[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 119 (Monday, July 16, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4961-S4963]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Trump-Putin Summit

  Mr. MURPHY. Madam President, in my lifetime, no American President 
has ever had a more disastrous overseas trip than the one that was just 
concluded by President Trump--5 days of disaster after disaster, insult 
after insult, capitulation after capitulation. Today, Donald Trump has 
America weaker in the world than at any time in recent memory.
  Let's start with what just happened today that has the whole world 
reeling. To the shock and horror of the American public, President 
Trump stood on stage with Vladimir Putin and told the world that he 
believes Putin when Putin insists that Russia did not try to interfere 
in the American elections in Trump's favor in 2016.
  Despite what President Trump wants us to believe these days, there 
are still some truths left in the world. Not everything is political 
spin. Not everything in the world today is up for debate. Russia did 
attack our elections in 2016. They plan on attacking our elections in 
2018. In 2016, they did so with the explicit purpose of trying to elect 
Donald Trump. All 100 Senators agree on this. Every U.S. intelligence 
agency agrees on this. Every U.S. law enforcement agency in the country 
agrees on this. Everyone working for Donald Trump in his national 
security cabinet agrees on this.

  Now, we actually have the specific names of the specific Russian 
individuals who carried out these attacks. They have been indicted by 
Donald Trump's Department of Justice. There is simply no question, no 
debate over whether the Russian Government engaged in a massive, 
willful, illegal campaign to push the 2016 election to Donald Trump. It 
is a fact.
  President Trump, no doubt, doesn't like this fact. First, because 
there is an investigation that is pending right now over the 
outstanding question of whether he knew it was happening and whether he 
and his campaign team coordinated with the Russians to make that 
happen. There is increasing evidence that this might be the case, but 
we will have to wait for the Mueller report to know.
  Second, without the Russians' help, it is possible that Donald Trump 
might not be President. We don't know this, but the slim margins where 
the President prevailed in certain States leave room to surmise that 
without Russia's help, Donald Trump might not have been elected 
President.
  Regardless of whether Trump coordinated with the Russians and 
regardless

[[Page S4962]]

