[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 157 (Monday, September 13, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6441-S6442]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Afghanistan

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I rise to speak to 9/11, the 20th 
anniversary, but before that, I would like to address some of the 
remarks made by the minority leader just a few moments ago.
  He discussed, in the context of the Biden Presidency, what he called 
a ``reckless decision to retreat from Afghanistan with an arbitrary 
deadline.'' What the Senator failed to include was the efforts made 
last year, before Joe Biden was elected President, by the previous 
President, Republican Donald Trump, through his Secretary of State, 
Pompeo, in direct negotiation with the Taliban, to establish the 
deadlines for the evacuation of Afghanistan. The idea didn't come with 
the new President, Joe Biden; the idea started under

[[Page S6442]]

the previous Republican President, Donald Trump, who sent our Secretary 
of State to directly negotiate with the Taliban leaders.
  One of the things that they negotiated, incidentally--I want to make 
a record of it--was the release of 5,000 prisoners by the Afghan 
Government the Taliban wanted released, and President Trump negotiated 
their release.
  Now, the Republican leader in the Senate comes and notes the fact 
that four Guantanamo prisoners are now in positions of power in the 
Taliban administration. Well, of course, that speaks for itself. But 
honesty would require us to note the fact that they were among the very 
same Taliban team President Trump negotiated with last year and now 
have positions of authority. There is no blame for President Biden in 
that score.
  To say that we were naive toward the Taliban is to ignore the 
obvious. President Trump negotiated an agreement with them. If we would 
hold to a deadline for leaving Afghanistan, they would make certain 
that American forces were spared attacks during that period of time. 
That was part of the conversation. That was part of the negotiation. 
That in and of itself was a positive thing, but it also held us to a 
deadline to keep our troops safe.
  The notion of working with and negotiating with the Taliban started 
with President Trump and Secretary of State Pompeo under the President.
  As to whether the situation in the evacuation was entirely avoidable, 
I am not certain there was a playbook left by President Trump when he 
left office as to how he would have handled that evacuation.
  I will say this for President Biden: I believe, as he did, that it 
was time for this war to come to an end. There were 2,461 American body 
bags--American lives lost in the war in Afghanistan. More than 20,000 
of our troops were seriously injured during the course of that war. 
There was $2 trillion spent in 20 years on a war that seemed like it 
would never end. And we spent most of that money in an effort to build 
up an Afghan security force that would take care of itself so America 
could come home. And what happened? As soon as the United States said 
there would be an end to this, sadly, many of these Afghan soldiers--
uniformed, paid for, and equipped by the U.S. taxpayers--threw their 
guns down and surrendered, and then, of course, the administration of 
the Government in Afghanistan left the scene completely.
  So I am one who voted for the invasion of Afghanistan for obvious 
reasons. That is where Osama bin Laden was supposedly hiding out with 
al-Qaida, responsible for the 9/11 atrocity, which we have noted the 
20th anniversary of this week. But I don't believe anyone on the floor 
in this Senate envisioned a war that would go on to be the longest war 
in American history. That is what happened.
  The second issue raised by the Republican leader notes that the 
American Rescue Plan was a recipe for inflation, and he called it a 
``tax hike upon working families.'' Let's clear up that record.
  The American Rescue Plan was suggested by President Biden. The goals 
of that plan were several. The goals included the administration of 
coronavirus vaccines across America, which has taken place in one of 
the most effective efforts ever to make it available. I am sorry that 
some 30 percent of Americans refuse to be vaccinated, but it has 
nothing to do with the availability of the vaccine. President Biden 
kept his word to bring that vaccine to the American people, and that 
was part of the American Rescue Plan. I don't know if the Senator from 
Kentucky is questioning the wisdom of that, but it is a fact.
  The second thing it did was to provide a $1,400 payment, if you will 
remember, that had been promised by President Trump, and we completed 
and kept that promise with the American Rescue Plan, so dollar 
assistance for families across America, including working families, let 
me add. And also then came the child tax credits. It was the most 
extraordinary effort made by our government to help families raising 
children--cash payments through the end of this year. To argue that 
this is somehow a tax on working families is to ignore the fact that it 
is the biggest tax break in the history of this country for working 
families.
  How many Republicans supported us for the $1,400 cash payment to 
families, for the plan to administer the vaccine across America, for 
the help for families with children, for more assistance for 
businesses? Not one. Not one Republican vote in support of the American 
Rescue Plan.
  To hear the theory that was given just a few moments ago by the 
Republican leader is to ignore the obvious: That plan was essential to 
this country coming to grips with this pandemic and starting to get 
this economy back on its feet.
  The Senator from Kentucky has characterized our reconciliation bill 
as reckless, and he talks about the massive tax increases. He forgets 
one particular element. What we are doing is reversing the tax breaks 
given by the Trump administration 4 years ago to the wealthiest people 
in America. Yes, their taxes will go up. But President Biden has made 
it clear that there will be no tax increases for anyone making less 
than $400,000 a year. So if we are talking about a new tax burden, it 
is on people who can certainly afford to pay, and it reverses the tax 
cut which many of the Republicans--I think virtually all of them--at 
the time voted for.