[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 206 (Thursday, December 14, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5979-S5983]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                  Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 6503

  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, over the next 2 weeks, more than 7.5 million 
Americans will fly to see loved ones and to celebrate the holidays--a 
record number.
  This is no easy feat. A seamless travel experience depends on 
airlines, on air traffic controllers, on airport managers, on TSA 
screeners all working together for the aviation system to run 
efficiently during times of extreme strain like the holiday season.
  At the center of this effort is the Federal Aviation Administration, 
but there is one problem: The FAA's authorities are set to expire at 
the end of the year.
  Without the FAA extension, air travel and air cargo for those 
counting on quick shipping during Christmas and New Year's will be 
severely impacted. At the moment, we face a potential challenge of not 
extending the FAA's authorities because of the objections of a Senate 
Democrat.
  This is irresponsible and, frankly, bad for the safety Agency's 
ability to operate effectively. For the past year, Senator Cantwell, 
the chairman of the Commerce Committee, and myself have worked to pass 
a long-term FAA authorization. The authorization we drafted on a 
bipartisan basis addresses airport infrastructure, workforce 
challenges, ATC staffing, protections for passengers, the safety 
framework, manufacturing. I could go on.
  It is an important bill that makes progress toward solving some of 
the challenges facing aviation, but we need to make sure we get it 
right. We now find ourselves having to pass a second short-term FAA 
authorization in less than 6 months, without even having gotten the 
bill through committee.
  This situation was entirely avoidable, but special interests, in 
particular the pilots' unions like ALPA, have decided that if they 
can't get their way, then the American people should pay the price.
  There have been several times throughout this process where we 
thought we had a deal, but, inevitably, some of my colleagues on the 
other side of the aisle, often spurred on by the union, have tanked 
these agreements.
  Each month, it seems, there is a new issue we are told cannot be in 
the FAA bill because the unelected special interests are opposed to it. 
First, it was a modest reform to update pilot training. Then it was 
raising the retirement age for pilots. Imagine telling a perfectly 
healthy 66-year-old pilot who wants to fly, no, you can't fly anymore 
because your union has decided that younger pilots--with a lifetime of 
union dues still to pay--are more important than you are.
  What next will unelected, unaccountable, special interests tell 
Senate Democrats that we are not allowed to have in the FAA bill?
  Let me be clear. Short-term extensions are not good for the FAA. This 
extension until March should be the last extension. I am not satisfied 
with kicking the can down the road. I don't presume to speak on behalf 
of my partner in this effort, Senator Cantwell, but I am certain that 
she doesn't want to continue kicking the can down the road either.
  I would prefer that we pass a serious, multiyear authorization, such 
as the bill Senator Cantwell and I agreed to in June, but, 
unfortunately, in the months since that stalled markup, we have not 
made substantial progress, and we still have numerous outstanding 
provisions.
  I am very concerned that given the time we have, the limited progress 
we have made, and the constant moving goalposts in bill negotiations, 
that we are getting to the point that we will be forced to extend the 
FAA's authority until 2025.
  I don't want to do that. I don't think Chair Cantwell wants to do 
that either. We need to get this bill done, and I am still committed to 
trying to do so if it is a bill that is actually bipartisan and not a 
special interest wish list that ignores very real problems like the 
pilot shortage.
  In a moment, I will ask unanimous consent for the Senate to pass the 
FAA extension, which will last until March 8. The House earlier this 
week voted 376 to 15 to pass this legislation. The Senate cannot leave 
for the holidays without passing an extension.
  Without an extension, here is what would happen: No. 1, all airport 
construction projects using FAA grants would immediately stop. No. 2, 
the FAA would lose the ability to make new expenditures from the 
aviation trust fund, causing many employees in airports, facilities and 
equipment, and R&D offices to be immediately furloughed. No. 3, special 
authorizations for drone operations would expire. No. 4, airlines would 
have no authority to collect ticket taxes that fund the aviation trust 
fund.
  In 2011, the last time the FAA's authorization lapsed, more than 
4,000 FAA employees were furloughed, and the FAA lost more than $400 
million. The 2-week lapse halted billions of dollars' worth of 
construction projects and impacted more than 70,000 construction jobs.
  Leaving town without giving the FAA the certainty to operate would be 
a mistake. I remain committed to working with Senator Cantwell to 
negotiate a truly bipartisan FAA bill that the Agency, the industry, 
and the flying public deserve.
