[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 204 (Tuesday, December 12, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5912-S5915]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2024--CONFERENCE
REPORT--Resumed
Mr. REED. Mr. President, I call for the regular order with respect to
the conference report to accompany H.R. 2670.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
The committee on conference on the disagreeing votes of the
two Houses on the amendment of the Senate to the bill (H.R.
2670) to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2024 for
military activities of the Department of Defense and for
military construction, and for defense activities of the
Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel
strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes,
having met, have agreed that the House recede from its
disagreement to the amendment of the Senate and agree to the
same with an amendment and the Senate agree to the same,
signed by a majority of the conferees on the part of both
Houses.
Pending:
Schumer motion to recommit the conference report to
accompany the bill to the Committee on Conference, with
instructions.
Schumer amendment No. 1373 (to the instructions of the
motion to recommit the conference report to accompany the
bill to the Committee on Conference), to modify the effective
date.
Schumer amendment No. 1374 (to Amendment No. 1373), to
modify the effective date.
Mr. REED. Mr. President, I ask that Senator Ernst be permitted to
speak for up to 5 minutes, and that, following the vote on the Ernst
motion to table, Senators Hawley and Lujan be permitted to speak for up
to 10 minutes each.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Senator from Iowa.
Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, Leader Schumer is blocking us from having
an important and timely debate on Biden's unlawful, immoral policy to
use tax dollars intended for our national defense to pay for abortions.
The world is imploding because of Biden's failed leadership and
weakness, and our country is under greater threat than it has been in
years. Meanwhile, the Biden Department of Defense is waging a war on
the unborn.
I never back down from a fight, and Democrats' tactics will not deter
my work to stop Biden from forcing the Pentagon to provide
transportation tourism for abortion with taxpayers' hard-earned money.
As a mom, soon-to-be grandma, and 23-year combat veteran and retired
lieutenant colonel of our great U.S. Army, I firmly believe the
Pentagon should be focusing on protecting innocent life, not destroying
it. That is why I have led the legislation to overturn this abhorrent
policy and why I am here today to continue my fight for life.
Congress has been clear for nearly half a century: The Hyde amendment
protects taxpayers from being forced to fund abortions, and that
includes the Department of Defense.
Senator Schumer should stop obstructing the world's greatest
deliberative body from debating this important, longstanding issue.
A ``yes'' vote on this motion would allow me to offer the House-
passed, pro-life provisions similar to my own bill. Including these
protections in the Defense bill would restore the DoD's mission
integrity by preventing any taxpayer funding for Biden's radical
abortion tourism, including travel costs.
America is being threatened by adversaries at home and abroad. Why
are President Biden and Leader Schumer dividing us with their radical
abortion agenda?
This is a moment where we should all stand united in the defense of
our Nation. Let's do so today.
I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote yes to defeat
Schumer's gross attempt to silence our voices and those of the unborn.
Motion to Table Amendment No. 1373
Mr. President, I move to table the Schumer amendment No. 1373 for the
purposes of offering my amendment numbered 1376, and I ask for the yeas
and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
The result was announced--yeas 47, nays 53, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 339 Leg.]
YEAS--47
Barrasso
Blackburn
Boozman
Braun
Britt
Budd
Capito
Cassidy
Cornyn
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Ernst
Fischer
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hawley
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Johnson
Kennedy
Lankford
Lee
Lummis
Marshall
McConnell
Moran
Mullin
Paul
Ricketts
Risch
Romney
Rounds
Rubio
Schmitt
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Tuberville
Vance
Wicker
Young
NAYS--53
Baldwin
Bennet
Blumenthal
Booker
Brown
Butler
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Collins
Coons
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Durbin
Fetterman
Gillibrand
Hassan
Heinrich
Hickenlooper
Hirono
Kaine
Kelly
King
Klobuchar
Lujan
Manchin
Markey
Menendez
Merkley
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Ossoff
Padilla
Peters
Reed
Rosen
Sanders
Schatz
Schumer
Shaheen
Sinema
Smith
Stabenow
Tester
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Warren
Welch
Whitehouse
Wyden
The motion was rejected.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
Mr. LUJAN. Mr. President, I rise in support of Senator Hawley's
motion to table.
