[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 4 (Wednesday, January 8, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S87-S88]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                  Iran

  Madam President, I want to commend our brave troopers and our 
intelligence officers and the President for the daring strike last week 
on Qasem Soleimani. Qasem Soleimani had the blood of thousands of 
Americans on his hands, and he was plotting to kill more Americans just 
like his terrorist proxies had killed in Iraq on December 27. He even 
was picked up, when he landed at Baghdad International Airport, by a 
terrorist culpable for the bombing of our Embassy in Kuwait in 1983.
  You would think that everyone would celebrate the death of a 
terrorist monster, but, no, you would be wrong. You would be wrong. Our 
Democratic friends have been criticizing and complaining ever since 
Qasem Soleimani died Thursday night.
  Two particularly surprising complaints I have heard are that the 
Democrats weren't notified in advance and that Qasem Soleimani's plot 
wasn't imminent. Let's think about those criticisms.
  The Speaker of the House and the minority leader weren't notified in 
advance of a target of opportunity against a terrorist mastermind. I am 
sorry, but what did you expect? Is the President or Secretary of 
Defense or Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff supposed to call hours 
in advance when they don't even know if the target will show up where 
our intelligence expects?
  Were they supposed to call when the missile was in the air? Give me a 
break. Give me a break.
  I will share what the majority leader told us yesterday about the 
raid on Osama bin Laden. Do you think he got notified in advance? No. 
Did he expect to be notified in advance? No. He said the Secretary of 
Defense called him after the strike to give him a brief summary of what 
had happened, and the majority leader, in 2011, simply said: 
``Congratulations.'' He put out a public statement to the exact same 
effect. Where is that sense of patriotism and pride from the Speaker of 
the House and from the minority leader today with the elimination of 
Qasem Soleimani?
  Second, this critique that, well, Qasem Soleimani wasn't plotting an 
imminent attack--I mean, we are talking about how many terrorists can 
dance on the head of a pin here. Qasem Soleimani had been killing 
Americans for 30 years. He was flying around the Middle East to meet 
with his terrorist proxies in Syria and Lebanon and Iraq to plan how to 
kill more Americans.
  We just had a briefing downstairs with the Director of the CIA and 
the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of 
the Joint Chiefs of Staff in which they said: Yes, the plot was 
imminent. Intelligence is never ironclad, though. It can rarely say a 
strike is going to happen at this

[[Page S88]]

time on this day at this target. That is apparently the standard the 
Democrats want to hold the President to--not weeks, not even days, not 
even a period of days against a hard target that presented an 
opportunity, as Qasem Soleimani did last Thursday night.
  Let me say this: Imminence is ultimately a question of judgment that 
has to be made by the people we have elected to make those decisions 
for our country. It is not a question of intelligence. Our intelligence 
officers have great skills and capabilities. They can tell us the best 
intelligence they have that suggests the timing of such attacks. But it 
is ultimately the people's elected representatives who make those 
judgments.
  I will just submit that if you are a soldier sitting in Iraq with 
Qasem Soleimani flying around trying to decide when to kill you, the 
question of imminence probably looks a lot different than if you are a 
comfortable Senator sitting behind guarded doors with armed security 
details protecting your every movement.
  I will simply say yet again that Qasem Soleimani got exactly what he 
deserved. All those Americans he killed and their families also got 
what they deserved: justice. America and the world are a safer place 
because Qasem Soleimani is no longer a part of this world.
  I yield the floor.
  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.
  Ms. SMITH. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. KAINE. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  Under the previous order, all postcloture time has expired.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Solomson 
nomination?
  The yeas and nays were previously ordered.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander) and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. 
Perdue).
  Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. 
Alexander) would have voted ``yea.''
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Massachusetts (Ms. 
Warren) is necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cramer). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote or change their vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 89, nays 8, as follows:

                       [Rollcall Vote No. 6 Ex.]

                                YEAS--89

     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blackburn
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Braun
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hassan
     Hawley
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Johnson
     Jones
     Kaine
     Kennedy
     King
     Lankford
     Leahy
     Lee
     Loeffler
     Manchin
     McConnell
     McSally
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Paul
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Risch
     Roberts
     Romney
     Rosen
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Schatz
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--8

     Booker
     Gillibrand
     Harris
     Klobuchar
     Markey
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Alexander
     Perdue
     Warren
  The nomination was confirmed.

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