Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Senate U.S. Senate 20240712

The National Defense authorization bill today for 2021. There there are a number of amendment votes scheduled for this afternoon. Live Senate Coverage here on cspan2. The president pro tempore the senate will come to order. The chaplain, dr. Black, will lead the senate in prayer. The chaplain let us pray. Eternal spirit, grant to this nation, and to all people, a social conscience built on the vision of the ancient prophets who saw sufficiency for every person and a time when anxiety would overcome chaos and hopelessness. Hasten the day when the small and weak can make their contributions alongside the great and powerful. Lead us to the day when we will see peace among the nations of the earth, when swords shall be beaten into plowshares. Use the members of this body to bring us to the time when your will is done on earth even as it is dob in heaven. Lord, we trust you with our future. Let your glory cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. We pray in your mighty name. Amen. The president pro tempore please join me in reciting the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Grassley madam president. The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Grassley i ask permission for one minute in morning business. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Grassley there is an area in bosnia, it goes by the name of sherpenya. This month is the 25th anniversary of a massacre that took place there. It happens to be the worst genocide on european soil since the holocaust. 25 years ago 8,000 bosnians were murdered out of ethnic and religious hatred. Many bosnians who witnessed this horrific atrocity became refugees and found a home in my state of iowa. We must remember for those bosnians, iowans, and for all bosnians who suffered as they continue to deal with unimaginable memories. It is also important for the rest of us to make a point of remembering what happened so that we can prevent it from happening again. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call mr. Mcconnell madam president. The presiding officer the majority leader is recognized. Mr. Mcconnell i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell this week the senate will pass the 60th annual National Defense authorization act. Every year this legislation lets the senate make our Top Priorities for protecting our homeland, our allies, and our global interests into law. And certainly the recent behavior of our adversaries the world over shows why this task is as urgent as ever. Even as our nation focused on fighting the pandemic at home, our Service Members have contended with dangerous behavior from wouldbe competitors all around the world. The Russia Military has kept probing the bounds of u. S. Airspace, and putins regime has kept its sights on cyber war and destabilization by proxy. China continues to treat International Commercial lanes like its own private pond, choke freedom and autonomy out of hong kong and try to ethnically cleanse jiang. Both cints continue to stabilize mobilities from sea to space, and the persistent violence of terrorist groups like isis and al qaeda demand our attention as well. Amid these threats and many others, the American People and the entire free world look to the men and women of the u. S. Military to preserve order and peace, and the opening bipartisan process led by chairman inhofe and Ranking Member reed has produced strong legislation that will advance their missions. Its the product of intense committee work. It contains more than 200 bipartisan amendments and it will builds on the historic progress which this administration and this Republican Senate have secured over the past three years. After years of cuts to our military that weaken readiness and peril modernization and call into question our interest in protecting our global interests, we have reversed the tide. Weve invested in strength. We built a new National Defense strategy, and are investing and rebuilding and modernizing our military to help achieve it. This legislation will carry the progress even further. More support for Defense Research and innovation, resources for military housing and health care, tools to deepen our commitments with regional partners in europe and the pacific. For most americans, investing in the greatest fighting force in the world is not controversial. Its a nobrainer. But lest we forget, madam president , the radical energy on the far left is sparking some truly extraordinary behavior among our democratic colleagues. Case in point, later today well vote on an amendment that was advertised in an opinion essay by the junior senator from vermont titled defund the pentagon, the liberal case. This is the junior senator from vermont, an essay entitled defund the pentagon the liberal case. You heard correctly, madam president. Weve moved on from defunding local police to defunding the United States armed forces. Maybe well be sending social workers on overseas deployments when they arent too busy responding to violent crimes. Im not sure, senator sanders amendment would literally des mate the Defense Budget. It would rip 10 right out and pour the money into all the usual socialist fantasies free rent, free college, free everything for everyone. Now in light of the longheld views of our colleagues from vermont, a proposal like this may not be particularly shocking. What is remarkable is that the democratic leader, the leader of their caucus, felt pressured into endorsing it. Let me say that again, the democratic leader who in almost every floor speech tries to accuse this administration of being too soft on americas adversaries, wants to literally decimate our dwebs bblg to finance a social defense bblg to finance a socialist spending spree. This turns out to be something of a pattern. On the democratic side it sometimes seems like we have hawks when it comes to speeches but chickens when it comes time to make policy. When theyre on the sidelines, theres plenty of bark, but whenever they actually call a shot, its zero bite. Lots of bark, little bite, all hat, no cattle. Thats how we end up with spectacles like the democratic leader playacting as a russian hawk when about a decade ago he was publicly arguing that we should cozy up to putin, send russia billions of dollars of cash, pull the plug on nato Missile Defense packs that hurt putins feelings and concede to him, quote, russias traditional role in the caspian sea region. That was the democratic leader in 2008. Pay off putin, let him have a sphere of influence. And now today he wants to decimate defense spending. But in between he spent years insisting the democrats want to get tough, want to get tough on foreign policy. So you see how the game works, madam president. Sound like hawks on television, act like chickens when making policy. Defense spending demonstrates our will to defend ourselves and our interests in a dangerous world, keeping our nation safe is our foremost constitutional duty. We cannot shirk it. My colleagues who profess concern over putins efforts to interfere in our colleague or efforts to rewrite the rules of the International System must know that we will never, never be able to deter such behavior if we sell out our own soldiers short and surrender our technological edge. So i assure you beijing and moscow will be watching this vote. I ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to reject this farleft fantasy. Defeat this amendment. Throughout the cold war we maintained a bipartisan commitment to american strength, american alliances and a global peace built on american values. We will reinforce that stand when we sink, sink the reckless sandersschumer amendment. And again when we pass this bipartisan bill. Now, madam president , on a final matter, since the spring our nation has engaged in important conversation about Racial Justice and policing. Most people understand that continuing our nations tremendous progress towards justice does not mean battling against american principles or American History. Progress means fulfilling our values, not attacking them. And yet, a group of radicals have latched onto this moment to say we should repudiate our country itself. We have watched as mobs have dragged statues of washington, jefferson, and grant through the dirt. And in many selfstyled intellectuals say we should discard the basic principles they fought for. One of the key pillars of our nation is a rule of law. In civilized society, the same laws need to apply to everyone. At times, our nation has fallen short on this score, particularly for all the years when black americans were completely denied the equal protections of law has been to our great shame. This has been central to the cause of civil rights. There is a reason the 14th amendment insists on equal protection of the laws. And yet, in recent months, local leaders have violated this basic tenet as riots rocked major cities, we saw politicians decline to act. They seem to fear farleft critique more than looting and chaos. And we saw the uneven application of other rules like when mayors cheered on mass demonstrations but continued to prohibit religious gatherings. That is the rule of law in jeopardy. Of course, the last example is also a First Amendment issue, and the freedom of expression itself is another principle thats come under threat. As i said a few weeks back, this goes deeper than just constitutional law. America has always proud of the spirit of the First Amendment. We as citizens must want to protect an open, civil discourse, a true marketplace of ideas. But lately, the political left has embraced something totally different. Todays far left is not interested in winning debates with better arguments. They prefer to shut down debate all together. They dont try to win the contest. They just harangue the freefers to stop the game. If they dont the referees to stop the game. If they dont like an oped, they want it unpublished. If they dont like a tweet, they want to track down the author and get them fired. If they dont like a tenured professor, they throw around orwellian accusations that his or her ideas makes them feel, makes them feel unsafe. This hostile culture is getting results. According to one brandnew survey, it is only farleft americans who do not feel compelled to selfcensor their views because of a hostile climate. Everyone but the left feels the threat. And 50 of selfidentified strong liberals say that simply contributing to the republican president ial candidate ought to be a fireable offense for a business leader. Let me say that again. 