uproot their
lives, interrupt their education, and deprive them of the
opportunities afforded by growing up in this country. If they
remain in the United States, however, the children would not
only lose a parent, but might also be deprived of their home,
their opportunity for higher education, and their financial
support.
Subjecting vulnerable children to a choice between
expulsion to a foreign land or losing the care and support of
their father is not how this nation should treat its
citizens.
President Trump has claimed that his immigration policies
would target the ``bad hombres.'' The government's decision
to remove Magana Ortiz shows that even the good hombres are
not safe.
Mr. Ortiz is by all accounts a pillar of his community and a devoted
father and husband.
The court went on to say:
It is difficult to see how the government's decision to
expel him is consistent with the President's promise of an
immigration system with ``a lot of heart.'' I find no such
compassion in the government's choice to deport Magana Ortiz.
We are unable to prevent Magana Ortiz's removal, yet it is
contrary to the values of this Nation and its legal system.
Indeed, the government's decision to remove Magana Ortiz
diminishes not only our country but our courts, which are
supposedly dedicated to the pursuit of justice.
Magana Ortiz and his family are in truth not the only
victims. Among others are judges who, forced to participate
in such inhumane acts, suffer a loss of dignity and humanity
as well. I concur as a judge, but as a citizen I do not.
Judge Reinhardt made an important point, and I agree. The government
has the power to prevent this family from being torn apart. Even now,
Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly can issue an administrative
stay to let Andres stay in this country while the government processes
his application to receive legal status.
Earlier this week, I spoke to Secretary Kelly on the phone to discuss
Andres' case and to urge him to issue a stay that would allow him to
stay in this country. Hawaii's congressional delegation has also
written him a letter and provided a variety of other letters of support
that Andres' friends, family, and neighbors have written on his behalf.
Secretary Kelly, I renew our call once more: Let Andres stay in our
country. Let his children have a father present and active in their
lives. It is not too late to keep this family together.
This entire ordeal speaks to the fear and anxiety spreading through
immigrant communities across our country. Even the good hombres, as
Judge Reinhardt called them, are at risk of being torn away from their
families.
In an email, a spokesperson for ICE said: ``While criminal aliens and
those who pose a threat to public safety will continue to be a focus,
DHS will NOT''--and the word ``not'' is in all caps--``exempt classes
of removable aliens from potential enforcement.'' This is chilling. It
means that 11 million people in our country will live in fear that they
could be deported at a moment's notice.
We must pass comprehensive immigration reform that provides a pathway
to citizenship and which prioritizes the unity of families. Andres'
case is a tragedy, if not averted. There will be more cases like his in
Hawaii and across the country. We must continue to fight on behalf of
the good hombres and not stop until we succeed.
I would like to conclude by reading part of a letter I received from
Gerald Personius, one of Andres' friends and a fellow coffee farmer
from Captain Cook. He said:
Andres is a courageous, honest, caring, and dedicated
person. So I ask you as a citizen of our beloved country to
do the best you can to help this man continue to pursue his
citizenship. He will not let America down.
We cannot let Mr. Ortiz down.
I yield the floor.
Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
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The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Democratic leader.
Russia Investigation
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I would like to address the hearings
that concluded just a few hours ago.
After hearing Mr. Comey's testimony today, America is stunned. The
cloud hanging over this administration has just gotten a whole lot
darker.
I commend both the chairman, Senator Burr, and the vice chairman,
Senator Warner, for the way they ran this hearing. The Senate and the
American people are better informed as a result of their work. Few
committee hearings in the history of the Senate have produced the kind
of eye-opening testimony we heard today. In its wake, I would like to
make a few points.
First, for weeks, media reports indicated that the President had
directly and indirectly pressured the FBI Director to end the FBI's
investigation into General Flynn. Innuendos and intimations swirled
around. But we now know much more of the truth. There is now no doubt
that Mr. Comey understood the President's request that he let go of the
investigation into General Flynn--in a meeting during which it was
discussed whether Mr. Comey would keep his job as FBI Director--as a
direct effort to prevent that investigation from going further that
looks a lot like a quid pro quo.
During questioning from a Republican Senator, Mr. Risch, Mr. Comey
told us that he took the President's conversation with him about the
FBI investigation into General Flynn as a directive to scuttle that
investigation.
It is clear that President Trump's legal defense is to refute Mr.
Comey's account. Well, the President threatened Mr. Comey with the
release of tapes of their conversations. Presumably that includes the
conversation in which President Trump asked Director Comey to ``let
go'' of the Flynn investigation. It is awfully curious that no one from
the President's team will either confirm or deny the existence of the
tapes when the tapes are the only way to prove that Mr. Comey's
testimony, which came under oath, is false or misleading. If President
Trump disagrees with anything the Director has said today, he should
play the tapes for all of America to hear or admit that there were no
tapes.