  And with that, I yield the floor to the Senator from Kansas.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Texas Senator 
Cruz, and I appreciate his leadership. He is here to make the effort to 
see that we reauthorize, on a temporary basis, the FAA. He is 
absolutely right; it has to be done before the end of the year. We are 
creating more uncertainty every day, every hour that we fail to do so. 
It is regrettable that the Senator from Texas is here to do that. It is 
almost a question in my mind, When do we have an agreement that is not 
an agreement?
  We have been down this path several times now in which we believe we 
are ready to markup, only to find that something else stands in the 
way.
  I was here earlier today to talk about the importance of a long-term 
reauthorization. And while I am here to support the short-term 
extension, only to get us to the point of a long-term reauthorization, 
it is significant that we do what we need to do today, and that means 
it is then an opportunity for us to complete our work in the early 
year--the few first weeks of January 2024.
  We came together to confirm an FAA Administrator. We can do this. We 
did it 98 to zero. I implore my colleagues to allow this opportunity to 
have this short-term extension take place, and, most importantly, I 
implore my colleagues that we find this path forward for the safety of 
those Kansans and the safety of Americans who utilize our airways.
  Our country's economic interests, our public's safety interests all 
come together. It is a mistake for us to have short-term extension 
after short-term extension. One last time, let's do it today and 
complete our work.
  We should be able to do this, and I ask that we extend the FAA today 
and complete our work in January. I thank the gentleman from Texas for 
his efforts to accomplish that goal.
  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, at this point, I yield to the Senator from 
North Carolina.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. BUDD. Mr. President, in the past year, we have witnessed one 
aviation

[[Page S5980]]

failure after another from the Biden administration. They began the 
year by nominating someone to head the Federal Aviation Administration 
who didn't seem to know the first thing about aviation.
  The administration's Secretary of Transportation has presided over a 
series of, shall we say, transportation challenges. From near-miss 
incidents to the first nationwide ground stop since 9/11, the 
Department doesn't seem to have a handle on its basic function, and 
that is looking out for the safety of the traveling public.
  Now Senate Democrats are blocking the FAA from being reauthorized 
right before the holidays. And the consequences of this lack of action, 
it could be really severe. The FAA would lose the ability to collect 
revenue and spend money from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. That 
would be disastrous, as the aviation trust fund is one of the few funds 
in Washington that actually runs a surplus each year.
  The Airport and Airway Trust Fund finances important safety 
improvements for airports across the country, and any lapse in 
authorization threatens to halt new and existing construction projects.
  The FAA would also lose the ability to hire new air traffic 
controllers at a time when key facilities are experiencing staffing 
shortages.
  Finally, a lapse in authorization could mean 10 percent of FAA's 
workforce will be furloughed on January 1. Simply put, families who are 
trying to visit their friends and loved ones for the holidays, they 
shouldn't have to endure more hoops, hurdles, and delays.
  America, we have the best aviation system in the world, and we can't 
let politics get in the way of that.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, as in legislative session, I ask unanimous 
consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 
6503, which was received from the House; further, that the bill be 
considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to 
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Colorado.
  Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, it is good 
to be here on the floor with my colleagues. I actually was going to 
talk about the FAA, but I came out here, and I got accused by the 
Senator from Texas of being irresponsible. And my friend Phil 
Washington, who is up for the FAA, was attacked for not knowing 
anything about airports.
  So I just want to address those two things before I go into my 
remarks. One, to the gentleman from North Carolina, Phil Washington 
knows a considerable amount about transportation and aviation in this 
country. That was ignored by the Senator from Texas. It is being 
ignored this afternoon by the Senator from North Carolina.
  He runs Denver International Airport. That is one of the largest 
airports in the United States of America. It is an airport that has 
been built more recently than any other airport in the United States of 
America. It has the third largest traffic in the world. It now has the 
United hub there. I was just talking to the President of United 
yesterday, CEO. They have more traffic coming through there than they 
do in Chicago.
  So, for the record, let me just say, Phil Washington knows a lot 
about this, and I am sorry that his nomination didn't go forward. That 
is not why we are here today.
  Let me also say, since he called me irresponsible, that it is nice to 
hear the Senator from Texas come out here and plead for some regular 
order, in terms of how our government should work, to worry about the 
fact that people could be furloughed or laid off; that they are 
uncertain of the future because the bill is not permanent.