of whether their support tipped the balance, it frankly doesn't explain 
what just happened in Helsinki. When asked if Trump agrees with his 
staff, every Member of the Senate, and every law enforcement and 
intelligence agency in his government or Russia, he chose Russia.
  Let me say that again. When asked whether the President of the United 
States believed his own government or Russia, our President said he 
believed Russia. He took sides against American national security 
interests, and we are left with a question of why. We raise that 
question because, frankly, the expectations for this summit, this 
meeting between the American President and the Russian leader, were 
very low. All President Trump had to do at that press conference today 
was to offer some mild pushback--an acknowledgment of Russia's 
interference in the election--and to stand up and, in mild terms, offer 
America's support for the sovereignty of Ukraine. He didn't do any of 
that. So we are left with this question of why.
  Now I don't know what Mueller knows. I don't know what Vladimir Putin 
knows. But Americans should be freaked out today that there is some 
explanation that we don't know for why our President is so friendly to 
Russian national security interests and so hostile to our own.
  Of course, today, my colleagues, was just the icing on the cake. We 
already have forgotten what happened on the first 4 days of this trip. 
Shortly before the meeting with Putin, Trump announced to the world 
that after several days of meetings and consultations with our European 
partners, he could definitively say that Europe was an enemy of the 
United States. He called the European Union a foe. That conclusion was 
bracketed by his comments upon his arrival in Europe, when he announced 
that his meeting with Putin was going to be a whole lot easier than his 
meetings were going to be with Europe.
  Let's be clear. First, Europe is our most important friend and ally, 
and it has been that way for a very long time, and nothing has changed. 
In the last 70 years, when we have needed help in the world, the first 
place we turn to is Europe. It shares our democratic values. They are 
our most important trading partner. The post-World War II order that 
has ushered in an order of relative global stability never before seen 
in the world is reliant on the continued alliance of the United States 
and Europe.
  We have always had our grievances. We may want them to spend a little 
bit more money on defense. They may want us to shoulder a little bit 
more of the burden with respect to the world's refugee crisis and not 
leave it all up to them. But the alliance is just as important as it 
ever has been, and Europe is just as important a partner as it ever has 
been.
  Here is the other thing to make clear. Donald Trump's intent is to 
smash the European Union and to break the United States and Europe 
apart from each other. His advisers and Cabinet members may go on TV or 
show up to hearings on Capitol Hill, and they may say all the right 
things about the strength of the transatlantic alliance and America's 
rock-solid commitment to NATO. I have heard them say it. I saw John 
Bolton say it on TV this weekend. I watched Secretary Pompeo come to 
the Foreign Relations Committee and testify to such before Congress.
  But the people who work for President Trump don't set U.S. policy. 
The President does, and the President has made it clear over and over 
that NATO is temporarily functionally irrelevant.
  That sounds like a radical thing to say, but let's just admit that it 
is true for the time being. Trump has made it crystal clear that if 
Russia ever perpetuated a Ukraine-style attack on a NATO country, one 
that was in plain sight for everybody to see but that was officially 
denied by the Kremlin--does that sound familiar? That is what happened 
in Ukraine--a clear Russian invasion but officially denied by the 
Kremlin. Does this sound familiar? The 2016 attacks on American 
elections are there for everyone to see, and they are denied by the 
Kremlin. Trump has made it clear that if Russia ever perpetuated an 
attack like that against a NATO country, Trump would believe Russia and 
not his own eyes, not his own government. He has telegraphed to Russia 
that if you simply deny the invasion or the attack, we will believe 
you, not our own government, not our own intelligence and security 
agencies. That is what he told us.
  That is what would likely happen if Europe was attacked. The 
Europeans know this. Why we are so much weaker today is because that 
message to the Europeans comes with a price. If the Europeans don't 
feel that we are going to get their back, having watched the President 
mock and insult them over the course of the last 4 days, it is now in 
doubt as to whether they would come to our defense if we asked, as we 
did after the attacks on September 11.
  None of our European partners will say that. They are going to try to 
save face. They are going to try to be the bigger party to this contest 
and say that the strength of the alliance is as strong as it ever has 
been. But it is not, and there are consequences--potentially serious 
ones for the United States.
  For as bad a shape as the President left NATO, the EU is in no better 
condition today. It is in tatters in large part because of a President 
who continues to cheerlead those who want to break apart the EU. There 
are people who understand the genius of the European Union who are 
working hard to keep it together, and I am going to cheerlead them, but 
President Trump spent his time in Britain telling anybody who would 
listen, including the press, that unless Britain carried out a clean 
break from the EU, there would be consequences from the United States. 
That is madness. Our policy should be the opposite--that if Britain and 
the EU want to reconcile, America will be there to assist.
  Let's bring it back to Vladimir Putin again because his top 
priority--his No. 1 goal--is the dissolution of the European Union, 
which is his main political and economic rival on the Eurasian 
continent. The breakup of NATO is right up there as well. His chief 
ally in the deconstruction of the EU and NATO today is the President of 
the United States.
  America is so much weaker today than we were just 5 days ago, and 
that is saying a lot. Our Nation and the world has never seen a more 
cataclysmic foreign trip than the one that we just witnessed.
  This country can survive a lot. We are resilient. But President Trump 
is making this country a laughing stock. We used to be a pillar of 
strength, an example to be looked up to. Now we are the butt of jokes. 
We are seen as weak--a total pushover. All you need to do if you are a 
despot or an autocrat or an enemy of America is to get in the room with 
the U.S. President, and he will give you everything you want, with no 
price to pay.
  That is America in the world today, and I couldn't be sadder about 
it.
  I yield back.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Lankford). The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I come to the floor in support of the 
nomination of Scott Stump, to be Assistant Secretary of Education for 
Career, Technical, and Adult Education.
  As President Trump and Secretary DeVos continue to roll back 
protections for students and make it easier for predatory for-profit 
colleges to take advantage of our students, students need someone at 
the Department who will remain committed to putting them first no 
matter what Secretary DeVos tries to pressure him to do.
  Although most of the nominees President Trump has picked for the 
Department have pledged their allegiance to Secretary DeVos and her 
agenda, I believe Mr. Stump will be different. If confirmed, Mr. Stump 
would be responsible for advising Secretary DeVos on career and 
technical education, adult education and literacy, and community 
college education while overseeing over $2 billion in funding to 
provide our students and workers with the education and skills they 
need to compete and get ahead in the 21st century.
  Mr. Stump's resume shows he is a nominee who is qualified for this 
position. He has served as the assistant provost for career and 
technical education for the Colorado Community College System. He was 
elected by his peers to serve as the president of the National 
Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education 
Consortium. He also earned the support

