[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 98 (Wednesday, June 8, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2857-S2859]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Domestic Terrorism

  Madam President, that brings me to our second obligation to families 
like

[[Page S2858]]

the Whitfields. It was the focus of our hearing yesterday. We have got 
to condemn and combat the hateful ideology that has inspired attacks 
like the mass shooting in Buffalo.
  During the previous administration, officials within the FBI and 
Department of Homeland Security shared a sobering assessment--this was 
under the previous President, Trump. They found that since 2000, the 
year 2000, White supremacists have been ``responsible for . . . more 
[homicides] than any other domestic extremist movement.''
  Right now, in the words of FBI Director Wray, the threat of domestic 
terrorism is ``metastasizing across [America],'' and we have seen 
evidence of it time and again.
  In the past decade alone, White supremacists have committed mass 
shootings in a church, at a Sikh gurdwara in the State of Wisconsin, 
synagogues, not to mention a Walmart, and a grocery store.
  We have seen other acts of domestic terrorism. This past weekend, in 
Wisconsin, Madam President, a violent extremist broke into the home of 
a former judge and shot him to death. The murderer was found with a 
list of names that included that judge and other officials, including 
the Governor of your State.
  It is no coincidence that the threat of White supremacy is growing 
worse at a time when racist rhetoric is being dragged into the 
mainstream of our discourse.
  The fact is, in 2022, hate has a formidable platform on FOX News. 
Media figures like Tucker Carlson are amplifying false racist 
conspiracy theories like the so-called ``great replacement theory'' to 
millions of vulnerable Americans.
  Night after night, Tucker Carlson legitimizes the fiction that his 
political opponents are scheming to deliberately change the 
demographics of America. It is the same racist dogma that inspired the 
resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan 100 years ago. They just took off the 
white robes on this gang.
  Tucker Carlson, and pundits like him, traffic in fear and hate. They 
are radicalizing their viewers by preying on paranoia and winking to 
the far-right extremists who look to them for leadership.
  Tragically, we have seen the growing use of political violence 
against elected officials, against flight attendants, against election 
workers, school board members, and other public servants. To make it 
clear, our condemnation of violence applies on the right and on the 
left.
  Just this morning, news broke that a man was arrested near the home 
of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Carrying at least one weapon, 
and with burglary equipment, he told police he was planning on killing 
the Justice.
  Let me be clear: We have to stand united--Democrats, Republicans, 
Independents, left and right, voters and nonvoters alike--in condemning 
violence wherever its source, right or left.
  Whether violence is being threatened against a sitting Supreme Court 
Justice or the Capitol Hill police officers on January 6 who wanted to 
defend this building from the insurrectionist mob, it is unacceptable 
and inexcusable.
  As the threat of domestic terrorism looms over the country, we must 
ensure that members of law enforcement have resources, training, and 
our support in their legitimate exercise of their duty. That is why we 
need to pass the Domestic Terrorism Protection Act.
  I put this bill on the floor in 2017. It ensures that the Federal 
Government will keep track of the crimes and the nature of them. That 
is it. It doesn't give any new powers of investigation, surveillance, 
or arrest--simply counts the number of attacks and where they come 
from.
  It was the decision of the Trump administration to remove White 
supremacy as one of the motives for this domestic terrorism at a time 
when the head of the FBI tells us that threat is metastasizing across 
America. President Trump was wrong. The FBI should be keeping track of 
these crimes so that we know the source of this violence.
  That is why this legislation is needed not just to pass through the 
Senate but to say to the Whitfield family in Buffalo, NY: We hear you. 
We are going to start by doing something very basic.
  As we watch one community after another torn apart by sickening acts 
of violence, the Members of this Senate have to go beyond thoughts and 
prayers. If anyone in this body is unwilling to take even the most 
basic steps to save lives, I would encourage them to follow the advice 
that Mr. Garnell Whitfield offered yesterday. If you don't want to take 
any action, ``yield your positions of authority and influence to others 
that are willing to lead.''
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
  Ms. HIRONO. Madam President, I want to thank the chairman of the 
Judiciary Committee for his remarks just now. I, too, sit on the 
Judiciary Committee, and I listened to Garnell Whitfield talk about his 
86-year-old mother, who was murdered, and his charge to us to do 
something, because basically he said: If you are not going to do 
something in the face of all this gun carnage in our country, what are 
you doing here?
  I think that is a question that each of us should ask: What the heck 
are we doing here if not to protect America's citizens?
  One of the questions that I asked of the panel, which consisted of 
two invitees from the Republican side and three panel members of 
Democratic invitees--I asked them: Is the easy access to guns in our 
country a major part of the gun violence and the massacres and the 
killings in our country? And they each said yes. They acknowledged that 
the easy access to guns, regardless of ideology, is what makes our 
country the outlier country among all developed nations. What that says 
to me is that we need to be very, very committed and very serious about 
the need to enact sensible gun safety legislation.
  As I listened to one of my other colleagues a little bit earlier 
talking about inflation, yes, inflation is a problem, but certainly it 
is not the answer to just blame the Democrats. I would like my 
Republican colleagues to make a commitment to do what we need to do and 
at least get a start in ending the gun violence in our country. As I 
said at yesterday's hearing, Hawaii has among the strongest gun safety 
legislation in the country. We have the lowest gun violence in the 
country. There is a cause and effect here.
  As Mr. Whitfield charged us with yesterday, do something. That is our 
responsibility.