50 of selfidentified strong liberals say that simply contributing to the republican president ial candidate ought to be a fireable offense for a business leader. In this country . We recently saw the New York Times apologize for publishing a straightforward policy argument from a u. S. Senator. Since an editorial staffer resigned from the paper because even senators left opinions were not liberal enough and led to her constant harassment. That was a recent editorial staffer resigning from the New York Times because her center left opinions were not liberal enough and led to her constant harassment at the times. You see, the safe spaces only go in one direction. On elite campuses such as princeton, we see faculty turning on their tenured colleagues and even administrators weighing in to chastise people with unpopular views at princeton. We see Online Platforms such as facebook threatening to ban political advertising altogether, chilling our democracy because farleft employees and outside pressure groups berate them for letting diverse speakers use their platform. Even at a time when there is significant appetite in congress to take a second look at the Legal Protections afforded to those supposedly neutral platforms, they still contemplate giving an angry minority of agitators a veto over americas political speech. The. For, salman rushdie, who was himself lettened with death for his speech once said this two things form the bedrock of any open society freedom of expression and the rule of law. Mr. Mcconnell if you dont have those things, you dont have a free country. Free expression and the rule of law. Exactly, exactly the two things we have seen erodeed in recent months. Rushdie recently signed an open letter with other intellectuals, many liberals sounding the alarm on this cultural poison. Editors are fired, they wrote. Books are withdrawn. Journalists are barred from writing on certain topics. Professors are investigated, steadily narrowing the boundaries of what can be said without the threat of reprisal. Well, you can guess what happened next. The grievance Industrial Complex came after the letter itself. The authors were accused of advancing bigotry. And the cycle of nonsense started all over again. The United States of America Needs free speech. We need free expression. And all of us from all perspectives need the courage to speak up and defend it. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. Morning business is closed. Under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the senate 4049 which the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 483, s. 4049, an original bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2021 for military activities of the department of defense, and so forth and for other purposes. Mr. Schumer madam president. The presiding officer the democratic leader is recognized. Mr. Schumer Democratic Senators returned to washington on monday prepared to work in a bipartisan way on the next phase of coronavirus relief. After stalling for months while covid19 surged in more than 40 states, Senate Republicans finally said that now, the end of july, more than three months after the cares bill passed, would be the time for another emergency bill, but here we are. Its in the middle of the week, and the Republican Party is so disorganized, chaotic and unprepared that they can barely cobble together a partisan bill in their own conference. Indicative was leader mcconnells speech. He rants and raves about the New York Times and cancel culture. Not a word about covid19. People are ready to lose their Unemployment Benefits, to lose their apartments, and be evict evicted. Local governments are laying off people because they dont have the dollars. Were in a national crisis. We dont hear a word out of leader mcconnell as were on the edge of so many cliffs. Instead, lots of talk about the New York Times and cancel culture. That may be fodder for the far right. That is not what America Needs. When leader mcconnell at this crucial moment cant even mention covid, it shows what a knot the republicans are tied in. The bottom line is this the white house chief of staff said republicans were on their own 20yard line when it comes to their legislative proposal, their own 20yard line two months and a week after we passed the covid 3 bill, after millions more americans applied for unemployment, after many Small Businesses went under and many more died and were hospitalized as covid rages in many southern states. Were still on the 20yard line . Where have the republicans been . I have never seen a Political Party in the middle of a crisis so tied in a knot that the majority leader capital even mention it in his speech and spends time ranting against favorite targets of the far right and cant come up with a proposal. This isnt a game. This isnt typical republican dysfunction about whether or not they didnt or did see the president s last tweet. The disarray on the republican side has real consequences. Americans will suffer unnecessary pain and uncertainty because of it. The only reason there hasnt been another relief package in Congress Already is because of this republican incompetentence and reckless delay. Even after all of these months the white house and Senate Republicans are starkly divided about what to do. The white house is insisting on policies like a payroll tax cut that would do nothing to help millions of unemployed americans and that many Senate Republicans dont even support. Republicans cant even seem to agree on providing aid to state and local governments or the states should be able to flexibly use the support weve already given. A few of my friends on the other side of the aisle hardly want to spend anymore money to help our country in this once in a generation crisis because it might add to the national debt. Giant Corporate Tax cuts, 1. 5 trillion to 2 trillion of them. Fighting the greatest Public Health crisis in a century and the recession. Where are the priorities on the other side of the aisle . Well, i guess they are for helping big corporate fat cats, wealthy people, but not average people who are hurting. Thats the trouble with the Republican Party. Seriously, there are only three weeks left until the august work period and republicans are still in the opening phases of preparing their bill. We dont have time for this mess that the republicans are in. The moratorium on evictions we passed in the cares act expires in two days. The wall street journal reports that nearly 12 million adults live in households that missed their rent payment and few have confidence in the ability to make the next one. The enhanced Unemployment Benefits we passed in the cares act will expire while 20 million to 30 million americans are still without work. A recent study shows that those enhanced benefits prevented nearly 12 million americans from slipping into poverty. Because republicans cant get their act together, those benefits might expire next week. Congress needs to act quickly. Senate republicans in the white house and the white house need to get on the same page, produce a proposal, not just drop it on the floor, but start negotiations, or better yet, we could start negotiations on the heroes act which already passed the house and unlike the republican proposal would actually match the scale of this crisis. Now, yesterday, Speaker Pelosi and i met with chief of staff meadows and secretary mnuchin. Even with all of this chaos, weve had some indications about what the republicans are trying trying to do in their bill. Over the weekend we heard that the administration was trying to block additional funding for coronavirus testing and contact tracing. President trump ended the c. D. C. Data collection, risking data that Public Health experts vitally need. When we met with chief of staff metos and secretary mnuchin, Speaker Pelosi and i told them to back off these counterproductive and dangerous ideas. In addition, we will send a letter to the administration to demand answers on how data is being reported to the white house as well as pushing for legislation in the upcoming bill to ensure that covid19 data is fully transparent and accessible without any interference from the administration. We know donald trump likes to hide the truth. He thinks when the truth doesnt come forward, he thinks when he muzzles government officials that it changes things. It doesnt. The virus still rages and will rage unless we do something about it, not simply hide the statistics that show its depth. And we will make sure those statistics are made public so all of america, including the president will know how bad the situation is because thats what we need, the truth to set us free and then to act on it. Let me repeat. If the administration refuses to reverse course, democrats will insist on data transparency in the next covid relief bill. All of our efforts to bolster the economy, help the unemployed, save Small Businesses and ensure our children are safe at school will be meaningless if we dont stop the spread of the virus. Hiding covid data from the c. D. C. And foot dragging on more testing and tracing is incomprehensible and imperils Everything Else were working on. So we need to make a law. We need to make it soon. But right now the infighting and partisanship on the republican side and ideas like hiding data from the c. D. C. Are only adding to the delay. Now, yesterday we also saw the return of President Trumps Coronavirus Press briefings. Its remarkable that President Trump has lowered the bar so much that his performance yesterday was seen as a change in tone. Its a very sad state of affairs in our country when one day of the president reading statistics is hailed as leadership when thats what he should have been doing all along. The mere acknowledgment by the president that covid19 is raging through our country is some kind of breakthrough . Is that what people believe . Is that what trump wants the people to believe . Thats crazy. The truth is every time the president takes the podium, he is a risk to Public Health. Six months into the coronavirus and the president has only just come around to the idea that Wearing Masks would be a good idea. He deserves criticism for that belaitd admission, not belated admission, not praise. Six months into the crisis and the administration said they are into the process of developing a strategy that will be very, very powerful. Six months in. Countries in europe an asia developed National Testing regimes ages ago and thats why they are ahead of us in fighting this crisis. Americans must be hanging their heads in shame and disbelief that this administration is trying to still sort out the basics. When he says hes going to sort out the basics months and months too late as the crisis rages, he should get praise . No, he should be criticized President Trump started his press conference by labeling covid19 the china virus which shows that the president is still trying to deflect blame and play games with this deadly serious virus, games that are decisive. The truth is divisive. The truth is, the responsibility for americas failure to deal competently with covid19 falls squarely on President Trumps shoulders. It is long past time for the president to start acting like it. I yield the floor. Mr. Durbin madam president. The presiding officer the democratic whip is recognized. Mr. Durbin madam president , i read this morning that more americans have died in the last three months than any threemonth period in the history of the United States. That is a stunning statistic. Were searching the records to make sure that its an accurate statement. Im afraid it is. 140,000 americans, we believe, have died far from the covid19 crisis we are facing. That is not a moment of american greatness. Theyve just done a review of the nations across the world and the safety of those living in this pandemic, where did the United States rank in the nations of the world in dealing with the safety of the coronavirus . 