Second, Director Comey's contrasting view of the Clinton email case
and the Russia case is telling. Mr. Comey did not wish to see a special
counsel in the Clinton case because he looked at the facts and
determined there wasn't a case for one. With respect to the Russia
probe, the Director examined the facts and felt there was enough
potential evidence that a special counsel was warranted. Again, the
contrast is telling.
Democrats and Republicans alike and the American people as well
should be pleased that the investigation is in the hands of former
Director Mueller.
Third, the hearing raised serious questions about Attorney General
Sessions that he and the Justice Department must answer immediately.
Senators Wyden and Harris repeatedly asked Director Comey about
Attorney General Sessions' involvement in the investigation before he
recused himself. Director Comey didn't have direct knowledge of his
involvement but made clear that he suspected that the Attorney General
needed to recuse himself weeks before he actually did so and that he
could not share the reasons for that in an unclassified briefing.
So we need to know the answers to a number of questions regarding the
Attorney General. The Senate Intelligence Committee investigation and
Special Counsel Mueller ought to get to the bottom of this matter.
In conclusion, Mr. Comey's testimony has been very enlightening, but
there is much work ahead for investigators in Congress and those under
the direction of Mr. Mueller.
Thank you.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Unanimous Consent Agreement--Executive Calendar
Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that at 5
p.m. on Monday, June 12, the Senate proceed to executive session for
consideration of Executive Calendar No. 65. I further ask that there be
30 minutes of debate on the nomination, equally divided in the usual
form, and that following the use or yielding back of time, the Senate
vote on confirmation of the nomination with no intervening action or
debate, and that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered
made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified
of the Senate's action.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Order of Procedure
Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I further ask unanimous consent that
following disposition of Executive Calendar No. 65, the Senate resume
legislative session and consideration of the motion to proceed to S.
722, with all postcloture time considered expired.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Tribute to Marty Shoryer
Mr. SULLIVAN. Madam President, every week for some months now, I have
been coming to the Senate floor and I have been using the opportunity
to talk about someone in my State, the great State of Alaska, who has
made a difference. We call that person the Alaskan of the Week. These
are individuals who are unsung in many ways and who are doing something
for their community, for their State, and in many ways are inspiring
everybody.
I am a little biased, but I believe I live in the most beautiful
State in the country, probably the most beautiful place in the world,
full of wonderful people and beautiful landscapes, and we certainly
encourage everybody here in the Senate or those who are watching on TV
to come to Alaska and experience it themselves, and they will have the
trip of a lifetime, guaranteed. We are also blessed to live in a land
that provides so much for our physical and spiritual needs. It is a
very spiritual place.
Alaskans are hardy people; however, like anyplace in the country,
people have tough times. Some people are more fortunate than others.
But thankfully we have people all across our State--like we have people
all across America--who give of themselves so that those in difficult
situations can receive the care they need.
Today I want to take you to Kotzebue, AK, or what we often just refer
to as Kotz. Kotz is about 550 miles northwest of Anchorage, 26 miles
north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska's Northwest Arctic Borough. About
3,000 people live in Kotzebue. It is one of our bigger villages, and it
is a hub for dozens of smaller villages that dot this enormous,
beautiful region. Like most of Alaska, it is cold in the winter, and it
is beautiful now under a never-setting Sun. The midnight Sun in Kotz is
high in the sky. There are wonderful people there.
Like most places in Alaska, particularly in smaller villages in rural
Alaska, community is everything. People take care of each other. People
band together to help each other overcome challenges that can exist in
the extreme environments we have in Alaska.
Let me tell my colleagues today about Marty Shoryer, who is one of
the very generous residents of Kotzebue and who is our Alaskan of the
Week. Born in Kotzebue, Marty is the general manager of Kotzebue
Electric Association, where he has worked for more than 24 years. He
has been married to his wife Lucy since 1977. They have six children
and seven grandchildren. In his free time, he fishes--very common--
plays hoops, and loves to cook for his family. He is also involved in
[[Page S3354]]
the Boys and Girls Club and his Tribal government.
But here is why I want to talk about Marty and why he has been such
an inspiration not only in Kotzebue but throughout the State. On
Thanksgiving 2015, Marty got sick, and over the next several weeks, he
had to go to the hospital repeatedly. While he was there, he noticed a
group of people who would gather around the free coffee that was served
at the hospital. He approached one of them, a woman named Jo-Ann, and
asked a very simple question: ``Why do you guys hang around here? What
are you doing?''
