-9999
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. HAWLEY. There has been zero accountability.
So for approximately the 200th time, we are here on the floor as I continue to fulfill my pledge to seek accountability for what happened at Abbey Gate, for the lives that were lost, including a life from my own State, Lance Corporal Schmitz, and to press for answers. It is not too much to ask that not just the families of the fallen but that the people of this country not be lied to about what happened at Abbey Gate and that we be given the answers the American people deserve.
In that time, in those 16 months, Central Command has done an exhaustive investigation and report. Here it is right here. It is thousands of pages long. I can't seem to convince my friend from Rhode Island to hold a hearing on it, so I have been entering it into the Congressional Record page by page. We are about--I don't know--100 pages in. We have many hundreds more to go. But when we are finished, everyone will be able to read this report in full. There have been other reports since then. The Special IG for Afghanistan recently issued his own report, that office's own report, about the collapse of the Afghan Government. And what these reports have in common is a consistent theme that commanders on the ground repeatedly warned the administration, repeatedly warned the National Security Council, repeatedly warned the State Department as early as the spring of 2021 that the security situation was deteriorating rapidly, that the Taliban was gaining ground rapidly, and that there needed be to be an evacuation.
Yet what did the White House do? Well, according to the findings in this report, nothing. Did they plan? No. Did they take action necessary? No. And so on August 26, there was a terrorist explosion at Abbey Gate. We lose those 13 marines. Hundreds of American civilians are left behind in a botched evacuation. And here we are. Yet we are asked to act as if nothing has happened, as if we should just go on, business as usual. Keep the conveyor belt of nominees to this Pentagon running with no votes, no votes on this floor, no debate on this floor; just wave them through; waive regular order; move it right along; nothing to see here. I am not willing to do that. I haven't been willing to do it for over a year.
I hope my colleagues see now, a year on, that I was serious in August of 2021 when I said I would not consent to waiving the rules to send more nominees to this Pentagon until something is done to get answers and, frankly, to change the culture because the truth is, we have a cultural problem in the whole military-industrial complex.
This is an entity, an organization, that has lied to the American people repeatedly over the years. They lied about Vietnam for a decade. They lied about Iraq. They lied about the true state of the war in Afghanistan. And now we are getting the same lies again, to the point that we can't even hold a hearing in public because the White House won't consent to it.
I don't really blame Chairman Reed. He can't get witnesses to come testify in public because this White House doesn't want to say another word about what happened at Abbey Gate. We have a word for that. It is called a coverup, and it is time for it to stop.
Listen, much has been said about my blocking nominees. The truth is, I can't block any nominee. All of these nominees can be brought to the floor. They can't even be filibustered. It is just a matter of what the Senate majority leader wants to do. Sadly my side is not in the majority, and we are not going to be for the next 2 years. So if the Senate majority leader sees fit to vote on these nominees, he can at any time. But as to whether or not I will consent to waiving the rules and allowing these nominees to the Pentagon in leadership positions to be confirmed without even a vote--I will not until something changes at the Pentagon, until something is done about what happened at Abbey Gate.
I know that my colleague the chairman is acting in good faith. It is a privilege to serve with him on the committee. I know he is in a tough spot here because he has a White House that doesn't want to give an inch and doesn't want to say a word. I would just say that I hope, with real oversight coming soon in the House of Representatives, that the Senate will see fit and see its way to doing its part and holding open hearings on this report, on this tragedy, and making sure it does not happen again.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source