                     Honoring Our PACT Act of 2021

  Madam President, turning to another subject, over decades of 
conflict, millions of American servicemembers have been exposed to burn 
pits and other toxic materials. These men and women risked their lives 
in service to our country, and we have a duty to ensure they get care 
for conditions caused by these toxic exposures.
  For months, my colleagues and I on the Veterans' Affairs Committee 
have worked to craft a bill that meets our responsibility, our duty to 
our veterans, and now we have the responsibility to pass this 
legislation here in the Senate and deliver for our veterans.
  This legislation is a bill named for SFC Heath Robinson from Ohio, 
who served tours of duty in Kosovo and Iraq, where he was exposed to 
toxic burn pits. A decade after returning home, Sergeant Robinson 
developed a rare form of lung cancer caused by his toxic exposure. 
Tragically, he passed away in 2020.
  The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT Act is 
historic, comprehensive legislation that provides the care toxic-
exposed veterans like Sergeant Robinson deserve. This bipartisan 
legislation extends VA healthcare eligibility to millions of post-9/11 
veterans, including nearly 3.5 million who were toxic-exposed. It also 
adds nearly two dozen conditions to the VA's list of service 
presumptions and strengthens the VA's ability to provide the high-
quality care and benefits these veterans need in a timely manner. 
Altogether, this bill delivers the historic investment in caring for 
our Nation's veterans.

  The Honoring Our PACT Act is the latest step we are taking to support 
our veterans in Hawaii and across our country. Just yesterday, 
President Biden signed legislation to name the state-of-the-art VA 
clinic under construction on Oahu after the late Senator Daniel Akaka. 
He also signed our

[[Page S2859]]

bill to expand access to breast cancer screening and treatment for 
veterans, helping ensure every VA patient can get the care they need. 
By passing the Honoring Our PACT Act, we can continue building on this 
progress and delivering for our veterans.
  I would like to thank Chairman Tester, Ranking Member Moran, and 
Chair Mark Takano in the House for their leadership in this effort, and 
I would like to thank all the veterans and their loved ones who have 
shared their stories and advocated for so long to help us get to this 
moment.
  This is an important and long-overdue step toward honoring our 
Nation's veterans, caring for them. I urge my colleagues to pass this 
bill without delay.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The junior Senator from Florida.

                          ____________________