Unanimous Consent Request--H.J. Res. 77

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I am rising once again to ask the Senate's consent to move to the H.J. Res. 77 condemning the President's abrupt decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria.

Despite the Pandora's box of problems the President's decision has opened, the slaughter of our partners, the Kurds--and I think many of us on both sides of the aisle ache for the Kurds who risked their lives. Many of them lost their lives so our soldiers would not be in harm's way.

With the strategic gains of our adversaries in Tehran, Moscow, and Damascus and, most troubling, the potential resurgence of ISIS, the President has failed to articulate any strategy at all. We have asked to have Secretary Pompeo, Secretary Esper, and Director Haspel come before us. They have canceled again today because they don't have a plan.

Now, this is America at risk. We in New York know better than anybody else how a small group of people thousands of miles away--evil people-- can cause terrorism and hurt us. There is no strategy about what to do with the tens of thousands of ISIS prisoners and their fellow travelers who had been locked up and guarded by the Kurds.

No one believes--and I have talked to the top military intelligence people--that either Syria or Turkey has the interest in preventing ISIS from escaping that we do. Erdogan, in fact, hates the Kurds far more than he hates ISIS.

So every day this lack of policy and this lack of common sense from the President and this White House puts American lives in danger. What is the best way to get the President to act? Well, my friends, you know it. It is you. When Republican Senators protest what the President has done, he sometimes acts. Witness Doral. I guarantee you my speeches had very little effect on him, but yours did. Well, this is far more important than Doral. This is America, and lives are at stake. Our battle against terrorism, to be fought jointly most of the time, is now being jeopardized. Frankly, when Leader McCarthy and Representative Scalise and Representative Cheney can vote for this kind of resolution, why should we not be doing the same? It will send a better message to the President than anything else we can do.

My friend, the Republican leader, said we need a stronger resolution. Quibbling over words at a time when America is in danger doesn't make sense to me--particularly a resolution that he knows will not pass the House and not go to the President's desk.

So I would plead with my colleagues, let's move forward. I plead with my friend from Kentucky--they are both my friends from Kentucky--but I plead with the junior Senator from Kentucky, do not stand in the way.

He has a different world view than almost all of us. We talked earlier this morning. I asked him if he was against going after the Taliban and bin Laden when they hit us in America, in New York, and he said no. Well, this is the same kind of thing. We are happy to vote on his resolution. Let's vote on both. This is momentous.

These terrorist acts from escaped ISIS prisoners might not occur tomorrow, they might not occur 6 months from now, and they might not occur a year from now, but they may. They certainly--almost certainly will at some point in the future, and we will risk lives: the American lives of our intelligence officials, of our Special Forces, and we will risk the security of America and spend millions of dollars.

The sooner we can put this back--and the only person who can is President Trump, and the only people who can really pressure him are sitting right here. I would plead with my colleague from Kentucky and with all of us because even if he objects, we could pass this joint resolution within a few days to do it. Our security, the security of this wonderful country and its beautiful 320-some-odd million people deserve no less.

246, H.J. Res. 77; that the joint resolution be read a third time, and the Senate vote on passage with no intervening action or debate.

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Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I don't want to prolong this. I will make two quick points. No. 1, my friend from Kentucky thinks he knows what is better for the Kurds than the Kurds know. The Kurds hate going into the arms of Syria--hate it.

Second, if our friend from Kentucky believes that any time we have a small number of Special Forces in different places--and we have them all over--we need a declaration of war, then his view is different from 99.9 percent of America and every other single person in this Chamber.

We do not need a declaration of war for a small number of Special Forces to be there to protect us against terrorism, and my friend from Kentucky knows that.

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