Bipartisanship
Floor Speech
Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. President, over the past few years, bipartisanship
has not always fared well in the Senate. We have been able to change
the Chamber's culture for the better in 2015. Now that is in jeopardy
once again.
In the first half of the year, we had a number of bipartisan
accomplishments. It kicked off with the passage of the Clay Hunt
Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act at the beginning of the
year. The new law will provide the VA with the personnel, services, and
proper tools to help veterans facing mental illness struggles, which is
vital as it is estimated that 22 veterans commit suicide every day. The
Clay Hunt act will help stop this tragic and unacceptable trend.
Then we were able to pass the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act
in a unanimous fashion. This law will save lives. It will restore
dignity to the victims of these heinous crimes, and it will help end
modern-day slavery.
We followed that with legislation that will give Congress a voice in
the President's negotiations with Iran over its illicit nuclear
program. There was such a strong show of bipartisanship on this vote
that it forced President Obama to drop his initial veto threat. Had we
not maintained bipartisan unity, there would be no review of the Iran
deal. There would be nothing stopping President Obama from signing a
bad agreement with Iran. It is because we stood together across party
lines that the American people will now have a say in negotiations.
Before we adjourned for the Memorial Day work period, we approved
granting the President trade promotion authority. We worked together to
provide the President with the necessary tools to negotiate a fair
trade deal while maintaining Congress's important role in the process.
I say all this to highlight what we can accomplish when we work
together. Unfortunately, the minority leader seems intent on ending
that streak.
We are in the midst of discussing another bill which should have
substantial bipartisan support, the National Defense Authorization Act.
Yet, Minority Leader Reid has called this vital, traditionally
bipartisan bill ``a waste of time.'' This is a bill which, as the
senior Senator from Arizona has noted, Congress has passed for 53
consecutive years, including those when the minority leader controlled
the Senate schedule.
Far from a waste of time, the NDAA helps us modernize our military to
face today's security challenges. We live in a dangerous world. We have
to stay ahead of those who would seek to harm us, not fall behind them.
This is no time to be dismissive of our national security needs.
It is also about the livelihood of over 1.4 million men and women on
Active Duty and 718,000 civilian personnel. We are talking about the
Nation's largest employer. The NDAA helps us ensure that we are doing
everything we need to do to help them. So I think we can all agree
there is much in this bill that needs to get done.
Unfortunately, the White House is taking what should be a bipartisan
bill and using it to push for its own political end game to increase
domestic spending. Worse yet, the President has somehow convinced
Senate Democrats to go along with this misguided strategy.
Instead of approaching this in a bipartisan manner, the minority
leader is forcing his caucus to carry water for President Obama, who
has indicated he would veto the NDAA unless he gets the domestic
spending increases he is demanding. That means the President stands
ready to block the policy prescriptions and funding levels for the
Department of Defense unless we give other agencies, such as the EPA,
as they try their additional power grab through things like the Clean
Water Act and extending that, and the IRS, as they waste money on
bonuses for their employees--all of this is very dangerous.
There will be plenty of time to debate our domestic spending
priorities and allotments, but now is not the time. Let's get that
bipartisan mentality back and finish the work that needs to be done to
protect our Nation.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
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