She told him: ``Well, we don't really have another place to go right
now.''
This disturbed Marty greatly. At that time of year in Kotzebue, it
can get down to 20 and 30 below zero--a difficult place.
``You guys must be hungry,'' he said to Jo-Ann, and she said that
they were. So the next day and the day after that--5 days a week--Marty
and Lucy together used their own money and their own lunch hour during
the workweek to make sandwiches--a simple act--30 to 40 sandwiches for
that group at the hospital. Every day, every person who needs one gets
a sandwich, sometimes turkey and cheese, sometimes caribou or sheefish
spread. Marty is anxious for the salmon season to start so he can make
salmon spread sandwiches. They also get a juice box and dessert. Simple
but generous.
Recently, another generous Kotzebue resident, Sophie Foster, began
making sandwiches as well, and before you know it, we have a whole
community that is doing this, taking this simple example and getting
involved. So now some people drop off cinnamon roles or fruit. Others
bring back bulk items when they travel to Anchorage. Dozens of people
in Kotzebue, AK, are now helping in this effort because of Marty's
simple act.
People like Marty and his wife Lucy make my State truly unique and a
wonderful place. His generosity--doing something seemingly so simple:
making a sandwich for someone who is hungry--has now had a big impact
not only in Kotzebue but in Alaska. Marty didn't know the impact he
would have when he began making sandwiches. ``I was just trying to help
a few people that day, make them happier.''
Marty's actions have initiated a growing conversation in Kotzebue
about how best to take care of people who need help. It has drawn
attention to homelessness and hunger--very important issues not only in
Alaska but throughout the country. Marty spurred this important
conversation in Kotzebue and in our State through his simple actions,
and that has inspired all of us.
Congratulations, Marty, for what you are doing, for your simple acts
of inspiration, and for being our Alaskan of the Week.
Madam President, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.
Travel and Tourism
Mr. BLUNT. Madam President, I come to the floor today to highlight
the importance of travel and tourism in our economy and also to make
the point that we are welcoming of people from other countries--and we
are welcoming of people in our country, as well--who want to be part,
for a short time or a long time, of America. The travel and tourism
business is an incredibly important part of the tourism economy.
Last month, I, along with my fellow cochairs of the Senate Travel and
Tourism Caucus--Senator Amy Klobuchar, Senator Dean Heller, and Senator
Brian Schatz--led the Senate in the passage of a resolution recognizing
the week of May 7 as National Travel and Tourism Week.
There are really good statistics--whether it is Missouri or West
Virginia or the country at-large--on this topic. One out of every nine
jobs in the United States depends on travel and tourism. It accounts
for over 15 million jobs nationwide. International travel to the United
States is our single largest export industry. The single largest thing
where people bring money into our country is tourism to the United
States. It generates a trade surplus of roughly $87 billion. As to that
trade surplus with foreign travelers, foreign travelers stay longer,
they spend more, and they like us better when they leave--virtually 100
percent of the time--than they did when they got here. Even if they
thought they were going to like us a lot, they wind up liking us more.
If they questioned whether they were going to like us at all, they
almost always wind up on the very positive side of that question.
So it is not only a huge economic benefit of $87 billion, but it is
also a huge foreign policy benefit--a huge diplomatic benefit. It is
just like when students come here and go to school. They have a
connection to the United States that is almost always positive. It is
so positive that many of them would like to stay, with that bachelor's
degree or that engineering certificate and degree, because they have
liked what they found when they were here. So $87 billion is the
surplus from just international travelers to the United States. But all
told, travel and tourism generates nearly $2.3 trillion in annual
economic input for our country.
In Missouri, it has been estimated that the tourism industry, which
is usually right behind agriculture in the list of our top industries,
provides more than $15 billion in annual economic impact and directly
supports almost 300,000 Missouri jobs. When international tourists come
here and spend their money at hotels, restaurants, and shops, they are
not only supporting U.S. businesses, but they are contributing to
local, State, and Federal tax revenue.
We have a great deal to offer when it comes to attracting these
international visitors. We also have a lot of things we can do as a
Congress to make a difference in how people travel and where they
travel. We have a role to play in promoting the United States as a
travel destination and in helping our State and local tourism economies
be a part of that travel.
The Visa Waiver Program is sometimes questioned by some of our
colleagues who say anybody can get on a plane in any of these visa
waiver countries, and we particularly hear that when something bad has
just happened in 1 of those 38 countries--Great Britain, France, or
Germany. We hear: Anybody could come here because they don't have to go
to the U.S. Embassy and get a visa. Except that is not how it works.
