[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 130 (Wednesday, August 3, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3877-S3879]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              AFGHANISTAN

  Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, today, I come to the floor to urge 
President Biden to turn his attention to his disastrous withdrawal from 
Afghanistan 1 year ago. I want to direct the Commander in Chief to 
reflect on a series of commitments he made to the American people 
before and during his reckless exit.
  On August 19, 2021, President Biden promised U.S. troops would remain 
on the ground until every American who wanted to leave Afghanistan was 
evacuated.
  On August 26, 2021, President Biden promised to hunt down and avenge 
the deaths of 13 servicemembers killed in action by ISIS-K in Kabul.
  In a speech to the United Nations on September 21, 2021, the 
President promised his administration would hold the Taliban 
accountable to protect the rights of Afghan women.
  The Commander in Chief failed to uphold his word on all three fronts, 
and American security and prosperity have suffered as a result of his 
broken promises.
  Today in Afghanistan, Americans who want to come home remain left 
behind, and the administration's lack of transparency concerning both 
the number and desire of Americans trapped in Taliban-controlled 
Afghanistan is alarming.
  The President and members of his Cabinet repeatedly claimed that the 
number of Americans who wanted out of Afghanistan was roughly 100. That 
number was spouted from September 2021 through the beginning of this 
year--the same number over and over again--even though we would hear 
reports on the television that 40 more Americans were out, 200 
Americans were out, and yet the number remained the same. How many 
Americans remain in Afghanistan? The number they kept using was 100.
  There is no way around it: President Biden broke his promise to the 
Americans who remain and their families anxiously awaiting their 
return.
  Americans have lived and traveled abroad with assurances that the 
United States would come to their aid in the event of a conflict. No 
matter how far away, the United States is expected to have the backs of 
its citizens. Our withdrawal from Afghanistan was a cut-and-run 
approach that greatly damaged that guarantee.
  If the world's greatest superpower cannot locate and extract its own 
citizens from the clutches of seventh-century thugs, then far greater 
tests of our sovereignty, security, and prosperity will only loom 
larger.
  As we approach the anniversary of the haphazard withdrawal, there is 
an open wound hurting our ability to deter the actions of our 
adversaries.
  President Biden promised vengeance on the terrorists who killed 13 
Americans--including 1 from my hometown of Red Oak, IA--at Hamid Karzai 
International Airport.
  He told the American people:

       The United States will never rest. We will not forgive. We 
     will not forget. We will hunt you down to the ends of the 
     Earth, and we will--you will pay the ultimate price.

  Again, the Commander in Chief's rhetoric does not match his actions. 
The U.S. military has not targeted or conducted any counterterrorism 
strikes against ISIS-K in Afghanistan since America's withdrawal on 
August 31, 2021. Those who planned the cowardly act remain at large.
  It is not like ISIS-K is holed up in the Hindu Kush mountains, away 
from population centers. At least 26 terrorist attacks, many of which 
ISIS-K has claimed responsibility for, have struck the Afghan people in 
metropolitan Kabul since our withdrawal. Our enemies are not hiding, 
but far too often, America is.
  We are also stuck with a largely unrealized over-the-horizon 
counterterrorism strategy that has not deterred the resurgence of 
terrorists or avenged our lost warriors.
  Our military and covert operators' recent strike was welcome and long 
overdue, but the strike demonstrates a capability rarely employed and a 
posture toward terrorism far too inexact.
  It was President Biden, after all, who said last August that al-Qaida 
was gone from Afghanistan. Folks, that is clearly not the case. 
Ensuring that al-Qaida leader al-Zawahiri will never harm an American 
again was a necessary action, but the strike has raised serious 
questions about the security situation we have in Afghanistan. The 
President's so-called and much-promised over-the-horizon 
counterterrorism strategy has not been a deterrent, like it was 
promised to be. Instead, we are seeing a growing threat emanating from 
Afghanistan.
  This is the first U.S. military strike in Afghanistan since America 
left on August 31 of last year. In the meantime, ISIS-K fighters are 
flowing into the country at alarming rates while al-Qaida and the 
Taliban have clearly been working together for the past year. At the 
very least, the Taliban and Haqqani Network gave al-Zawahiri and his 
thugs safe haven, demonstrating ongoing Taliban collusion with 
terrorists. A lone strike does not demonstrate a developed capacity to 
prevent further coordination that threatens American security.
  Not only has the U.S. capacity to protect the homeland been greatly 
damaged, the President's intent to champion human rights as a 
centerpiece of this administration's foreign policy is also in 
shambles.
  Last fall, the President repeatedly claimed Afghan women were a 
linchpin of his foreign policy priorities in the region. Yet, today, 
after 20 years of constitutional democracy and advancement of civil 
rights, the Taliban has unraveled significant hard-won gains for the 
women of Afghanistan. The Taliban enforce a fundamentalist 
interpretation of Islam, prohibit women from working, from attending 
secondary school, and from traveling any distance without being 
accompanied by a male member of their family. Most recently, the 
Taliban has required all women to cover themselves from head to toe in 
the burqa. Yet it is reported that the President's team continues to 
bargain with the Taliban concerning diplomatic recognition, potential 
coordination with the U.S. intelligence community, and access to $3.5 
billion in held currency to the Taliban, despite these actions.
  Extending official diplomatic engagement and facilitating access to 
funding without guaranteed and meaningful liberties for women and girls 
will legitimize the Taliban rule and further

