[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 27 (Tuesday, February 12, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S1270]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                       STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, like many of my fellow Americans I 
listened to the President's State of the Union Address 1 week ago, and 
while there are any number of the President's false or misleading 
assertions that I could refute, I want to take a minute to highlight 
just a few.
  The President began his remarks with a focus on cooperation and 
compromise, calling for unity among both political parties to work 
together and break what he described as ``decades of political 
stalemate.'' The reality is that last Tuesday's address followed the 
longest shutdown in our government's history--a shutdown that resulted 
from the President's stubborn refusal to work with Congress--and was 
delivered by a President who has made a daily practice of making 
unfounded, personal attacks against Democrats and anyone else who 
opposes his xenophobic, ill-conceived policies.
  The President went on to call on Congress to make needed commitments 
to ``defeat AIDS in America and beyond.'' Who doesn't support that? The 
problem is that his administration proposed a $1 billion cut in fiscal 
year 2018 and a $1.2 billion cut in fiscal year 2019 to combat HIV/AIDS 
around the world. This is typical of this White House. The President 
makes outlandish claims, whether in ignorance or reckless disregard for 
the truth, in a transparent attempt to appear to care about solving 
problems his administration is actually making worse.
  Funding for these programs has been restored by Congress--not in 
partnership, but rather in spite of, the White House. Many Members of 
Congress, myself included, are waiting for the President's upcoming 
budget request for fiscal year 2020, to see if his professed support 
for HIV/AIDS programs will be backed up with the necessary funding.
  The President also mentioned a new ``government-wide initiative 
focused on economic empowerment for women in developing countries.'' 
That is a laudable goal that Republicans and Democrats have been 
supporting for years, but the reality is that this administration has 
repeatedly cut funding for family planning and other health programs 
that directly contribute to women's health and economic prosperity, as 
well as funding to combat gender-based violence and to support UN 
agencies focused on women's health, economic empowerment, and human 
rights.
  The President stated that our country has ``a moral duty to create an 
immigration system that protects the lives and jobs of our citizens.'' 
There is nothing remotely moral about forcibly and needlessly 
separating young children from their parents at our border and not even 
caring enough to keep a record of their whereabouts so they can be 
reunited with their parents. The President stated that he wants legal 
immigrants ``to come into our country, in the largest numbers ever.'' 
Is he even aware that his administration has slashed the refugee 
admissions cap from 110,000 per year down to 30,000, a record low for 
our country?
  The President recalled the countless Americans, like the soldiers who 
stormed the beaches of Normandy 75 years ago, whose selfless sacrifices 
helped freedom triumph over fascism and solidified our Nation's place 
as the world's only superpower. He challenged us not to squander what 
we have inherited from ``the blood and tears and courage and vision of 
the Americans who came before.'' The irony of that message isn't lost 
on those of us who have worked, if sometimes unsuccessfully, to 
mitigate the impact of the President's relentless efforts to undermine 
the international order that those Americans strived to create to 
protect global peace and security for future generations.
  The President routinely injects uncertainty into our support for 
NATO, has withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal despite Iran's 
compliance as confirmed by his own administration, removed the United 
States from the Paris Climate Accord, the Global Migration Compact, the 
UN Human Rights Council, and has otherwise threatened or taken steps to 
walk away from numerous multilateral commitments that provide the 
United States with a platform for global leadership. Without U.S. 
engagement in these arenas, our adversaries are unchecked to pursue 
their own interests, which are often at odds with ours.
  The President should heed his own words. The American soldiers at 
Normandy were not answering a call to unilateralism or isolationism. 
President Roosevelt, 4 years earlier, cautioned the country against 
those who ``believe that we can save our own skins by shutting our eyes 
to the fate of other nations.'' Addressing the threat of the Axis 
powers, he stated, ``I make the direct statement to the American people 
that there is far less chance of the United States getting into war if 
we do all we can now to support the nations defending themselves 
against attack.'' Now, as then, we must do everything in our power to 
strengthen global alliances and confront threats to peace and stability 
head on. International diplomacy should be a tool of first resort, not 
a casualty of domestic politics. The President declares that his 
actions advance U.S. national security interests, but we know better.
  These are but a few examples of how the President's lofty rhetoric 
bore no factual relationship to the actions of his administration. The 
American people deserve to know the truth, not to be misled by the 
President of the United States.

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