Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016
Floor Speech
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Mr. McCONNELL. Well, amazingly enough, our colleagues across the aisle just voted to proceed to an individual appropriations bill. We have been trying to do this for months. Finally, they have approved going to an appropriations bill. This should not be breaking news, goodness gracious, but it is newsworthy because of what has been going on around here for the last 2 or 3 months. Democrats have repeatedly blocked the Senate from even debating individual appropriations bills. They never had a good excuse, of course, and the excuses kept changing as each previous excuse got debunked, but nevertheless they kept it up month after month after month. Well, finally that seems to have changed today. Maybe we can assume that this is the end of the filibuster summer, in November, a partisan season of obstructionist Democratic filibustering in which they have blockaded government funding bills entirely--all of them. Nearly every one of those bills was bipartisan.
Our Democratic friends, as they voted for them in committee, would send out press releases praising the bills, and then when they got out here on the floor, they all blocked them. They said no to funding for bridges and infrastructure. They said no to funding for energy conservation and clean water. They said no to funding for absolutely anything at all, especially for our troops.
You know, it is particularly jarring when you consider some of the things written recently by President Obama's own Defense Secretary in an op-ed entitled ``U.S. Military Needs Budget Certainty in Uncertain Times.'' Here is what this Obama administration Cabinet Secretary said:
While Washington struggles to get its house in order, the challenges around the world continue. China continues its dubious and destabilizing land-reclamation activities in the South China Sea. Islamic State continues its barbarous campaign. Russia continues to violate the sovereignty of Ukraine and pour gasoline on the Syrian conflict. In this uncertain security environment, the U.S. military needs to be agile and dynamic.
This is the Defense Secretary of the President's administration.
What it has now is a straitjacket. At the Defense Department, we are forced to make hasty reductions when choices should be considered carefully and strategically.
This is President Obama's Defense Secretary talking about the necessity for these bills that are being blocked by his own party.
Here is the way he continues in his op-ed. He said:
I appeal to Congress to act on a long-term budget deal--
We did that--
that will let the American troops and their families know we have the commitment and the resources to see them succeed, and send a global message that the United States will continue to plan and build for the finest fighting force the world has ever known.
This is the Secretary of Defense in the Democratic administration. Sounds like he is lecturing the guys on the other side here who are the obstacle.
In spite of these pleas from the Secretary of Defense, we are still unable to get on a defense appropriations bill. One Member of the other side said that funding our troops was wasting the Senate's time--wasting the Senate's time.
We have seen them all filibustered repeatedly. They just did so again this morning. At a time when a vast number of threats face our country, as Secretary Ash Carter alluded to, our colleagues across the aisle actually voted to filibuster the bill that funds our troops and our military one more time. Democrats filibustered for months on end to hold hostage the men and women who voluntarily put themselves in harm's way, for reasons that shifted constantly and had little to do with our troops.
Mr. CORNYN. Will the Senator yield for a question?
Mr. McCONNELL. I will.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I would ask the distinguished majority leader whether he finds it ironic--and perhaps he has a better word than ``ironic'' to describe the situation we find ourselves in--that three separate times the Democrats have filibustered the funding that provides the resources to our troops to fight our Nation's battles and keep us safe, but then a few short days before Veterans Day, they decide to allow us to finally get on a veterans and military construction bill. I would hope it is not because they had second thoughts about going home on Wednesday and giving patriotic speeches about their support for our troops and military but then realizing what a spot they have put themselves in. I wonder if the majority leader shares my view that that is at least ironic, and perhaps ``cynical'' would be a more appropriate description.
Mr. McCONNELL. Yes, I would say to my colleague from Texas, they were afraid to feel the heat next Wednesday on Veterans Day, having stopped a veterans appropriations bill. Frankly, I hope they still feel a little heat on stopping the Defense bill because the vast number of veterans in our country don't just care about their own well-being after they served, they care about the well-being of those who are still serving.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, will the Senator yield for one additional question?
Mr. McCONNELL. I will.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I would ask the majority leader, having been through what we have been through here in just this last week in establishing spending caps for this year and next in this bipartisan and bicameral Budget Act, if he can think of any possible rationale for the Democrats filibustering the Defense appropriations bill, when, in fact, those spending caps are subject to a law which the President has now signed into law, and which were the subject of this bipartisan, bicameral agreement that passed just last week.