And I speak today on behalf of: Annie, Henry, Cipriano, Rosemary,
Tina, Louisa, Francisco, Laura, Wilbert, Charles, and the thousands
upon thousands of people who have endured the agony and suffering
brought on by our nuclear weapons testing in New Mexico and across the
country.
In July of 1945, Annie was in her kitchen with her family when, all
of a sudden, they heard a boom. The next second, they were on the floor
holding onto one another, trying to comfort each other, because around
them windows were shattering and walls were crumbling.
[[Page S5913]]
When they went outside, they thought that it started to snow, but it
was ash falling from the sky. Some families, who were away from the
community, later that night returned, only to find clothing that they
were hanging on a drying line full of this ash that they didn't know
where it was coming from.
Both Annie and her youngest sister Marcie were the only two children
living in their little home--their casita--in Capitan, NM. Both have
died from cancer.
Henry was just 11 years old when the bomb went off. He recalls
thinking the world was ending. Henry watched as his brother, his
nephew, and niece all died of cancer. He was diagnosed with cancer at
the age of 63. I am sorry to say that we lost him in 2022.
And it is not just the downwinders who were impacted. Cipriano worked
in the uranium mines for 8 years. Now, the personal protective
equipment he was given: a single paper mask, one per shift. That mask
was useless after into the first hour because it would get covered with
something that we have known to be called yellowcake, the particulate
from the uranium mine ore that would cover everything, including places
where some of these uranium mineworkers would go to have their lunch.
And they would try to clean the dust off, but they could never keep up
with it because it just kept accumulating.
Some folks were told: Just wait until you get home to shake the
yellowcake--the dust--off your clothing, because in those mines,
sometimes they would spread water to keep the particulate down. Well,
they got the miners' clothing wet. So the yellowcake would stick to it.
It was hard to peel off. So wait until you get home and it dries to
shake it off.
Many of these families--namely the Navajo uranium mineworkers--lived
in a one-home generational house. So if you go home and start shaking
your clothing filled with a yellowcake that then dries off, what are
you doing to grandma and grandpa, to your siblings, to your kids, and
maybe your grandkids when that particulate is now all around you?
Cipriano lived with shortness of breath since he was in his twenties.
Later, he developed pulmonary fibrosis, kidney failure, and he
eventually needed a kidney transplant. He, too, sadly, passed away.
All of these stories, medical traumas, and generational pain are
happening on our watch. And while millions of people flocked to the
theaters this summer to see a big blockbuster that told the story about
this Trinity test that took place--some of us know what that is--in the
Tularosa Basin, the first place that a nuclear bomb was set off on
American soil to test it. But not much was mentioned about these
families who are dying of cancer today.
You know, some Navajo elders, some women, some grandmas--as we call
them--came to Congress when I was a Member of the House to testify. And
during one of those conversations, one of those elders asked a question
back to those of us who were on the dais. And she said: Are you waiting
for all of us to die so that the problem goes away?
I don't know what to say to her when I go home--and I will see her
right now--because this legislation, which we all fought for--and I
want to thank Senator Hawley for finding a way for us to work together
to fight for the families in and around Missouri, working with Senator
Crapo, and every one of you for making this happen. And we passed this
with a bipartisan strong vote out of the Senate. It has now been taken
out of the NDAA in this conference. What do I tell these families?
There is a lot that I have learned in this body: the challenges and
frustrations that exist for our constituents, for each and every one of
us on occasion. But I have also learned--especially here in the
Senate--that the fight is never over; that there is always something
that can be done. When I listen to the brilliant parliamentarian team,
they teach me on how I can do my job better for the people that I
represent. I know that a ``yes'' vote on this might be challenging; but
for the families in States all across America, what can we do to help
them?
In the same way that this body came together to pass incredible
pieces of policy to help victims due to exposure--I will point most
recently to an act this Congress took after 9/11 when we got together
in a bipartisan way and we said we are going to pass the Zadroga Act--
and that act was not only passed once, but then it was extended for,
like, 90 years because it was the right thing to do. And it costs some
money. But it was the right thing to do.
There is a liability from the United States of America to these
families. I believe that the CBO should actually be using this as a
pay-for, because when there is a liability from the United States of
America and you fix it, it actually creates credit, a path forward to
pay for everything else. But for some reason, the CBO does not release
this aggregated data to help us better understand what is happening
here.
