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Floor Speech
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Mr. HAWLEY. Mr. President, this is Jared Schmitz, Lance Corporal Schmitz, from the State of Missouri, Wentzville, MO. His father made this T-shirt and gave it to me just a couple of weeks ago, when I last had the chance to visit with him.
Lance Corporal Schmitz was killed in action at Abbey Gate on August 22 of last year. On the back are the 12 other marines who were lost, along with Lance Corporal Schmitz, on that day.
When I saw his father and he gave me the shirt, he told me about all they are doing to honor Jared's memory. He asked me to continue to fight to uphold that memory and to get answers, and I said: That is exactly what I will do.
The truth is that this family and the families of the other lost marines and every American citizen have been waiting too long for answers about what happened at Abbey Gate, over a year ago, as the Senator from Hawaii rightly notes. We are waiting for answers as to why the commanders on the ground weren't heeded. We are waiting for answers as to why the White House wasn't ready to do a proper evacuation. We are waiting for answers about how the security situation so deteriorated that 13 servicemembers were killed and hundreds of American civilians were left behind to terrorists there in Afghanistan. We are still waiting for answers.
No, I am not willing to pretend that everything is fine at the Pentagon. Everything is not fine at the Pentagon. I am not willing to say that business as usual should go on. No, I am not willing to waive the rules of regular order and expedite nominations without even having a vote on the floor of this Senate, but I understand my colleague's sense of urgency here. I understand that he wants to move these nominations. Unanimous Consent Request--S. Res. 763
Mr. President, in the spirit of trying to reach a compromise, as he proposes, I would just say this: Why don't we agree to take a vote-- just a vote--on having a select committee to look into what happened at Abbey Gate and get those answers and make them public--not a commission that will take years and years to report, Vietnam-style, when everybody who made the decisions are safely out of power and collecting their pensions, but a select committee that will report and make it public to the American people and get real accountability--because who has been fired over what happened at Abbey Gate? Nobody. Who has been held accountable? Nobody. Who has given answers? Nobody.
Here is what I propose: I ask that the Senator modify his request so that following confirmation of the Rumbaugh nomination, the Senate proceed to legislative session; that the Committee on Rules and Administration be discharged from further consideration; that the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 763; further, that the resolution be agreed to and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
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