58th. Two ranks aced head of russia ahead of russia. How could we reach this moment in time when this pandemic has been so devastating in the United States, more so than many other countries around the world, countries that are supposedly not even close to us in terms of economic development, strength, theyve handled this far better than the United States. But what are we doing about it now . Its a valid question. I know the president has decided that he doesnt want the likes of a dr. Tony fauci by his side when talking about the pandemic. But dr. Fauci and dr. Collins were interviewed and asked directly about the issue of testing. Why does it take so long in the United States to get results and what kind of problems does that create . Well, we know if someone suspects that they are positive for this virus and go in for a test, they are wore eid that they worried they may be endangering their own lives not to mention the lives of others, and then they have to wait a day, two days, six days more for the test results . Thats unacceptable. We need to invest more money into testing and more money into finding tests that would find quicker results. You would think that would be obvious is everyone. Its not obvious in this negotiation thats taking place now in the United States senate. There are republican senators resisting the idea of putting more money into testing in the United States. What country do they live in . Do they ever go home from washington to see whats happening in the rest of this country . We closed down one of the Testing Facilities in my hometown of springfield, illinois, this week. It was disappointing. We needed it and we needed more. If we are serious about opening this economy, if we are serious about stopping the spread of this pandemic, if were serious about opening our schools and making certain that teachers and pupils are safe, we need more testing, and yet, here we are tied in knots, as senator schumer said earlier, the republicans cant agree among themselves about the issue of putting money in testing in the midst of this pandemic. Its hard to believe. It was more than two months ago that the house of representatives passed the heroes act. Senator mcconnell has come to the floor regularly to ridicule that effort. He doesnt like the provisions in the act and its his right to have a difference of opinion. But the obvious question to senator mcconnell is, where is your alternative . What have you been doing for the last two months . You should have been writing the bill that we should be voting on as soon as we finish the one pending on the floor. But apparently the republicans cant come to any agreement between the white house and Senate Republicans about how to move forward. There are some who are basically saying enough. Were not going to spend another penny. Were not going to waste anymore money on any type of covid19. I have seen their testimony. Ive seen their statements before the microphones. Thats hard to imagine. I wonder if some of the senators from states like kentucky and texas who have stepped up and said we spent enough money on this have been home recently. Have they been there to meet the people who are unemployed, laid off, out of work, who are receiving the federal Unemployment Benefits to keep bread on the table to pay for their mortgages to pay for their Health Insurance . 600 a week may seem like a pretty generous amount of money to some. Try living on it. Try living on 600 a week when it costs 400 a week for Health Insurance. Yes, thats the average on cobra premiums, almost 1, 00 a 1,700 a month. When you talk about 600 a week, take out 1,700 on top of that. Tell me how that is to take care of your family. Under the cares act, the Unemployment Insurance ends jul. Were told the last checks will be mailed this saturday, three days from now the last check goes out and while that check is making its way through the mail, is it even possible that the Republican Leadership, with the white house, will come up with a proposal to deal with this . Its been two months . Senator mcconnell said during those two months he didnt feel any sense of urgency. No sense of urges sip. Urgency. Can you imagine of sense of urgency if you cant make your mortgage payment . Can you imagine the sense of urgency if that utility bill is so large you cant pay it . Thats the reality facing a lot of families that are laid off and unemployed. I believe, and many agree, that one of our highest priorities is to make sure the resources are there for their families. I also want to say that the notion that were in the midst of this conversation about Public Health, in the midst of this conversation about Public Health, the president and his party are trying to kill the Affordable Care act in the Supreme Court. More than 140,000 americans have died in this pandemic and President Trump and the Republican Party are trying to kill the major source of Health Insurance for millions of americans. For ten years the Affordable Care act has been the law of the land and before it was the law of the land, there were some things going on when it came to Health Insurance which we should not forget. Routinely Health Insurance companies discriminated against women before we passed the Affordable Care act and pro prohibited their practices. There was a time when Insurance Companies were allowed to charge women more than men for the same Health Insurance policies, common for women to pay three or four times what men paid for on the identical plans. Important Womens Health care was often excluded for insurance plans. For instance, most individual policies refused to cover maternity or newborn care. Insurance companies were allowed to deny coverage and charge higher premiums to americans with pree existing condition. That particular discrimination hurt women much more than men. Approximately 24 million american men had preexisting conditions, 30 million american women. Insurance companies would consider a host of medical conditions to be preexisting conditions breast cancer, csections, victims of domestic violence, asthma, acne, heart disease, all preexisting conditions, and before the Affordable Care act thats what the Health Insurance companies pointed to when they charged women and others more because of it. The Affordable Care act put an end to that, and now the republicans want to put an end to the Affordable Care act. Well, you must say they must have a much better idea. There must be a republican proposal out there far better than the Affordable Care act. There isnt. We havent seen any. They have no alternative. They just want to kill anything that might have the name obama on it. Weve got to do something about this to protect Health Insurance for the future, and the notion that the republicans and President Trump are fighting the Supreme Court to eliminate the Affordable Care act at this moment in American History when were fighting this pandemic is impossible to explain. I ask consent that the short statement which im about to make be placed in a separate part in the record. The presiding officer wow. Durbin iep been. Mr. Durbin ive been honored to work on the committee. Since ive taken the job ive been impressed many times over by the extraordinary department of defense and the actions theyve taken. The development of Technology Like g. P. S. , investing in l Critical Medical Research and the abiding commitment of wemple who make so many great sphriefs sacrifices for our country. Our procurement system seems designed to generate red tape, delay, and cost overruns. Our top adversaries around the world develop gamechanging technologies at a fraction of the cost that it takes us to develop them. Theres going to be an amendment on the floor today about future spending in the department of defense offered by senator sanders. I heard what senator mcconnell had to say about it earlier. He seems to believe that any suggestion that theres misspending in the department of defense is not patriotic. Somehow youre a chicken if you raise any questions about waste in the department of defense. I couldnt disagree more. The sanders amendment proposes a 10 budget cut in the department of defense. Well, ive taken a look as others have at the failed audits, the cost overruns, and the sporadic bureaucracy at the department of defense. I believe the american taxpayer deserves more. One of my earlier hearings focused on the Defense Industrial base and the threat of sequestration. The lives of our Service Members often depend on the equipment and training provided. When managed well it provides the best equipment, nextgeneration technology, good jobs and powerful weapons. However im concerned that holding defense contractors accountable for poor performance has not been the priority it should be today. Listen to this, from 2016 to 2019, military spending rose by 18 . During the same period of Time Department of defense accumulating 18 billion in cost overruns for weapons programs. What about the contractors who generated those cost overruns . The top five defense contractors in america saw their profits increase by 44 in that same period. This doesnt add up. Businesses have the right to earn a profit, but taxpayers have the right to demand accountability. With defense spending on such a steep rise, we should be driven by the motto, pay for performance. I dont believe thats the culture at the department of defense today. Senator sanders wants to direct 74 billion to communities across the country, including many needy communities in my state of illinois, for housing, health care, child care, education, jobs. Senator mcconnell comes to the floor and calls that socialism. Socialism when it comes to education and child care . I donti dont agree with him i dont agree with him. Theres considerable merit to what senator sanders has to say about the run up in costs at the department of defense but i do not agree with his basic approach of acrosstheboard cuts. When you start exempting things like military pay and health care, it means the remaining items take a deeper hit. A 14 cut that has been proposed for the remaining items at the department of defense would be a hard hit, no question about it. As ive said many times, sequestration didnt work, and we ought to learn a lesson from it. The National Guard should not have a 14 cut. Special victims counsels and Sexual Assault prevention programs should not be cut by 14 . Cleaning up pfas contamination at military bases should not be cut by 14 . Instead we ought to look at the department of Defense Budget more carefully, not with an acrosstheboard cut. Lets start with the 16 billion o. C. O. Gimmick. O. C. O. Is the account created to fight a war. We started this account years and years ago when we actually were engaged in war. Weve kept it alive to this day because its a way to escape budget rules. The o. C. O. Gimmick funds were requested for routine army, navy, and air force operations that have nothing to do with fighting a war in afghanistan or any other place. The administration requested these funds for the sole purpose of evading the caps on the base Defense Budget. Beyond that, listen to this, the president of the United States who is arguing for this budget was the first to raid it and take 8 billion or more out for his medieval wall on the southern border of the United States. 