National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. REID. Mr. President, I assume my Republican friend feels that if you say just the opposite of what is valid and true, some people will believe it. You talk about a logic-free zone, as my friend mentioned-- boy, we got one in the last half hour here. We do have a new normal here, and it is not a good new normal. Take, for example, defense. The Republican leader resorts to name-calling, trying to paint Democrats as weak on defense. He cites Democrats voting against proceeding to the Defense appropriations bill before we have a budget deal.

Let me remind the American people, let me remind the Republican leader, the result of Democrats blocking the Defense appropriations bill three times last year was we got a better budget, a much better budget. We got a budget agreement that increased spending for national security by $33.5 billion over the sequester. It was their sequester level; that is, they wanted to cut it even more. That is the truth.

The further truth is that the defense of our country, the security of our country, depends more on the Pentagon. We have every Democrat who is just as patriotic as any Republican. We believe in the security of this Nation just as much as they do. We look at that differently, though, in this sense: I repeat, the security of this Nation is more than bombs and bullets. It is also making sure we have an FBI that works and is adequately funded. It also means the Drug Enforcement Administration has the personnel to do their job. It also means the Department of Homeland Security, created by a Republican President, is up and running and able to do its job. They have tremendous responsibilities. The border security is their problem. They have to deal with that, and it has to be adequately funded.

We have issues that relate to the security of this Nation. For example, the Centers for Disease Control has to be adequately funded. They don't do bombs or bullets, but they do take care of this Nation's security.

The National Institutes of Health, one of the premier organizations in the history of the world, helps us become a more secure nation. So we are going to continue--we will block today, if he brings it up again, the Defense appropriations bill. Why? Because he wants to do that. It is so obvious. He wants to do that and walk out of here and leave the other appropriations bills stirring in the breeze and meet the craziness we see out of the House of Representatives as it relates to spending.

We want more resources for our troops, but if we get more resources for our troops, we are going to get more resources for those entities that keep us safe and secure that aren't Pentagon-related.

Again, I assume my friend believes that if you keep talking about something that is absolutely untrue, people will think it is true. For example, let's take the Zika situation we have in America today. No one disputes the fact that these mosquitoes are ravaging and are horrendous. Mosquitoes have been very difficult and dangerous. They have been terrible since recorded history. They cause death and illness. It is hard to comprehend. For the first time in the history of the world, we have now the mosquito spreading a virus that causes women to have deformed babies--badly deformed babies.

What we did, on a bipartisan basis, the senior Senator from Washington and the senior Senator from Missouri got together and they came up with a Zika funding measure. I felt it was inadequate dollarwise. We agreed with the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health that it should be $1.9 billion. We said: OK. We will go along with this because it is an emergency. It is like all emergencies, whether it is flood, fire, or wind, whatever it might be. This is an emergency, and it should be treated as such--$1.1 billion, no offsets. We passed that with 89 votes. Every Democrat voted for it and virtually every Republican voted for it. It went to the House of Representatives.

Now, here is where my friend's logic-free zone really pops in hard. Remember what we sent to the House of Representatives, and here is what they sent back to us. There is no disputing this, even though he can say it a million times if he wants. Under the bill we got back--and the Republicans in the Senate approved what happened in the House--Planned Parenthood, an organization where hundreds and hundreds of thousands of women go for their care, do you think they are going to have a little rush of business now? Because women in America today want to make sure they have the ability to not get pregnant. Why? Because the mosquitoes ravage pregnant women. Under the logic of my friend the Republican leader, they don't need to go to Planned Parenthood. They can go to their boutique doctor someplace in Las Vegas or Chicago or Lexington, KY. They can go to an emergency room and say: I am sorry, I didn't get birth control; will you help me? That isn't what emergency rooms are for. That is what Planned Parenthood is for. The vast majority of women who need help, that is where they go, Planned Parenthood. Under the legislation we got back from the House, there is no money to be provided for that.

We know the Republicans don't like the people who wear the green eyeshades, the so-called environmentalists. So what did they send to us? They had to do something. The only thing they could get out of the House of Representatives--they have to do something to attack the environment so they said: Well, here is what we will do. With spring, we are going to eliminate the Clean Water Act, which makes it extremely dangerous. That is why the EPA looks at this so closely and all other Federal agencies. The Clean Water Act is the law of the land, and it has been for decades. They eliminate that.

The Republican leader gets up here and talks about: I hope they are happy--words to that effect--what they are doing to veterans. The bill we got back as it relates to Zika takes $500 million from veterans-- from the Veterans' Administration. That is what they did. I can't make this stuff up. What was that money to be used for? Processing claims.