So I plead and I urge with my colleagues that we find a way to do the
right thing here; that going forward, we find a path to get this done.
And I want to say thank you to all the staff and the Members who know
about these families now. You have taken time to understand them. And
many of you have given me advice on how we can do things better. And I
thank you for that. The families thank you for that. So I hope that
this fight will not be forgotten.
I urge my Republican and Democratic leadership to work with us to
help pass the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act amendments.
I thank Senator Hawley.
And I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.
Mr. HAWLEY. Mr. President, I want to add a few words to my friend
Senator Lujan's eloquent statement of the need to do justice to these
good Americans who have--let's just tell it like it is--been poisoned
by their own government, who have been exposed to nuclear waste,
nuclear radiation by the U.S. Government, by the U.S. Defense
Department.
These Americans are happy to do their part for national security.
They are proud of what they have done for their country. But they
deserve to be recognized, and they deserve to be compensated.
And so I want to add again my voice in support of justice for these
Americans. And I want to say again to this body that it is wrong--it is
wrong--to turn our backs on these tens of thousands of Americans who
have given their health and, in many cases, their lives for their
country and not been recognized for it; in many cases not been
compensated for it. And now they are told that because of the actions
of this body, because of the conference report, because of a backroom
deal struck in conference, this program that compensates victims of
nuclear radiation will soon expire. And tens of thousands of Americans
who have relied on this program for 30-plus years for lifesaving health
and treatment will get nothing. The lights will go dark, and these
Americans will be turned out into the cold. And thousands more--like
the residents of my State and New Mexico and other States around this
country who deserve compensation--will get nothing.
That is not acceptable to me. It is not right. And I want to take a
moment now to tell a story or two from the victims who are affected,
just to help everybody understand what is at stake here because I know
this is the national defense bill, and if I have learned one thing
about this bill, it is, the suits always get paid. The corporations,
they always get paid. The defense contractors, they always get paid.
They come out great in the end. It is amazing. It is a law in
Washington, ironclad. If you are a big corporation, you do defense
work, you are going to be fine. This body will take care of you.
But will we take care of the men and women who don't otherwise have a
voice in this body? Will we take care of the men and women who don't
pay DC lobbyists, who don't work for the Raytheon Corporation? Will
they be taken care of? That is the question. Let's meet a few of them.
Let me introduce you to Claire.
Claire's parents grew up near Weldon Spring in my State, in Missouri.
Weldon Spring is the site of a Manhattan Project uranium refining site.
That site sat untouched from the Manhattan Project era until 2001, more
than 50 years after it was contaminated.
[[Page S5914]]
In 2020, Claire was diagnosed with lymphoma. She was 2 years old. Let
me introduce you to Veda, Claire's cousin. Veda, her mom and dad, they
all lived together right near that same site where nuclear waste has
been dumped, not adequately cleaned up or dealt with. She grew up
there, and, wouldn't you know it, just 6 weeks after her cousin Claire
was diagnosed with lymphoma, Veda was diagnosed with leukemia. She was
4 years old when she was diagnosed.
Why is this happening in St. Louis? I will tell you why. St. Louis
was a uranium processing site, like many other cities around the
country, and St. Louis was proud to do its part in the Manhattan
Project. You won't get any argument from me about that. You certainly
won't get any argument from Missourians. But here is what is not
acceptable. After the Manhattan Project was concluded, the Federal
Government didn't clean up the waste. No, the Federal Government
allowed nuclear waste to sit out in barrels right near a stream that
runs along schools, that runs alongside suburbs, that cuts right
through the heart of the city.
The Federal Government dumped nuclear waste into a public landfill.
Then it dumped the nuclear waste into a second landfill. Then it dumped
it into an area in the downtown part of the city. And here we are, all
these decades later, how much of it has been cleaned up? None of it.
None of it. That is why these children are sick.
Let me introduce you to Howard Billiman because it is not just in
Missouri, but it is all over the country. This is Howard Billiman.
Howard was a Navajo code talker in World War II, absolutely
instrumental to the U.S. war effort. He died of stomach cancer after
living downwind from the nuclear tests that Senator Lujan was talking
about just a moment ago. And now his children who also grew up downwind
have developed cancer themselves. So it is not just one generation. It
is generation upon generation because the U.S. Government has not done
what is right. They haven't cleaned up the contamination. They haven't
made whole the families they injured.
