[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 148 (Monday, September 23, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6327-S6328]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Government Funding
Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, as most people know, the majority leader
is the only one who can schedule action on legislation on the floor of
the U.S. Senate. None of the 99 other Senators can make that happen,
which means that the lack of productivity on some very important
matters by the U.S. Senate lies squarely at the feet of the majority
leader.
And I have to say that our lack of productivity here in the U.S.
Senate verges on what can only be described as malpractice. I say that
as a recovering lawyer who used to defend cases of alleged malpractice.
But we have wasted valuable floor time on partisan nominees and
political show votes and not advanced the fundamental causes that are
so basic to governing--things like funding the government, things like
passing our annual Defense authorization bill--something we have done
more than 60 years in a row. And, unfortunately, it looks like we are
headed toward another short-term continuing resolution and a delay on
both of these essential tasks, which will damage our military when
global conflicts are more tense than at any time in recent memory. And
that is not hyperbole.
Earlier this year, the House and Senate Armed Services Committees
created something called the Commission on National Defense Strategy.
This is a bipartisan group of top national security and defense experts
to assess the world's strategic threats to the safety and security of
the United States and to analyze any shortcomings in America's
preparation.
Well, the Commission's report that came out last week was nothing
short of stunning, and I would like to highlight some of its findings.
They described China as the most serious and longest term threat to the
safety and security and peace in the Indo-Pacific.
Militarily, the People's Republic of China, governed by the Chinese
Communist Party, are expanding their forces from air to cyber, to
space, and they now have the world's largest navy at nearly 400
warships. And their capacity to build more ships is estimated to be
about 230 times greater than ours.
China now possesses missiles and continues to enhance their
capabilities, which would put any of our aircraft carriers in the Indo-
Pacific at grave risk in the event of a conflict. And as the report
states, they may very well use these significant advantages to invade
Taiwan by 2027 and attempt to defeat American or other allied attempts
to defend Taiwan and its sovereignty.
Turning to Europe, Ukraine continues to defend itself against
Russia's unprovoked aggression, which began, really, back in 2014, when
they invaded Crimea, but was escalated approximately 2 years ago when
they intended to essentially take the entire country.
As the defense strategy report indicates, America's continued support
of Ukraine against this invasion by Vladimir Putin's Russia isn't just
essential to Ukraine's survival; it is paramount to sending the message
to the world that aggressors that seek to invade smaller nations simply
cannot win. That is what we call deterrence.
In essence, global security is interconnected, and what happens in
the European theater can impact our security in the Pacific theater and
around the world.
Of course, in the Middle East, our close ally Israel is defending its
very existence, following a brutal and unprovoked attack by the
terrorist group Hamas, which is backed by its sponsor Iran, the No. 1
state sponsor of international terrorism.
Iran and its proxies--namely Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis--are more
emboldened than they have ever been as they continue wreaking havoc
across the region.
More broadly, the Commission's report cautioned against the growing
alignment of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. This isn't exactly
breaking news, but to see some of the best military leaders in our
country put their concerns in writing about this axis of autocracies
and their statement that it may lead to coordinated opposition to U.S.
interests globally should wake all of us up.
They also called attention to America's deficiencies in terms of our
preparation. The military experts point out that our equipment is old,
our technology is outdated, our industrial base has shortcomings, our
force readiness is not what it should be, and the Department of Defense
is too slow to respond because of bureaucratic redtape and the failure
of leadership.
Let me repeat. These are among the most admired and talented military
minds in the country who are saying these things. This assessment
should wake up every American but especially Members of Congress,
because it is up to us to respond and to respond appropriately.
And the question is: What are we going to do about it?
My dad was a B-17 pilot in the Army Air Corps in World War II and
flew 26 bombing missions over Nazi Germany, until he was shot down and
captured as a POW. My dad, like so many of the ``greatest generation,''
came back to the United States; they went to school on the GI bill of
rights and helped rebuild our country and helped rebuild the rest of
the war-torn world. But I know they believed that we would not have any
large military conflicts between great powers--again, perhaps that
would be the last. But as Bob Gates, the former Secretary of Defense,
has reminded us, he said that our holiday from history is over. In
other words, war intends to be more the rule than the exception. And
the only thing that prevents wars from breaking out in military
conflicts is the strength of American power and our willingness to take
a leadership role.
Ronald Reagan was exactly right when he talked about peace through
strength. So we need to be ready and we need to be prepared and we need
to be engaged in order to deter these would-be aggressors around the
world.
Exactly how are we going to be prepared? Well, Congress's role is to
make sure that we pass the authorities necessary in the Defense
authorization bill to enable our warfighters to be prepared and to get
the training and
[[Page S6328]]
equipment they need in order to deter the next war.
And then there are, of course, passing the appropriations bills that
make sure that their pay and their training and their families are
taken care of.