  These were all concerns he did not have the last time we were on the 
floor together when he had shut the government down while Colorado was 
literally underwater because of floods, when we were out here having 
that crocodile tears speech the last time, and I am glad that he has 
reconsidered all of that and that he wants the FAA to run in a proper 
fashion.
  But I don't think it is irresponsible for me to be here today to 
object, and I will object to this request because I think it is 
critically important for us to use this moment to fulfill our 
obligations in the world, to the United States' national security, and 
to our commitment to democracy both here and throughout the Western 
world.
  The Ukrainian people were invaded 2 years ago by Vladimir Putin. They 
didn't ask for that. By a tyrant. They did not ask for that.
  The intelligence agencies told us that Kyiv would be taken in 72 
hours. That is what they said it would take. My colleague from the 
Intelligence Committee is here on the floor, and he knows that. They 
were told that Putin would be able to install a puppet government in 
Ukraine and be able to dictate the future of the Ukrainian people, be 
able to keep Ukraine from being part of the West.
  Well, as sometimes happens in human history, they were completely 
wrong. They were completely wrong. The Ukrainian people, much to the 
surprise of the entire world, because of their courage, because of 
their bravery, because of our support--both our intelligence support 
and the armaments that we have been able to ship them, which, by the 
way, have allowed us to restart our own national security efforts 
because we are building those weapons systems here in 38 States--the 
Ukrainian people have taken back half the territory that Putin took 
from them. Nobody would have ever believed that.
  The Ukrainian people and their military have pushed Putin's navy out 
of the Black Sea without even having a navy. They have no navy, and 
those guys are so unbelievable that they have taken the tools that they 
have created and that we have given them to push Putin out of the Black 
Sea and to reopen those incredibly important grain shipments to the 
rest of the world to keep the rest of the world in this war. They have 
won battle after battle after battle.
  I hear people around here--it is so tiresome--say that the stalemate 
on the frontlines between Zelenskyy and Putin, between Ukraine and the 
Russian troops, is somehow a failure for Ukraine on their part. Nothing 
could be further from the truth. Nothing could be further from the 
truth.
  It is a miracle--actually, it is not a miracle because they did it 
through their blood, sweat, and tears. It is a testament to the 
sacrifice that the Ukrainian people have gone through, to what their 
troops have gone through, to the number of Russian troops and Russian 
artillery that they have taken off the battlefield, that they have 
created a stalemate in this war. That is not an admission of failure; 
that is an admission of success.
  What we are trying to figure out today, when we go into this long 
winter, when Putin is on television today saying that the Ukrainians 
are out of bullets, that the United States is going to stop funding the 
Ukrainian people, telling the Western world, the free world, which has 
been so inspired by what the Ukrainian people have done, so inspired by 
their courage and their bravery that they have come together, with the 
leadership of the United States, to strengthen NATO in ways nobody 
could have imaged, and to have free citizens all over the world say to 
people like the Senator from Texas and me: Do more. Do more. Do more.
  That is what they are doing during this Christmas season. They are 
fighting for their lives. They are fighting for democracy. They don't 
get to say ``OK, it is time to go home'' 11 days before Christmas has 
happened. Their fight is our fight. Their fight is our fight.
  (Ms. BUTLER assumes the Chair.)
  Madam President, I held up the budget bill a few months--by the way, 
it is very nice to see the Senator from California in the Chair. I have 
never seen you up there. Good to see you.
  I held the budget bill several months ago on this floor because it 
had no funding for Ukraine, even though we said that we would fund 
Ukraine, because there was no plan to get it funded. On the single most 
important thing we have in front of the world, not just the Senate of 
the United States, we had no plan to fund Ukraine, and I thought that 
was a lousy message to send, and it was a lousy message to

[[Page S5981]]

send. We left here without funding it. Actually, it turned out we left 
here without a Speaker of the House.
  We left here with bright lights flashing on the institutional 
incompetence of our own democracy, which, by the way, that is not a 
great look for the United States of America. And what happened? We 
left, and a death cult called Hamas killed 1,400 Israelis while we were 
gone, and now we have a war going on in the Middle East. The world is 
an unpredictable place.
