[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 140 (Wednesday, August 22, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5815-S5818]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2019--Continued

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.


                          Honoring Journalists

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, the work that reporters do as members of a 
free and independent press is vital to our country and to our 
communities.
  It is why, last week, in an unprecedented action, nearly 300 
newspapers all over the country--a dozen or so in my State--came 
together to stand up for the free press and defend the First Amendment. 
There were 300 newspapers that wrote editorials--all independently 
written, of course, with all different takes on this--to advocate for a 
free press and to defend the First Amendment.
  The Chagrin Valley Times, which is not far from where I live in 
Northeast Ohio, wrote:

       We are indeed your lens into your community. We are not 
     your enemy.

  Clearly, this was a takeoff on the President's comments that the 
media are the enemies of the people.
  The Athens NEWS, from Southeast Ohio, wrote: ``Good reporting often 
succeeds in righting wrongs and making things better for people.''
  The Akron Beacon Journal, one of the great newspapers in this State, 
wrote:

       Power . . . belongs to the people. The press thus received 
     extraordinary protection because of its capacity to inform 
     readers and check the powerful.

  It is shameful that journalists have to defend their First Amendment 
rights, our First Amendment rights, our Nation's First Amendment rights 
just so they can do their jobs. As these community papers show us, 
nothing could be further from the truth. That is why I want to 
highlight yet another story by an Ohio paper, informing the public, 
that has been reported by a journalist who serves her community.
  CityBeat Cincinnati describes itself as having been ``a voice in 
Greater Cincinnati for nearly a quarter of a century now, publishing a 
print edition weekly, and producing regular content throughout the week 
online to try to help keep you informed of what is happening in your 
city.''
  A great example of that content was in a story last week that was 
reported by Maija Zummo on the Black Family Reunion that took place in 
Cincinnati and its celebrating its 30th year. The event was founded in 
1989 by the iconic Dr. Dorothy Height, who served as President of the 
National Council of Negro Women for more than 50 years.
  As Ms. Zummo reported, the festival brings together community groups, 
performers, and small businesses to ``celebrate the values and 
strengths of the black family.'' Ms. Zummo's reporting informed 
Cincinnati readers about the events they could attend that weekend, 
including a parade, festival, church service, and other community 
activities.
  That kind of reporting is what journalists do every day, every week, 
every month across Ohio and around the country. They serve their 
readers, their viewers, and their communities. They deserve our 
respect. They don't deserve a President who calls reporters, 
journalists, and all kinds of people in this business the enemies of 
the people. Again, reporters serve their viewers, their readers, and 
their communities. They serve all of us. They deserve our respect.
  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. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                      Remembering Mollie Tibbetts

