End the Regressive Average Daily Attendance Policy

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. JAMES. Roger, my brother. Go Army.

Mr. Speaker, it is in similar fashion that I approach this body out of respect for American life and our servicemembers, even as I watched the situation unfold in Sudan with shock nearly 2 weeks ago when rival forces started fighting in the streets of Khartoum.

It caught our entire diplomatic establishment by surprise, despite the many risks of trying to get the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces to integrate into one structure.

The fighting has been relentless, and except for a brief window in which we withdrew our diplomats, every cease-fire has failed to truly hold. There are pockets of less violence today in Khartoum, but that is because thousands upon thousands have already fled the bloodshed.

I want to commend the bravery of our brothers and sisters and their professionalism, those military servicemembers who conducted a successful extraction of our embassy personnel, flying missions in Chinooks over 800 miles through the night and accomplishing their mission flawlessly. It was a remarkable success.

I am glad that our diplomats are now out of harm's way, but there remains much more work to be done. Unfortunately, that work is not being conducted with the competency and urgency that the situation in Sudan demands.

Congress was told thousands of American civilians are still in Sudan, but the Department of State, as this administration has shown a penchant for, has left them behind to fend for themselves.

This policy that is furthered by this administration not only leaves Americans abroad vulnerable, but as targets to those who would hurt and kill us. This Department of State is proving time and time again that they are unable to perform their duties confidently. We must look into this as a body in Congress.

Right now, the Department of State is unable to provide an update of how many Americans have contacted the department for assistance. They either can't or they won't. In either case, they will be held to account.

The Department of State refuses to be honest and transparent about the structure of the task force, the number of consular offices answering the need of Americans on the ground, or to describe how those Americans waiting to get out are being assisted besides updates on the next foreign flight or vessel.

There are French planes assisting their citizens, there are Chinese ships assisting their citizens, and there is silence for the cries of American citizens in Sudan being ignored. In a world where we cannot shoot our way out of conflicts exclusively, we need our diplomats to show up and with a plan that will have the full support of Congress.

Mr. Speaker, our President came to this Chamber mere months ago and told us repeatedly that he wanted to finish the job. It is not clear, after seeing what is happening in Afghanistan and seeing what is happening at our borders and seeing what is happening in Sudan that he ever started the job to begin with. We need the leadership of this body to stand up for American citizens when this administration will not.

Mr. MIKE GARCIA of California. Mr. Speaker, it is remarkable how quickly we forgot the lessons learned in Afghanistan. When we see the situation in Sudan and for Secretary of State Blinken to literally forget some of the lessons learned so quickly makes us wonder how many countries we are still vulnerable in as we move forward.

I want to reflect on Afghanistan because it hasn't been that long and, yet, I think many Americans have actually forgotten what has happened there.

We made several key strategic errors giving up Bagram Airfield: Leaving our allies in Afghanistan in the lurch without any notification in the dead of night, not handing operational control over from a State Department diplomatic mission in terms of an evacuation back to the DOD, and recognizing that we were, in fact, in a warfighting scenario where operational control should have been handed to the Department of Defense.

It was a demonstration of cabinet members under a weak administration not having the backbone to stand up and tell their boss, the President of the United States, the Commander in Chief, that, Boss, we have a problem. We need to be more proactive.

We need to take a step back, rethink our strategy here, and we need to make sure that every single American comes home. If you recall, we were actually bringing home American troops before we brought home American civilians in many of those cases.

Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source