That is not how the Visa Waiver Program works at all now. It does
enable citizens of the 38 countries that we include to travel here for
tourism and business for 90 days or less without the need to obtain a
specific visa. By the way, in return, Americans go to those 38
countries without having to go to the Embassy of that country and get a
visa and have an interview that allows them to travel there. So that is
both ways.
Most importantly from our perspective, as to people who are coming
here, the program has a lot of security built into it. For all the
travelers who come, the Visa Waiver Program is administered by the
Department of Homeland Security. It works in consultation with the
State Department. Visa waivers use a risk-based, multilayered approach
to detect and prevent terrorists, criminals, and other bad actors from
traveling here. If you have been in some country lately that we don't
think you should have been in, if you have a history of travel back and
forth to countries and we have had bad experiences with people who have
been in those countries, not only do you not get a waiver but you are
in for a much more extensive interview than if we were trying to
interview everybody from all of those 38 visa waiver countries who
wants to come to the United States.
The President announced about 4 months ago that we were going to have
a more extensive visa process in countries that need a visa, but that
also can be a more extensive visa process in countries that have visa
waivers, if someone requires more vetting. If someone does not want to
submit to additional vetting, then they don't have to come to the
United States of America. Those kinds of questions are easily answered
There are comprehensive vetting programs for individuals prior to the
time they can get here--as well as when they get here--if they are in
that visa waiver structure. So visa waiver works.
I think the visa program is working now with more extensive vetting
than we have had in the past.
The program requires participants to have an electronic passport that
has a chip in that passport that makes it virtually impossible to
suggest that you
[[Page S3355]]
are somebody or to try to pretend that you are somebody who you are
not. The passport is much more secure than it used to be--both our
passports and passports from those countries.
In 2015, I worked with a bipartisan group of our colleagues to reform
and improve this program and to secure that its robust security
protocols would work as intended. We were also able to remove visa
waiver eligibility for nationals of participating countries who have
visited a country with a terrorism nexus, and for foreigners who
participate who are originally from countries that may pose a terrorist
threat. There are ways to screen that process that Americans should
feel secure about. Frankly, it is a process that is getting better all
the time. It is still not absolutely without risk. Travel has some
risk. But thousands of people are bringing billions of dollars in
tourism revenue to our economy, to see our country, and to pay our
taxes. We ought to be sure we are minimizing the risk and maximizing
the welcome for people we want to travel here.
I also worked with my colleagues twice now to offer a public-private
partnership called Brand USA. The United States of America, just a few
years ago, was one of the few countries in the world that made no real
effort to encourage people in other countries to visit our country. In
2014, Senator Klobuchar and I worked to reauthorize Brand USA through
2020. In a combination of visa waiver fees and private dollars, efforts
have been successfully made to encourage people who want to be part of
our economy--even for a short period of time, as a tourist. It is
estimated that across all markets, each dollar of Brand USA marketing
generated more than $30 in visitor spending. Let me repeat: everywhere
we spent a dollar of Brand USA--and that is a public-private dollar--
more than $30 came to the United States, it is estimated, because of
that.
It is important for the Senate to support programs that work. Brand
USA is one of those programs. The Visa Waiver Program and many others
have significant, positive economic impacts on our country, on
individual States, on local communities, and, by the way, on people
whose business and travel necessarily take them to other countries.
Travel and tourism is one area where we have successfully worked
together in a bipartisan manner. I hope we can continue that progress
in this Congress. I will keep working with my colleagues to ensure that
we have the right policies in place to keep Americans safe, while
allowing our travel and tourism industries to continue growing and
creating jobs.
Madam President, 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. CARPER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Blunt). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, when I came onto the floor, you were not
presiding; you were on the floor talking about the Visa Waiver Program.
It is an agreement we have with almost 40 other nations that allows for
the free flow of visitors from those countries to our country. It is
viewed, in part, as a way to promote tourism and help grow that part of
our economy and the economies of the other 38 or 39 nations with which
we already have this agreement. Some people believe it is a gaping hole
for fomenting terrorism and giving terrorists the ability to infiltrate
our countries and do mischief here and other places around the world.
I applaud the Presiding Officer, the Senator from Missouri, for
actually explaining how the system works. It is actually not just a way
to enhance and promote tourism, which is important to all of our
economies, it actually enhances our security if done well, done right,
and done correctly. I say to the Presiding Officer, the former chairman
of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, I appreciate very much
your making those comments today.
Resolution Condemning Recent Terrorist Attacks
I am going to do something today, Mr. President, that I have never
done before. I have never come to the floor and actually read a
resolution or a piece of legislation that we are going to be voting on
later today. This is a resolution that came out of discussions
yesterday as we were contemplating voting on additional sanctions with
respect to Iran--sanctions not related to violations of the joint
agreement on nuclear weapons. They appear to be in full compliance with
what they professed to do, promised to do a year or two ago. There
doesn't seem to be a question that they are doing what they promised to
do, and that is good.
