Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015--Continued

Floor Speech

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Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I want to thank my friends and colleagues from Montana, Alaska, and Iowa for being here. I particularly want to thank Lieutenant Colonel Ernst for her service. She is now a veteran, but she served bravely. I want to thank my friend from Alaska. He is a marine, and he still answers the call. He is doing the work here in the Senate, but he is prepared to go on a moment's notice wherever we have to go to defend freedom.

I come from North Carolina. This is almost getting personal with me. I am going to talk a little bit about that, but I want to explain to the people who may be watching this on television or to those in the Senate Gallery what we are talking about.

We use the word filibuster, and it is kind of hard to understand, but it is actually pretty straightforward. The Democratic conference has decided to say no to funding our troops. They have decided to say no to providing them a much deserved pay raise. They have decided to say no to funding important training that is necessary to make sure they can complete these highly dangerous and complex missions wherever a threat may occur.

Now, why is it personal to me in North Carolina? Because I have about 100,000 Active-Duty personnel in North Carolina. Fort Bragg in North Carolina is the home of the Global Response Force. That is the base that gets the call from the President when, on a moment's notice, we may have to send hundreds or thousands of men and women to drop out of airplanes anywhere in the world. It is not just jumping out with a parachute. It is jumping out with a hundred pounds of equipment attached to them, it is dropping earthmovers, weather stations, a small city operation anywhere in the world to support a relief effort or to support a combat mission. That takes training. That takes constant training. It takes hours and hours of training to make sure they can complete their mission but, even as important, to make sure they do it safely and that they themselves do not get injured or killed in the process.

Now, we have already heard it said multiple times before, but I think it bears repeating. Why on Earth would the minority leader prevent us from moving to a vote? A filibuster is nothing more than saying no to sending this bill to the President's desk, after 30 Democratic members in the Appropriations Committee said yes. We only need six of them to move this bill to the President's desk.

I guess the minority leader has a hammerlock on all of the Members who want to vote for this bill. They won't come to the floor and show the courage and commitment to the men and women in uniform to do the right thing. That is where we are. That is why it is personal to me.

What do I tell the 100,000 Active-Duty military in North Carolina when I go home? I am sorry, but the minority leader has decided you are not a priority, in spite of the fact that we go to Committee on Armed Services hearings weekly and we hear the threat level has never been greater and in spite of the fact that we see the rise of ISIS across all of the Middle East, now in Europe, and it is threatening our homeland.

In spite of all of these threats, we tell the men and women in uniform and their commanders that politics win over the principle of funding our troops and saving our Nation and protecting our Nation. I think that is despicable.

We know we have enough votes to send this bill to the President because they voted for it before. We only need a third of them to vote for this now and send it to the President's desk.

I could go on, and if we have time, I hope Senator Sullivan will ask me some questions because I have spent a lot of time down at Camp Lejeune and Fort Bragg. Ask me about whether or not the leader of FORSCOM and the leaders down there responsible for the 82nd Airborne Division and the XVIII Airborne Corps think they have enough money and they can keep our men and women safe. Ask them about the conditions at Camp Lejeune and the conditions we ask these men and women to serve in after we tell them we are not going to give you money to keep you safe so that you can complete your mission.

This is politics at its worst. We need to send this bill to the President's desk. We need to show respect for the men and women who have sworn an oath to lay down their life for the cause of freedom. This is a failure on the part of the minority leader and on the part of any other person who would sit there and refuse to move to a bill that every single one of them in the Appropriations Committee supported.

I appreciate Senator Sullivan's elevating this dialogue to the extent that he will, and we shouldn't stop until we fulfill the promise that is our first and foremost constitutional obligation, which is to protect this Nation. The people voting against this bill and preventing it from getting to the President's desk, in my opinion, are failing to live up to their oath.

I want to thank Senator Sullivan and Senator Ernst again for their service, and I thank my colleague for bringing this to the attention of the American people.

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Mr. TILLIS. Senator Sullivan asked Senator Ernst whether people in uniform are watching. Let's talk about other people watching. What about the families of those men and women in uniform, the ones whom Democrats have decided to say no to for a pay raise?

My wife and I have adopted Fort Bragg, where she started a program called Baby Bundles where we create these bundles to give to expectant families, E4s and below. These men and women have very little. They are serving their Nation and are not making a lot of money. We are trying to do our best to make up for that by providing them with these gifts as they bring a child into the world.

But what about the mother or father who is left behind as their loved one is somewhere in harm's way? What are they thinking about when they come home during training and say: You know, we are just not getting the jumps we were getting. We are not getting the equipment we were getting. And, sweetie, I am about to be deployed.

That is happening. That is what this ``no'' stands for. That is what this action on the part of the Democrats stands for.

We need to vote for this bill. We need to show military families and men and women in uniform that we support them. I encourage my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to move this bill to the President's desk.

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