[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 177 (Thursday, October 26, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5197-S5200]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

     MILITARY CONSTRUCTION, VETERANS AFFAIRS AND RELATED AGENCIES 
                  APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2024--Continued

  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
resume consideration of H.R. 4366, which the clerk will report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 4366) making appropriations for military 
     construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and related 
     agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and 
     for other purposes.

  Pending:

       Schumer (for Murray/Collins) amendment No. 1092, in the 
     nature of a substitute.


 =========================== NOTE =========================== 

  
  On page S5197, October 26, 2023, second column, the following 
appears: Pending: Schumer (for Murray/Collins) amendment No. 1092, 
in the nature of a substitute. Murray motion to suspend rule XVI 
for the consideration of Schumer (for Murray/Collins) amendment 
No. 1092 (listed above) to the bill.
  
  The online Record has been corrected to read: Pending: Schumer 
(for Murray/Collins) amendment No. 1092, in the nature of a 
substitute.


 ========================= END NOTE ========================= 


  Mr. WARNOCK. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Warnock). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                   Recognition of the Majority Leader

  The majority leader is recognized.


                             Maine Shooting

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, this morning, the Nation grieves with the 
people of Lewiston, ME. After last night's horrible, senseless mass 
shooting, the shooter remains at large, and we pray that there is no 
more bloodshed after the horrors of last night.
  The stories coming out of Lewiston are gut-wrenching--people gunned 
down while just trying to enjoy their Wednesday night out at the 
bowling alley and a restaurant--a bowling alley and a restaurant. These 
are supposed to be places where families go to have a good time, but 
now they have become sites--too many places--of tragic mass shootings 
in America. It is beyond heartbreaking that mass shootings like this 
continue to happen in our country.
  My condolences are with the families and loved ones. I can just 
imagine them sitting at home just wondering, why did this happen to us? 
My prayers will be with all Mainers and first responders as authorities 
keep working to locate the shooter. Today, our hearts are with 
Lewiston.


                  Speaker of the House   Mike Johnson

  Mr. President, on the new Speaker, yesterday, after a monthlong 
paralysis in Congress, House Republicans finally--finally--elected a 
new Speaker of the House.
  I spoke with Speaker Johnson last night and expressed my 
congratulations on his election to the speakership. I told Speaker 
Johnson the exact same thing I told Speaker McCarthy: In a divided 
government, the only way we will avoid a shutdown, fund the government, 
or pass the supplemental is bipartisanship.
  I hope the new Speaker learns lessons from the disastrous experiences 
of his predecessors--Speakers Boehner, Ryan, and McCarthy--and realizes 
that coddling the hard right is disastrous both for the country and for 
the Republican leadership because, like it or not, Speaker Johnson will 
not be able to ignore the need for bipartisanship in divided 
government.
  Right now, the world is in crisis. Americans and the citizens of the 
world--people across the world--are looking for a Congress that is 
functional, decisive, and able to reach across the aisle.
  We must work together to send Israel the help she needs. We must 
stand with our friends in Ukraine, which majorities in both Chambers 
have made clear they support. To allow Putin to succeed is to endanger 
America's national

[[Page S5198]]

security, and it is alarming that a growing number of House Republicans 
don't seem to care about this. We also need humanitarian aid to reduce 
the suffering in the Middle East, in Ukraine, and elsewhere.
  We must also finish the bipartisan appropriations process. Extremist 
funding bills that make cuts way below the bipartisan June agreement 
will not fly. If Speaker Johnson tries to send those cuts over here, 
they are not going to happen. They will be dead on arrival. All they 
will do is waste more time at a moment when every day counts. So he 
cannot listen to these 30 Members of the hard right who somehow think 
they have all the knowledge and all right on their side and then tie us 
in a knot.
  Again, whether House Republicans like it or not, this is divided 
government. Bipartisanship is the only way we will be able to get 
anything done. I hope and pray Speaker Johnson realizes this quickly. 
If Speaker Johnson repeats the mistakes of Speaker McCarthy, if he 
tumbles down the MAGA road, it will be inevitable that the House finds 
itself trapped in even more chaos very soon. If Speaker Johnson lives 
up to the label that Congressman Gaetz has given him, ``MAGA Mike,'' he 
will fail, as the previous Speakers have. But if Speaker Johnson 
chooses the bipartisan path, we can do great things for the American 
people, just as we did last Congress with an evenly divided Senate and 
a narrowly divided House.