18 billion in Weapons Systems overruns that i mentioned earlier, what can we do with 18 billion in cost overruns . Well, you can increase the budget for the National Institutes of Health Medical research by almost 50 . Thats one thing. You can provide student loan forgiveness for Health Care Workers or hazard pay for the same men and women who risk their lives for us every day. And i have to tell you though theres need for us to look to space in terms of our future defense, i still havent been sold on this concept of the socalled space force, putting money, millions of dollars into additional bureaucratic costs, hard for me to understand or explain. Ultimately the sanders amendment is going to be considered in this authorization bill, but if its going anywhere in concept, it will be in the Appropriations Committee where i serve. Our work as appropriators is to examine the details of the budget and make the best decisions for the taxpayers and for our National Defense. I believe that senator sanders is on the right track to demand accountability and to ask that we find cost overruns and expenditures that can be changed without jeopardizing our National Defense. His exact approach is not one that i would endorse, but i have to say that i stand behind his concept that we need to ask harder questions about this massive spending. I yield the floor. Mr. Reed madam president. The presiding officer the senator from rhode island is recognized. Mr. Reed thank you, madam president. I rise to comment along with my colleague, senator durbin, about the sanders amendment. I must commend how thoughtful and knowledgeable senator durbin is about all these subjects. Hes pointed out how there are too many military programs that are not well moderated, that have cost yufer runs, that result in overruns that result in excess costs to the american public. We have to do something about those things. And we also understand that we have huge demand with respect to nondefense spending that we have to meet also. The sanders amendment, as the senator pointed out, would impose a acrosstheboard cut to the department of defense except for military personnel accounts and Defense Health program. What he would call a 10 acrosstheboard account when you take out health and personnel becomes really a 14 cut to all the accounts at the department of defense. And the danger, as so well illustrated by senator durbin, is this type of indiscriminate getting rid of the good and paying for the bad doesnt really work. It doesnt make sense. It reminds us all of the battles we had over sequestration where the departments not only the department of defense, but departments, the civilian departments had to Fund Programs because they met the cap and then cut other programs that were much more valuable because they exceeded the cap. That is not a way, as they proverbally proverbially to run the department of defense. A great deal will be done on the Appropriations Committee. I serve as a colleague. He is the Ranking Member. I am a colleague on the committee. And we have each year the challenge of taking the authorization, which says you may do this, but actually putting the money to do it, and that effort is hugely valuable, as is the authorization effort, and critically important. And we have to make sure that we result in our deliberations with first the resources that are necessary to protect the men and women of the armed forces that protect us, and also to provide for the quality of life to their families. And ultimately of course that were able to deter any threat, and if not, defeat that threat decisively. This is a very important endeavor. And again suggesting we just cut across the board and then put it someplace else, maybe across the board there also, is not, i think, commensurate with the kind of approach that we must take and we have to take going forward. The other factor too is there are real ramifications for this that are not sometimes obvious. There are literally thousands and thousands of not just military personnel but of civilian workers and construction workers and Equipment Manufacturing workers who in this indiscriminate acrosstheboard cut would lose their jobs at a time when we cant lose any jobs. This would be disruptive, this approach. I would not want to make a point to the dis advantages of the thousands and thousands of men and women who are working hard all across this country. Again, we do have to make serious investments in communities across this country that have been neglected. Ive been consistent in support of those efforts. We do have to make efforts in our infrastructure for our economic viability and our economic efficiency. We do have to provide support in many, many different ways that transcends and goes beyond just the department of defense. In fact, one could say that just as vital a part of our National Defense, as is our military budget, is our education budget and our health care budget. Because our strength is not just military forces, our strength is knowledgeable citizens. Our strength is healthy citizens. Our strength is efficient and economic system. But i think the approach, as i suggested today, and i think the suggestion from senator durbin also was that this acrosstheboard approach, its good for a headline, its good to make a point, but were here to make policy, and i hope we do make policy. I hope we can continue both in this National Authorization act, Defense Authorization act, to try to argue about issues that people feel are not Prom Spending or in fact we need more spending. And once again in the appropriations process, we will do that once again. Just as a reminder, this bill adheres to the bipartisan budget act of 2018. Its the final year of the budget act. So the numbers were talking about today for the department of defense are not willynilly. They were not negotiated without the context of nondefense spending. It was a bipartisan agreement to set the levels of spending for both defense and nondefense, and that is what were doing here today. Now, we need a serious discussion about National Spending priorities, not just defense spending priorities, but priorities with respect to poor communities, industrial policy, infrastructure, education, day care, the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the workplace. We have a lot to do, and i think we should get on with doing it, but not with a sort of shorthand messages of lets cut everything here and put it over there. Lets look at the serious issues, and lets confront them, and lets propose serious solutions. So because of these indiscriminate cuts, i would be forced to oppose this amendment by senator sanders. There is another amendment that will come before us today, and that is by senator tester. That is one which i do support. Senator testers amendment will add additional diseases to those that the Veterans Administration already presume are the result of exposure to agent orange by veterans during their military service in vietnam. We know that exposure to this toxic chemical agent orange has had Severe Health consequences for veterans who answered their nations calls to military service during the vietnam conflict. Recognizing this, the Veterans Administration already presumed that certain diseases affecting these veterans are Service Connected as a result of their exposure to agent orange. These diseases include nonhodgkins lymphoma, soft tissue sarcoma, respiratory cancers, myeloma, and type 2 diabetes. We also know there are other diseases that are not yet covered and that there are veterans who suffer from these diseases, and this conclusion is supported by scientific review by the National Academy of medicine. Parkinsonism, bladder cancer, and hypothyroidism should share the same presumption of Service Connection as the diseases already presumed to be Service Connected. Our Vietnam Veterans should not have the burden of proving by independent evidence that their diseases were caused by exposure to agent orange. They continue to deny sickening aged veterans the Health Care Compensation they deserve from service to our nation and that they desperately need. Senator tester begins to remedy this inequity, and i urge all senators to vote for the tester amendment. With that, mr. President , i would yield the floor. Mr. Sullivan mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from alaska. Mr. Sullivan mr. President , in about an hour, were going to take a vote that our Service Members around the world will likely be watching. Its a critical vote on my colleague from vermonts amendment to blindly cut defense spending, taking a hatchet to the already agreed upon bipartisan budget act. You have seen my colleague, jack reed, from rhode island, his really strong leadership on the Armed Services committee, he just spoke out against it, and im going to speak out against it, mr. President. I want to spend some time explaining what this means. This is not just one amendment. This has national implications. And if youre watching in america, i want you to think about whats really going on here. So, first of all, my colleague from vermont says its a 10 cut but its going to exempt military personnel and health care counts. Thats true and part of the amendment, but its actually going to compensate for another cut. Its actually a 14 acrosstheboard cut to the department of defense. Thats the amendment were going to vote on. Mr. President , to paraphrase one of our great president s, Ronald Reagan, there they go again. There they go again. I chair the readiness subcommittee on the Armed Services committee. One of the reasons i ran for the senate in 2014 was exactly this issue of military readiness. As a colonel in the u. S. Marine corps reserves, i had a little bit of an up close and personal view, but readiness of our forces, second term of the Obama Administration was plummeting. Second term of the Obama Administration, defense spending was cut by 25 . And with that, the readiness of the men and women in the military plum ited. Plummeted. By the way, at the same time, defense spending was cut by 25 , russia was increasing defense spending by 34 , and china was increasing by 83 . So let me just give you an example, mr. President. These numbers actually were classified. They have been declassified since, but in 2015, when i arrived in the senate, these were some of the numbers relating to readiness. Remember, were supposed to be in charge of readiness here. Three of the 58 Brigade Combat Teams in the u. S. Army, a Brigade Combat Team is the 5,000 men and women deployed bloc in our military. Three of 58 were at the tier 1 level of readiness that you wanted for a deployed unit. You can understand why that was classified in 2015, because we certainly didnt want our adversaries to know that. So 5 of the u. S. Army was fully ready to fight. Less than half of Marine Corps Navy aviation could fly. Another classified number, now unclassified. Training and flight time for all military pilots plummeted. When i arrived here in 2015, the Obama Administration proposed a cut of another 40,000 active duty troops for the u. S. Army. One of the units they were looking to cut was the fourth brigade of the 25th infantry division, the 425 at jbear. In alaska, the only Airborne Combat Team in the entire asia pacific. I put every ounce of my energy into fighting that misguided decision, mr. President. The 4525 was not cut, thankfully. All 40,000 the rest of the 40,000 were cut. Were still digging out of that hole. So, mr. President , i just want to throw something out there because people dont think about it. Imagine had there been a major contingency or, yes, a war sometimes wars hit us when were least expecting it, and im going to talk about that in 2015 with these readiness numbers. Ill tell you this, mr. President. It would have been very ugly for not only our National Security but more importantly for our troops, for the men and women who we are supposed to make sure are trained so they never have to go into a fair fight. So we know they are always going to win. Mr. President , we just celebrated the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the korean war. Thats june 25, 1950. Now, im a bit of a korean war history buff. And ill tell you this what we didnt celebrate, what was actually what happened in the summer of 1950 at the outbreak of the korean war. Here is what happened. The greatest military power in the world in 1945, which was the u. S. Military, just won world war ii, by 1950, due to dramatic defense cuts, lack of training, lack of readiness, our military had a very difficult time halting the invasion of a third world army, the north korean army. For the history buffs who understand korean war history, the military certainly does. They know what Task Force Smith was. It was the First American unit that went to go stop the korean army, north korean army. Task force smith was obliterated, hundreds killed in the summer. As a matter of fact, mr. President , thousands of Young Americans died horrible deaths during the summer of 1950 because the leadership in congress, the leadership in the executive branch, and the leadership in the pentagon let the readiness of our armed forces plummet. Let me repeat. 