[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 182 (Thursday, November 14, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6601-S6602]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I rise to speak up for those who serve 
our country all around the world, courageously, selflessly, with great 
sacrifice. I rise on behalf of our diplomatic corps, our Foreign 
Service Officers, civil servants, and State Department personnel. I 
rise on behalf of patriotic Americans serving our country on the front 
lines of war zones and devastating conflicts, in countries with 
oppressive governments and societies hostile to our own.
  Our national security is stronger because of them. American people 
are safer because of them. Our children's futures will be more secure, 
more prosperous, because of them. And because

[[Page S6602]]

of them and their hard work and sacrifice, our grandchildren may know a 
world with less pain, less strife, less conflict. And yet they have 
come under attack, simply for serving their country.
  This week, three State Department witnesses are testifying during the 
House of Representatives' impeachment hearings on the Trump-Ukraine 
scandal. These individuals have, in many cases, spent their entire 
careers serving our Nation with distinction, on behalf of both 
Republican and Democratic administrations. Some have even worn the 
uniform of the U.S. Armed Forces.
  These men and women are not partisans. They are patriots, patriots 
who put our country first. And for putting country first, for being 
willing to tell the truth, they have come under attack--not by a 
foreign regime bristling at their efforts to promote democracy, not by 
oligarchs and criminals who fear their effectiveness--though that has 
happened as well.
  No. They have come under attack in our own country, by our own 
President, by the head of our government that they so bravely and 
selflessly serve. It pains me, and so I am standing before you today to 
speak up on their behalf, on behalf of each voice that has come forward 
in this time of need and tumult for our country. This is a time when we 
need truth--truth above party, truth above political loyalties and 
expediency, truth above self-interest. These diplomats, these 
professionals, these proud public servants are putting the country 
before themselves--if only this President could do the same, if only 
he--just once--could put the interests of others ahead of his own.
  But frankly, I am not the one who should be standing up on behalf of 
our diplomatic corps, nor should it be only the Democrats on the 
Foreign Relations Committee. There is a job post that actually entails 
standing up for the men and women of our State Department each and 
every day. The job is called Secretary of State. It is a job held by 
Secretary Mike Pompeo. Yet under Secretary Pompeo's watch, the 
dedicated Americans who serve in the State Department have been thrown 
to the wolves.
  Our Secretary of State should be the No. 1 defender of our diplomatic 
corps. He should come forward and tell the American people what he saw, 
what he heard, and what he did about it. He should defend the officials 
who serve in his own Department. And he could start by uttering just 
one word of support for Ambassador Taylor, Deputy Assistant Secretary 
Kent, and Ambassador Yovanovitch. But he has had plenty of time for 
that. We have seen very clearly where he stands.
  So instead, I, along with my Democratic colleagues on the Senate 
Foreign Relations Committee, are calling on other senior officials at 
the State Department to step up and do the right thing. This week, we 
sent a letter to the Deputy Secretary of State, John Sullivan, and the 
Undersecretary for Management, Brian Bulatao, calling on them to do 
what Pompeo has not: to publicly support the brave officials who are 
putting their careers, their reputations, and terribly, even their 
personal finances on the line--all to serve their country. I hope that 
they do, even in the face of vicious and unfounded attacks unleashed by 
the President, his allies, and those who refuse to stand up for the 
truth.
  Some have been called ``disloyal,'' ``unpatriotic,'' and ``Never 
Trumpers.'' In fact, yesterday morning, as State officials were about 
to begin testifying, the President tweeted, in all caps, ``NEVER 
TRUMPERS!'' These false attacks misunderstand the entire premise of 
public service. To be a career public servant means to work every day 
on behalf of the public, our government, our country, our Constitution, 
to check politics at the door. To argue otherwise demonstrates this 
President's warped view of how our government works. Our career Federal 
employees do not serve him. They serve our country. They serve the 
American people.
  The only ``loyalty'' they pledge is loyalty to the oath they take to 
uphold our Constitution. In coming forward, in speaking the truth, in 
raising concerns about events that trouble them as guardians of our 
national security, they are carrying out an act of selfless patriotism 
and love of country that that this President is incapable of 
understanding, let alone doing himself.
  I hope that some of our other senior officials will step forward and 
show just a sliver of the backbone that these individuals have shown. I 
hope they will do the right thing. I hope they will issue statements of 
public support for officials courageously coming before Congress and 
commit to protecting them from retribution or reprisal.
  Our State Department employees deserve commendation, not retaliation. 
They deserve our thanks, not our scorn. Above all else, they deserve 
leaders who will defend them, not desert them when it matters most.

                          ____________________