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I come to the floor to speak about a 
recent tragedy that has deeply impacted my home State of Iowa and I 
think all of the country because cable television is well aware of 
this.
  Yesterday, authorities announced they found the remains of a 24-year-
old University of Iowa sophomore, Mollie Tibbets, of Brooklyn, IA. 
After searching tirelessly for months, State and local law enforcements 
announced the unthinkable, Mollie was murdered in cold blood.
  I would like to commend the efforts of all who were involved in 
searching for this remarkable young woman, including the Iowa Division 
of Criminal Investigation, the FBI, Homeland Security, and the 
individual members of the community who volunteered tirelessly to find 
Mollie.
  Americans watched the news every night, all of us, holding out hope 
that Mollie would soon be found and returned to her family. I extend my 
sincerest condolences and sympathies to Rob Tibbetts, Mollie's father, 
and Laura Calderwood, Mollie's mother. They spent the last month and a 
half searching the State for their missing daughter. Rob and Laura 
traveled across the State, raised awareness on TV, and handed out 
buttons, T-shirts, and missing person fliers at the Iowa State Fair. 
Both Rob and Laura showed remarkable bravery in the face of tragedy.
  Know that our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family 
during this difficult time.
  For those of us in Washington, we ought to try to learn something 
from Mollie's character and the example she set. As Mollie's boyfriend 
Dalton Jack said, ``She's not just a missing person flyer.'' Mollie was 
an avid reader who enjoyed the choir, theater, and writing.
  Mollie loved her friends and had a natural ability working with 
children. Her friends say she had a gift for making everyone feel like 
the most important person in the room. There is no doubt her nurturing 
character and her ability to be everyone's counselor--as a friend put 
it--led her to the University of Iowa to study psychology. While there, 
Mollie spent her summers taking classes and working at a day camp with 
the Grinnell Regional Medical Center, where she mentored children. It 
is no surprise that when Mollie went missing, over 200 people showed up 
for a vigil in her honor.
  While we mourn the loss of Mollie Tibbetts, it is the duty of this 
Senator and every other Senator to act to prevent further tragedies 
such as this one from devastating a family and an entire community.
  We now know that Mollie was murdered by a 24-year-old, undocumented 
immigrant who has been in the United States illegally for 4 to 7 years. 
That is right. For 4 to 7 years, this man was here undetected and 
unaccounted for. This raises questions about his immigration, 
employment, and criminal history, and we must receive answers.
  So, today, I sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security 
seeking any immigration history on this man and a briefing to better 
understand how he was able to get to and stay in Iowa. This isn't too 
different from what I have done in many cases with some undocumented 
person, particularly those who had been deported and returned, asking 
for answers when there was a tragedy such as what happened to Mollie. I 
think of recent cases, maybe within the last 2 years, of murders in 
Northern Virginia and in Maryland. The Tibbetts family, the people of 
Iowa as well, and I hope all of the American public feel they deserve 
answers.

[[Page S5816]]

  Based on the information I do have, it seems this murder was 
preventable. Stricter border security measures, including increased 
personnel, enhanced technology, and modernized infrastructure could 
have prevented this man from crossing the border--in other words, 
secure the border.
  Stronger interior enforcement and addressing weaknesses in E-Verify 
could have prevented this individual from working and would have 
allowed immigration enforcement authority to initiate removal 
proceedings years ago.
  Earlier this week, President Trump invited officers and agents of 
Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement 
to the White House to thank them and the people under them for all they 
do on a daily basis to protect Americans. Recent events are a stark 
reminder as to how much we need these hard-working men and women.
  Amidst cries from the radical far left to abolish law enforcement 
agencies, such as ICE, I am proud to stand in support of the brave men 
and women of that agency. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration 
and Customs Enforcement are tasked with protecting the homeland, a duty 
they willingly accepted on behalf of all Americans and, of course, the 
No. 1 responsibility, the Federal Government.
  Every day, men and women of the Border Patrol and ICE, or Immigration 
and Customs Enforcement, put themselves in harm's way because Congress 
tasked them with this great responsibility.