70 years ago right now, if you look back 70 years ago, the summer of 1950, on the Korean Peninsula, thousands of Young Americans were being killed because they werent trained and they werent ready. This was probably one of the biggest derelictions of duty in u. S. History because its the forgotten war, not many people know about it. But it was a dramatic failure of leadership in the congress, the executive branch, and the military. And the military even has a saying for this. No more Task Force Smiths. We will never, ever, ever let our young men and women go fight a war where they are unprepared, and because of that they die. Mr. President , i agree we need to do all we can to address many of the social issues that my colleague from vermont highlights, particularly during this pandemic, but here is what we must never do as a congress gut our military readiness to such a degree that our young men and women come home in body bags as opposed to victors. And by the way, thats what happened in the summer of 1950. And, mr. President , we were on a path towards this dangerous lack of readiness during the second term of the Obama Administration. I just cited numbers. I chair the readiness subcommittee. I have been all focused on this issue of rebuilding our readiness. And heres the good news. With the republicans in control in the senate and the white house, we have begun to dramatically rebuild our military and our readiness. This has been a priority of ours. This has certainly been a priority of mine. And many of my colleagues, democrats and republicans, particularly on the Armed Services committee, have been working on rebuilding our military. When we were looking at these numbers, so many people on the Armed Services committee, jack reed just gave a very eloquent speech. We recognized whoa, dangerous world, dangerous neighborhood, military thats not ready. So we got to work. Mr. President , i enjoy my bipartisan work here in the senate. Some of my best friends are from the other side of the aisle, but there are principle disagreements on key issues between some on this side of the aisle and the other side. One of them is the whether and how and the full degree to which we support our military and National Defense. Now, i know all of my colleagues are patriotic. I dont like doing the patriotism argument. Every member of this body, all 100, we love our military. When you look at history, we love our country. We love our country, all 100. But there is some impressions when you look at what goes on here and you look at the sweep of history with regard to readiness and funding our military. Again, to my democratic colleagues on the Armed Services committee, defense appropriations, who like me attend the hearings regularly, dig into the issues, know the threats our country faces, i think we have worked together to rebuild readiness. But at the national level, mr. President , here are the facts. Think about it. Carter, clinton, obama, bidden bidden biden, what do those administrations all have in common . They get into power and they cut our military. Morale plummets and readiness plummets. Let me go a little bit closer to home. Since i have been elected, the number one bill my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have filibustered, the number one bill when they want to take something hostage is the defense appropriations bill. Ten times since i have been in this body. The funding for our men and women gets pulled in as a hostage ten times. No other bill in the last five and a half years since i have been here has been filibustered more than the defense appropriations bill. Now, our friends in the media never report on this. But that is one of the issues that really burns me up here. It happens all the time. And trust me. Our troops know it. They watch it, and they know it. So now, mr. President , we have the sanders amendment for acrosstheboard d. O. D. Cuts at 14 just as we are digging out of the readiness hole that we all know that we are in. If you dont acknowledge it, youre not paying attention. The Senate Minority leader has recently come out in favor of the sanders amendment. I wonder where joe biden is on the sanders amendment. Of course, as my colleague from illinois just mentioned, the pentagon must do a better job of managing waste and cost overruns. I fully agree with that. And, in fact, the Trump Administration was the First Administration that finally undertook an audit of the pentagon. Again, something that democrats and republicans on the Armed Services committee pressed for. And we finally got it. It took decades, but an audit of the pentagon has finally happened. But, mr. President , make no mistake, the sanders amendment is the first salvo to defund the military across the board. If you dont want to take my word for it, heres the politico oped from senator sanders about his quote, defund the pentagon, the liberal case. Defund the pentagon. There they go again, mr. President. This is a really important issue. I hope that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle defeat this amendment overwhelmingly overwhelmingly. The men and women of the military are watching this amendment. Men and women of the military know that their readiness five years ago was in a really bad state. And, mr. President , the vote today and whats going to happen later, literally if you look at history, we never know when the next conflicts coming. We didnt know that in the summer of 1950, that the military was going to be rushed to the Korean Peninsula and would barely be able to hold its own and thousands died because they werent ready because of defense cuts by the congress and the executive branch and the pentagon. So this is an important vote. The lives of the men and women in our military and their readiness could well depend on this vote and i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to strongly reject it. I yield the floor. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from montana. Mr. Tester thank you, mr. President. Before i call up my amendment and get to the issues of veterans in this country, i want to talk about a friend named jim posowitz. He was a towering figure in montana. He knew right from wrong and montanans know he was almost always right and seldom wrong. His accomplishments are too long to list but any montanan that fished in the Missouri River and learned the ethics of hunting and hiking owes a deep debt of gratitude for his work in the fish and wildlife parks and to his postretirement work as a conservation advocate and leader. The wilderness act of 1964 says that americas wildest places are those where man himself is a visitor. He understood that power, that magic and the importance of these places. He was relentless in his fight to protect them and he was uncompromising in his faith that they bring us closer to nature, each other and to ourselves. He never stopped fighting for for montana and for the wild places in montana. My heart goes out to his family, including his life partner gail, carl, martin, matthew and his wife and their daughters sarah and lindsey, his son andrew and wife yaith and his daughters and stepdaughter ann, anns husband nate and their children, his step son clayton and his wife and daughter ala. He is also survived by a brother john and johns wife mary and their four children. He will be greatly missed and hes somebody that they only made one of. Incredible human being. Now, mr. President , i call up amendment 1972, as modified, and ask that it be reported by number. The presiding officer the clerk will report the amendment. The clerk the senator from montana proposes amendment numbered 1972 to amendment 2301, as modified. Mr. Tester thank you, mr. President. I want to turn to the issue of the day and and thats this amendment to the National Defense authorization act that senator reed talked about a few minutes ago. Because, quite frongly, frankly, justice is long overdue for the thousands of veterans who are currently suffering and dying due to being exposed to agent orange in vietnam. One of our sacred duties is to take care of those who are wounded. We have refused to cover illnesses such as bladder cancer, hypothyroidism and parkinsonism. They dont seem to think that exposure to these toxic chemicals in vietnam is a cost of war. Well, let me tell you, they are wrong, and it is a cost of war. But the fact is this administration wants to outlive the Vietnam Veterans and they dont want to pay for it. You know, every time we get in a situation, and i should say the last time we got in a situation for sure, we sent off our young men and women in the military and put the cost on the credit card for our kids to pay, dont think a thing about it. But when they come back and they are changed all of a sudden, we dont want to pay for it. Especially when these conditions in particular already meet the historical standard to be added to the department of Veterans Affairs presumptive list. This isnt just me talking, it is the National Academy of medicine weighing in with their reviews of Scientific Evidence dr Scientific Evidence. Each day this administration stonewalls benefits, more and more veterans are forced to live with the detrimental effects without the assistance that not only they earned but we owe them. Veterans like bill garber from great falls, montana. He enlisted in the United States army and within six months he was sent to fight in vietnam where he served as a combat engineer with the 11th armor cavalry of the 101st airborne of during his yearlong tour in vietnam, bill saw heavy combat, and like most military folks that were in vietnam, was exposed to agent orange. Now more than 50 years later, after his service and his sacrifice, bill suffers from tremors diagnosed as parkinsonism. One of the three conditions that would be covered by the department of Veterans Affairs if this amendment passes. Bills story is heroic, but the truth is he is one of tens of thousands of Vietnam Veterans in this country who are still waiting for this white house to grant them the benefits that theyve earned. No more waiting. No more trying to outlive the vietnam veteran. My amendment direction the department of Veterans Affairs to acknowledge the overwhelming Scientific Evidence already put forward by veterans, scientists and medical experts and provide Vietnam Veterans with the benefits they earned in service to our country. Today we have an opportunity to end the needless suffering and disappointment for an entire generation of veterans that are counting on congress to simply do the right thing. Because the reality is that taking care of our veterans is a cost of war, and its a cost that must be paid. We must hold this Administration Accountable on behalf of the thousands of veterans like bill who gave so much for this country and i urge my colleagues to get this dorn with a yes done with a yes vote on this amendment so we can end the wait for veterans who have already sacrificed greatly and who shouldnt be forced to wait one minute longer. With that, i yield back, mr. P. Mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from vermont. Mr. Leahy mr. President , in a few minutes we will vote on the