[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 99 (Thursday, June 14, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3930-S3932]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  ENERGY AND WATER, LEGISLATIVE BRANCH, AND MILITARY CONSTRUCTION AND 
      VETERANS AFFAIRS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2019--MOTION TO PROCEED

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 449, 
H.R. 5895.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 449, H.R. 5895, a bill 
     making appropriations for energy and water development and 
     related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 
     2019, and for other purposes.


                             Cloture Motion

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk on 
the motion to proceed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. 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. 449, H.R. 5895, an act making 
     appropriations for energy and water development and related 
     agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019, and 
     for other purposes.
         Mitch McConnell, Jerry Moran, Mike Rounds, Roy Blunt, 
           Johnny Isakson, John Boozman, John Cornyn, John 
           Barrasso, Marco Rubio, Mike Crapo, James E. Risch, John 
           Hoeven, Thom Tillis, John Thune, Lisa Murkowski, 
           Richard Burr, Roger F. Wicker.

  Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call 
be waived.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                   Recognition of the Minority Leader

  The Democratic leader is recognized.


                            Trump-Kim Summit

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, it has now been 2 days since the 
Singapore summit between President Trump and Chairman Kim concluded. 
America remains troubled by the lack of detail in the joint statement 
signed by both parties, as well as some of the remarkable concessions 
made by President Trump, especially the freeze of joint military 
exercises with South Korea.
  In the wake of this first meeting, it has become clearer and clearer 
that Chairman Kim secured far more concessions than President Trump. 
Yet, despite all the evidence, President Trump is acting like he just 
secured world peace. The President is conducting an alternative reality 
Presidency, and the recent summit with North Korea reveals it better 
than ever. President Trump says we are no longer on the brink of war 
with North Korea, after President Trump himself was the one who brought 
us there in the first place, through bellicose rhetoric and 
brinkmanship on Twitter. Now the President takes a victory lap for 
undoing a problem he created in the first place. He pats himself on the 
back, saying that we are now at peace. We were on the brink of war. He 
forgets that he brought us there. What kind of Presidency is this?

  Again President Trump tweeted yesterday: ``There is no longer a 
nuclear threat from North Korea.'' Saying it, Mr. President Trump, does 
not make it so--once again, an alternative reality Presidency.
  Despite what the President says, Chairman Kim has not agreed to 
dismantle North Korea's nuclear infrastructure. He has not agreed to 
stop enriching plutonium and uranium. He has not agreed to any sort of 
inspections regime. When Chairman Kim went home to North Korea, he did 
not even mention his vague commitment to completely denuclearize. To 
say there is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea after one 
meeting, after signing one sheet of paper, is living in an alternative 
reality, and that is where it seems President Trump lives these days, 
more than ever before.
  Finally, in place of serious, arduous negotiations, President Trump 
preferred signing ceremonies and proclamations. It is a pattern in his 
Presidency: flash over substance, sign documents in front of cameras, 
but skip out on the hard work behind the scenes.
  The idea is to make it look as if the President is getting stuff 
done, but not actually doing the hard work and getting it done. We 
can't have a President who is interested only in playing the role of 
President. He has to do the job of President.
  On a matter as serious as negotiations with North Korea, there is no 
substitute for the hard work of real diplomacy. Only in President 
Trump's alternative reality Presidency do photo ops and handshakes 
suffice, especially when North Korea still presents such a great danger 
to us. If tomorrow morning Kim Jong Un did a 180-degree reversal, after 
having gotten what he wants--the handshake, the summit, the reduction 
of sanctions--we would be in real danger, and President Trump acts like 
it is all over--an alternative reality Presidency. But when it comes to 
something as serious and dangerous as North Korea, it is not a joke; it 
is serious stuff.
  The hard details, the concrete concessions, the diplomatic gains for 
the United States, and safety from a still dangerous North Korea simply 
have to wait in President Trump's world, and it doesn't even seem to 
matter if they never happen.
  We hope sincerely that those hard details do come. We hope sincerely 
that the Singapore summit was only the first step, rather than the 
final result, because we all wish to see a diplomatic