The Presiding Officer has been out front on finding a way to speed up veterans' claims. They need to be handled more expeditiously. There was a provision in the original legislation to give them $500 million to speed it up, but now that money will be put toward the Zika bill. It is gone.

Two years ago a ravaging epidemic swept Africa--Ebola. It was terribly hurtful to the people of Africa. People in America were afraid. We had nurses and doctors coming here to be treated because we had better facilities than they have in Africa. Well, it is still around, and they are still putting out fires as we speak. The bill we got back from the House took $107 million from the Ebola funding. Everyone knows that the $543 million they took from ObamaCare to help fund the Zika matter--I could raise a point of order right now and it would go out. No one disputes that.

As Speaker Boehner said--just to demonstrate how crazy they are over there in the House--they couldn't get something passed there unless they did something to take care of the really, really, really rightwing crazies. What did they do? They struck a prohibition on displaying the Confederate flag. They wanted to be able to fly the Confederate flag at military cemeteries. That is the bill we have which also deals with Zika. How can anyone in good conscience vote for that? We can't, and we are not going to. Of course, it sets up the terrible precedent of offsetting emergency spending.

It is July 14, and the Senate is going to take a short, 7-week break. As we heard the Republican leader say: It has all been done. We have done great things here. He scheduled the Senate for a 7-week summer break--vacation, time off, call it whatever you want. It is the longest Senate recess in more than 60 years. We would like stay and work. I would like to work for the people of Nevada and the rest of the American people, but the Republicans don't want to hear any of this. They want to go listen to Donald Trump. Some of them may not be there because they are kind of embarrassed to be seen with him, but they will watch it on TV.

We will be back in September to tie up loose ends and make sure that the government gets funded, but that is about all we have the ability to do now.

As we get ready to adjourn for 7 weeks, let's look at just a few of the things that are being left behind, such as Zika. The Republicans are choosing vacation rather than protecting pregnant women and their babies from these terrible birth defects that can be prevented.

Have we done anything about guns? No, even though the Republican leader said we would have a vote on guns, we are not going to have a vote on guns. The legislation sponsored by the Republican Senator from Maine, joined by a significant number of Democrats--the Republican leader said we would have a vote on that. Why? Well, we thought it would be a good idea to make it so that suspected terrorists can't go out now and legally purchase a gun or explosives. No, we will not have a vote on that.

What about criminal justice reform? Look at what is going on in the country today. Is there a need for justice reform? Of course there is. We have a bipartisan bill that is drowning in the Judiciary Committee. We understand there is only a handful of Republicans who don't support this. Democrats support it. They have refused to address the failings of our criminal justice system despite ample bipartisan support on and off Capitol Hill.

How about the Supreme Court? Republicans still refuse to give Merrick Garland a hearing and vote. Do I need to say more about that? I don't think so.

What about Flint, MI? The whole city was ravaged by lead. Thousands of boys and girls will now never be who they could have been because of lead in their water. There is no relief for them--zero relief. There are 100,000 people who live in that city. They were all adversely affected and poisoned.

What about the opioid epidemic? We passed a bill, which is the first step, but they refused to fund it. They will make due with money they had from before, and now all these additional duties will be given to all of these agencies. We passed the conference report to address opioid addiction, but we don't have the money to do the things we are asking these agencies to do. These are just a few of the things. I guess they are the immediate issues.

What about the other problems the Republicans have ignored for 19 months? How about something for the middle class? How about creating a few jobs? How about building some roads or repairing our very delicate bridges, dams, and our water and sewer systems?

Nothing has been done about the minimum wage, pay equity, student loan debt, job creation--nothing, nothing, nothing. We have crumbling roads and bridges.

What about basic American rights? What has Senator McConnell done or said about ensuring justice for the American people? Nothing.

This is the headline from today's Politico: ``Mitch McConnell's historic judge blockade.'' I didn't write the headline. I will read a couple of paragraphs.

Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland may be the most prominent casualty of the GOP-controlled Senate's election- year resistance on the Federal judiciary--but the pace of overall judicial confirmations under Mitch McConnell is on track to become the slowest in more than 60 years. Under the McConnell-led Senate, just 20 district and circuit court judges have been confirmed at a time when vacancies are hampering the Federal bench nationwide.

This is nothing to be proud of.

The Republican leader instituted a blockade of judicial nominations. He did it last year. Last year they made history by confirming the fewest judges since the 1950s, but they will do even less this year. Because of their obstruction, judicial emergencies--those courts with more cases than judges can handle--have more than doubled. That means that Americans seeking justice are being denied their constitutional rights. Here is the issue. I have been there. I spent a lot of time in courts. That is what I did. I was a trial lawyer. I can remember going to both the State and Federal courts, and they said: Sorry, but we are going to do criminal cases for the next few months and not do anything with civil cases. Civil cases are just as important as criminal cases, but because of what the Republicans have done, judges will be forced--because of the law--to take care of the criminal cases and put the civil cases in the back of the bus.

