Unanimous Consent Requests--Executive Calendar

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRAHAM. Thank you to my colleagues. Thank you for your leadership here.

Senator Tuberville, I hope we can find a way to get this behind us, if possible. So my contribution to the debate is as follows: The bedrock of our democracy is that the military will be subordinate to civilian control. That has served our Nation well--that no matter who is in uniform, they answer to civilian authorities, and they are subordinate to the will of the civilian leadership elected and appointed. That has really helped our country be who we are today.

One of the things that I can't understand is, if you require our military to be subordinate to the people above them in the civilian world, why would you punish them for something they have nothing to do with?

All of these people--and if we need to call all 376, I will be glad to do it. I will get some rest this weekend and come back next week. I am going to start with two. All I am asking is to allow Major General Lenderman to get promoted. I will make that request in a minute.

Major General Lenderman is a two-star general. She got promoted to three-star because her peers--the military promotion system--saw in her leadership qualities. And after I read her bio, I now know why she got promoted.

But the job she is going into, she is going to be the Deputy Commander, Headquarters, Pacific Air Force, Hawaii. She would be responsible for Air Force activities over half the globe. The command supports 46,000 Airmen serving principally in Japan, Korea, Hawaii, Alaska and Guam. That has a lot to do with the Indo-Pacific theater.

She has 3,000 flight hours as a KC-135, KC-10, KC-46 pilot. In case you don't know what that means, she flies the air refueling tankers that our fighters and our bombers come up to to stay in the fight. This is some of the hardest flying in the Air Force. You have to have your stuff together because refueling at night is not some easy thing. I have actually seen it done. I am an Air Force lawyer. They shouldn't let me near an airplane, but they did.

I can tell you this, this lady has proven herself time and time again: 3,000 hours--I am sure most of it is combat--doing some of the hardest things any pilot can do in the Air Force. And she has zero to do with what happened. I don't know what her beliefs are about the life issue. I am pro-life, too, but I don't want to start asking our military members litmus test questions.

She deserves to be promoted. You are not going to change policy that she didn't make by denying her the ability to be promoted. We need this lady as a three-star yesterday to deal with the threats coming from China and that part of the world.

She is a graduate of Duke University. She has had every major job I can think of in Transportation Command, Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, which I have been to several times.

I am asking tonight that she be allowed to be promoted because she has had nothing to do with the policy we all object with. Holding her hostage doesn't help the pro-life cause. It hurts the military. The most pro-life people I know are the ones willing to die for us. She is willing to die for this country. She has proven herself time and time again. She needs to be promoted.

189, Laura L. Lenderman, to lieutenant general and Deputy Commander, Pacific Air Forces; that the Senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate; that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

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Mr. GRAHAM. I will have another one.

Let me respond to my colleague respectfully. We have courts. If you think they have done something illegal, go to court. That is how you handle these things. The Pentagon has issued a legal opinion I disagree with, saying this doesn't violate the Hyde Amendment. I disagree with it.

Here is what is going to happen. You just denied this lady a promotion. You did that. All of us are ready to promote her because she deserves to be promoted. She had nothing to do with this policy. Let me say it again. Everybody in this body could find an issue with any administration they don't agree with. And what we are going to do is open up Pandora's box. Today is abortion policy.

If we take back the White House, we will go back to the Mexico City policy, limiting dollars to be given to overseas entities that are engaged in the abortion business. Some pro-choice people don't like that. What would happen if they put a hold on all of the officers because they don't agree with the Republican administration? There is a reason this has not been done this way for a couple hundred years.

No matter whether you believe it or not, Senator Tuberville, this is doing great damage to our military. I don't say that lightly. I have been trying to work with you for 9 months. Folks, if this keeps going, people are going to leave.

Let me tell you how the system works. You have 18 months, I think, from the time you are promoted to pen on. If you don't make that gate, your time and grade up-or-out rule kicks in. There are some people that are waiting to be promoted that if they don't get promoted soon, they will be out of the military.

Now, how does that help anybody if they are qualified? There is not one Senator in here that cannot find a reason to object to an administration policy in the military. None of us. We could all find something. I just hope we don't do this routinely, because if this is the norm, who the hell wants to serve in the military when your promotion can be canned based on something you had nothing to do with? She had nothing to do with this. If you think it is illegal, go to court. We have courts in this country.

I have one more: Rear Admiral Fred Kacher. Fred, sorry if I mispronounced your name. He has been promoted to three-star. OK? That is a pretty big deal. I made colonel and that is as far as I could go and that is probably a gift.

What job does he have? He is going to be the Commander of the 7th Fleet, Japan. Somebody is doing his job right now, but they are not a three-star. We have a military promotion system to reward people who are good at what they do so they can have more responsibility. This officer had zero to do with the Pentagon's decision, which I don't like and you don't like, but he can't get promoted because of one of us.

There is no end to this, folks. If this gets to be the norm, you are going to wreck the military promotion system. You are punishing people who, by law under the Constitution, require to be subservient to civilian control. They have to follow civilian control. And you are punishing them for something they didn't do. Punish the civilians who made the policy. That is the way to do it.

I am going to move that Rear Admiral Fred Kacher be immediately promoted to three-star, 7th Fleet, Japan, Commander. It is the largest forward-deployed fleet operating around China, Russia, and North Korea. Given the threats coming from that area, I think we need this guy, like, yesterday.

He is a 1990 U.S. Naval graduate. He commanded guided-missile destroyers. He has been--this is amazing; you need to read about this guy. We want this guy. Coach, we need this guy. We are in a fight. We need the best people on the field. He is off the field for something he had nothing to do with.

And if this gets to be normal--I will end where I started. If this gets to be normal, God help the military because every one of us could find some reason to object to policy. Let's just don't hold hostage the men and women who have to follow civilian control. Let's don't ruin the lives of all these people who have been serving our Nation for decades.

Their families can't enroll in school. Some of them are going to be knocked out of promotion because of time and grade problems. There are families struggling out there because they can't move to the next assignment. This doesn't help anybody. It doesn't help any cause.

189; Rear Admiral Kacher, 7th Fleet Commander; that the Senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate; that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

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Mr. GRAHAM. Oh, sorry, sorry. This is why I didn't get promoted. Executive Calendar No. 85.

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Mr. GRAHAM. Frederick W. Kacher. Thank you.

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Mr. GRAHAM. And we will be doing this 376 times.

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