Mr. McCONNELL. Well, you know, as each obstacle has been removed, as each reason for filibustering these bills earlier is removed, they come up with a new one. We obviously last week agreed on how much we were going to spend, so the question of spending has been removed. The 302(b) allocations were completed yesterday. Our friends on the other side said they were happy with them. They are running out of excuses, but the end result is the same: They are still not allowing us to go forward on the Defense bill.
I would say to my friend and colleague from Texas that I heard these conspiracy theories that we had some trick to play here. I made it clear not only to my counterpart the Democratic leader but to other Democratic Senators that there is no nefarious scheme. We thought, all objections having been removed, the appropriate thing to do would be to try--by pursuing regular order, try to pass some of the appropriations bills, given the limited amount of time we have left. Yet they kept on doing the same thing with the exception of the veterans bill. It is a mystery.
The level of dysfunction the other side seems to be promoting is bad for the institution and bad for the country.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
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Mr. CORNYN. If the Senator will yield for a question, I ask the distinguished majority leader if it is still true that in order to accomplish this delusional scheme that our friends across the aisle have somehow dreamed up as a way to block this funding for our troops, even if that were true--which it is not, as you have pointed out--isn't it still true for an appropriations bill to become law it requires the signature of the President of the United States? So it would literally be impossible to do what they have dreamed up in their delusional state when they are accusing us of this sort of a scheme and plan, which is absolutely false.
Mr. McCONNELL. Yes, my friend from Texas is entirely right. There would be no way--consistent with the Constitution that James Madison wrote--that they would in the end not have some considerable sway over how this episode ends.
What I think it says, more than anything, is how committed to dysfunction our friends on the other side are--dysfunction for the sake of dysfunction. The American people are sick and tired of that. They want to see us do our work like adults, serious adults taking the responsibility we have been given by our constituents to do our very best for this country.
This is the same party on the other side that I remember lecturing everyone else about the dangers of the filibuster. Apparently they weren't very serious because it is obviously their new best friend now. This is the same party we remember bashing legislative ``hostage-taking,'' but apparently they weren't serious about that either because they basically have become experts.
Look, the Democrats may never be able to fully remove the stain of this filibuster summer gridlock gambit from their party's reputation, but they can work with us now to finally start turning the page.
I ask my friends on the other side: When are we going to get back to normal if not now? When, if not now, when we have agreed to all of the contentious parts of the appropriations process. Every excuse has been wiped away. We have settled our own budget agreement. We have agreed on topline budget numbers. We have settled on subcommittee allocations, and we have just proceeded to an individual appropriations bill at long last.
It is time for the appropriations process to finally be allowed to move forward, time for the Senate to finally be able to get back to regular order. It is time for each of us to get back to work, not just because it is the right thing for our country, not just because it is the right thing for the brave men and women who are voluntarily putting themselves in harm's way, but it is the best way for Senators of both parties to have the most say in the process, for the American people to be best represented, with their Members debating each appropriations bill on the floor with the opportunity for amendments to be offered.
A lot of work went into developing these appropriations bills--the occupant of the chair is on that committee. Most passed the committee with bipartisan support. That was certainly true of the Defense appropriations bill. It passed out of the Appropriations Committee 27 to 3. It was similarly true of the appropriations bill that funds veterans, which passed the committee with bipartisan support. That is the bill we just voted to proceed to.
It would support veterans by funding the health care and the benefits they rely on. It would support military families by funding the housing, schools, and health care facilities that serve them. It would provide support for women's health, for medical research, for veterans suffering from traumatic brain injury. It would do a lot of good in many of our home States too. In my State it would provide funding for design work at a new VA medical center in Louisville, a special operations headquarters at Fort Campbell, and an educational facility at Fort Knox.
The bill would do right by our veterans. We should pass it. With continued cooperation, we can pass it by Veterans Day. Then the appropriations process can continue after we pass this bill. It is obvious why we started with a Defense appropriations bill first. While this morning's filibuster was deeply regrettable, to say the least, we have the option to reconsider that bill and we will. We are going to keep working to ensure its passage.
Look, as we approach Veterans Day, I ask my colleagues to consider this. We have an all-volunteer force in this country. The young men and women who sign up to defend our Nation don't ask for a lot, but our Nation certainly asks a lot of them. These mothers and brothers and friends and neighbors aren't legislative poker chips, and helping them isn't a ``waste of the Senate's time.'' These are Americans who deserve our support. Let's put the past in the past and unite to finally give it to them. Both parties did so in committee a few months ago and both parties could do so now.
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