[[Page S3931]]

resolution to the conflict on the Korean Peninsula. Ninety-nine percent 
of all Americans don't just want a photo op. We are glad that President 
Trump is actually trying, at least, to channel diplomacy, but he needs 
to stop behaving like all the hard work is behind him and open his eyes 
to the reality that bringing an end to a nuclear North Korea is not as 
easy, as simple, or as quick as a few days of photo ops.


                    Department of Justice IG Report

  Now, Mr. President, on another subject, this afternoon we expect to 
receive the report of the Department of Justice's inspector general, 
who has been reviewing the conduct of the Department of Justice and the 
FBI in the runup to the 2016 election.
  Although we have not yet seen the inspector general's report, there 
is no reason--no reason--to believe that it will provide any basis to 
call the special counsel's work into question.
  The IG report concerns an entirely separate investigation from the 
Russia probe that Special Counsel Mueller is conducting. The IG report 
concerns issues that started long before Special Counsel Mueller was 
even appointed and concluded before he began his investigation.
  Furthermore, the one thing we do know about what happened in late 
2016 is that certain actions taken by the FBI, intentionally or not, 
helped the Trump campaign and hurt the Clinton campaign. The release 
that Candidate Clinton was under investigation and the release of 
comments on what she had or had not done hurt her. It will take an 
awful lot of spin, an awful lot of stretching for Republicans to twist 
that around and portray the President as some kind of victim.
  Regrettably, people like Chairman Nunes, like FOX News, and like some 
of the Republican supporters of the President in Congress--and even 
like the President himself--have been running a cynical campaign to 
undermine the Russia investigation. It seems that the only limits to 
the wild conspiracies they have cooked up are their imaginations. This 
hurts America. We have heard new reports that Russia is looking to 
meddle in our 2018 elections. If foreign powers can meddle in our 
elections with impunity, this democracy is in trouble--in trouble--both 
with what the foreign powers may do and in the lack of faith in 
democracy it instills in people here in America and around the world. 
Our Republican colleagues who use this and our President who uses this 
as a political whipping boy are hurting our democracy.
  So almost regardless of what the IG report says, we can probably 
expect the President, Mr. Nunes, some of the FOX News commentators, and 
others to invent new conspiracy theories and new calls for more special 
counsels to investigate the investigators. Americans of all stripes are 
beginning to see these theories for what they are--distortions meant to 
undermine or distract from Special Counsel Mueller's investigation into 
the very serious efforts of Russia to influence the outcome of our 
elections. Well-meaning Members of both parties--both parties--should 
call them out for what they are.
  We are waiting to hear from some of our colleagues on the other side 
of the aisle on this. There have been too few voices on something so 
significant.


