Energy and Water, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, 2019--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, it has now been 2 days since the Singapore summit between President Trump and Chairman Kim concluded. America remains troubled by the lack of detail in the joint statement signed by both parties, as well as some of the remarkable concessions made by President Trump, especially the freeze of joint military exercises with South Korea.

In the wake of this first meeting, it has become clearer and clearer that Chairman Kim secured far more concessions than President Trump. Yet, despite all the evidence, President Trump is acting like he just secured world peace. The President is conducting an alternative reality Presidency, and the recent summit with North Korea reveals it better than ever. President Trump says we are no longer on the brink of war with North Korea, after President Trump himself was the one who brought us there in the first place, through bellicose rhetoric and brinkmanship on Twitter. Now the President takes a victory lap for undoing a problem he created in the first place. He pats himself on the back, saying that we are now at peace. We were on the brink of war. He forgets that he brought us there. What kind of Presidency is this?

Again President Trump tweeted yesterday: ``There is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea.'' Saying it, Mr. President Trump, does not make it so--once again, an alternative reality Presidency.

Despite what the President says, Chairman Kim has not agreed to dismantle North Korea's nuclear infrastructure. He has not agreed to stop enriching plutonium and uranium. He has not agreed to any sort of inspections regime. When Chairman Kim went home to North Korea, he did not even mention his vague commitment to completely denuclearize. To say there is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea after one meeting, after signing one sheet of paper, is living in an alternative reality, and that is where it seems President Trump lives these days, more than ever before.

Finally, in place of serious, arduous negotiations, President Trump preferred signing ceremonies and proclamations. It is a pattern in his Presidency: flash over substance, sign documents in front of cameras, but skip out on the hard work behind the scenes.

The idea is to make it look as if the President is getting stuff done, but not actually doing the hard work and getting it done. We can't have a President who is interested only in playing the role of President. He has to do the job of President.

On a matter as serious as negotiations with North Korea, there is no substitute for the hard work of real diplomacy. Only in President Trump's alternative reality Presidency do photo ops and handshakes suffice, especially when North Korea still presents such a great danger to us. If tomorrow morning Kim Jong Un did a 180-degree reversal, after having gotten what he wants--the handshake, the summit, the reduction of sanctions--we would be in real danger, and President Trump acts like it is all over--an alternative reality Presidency. But when it comes to something as serious and dangerous as North Korea, it is not a joke; it is serious stuff.

The hard details, the concrete concessions, the diplomatic gains for the United States, and safety from a still dangerous North Korea simply have to wait in President Trump's world, and it doesn't even seem to matter if they never happen.

We hope sincerely that those hard details do come. We hope sincerely that the Singapore summit was only the first step, rather than the final result, because we all wish to see a diplomatic resolution to the conflict on the Korean Peninsula. Ninety-nine percent of all Americans don't just want a photo op. We are glad that President Trump is actually trying, at least, to channel diplomacy, but he needs to stop behaving like all the hard work is behind him and open his eyes to the reality that bringing an end to a nuclear North Korea is not as easy, as simple, or as quick as a few days of photo ops. Department of Justice IG Report

Now, Mr. President, on another subject, this afternoon we expect to receive the report of the Department of Justice's inspector general, who has been reviewing the conduct of the Department of Justice and the FBI in the runup to the 2016 election.

Although we have not yet seen the inspector general's report, there is no reason--no reason--to believe that it will provide any basis to call the special counsel's work into question.

The IG report concerns an entirely separate investigation from the Russia probe that Special Counsel Mueller is conducting. The IG report concerns issues that started long before Special Counsel Mueller was even appointed and concluded before he began his investigation.

Furthermore, the one thing we do know about what happened in late 2016 is that certain actions taken by the FBI, intentionally or not, helped the Trump campaign and hurt the Clinton campaign. The release that Candidate Clinton was under investigation and the release of comments on what she had or had not done hurt her. It will take an awful lot of spin, an awful lot of stretching for Republicans to twist that around and portray the President as some kind of victim.

Regrettably, people like Chairman Nunes, like FOX News, and like some of the Republican supporters of the President in Congress--and even like the President himself--have been running a cynical campaign to undermine the Russia investigation. It seems that the only limits to the wild conspiracies they have cooked up are their imaginations. This hurts America. We have heard new reports that Russia is looking to meddle in our 2018 elections. If foreign powers can meddle in our elections with impunity, this democracy is in trouble--in trouble--both with what the foreign powers may do and in the lack of faith in democracy it instills in people here in America and around the world. Our Republican colleagues who use this and our President who uses this as a political whipping boy are hurting our democracy.