  I look forward to working constructively with Speaker Johnson and 
congratulate him on his election.


                           Government Funding

  Mr. President, on the minibus, the Senate today will continue the 
bipartisan appropriations process here on the floor.
  Yesterday, Senators were busy voting through a number of amendments 
offered by both sides. We held rollcall votes on 4 amendments offered 
by our Republican colleagues and adopted 25 additional amendments, many 
of them bipartisan, by voice vote. We have more amendment votes to hold 
later today, and Members should expect to keep voting into next week. 
It is my hope that we can wrap up work on these appropriations bills as 
soon as next week.
  When the Senate passes these three bills, they will be the only 
appropriations bills passed in either Chamber that both parties 
support, and I think that is key to remember as we move forward. As I 
said a moment ago, when I spoke to the newly elected Speaker Johnson, I 
said the only way we will solve our most pressing problems--funding the 
government, avoiding a shutdown, passing a supplemental--will be 
bipartisanship.
  The Senate has been a model for how we can make bipartisanship 
happen, and it is all to the credit of our appropriators, particularly 
Chair Murray and Vice Chair Collins. I thank my colleagues for their 
work. I look forward to holding more amendment votes today and into 
next week.


                     Domestic Supplemental Funding

  Mr. President, on the domestic supplemental, as the Senate works on 
America's needs on the world stage, including passing robust funding 
for Israel, Ukraine, the Pacific region, and humanitarian aid for Gaza, 
for Israel, and for Ukraine, we will also work to take care of our 
needs at home.
  Last week, the President released his emergency supplemental to help 
our friends in Israel and Ukraine defend themselves. Now Democrats are 
working with the administration on a domestic supplemental to support 
the needs of American families.
  Our domestic supplemental will fund bipartisan priorities for 
Americans, like disaster response, securing American energy 
independence, fighting the scourge of fentanyl, expanding access to 
affordable high-speed internet, and so much more.
  Among our greatest needs right now is addressing childcare, which 
remains outrageously expensive for too many families and something I 
want to see the Senate address. I have had many conversations recently 
with my colleagues about how the Senate can make childcare more 
affordable. We are at a cliff now. As of September 30, funding was 
greatly decreased, and now childcare workers are being laid off and 
childcare slots are being rescinded. Families are in turmoil when that 
happens. We have to work on making childcare more affordable, and we 
have to work on it on the domestic side and have to keep it in the 
domestic supplemental and do everything we can to get it done.
  Just as we have to work on national security on a bipartisan basis, 
the Senate should absolutely work on America's domestic needs with 
equal bipartisan fervor. You can't have one try to argue against the 
other. We need both domestic help and national security. It is not an 
either-or in this situation. The President has wisely offered a 
supplemental on domestic issues.


                       Nomination of Jacob J. Lew

  Mr. President, on the nomination of Jack Lew, yesterday, the Senate 
Foreign Relations Committee voted 12 to 9 to report out the nomination 
of Jack Lew, President Biden's pick to serve as Ambassador to Israel. 
Later today, I will file cloture on this most urgent nomination so Mr. 
Lew can be appointed to the post of Ambassador ASAP.
  The team at the U.S. Embassy is doing a heroic job right now under 
terrible circumstances, including a wonderful charge d'affaires who 
helped us during our visit.
  Israel is in crisis. America needs to stand with her, and a most 
urgent and obvious step would be to make sure we have an American 
Ambassador in place.


                               Australia

  Mr. President, finally, later this morning, it will be my honor to 
welcome Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia to the U.S. 
Capitol for a bipartisan meeting.
  Australia is a key ally, partner, and friend of the United States. 
The strength of the U.S.-Australia alliance is illustrated powerfully 
by the AUKUS trilateral agreement and by our shared commitment to 
enhancing Indo-Pacific security and by our strong economic bonds.
  I will tell the Prime Minister that the Senate will keep working to 
pass all of the AUKUS agreement, because our national security 
interests align with respect to China. I was proud to work alongside my 
Senate colleagues to include AUKUS Pillar II in the Senate NDAA, and I 
will work with my House colleagues during the NDAA conference to ensure 
its inclusion in the final bill. We are now working to make sure 
Australia can receive the Virginia-class submarines that are an 
essential part of the trilateral agreement.
  So, again, I thank Prime Minister Albanese for meeting with us today. 
I look forward to discussing the importance of AUKUS and finding new, 
innovative ways to collaborate.