  So to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who call for 
abolishing immigration enforcement, I urge caution. We have heard a lot 
of that lately about abolishing immigration enforcement.
  Scapegoating our uniformed officers, who are simply executing the 
law, to launch future Presidential campaigns only moves us further away 
from one another and further away from a lasting solution.
  To put their efforts into perspective, let's take a look at some 
data. During fiscal year 2017, ICE arrested more than 127,000 aliens 
with criminal convictions or charges. ICE made 5,225 administrative 
arrests of suspected gang members. Last year, the criminal aliens 
arrested by ICE were responsible for more than 76,000 dangerous drug 
offenses, 48,000 assault offenses, 11,000 weapon offenses, 5,000 sexual 
offenses, 2,000 kidnapping offenses, and 1,800 homicide offenses. Those 
statistics are just for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations.
  Last year, ICE Homeland Security Investigations made over 4,800 gang-
related arrests. ICE also targets illicit drug flows, human trafficking 
operations, and transnational criminal and terrorist organizations.
  ICE is part of our broader national security apparatus and often 
works hand in hand with their partners at the Department of Justice, 
including the Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, and hundreds of 
Federal prosecutors.
  In 2017, ICE identified or rescued 904 sexually exploited children 
and 518 victims of human trafficking. ICE seized more than 980,000 
pounds of narcotics just last year, including 2,370 pounds of fentanyl 
and almost 7,000 pounds of heroin.
  To my colleagues who have spoken strongly about combating the moral 
stain of human trafficking or about ending the opioid epidemic gripping 
our country, I ask: How is ICE anything but an indispensable partner in 
this fight? How can we expect to combat the flow of lethal narcotics 
without the brave men and women of the Border Patrol and ICE?
  Just last week, I sent a letter to Secretaries Nielsen and Pompeo 
about an Iraqi national who lied about his active membership in ISIS 
and al-Qaida in Iraq so he could claim refugee status and settle safely 
in Sacramento, CA. ICE played a very vital role in his arrest.
  This weekend, ICE deported a Nazi prison guard who was living in 
Queens, NY, and yesterday ICE was immediately there on the scene in 
Brooklyn, IA, when State and local authorities determined the suspect 
was a foreign national.
  Congress has been dancing around the issue of securing our borders 
and strengthening interior enforcement for far too long. We have told 
voters we will fix the problem, but we don't seem to get the bills 
passed. Stories like those of Kate Steinle, Sarah Root, Kayla Cuevas, 
and now Mollie Tibbetts continue to appear in the news, and we ought to 
come to the conclusion that enough is enough.


                              Sarah's Law

  Mr. President, I urge the Senate to put partisanship aside and 
support Sarah's Law. That is a bill that some of us from the Midwest 
have introduced, but we also would like to see justice for Kate 
Steinle's murder because people who have been deported, coming back to 
the United States to do this killing--just for coming back and 
violating our law over and over and over by crossing into the country 
without papers, they should have mandatory sentences.
  Sarah's Law is a bill I introduced with Senator Ernst in honor of a 
fellow Iowan, Sarah Root, who was killed by an undocumented immigrant 
driving drunk and was three times over the legal limit.
  Sarah's Law is a commonsense bill that requires the Federal 
Government to take custody of anyone who entered the country illegally, 
violated the terms of their immigration status, and had their visas 
revoked and is thereafter charged with killing or seriously harming 
another person. It also requires ICE to make reasonable efforts to 
identify and provide relevant information to crime victims and their 
families.
  I end thinking about Mollie's death, but you can continue to think 
about Sarah Root, Kate Steinle, and others. We haven't responded to it 
very well. We can and we must do better.


                     Nomination of Brett Kavanaugh

  Mr. President, if I may, I want to continue to speak but on another 
subject.
  Over the past day, several of my colleagues issued statements calling 
for Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing to be delayed. A lot of 
these colleagues have written me very personal letters calling for 
Judge Kavanaugh's hearing to be delayed. Some of them have written me 
very personal letters about coverups or hiding or handling documents in 
ways they perceive to be different from what other committee chairmen 
have done. In regard to the delay of the hearing, they claim that it is 
because President Trump's former lawyer recently pleaded guilty to 
criminal violations of campaign finance law, allegedly at President 
Trump's direction.

  I am not going to delay Judge Kavanaugh's nomination hearing. There 
is no precedent for delaying a hearing in these circumstances. In fact, 
it is just the opposite. There is clear precedent pointing in the other 
direction. I will give my colleagues at least one.
  In 1994, President Clinton nominated Justice Breyer to the Supreme 
Court. At that time, President Clinton was under investigation by 
Independent Counsel Robert Fiske in connection with the Whitewater land 
deal. Indeed, President Clinton's own records were under grand jury 
subpoena. Yet the Senate confirmed Justice Breyer by a vote of 87 to 9 
during all of that.
  In fact, President Clinton was under investigation for much of his 
Presidency and was even impeached for committing perjury. Obviously, he 
wasn't convicted. But through all of this, the Senate didn't stop 
confirming his lifetime appointments to the bench. President Trump is 
not even close to being in the same legal situation as President 
Clinton, but obviously some people around here think he is.
  So my colleagues' plea to delay the hearing rings very false 
considering the precedent I just gave, and maybe historians can give us 
more precedents.
  So I want to tell my colleagues why liberal outside groups and Senate 
Democratic leaders decided to oppose the President's Supreme Court 
nominee by any means necessary. They even said so. Some even announced 
their opposition before Judge Kavanaugh was nominated. The minority 
leader said he would fight Judge Kavanaugh with everything he has.
  Members of the Judiciary Committee announced their opposition before 
giving Judge Kavanaugh any consideration whatsoever. One Member said 
that voting for Judge Kavanaugh is ``complicit in evil.'' Another 
Member said that Judge Kavanaugh threatens ``destruction of the 
Constitution of the United States.''