sanders amendment, which i support. As the vice chairman of the senate Appropriations Committee, i worked with the Republican Leadership and with chairman shelby in recent years to strike budget agreements that resulted in parity between defense and nondefense spending. At the same time amid a national and international Public Health crisises, the need to invest in programs has never been greater. I heard some of my republican colleagues on the floor objecting to the sanders amendment. I would say to them, if they feel that strongly, they should tell their Republican Leadership to allow the appropriations bill to come up so they could actually vote on the defense bill. Right now this is just idle chatter when they object to senator sanders amendment and yet they are unwilling themselves to actually vote up or down on the appropriations bill for not only the defense bill but the other departments. Because the sanders amendment allows for the personnel needs for the department of defense as well as Critical Medical Research supported throughout the department. But it would take some of the departments sweeping budget, reserve it for underfunded domestic needs. Its long overdue, and i, again, call on my republican colleagues, stop talking about the money you want or dont want spent, allow telling the republican leader to allow the Appropriations Bills to come to the floor and vote up or down. But another issue, mr. President , i have had such an incredibly heavy heart since i heard on friday night my dear friend and hero john lewis passed away. And i stand here on the Senate Floor Today to talk about him. I got a call at our home in vermont late that night. My wife marcelle and i just sat there and talked about john for hours and cried. America has lost a genuine hero, an unwavering lone star who over decades of activism and Public Service drew us closer to our ideals. I remember when he invited me in to watch actually a sitin by democratic members in the house of representatives when the republican speaker closed down the house of representatives to have votes. He saw me outside and i had asked whats going on and he said, youre my brother. He took me by the arm and brought me in and sat me down in the well of the house to watch what was going on. I was always humbled and honored when he called me his brother, as he often did when we were together, including an unforgettable visit he had with us in vermont just last year. Ive been thinking so much of what we could say and there arent enough words certainly arent in paying tribute to a man whose life was defined by the relentless, fearless pursuit of equality. John bled literally, his bones were broken literally for the causes of civil rice, and he rights. And he came to congress bearing those scars, a living, breathing reminder that our equality came through the sacrifices of heroes like him. In Congress John lewis stood with equal moral clarity, served as its conscience and reminded us his work to build a genuinely equal and just society remains unfinished. His thunderrering words just month thundering words just months ago echo even more loudly today. He says, when you seeing is thats not right, you have a moral obligation to say something, to do something. Our children and their children will ask us, what did you do . Mr. President , that is a question all of us must ask ourselves. And one thing im doing tomorrow that i want to share with my fellow senators. Today im reinterduing the voting reintroducing Voting Rights advancement act and we are renaming it the john lewis Voting Rights advancement act. It has 47 senate cosponsors. It would safeguard what john fought over a lifetime to achieve, equality at the voting booth. The bill would restore the Voting Rights act and discourage the minority voter suppression. Now, the house already passed the companion to the john lewis Voting Rights advancement act in december. Lets do our part. We cant claim to honor the life of john lewis if we refuse to carry out his lifes work. And, of course, if we stand in the way of that work, that would be the wrong thing to do. So i would urge my fellow senators, join me in calling on senator mcconnell to allow a vote, up or down, on the john lewis Voting Rights advancement act. Lets do that for john but lets not do it simply because its named after him but its precisely what john would do. And if we have a moral compass, we should do, take action to forge a more perfect union, protect our democracy, and above all to do what is right. I yield the floor. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from vermont. A senator i call up amendment number 1788 and i ask that it be reported by number. The presiding officer the clerk will report the amendment by number. The clerk the senator from vermont, mr. Sanders, for himself and mr. Markey proposes an amendment numbered 1788 to amendment number 2301. Mr. Sanders mr. President , i want to thank senator leahy for his support of our amendment, for his beautiful words on john lewis, and for his insistence that this senate make sure that every american has the right to vote. Thats not asking too much, and thats a bill that we should deal with. Mr. President , i rise to speak in support of the amendment i have filed to the National Defense authorization act to cut the bloated 740 billion pentagon budget by 10 and use that 74 billion in savings to invest in human needs here at home. This amendment is being cosponsored by senators markey, warren, murkly, and wyden, senator leahy and will receive a roll call at 12 10 p. M. This amendment has been endorsed by more than 60 organizations representing millions of working people, environmentalists, and religious leaders, including public citizen, the union of concerned scientists and physicians for social responsibility. Mr. President , in america today, we are experiencing an extraordinary set of crises unprecedented in the history of the United States of america. We are in the midst of a Public Health crisis that is worse than any time since the spanish flu of 1918. Over the past four years four months, the coronavirus has infected more than 3. 7 million americans and caused nearly 140,000 deaths. We are in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the great depression. During the covid19 pandemic, 119 million americans have seen a decline in their income. Unbelievable. 119 million americans have seen a decline in their income. 50 million have filed for unemployment. And american households have lost over 6 trillion in wealth. All over this country in the state of vermont and every other state in america, people are going hungry in america. People are going hungry. And many, many people are frightened to death that they will soon be evicted from their apartments or will lose their homes to foreclosure. That is where the American People are today. Loss of jobs, loss of income, hunger, eviction. But on the other hand, theres another reality going on in america. We dont talk about it much but we should. And that is that 600 billionaires in our country have seen their wealth go up by 700 billion during their pandemic. So we entered this pandemic with massive income and wealth inequality. Since the pandemic the very rich have become even richer while working people have seen a significant decline in their income and wealth. Mr. President , the Current Crisis or series of crises has revealed the extraordinary inequities in our economy. People that know it before, they surely know it now. The United States today, over half of our workers live paycheck to paycheck and not surprisingly when you live paycheck to paycheck and the paychecks stop coming in, you are in financial distress. And that means that your Economic Situation goes from poverty, which is low wages, to desperation which is no income coming in at all. And that means that you go hungry. It means that you may become homeless. It means that when you get sick, you no longer have Health Insurance or the income to see a doctor. What the pandemic has taught us is that a relatively low unemployment rate, which is what we had before the pandemic, does not adequately guarantee for the security and wellbeing of working families. When tens of millions of our people earn starvation wages, that is not a good economy. When 40 of our people do not have the savings to pay for a 400 emergency, that is not what i would call a good economy. When over half a million americans are homeless and 18 million families spend at least half of their incomes on housi housing, that is not a good economy. When 87 Million People are uninsured or underinsured, that is not a good economy. In other words, to create a good economy, were going to have to do a whole lot better than that. Further, mr. President , over the last few months hundreds of thousands of americans have taken to the streets to demand justice for the murders of george floyd, breonna taylor, ry taylor,ryvard brooks among others and to end the Police Brutality that we see in america today. These tragic killings of unarmed African Americans have highlighted the urgent need to rethink the nature of policing and to fix a broken and racist criminal justice system. And, mr. President , on top of all of that, on top of a pandemic, on top of an economic collapse, on top of systemic racism, we have got to address the existential threat facing this planet of climate change. A few weeks ago temperatures in siberia, the coldest region on earth topped a hundred degrees, shattering records. And if we do not get our act together and transform our Energy System away from fossil fuel and into renewable energy, we will be leaving this planet increasingly unhealthy and uninhabitable for our kids and future generations. So that is where we are today. Hunger, homelessness, racism, a warming and dangerously warming climate, and these are the issues that we have got to focus on. Our attention must be on improving the lives of ordinary americans, working people, lower income people, and doing what we can to work with countries around the world to help the billions of People Living in economic distress. And with that, mr. President , i rise today to make it abundantly clear that if were going to address those issues, if were going to protect the working families in this country who are now under so much stress, it is absolutely imperative that we change our national priorities. The status quo and conventional wisdom that we see on tv every day and that we hear on the floor of the senate, its no longer good enough. History has overtaken us. Unprecedented crises have overtaken us. Status quo is not good enough. We must respond. We must finally have the courage to stand up to powerful special interests and all of their Campaign Money and understand that we cannot allow these people to continue to have so much power over the economic and political life of this country, that we must start developing policies that work for working families, not just the rich, not just the powerful, and not just those who contribute to superpacks. 