                          United Auto Workers

  Mr. President, on the UAW, I am so pleased to hear that Ford and UAW 
may have reached a tentative agreement. I hope that this spurs GM and 
Stellantis, as well as the UAW, to continue negotiating in good faith.
  The bottom line is simple, the workers gave up plenty when the auto 
industry was in trouble. Now that the auto industry is making large 
profits, the workers need to share fairly in that.
  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.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                   Recognition of the Minority Leader

  The Republican leader is recognized.


                             Maine Shooting

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I was devastated to hear the news last 
night of a deadly shooting in Lewiston, ME. I know the entire Senate 
stands behind our colleagues Senator Collins and Senator King as they 
help their State marshal its response.
  We pray especially for the victims of this senseless violence, for 
their families, and for the law enforcement personnel working 
tirelessly to save lives and bring the suspect to justice.


                  Speaker of the House   Mike Johnson

  Mr. President, now, on an entirely different matter, yesterday, I 
spoke with the newly elected Speaker of the House,   Mike Johnson. I 
congratulated him on his victory, and I expressed my support as he 
begins to steer the House Republican majority.

[[Page S5199]]

  We have a lot of work ahead of us. House and Senate Republicans need 
to work together on a number of urgent priorities, beginning with 
supplemental appropriations for a number of our national security 
priorities. So I look forward to meeting with the Speaker soon to begin 
this important work.


                                 Israel

  Mr. President, every day brings new harrowing details of the 
terrorist attacks of October 7, and we continue to learn more about the 
role Iran plays in aiding and abetting terror. Just yesterday, new 
reports indicated that hundreds of terrorists from Hamas and 
Palestinian Islamic Jihad traveled to Iran last month for specialized 
combat training with Tehran's murderous Quds Force.
  Of course, waiting for specific evidence of tactical involvement 
really misses the point. Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of 
terror. It has spent decades supporting proxy terrorists who share 
their hatred for Israel and America precisely so Tehran can maintain 
plausible deniability. We cannot lose sight of this savage charade. 
Evil will continue to target the United States and our allies, whether 
we pay attention to it or not.
  And the threats our adversaries pose are all connected. Iran doesn't 
just underwrite terrorist attacks on Israel; it outfits Russia with 
drones to help kill Ukrainians. China doesn't just menace Taiwan; it 
helps Iran circumvent international sanctions by trading consumer goods 
for oil. And Russia isn't just pummeling a sovereign neighbor; it has 
joined China for joint naval exercises in the Sea of Japan, as well as 
off the coast of Alaska.
  Our adversaries' ambitions are not local. They have been showing us 
for years that they are determined to challenge American leadership, 
undermine our interests, and weaken our alliances.
  But on every front, the Biden administration's response has fallen 
short. The President was hesitant to deter Russia's aggression in the 
first place and has dithered about helping equip Ukraine to defeat it. 
He has prioritized engagement with China on climate policy over 
building resilient supply chains with trusted allies.
  And just listen to his administration's jaw-dropping naivete after 3 
years of squandering leverage on Iran. In early October, the 
President's National Security Advisor wrote a self-congratulatory 
article assessing the administration's foreign policy.
  Here is some of what he said about the Middle East:

       In the face of serious frictions, we have de-escalated 
     crises in Gaza and restored direct diplomacy.

  He went on:

       U.S. troops were under regular attack in Iraq and Syria. . 
     . . Such attacks, at least for now, have largely stopped.

