[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 154 (Tuesday, September 24, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S5637]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Ukraine

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, we continue to read reports containing 
additional information about the nature of President Trump's phone 
calls with Ukrainian President Zelensky and his administration's 
conduct in the weeks and months before and after those communications.
  Ignoring for a moment the political reporting, we know that someone 
inside the intelligence community found the President's conduct 
alarming enough to warrant an official whistleblower complaint. The 
complaint was so alarming that the inspector general of the 
intelligence community, appointed by President Trump, said that it was 
credible and urgent and a complaint that by law must be submitted to 
Congress. This is not one of those discretionary moments; the law says 
this must be transmitted to Congress.
  We still have not received the whistleblower complaint, and Congress 
has been advised in writing by the inspector general of the 
intelligence community that the Trump administration is preventing us 
from getting this report. So later today, I will request the unanimous 
consent of the Senate to pass a resolution calling for the 
whistleblower complaint to be provided to the Senate and House 
Intelligence Committees, as prescribed by law. Let me repeat that. 
Later today, I will request the unanimous consent of the Senate to pass 
a resolution calling for the whistleblower complaint to be provided to 
the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, as prescribed by law.
  It is our job in the Congress to provide the necessary oversight of 
the executive branch, to take these matters--matters of foreign policy, 
national security, and constitutional integrity--with the utmost 
gravity, to seek the facts, and then grapple with them.
  I made several requests of the majority leader yesterday in an effort 
to collect the facts, to which I have received no response. Today, I 
will seek approval for a simple resolution calling for the 
whistleblower complaint to be transmitted to the relevant committees in 
Congress. I hope the majority leader and Senate Republicans will not 
block it. I hope they will rise to the occasion and realize that this 
is their constitutional duty and realize that this involves the 
security of the United States.
  I will have more to say on the matter before requesting my 
colleagues' consent to pass this resolution later today.