  I am encouraged because a few days ago, it looked to me like this 
deal was dead. A few days ago, I was facing the prospect of calling up 
my mom, who was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1938, who is still alive--
the worst moment probably in human history to be born Jewish and the 
worst place on the planet to be born when she was born--who can't 
believe she has lived long enough, and thank God she has lived long 
enough--but she would say: I can't believe I have lived long enough to 
see another land war break out in Europe. But she has, and it happened.
  I thought I was going to have to be in a position of saying to my 
mother: We haven't learned anything from history. We haven't learned 
anything about the 16 million people who were killed in the years after 
she was born just in Poland and just in Ukraine, just in those two 
countries, by Hitler and by Stalin. We haven't learned anything. We are 
too tired. We are too busy. We are too distracted by the other stuff 
that is going on in the United States of America to actually do our 
work--which, by the way, no other country in the world can do. There is 
no other country in the world that can turn on the leadership that we 
can provide. There is no other country in the world that can provide 
the munitions we are providing.
  I want to say again to the American people that virtually 90 percent 
of the armaments that we are sending to Ukraine are being made here in 
the United States of America, 38 States--Colorado is not one of them--
putting people to work all over the United States, driving incomes up 
but also, more important than that, making us ready in a world where 
Hamas has attacked Israel, where Putin has invaded Ukraine, where Xi is 
watching every single day to see whether we are going to turn our backs 
on our allies in the free world who have done everything that anybody 
here could have asked for. In fact, nobody would have ever asked for it 
because nobody here would have believed it was possible. No one would 
have believed it was possible. And for what, by the way? Zelenskyy told 
us in the first Zoom call we had with President Zelenskyy: Just so we 
can live our lives the way you live your lives.
  He said the other day, in front of the Democrats and Republicans who 
came to see him when he was here, that he thought he could win if we 
continued to supply him but that he would lose if we didn't continue to 
supply him.
  He said: Either way, we are going to fight to the death--either way, 
with your help or without your help. One way, we will be successful. 
The other way, we are going to lose.
  He said: The reason why we are going to do that is because the 
Ukrainian people love freedom, because the Ukrainian people want to 
live their lives the way you live your lives.
  I mentioned the Middle East. Every day--and I hear my colleagues on 
the other side of the aisle say every single day Iran is now attacking 
our troops in Iraq. The Houthis are sending their missiles to attack 
shipping around Israel and around the Middle East.
  There are flashing red lights going on all over the Middle East, and 
the Israelis have to worry about another front opening up there.
  Finally, of course, China is watching what we are doing as well.
  I would never have attached these border issues to the Ukraine bill. 
I would never have attached these immigration issues to the Ukraine 
bill. But some Republican colleagues have done it because they have 
said: This is an important bill. We are going to use this to leverage 
our concerns about immigration or the border.
  I have a lot of concerns about a lot of things. I think our education 
system doesn't work well for poor kids in this country at all. I think 
our healthcare system doesn't work well for the American people. But I 
am not attaching those to this piece of business.
  But I have heard Republicans who support Ukraine who have said they 
need to do this in order for us to have a bipartisan bill. I have heard 
the President of the United States say our immigration system is 
broken. I have heard the Homeland Security adviser, the Secretary of 
Homeland Security, say the same thing.
  I will tell you, I think the American people do not want an 
immigration system that is run by transnational smuggling rings, 
transnational gangs that are sending people to the border of the United 
States at record numbers. I don't think the American people want that.
  So if there is a way for us to have a negotiation here that can get 
us to a good result for the American people on immigration and on the 
border, and that is the price people have said they are going to insist 
on, I have been willing to have that discussion, and I will be willing 
to have that discussion. It is one of the other reasons why I think we 
shouldn't leave.
  But as I said a few days ago, we were making no progress. Now, 
finally, we are making some progress, and the world is watching what we 
do here, and we can't fail. Given how screwed up American politics can 
be, it can make you wonder whether we ought to take an extra day or a 
day after that or an extra few days or whether we ought to just stay 
here and do the work or whether we ought to move on to other things, 
like the FAA bill, before we are done.
  I know I have tested your patience, and I have tested the patience of 
the Senator from Texas, I am sure, this afternoon, and I am going to 
stop. But I want to finish by saying, at least speaking for myself, I 
don't think there is anything that anybody who is here will ever do in 
this Senate that is going to be more important than the vote we are 
going to take on additional funding for Ukraine.
