[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5781-5782]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 DONALD TRUMP AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, today the Republican Presidential nominee--
it is hard for me to say these words--Donald Trump, comes to Capitol 
Hill. He secured the party's nomination. He did that last week. Donald 
Trump will meet privately today with Speaker Ryan and Republican Leader 
McConnell. It is just the latest sign that Republican leaders in both 
Houses are marching lockstep with Donald Trump.
  Senator McConnell has fully embraced Donald Trump. He said last week 
when Trump secured the nomination: ``I have committed to supporting the 
nominee chosen by Republican voters.''
  While speaking with reporters earlier this week, the Republican 
leader sounded enthusiastic about Trump's chances in the general 
election. I guess he should be giddy about a Trump Presidency. Donald 
Trump is everything the Republican leader and his party could ever want 
in a nomination.

[[Page 5782]]

  Trump's policy decisions are identical to the Republican Party 
platform. Today, when they meet in an hour or two, Senator McConnell 
can discuss that consensus with Trump.
  Let's talk about the Supreme Court. Donald Trump and the Senator from 
Kentucky can talk about their obstruction--for the first time in the 
history of the country--to a Presidential Supreme Court nomination. It 
has never happened before. We have had some stalling and a couple of 
filibusters, but this is one where people didn't want to meet with him. 
A few of them have broken from that. They certainly don't want to have 
a hearing, and they don't want to vote.
  It was Trump who said Republicans should ``delay, delay, delay'' 
filling the Supreme Court vacancy. Following Trump's lead, the 
Republican leader has personally overseen the blockade of Judge 
Garland's nomination, forcing Senators to fall in line.
  Let's talk about Trump and women. When they get together they can 
talk about their policy about being anti-woman. Since Senator McConnell 
has so enthusiastically embraced Trump, we can only assume he agrees 
with Trump's view that women are dogs and pigs. We can only assume that 
the Republican leader is not repulsed by Donald Trump's vulgar behavior 
towards women. Look at the New York Times story yesterday with his 
cavorting with Howard Stern and how they talked about women.
  After all, the Republican Party has spent years blocking every 
substantive bill for American women--equal pay for equal work. This 
Republican Senate has undermined women's health at every turn, trying 
to turn Planned Parenthood into a punching bag--even though millions 
and millions of American women have been helped by Planned Parenthood.
  They will have an opportunity this morning to talk about the anti-
Latino vote. They can discuss their anti-immigrant policies and their 
agenda. Since the Republican leader is all in for Donald Trump, we can 
only assume that he approves of Trump's calling immigrants rapists and 
murderers, and the DREAMers as being mules for drug dealing.
  I assume they can have a long discussion about the wall--how high it 
should be, how they are going to get the Mexicans to pay for the wall--
even though most people think the idea is insane.
  Let's not forget Republicans have demagogued Latinos and immigrants 
for decades. They are doing it today.
  The Republican leader voted against comprehensive immigration reform.
  Under Senator McConnell's leadership, Senate Republicans almost came 
within hours of shutting down the Department of Homeland Security 
because of President Obama's executive actions on immigration.
  They can talk about their outlook on families. Donald Trump and the 
Republican leader can mention how little they have done for American 
families. Except now, in today's news, they are going to cut Medicaid 
and Medicare. I guess that is because he is getting lined up for the 
meeting with Paul Ryan, because that is his No. 1 issue.
  Since the Republican leader has firmly established himself in Donald 
Trump's corner, one can only assume he is OK with Trump's shady 
business practices. He doesn't mind that Donald Trump rips off hard-
working Americans, filed bankruptcy many, many times, and has a 
university that is corrupt. And the trial will go forward during the 
election.
  Sadly, a disregard for the middle class is an all-too-familiar 
position for today's Republicans. The Republican Party refuses to 
address the minimum wage, college affordability, or any other 
legislation that helps families.
  Here is a doozy. They can spend a lot of time talking about climate 
change. Trump and the Republican leader can, in this private 
conversation, talk about denial of climate change. But 97 percent of 
all scientists worldwide believe it is here. It is upon us. Ask the 
senior Senator from Florida. He will tell you it is here. Look at what 
is happening in Miami. You can talk to the Senators from Virginia, and 
they will tell you what is happening in military bases on the coast of 
Virginia.
  Donald Trump's highest ranking supporter in Congress, Senator 
McConnell, assumingly agrees with Trump that climate change is a hoax--
here is what Trump said--perpetrated by Chinese manufacturers. That 
position fits with a Republican Party that refuses to acknowledge the 
environmental and national security threats posed by climate change. If 
elected, Trump and Senator McConnell would lead the nation backward on 
a climate change denial agenda that would put polluters first and make 
the United States the laughingstock of the world.
  More than 170 countries have agreed to address climate change because 
of U.S. leadership, but Trump and McConnell have stated publicly that 
they will walk away from this.
  Let's talk about what Republicans like to talk about--what is 
happening with the economy--keeping in mind that Bill Clinton balanced 
the budget. Keep in mind that when George Bush came to the Presidency, 
there was a $7 trillion surplus over 10 years. With two wars unpaid for 
costing trillions of dollars and with tax cuts not being paid for, that 
surplus has long since gone.
  So they can talk about that. They can talk about how Trump has said 
that he thinks America should default on its debt. Just get the people 
we owe money to take less money. That is what he said. He doesn't want 
to pay our national debt. It seems that, on that issue, there is little 
distance between him and the Republican leader.
  Senator McConnell has presided over a Republican caucus that has 
taken America to the brink of default on a number of occasions, not the 
least of which is shutting down the government--this great government--
shutting it down for 17 days--closed, out of business.
  So Donald Trump and the Republican leadership should have a long, 
long conversation. They have a lot to talk about. At some point in the 
conversation, Donald Trump should thank the senior Senator from 
Kentucky. Trump owes his candidacy to the Republican leader and the 
policies he has led. It was the obstructionist, anti-woman, anti-
Latino, anti-Muslim, anti-middle-class, anti-environment, anti-Obama, 
anti-everything Republican Party during the last 8 years that has made 
Donald Trump a reality.
  I note that no one is on the floor. Will the Chair announce what the 
Senate is going to do this morning.

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