  Finally, he claimed that the President's approach ``frees up 
resources for other global priorities'' and ``reduces the risk of new 
Middle Eastern conflicts.''
  Well, at least that was the account that went to print before 1,400 
Israelis were murdered on a Saturday morning and before Iran-backed 
terrorists injured two dozen servicemembers in numerous attacks in Iraq 
and in Syria.
  The incongruity between the administration's spin and the reality has 
since been scrubbed from the article online, but the Biden 
administration's naive approach to terror remains woefully inadequate 
to meet the growing threat of radical Islamic terrorism--from 
Afghanistan to Yemen, to Iraq and the Levant, to the Sahel.
  Abandoning Afghanistan, obsessing about closing Guantanamo Bay, 
removing the Houthis' designation as a terrorist organization, turning 
the other cheek when terrorists attack Americans and our allies, 
squandering leverage over Iran--weakness in one theater begets weakness 
in another.
  The United States is a global superpower, and it is high time we 
started embracing and properly resourcing the responsibilities that 
come with that role. Now is the time to invest deeper in our alliances 
and partnerships. It is time to restore credible deterrence with hard 
power.
  That is why I will oppose Senator Paul's resolution to compel the 
withdrawal of American servicemembers from Niger later today. Radical 
Islamic terrorism in that part of the world is on the rise, and we 
should be working more closely with local partners, not abandoning 
them. We should be conducting more surveillance flights, not blinding 
ourselves by abandoning strategic airfields in Niger. Russia and China 
are working overtime to displace American influence in Africa. We 
should not be making their job any easier.
  Beyond today's vote, the Senate should recognize the opportunity 
before us to shape a supplemental appropriations bill that equips our 
military, our defense industrial base, and our allies and partners to 
meet the growing threats that we face--from our southern border to 
radical Islamic terrorism, to authoritarian aggression. We have a 
chance to demonstrate the American leadership our people, our allies, 
and our interests require. We should take it.
  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.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Iowa.


                         Fiscal Responsibility

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, 59 years ago tomorrow--in other words, 
Friday--Ronald Reagan delivered his iconic ``A Time for Choosing'' 
speech. In this speech, the future President laid out, in very stark 
terms, the challenges that Americans faced as a nation, all due to a 
bloated Federal Government that threatened America's prosperity and 
individual freedoms.
  Well, America is once again at a time for choosing, and much like in 
Reagan's time, the issues confronting us cross party lines. This would 
be a good time for me to say that we have a partial step in this 
direction because of the Biden-McCarthy agreement in June not to shut 
down the government because the government couldn't issue debt.

  So here we are again. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and 
others have warned policymakers for decades that, absent changes, the 
retirement of the baby boom generation would result in an explosion of 
debt and deficit.
  Yet we in the Congress have turned a blind eye as the country walked 
headlong towards a fiscal cliff. For 40 years, our public debt averaged 
around 35 percent of our economy. But over the past 15 years, that debt 
has grown by leaps and bounds.
  First came the 2008 financial crisis, which led to a $6 trillion leap 
in public debt in just 4 years after 2008. This amounted to a doubling 
of the national debt as a share of the economy, rising from 35 
percent--where it was for about 40 years--to over 70 percent of GDP.
  Then, we all know what the pandemic has done to the public debt. The 
pandemic hits, and public debt went upwards by $7.5 trillion over 3 
years. As a result, public debt soared to roughly equal to our Nation's 
entire annual economic output--or what you have economists tell you: 
That is about 100 percent of GDP.
  Now that brings us to where we are today and to take Ronald Reagan's 
advice very seriously: a nation drowning in a sea of red ink with no 
life preserver or a rescue boat in sight.
  What is more, debt continues to rain down upon us at a record clip. 
The fiscal year 2023 deficit checked in at 2 trillion once you adjust 
for the Supreme Court striking down the Biden student loan bailout.
  Measured as a share of GDP the 2023 deficit was larger than in all 
but 5 years since 1945.
  Our historic deficit was fueled, in part, by rising interest payments 
on the debt, which alone cost $711 billion. The cost to service our 
debt is expected to consume an increasingly larger share of the Federal 
budget. While we argue about what we should or shouldn't spend 
taxpayers' money on, interest on the debt is crowding out our 
priorities and shrinking our options going forward. And this all 
automatically happens because you pay the interest on the national debt 
or you default; and we don't want to do that. And that is what the 
Biden-McCarthy agreement of June kept from happening.