  I think we are going to either establish or reestablish America's 
very special place in this world and our leadership of free countries 
and democracies around the world or we are going to squander that in 
the face of what Putin is already telling us he is going to do, in the 
face of what the Iranians are already doing to our soldiers who are in 
the Middle East, and in the face of what Xi Jinping is thinking about 
with respect to Taiwan.
  The authoritarian leaders in this world think they have a better way 
of running human affairs than democracy. I think they are wrong.
  When the Ukrainian people have fought as hard as they have for the 
last 2 years and eclipsed any expectation that anybody could have had 
for them, the least we can do is continue our support.
  Finally, let me say, as I close, that it is going to be really 
important for us to get back to a place where we can have a bipartisan 
discussion about how to create a functional immigration system in 
America.
  Now, I am not just talking about the border. Immigration has been a 
fundamentally important part of our country's history, and it will be a 
fundamentally important part of our country's future. It is a massive 
advantage that the United States has over other countries around the 
world when it is working well. And there are people all over the world 
who want to be here. No one is crossing the Gobi Desert to get into 
Beijing, and we should be happy about that. They want to come here.
  One of the highlights of my life has been in 2013, when I was part of 
the Gang of 8 here that negotiated an immigration bill that had a 
pathway to citizenship for 11 million people that were undocumented. It 
had the most progressive Dream Act that had ever been written. It had 
all the visa stuff for farmers and ranchers and for business people. It 
had $40 billion in border security to strengthen our southern border 
and be able to say to the American people that we are taking that 
seriously. Unfortunately, it didn't pass.
  And times have changed since then. You know, these transnational 
gangs have made it their business to make billions of dollars sending 
people to the southern border every single day, and we have to take 
notice of that. We are going to have to adjust. But I hope that doesn't 
mean there won't be a day that comes back where we have a chance to do 
it in a bipartisan way.

[[Page S5982]]

  In the meantime, we have to get our work done in Ukraine. In the 
meantime, we shouldn't leave. In the meantime, I don't think we should 
move on to other pieces of legislation. For all those reasons, I 
object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Texas.
  Mr. CRUZ. Madam President, early in his remarks, the Senator from 
Colorado said the last time he and I were on this floor debating was 
when I had shut down the government and he was stepping forward to save 
those who had been shut down. Now, that would be entirely accurate if 
my name were Chuck Schumer; but since it is not, what the Senator from 
Colorado said is blatantly, objectively false.
  The last time he and I were doing this, the date was January 24, 
2019. We were in the midst of the Schumer shutdown. Chuck Schumer and 
the Democrats had forced a shutdown. The Government was shut down, and 
there was a particularly unfair aspect of that shutdown, which is that 
Congress had voted to fund the military--the Army, the Navy, the 
Marines, and the Air Force--but the Coast Guards had been left out 
because the Coast Guards are not in DOD, they had been left out. On 
January 24, 2019, Senator Sullivan and I came down to this floor to 
seek equity for the Coast Guard, to simply say: Pay our Coast Guardsmen 
the same as our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines--and the Senator 
from Colorado stood up and objected. So understand, what he just said 
is exactly opposite of what happened.
  Our Coast Guardsmen went weeks in 2019 without being paid during that 
shutdown because the Senator from Colorado objected to their getting a 
paycheck. And during his remarks on that day, he jumped up and down and 
screamed at me and insulted me to great fanfare. And I think he was 
proud of his performance, because he then put it in his launch email 
for his Presidential campaign that ``I screamed at Cruz.''
  Now, I suppose I should feel mildly offended that that was not a 
persuasive argument in the Democratic primary and he got maybe a 
percent.
  That was the last contest: shutting down the Coast Guard where the 
Senator from Colorado was responsible for tens of thousands of Coast 
Guardsmen not getting their paychecks.
  Understand where we are today. Today, the question is, does the FAA 
stay open or not? And once again, the Senator from Colorado is the 
shutdown Senator. The FAA extension would pass had he not said those 
two words ``I object.''
  Now, we heard from the Senator from Colorado a long discourse on 
Ukraine. You know, remarkably missing from that discourse was 
acknowledgment that responsibility for the war in Ukraine falls very 
directly on the Biden White House, on Senate Democrats, and on the 
Senator from Colorado in particular who played a direct role in causing 
the war in Ukraine.
  Now, how is that?
