End-of-Year Priorities

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. KAINE. Madam President, on November 9, 2016, I had one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

I stood on a hotel stage in New York City and, as my party's nominee for Vice President, introduced Secretary Hillary Clinton to address her supporters and the Nation for a concession speech. The polls in the Western United States had just been closed for about 10 hours, and it was a mere 8 hours after news organizations had called the 2016 election for Donald Trump.

Hillary Clinton had made history. She was the first woman nominee of a major party for President, and she had won the popular vote by millions of votes.

She was also deeply concerned about the election itself. Candidate Donald Trump had openly solicited help from a foreign adversary to win the election. While the dimensions of the foreign misinformation campaign were not yet fully clear, the Nation's intelligence community had publicly warned that a foreign country was active in efforts to undermine Secretary Clinton's candidacy and create chaos and division in the American electorate.

But Hillary Clinton was and is a patriotic American. She knew that she was behind by nearly 77,000 votes in the key States of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. She knew that it was highly unlikely that recounts would change any of those three deficits in any appreciable way.

I watched Secretary Clinton struggle with the war between her personal feelings and her earnest search for what was right for the country, and I struggled with those same feelings. I was proud of Secretary Clinton when she walked to a microphone and said these words:

Last night, I congratulated Donald Trump and offered to work with him on behalf of our country. I hope that he will be a successful president for all Americans. This is not the outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for and I'm sorry that we did not win the election for the values we share and the vision we hold for our country.

We have seen that our nation is more deeply divided than we thought. But I still believe in America and I always will. And if you do, then we must accept this result and then look to the future. Donald Trump is going to be our next president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.

Our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power and we don't just respect that, we cherish it.

It takes a strong moral compass to quickly set aside personal disappointment and choose country over your own personal feelings. Hillary Clinton demonstrated leadership that day.

I take the floor today to ask why Donald Trump won't put the country over his personal feelings, but I particularly want to ask my Republican Senate colleagues: Why won't you ask the President of your party to do the right thing and put the interests of the country over personal or partisan pursuits?

It is now 9 days after election day. It is 5 days since all major news organizations called the Presidential election for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Donald Trump is now behind in the popular vote by more than 5 million votes, and that number is rising. Some suggest that the ultimate margin will be closer to 7 million votes. Donald Trump is behind in the key States of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin--not by the 77,000-vote margin of 4 years ago but by nearly 220,000 votes, and that number is going up every day. Donald Trump has lost two other key States that he won in 2016--Georgia and Arizona. Yet how is President Trump acting? Like a spoiled child.

But it is not just a childish refusal to concede a loss; in his weakness, he is willing to speak and act in ways destructive to our democracy. He has not reached out to President-Elect Biden. He has not conceded. He and his White House team are instructing Federal agencies not to cooperate with the Biden transition. He is not allowing congressionally appropriated moneys to be used by the Biden transition. He is spreading unfounded rumors about voter fraud or irregularities without meaningful evidence. He is trashing hard-working election officials--even Republican officials--with his baseless claims. As reported yesterday by Military.com, his legal team is even branding as fraudulent ballots sent in by American service men and women and their families.

Just as ominous, President Trump is starting a purge of officials at the Pentagon, beginning with the firing of Defense Secretary Mark Esper. The officials the President is now jamming into short-term acting roles at the Pentagon include some who are unqualified and some who even Republican members of the Senate Armed Services Committee have previously determined are unfit to serve. These actions send a message of chaos and instability to adversaries around the world at the very time when the United States should be trying to send a message of calm and order.

It is futile to ask President Trump to put country over his personal interests. He has not been willing to do that. But I do ask my Senate Republican colleagues: Won't you concede that the country has elected a new President? Won't you speak out against baseless claims of voter fraud that whip up dangerous division at home, demean hard-working election officials, and paint an embarrassing picture of the United States around the world? Won't you demand that the Trump administration allow the Biden transition team the resources that we in Congress have provided to assist in that important task? Won't you ask the President to avoid massive firings or other personnel actions in the lameduck period that heighten the sense of American instability? Won't you stand up for the proposition that peaceful transfers of power are a sacred part of our American heritage?

I recently took a look at comments that I made on the floor at this very spot on February 4. I was worried then, but my comments read even more frightening now. I stood here to explain my vote for impeachment. I said then:

``Unchallenged evil spreads like a virus. We have allowed a toxic President to infect the Senate and warp its behavior. An acquittal will lead to worse behavior.''

The acquittal of this President has led to worse behavior. He is willing to demean our democracy in the eyes of the world because he is too weak to acknowledge that he lost an election. But there is still time for the Senate to be the adult leaders that this Nation so badly needs. Patriotic and mature leadership will not come from the President or the administration. The Senate must provide it.

And in the Senate, at this moment, strong Republican leadership to condemn President Trump's foolishness is key. When we Democrats stand up against the President, it makes little difference. We just get discounted by the President and his supporters. They are quickly forming a dangerous ``Lost Cause'' mythology about a stolen election. Every single Member of this Chamber knows that the myth that is being perpetrated is a lie. But some people will fall for the myth unless Republicans are willing to stand up and call out the lie.

The next 10 weeks are filled with peril. With COVID cases rising, hospitalizations increasing, deaths tragically multiplying, and people and businesses still suffering, we should be laser-focused on crushing this virus and rebuilding the American economy. The United States does not have the luxury to engage in conspiracy theories and multiple bogus election challenges.

To my colleagues, especially my Republican colleagues, the Nation needs the Senate right now to send a message of calm transition to a new administration. Please put our country first.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source