Expressing the Sense of the Senate That the Whistleblower Complaint Received on August By the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community Should Be Transmitted Immediately to the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, in August a public servant inside the intelligence community found the conduct of the President of the United States alarming enough to file an official whistleblower complaint. The inspector general of the intelligence community found this whistleblower complaint both credible and urgent. By law, the Director of National Intelligence must forward such a complaint to the congressional intelligence committees within 7 days of receiving it. Congress has been informed by the inspector general of the intelligence community in writing that the Trump administration is preventing that complaint from being sent to the relevant committees in Congress.

Those are the facts. The situation they describe is unacceptable. We know that the executive branch is blocking the legislative branch--a coequal branch of our government--from performing its constitutional oversight duties. The fact that the whistleblower complaint concerns our national security, our foreign policy, and potential misconduct by the President makes the situation even more serious.

In a short time, I will ask my colleagues' consent to pass a simple resolution. It essentially says ``that the whistleblower complaint received on August 12, 2019, by the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community shall be transmitted immediately to the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives.''

I cannot imagine any legitimate or straight-faced reason for an objection to this unanimous consent request. The only reason for any Senator to object would be to shield the President's conduct from scrutiny by the public and the representatives they elect to represent them; that is, to protect the President from accountability.

In a moment, I hope this resolution will pass without a single dissenting Senator, and it should.

The request, despite its noncontroversial nature, speaks to the issues that go back to the founding days of our Republic: checks and balances, the separation of powers, and the constitutional duty of the President and the executive branch to faithfully execute the laws of the United States. The Senate, today--right now--should speak with one unified voice to reaffirm those time-honored principles and defend the grand traditions of our democracy.

Res. 325, submitted earlier today.

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Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, three brief points. First, this resolution is not aimed at the Senate Intelligence Committees. Senators Burr and Warner do a diligent job in trying to figure out what is going on. It is aimed at a thus far recalcitrant executive branch which has blocked the ability for the committees to see the complaint even though law requires it.

Second, it is welcomed that we can join together to do our job of oversight. I want to thank the majority leader for not blocking this request, because I think every one of us in this Chamber realizes the importance of oversight and the need to prevent an overreaching executive from going that far. Getting the transcript is a good step, but it is the complaint we need.

That is the gravamen of this resolution. It is the whistleblower's complaint, not the transcript, that we need and are asking for in this resolution.

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