[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 173 (Thursday, October 31, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6348-S6350]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               H.R. 2740

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I want to say a few words this afternoon 
about the funding of our military, the support for our troops, and what 
just happened on the U.S. Senate floor because it is a pretty sad 
exercise that, unfortunately, happens way too often in this body. I 
know it can be confusing to the people who are watching in the Gallery 
and on TV, but I want to explain what just happened because the 
American people should know what is happening right now in this body.
  Unfortunately, it is deja vu all over again on the Defense 
appropriations bill. Now, I enjoy my bipartisan work. Some of the best 
friends I have made here in the Senate have been on the other side of 
the aisle, but there are also principled disagreements on key issues 
between some of the parties here. One of them is whether we fully 
support our military and national defense and if we make that support a 
priority, not a political football, which is what we just witnessed on 
the Senate floor.
  Now, I know all of my colleagues are patriotic. I have no doubt about 
that--all 100. We all love our country. Yet, in our looking at history 
over the decades and also just in the past few years, it certainly 
leaves one with the impression and the strong conclusion that my 
colleagues on the other side of the aisle support our military when it 
is convenient but have much higher priorities for which they are ready 
and willing to undermine military funding, readiness, and support for 
our troops who keep us safe.
  To put this in context, we just voted to get on the Defense 
appropriations bill, which is the bill that funds our military. We had 
a budget agreement several months ago that did that. We just took up a 
previous appropriations bill. The plan in the Senate was to go from the 
bill on appropriations that we just passed to the Defense bill. That 
was the plan. Lo and behold, my colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle said: No. We are going to filibuster the funding for our 
military. That is what just happened.
  America, media, please understand that this is what just happened.
  As I mentioned with regard to my colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle, this priority for the military isn't always there. I also 
mentioned decades. If you look at the national Presidential level over 
the past four decades during which a Democratic President has been in 
power--think about it: President Carter, President Clinton, President 
Obama--what has happened? Defense spending has been cut dramatically 
every time, and the readiness and morale of our military forces has 
plummeted. That is a fact.
  I chair the Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and Management 
Support. From 2010 to 2015, defense spending for our military declined 
by 25 percent, which was President Obama's second term, and we are 
still digging out of the hole we dug for our military with regard to 
readiness. Let me give you a couple of examples.
  In 2015, when I first got to the Senate, 3 out of 58 brigade combat 
teams in the U.S. Army were at the tier 1 level of readiness that we 
expect. Think about that. The men and women who joined the Army who 
were ready to fight were in 3 out of the 58 brigade combat teams. The 
brigade combat team is the 5,000-man building block of

[[Page S6349]]

the Army, but over half of the Marine Corps naval aviation couldn't fly 
in 2015. Think about that. In terms of training for all pilots in the 
military, the flight times plummeted to, I think it was, about 8 hours 
a month.
  My very first challenge in 2015 was part of this Obama drawdown of 
the military. Right when I got here, they had announced that they were 
going to cut an additional 50,000 U.S. Army Active-Duty troops. This 
was in 2015. This was only 4 years ago. Again, national security 
challenges are growing in the world, and 4 years ago, the Obama 
administration cut the Army by an additional 50,000 Active-Duty troops. 
This included a very important unit for the Army that happened to be in 
my State, the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division--a 5,000-
man Airborne brigade combat team. It was the only airborne, Arctic-
trained unit in the entire Asia-Pacific, in the entire Arctic. It was 
on the chopping block to go.