In fact, as this body recognized in 1990, when it first passed the
radiation statute, the government owes these folks an apology; it owes
them a cleanup; and it owes them recognition and compensation.
That is true also of Bernice Gutierrez. Here is Bernice. She was 8
days old--8 days--when the government tested the first atomic bomb just
miles away from her family's home in New Mexico. Her entire family was
repeatedly exposed to nuclear tests. As a consequence, 44 members of
Bernice's family--44--have been diagnosed with cancer or other
radiation-linked diseases. Her mother had cancer three times. Three of
her brothers have had cancer. Her sister has had cancer, and she has
thyroid disease. Her oldest son passed away from a radiation-linked
disease, and her daughter now has thyroid cancer. Add to that, 36
additional relatives who have cancers linked to radiation. This is all
one family in one State who have been compensated not at all--not at
all.
They have given their health for this country. They haven't gotten
recognition. They haven't gotten compensation. That is wrong.
Meet Leslie Begay. Leslie is a Navajo marine who fought for his
country in Vietnam. There he is. When he returned home, he went to work
mining uranium to support the Cold War effort. Think about this. He
goes to Vietnam, fights for his country in Vietnam, comes home, goes to
the uranium mines to support his country's Cold War effort. He says he
was issued--in his words--``just a rain jacket, safety glasses, and a
hard hat. That's it.''
Now, Leslie is having a double lung transplant. He lives in New
Mexico. He pays $700 a month for medication. And what does he get for
his injuries, for his illnesses brought on by his exposure in the
mines? Nothing. Nothing. Zero. He has gotten zero.
I want to introduce you to one more person, my friend, Kristen
Camuso. Kristen grew up in St. Louis. She played in and around
Coldwater Creek, that creek where the government left barrels of
radioactive waste sitting out for literally years, open, the rain, the
elements. The waste leaked out of the barrels right down into the
creek. And for decades, the people of St. Louis were told: Oh, there is
no problem. The creek is fine. No problem at all. You can play in it.
Your kids can play in it. You can send your kids to school by it, build
houses by it, and people did because that is what the government said.
And now thousands of people are sick, including Kristen.
Since her 2012 cancer diagnosis, Kristen has had her gall bladder
removed. She has had a total hysterectomy. She has had her left adrenal
gland removed, and after all that, doctors found another tumor on her
right adrenal gland and a lesion on her liver. Her medicine is so
expensive, she has to ration the care. There is just no way around it.
As she says, ``I am forced to choose which way I can die.''
I say, again, this is not right. These are good people who have done
nothing wrong. Their government has caused this. When the government
causes injury, the government should make it right. That is what we are
asking for. That is what the radiation compensation program does, and
it is wrong to let it expire. It is an injustice. It is a scar on the
conscience of this body and this Nation.
And I will come to the floor as long as it takes until we do right by
these Americans who have done right by their country because they
deserve better than this.
Here is the last thing I will say. You know, you think about the
billions of dollars in costs that the government has imposed on these
people, taking their health, taking their lives, over decades, and yet
what is in this year's Defense bills, the Defense appropriations bills,
one analysis recently found that House and Senate appropriators have
added at least $26 billion for programs the Pentagon doesn't even want,
$26 billion in 1 year.
Things like $5 million for a social network analysis for the Army, $4
million to research the impacts of soil structures on hydrology, $12
million for new snow removal equipment. Where is my favorite? The $15
billion inserted by Senators--$15 billion with a ``b''--in 1 year, $15
billion for 636 weapons projects the Pentagon did not request. That is
636 weapons programs the Pentagon doesn't request. But yet we don't
have a dime for these people.
We don't have a dime for the people exposed to nuclear waste and
radiation by their own government. No, this is not right. It is not
right, and I am not willing to accept it. Senator Lujan is not willing
to accept it. And I urge the Members of this body, do not be willing to
accept it. We must reauthorize this program. We must do right by these
Americans. They deserve it.
This isn't a welfare check; this is justice. It is what they deserve.
It is what they have earned. And I will continue to come to this floor
as long as it takes.