[[Page S5817]]

  The goal has always been the same: to delay the confirmation process 
as much as possible and hope that the Democrats take over the U.S. 
Senate in the midterm elections.
  The Ranking Member's hometown newspaper reported on this strategy 
recently, and the headline called it an attempt to stall. The 
strategies may change, but the goal to obstruct the confirmation 
process remains unchanged. First, Democratic leaders tried to apply the 
Biden rule, which bars confirmations in Presidential elections and 
which many Democrats previously said doesn't even exist. They tried to 
apply it even to midterm elections. When they used it, it was applied 
just to Presidential elections.
  Now, when this strategy failed, because it was completely and flatly 
false, they changed strategies. They tried pushing for an unprecedented 
disclosure of Judge Kavanaugh's executive branch documents, even though 
we have already received more pages of such documents than any previous 
Supreme Court nominee. This is on top of Judge Kavanaugh's 12-year 
judicial track record and other more relevant publicly available 
materials.
  Now they are trying to latch on to the legal troubles of President 
Trump's former associates, but, as I just explained, there is no 
precedent or logical reason for the Senate to decline to proceed on 
Judge Kavanaugh's nomination in these circumstances. It is just another 
attempt to block Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation by any means necessary.
  On a related note, we are working to make available as many of the 
documents relevant to Judge Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court 
when we receive them--to make them publicly available as soon as 
possible.
  It is common practice--I hope everyone knows--to receive documents 
with a restriction called ``Committee Confidential'' until we can 
assure ourselves that we will not disclose sensitive, confidential 
information to the public in violation of the Presidential Records Act. 
Chairman Leahy, who is here on the floor with me, did so during Justice 
Kagan's confirmation process, and I am doing the same. This gives 
Judiciary Committee members a jump start on reviewing documents 
because, otherwise, if you had to wait until they were all cleared, you 
wouldn't even be reading them yet.
  The goal is to make as many publicly available as possible as soon as 
possible.
  I have promised to work with President Bush and President Trump to 
waive committee confidentiality, when the law requires it, for specific 
documents that my colleagues would like to use at the confirmation 
hearings. This is also consistent with how the Judiciary Committee has 
handled this issue in the past. And, of course, all of my Senate 
colleagues are welcome to review committee-confidential documents at 
their convenience. Simply get in touch with my staff. The staff there 
will make sure that they have full access to the range of committee-
confidential documents.
  One of my colleagues tweeted, and I am not going to name this 
colleague because there is no point in embarrassing anybody to make a 
very strong point here about how ridiculous some of this argument has 
become. This is the tweet:

       Chairman Grassley unilaterally deemed Kavanaugh records 
     Committee Confidential. Penalty for release could include 
     `expulsion' from the Senate, which hasn't happened since the 
     Civil War, for disloyalty to the Union. GOP is going that far 
     to keep them secret.