Now, the Defense authorization bill that the majority leader has
deferred until after the election does really important things, like
making sure our defense industrial base is ready to produce the weapons
and the materiel that are needed not only by the United States but by
our allies around the world.
It also is focused on reforming our acquisition and procurement
processes to ensure that our Armed Forces can meet the challenges of
this evolving and dangerous threat environment.
September 30 is the end of the fiscal year--otherwise known as the
deadline to fund the government for the next 12 months, as well as to
provide our military with the authorities and resources it needs to
face the security challenges that I have touched on.
The end of the fiscal year, September 30, does not sneak up on us. We
know where that date is on the map, and we know that it is our job to
be prepared to meet that timeline. Yet the majority leader has failed
to put on the floor the sorts of opportunities we need in order to fund
the government and to equip our military. And it is simply inexcusable.
It isn't for lack of trying by the relevant committees on both sides of
the aisle.
Senator Murray, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee,
a Democrat, and Senator Collins, the vice chair of the Appropriations
Committee, a Republican, have made serious progress on the
appropriations process.
As of July, the Appropriations Committee has approved 11 of the 12
annual funding bills in a bipartisan fashion. On the Defense
authorization bill, Chair Reed, a Democrat, and Ranking Member Wicker,
a Republican, have worked tirelessly to advance the Defense
authorization bill out of the Armed Services Committee, which they did
more than 2 months ago. But the majority leader has done nothing--
nothing--to move these bills on time across the Senate floor.
Again, there is none of the other 99 of us who can do anything about
that. That is solely his authority and his responsibility. But he has
done nothing, until here we are just days before the deadline.
This is a completely avoidable crisis. I heard the majority whip--the
Senator from Illinois--say that it is embarrassing that we find
ourselves in this situation. Well, the embarrassment is as a result of
the majority leader's failure to even move these bills across the
floor. He likes to point across the Capitol to the House--and, yes, the
House has its own challenges, but we wouldn't be looking at short-term
continuing resolutions in another phony narrative of a government
shutdown if the majority leader and the U.S. Senate had simply done our
job and done it on time.
And our military commanders will tell you that short-term continuing
resolutions are no way to operate. Every one of these short-term bills,
which looks like we are heading toward a December 20 deadline for the
next short-term continuing funding bill, has provisions that said there
should be no new starts. And, of course, with only a 3-month funding
stream, it is almost impossible to plan.
A national defense authorization bill passed in the lameduck doesn't
give the military the certainty it needs so that decisions can be made
that address our short- and long-term needs.
Postponed defense authorization legislation makes our military less
capable, jeopardizing our readiness and leaving citizens at home and
abroad more vulnerable to our adversaries who are on the march.
If I can paint a brief picture of the State of the majority leader's
Senate, we have less than 5 days before the end of the month--that is
why we are hearing all this unnecessary drama and narrative about a
potential government shutdown--and we have not considered a single
appropriations bill in the Senate, which we could have done starting
months ago.
We have wars in the Middle East and in Europe and rising tensions in
the Indo-Pacific and beyond that could reach a fever pitch at a
moment's notice. And we have defense leaders from every facet of our
military saying that the way the Senate is currently operating when it
comes to funding the military and providing for the authorities that
they need in order to do their job in the defense authorization bill,
the Senate's failure to act on a timely basis is making their jobs
harder and Americans less safe.
When you add all these factors together, the picture of leadership
here in the U.S. Senate is truly pitiful. It is difficult to describe
how frustrating and alarming it is when the Senate's leadership fails
to act on such basic matters as keeping the lights on and funding the
government, or making sure that our military is ready to stop and
prevent the next potential military conflict.
It is even more difficult to convey the national security
implications that come with the short-term continuing resolutions;
although, the Commission's report is the best attempt I have seen
recently.
Now, I appreciate the challenges that Speaker Johnson has across the
Capitol to help Congress avert a shutdown. And I understand they are
going to try to pass a 3-month continuing resolution that will take us
to December 20, at which time we will play this movie over again,
because all we are doing is kicking the can down the road 3 months and
failing to do our job on time or the way it should be done.
But let's not forget we could have avoided all of this if the Senate
majority leader had scheduled votes on individual government funding
bills months ago, as he could have. These are bipartisan bills. So he
owns it. And you might say he designed it.
This delay is by design by the majority leader. There is no other
reasonable explanation. He does it because he believes this enhances
his power to negotiate a final package of spending bills at the end of
the year. But the threats to our national security are real, and the
embarrassment that the majority whip expressed early is real. But it
could all be avoided if he would simply have let the Senate do its job
on a timely basis. That is embarrassing.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Butler). The Senator from Illinois.
Ms. DUCKWORTH. Madam President, I ask that the scheduled vote
commence immediately.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.