                  National Defense Authorization Bill

  Mr. President, on another matter--and this one of some 
bipartisanship, I am happy to say--the Senate continues to process the 
John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act in a bipartisan way 
to give our military the support and certainty it needs and to make 
crucial updates to our national security policy.
  One strong bipartisan action in this bill is dealing with the Chinese 
telecom giant ZTE. Let me remind this body that ZTE has violated U.S. 
sanctions and lied about it, but, even more importantly, its technology 
has been deemed a national security threat--a national security 
threat--to these great United States by the FBI, the Pentagon, and the 
FCC--all appointed by Republicans.
  President Trump was flatout wrong when he decided to go easy on ZTE 
and allow it to start selling its technology in the United States. If 
you believe some reports, he did it, once again, on a whim--a phone 
call from President Xi, our enemy on economic matters, who is robbing 
American jobs and stealing our technology, and who calls him up and 
says: Let's undo this. President Trump, seemingly without preparation, 
without briefings by the military or intelligence agencies or our law 
enforcement agencies, just does it, hurting America.
  The good news is bipartisan efforts in this body and in the House to 
undo what the President did and reimpose the penalties on ZTE that they 
deserve.
  President Trump was flatout wrong when he decided to go easy on ZTE 
and allow it to start selling its technology in the U.S. again. That 
puts America at severe risk--the risk of a China-backed company spying 
on Americans' private information, spying on businesses, spying on our 
military.
  ZTE is allowed to come in here? Every American should be worried when 
they talk on their iPhone that China is spying on them. Every American 
business should be worried that China is spying on their businesses and 
their intellectual property, and, most of all, our military leaders 
should be worried that China is purloining secrets that help to keep us 
safe.
  That is why we have included a bipartisan amendment. I want to salute 
Senators Cotton and Van Hollen for leading the charge. I want to salute 
folks like Senator Rubio, who has been so strong on this issue, putting 
country first. I want to salute the many on our side who have agreed 
with that. It is the right thing to do--to not allow ZTE to be here, 
for both national security interests as well as the economic importance 
of being tough on China.
  Yesterday it was reported, of course, that the White House will 
oppose the amendment and may seek to strip it out of the bill. We hope 
cooler heads in the administration, including Secretary Mattis, Chief 
of Staff Kelly, and others who have had a military background, can 
inform the President how ill-advised his actions are.
  Both parties in Congress must be resolute in blocking the President's 
bad, pro-China ZTE deal. Protecting America's national and economic 
security is paramount and any deal that jeopardizes them should be 
stopped in its tracks.
  Senator Corker made a point this week. He is freed of political 
constraints and can say what he thinks. He made a point--passionately--
that this body does not have to assent to every whim of the President. 
It is not easy when you are of the same party as the President. I know 
that. But as everyone in this Chamber knows, on some major issues I 
opposed President Obama because I thought he was wrong, and I know how 
difficult it is. I know how difficult it is, but sometimes duty and 
country and patriotism require it. On a matter as vital as this one, 
having to do with America's national and economic security, we cannot 
back off. I urge my colleagues, particularly my friends Senators Cotton 
and Rubio and Cornyn, who have been so strong and right on this issue, 
to hang tough, especially when we get to conference.
  I want to thank our Acting Chair of the Armed Services Committee for 
understanding the security risks and for working in a bipartisan way.


                     Happy Birthday to Abe Schumer

  Finally, Mr. President, if my colleagues will indulge me a few more 
words, they are personal, but they are meaningful.
  Today is Flag Day. It is also my father's 95th birthday. This 
upcoming weekend we will celebrate Father's Day.
  My father was a World War II vet over in Burma, and when he came back 
to Brooklyn after the war, he took over a small exterminating business 
from his father, my grandpa. I often joke that we are the only family 
who associates the smell of DDT with love, because my dad would come 
home from the office smelling of all of those chemicals.
  My father hated his job. He paced the floor Sunday nights at 2 a.m., 
unable to sleep, dreading going to work on Monday. But there was great 
honor in what he did. He never complained. He was supporting the 
family, even if it was in a job he was stuck with after getting back 
from World War II. He labored for many years in a job that wasn't his 
passion and passed on his idea of serving without complaining to give 
his children, grandchildren, and, God willing, in November, his soon-
to-be first great-grandchild--my daughter

[[Page S3932]]

is pregnant--the idea that we could follow our dreams, standing on his 
strong and weary shoulders. Mine led me here. I will never stop being 
grateful to my dad for that.
  So allow me to wish my father a happy birthday today and to say that 
I look forward to seeing him and my mom Selma, who turned 90 just on D-
Day, as well as my wife and two daughters this weekend for Father's 
Day, and I wish all Americans the same joy in celebrating Father's Day 
this weekend.
  I yield the floor.


                       Reservation of Leader Time

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the leadership time 
is reserved.

                          ____________________