[[Page S5200]]

  Going back to June, the CBO projected that servicing our debt over 
the next 10 years would cost 10.4 trillion; however, that projection 
was made before rates on treasury bonds used to finance our debt surged 
to a 16-year high. The rate on a 10-year treasury bond is now a full 
percentage point higher than what CBO assumed this spring. All of that 
adding to our deficit problems. But these higher than expected 
borrowing costs persist. It will be trillions more spent simply 
servicing that debt.
  What is more, we haven't yet hit the precipice of the fiscal cliff 
that CBO and other nonpartisan experts have been warning will result 
due to the aging population. And, of course, that involves Social 
Security and Medicare. And the trustees of these two programs say the 
trust funds for both programs will be insolvent within the next 10 
years. Moreover, CBO projects that spending for major health programs 
will skyrocket from 32 percent of Federal revenue this day to 45 
percent of revenue at midcentury.
  We can no longer afford to kick the can down the road. We must put an 
end to governing crisis to crisis and get back to the fundamentals of 
government. And the fundamentals of government for Social Security and 
Medicare should cause us to look at the success that Reagan and then-
Democratic speaker Tip O'Neill of the House of Representatives said: We 
can't let Social Security go bankrupt. And they fixed it to this very 
day by tough decisions that we ought to be making today to fix it for 
the next 50 years like they did. And I will bet maybe they, at that 
time, thought maybe they were only fixing it for 10 or 20 years. But 
that is from 1983 till now. Social Security is supposed to run out of 
resources, reserves by, I think, 2033.
  So what I am saying is it means actually managing the government 
instead of doing it from crisis to crisis and to do it by not chasing 
an elusive partisan ideal. That will require implementing honest budget 
and appropriations practices that will enable us to begin to chip away 
at this daunting debt.
  According to the well-regarded Penn Wharton Budget Model, the United 
States has about 20 years to take corrective action to avoid fiscal 
disaster. I almost hate to say 20 years--but Penn Wharton is 
respected--because that means that maybe we won't take the necessary 
action in the near term. And it is always easier to solve these 
problems yesterday than it is tomorrow. The longer we wait to take 
these actions, then, obviously, I am saying the more painful those 
actions will be.
  In Penn Wharton's estimation, if we put off corrective action until 
the fiscal crisis is at our doorstep, no amount of future tax hikes or 
spending cuts will enable us to avoid defaulting on our debt.
  When I just said--as I did--until a fiscal crisis is upon our 
doorstep, Iowans at my 99-county meetings that I hold every year would 
say that we are already at that point. And when you talk about maybe it 
can be done or not done, then you can imagine the cynical people of 
Iowa--just like the cynical people of the United States as a whole--are 
even going to have less confidence in our government institutions.
  Now, we all know there is plenty of blame to go around for how we got 
into our current fiscal situation, but no amount of finger-pointing--
political or otherwise--will change where we find ourselves today. We 
must now make a choice. We can either continue down the path to fiscal 
ruin, or we can begin to rein in a bloated Federal Government in 
pursuit of a more prosperous tomorrow.
  Well, remember what I said about Ronald Reagan 59 years ago tomorrow, 
also in the words of Ronald Reagan:

       You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve 
     for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth or 
     we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand 
     years of darkness.

  We see on television a lot of times people saying how God-awful this 
country is. And yet on that same television day, you can see 10,000 
people crossing the border to come to our country. For those people 
that live in America and have lived here all their life and find that 
America is not such a great place, they ought to wonder why people all 
over the world want to come to America.
  Or sometimes I tell people at citizenship ceremonies in the 
courthouses of Iowa when I am able to go there, I say to this group--
many of them have come from autocracies to America where they have less 
freedom than they have in America today--and I say to those people, I 
hope when you hear somebody that was born in America bellyaching about 
the God-awful wrongs we have in this country, I hope you will remind 
them as a person born in another country how great this country is 
because people that were born here lose sight of how great America is.
  So getting back to this fiscal issue I have been talking about, 
whether Ronald Reagan says it or I say it or each of my 99 colleagues 
say it--because I think, to some extent, we are all on the same page--
maybe not how to solve the problem, but that there is a problem--then I 
say, like Reagan said: The choice is clear. It is time we do what our 
constituents sent us here to do. And that basically means to lead--to 
lead us out of this fiscal crisis.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.

                          ____________________