  We fought that. I fought that. It was an issue I put hundreds of 
hours into with my team. I put a hold on the Secretary of the Army's 
confirmation. I put a hold on the Chief of Staff of the Army's 
confirmation to finally get their attention that this was a bad idea 
for America's national security. We won that fight, but the other 
40,000 Active-Duty troops whom the Obama administration decided to get 
rid of are gone, and we are still rebuilding from that.
  Make no mistake, if one of my colleagues who is running for 
President--my colleague from Massachusetts or my colleague from 
Vermont--gets elected next year, defense spending is going to plummet. 
That is just the way it is.
  Go look at some of the versions of the Green New Deal for which they 
are advocating. It is not just about shutting down resource 
development. Some of the versions of that legislation, of that idea, 
say we are going to cut defense spending up to 50 percent. That is in 
the legislation.
  So that is at the national level.
  What about what has been going on in the U.S. Senate?
  I have been here for almost 5 years. One of the big reasons I ran for 
the Senate was to stop the gutting of our military and to take care of 
our troops. I mentioned that from 2010 to 2015, readiness plummeted and 
that defense spending plummeted, but we have turned that around. In 
this Congress, with the Republicans in control and with a Republican in 
the White House, we have turned that around.
  Now we are rebuilding our military, and a lot of my Democratic 
colleagues have supported this. I want to give them credit. They 
realized the Obama cuts were very harmful to our readiness, to our 
military, and to their families. There has been bipartisan support for 
rebuilding our military, but--and this is a big ``but''--this has been 
a big struggle. Why? Every time my colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle have higher priorities than funding our troops and the national 
security of our Nation--and I am not sure there are many higher 
priorities than that, not in my view, anyway--they turn to holding 
hostage defense spending by filibustering the funding of our military.
  That is just what happened a couple of hours ago--actually, an hour 
ago--here on the Senate floor. Their friends in the press don't report 
on it, but it happens all the time. This puts lives at risk, and this 
undermines our military. By the way, the members of the military see 
this. The press might not report on it, but our Nation's troops and 
their families watch.
  I said it happens all the time. Let me give you a couple of examples.
  In 2015 and in 2016, when the minority was led by Harry Reid, of 
Nevada, he filibustered the Defense appropriations bill seven times. 
Again, the media didn't report on it. I am a colonel in the Marine 
Corps Reserves, and I trained with the Marine Corps Forces Special 
Operations Command. I remember being out, training with these marines, 
many of whom are now going off to the Middle East--to Syria, Iraq, 
Afghanistan. Yet what was going on in the Senate was that the minority 
leader, Harry Reid, was blocking the funding of the troops.
  I get it, that one leader of the Democratic Party was doing that, but 
what really shocked me back then was why all of the colleagues on his 
side followed suit to do that. I still can't understand it, especially 
the colleagues who have a significant military presence in their 
States, like in my State, the great State of Alaska.
  During that time, I went to the majority leader, Leader McConnell, 
and asked him to keep bringing this bill to the floor. Let's debate it. 
Let's talk about it. Let's see if the American people understand what 
is happening, which I think they did. As we kept bringing this up to 
the minority leader of the U.S. Senate, many of us came down here and 
asked the questions: Why are you doing this? Do you not think the 
American people understand? Do you not think the troops understand? 
Come down to the Senate floor and explain why you are not supporting 
the funding of our troops and their families and military readiness.
  Unfortunately, he never did that. That was a couple of years ago, and 
it is deja vu all over again today.
  We tried to bring the Defense appropriations bill to the floor in 
September, before the end of the fiscal year, but my colleagues on the 
other side filibustered. What does that mean? It means they didn't want 
to vote on it, and they didn't want to deal with it so they didn't let 
us vote and get the 60 votes to get on the bill.
  Now we are a month into the new fiscal year, and as we just saw on 
the floor, we finished another appropriations bill that had strong 
bipartisan support. The plan was to then go to Defense appropriations, 
but there was another filibuster. Amazing. I still haven't heard an 
explanation from anybody on the other side as to why they are doing it, 
but I will tell you this: It is clear to me that supporting our troops 
and military readiness are not their priorities.
  Here are just a few items in the bill that was just filibustered: a 
3\1/2\-percent pay raise. For the Army, there is full support for the 
58 brigade combat teams I mentioned that were in such a low state of 
readiness. By the way, it is increasing. I think the number is close to 
25 brigade combat teams now that we have been funding the military at 
tier 1 levels. Included is support for the Navy's carrier strike 
groups, amphibious-ready groups for the Marines and Navy, and Navy and 
Marine aviation units. It funds the maximum amount of flying and 
training for our Air Force pilots, which has been such a problem in 
terms of readiness. There is a huge boost to missile defense, most of 
which is based in the great State of Alaska, and it appropriates the 
funding to buy 96 F-35s in fiscal year 2020. These are the most 
sophisticated fifth-generation fighters. Two squadrons of F-35s will be 
coming to my State soon--this is funding for that--to compete with 
China and Russia.
  These are just a few of the particulars, but what do these numbers 
really amount to? A better paid, better equipped, and more lethal 
military force.
  That is what the American people want from us. It doesn't matter 
party--Democrat, Republican--or region--South, North, Alaska, Florida--
the people want this. The troops want this. Their families want this.
  We have troops in harm's way right now all around the world. 
Yesterday, almost every one of the Members of this body--all 100 
Senators--went to a top secret briefing about the raid that killed the 
ISIS leader, al-Baghdadi. We were able to actually see some of the 
video of the remarkable professionalism, courage, and dedication of our 
military Special Forces who went in there at great risk to their lives 
and took out this ruthless, brutal, dangerous terrorist.
  We owe these and our other military members and their families such a 
huge debt of gratitude and certainly the support of the Congress of the 
United States.
  I was honestly thinking this morning: How can any Senator who 
witnessed that yesterday--and I think all 100 were there--come to the 
floor this afternoon and filibuster the funding for our military? Well, 
a bunch of them just did.
  I don't know why, but as far as I can tell, since I have been in the 
Senate--going on 5 years--that is the ninth filibuster of defense 
spending in the appropriations for our military and their families that 
my colleagues on the Democratic side of this body have done.

[[Page S6350]]

  Let me repeat that. Nine times in the last 4\1/2\ years, there has 
been this exercise to hold our military hostage for some other 
political priority by denying them funding--nine times.
  I checked, and since I have been here, there has been no bill--no 
bill--filibustered more by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle 
than the bill that would fund our military.
  Think about that. Think about that for a minute. This is the bill, 
when they want to leverage some other issue that has nothing to do with 
national security, that they pick out and they filibuster--nine times 
in the last 4 years.
  I think it is shameful. It is politics pure and simple, certainly 
driven by the extreme left of their party, many of whom have not 
focused on the national security of our country and supporting our 
troops. They are trying to leverage funding for our troops to gain 
political concessions on other issues.
  Here is the bottom line: The men and women who serve in the military 
don't deserve this. I wish the press would write about it. Don't hold 
your breath on that.
  For my part, I am going to continue to come down here, as I have done 
before on this very issue, and say: Look, if there is one thing we 
should be focused on, it is supporting our military and funding them 
and their families to make them ready, to make them lethal, to enable 
them to protect our country.
  If there is one bill in the Congress that we shouldn't have 
filibustered nine times in the last 4 years, it is this one. But that 
is what just happened.
  I hope more Americans see this. Call your Senators who voted no today 
and tell them you don't agree with that vote. You do not agree with 
that vote. I guarantee you, the men and women who serve our country 
don't either, and they would appreciate if you would weigh in on their 
behalf.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.

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