[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15557-15558]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         FOREIGN POLICY AND SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS AND VETERANS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, with each passing day, the American 
people are reminded of the peril attached to the Obama administration's 
inflexible determination to conduct foreign policy based on campaign 
promises made in 2008. These goals--unilaterally withdrawing from Iraq 
and Afghanistan based on fixed deadlines, ending the war on terror and 
some of the critical tools used to pursue Al Qaeda, closing the secure 
detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, withdrawing from our deployed 
forward presence, slashing investment in our conventional armed 
services, and pursuing nuclear agreements with Russia and Iran at any 
cost--have remained constant, although the world has changed right in 
front of our Commander in Chief.
  Yesterday we saw the Obama administration threaten to veto the 
national Defense authorization bill, which recently passed the Senate 
by a large bipartisan majority of 71 to 25. It passed the House by a 
big bipartisan margin as well.
  This is the legislation that sets out military policy and authorizes 
funds for our military each year. It is always one of the most 
important bills we consider every year, but it is especially important 
right now.
  The number of threats currently facing us is truly staggering. The 
last month and week have brought glaring reminders. We are now seeing 
Russian forces deploy to Syria to preserve the Assad regime. Although 
Moscow may try to call this some kind of counterterrorism campaign, 
let's be perfectly clear: Russia's offensive is designed to protect 
Assad's Alawite stronghold and Russian military installations, while 
driving out the moderate opposition and compelling coordination of 
Syrian airspace with the coalition. Russia aims to forcefully insert 
itself into the middle of coalition operations to gain insights into 
the plans of the United States and, of course, to secure a seat at the 
table. Meanwhile, our moderate Syrian allies stand appalled that the 
United States has ceded its leadership position in the broader Middle 
East.
  Of all the promises made by this administration, withdrawing from 
Afghanistan by a date certain seems to ignore the attack upon Kunduz by 
the Taliban and the efforts of President Ghani to secure the gains of 
the coalition and his country's future. How can the administration be 
pondering a withdrawal of the force when the Taliban's offensive 
persists and the campaign against Al Qaeda has not yet achieved its 
defeat?
  So many threats face us--from Russia, Iran, Syria, ISIL, and even 
China--as do so many different means of attack: conventional, cyber, or 
terror. And now the Obama administration is talking about vetoing 
America's national defense bill. They are talking about vetoing the 
national defense bill in the wake of all of this.
  I will have more to say about the national defense bill in the coming 
days. But this is about more than one bill; it is the latest in an 
increasingly worrying pattern. Just last week, Democrats voted again to 
block funding for our military. Democrats had voted for that military 
funding bill in committee. They issued press releases praising the bill 
they had supported in the Appropriations Committee, but then they 
blocked the Senate from even debating it. Now they appear ready to give 
the same treatment to our veterans. Democrats voted for the veterans 
funding bill in committee. They issued press releases praising the 
bill. But now they seem prepared to block the Senate from even debating 
this bill too. It is all part of some half-baked Democratic scheme to 
get more money for the IRS and for Washington bureaucracies. It makes 
no sense, it is extreme, and it needs to stop.
  The veterans funding bill before us would do right by the men and 
women who have given everything to protect us and who have suffered so 
much under the failings of this administration. This is the bill that 
supports veterans by funding the health care and the benefits they rely 
on. This is the bill. This is the bill that supports military families 
by funding the housing, schools, and health facilities that serve them.
  The veterans legislation before us provides support for women's 
health, for medical research, and for veterans suffering from traumatic 
brain injury. It provides funding for design work at a new VA medical 
center in Louisville, for educational facilities at Fort Knox, and for 
a special operations headquarters at Fort Campbell, all in my State.
  The bill contains important reforms aimed at supporting veterans in 
the wake of a true national disgrace--the VA scandal. The reforms 
funded in this bill will allow for greater national and regional 
progress in reducing VA claim backlogs, and they will deploy important 
protections for whistleblowers too.
  Look, we need to remember that we have an all-volunteer force in this 
country. The young men and women who sign up to defend our Nation don't 
ask for a lot, but our Nation certainly asks a lot of them. These 
heroes shouldn't have to worry that their benefits or health care or 
the housing and support their families need might not be there.
  There is a long tradition in the Senate of bipartisan support for our 
troops, our veterans, and their families. We saw that bipartisan 
tradition on full display just a few months ago when Republicans and 
Democrats came together in the Appropriations Committee to pass 
bipartisan legislation to fund our troops and support our veterans.
  We ask a lot of the men and women who serve. They don't need a bigger

[[Page 15558]]

IRS or political games like the Democrats' self-described filibuster 
summer; they need our care and our support. It is our turn to give back 
to them. Why don't we get back to the bipartisan tradition of 
supporting these bills so we can do what we need to do for our 
veterans.

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