[[Page S3878]]

subject women to a brutal regime. Any further effort to surrender 
leverage to the Taliban is a candid reflection of the Biden 
administration's failure to remedy its own hypocrisy regarding human 
rights.
  The administration's abandonment of Americans, inability to serve 
justice for our soldiers killed in action, impassive counterterrorism 
operations, and ignorance of the human rights disaster they 
precipitated in Afghanistan have substituted sound strategy for an ad 
hoc response of willful negligence.
  And they know it.
  The Department of State and Department of Defense under President 
Biden have refused to cooperate with the Special Inspector General for 
Afghanistan Reconstruction.
  The President's neglect is most profoundly demonstrated through his 
administration's lack of controls on billions of dollars of taxpayer 
and frozen funds marked for humanitarian aid that have found their way 
into the Taliban's coffers.
  Since the Taliban and Haqqani Network--the two groups that are ruling 
Afghanistan--are Specially Designated Global Terrorists, existing law 
compels the administration to disclose the risk of taxpayer money 
slipping into the hands of these two terror groups.
  The licenses issued by the Treasury Department over the last year 
extend far beyond acute humanitarian aid for food and medicine. They 
expand the authorization of funding for activities from endangered 
species research to direct payments to support governing institutions 
controlled by the Taliban and the Haqqani Network.
  I led 15 other Senators in asking the Biden administration to detail 
the total financial support provided to Afghanistan and an honest 
assessment of the taxes, the fees, and the import duties syphoned off 
by the Taliban. More than 6 months later, we are still waiting for a 
comprehensive answer.
  This is completely unacceptable in light of recent reporting that 
Taliban authorities are interfering with the delivery of humanitarian 
aid, despite a pledge to the United Nations last fall that they would 
not. The people of Afghanistan continue to suffer from food insecurity 
while the Taliban are enjoying the spoils of America's generosity.
  Numerous requests for a detailed accounting have gone unanswered by 
the Treasury and State Departments.
  Leaving Americans behind, failing to avenge the death of 13 
servicemembers, and abdicating your promises to Afghan women and girls 
do not deter threats from our shores.
  In testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee on October 26, 
2021, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy stated that ISIS-K and 
al-Qaida have the intent to conduct operations against the United 
States, and that ISIS-K could generate that capability in 6 to 12 
months and al-Qaida within 1 to 2 years.
  Eight months have come and passed, and we have yet to learn how Team 
Biden will protect our citizens from this threat at home or abroad. In 
the absence of such a framework, threats to our national security grow 
every day, risking the lives of Americans at home and abroad.
  Folks, we are rapidly approaching that 1-year mark--the haphazard 
withdrawal from Afghanistan--and we cannot forget.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.