So almost regardless of what the IG report says, we can probably expect the President, Mr. Nunes, some of the FOX News commentators, and others to invent new conspiracy theories and new calls for more special counsels to investigate the investigators. Americans of all stripes are beginning to see these theories for what they are--distortions meant to undermine or distract from Special Counsel Mueller's investigation into the very serious efforts of Russia to influence the outcome of our elections. Well-meaning Members of both parties--both parties--should call them out for what they are.

We are waiting to hear from some of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle on this. There have been too few voices on something so significant. National Defense Authorization Bill

Mr. President, on another matter--and this one of some bipartisanship, I am happy to say--the Senate continues to process the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act in a bipartisan way to give our military the support and certainty it needs and to make crucial updates to our national security policy.

One strong bipartisan action in this bill is dealing with the Chinese telecom giant ZTE. Let me remind this body that ZTE has violated U.S. sanctions and lied about it, but, even more importantly, its technology has been deemed a national security threat--a national security threat--to these great United States by the FBI, the Pentagon, and the FCC--all appointed by Republicans.

President Trump was flatout wrong when he decided to go easy on ZTE and allow it to start selling its technology in the United States. If you believe some reports, he did it, once again, on a whim--a phone call from President Xi, our enemy on economic matters, who is robbing American jobs and stealing our technology, and who calls him up and says: Let's undo this. President Trump, seemingly without preparation, without briefings by the military or intelligence agencies or our law enforcement agencies, just does it, hurting America.

The good news is bipartisan efforts in this body and in the House to undo what the President did and reimpose the penalties on ZTE that they deserve.

President Trump was flatout wrong when he decided to go easy on ZTE and allow it to start selling its technology in the U.S. again. That puts America at severe risk--the risk of a China-backed company spying on Americans' private information, spying on businesses, spying on our military.

ZTE is allowed to come in here? Every American should be worried when they talk on their iPhone that China is spying on them. Every American business should be worried that China is spying on their businesses and their intellectual property, and, most of all, our military leaders should be worried that China is purloining secrets that help to keep us safe.

That is why we have included a bipartisan amendment. I want to salute Senators Cotton and Van Hollen for leading the charge. I want to salute folks like Senator Rubio, who has been so strong on this issue, putting country first. I want to salute the many on our side who have agreed with that. It is the right thing to do--to not allow ZTE to be here, for both national security interests as well as the economic importance of being tough on China.

Yesterday it was reported, of course, that the White House will oppose the amendment and may seek to strip it out of the bill. We hope cooler heads in the administration, including Secretary Mattis, Chief of Staff Kelly, and others who have had a military background, can inform the President how ill-advised his actions are.

Both parties in Congress must be resolute in blocking the President's bad, pro-China ZTE deal. Protecting America's national and economic security is paramount and any deal that jeopardizes them should be stopped in its tracks.

Senator Corker made a point this week. He is freed of political constraints and can say what he thinks. He made a point--passionately-- that this body does not have to assent to every whim of the President. It is not easy when you are of the same party as the President. I know that. But as everyone in this Chamber knows, on some major issues I opposed President Obama because I thought he was wrong, and I know how difficult it is. I know how difficult it is, but sometimes duty and country and patriotism require it. On a matter as vital as this one, having to do with America's national and economic security, we cannot back off. I urge my colleagues, particularly my friends Senators Cotton and Rubio and Cornyn, who have been so strong and right on this issue, to hang tough, especially when we get to conference.

I want to thank our Acting Chair of the Armed Services Committee for understanding the security risks and for working in a bipartisan way. Happy Birthday to Abe Schumer

Finally, Mr. President, if my colleagues will indulge me a few more words, they are personal, but they are meaningful.

Today is Flag Day. It is also my father's 95th birthday. This upcoming weekend we will celebrate Father's Day.

My father was a World War II vet over in Burma, and when he came back to Brooklyn after the war, he took over a small exterminating business from his father, my grandpa. I often joke that we are the only family who associates the smell of DDT with love, because my dad would come home from the office smelling of all of those chemicals.

My father hated his job. He paced the floor Sunday nights at 2 a.m., unable to sleep, dreading going to work on Monday. But there was great honor in what he did. He never complained. He was supporting the family, even if it was in a job he was stuck with after getting back from World War II. He labored for many years in a job that wasn't his passion and passed on his idea of serving without complaining to give his children, grandchildren, and, God willing, in November, his soon- to-be first great-grandchild--my daughter is pregnant--the idea that we could follow our dreams, standing on his strong and weary shoulders. Mine led me here. I will never stop being grateful to my dad for that.

So allow me to wish my father a happy birthday today and to say that I look forward to seeing him and my mom Selma, who turned 90 just on D- Day, as well as my wife and two daughters this weekend for Father's Day, and I wish all Americans the same joy in celebrating Father's Day this weekend.

Reservation of Leader Time

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