  Putin did not wake up yesterday wanting to invade Ukraine. He has 
wanted to invade Ukraine for years. He did so in the year 2014. He 
invaded Crimea in the southern portion of Ukraine. But he stopped. He 
did not go into the full country.
  Why? Because Russia's major source of revenue is selling oil and gas, 
and the natural gas pipelines run right through the middle of Ukraine. 
He could not risk damaging or destroying those pipelines.
  So in 2015, Vladimir Putin began what is known as Nord Stream II, an 
undersea pipeline from Russia to Germany, the entire purpose of which 
was to circumvent Ukraine so once it was built and operational, he 
could invade Ukraine.

  In 2019, I authored sanctions legislation to shut down the Nord 
Stream II pipeline. That sanctions legislation got overwhelming 
bipartisan support, including from the Senator from Colorado. It 
passed, and Putin shut down building the Nord Stream II pipeline 
literally the day President Trump signed my sanctions legislation into 
law.
  In December of 2020, I again authored bipartisan legislation putting 
more sanctions on Nord Stream II. Once again, the Senator from Colorado 
and every Democrat supported it. It passed and was signed into law.
  Joe Biden became President January 20, 2021. Four days later, on 
January 24, Putin resumed deep sea construction of the Nord Stream II 
pipeline. Four days later. Why? Because Biden had telegraphed weakness. 
He had told Putin: I am going to go soft on the Nord Stream II 
pipeline.
  And what he telegraphed was accurate, because several months later, 
Biden formally waived sanctions on Nord Stream II. He gave a 
multibillion dollar gift to Putin and allowed him to complete the 
pipeline.
  Now, in January of 2022, I forced another vote on the Senate floor--a 
vote to reimpose sanctions on the Nord Stream II pipeline. The Senator 
from Colorado just invoked President Zelenskyy. Oddly enough, he didn't 
seem to care what President Zelenskyy thought in January of 2022, 
because President Zelenskyy in January of 2022 begged the U.S. Senate: 
Please pass Cruz's sanctions legislation. It is the last best hope to 
stop Russia from invading Ukraine. The Government of Poland put out a 
formal statement saying: Please pass Cruz's sanctions. If you do not, 
Putin will invade Ukraine.
  On the day of the vote, Joe Biden came to Capitol Hill. He came to 
meet with the Senate Democrats. It was the first time in his presidency 
he had done that. And he asked them as a personal favor: Will you stand 
with the Biden White House? Will you stand with Russia? Will you stand 
with Putin--will you vote to give billions of dollars to Putin? And, I 
am sorry to say, 44 Democrats flipped their votes.
  On the day of the vote I stood here on the floor and said: If you 
vote no, we will see Russian tanks in the streets of Kyiv. But 44 
Democrats flipped their votes and decided partisan loyalty to the White 
House mattered more than Ukraine, mattered more than stopping Russia, 
and just 4 weeks later, the Russian tanks rolled in. And the Senator 
from Colorado was one of those 44 votes who voted for Russia and Putin 
on the eve of the war. And if you don't believe me, go look at what 
Zelenskyy said in January of 2022: If you vote no, Russia will invade.
  Now, I don't doubt that the Senator from Colorado today has genuine 
and good faith concern for the people of Ukraine. That is admirable. 
But understand what he is doing here. He is not doing anything related 
to Ukraine. He is holding the American flying public hostage. He is 
saying--because he is mad about what is happening on Ukraine funding--
he wants to shut the FAA down. He wants to shut jobs down in the Denver 
airport.
  And I would just urge the Senator from Colorado to listen to a very, 
very wise Senator from this body. And I will read a quote:
  Politics. Holding up FAA extension. Costing Colorado jobs. Hashtag 
``FAA shutdown.''
  Now the author of that tweet, that would be Senator Michael Bennet. 
He sent that on August 4, 2011--the last time we had an FAA shutdown. 
And I would say that Senator Bennet, I suspect, might not recognize the 
Senator today, but I would urge listening to the 2011 Senator who 
understood shutting the FAA down is bad for Colorado; it is bad for the 
country. And so I would urge the Senator from Colorado, if you are 
unhappy about Ukraine funding, don't hold the flying public hostage.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.
  Mr. BENNET. I thank the Senator from Texas. Actually, it is fun to 
remember all this, and I am sorry I don't have a phone on my desk. 