53 years ago dr. Martin luther king, jr. Challenged our country to fight against three major evils. And i quote the evil of racism, the evil of poverty, and the evil of war. End of quote. That was what dr. King said 53 years ago. And if there was ever a moment in American History when we need to respond to dr. Kings clarion call for justice and demand, as he stated, quote, a radical revolution of values, end quote, now is that time. This is the moment for us to bring about what dr. King called a radical revolution of values. Whether it is fighting against systemic racism and Police Brutality, whether it is transforming our Energy System away from fossil fuel, whether it is ending a cruel and dysfunctional health care system, or addressing the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality in our country, now is the time for change, real change. In my view, given all of the unprecedented crises our country faces, now is not the time to increase the pentagons bloated 740 billion budget which is 53 of all Discretionary Spending in america. Let me repeat that. The military budget alone is 53 of all Discretionary Spending in this country. At a time when 28 million americans are in danger of being evicted from their homes, now is not the time to be spending more on the military than the next 11 nations combined. At a time when 30 million americans have lost their jobs, now is not the time to be spending more on National Defense than we did at the height, the height of the cold war or the wars in korea or vietnam. Let me repeat. Spending more in real inflation accounted for dollars today on the military that we did during the cold war or the wars in korea or vietnam. At this unprecedented moment in our history, now is the time to provide jobs, education, health care, and housing in American Communities that have been ravaged by the global pandemic, by extreme poverty, by deindustrialization, and mass incarceration. If this horrific pandemic we are now experiencing has taught us anything is that national it is that National Security means a lot more than building bombs, missiles, jet fighters, submarines, nuclear warheads, and other weapons of mass destruction. National security also means doing everything we can to improve the lives of our people, many of whom have been abandoned bid our government decade after decade. The amendment that im offering today would cut the 740 billion budget, pentagon budget, by 10 and use that 74 billion in savings to invest in distressed communities in every state in this country, communities that have been ravaged by poverty, mass incarceration, and other enormous problems. Under this amendment, distressed cities and towns would be able to use this 74 billion to create jobs by building affordable housing, new schools, child care facilities, Community Health centers, public hospitals, libraries, Sustainable Energy projects, and clean Drinking Water facilities. These communities would also receive federal funding to hire more Public Schoolteachers, provide nutritious meals to children, and offer free tuition at public colleges, universities, and trade schools. Mr. President , over and over again our republican friends, my colleagues here, have told us we cannot possibly afford to address the enormous problems facing working families. We just cant afford it. We dont have the money to deal with homelessness and hunger and inadequate education. That is what they say every day. We have been told that we cannot afford to make public colleges and universities tuition free or to provide a decent income for every man, woman, and child. But, mr. President , when it comes to spending 740 billion on the military, well, suddenly, hey. Money is no problem. We can spend as much as we want. Hey, lets listen to all of the lobbyists from the military Industrial Complex who flood capitol hill, tell us all their needs. We got to listen to them. But we dont listen to the children in this country who may not have enough fad food to eat or the workers in this country who are sleeping out in their cars. We dont listen to them. But when it comes to the military, hey, no end to the money that we can provide. Mr. President , to my mind, that is unacceptable. We dont need more Nuclear Weapons, we dont need more cruise missiles, we dont need more fighter jets. But what we do need in this country desperately is more health care, more housing, more child care, and better schools. Now is the time to fundamentally change our national priorities, and that is what this amendment is all about. This amendment in itself is is not going to do is not going to do anywhere near what we need to do as a country. But it is an important step forward in changing the way we think about our needs. Mr. President , let me be clear. If we were to institute a 10 cut in military spending, that 74 billion could provide highquality child care to every family in america. Imagine that. We could solve the child care crisis in america just by cutting the military budget by 10 . We could, by cutting the military budget by 10 , provide section 8 housing vouchers to all of the 7. 7 million families in america who are paying more than half of their limited incomes on rent. A 10 cut to the pentagon could provide a Free College Education for two million lowincome students. A 10 cut to the pentagon is enough to hire 900,000 teachers in the poorest schools in america. So, mr. President , i am a little bit tired about hearing that we dont have enough money for Nuclear Weapons, that we need more money for missiles and tanks and guns, we need more for all of that, and yet we aring it up our backs and yet we are turning our backs on americans who are hurting the most. Mr. President , i believe that this is a moment in history when it would be a very good idea for all of my colleagues democrat and republican to remember what former republican republican president dwight d. Eisenhower said in 1953, and i think we all recall that eisenhower knew something about military budgets and the war because he was the fourstar general who led the allied forces to victory in europe during world war ii. He was not a passivist. He was not an antiwar activist. He was a fourstar general. And what dwight d. Eisenhower said, and i quote, every Government Shutdown that is made, every warship launched, every rocket signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. End of quote. And right now, when the world is searching for treatment to the coronavirus, when were searching desperately and spending billions looking for a vaccine, maybe it might be a good idea to be educating our young people to figure out how we deal with disease, with cancer, and schizophrenia, and alzheimers and diabetes rather than putting more and more scientists into figuring out how we can blow the world up a dozen times over. What eisenhower said was true, profoundly true, 67 years ago, and it is true today maybe even truer today. Mr. President , when we analyze the Defense Department budget, it is interesting to note that the congress as has appropriated so much money for the Defense Department that the about the literally does not know what to do with it, and between 2013 and 2018, they actually returned more than 80 billion in funding back into the treasury. Paid more money than they could spend. In my view, the time is long overdue for us to take a hard look not only at the size of the pentagon budget but at the enormous amount of waste, cost overruns, fraud, and at the financial mismanagement that has plagued the department of defense for decades. Mr. President , let us be clear. We dont talk about it, but let us be clear about half of the pentagons budget goes directly into the hands of private contractors, not our troops. And over the past two decades, virtually every major defense contractor in the United States has paid billions, combined have paid billions of dollars in fines and settlements for misconduct and fraud, all while making huge profits on those government contracts. Virtually every major defense contractor has been found guilty of misconduct or fraud. Since 1995, boeing, Lockheed Martin, and United Technologies have paid over 3 billion in fines or related settlements for fraud or misconduct. Further, mr. President , i find it interesting that the very same defense contractors that have been found guilty or reached settlements for fraud are also paying their c. E. O. s excessive excessive compensation passages. Last year the packages. Last year the c. E. O. s of Lockheed Martin and grumman both made billions in compensation while about 90 of these Companies Revenue came from defense contracts. For all intents and purposes, these companies are basically government agencies, 90 of the revenue coming in come from the taxpayers of this country. Meanwhile, the c. E. O. s of those Companies Make over 100 times more than the secretary of defense makes. It is not too surprising, therefore, that we have a revolving door where our military people end up on the boards of directors of these major defense companies. Moreover, mr. President , as the g. A. O. Has told us, there are massive cost overruns in the Defense Departments acquisition budget that we continue to ignore year after year. According to the g. A. O. , the pentagons 1. 8 trillion acquisition portfolio currently suffers from more than 628 billion in cost overruns with much of the cost growth taking after production. Taking place after production. Mr. President , a major reason why there is so much waste, fraud, and abuse at the pentagon is the fact that the Defense Department remains the only federal agency in america that has not been able to pass an independent audit. Many of us will recall what thensecretary of defense donald rumsfeld, george w. Bushs secretary of defense, told the American People on the day before 9 11. Never got a lot of attention. The day before 9 11, rumsfeld said, quote, our Financial Systems are decades old. According to some estimates, we cannot track 2. 3 trillion in transactions, end of quote. I dont know that the situation has changed very much since 2001 and rumsfelds remarks. Yet, nearly 20 years after rumsfelds statements, the Defense Department has still not passed a clean audit, despite the fact that the pentagon controls assets in excess of 2. 2 trillion or roughly 70 of what the entire federal government owns. Mr. President , i believe in a strong military, but we cannot keep giving more money to the pentagon than it needs when millions of children in this country face hunger every day and 140 million americans cannot afford the basic necessities of life without going into debt. In 1967 dr. King warned us that, quote, a nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death, end quote. I believe the time is long overdue for us to listen to dr. King. At a time when in the richest country in the history of the world so many of our people are struggling, now is the time to change our priorities because, as dr. King stated, we arest pproaching spiritual death. We are approaching spiritual death. At the time that we have the highest rate of childhood poverty than any country on earth, at a time when 60,000 americans die a year because they cant get to a doctor on time and one out of five americans cannot afford the prescription drugs they are doctors prescribe, we need to start focusing on those people, not on the military Industrial Complex. Mr. President , at this moment of unprecedented national crisis, a pandemic, an economic meltdown, the demand to end systemic racism and an unstable president , it is time for us to truly focus on what we value as a society and to fundamentally transform our national priorities. Cutting the military budget by 10 and investing that money in human needs is a modest way to begin that process. So let me conclude, mr. President , by once again quoting dwight d. Eisenhower. And i dont know that ive ever quoted a republican quite as much as i have during these remarks, but he is somebody who i respected very much. This is what eisenhower said when he left office, and this was back in 1961. He was out, john f. Kennedy was coming in. This is what he said and i hope we can all remember this. He said, and i quote, in the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence whether sought or unsought by the military Industrial Complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. End of quote. Eisenhower was right then and if anything, the situation is worse today. Now is the time for us to stand up to the greed and irresponsibility of the military Industrial Complex. Now is the time to address the needs of working families, the elderly, the children, the sick, and the poor. Mr. President , let us vote for the sandersmarkey, warren, merkley, leahy amendment to cut the pentagon budget by 10 and to invest in human needs here at home. Thank you, mr. President. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from massachusetts. Mr. Markey mr. President , thank you. Mr. President , im proud to speak in support of my amendment with senator sanders to prioritize investments in our communities over a bloated pentagon budget. I thank senator sanders for his leadership on this issue bringing forth this fundamental tension that exists within our society. The men and women of the armed forces deserve our admiration, our respect, and our support. Day in and day out they defend our countrys interests in all corners of the world and their families sacrifice alongside them. But what makes america the envy of the world is not simply the strength of our military but the strength of our people. 2020 has brought historic challenges, a global pandemic, a growing recession, a reckoning on the systemic racism that pervades our country. We have also seen an estimated 5. 4 million American Workers lose their Health Insurance between february and may leaving them even more vulnerable to surging in every corner of this country. The sandersmarkey amendment states that we cannot afford this, in the moment of our national crisis, to spend threequarters of a trillion dollars on bloated defense spending, spending that is supposed to protect our country yet did nothing to inoculate against the most profound Public Health emergency in a century. This amendment is also in keeping with president sighsen hours warning as senator sanders said, that we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought by the military Industrial Complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. Persist it has. This 740 billion fiscal year 2021 budget before us is the fulfillment of ikes worst fears. In his address to the American People, president eisenhower also predicted that a permanent arms industry would come to call the shots and after japans sure japan surrendered abroad the u. S. S. Missouri in 1945 ending the second world war, that permanent arms industry made its fixture. And after we emerged victorious in a historic and ideological struggle against the soviet union that brought us to the brink of nuclear holocaust, eisenhowers feared permanent arms industry stuck around and retooled to advocate for new weapons to fight the endless war to come. The catastrophic attacks of september 11 led to more than a doubling of the pentagons budget, multiple president s have stretched a limited authorization of military force to go after these responsible for the 9 11 attacks to fight new enemies in new geographies outside of afghanistan. All told so far we have spent 6. 4 trillion in the wars in afghanistan, iraq, syria, and other places since 2001. Even as those wars wind down, the Defense Industry is pushing for costly new acquisition programs to maintain superiority over china and russia. The forecasted permanent arms industry begins to explain why the pentagon accounts for half of the entire fiscal year 2021 u. S. Discretionary budget. Our military budget is larger than the next ten countr countrs combined. Our battle fleet is larger than the next 13 navies combined with 11 of those 13 navies represented by our allies or our partners. However, every dollar spent on the pentagon is one fewer available to fight the scourge of poverty in this country, to strengthen the social safety net and protect american families. Our communities have suffered while we spend ourselves into extreme u. S. Military dominance. Mr. President , i fear that pentagon budget we debate today shows a child that we dont prioritize giving him or her a quality education. It shows mothers and fathers that in the wealthiest country in the world, they will forever remain one illness away from financial ruin. It shows a family that the dream of homeownership much less affordable rental housing will remain out of their grasp. It will shows frontline heroes working in hospitals and Nursing Homes in chelsea, massachusetts and across the country that they have no choice but to go to work sick because their employer does not offer paid leave. I reject the false choice between a strong u. S. Military and strong American Communities. Industrials of dollars in defense spending did nothing to protect us from the coronavirus pandemic. Defense spending cant protect us from the destruction of the environment and the worsening climate crisis. Yet we are due to spend nearly 70 times more on defense than we will to protect against the next pandemic and other Global Health challenges. We must no longer equate National Security with our inventory of planes and missiles and nuclear Weapons Systems, and if the coronavirus is truly a war as President Trump says it is, he is duty bound to embrace the fact that National Security also means health and housing and financial security. National security means doing everything we can to save and improve lives in American Communities, particularly communities of color that have been neglected for too long and who have borne the worst of the coronavirus impacts. Mr. President , our amendment begins that important work by making smart cuts of 10 to the budget of the pentagon for this fiscal year. And redirecting those funds to the department of treasury to administer a Grant Program to strengthen vulnerable lowincome communities. For example, in massachusetts we would be eligible to receive up to 1 billion in federal funding to create jobs by building affordable housing, schools, child care facilities, Community Health centers, public hospitals, libraries, clean Drinking Water facilities, removing lead pipes and replacing vacant or blighted properties, improve education by hiring more Public School teachers to reduce class sizes, increasing teacher pay, providing universal nutritious meals, and providing free tuition to attend public colleges, universities, or trade schools. And making housing more affordable by providing rental assistance and eliminating homelessness. We should prioritize eradicating poverty, not war. We should prioritize battling global killer diseases, not developing a new weapon designed to eradicate the human race. It is time we fund education, not annihilation. Medicaid, not missiles. So where do we start to make Defense Department cuts . First, we must end the war in afghanistan, which would save tens of billions of dollars. The time is long overdue to bring our men and women home, and its time to doubledown on other tools of u. S. State craft, diplomacy and development to shape a Better Future for afghanistan, particularly afghan women. As we work to put a stop to endless war and repeal the 2001aumf, the pentagon must realign its budget to reflect the cold, hard wisdom of Ronald Reagan that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. Between the departments of defense and energy, we are due to spend nearly 50 billion on Nuclear Weapons in fiscal year 2021. Over the next three decades, we are on a course to spend 1. 7 trillion on Nuclear Weapons overkill. We can feel as safe, secure, and Effective Nuclear deterrent, one that assures our allies and partners all without breaking the bank. Mr. President , our people, not our military parades, are the source of american greatness. Over the past few months this country has experienced a reckoning. As americans from all walks of life have had enough. Theyve had enough of being lied to by the president about the truth facts of a deadly disease. Theyve had enough of people of color being murdered in cold blood by the very Police Forces meant to serve and protect them. And theyve had enough of being told that there just isnt enough money to support the wellbeing of their communities while they concede can see billions of tox pair dollars going to unnecessary wars and Nuclear Programs and to benefit the president s friends and family. The choice today is very clear. Were ready to take the smallest step, a 10 cut to begin to address the gap in resources in this country. This is the time for us to stand up. Were about to have a debate on how much money we have to help families in this country through this pandemic. Were being told that that money is not there for Unemployment Insurance, for cities and towns not to have to lay off teachers, for cities and towns that have the testing, the contract tracing, the personal protective equipment to protect families in our country, to make sure that we can provide sick care leave to make sure we can provide child care for families in this country. Were told there is not enough money. Yes, there is and that money is in the Defense Budget of the United States of america so we can protect those families. Too many people right now are nostalgic for a time that never was instead of having the idealism which we need to battle the issues of today. But for the poor, the sick, the elderly, the disabled, the black and brown, immigrant families in this country, the past is just a memory and the future is the hard reality. This is the time for the United States senate to stand up and to begin the funding of the programs which every family needs to protect themselves. So i urge and i vote on this amendment and again i thank senator sanders for his incredible progressive leadership on this issue and for so many others. I yield back, mr. President. The presiding officer under the previous order, the question occurs on the sanders amendment number 1788. Mr. Sanders mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from vermont. Mr. Sanders i ask for the yeas and nays. The presiding officer is there a suffer second . There appears to be. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote vote the presiding officer have all senators voted . Does any senator wish to change their vote . The yeas are 23, the nays are 77. Under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment, the amendment is not agreed to. Under the previous order, the question occurs on the tester amendment 1972, as modified. Is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote the presiding officer on this vote the yeas are 94. The nays are 6. Under the previous order, requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment, the amendment is agreed to. The clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. The clerk cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on amendment number 2301 to calendar number 483, s. 4049, an original bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2021 for military activities of the department of defense and so forth signed by 17 senators. The presiding officer by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. The question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on amendment number 2301 offered by the senator from oklahoma to s. 4049, an original bill to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2021 for military activities of the department of defense, for military construction, and for Defense Activities of the department of energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year and for other purposes shall be brought to a close. The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote vote vote