There is what we believe is an obvious violation of U.N. requirements
that say the United Nations doesn't believe that Iran should be testing
ballistic missile systems. Even though they have no nuclear weapons--we
don't believe they are going to have them anytime soon; hopefully not,
because that would help spark a nuclear arms race in that part of that
world--we still have, along with the U.N., this prohibition against
them developing and testing ballistic missiles. They have violated that
a number of times, and a lot of other nations, including us, are
concerned about that. We have before us this week and again next week
legislation dealing with that.
My hope is that next week we will consider that legislation and have
a chance to offer amendments to it. My strong hope is that we will not
only be talking about our desire to see Iran fully comply with the U.N.
guidelines but that we will also couple with that legislation sanctions
dealing with Russia. This is a country that continues to make mischief
in this country and countries around the world.
Today, a lot of attention was riveted on the testimony by former FBI
Director Jim Comey on whether there was an attempt by the Russians to
influence our Presidential election last year. All 17 intelligence
agencies in this country have decided unanimously that the question is
not only did they attempt or want to influence the outcome of the
Presidential election--they all say yes. The answer is yes. All those
intelligence agencies say yes. The second thing they said is that they
feel the Russians succeeded in what they wanted to accomplish because
the person they wanted to see defeated--Secretary Clinton--lost, and
the person they wanted to see win--Donald Trump--won and now serves
as President of the United States.
The issue that is going on right now in the hearings before the
Intelligence Committee involve whether there was collusion between the
Trump organization and the Russians during or prior to the time of the
election. Ultimately, we will find out the truth, and we will let the
chips fall where they may.
I think we make a mistake in simply going forward and admonishing the
Iranians for testing ballistic missile weapons while at the same time
this effort by the Russians to really make a mockery of our election
system and change the governance of this country is a far greater
threat.
My hope is that when we come back and take up these issues next week,
that we will not address only the one involving Iran but that we will
address in a thoughtful way the actions the Russians have taken and not
let them get away with this. That is the debate for next week.
In Iran, actually 2 or 3 weeks ago, they had elections. I have spoken
about this before on the Senate floor. The elections they had were
Presidential elections. Here in this country, we have Presidential
elections every 4 years. As it turns out, in Iran they have them every
4 years as well. In this country, most people age 18 and older are
eligible to vote. The percentage of people among the electorate who
actually vote is not great. Actually, for the longest living democracy
in the history of the world, it is sometimes a bit disappointing. But
the percentage of people who turned out to vote in the Presidential
election in Iran a few weeks ago approached 75 percent, which is a good
deal higher, I believe, than what we have accomplished in recent years.
They have a lot of young people in that country, and the average age of
the 80 million people who work there is under the age of 25. It turns
out that the young people--not like the young people in Vietnam and a
bunch of other countries--they like our country. They want a better
relationship with our country, and the voting that occurred in Iran 2
or 3 weeks ago actually reflected that.
President Ruhani ran on a campaign that included better relations
with,
[[Page S3356]]
among others, the United States. And I think the election of a lot of
mayors in places like Tehran, the capital of Iran, which has changed
from a hardliner who didn't agree with President Ruhani's views on this
matter--they were turned out of office. That is all a very encouraging
development.
There are still people in that country who don't like us, and they
wish us harm, wish us ill, and they support terrorism. This is a source
of concern. But, particularly with the younger people there, it is a
new day there, and I think that is encouraging. We shouldn't be blind
to the mischief that some in their country would create, but we also
shouldn't be blind to the encouraging things happening among the young
people, especially reflected in the voting. We congratulate them on
actually having an election where that many people voted.
In some other countries around the world where Muslim is the
principal faith, they don't allow women to vote. They don't allow women
to participate in the elections, and they don't allow them to get
elected. In Iran, the elections in I think Tehran, in the city council
alone--women do vote in Iran. They get to run for office. I think in
the city council in Tehran alone, six women were elected to serve on
the city council. So that is a positive.
We commend them for having elections, and it is their job to figure
out whom they are going to elect. I am personally encouraged by the
turnout and the participation, especially of women, the election of
women, and the President and a lot of young leaders in that country who
have different view of us and their willingness to work with us and
other like-minded nations in the future.
On the heels of the election, roughly 2 weeks later, there were
terrorist attacks in London, in Britain, I think in Australia in the
last couple of weeks, and, in the last few days, in Iran. Their
Parliament was attacked. You can imagine terrorists coming in and
attacking those of us who work in this building, whether they happen to
be the pages or Senators or staff. That is what happened in Tehran a
couple of days ago at 10 o'clock in the morning, with folks breaking
into Parliament and trying to kill folks. They also attacked a sacred
site--I think a mausoleum--in another part of the country. Close to 15
people were killed, and many times that number were wounded, some very
seriously.
