[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 62 (Thursday, April 7, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2069-S2071]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



             Unanimous Consent Request--Executive Calendar

  Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, I am here today to speak in support of the 
nomination and confirmation of Christopher Lowman to be the Assistant 
Secretary of Defense for Sustainment. We are in a fight for the free 
world and that requires maintaining a robust military presence of our 
allies, including and especially NATO countries.
  Any U.S. mission also needs a strong logistics chain. That means 
being able to move troops, medical supplies, fuel, tents, anything else 
throughout the world at any given time. And this is no longer an 
abstraction. We have seen what happens when it isn't in place. We are 
seeing it in real time with Russia's equipment and training problems in 
Ukraine.
  And that is why we have an Assistant Secretary of Defense for 
Sustainment to lead on logistics. As we are watching the Ukrainians 
bravely push back this unprovoked Russian war, part of the reason that 
they are having success is that the Russian logistics chain is 
absolutely broken. We, in the United States, and our Armed Forces take 
logistics extraordinarily seriously. But we don't have the person in 
charge of that confirmed to lead the Department on logistics.
  This position is left unfilled because Josh Hawley is blocking Mr. 
Lowman's nomination. Senator Hawley apparently disagrees with the Biden 
administration policy on Afghanistan, and so he is punishing our 
servicemembers and our NATO allies while a war in Europe is raging. It 
is worth repeating. Senator Hawley is mad about what happened 6 months 
ago in a different part of the world, and in response, he is harming 
the Department of Defense and our national security.
  Mr. HAWLEY. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. SCHATZ. I will not yield.
  Mr. Lowman is well-qualified for this job, and no one is disputing 
that. He is a Marine Corps veteran who spent nearly four decades 
working for the Army. He has the exact expertise necessary to help 
support our logistics chain and help to make sure that our military 
remains the best fighting force on the planet. It is time for Senator 
Hawley to release this hold and move the nomination forward.
  This is preposterous. You can do a hold. Members do a hold. The 
Presiding Officer has done a hold. I have done a hold. I voted no on 
nominees. I retaliated against Democratic and Republican 
administrations when I disagreed with policy. But a blanket hold on the 
Department of Defense and holding the person in charge of our logistics 
chain is absolutely inexcusable.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the 
following nomination, Calendar No. 777, Christopher Joseph Lowman, of 
Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary of Defense, and that the Senate 
vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate; that the 
motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and 
statements related to the nomination be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?

[[Page S2070]]

  The Senator from Missouri is recognized.
  Mr. HAWLEY. Reserving the right to object, now that I have the floor, 
will the Senator from Hawaii answer a question?
  Do you agree with this administration's policy to denying MiGs to the 
Ukrainians?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator may not interrogate the other 
Senator.
  Mr. HAWLEY. Well, the Senator doesn't want to answer any questions. I 
see. He denied my request to ask a question a moment ago.
  Mr. SCHATZ. Is there an objection? Does he object or not?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Regular order has been called.
  Is there objection?
  Mr. HAWLEY. I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard. The Senator from Missouri 
is recognized.
  Mr. HAWLEY. Mr. President, thank you for finally giving me an option 
to speak. It is interesting, the Senator will come to the floor but 
doesn't want to engage in a colloquy or answer questions.
  Let's talk a little bit about the policy--disastrous policy--that he 
is supporting. This is the White House's latest talking points that 
their failure in Ukraine is now due to some logistics problem and the 
Department of Defense--they, of course, can't be responsible for what 
they are doing, just like they are not responsible for anything. They 
are not responsible for what happened in Afghanistan--their policy. 
They are not responsible for what has happened in Ukraine--their 
policy.
  Let's talk about their policy in Ukraine.
  Mr. SCHATZ. Will the Senator yield to a question?
  Mr. HAWLEY. So what has President Zelenskyy been asking for for 
weeks, indeed, months on end? He said: ``Send us planes.''
  What has this administration done? No. Actually, first they said yes, 
then they said maybe, then they said no.
  Today, the Secretary of Defense testified before the Armed Services 
Committee, under oath, that even though this Congress has appropriated 
$3 billion in military lethal aid to the people of Ukraine, the Defense 
Department has so far given them less than one-third of it. Why, 
because of logistics? No. He was asked that. No, because of policy. His 
comment was: We are giving them what we think they need.
  I would just point out that that is not what the Ukrainians think. If 
you listen to President Zelenskyy, if you listen to the Ukrainian 
parliamentarians who have been here, if you talked to them, what they 
will say is they need more military aid; they need more help.
  This administration won't give it to them, not because of logistics 
but because of policy. We don't have a logistics problem; we have a Joe 
Biden problem, and we have had that problem in Ukraine from day one.
  This administration's policy was to deter a Russian invasion of 
Ukraine. It failed. Why did it fail? It is not hard to see. President 
Biden came to office, what did he do?
  Mr. SCHATZ. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. HAWLEY. When Ukraine asked for military assistance, he denied it.
  Can we have order?
  Mr. SCHATZ. I am asking, will the Senator yield.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri has the floor.
  Mr. HAWLEY. When Joe Biden came to office, the people of Ukraine 
asked for military assistance a year ago--a year ago. Did he give it to 
them? No. He denied them military stance. He denied them lethal aid. 
What did he do, though, for Vladimir Putin? When he came to office, he 
green-lighted Vladimir Putin's pipeline. He turned their pipelines on. 
He turned our pipelines off. What did he do with American energy 
production? He throttled it down. He turned it off.
  His first actions in office were to, among other things, cancel the 
Keystone Pipeline, halt the leasing program in ANWR, issue a halt to 
new oil and gas leases and drilling permits on Federal lands, impose 
tougher regulations on oil and gas and methane emissions, and a host of 
new regulations on other energy production.
  And that had the desired effect. Russian energy production--up. 
Russian revenues--up. What has happened since then, since the invasion 
of Ukraine? It has been one gaffe after another. He won't send them 
planes.
  Today, the Secretary of Defense also confirmed that this 
administration has, in fact, not been sharing intelligence with the 
Ukrainians. In fact, today the Secretary of Defense had to admit that 
the administration was going to be forced to change policy--his words--
change policy in Ukraine because of the fact we had not been sharing 
all the intelligence we might have with Ukrainian soldiers and the 
Ukrainian military despite their request for that. Whose decision was 
that? Joe Biden's. It is his policy.
  The President hasn't been entirely silent. He did have this to say:

       For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power.

  Now Joe Biden doesn't appear to know whether we are fighting or 
struggling to help the Ukrainians defend themselves or whether we are 
launching a war of regime change in Russia, itself.
  You know, the bottom line is this: On one issue after another, when 
it comes to Ukraine, this President has been wrong. On every aspect of 
policy that has mattered, he has been wrong. Is it any wonder the 
Ukrainians are saying: Change policies, share your intelligence, send 
us the aid that we have requested.
  I say again, we don't have a logistics problem. The White House 
shouldn't point fingers and shift the blame. We have a Joe Biden 
problem. That is the nub of the issue here.

  There was Joe Biden's comment sounding like we are going to send 
ground troops:

       You're going to see when you go there--

  He said to servicemembers.

       And you . . . some of you have been there. You're going to 
     see--you're going to see women, young people standing . . . 
     in front of a damn tank, just saying, ``I'm not leaving. I'm 
     holding my ground.''

  The President--it is one gaffe after another. It is one switch in 
policy after another. It is disaster from beginning to end. And let's 
not forget where these foreign policy disasters really kicked off in a 
big way. Yeah, I was in Afghanistan. Am I concerned about Afghanistan? 
You are darn right I am. Thirteen servicemembers were killed at Abbey 
Gate, including one from my home State. I will never forget talking to 
his father as soon as we learned of the attack--before, in fact, the 
official notice of his son's death had been released. His father asked 
me to do everything in my power to hold this administration 
accountable, and that is exactly what I am going to do.
  Has anyone been held accountable yet for Afghanistan? Has somebody 
been fired? Has somebody been relieved of command? No. Has somebody 
been shown the door? No. Has there been a change in policy at the 
Department of Defense? No.
  We just stumble from one crisis to another. Why? Because we have a 
Joe Biden problem. This administration is doing exactly what their 
Commander in Chief wants them to do and it is wrong, again and again 
and again and again.
  Until we see some change in policy from this administration, until 
this Senate gets serious about its oversight responsibilities at the 
Department of Defense, I am going to ask that for senior defense 
leaders, we at least observe regular order. I can't block a nomination. 
I can't halt it, but I can ask that regular order be followed. That is 
exactly what I am going to ask with regard to this nomination and other 
senior leaders until there is accountability, until we have a change in 
policy, and until this administration admits that on issue after issue, 
in virtually every aspect of its foreign policy, it is just dead wrong.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
  Mr. SCHATZ. What Senator Hawley wants is an excuse to go through his 
litany of criticisms of the Biden administration. And the truth is that 
every Senator has that right without blocking the logistics guy from 
the Department of Defense.
  He could have brought his floor charts out here and given a withering 
speech about all of the things that he thought went wrong. But he is 
doing a very specific thing: He is damaging the Department of Defense. 
We have senior

[[Page S2071]]

DOD leaders, we have the Armed Services Committee coming to us and 
saying: I don't know what to tell him. I don't know how to satisfy him, 
but he is blocking the staffing of the senior leadership at the 
Department of Defense.
  This comes from a guy who raised his fist in solidarity with the 
insurrectionists. This comes from a guy who, before the Russian 
invasion, suggested that maybe it would be wise for Zelenskyy to make a 
few concessions about Ukraine and their willingness to join NATO. This 
comes from a guy who, just about a month ago, voted against Ukraine 
aid. He is saying it is going too slow. He voted no. He voted no on 
Ukraine aid, and now, he has the gall to say it is going too slow.
  And this final insult is that until--what--Secretary Austin resigns? 
That is not a serious request. People used to come to me during the 
Trump administration all the time: Do you think Trump should resign? Do 
you think Tillerson should resign? That is stupid. Of course, I think 
all the people I disagree with should quit their jobs and be replaced 
with people I love; of course, I think they should all resign. That is 
not how this world works. That is not a reasonable request from a U.S. 
Senator: Until the Secretary of Defense quits his job, I am going to 
block all his nominees. That is preposterous--and coming from a person 
who exonerated Donald Trump for extorting Zelenskyy for withholding 
lethal aid.
  They withheld lethal aid until--unless--Zelenskyy would release false 
smears against Joe Biden's son, and then he voted to exonerate 
President Trump for this. So spare me the new solidarity with the 
Ukrainians and with the free world, because this man's record is 
exactly the opposite.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.