Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015--Continued

Floor Speech

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Mr. SULLIVAN.

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Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, last week we had a lot going on in terms of national security and foreign policy facing our country and, most importantly, facing our troops, facing our military. The President, the Secretary of Defense, the top leaders in the military were asking a lot of our troops in 1 week. Let me just give you a little example of that.

Just yesterday, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced, from where he is in Iraq, that the United States will be deploying 560 more troops to Iraq in our fight against ISIS. Make no doubt about it, the White House might spin what we are doing over there, but our troops are definitely in combat, fighting to protect us.

At the NATO summit on Friday, President Obama announced that the United States will be deploying an additional 1,000 troops and a separate brigade headquarters to Poland. A lot of us--I think bipartisan--support what is going on at the NATO summit and congratulate the President for a successful summit.

On Wednesday, the President announced he plans to leave 8,400 American troops in Afghanistan--more than he originally planned, a number that a lot of us had been advocating for, maybe even more--to combat the Taliban; again, our troops in action.

On Saturday, we learned that North Korea launched a submarine ballistic missile off the coast of the eastern part of the country. Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported that even after reaching the Iran nuclear deal, the Iranians continue to try to illegally procure nuclear equipment from Germany. Finally, just today, there was an important ruling from The Hague, the tribunal there, about what is going on in the South China Sea, in keeping sealanes open where we just recently had two carrier battle groups--two U.S. carrier battles groups, thousands of sailors in that part of the world.

So what did the Senate do with regard to all the activities facing our troops? What did the Senate do to support these troops whom the President and the Secretary of Defense are asking so much of? Well, a lot of Americans did not see it, but in the late night, on Thursday night, led by the minority leader, unfortunately our colleagues on the other side of the aisle filibustered defense spending, filibustered the Defense appropriations bill.

This is not the first time that has happened. Indeed, that is the bill the other side seems to like to target. Amazingly, they like to target funding for our troops and our military. That is not the first time. It is not the second time. It is not the third time. It is the fourth time, inside of a year, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle filibustered funding our troops, at a time when national security challenges and what we are asking our military to do are at an alltime high.

What I want to do with my colleagues is talk about this, try to let the American people know this is not what we should be doing. Perhaps the media will talk about this and highlight this a little bit more because we are going to vote again on this appropriations bill, which, by the way, came out of committee unanimously. The Democrats on the committee voted for it.

Yet, somehow, when it comes to the floor, they are going to do another filibuster. They did it last Thursday. It is our hope--and one of the reasons we are on the floor right now--to convince our colleagues to change their ways. I am sure they don't want to have to go home after recess and have to explain to their constituents why they voted not once, not twice, not three times, not four times but five times to filibuster spending for our troops. I hope they don't have to do that. We are going to vote on that again this week.

I am honored to be on the floor with some distinguished Members of the Senate, some of the Members of the class of 2014. I am going to ask the junior Senator from Iowa--who knows a little bit about what she is talking about when it comes to the U.S. military, with 23 years of military service, having just retired as a lieutenant colonel in the Iowa National Guard. I am honored to have her open up and say some words about something that is remarkable that is going on, on the Senate floor--filibustering the spending for our troops at this dangerous time.

It is not what we should be doing. Our colleagues know it. I guarantee you the American people know it. If you ask people, Democratic or Republican: Should we be funding our troops at this moment, the answer, clearly, in every State and every part of the country, would be yes.

Senator Ernst.

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Mr. SULLIVAN. I thank Senator Tillis, and he put his finger on it when he said it is personal. I think it is personal to all of us.

Senator Ernst talked about it. She literally has her former colleagues, the troops she commanded, in Afghanistan right now. There is nothing more personal than that.

Just like Senator Tillis and Senator Daines, the great State of Alaska also has thousands and thousands of Active-Duty Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Marines servicemembers, reservists, and veterans, and they are wondering why. I get asked: Why would the minority leader filibuster spending for America's troops? Isn't that like the most important thing the Congress does--national defense? Why?

Why on Earth would they consider doing it a fifth time before we go home on recess? The one thing we should be doing before we take a 2- month recess--when, as Senator Ernst said, the whole world is imploding with national security challenges--is voting to fund our troops. So why? I really don't know the answer.

At one point, the minority leader came to the floor last year and said the bill was ``a waste of time.'' I am not sure most Americans would agree with him on that. Then they made some kind of excuse: Well, we need to make sure the appropriations bill fits with the bipartisan budget agreement from last year. Well, it does. Nobody is making that argument. He was even recently quoted as saying he doesn't want his party to be ``at the mercy of Republicans.'' In essence, that blocking our defense budget gives his political party leverage. Well, I will tell you who gets leverage from blocking this funding--our enemies and our adversaries, not our troops.

There is one other myth here, and I hear it a lot. When these procedural votes happen in the Senate, the troops don't really see it. They do not really understand it. Heck, this vote they took to block it last time on Thursday night was almost at midnight. Maybe nobody saw it. But I want to ask Senator Ernst: Do you think the troops see this? Do you think they understand what is going on? Do you think your troops in Afghanistan or in the Iowa National Guard or all the other military members we have gotten to know through our positions on the Committee on Armed Services see what is happening? How do you think that impacts morale?
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Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues who bring honor to the Senate by coming down here and talking about this important issue.

Those watching at home should be calling their Senators and telling them: Fund our troops. Fund our troops.

When there are so many national security challenges out there, we need to make sure we do not go on a 2-month recess without funding our troops and moving forward on this bill. We should not move forward on a vote to have another filibuster vote, the fifth one in a year--the only bill that seems to get the focus of our colleagues and the minority leader to filibuster.

We need to do the right thing. We need to do the right thing by the American people, and we need to do the right thing by our troops. Fund the troops. Break the filibuster. We need to move forward.

I certainly hope my colleagues on the other side are going to finally see the light and vote to move forward funding for our military, national security, our troops, and our families.

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