I am going to make a motion now to extend debate on this bill. I have
no illusions that this will succeed. I realize my colleagues are eager,
all too eager, to move on, but I think it is important we take as much
time as is necessary to understand the stakes of what we are doing and
to understand the stakes of turning our backs on these people.
Motion To Table the Motion To Recommit
=========================== NOTE ===========================
On page S5914, December 12, 2023, third column, the following
appears: MOTION TO TABLE AMENDMENT NO. 1373
The online Record has been corrected to read: MOTION TO TABLE
THE MOTION TO RECOMMIT
========================= END NOTE =========================
Mr. President, so now, I move to table the Schumer motion to
recommit, and I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from West Virginia (Mr.
Manchin) is necessarily absent.
The result was announced--yeas 26, nays 73, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 340 Leg.]
YEAS--26
Bennet
Braun
Cantwell
Cortez Masto
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Graham
Grassley
Hawley
Heinrich
Hickenlooper
Johnson
Kelly
Lee
Lujan
Marshall
Paul
Risch
Rosen
Rubio
Sanders
Schmitt
Sinema
Tester
Vance
NAYS--73
Baldwin
Barrasso
Blackburn
Blumenthal
Booker
Boozman
Britt
Brown
Budd
Butler
Capito
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Cassidy
Collins
Coons
Cornyn
[[Page S5915]]
Cotton
Cramer
Duckworth
Durbin
Ernst
Fetterman
Fischer
Gillibrand
Hagerty
Hassan
Hirono
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Kaine
Kennedy
King
Klobuchar
Lankford
Lummis
Markey
McConnell
Menendez
Merkley
Moran
Mullin
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Ossoff
Padilla
Peters
Reed
Ricketts
Romney
Rounds
Schatz
Schumer
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Shaheen
Smith
Stabenow
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Tuberville
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Warren
Welch
Whitehouse
Wicker
Wyden
Young
NOT VOTING--1
Manchin
The motion was rejected.
Cloture Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Markey). Pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair
lays before the Senate the pending cloture motion, which the clerk will
state.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
Cloture Motion
We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the
provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate,
do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the conference
report to accompany H.R. 2670, a bill to authorize
appropriations for fiscal year 2024 for military activities
of the Department of Defense and for military construction,
and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to
prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year,
and for other purposes.
Charles E. Schumer, Jack Reed, Tammy Duckworth, Margaret
Wood Hassan, Angus S. King, Jr., Robert P. Casey, Jr.,
Tim Kaine, Chris Van Hollen, Jeanne Shaheen, Mark
Kelly, Christopher A. Coons, Mazie K. Hirono, Alex
Padilla, Patty Murray, Michael F. Bennet, Catherine
Cortez Masto, Raphael G. Warnock.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum
call has been waived.
The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the
conference report to accompany H.R. 2670, a bill to authorize
appropriations for fiscal year 2024 for military activities of the
Department of Defense and for military construction, and for defense
activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel
strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes, shall be
brought to a close?
The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 85, nays 15, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 341 Leg.]
YEAS--85
Baldwin
Barrasso
Bennet
Blackburn
Blumenthal
Boozman
Britt
Brown
Budd
Butler
Cantwell
Capito
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Cassidy
Collins
Coons
Cornyn
Cortez Masto
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Duckworth
Durbin
Ernst
Fetterman
Fischer
Gillibrand
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hassan
Heinrich
Hickenlooper
Hirono
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Johnson
Kaine
Kelly
Kennedy
King
Klobuchar
Lankford
Manchin
Marshall
McConnell
Menendez
Moran
Mullin
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Ossoff
Padilla
Peters
Reed
Ricketts
Risch
Romney
Rosen
Rounds
Rubio
Schatz
Schmitt
Schumer
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Shaheen
Sinema
Smith
Stabenow
Sullivan
Tester
Thune
Tillis
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Whitehouse
Wicker
Young
NAYS--15
Booker
Braun
Hawley
Lee
Lujan
Lummis
Markey
Merkley
Paul
Sanders
Tuberville
Vance
Warren
Welch
Wyden
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. On this vote, the yeas are 85, the
nays are 15.
Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in
the affirmative, the motion is agreed to.
The motion was agreed to.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Rhode Island.
____________________