Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I come to the floor this afternoon with great regret, having to raise the issue of the pending nomination of the Secretary of the Army. Mr. Eric Fanning has been nominated to be the Secretary of the Army. We have held hearings in the Armed Services Committee, and his name has been on the calendar for confirmation. My friend from Kansas, who is on the floor with me--and he is my dear friend of many years, despite the branch in which he chose to serve in the military--has been objecting to the confirmation of Mr. Eric Fanning as the Secretary of the Army, which is his right.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, Mr. Fanning has nothing to do with the issue. We are shooting a hostage that has nothing to do with the decisionmaking process. If we inaugurate a practice here of holding nominees over an issue that is not related to those nominees, we are abusing our power and authority as U.S. Senators.

Secondly, the Senator from Kansas knows he cannot have the President call him. If he did that, he would then have to call 99 other Senators who would then hold up nominees because they have not been assured that detainees will not be relocated to their States according to any plan that the President may come up with.

What we are doing is telling a nominee who is totally and eminently qualified for the job that that person cannot fulfill those responsibilities and take on that very important leadership post because of an unrelated issue that has nothing to do with Mr. Fanning. That is not the appropriate use of senatorial privilege. What if we set this precedent and every Senator--100 Senators--adopts the practice of saying: I don't want the President to pursue a certain course of action, therefore I will hold his or her nominees hostage until they take a certain course of action. That is not the role of advice and consent. That is a distortion of advice and consent.

Let me say, I will be coming back to the floor on Mr. Fanning's nomination. It is not fair to him. He is an American citizen. He has served for years in the service of his country, at least since 2009 that I can see. He shouldn't be held hostage to a policy decision that--the full Senate will act to prevent that action.

I tell my colleague that the full Senate, as we have the last several years, will prohibit the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo Bay until the President of the United States comes forward with a plan that is approved by the Senate. So if a plan came forward that contained movement of the detainees to Fort Leavenworth, as the Senator from Kansas is worried about, then the Senate would say no. We would say no.

So, unfortunately, we have seen the Senator from Kansas take a nominee who is fully qualified in every aspect--he passed through the Senate Armed Services Committee by voice vote--and hold him hostage to an action that the nominee has no ability to take, has no ability to determine, nor is it in his area of responsibility as Secretary of the Army to determine a policy on Guantanamo.

So if we are going to set a precedent here, I say to my friend from Kansas, that if we don't like a certain policy or anticipated action by the President of the United States in some area, we will therefore hold up a nominee for an office which they are not in any way related to-- that is not the way the Senate should behave.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McCAIN. Sure. I will be glad to yield to my friend.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, just quickly, facts are stubborn things, I say to my friend from Kansas. The reason there hasn't been movement of the detainees is because the action of the Senate Armed Services Committee in the authorization bill prohibited such a thing from happening. It has nothing to do with any hold or no hold that the Senator from Kansas has. Let's be very clear about that. And whether Eric Fanning is confirmed or not, it does not change the situation one iota--not one iota.

I have assured the Senator from Kansas that the Senate Armed Services Committee--I know enough about my own committee to know that they will be passing again, as we have for the last several years, a prohibition on the movement of detainees until there is a plan. And in 2009 or whenever it was, I am sure they had no plan at that time because they came to see me and I told them to come up with a plan.

So the Senator's actions have nothing to do with whether or not the President closes Guantanamo and transfers them, and the Senator's action right now has nothing to do with whether or not the President of the United States will decide to close Guantanamo by Executive order and move them to Leavenworth. There is nothing he is doing by withholding this nomination that would in any way inhibit the President from acting. The only thing that will inhibit the President from acting is the aye vote of Senator from Kansas on the Defense authorization bill which will be on the floor at the end of May and which will have a prohibition for the transfer of those detainees.

So I would hope my dear friend from Kansas would understand that what we need to do is get a defense authorization to the floor, get it in conference with the House, and get it to the President's desk. That is the best way he can keep any movement of detainees to Kansas and to Fort Leavenworth. And at the same time, the President of the United States, despite your hold on Mr. Fanning, may act by Executive order. Nothing you are doing by prohibiting Mr. Fanning from being confirmed to a post he is well qualified for--to lead the U.S. Army--will have any effect whatsoever on an Executive order by the President of the United States.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McCAIN. Yes.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McCAIN. May I just say, Mr. President, that I hope my dear friend from Kansas--we are about to go into a week-long recess--would do as he always does, and that is contemplate and communicate, as he does with the people of Kansas, who have honored him for so much time here in the Congress of the United States. Maybe hopefully we could work this out with the certain knowledge and my assurance that I am 100 percent confident that the Senate Armed Services Committee will report a bill that will become law that prohibits the transfer of the detainees from Guantanamo to anywhere in the United States of America until there is a plan that is approved by Congress, and I want to give him that confidence.

His passion that he has displayed here is ample evidence for why the people of Kansas hold him with such affection and respect. He is fighting for what he believes is in the best interests of the people whom he represents so well and honorably.

I hope he will have the opportunity, as we go into recess next week, to talk with his constituents and think about this and think about my assurance that we will not--we will not--approve of a transfer of detainees from Guantanamo Bay unless it is in compliance with the law that we will pass.

I thank my colleague.

I know the Senator from Tennessee is waiting.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source