On the heels of that attack and on the heels of the election, on the
heels of the attack by ISIS--in both of the attacks on Iran, the
attacks were masterminded apparently by ISIS. We don't know for sure
given that ISIS tries to take credit for attacks they had nothing to do
with or little to do with. But there are people in Great Britain who
have lost loved ones, family members, friends. They are suffering, they
are hurting, and they are mourning today, and the same is true of Iran.
Great Britain is one of our two or three closest allies in the world.
They are like brothers and sisters to us, and we feel a special kinship
and extend our condolences to those whose lives have been ended, whose
lives have been shattered, and whose lives will be forever changed.
While we do that with our friends and allies in Britain who suffered
from these attacks by ISIS, on the heels of a different kind of
election in Iran--an encouraging election in Iran--and similar attacks
by ISIS on Iran--some suggest it is because they have a willingness to
actually have a better relationship with us, and maybe that is what
drew the attacks by ISIS. In any event, we certainly express our
condolences to the good people in Iran who lost their brothers,
sisters, parents, aunts, uncles, and sons, and we remember them today.
The resolution has been drafted by Senator Corker, the chair of the
Foreign Relations Committee, and by Senator Cardin. It is a resolution
that is not very long. I am going to read it. It is a resolution that
dates to these attacks and mentions both countries I just mentioned--
Great Britain, our ally, and Iran, with which we have had difficulty
for the last 30, 40 years but which is now interested in a new day with
us. To the extent that we can find a way to work together, especially
in commerce, the Iranians want to buy aircraft from us. They want to
buy Boeing aircraft. They don't want military aircraft. They have an
airline which is just awful. It is decrepit, old, aged, and they want
to buy $10 to $12 billion worth of Boeing aircrafts, passenger
airlines. I would say let's sell to them. The idea is, if we would do
that, we would not just put 5 or 10,000 people to work, we would
provide job employment opportunities for even more people than that in
this country. Why wouldn't we be interested in that? I hope we will
allow that to go forward. It would be good for us and also it would be
good for them, and maybe it would provide a foundation for working more
closely together. I don't know if we would have the kind of
relationship that we have with Britain, but as a veteran of the Vietnam
war, I can state that when I go for a run some mornings--when I stay
down here and go for a run early in the morning, I run down to the
Lincoln Memorial. I always run by the Vietnam Memorial. I take my
fingers, and as I go along the wall, I let my fingers brush over the
names of the people with whom I served, and there are 55,000 who died
in that war. They were our friends, our colleagues, our family members,
people we literally served with at that time, and they are gone. Yet
somehow we have been able to let bygones be bygones and develop a
close, august friendship with the Vietnamese. We are their strongest
trading partner. They are buying a lot of aircraft from us these days,
and we are now going to sell weaponry to them.
We are not going to do anything like that with Iran, certainly with
respect to weaponry, but if we can get over finally our difficulties of
war and hostilities and so forth with the Vietnamese, maybe we can
someday, with a change in leadership with Iran, begin to look more
toward a constructive relationship in the future.
The other thing I want to do is, I just want to take this resolution
and actually read that which Senators Corker and Cardin and their
staffs have worked on and thank them for their good work.
There will probably be a vote later this evening in wrapup, where
there will be a unanimous consent request that this bipartisan
resolution be approved. I think it is a good thing, it is the right
thing, it is a fair thing. How would we want to be treated by other
countries if ISIS attacks us and kills our people? We want them to be
sympathetic and have some feeling for us and not be quiet about it.
That is essentially what we want to do here.
The resolution goes something like this:
Condemning the recent terrorist attacks in the United
Kingdom, the Philippines, Indonesia, Egypt, Iraq, Australia,
and Iran.
It offers ``thoughts and prayers and sincere condolences to all of
the victims, their families, and the people of their countries.''
Whereas since May 22, 2017, the Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for multiple
terrorist attacks against civilians that have left more than
180 dead and many more wounded.
Whereas ISIS frequently claims attacks perpetrated by
individual actors or other groups for propaganda purposes.
Whereas the people of the United Kingdom are grieving
following two terrorist attacks claimed by ISIS in London on
June 4 and Manchester on May 22 that targeted and killed
innocent men, women, and children.
Whereas government forces in the Philippines are currently
fighting ISIS militants in Mindanao, including ISIS-
affiliated fighters from the Philippines, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Chechnya, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, who launched an
assault in Marawi City on May 23 in an apparent effort to
establish a caliphate in Southeast Asia.