[[Page S4963]]

of a number of key stakeholders and advocacy groups.
  If confirmed, Mr. Stump would be responsible for adult education and 
literacy, which would help adults get the basic skills they need to be 
productive workers and family members and citizens, and which would 
help community colleges ensure students have the education and skills 
they need to advance in their education and their careers in order to 
remain competitive in the 21st century.
  Finally, the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education at the 
Department of Education is responsible for implementing the Perkins 
Career and Technical Education Act. It is a critical law that gives 
students and workers the education and skills they need to succeed, and 
it provides businesses with a high-quality talent pipeline of workers 
with in-demand skills to compete in a 21st century economy.
  Last month, members of our HELP Committee set partisan differences 
aside and passed the reauthorization of the Perkins CTE Act, which 
makes important updates to support an education system that prepares 
students and workers for an economy and a country that works for 
everyone.
  In order to help students, workers, and businesses compete in a 
rapidly changing global economy, it is critically important that we 
pass that reauthorization, which would allow programs to adapt to the 
unique needs of their communities and continue to provide students and 
workers with the education and training that is necessary for them to 
get better jobs, earn higher wages, and climb up the economic ladder.
  As Members of Congress, we should always be looking for ways to help 
make people's lives better, which is why I hope we can advance this 
long overdue bill to the floor in a timely fashion.
  If the Senate confirms Mr. Stump, I hope he will remain committed to 
putting students and workers first no matter what pressure he gets. If 
he is able to do that, I look forward to working with him to help 
provide high-quality education and to ensure that, above all, our focus 
is on students and their success.
  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.
  Mrs. ERNST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  All time has expired.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Stump 
nomination?
  Mrs. ERNST. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: The 
Senator from Arkansas (Mr. Boozman), the Senator from South Carolina 
(Mr. Graham), the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Heller), the Senator from 
Oklahoma (Mr. Inhofe), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Isakson), the 
Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Kennedy), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. 
McCain), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), and the Senator from 
Alabama (Mr. Shelby).
  Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Arkansas (Mr. 
Boozman) would have voted ``yea.''
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New York (Ms. 
Gillibrand), the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Jones), the Senator from 
Vermont (Mr. Leahy), the Senator from Michigan (Mr. Peters), the 
Senator from New Hampshire (Mrs. Shaheen), and the Senator from 
Michigan (Ms. Stabenow) are necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 85, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 155 Ex.]

                                YEAS--85

     Alexander
     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Booker
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Donnelly
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Flake
     Gardner
     Grassley
     Harris
     Hassan
     Hatch
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Johnson
     Kaine
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Lee
     Manchin
     Markey
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Paul
     Perdue
     Portman
     Reed
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sanders
     Sasse
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Scott
     Smith
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                             NOT VOTING--15

     Boozman
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Heller
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Jones
     Kennedy
     Leahy
     McCain
     Moran
     Peters
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Stabenow
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to 
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the President 
will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
  The Senator from Idaho.

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