Disapproving the President's Proposal to Take An Action Relating to the Application of Certain Sanctions with Respect to the Russian

Floor Speech

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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, to quote the great Yogi Berra, ``It's deja vu all over again.''

It is the 26th day of the shutdown, and for the 26th day in a row, Democrats are refusing to seriously engage with the President to get the government reopened. Democrats have spent a lot of time talking about their desire to get the hundreds of thousands of furloughed Federal workers back to work, but their actions contradict their words.

The only way for the government to reopen is for both sides to come to the table and compromise. The Democrats are absolutely refusing to consider any concession. Their position is, my way or the highway. Unfortunately, that is not the way things work in the real world. When you have two groups with diametrically opposed positions, both sides have to give a little if they are ever going to get anything done.

The White House has a strongly held position on this issue, but it has also made it clear that it is willing to be flexible and to negotiate with Democrats. The Democrats don't share that willingness, and their refusal to negotiate is victimizing the very workers they claim they want to protect.

Senate Democrats' latest attempt to distract from Democrats' refusal to negotiate is to push for votes on House-passed legislation on reopening the government, but as Democrats know very well, these votes would be meaningless because this is not legislation the President is going to sign.

Indeed, before Christmas, the Democratic leader in the Senate stated: ``The President must publicly support and say he will sign an agreement before it gets a vote in either Chamber''; that from the Democratic leader as recently as just a few weeks ago.

Well, there is no point in spending time taking up a bill that hasn't received agreement from all parties. We know that, and the Democrats know that as well, but apparently they are willing to flip-flop on this issue if they think it will suit their political purposes. Kind of like how they were for a border fence before they were against it. That is right.

In 2006, the Democratic leader and the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted for legislation to authorize a border fence. They were joined in that vote by then-Senator Biden, then-Senator Clinton, and then-Senator Obama. In 2013, every Senate Democrat--every Senate Democrat--supported legislation requiring the completion of a 700-mile fence along our southern border. In 2009, the Democratic leader praised border fencing as a border security accomplishment.

So what has changed? The need to secure our borders hasn't changed. The effectiveness of barriers hasn't changed. That has been well documented.

The House majority leader, Steny Hoyer, was asked about the Democrats' flip-flop, whether there is any real difference between what they supported previously and what they are opposing now. Here is what he said: ``I don't have an answer that I think is a really good answer.''

Well, that is an honest reply. Democrats don't have a good answer because there is no real difference between what they supported a few years ago and what they are opposing now. Democrats have flip-flopped on the issue because they are afraid to oppose the radical far-left wing of their party and because they are committed to obstructing this President no matter what.

If Democrats weren't hurting anybody, their refusal to play ball wouldn't be a problem, but every single day that they refuse to engage in serious negotiations is a day that families aren't getting paid, national priorities aren't getting funded, and important border security is being postponed.

That is where we are. I urge my colleagues to rethink their obstruction and to work with the President to get the government reopened and Federal workers back to work and funding for that critical and important priority of ensuring that we have a secure southern border.

March for Life

Mr. President, this Friday, as they do every year, individuals from every corner of the United States will come to Washington, DC, to participate in the national March for Life.

As usual, South Dakotans will be among them. Tens of thousands of individuals will march from the National Mall to the Supreme Court to bear witness to a simple truth; that unborn babies are human beings and that they deserve to be protected.

It can be easy sometimes for human beings to turn their backs on injustice. Maybe because we don't want to get involved, we are reluctant to speak out.

It is particularly easy to turn our backs in the case of abortion because the injustice of abortion is hidden. It happens out of the public view behind closed doors, but we must not forget that every day in the United States, unborn babies are being killed.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which compiles data on the number of U.S. abortions, reports that there were more than 638,000 legal abortions in 2015--638,000. That is roughly equivalent to three-quarters of the population of South Dakota. That is an incredible number of lives lost, an incredible amount of joy lost, an incredible amount of love lost, and it is all too easy to forget because we don't see it happening. We can't forget. We can't forget injustice. We can't let fear or discomfort stop us from speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves.

Fortunately, there are tens of thousands of men and women and young people around this country who are committed to speaking up for the unborn and who travel to Washington, DC, every year to remind us of the truth about abortion, to remind us that abortion is the destruction of an innocent human life, that every abortion kills an innocent human being with her own DNA and her own, distinct identity.

I can think of few greater things than to defend the defenseless, to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves, and I am grateful for all those who will march through the streets of Washington, DC, on Friday to speak up for the innocent unborn. I thank them for reminding us of this great injustice, and I join them in praying that one day every child will be safe from abortion.

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