Whereas ISIS has claimed responsibility for two explosions
in Jakarta, Indonesia, killing three policemen.
Whereas ISIS targeted Coptic Christians in Egypt during an
attack on a bus on May 26, killing 29 people.
Whereas 22 people were killed when ISIS detonated a car
bomb at a Baghdad ice cream parlor, killing Iraqi families
gathering with their children to break the Ramadan fast, and
then detonated a second bomb killing elderly Iraqis
collecting their pensions.
Whereas a terrorist attack claimed by ISIS killed one
person in Melbourne, Australia, and wounded three police
officers.
Whereas on June 7, in an attack claimed by ISIS, at least
12 people were killed when gunmen and suicide bombers
targeted Iran's parliament and a shrine--
I believe it was a mausoleum or where one of their earlier leaders
was entombed, enshrined--
in two coordinated attacks across Tehran.
Whereas these reprehensible attacks have no place in a
peaceful world: Now, therefore, be it
[[Page S3357]]
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) condemns ISIS' horrific terrorist attacks in the United
Kingdom, Philippines, Indonesia, Egypt, Iraq, Australia, and
Iran;
(2) expresses its deepest condolences to the victims of
these attacks and their families;
(3) expresses solidarity with the people of the United
Kingdom, the Philippines, Indonesia, Egypt, Iraq, Australia,
and Iran;
(4) recognizes the threat posed by ISIS and recommits to
U.S. leadership in the Global Coalition working to defeat
ISIS.
My father served in World War II. He was a chief petty officer. Most
of my uncles served in World War II and/or Korea. One of my uncles I
never met. My mom's youngest brother served in the U.S. Navy. He was
stationed on a ship called the USS Suwannee. It was an aircraft
carrier.
They were on duty in the Western Pacific in 1944, and their group of
ships came under attack by Japanese kamikaze pilots, dive-bombing and
crashing their aircraft into several ships, including the USS Suwannee,
the ship on which my uncle Bob was stationed. He was 19 years old. I
think he was on the ship and they were trying to launch aircraft to
take on the kamikaze pilots before they could do much damage and
several of the aircraft apparently crashed into the aircraft carrier on
which my Uncle Bob was doing duty up on the deck of the aircraft
carrier.
His body, along with the bodies of a number of people who were on the
deck, were never recovered. They were killed, missing in action for an
extended period of time, and their bodies were never recovered.
I told folks back in Delaware about my grandmother during one of the
Memorial Day observances. I don't know if the Presiding Officer has
this in Missouri, but in Delaware, during some of our observances, we
have a place of honor where some of our Gold Star families sit. I told
the Gold Star families at a bridge ceremony in Wilmington near the
Delaware Memorial Bridge--I pointed out where the Gold Star families
were sitting, and I said: My grandmother, if she were still alive,
would be 110 today, and she would be sitting right over there with all
the Gold Star families and mothers.
She never saw her son again after he went off to serve in the war.
There was a lot of sorrow in that family for years and years and years.
They had pictures for as long as I can remember. There was a picture of
my Uncle Bob, age 19, posing, at the time, in his dress blue uniform.
I was a dead ringer for him. My sister and I, after we were born in
West Virginia, grew up in Danville, VA. I went off to high school and
then became a Navy midshipman and then went off to Southeast Asia. I
would go home to visit my relatives in West Virginia, including my
grandparents. I would go back to that house. I would go back to the
picture and look at him because as I grew older, the resemblance was
pretty remarkable. My grandmother, from the time I was a little boy
until I grew up, would always call me Bobby. That was his name, not
mine. I was Tommy, but she would call me Bobby. It was kind of eerie.
She would never try to correct it. She would just call me Bobby.
Sometimes people would have nicknames for us as kids, and my
grandfather always called me Joe. So we would go spend time, a week or
two, with them in the summer, and my grandmother called me Bobby and my
grandfather called me Joe. I wasn't sure who I was when I would go back
to their home in Danville or Roanoke, VA, but I know my grandmother
loved her son Bobby, and the folks who took his life were Japanese.
They were Japanese.
In the Navy, I flew missions with Japanese forces during the Vietnam
war and the Cold War when I was a naval flight officer. Japan is among
our best friends today, one of our closest allies, despite the hundreds
of thousands of lives which were lost in the attack on Pearl Harbor and
the war that ensued.
Germany, at the other side of the world, was a bitter enemy during
World War II and is among our closest allies and has been for years the
bulwark in that part of the world.