                         Tribute to Joe Shultz

  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, today I rise to pay tribute to my 
longtime Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee staff director 
and dear friend Joe Schultz, who will soon be taking on a new challenge 
after more than 15 years of service in the U.S. Senate.
  Now, the first thing I have to say about Joe, just to get it out of 
the way, is that he is a proud Ohio native and a graduate of the Ohio 
State University, which is an immediate challenge for anyone from 
Michigan, whether you are a University of Michigan grad or, as I am, a 
Michigan State University grad. In fact, his first job in the Senate 
was working for my colleague and friend Senator Brown of Ohio.
  Senator Brown swears that Joe was 6 feet 2 inches and had hair when 
he worked for him, and said it is all about the farm bills that somehow 
changed that.
  But somehow I convinced Joe to come and work for me on the 
Agriculture Committee, in part, by assuring Senator Brown that Joe 
would still be working for Ohio because Senator Brown is on the Ag 
Committee. And I am so glad and lucky that I was able to do that.
  Joe started as our chief economist. He is a great numbers guy, and 
nobody loves spreadsheets as much as Joe. Of course, he is so much more 
than a numbers guy, though, and we very quickly found that out.
  He always knows every part of farm policy, and he is an amazing 
people person--someone you definitely want on your team when you go 
into a farm bill negotiation, which have been known to be tough.
  Joe instinctively knows what people's reactions will be, what they 
will need in order to get an agreement, and he has always had his 
finger on the pulse of the Agriculture Committee and the community. 
That is, in large part, because agricultural is way more than a job for 
Joe; it is his life.
  He grew up on a farm, a family farm in Ohio. He even convinced his 
wife Virginia to have their wedding on the family farm. It was 
beautiful, and I was so honored to be in attendance with all their 
family and friends and their sheep.
  Now, if you have ever talked with Joe, you would probably know that 
his family raised sheep on the farm. And, boy, can he tell you some 
wild stories.
  For years, Joe would have a contest on Facebook during lambing 
season. He called it ``Lambageddon.'' His friends would all guess the 
number of lambs that would be born over Presidents Day weekend, 
typically the busiest lambing weekend of the year. And, of course, he 
always took time off to be there. Whoever got closest to the correct 
number of lambs got bragging rights and the opportunity to name a lamb.
  Given his dedication to the family flock, nobody on the Ag Committee 
was at all surprised when Joe and Virginia welcomed two adorable 
babies, Will and Izzy, into their own family--twins--a little bit more 
than a year ago. After all, sheep typically have twin births, I 
understand.
  If you have ever worked with Joe, one of the first things you notice 
is his wonderful positive attitude. He is quick to smile, quick to 
laugh. He always assumes the best of people. He makes everything he is 
involved in so much better. That is true whether you are talking about 
very contentious farm bill negotiations--and we have had more than a 
few since 2011--or field hearings and meetings with stakeholders.
  I wonder if he has kept a running total of the number of farms he has 
visited in Michigan.
  Nobody--and I mean nobody--can talk about crop insurance like Joe. He 
knows all the details.
  I will never forget, Brandon Fewins, who worked for me for 20 years 
as my Northern Michigan regional manager, and is now the USDA Rural 
Development Michigan State Director. Brandon told this story about 
seeing this firsthand: He remembered a farm bill hearing during which 
one attendee asked a very technical question about regulations. Joe 
gave a very detailed answer and then said: Hold on. He then consulted 
the farm bill legislative text in front of him, found the applicable 
section, and repeated word for word what he had just said off the top 
of his head.
  And then there were the codels. I will never forget the trip to 
Africa in 2014 with the women Members of the Senate. I led this first 
all-women's codel and members of the Agriculture Committee. We went to 
five countries on two continents in 10 days, and many of our stops were 
in very rural areas.
  The codel focused on food security, global hunger, empowering women 
and girls, and agricultural trade.
  Having Joe along was such a huge help--help because of his broad 
knowledge of agricultural issues. And, I have to say, he is an amazing 
travel guide. I know every Senator on the trip would agree with me, and 
we are so glad that he was a part of the trip.
  One thing I am extremely proud of, and I know Joe is too, is the 
strong sense of collegiality he has nurtured with our amazing 
Agriculture Committee staff and beyond.
  As one former colleague said: Joe is the kind of leader who makes 
working long hours under crazy stress tolerable and survivable.

[[Page S3879]]

  Even Republicans have wonderful things to say about Joe. That is not 
something you see on every Senate Committee.
  Joe, I know I speak for all of us, Republicans included, when I say 
we will miss you deeply. I am so grateful to have had your leadership 
and friendship as we have steered the Agriculture Committee 
together. We have an amazing, talented ag staff because of you and your 
leadership.

  I wish you and Virginia and your two beautiful children much success 
and happiness as you move forward to your new adventures. I know you 
will be successful, and I look forward to celebrating all the success.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.

                          ____________________