  I hope all of my colleagues see the absurdity of that tweet.
  Now, that person is kind of acting like the Senate has never received 
committee-confidential documents before. It is common practice, and it 
has happened in previous Supreme Court nominations, even under 
Democratic chairmen.
  So to sum up, it is so regrettable that some of my colleagues on the 
other side of the aisle have politicized this process so much, but 
also, at the same time, they have short memories.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Lee). The Senator from Colorado.
  Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the Defense 
appropriations bill that we are now debating. I congratulate Senator 
Shelby and Senator Leahy, and other Senators for working together in a 
cooperative manner to fashion and advance this important legislation.
  For my home State of Colorado, this legislation means critical 
funding for our men and women in uniform at installations such as 
Peterson, Buckley, and Schriever Air Force Bases, the Air Force 
Academy, and Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, and beyond.
  This bill provides the first significant pay raise--the first 
significant pay raise--for soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines for 
close to 10 years, and it is well deserved and long overdue.
  As the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East 
Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy, I want to 
highlight several provisions related to these areas. The bill provides 
$356 million in additional funding to expand and accelerate cyber 
research across the Department of Defense, including $117 million for 
Army cyber security research efforts and $116 million in Missile 
Defense Agency cyber security enhancements.
  This legislation will support critical cyber security programs, 
including CyberWorx at the Air Force Academy, DIUx in Silicon Valley, 
and the Army Futures Command in Austin, TX.
  The bill focuses on our ability to modernize not only what we might 
use in conflict but also to understand how conflict might be waged 
through technology.
  Through a fully funded and equipped Cyber Command, we will be armed 
not only with new funded capability and technology but with new titles 
and authorities to be able to downgrade, disrupt, and destroy cyber 
attacks on our infrastructure and economy.
  As our force evolves and changes, the Cyber Command will continue to 
be a vital stakeholder in our defense communities.
  I am also pleased that the legislation supports the administration's 
concept of a ``free and open Indo-Pacific'' by fully funding our 
military activities in the Indo-Pacific region, including U.S. Pacific 
Command theater cooperation activities with partner nations.
  I am also pleased that the bill specifically includes funds to 
support activity with the Pacific Island nations, including Palau. 
These nations are at risk of falling under more and more Chinese 
influence, and it is important for the United States to exert an active 
leadership role to keep these allies engaged.
  Countering China's rise represents a grave challenge for U.S. 
national security, but it is a challenge that we must absolutely rise 
to meet. According to the ``National Security Strategy,'' released in 
December of just last year, ``for decades, U.S. policy was rooted in 
the belief that support for China's rise and for its integration into 
the post-war international order would liberalize China. Contrary to 
our hopes, China expanded its power at the expense of the sovereignty 
of others.''
  According to the 2018 ``National Defense Strategy,'' ``it is 
increasingly clear that China and Russia want to shape a world 
consistent with their authoritarian model--gaining veto authority over 
other nations' economic, diplomatic, and security decisions.''
  According to the annual ``Department of Defense Report on Chinese 
Military Power,'' released just last week, ``China's military 
modernization targets capabilities with the potential to degrade core 
U.S. operational and technological advantages. To support this 
modernization, China uses a variety of methods to acquire foreign 
military and dual-use technologies, including targeted foreign direct 
investment, cyber theft, and exploitation of private China nationals' 
access to these technologies.''
  I am pleased that both the administration and Congress are now 
recognizing this reality and taking steps to rebuild our military to 
stand up to China.
  I am leading a bipartisan effort in the Senate called the Asia 
Reassurance Initiative Act, or ARIA, which will set a generational 
policy toward the Indo-Pacific. I expect that the Senate Foreign 
Relations Committee will mark up ARIA in September, and I urge my 
colleagues to cosponsor this very important effort.
  We know that China will continue to bully its neighbors and to test 
U.S. resolve, and we must respond accordingly.
  On Monday, we heard the disturbing news that the nation of El 
Salvador,

[[Page S5818]]

under Chinese pressure, has decided to sever diplomatic ties with 
Taiwan in favor of Beijing. This is an outrageous and unwarranted move 
for El Salvador, which has enjoyed official relations with the Republic 
of China since 1933.
  In response, I have introduced an amendment with Senator Rubio to 
this legislation that will restrict U.S. funds to the government of El 
Salvador.
  It is our sincere hope that this amendment will send a direct message 
to Taiwan's allies that the United States will use every tool to 
support Taiwan's standing on the international stage and will stand up 
to China's bullying tactics across the world.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

                          ____________________