What about voting rights? Senate Republicans have done absolutely nothing--zero--to protect Americans' right to vote. Time and again this Republican Senate has proven itself to be a colossal failure. Yet Senator McConnell has had the nerve to pat himself on the back every day for all he and the Republicans have done in this Congress.

The bipartisan bills that have passed this Congress were blocked by Republicans in past Congresses. That is a fact. I, as the leader here, had to file cloture more than 500 times because of obstruction and filibusters by the Republicans.

Let's be real honest here. Let's do the logic. These bills passed because Democrats have been a constructive minority. We have worked with the Republicans when they were willing to work with us, but there are too many reasons why this Republican Congress has been a flop. First, Republicans made a calculated decision to appease the most radical fringes of their party. Who do they have? They have Donald Trump.

Second, there has been a serious erosion of trust since the Republicans assumed the majority. Promise after promise to the American people has been shattered and broken. Senator McConnell promised to pass a budget every year. We have no budget.

Senator McConnell promised a full Senate workweek. We have worked one Friday in 19 months.

Senator McConnell promised no show votes. Yet today the Republican leader will force unnecessary revotes on Zika, and I am sure he will force a revote on Defense appropriations. This will be the eighth time in this Congress that the Republican leader has resorted to this tactic. It is his signature move. He is the record holder--it is not a good one--on revotes.

Senator McConnell promised an open amendment process. I can remember him coming out here and saying: Reid filled the amendment tree. Well, he must have learned from me because he has gotten really good at it. He has filled the amendment tree 16 times. These are all commitments that the Republican leader made to the American people which have not been honored.

There have also been a number of promises made within the Senate that have been broken. Both sides of the aisle have been left waiting for the Republican leader to keep his word--his personal word. This troubles me. I have been in this Congress for 34 years. I don't like to talk about this, but I have experienced his not keeping his word firsthand.

I had a meeting right here regarding a woman by the name of Jessica Rosenworcel. She wanted to be renominated to the Federal Communications Commission. That was in December of 2014. Senator McConnell, Senator Thune, and I had an agreement that I thought was made in good faith. The agreement was simply this: I would agree to do a Republican. We always did them together. We paired them. They said: No, we have to do this. He worked for the Senator from Arizona. He wanted to make sure that they took good care of the Senator who just left the Senate.

The agreement was that we would confirm Michael O'Rielly to the FCC, but in exchange, as soon as the new year came, they would go with Rosenworcel. That was supposed to happen in the next Congress. O'Rielly was a longtime staffer for Senator Kyl and had also worked for Senator Cornyn.

Jessica is a very talented lawyer who worked for Jay Rockefeller.

It was very unusual to do what I agreed to do, but in good faith I accepted the word of two Republican Senators. We traditionally confirm members on bipartisan boards by pairing nominees--one Democrat and one Republican. I agreed to do this out of the goodness, frankly, of my heart. I have never had the experience where someone simply didn't keep their word, and that is what has happened. I wasn't alone. Somebody who works on the Senate floor--and has for years--was there when that conversation took place.

The Republican leader asked me to make an exception, and I did. I agreed with his personal commitment that when the next Congress convened, Republicans would reconfirm Jessica Rosenworcel. I was promised that. I didn't have to agree to this, but I did it because the Republican leader said he would do his part and get Rosenworcel confirmed. Nineteen months have passed, and the Republican leader has yet to keep his word with me.

We had a big, important spending bill last year. It did a lot, but-- no one disputes this--the staff of Senator McConnell made a mistake and didn't put language in dealing with section 48 of the renewable tax credits, and everybody acknowledged that it was too bad. He acknowledged the drafting error and that the staff made a mistake. Republicans committed to correct their drafting error in the next revenue bill that the Senate considered. This has been unfulfilled. We could have done it with the FAA bill, but it will not be done there. He told Leader Pelosi: We are going to do that. I promised Reid I would do it. Well, it hasn't been done.

It is a sad Senate when people do not keep their word, but maybe they will address those two issues. A new day will come in September. This is what Democrats and the American people have come to expect from Republicans--promises not kept, commitments not honored, and work not done. ``Integrity'' is a simple word, but here in the U.S. Capitol, it is everything.

I hope it turns around come this fall. If Republicans will stay and work instead of taking this 2-month break, we can do something to address all these issues, including Zika, Merrick Garland, and guns. But that is as much as we can do if they refuse to do their jobs.

Mr. President, I am sorry that Senator McConnell and I have taken so much time, but we do that once in a while.

Reservation of Leader Time

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