I just mention them to say that the folks that might be our
adversaries today--Vietnam, where I served, was a great adversary for a
number of years, and today, as I said earlier, is one of our closest
trading partners, and they are one of our partners. We had, I thought,
a wonderful trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership should have
been approved by us and never was. It was negotiated in the last
administration. I think in history they will say that it was a huge
mistake we made not to approve it after negotiating it over a period of
several years with 11 other countries, including the Vietnamese.
The Vietnamese are amazingly close. They love Americans. God, they
love Americans. They love us more than we love us, and you can feel it.
Every time I go over there, I am reminded of that.
Things have a way of changing. Leadership changes, people change, the
attitudes of people toward the rest of the world, including us, will
change. The results of the Iranian election give me some encouragement.
I hope they give the rest of us encouragement. I hope someday some of
those young Iranian people who admire this country and love this
country will have a chance to come here and visit.
Ironically, today is the last day we have a lot of young people here
in this Chamber who are leaving us. We call them pages. Some are
sitting down here. I walked up to them earlier today. We have doors--
seven doors--and when we are having votes, people and Senators come in
and out, and we have two pages stationed at every door. We have pages
down here at the foot of the Presiding Officer on either side. What I
tried to do was just go around to the pages and shake their hands, say
goodbye, and thank them for their service during what has been really,
as the Presiding Officer knows, a challenging time for all of us. I
would say I had to have a chance to address these pages as well as the
rest of our colleagues here, but I want to say to the pages, thanks a
lot for your service, and we hope you have been inspired not by our
shortcoming but by the potential you see here for us continuing to send
this ship of state into the future.
A lot of people are concerned about the direction our country has
taken. I would like to remind them, especially these pages, that 150
years ago we fought a civil war in this country. I grew up in Danville,
VA, the last capital of the Confederacy. I think some people were still
fighting the Civil War when I got there. I was 9 years old and my
sister was 10. So 150 years ago, the Civil War was fought, where
hundreds of thousands of people were killed, many more were crippled,
wounded, and maimed.
After that, we saw our President assassinated. President Lincoln was
assassinated. After that, our President who succeeded him, Andrew
Johnson, was impeached, and somehow we got through all of that in the
19th century.
When we finally made it to the 20th century, what happened? World War
I--we fought it, won it, and led our allies to victory. Then World War
II, we fought it, won it, and led the allies to victory in World War
II. The Cold War--won it, led our allies to victory in the Cold War.
The Great Depression--we fought our way out of it and led the world to
a much stronger economy.
When the 21st century dawned on January 1, 2001, here is where we
were as a nation: the strongest economy on Earth, the most productive
workforce on Earth, a nation of peace, four balanced budgets in a row.
We hadn't balanced our budget since 1968, but the last 4 years of the
Clinton administration we were 4 and 0 in terms of a balanced budget.
Since the century began, we were the world's mightiest Nation--the
mightiest force for justice--and we were the most admired Nation on the
planet. I would just keep in mind the words of Harry Truman: The only
thing new in the world is the history we have forgotten and never
learned. He was a guy from Missouri, as I recall, like our Presiding
Officer.
We are going through a tough time now, and we will get through it. My
hope is that our pages, who have provided a great service here in the
recent months of their service, will someday come back as interns,
maybe someday as staff members, maybe someday as Senators and
Representatives and chiefs of staff, and will play other roles in
guiding our country.
We thank all of you.
My hope is that, as time goes by, the tensions around the world, the
hatred, the vitriol, and the murder and the mayhem will have
dissipated. Countries just like Japan in World War II,
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like Germany in World War II, and like Vietnam in the Vietnam war were
our bitter enemies at one time but are now our friends. Maybe we can
turn the page with Iran, and they can turn the page with us. They will
be better for it, and in the end, we will too.
Your generation, especially, will be better for that.
I thank Senator Corker and, again, Senator Cardin and their staffs. I
thank our leadership--Senator McConnell and Senator Chuck Schumer--for
making sure that this resolution was taken up and written. It worked
out, and we will have a chance to vote on it. I just do not want
somebody sometime later--this evening or tonight--when asking for
unanimous consent to adopt a Senate resolution with a certain number on
it, to ask: What was that all about? I want people to know that this is
about something that is important, and I am grateful to all who had a
hand in it.
Thank you very much.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The 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. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Nomination Referral
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask
unanimous consent that upon the reporting of the nomination of David P.
Pekoske, of Maryland, to be Assistant Secretary of the Department of
Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, by the
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the nomination be
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
for a period not to exceed 30 calendar days, except that if the 30 days
lapse while the Senate is in recess, the Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs shall have an additional 5 session days after
the Senate reconvenes to report the nomination, after which the
nomination, if still in committee, be discharged and placed on the
Executive Calendar.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________