Nobody can send me my prior quotes or his prior quotes. I wish I had 
thought to do that. But I have a pretty good memory, and the facts are 
on the floor. The facts are the facts.
  When we were out here in 2019--and, by the way, I would never confuse 
the Senator from Texas with Senator Schumer. So let's establish that at 
the outset. I know you are two different people. You are very different 
people.
  When we were out here in 2019, though, what I was talking about was, 
I was reminding people of the shutdown you led in 2013 while Colorado 
was underwater, while there were cities and towns all over our State 
who had been crushed by the floodwaters that had started in these 
unexpected storms and come rushing through these mountain valleys and 
ended up destroying towns and villages. It looked like bombs had gone 
off. The people in Colorado were digging themselves out.

[[Page S5983]]

  There were people--local elected officials, Democrats and 
Republicans--who were doing the work they needed to do. And the Federal 
Government was shut down because of Senator Cruz from Texas. That is 
what happened. Those people are owed an apology for what the Senator of 
Texas did.
  And then he came out here in 2019 pretending that he cared about 
trying to resolve--by the way, it wasn't Chuck Schumer's shutdown. It 
was Donald Trump's shutdown. He was the President. It was the longest 
shutdown in American history. And I don't have my phone to tell me 
this, but if you look it up--please do--you will find it was the Trump 
shutdown, not the Schumer shutdown. And it went on forever--not 
forever, but it was the longest shutdown ever. And Senator Cruz was 
coming out here with these Potemkin pieces of legislation to sort of 
trick Democrats or to force Democrats into taking a bad vote on the 
funding of the Coast Guard while the whole rest of the Government was 
shut down.
  He might have believed that the most important thing to do at that 
moment, I suppose, was to fund the Coast Guard and to leave everything 
else shut down. I suppose that is possible.
  I suspect the likelier reason was that he was trying to create a vote 
that said the Democrats are for shutting the government down--or 
shutting the Coast Guard down, not shutting the government down. Donald 
Trump had shut the government down, President Trump. And that is what 
we were out here discussing.
  So you give me the opportunity to remind everyone of the 2013 events. 
And I won't withdraw what I said in 2019.
  I will say that I want to thank the Senator from Texas for 
remembering that I even had a Presidential campaign at all. It is not a 
well-remembered event in the history of our democracy. I am grateful 
that he could have played a role in trying to get me off the ground. We 
will have to see. But that was not the great--as I have said to 
people--well, I won't go on.
  I will say to the Senator from Texas that when I got in, even my mom 
said: Do we need one more Democrat in this race, Michael? So that was 
how I started that race.
  Then, I will say, finally, that the FAA doesn't end up expiring until 
the 31st of this month. We have time in front of us to do the work that 
needs to be done.
  I want to congratulate the Senator from Texas for the work that he 
did on the Nord Stream Pipeline. I think that was meaningful work.
  I remember you standing out here at a time when a lot of other people 
didn't even know what you were talking about and having you stand here 
and make that case. So I give you that, for sure.
  I would say, also, that I am sure you feel passionately that the 
position that you took before Putin invaded Ukraine might have had some 
effect on what he did. We have a disagreement about that, but that is 
OK. Neither of us can change what has happened in the past. But what we 
can do is make sure that we recognize that this tyrant has invaded 
Ukraine; that this tyrant has done something that is in contravention 
of the civil order since World War II, since my mom was born in Poland 
in 1938; that the world has come together to support the free people of 
Ukraine in their battle; that Putin's only allies in this battle today 
are North Korea and Iran and sort of China, which are kind of watching 
how this all unfolds.
  So the question before us now is not, I don't think, did we have some 
vote in the Senate that went one way or another--and I am sorry to the 
Senator from Wyoming, I will stop--went some way or another or that 
Democrats or that Joe Biden are somehow responsible for Vladimir Putin 
invading Ukraine.
  First of all, that is certainly not true, even if we have 
disagreements about what was going on here. But what is certainly true 
is that Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. He decided to invade Ukraine. 
The Ukrainian people have exposed the weakness of Putin's army. They 
have exposed the weakness of his leadership. They have exposed the 
weakness of his strategy. They have exposed the strength of NATO. They 
have exposed the importance of American leadership. They have given us 
the chance to rearm the American people. They have pushed back Xi 
Jinping. That is not bad for 2 years of work.
  And we should not go home. We should stay here and do the work we 
need to do to support Ukraine.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.