Defense Authorization

Floor Speech

DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION -- (Senate - September 10, 2008)

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. Presient, I know we are going to be moving to the Defense authorization bill. I want to speak briefly on an amendment which I intend to offer called the Military Voter Protection Act. I believe the right to vote is one of the most precious civil rights we have as American citizens. Yet the scandalous fact is that last election, in 2006, out of all of the eligible military voters and civilians overseas, only 5.5 percent of those eligible to vote and who actually tried to cast a vote had their vote counted--5.5 percent.

Now, if this were to happen in any city, in any town, any State here in our country, there would be a major public outcry. There would be newspaper headlines, and investigative reporters would be scrounging for information finding out who is denying the most basic civil right to American citizens that we have, which is the right to vote.

But for some reason nothing is done, either by the Department of Defense or the Department of Justice or by the Congress to make sure that those men and women who are deployed in harm's way have the opportunity to register to vote, and to make sure that when they do vote, their ballot is actually delivered back and counted on a timely basis.

This is something that I think all of us would support on a bipartisan basis, the Military Voting Protection Act. I intend to bring it up this morning with both the bill managers, Senator Levin and Senator Warner. I hope I will be permitted an opportunity----

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has used 12 minutes.

Mr. CORNYN. I thank the Chair. I hope I will be given an opportunity to call up this amendment and to have it voted on. I worry a little bit because of the fact that the majority leader has filled the amendment tree, and that there is some question whether amendments will be allowed on this bill.

As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, as is the occupant of the chair, I am usually familiar with the fact we are on Defense authorization bills for a matter of a week or more, usually 2 or 3 weeks, and it is usually a much amended bill because of the public interest in this particular piece of legislation.

I am worried that the majority leader is trying to compress all activity into this 1 week and we will not have an opportunity to offer important amendments such as the Military Voting Protection Act, which I have described, which I will come back to the floor and describe more thoroughly.

After a very bad year here in the Senate, we still have about 2 1/2 weeks in order to pull the chestnuts out of the fire and actually accomplish some very important things by passing a Defense authorization bill, including protecting the voting rights of our military deployed overseas.

We have a chance to stand up for fiscal responsibility by actually passing some appropriations bills and by considering high energy prices and how those are affecting average Texas families and families all across this country, and driving up the cost of food and other commodities as well.

We actually have an opportunity, by eliminating the moratorium on offshore oil exploration and production, to produce more American energy so we do not have to send $700 billion a year overseas to other countries in order to buy something which we have an abundance of right here at home, as much as 3 million additional barrels a day right here in the United States, if Congress would simply become part of the solution rather than becoming part of the problem, which it has been by annually passing an appropriations bill rider banning drilling and exploration and production in the Outer Continental Shelf.

Last year, there was an amendment to an appropriations bill that would actually ban rulemaking and exploration and production of oil shale out in Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming, which has enormous capacity to produce a lot more American energy at home.

And then, of course, there is ANWR, where 2,000 acres, right in the middle of a desolate part of a 19-million acre refuge in Alaska, harbor untold amounts of oil, American oil, that would obviously, if produced, make it possible for us to buy less from countries that in some cases wish us harm and not well.

This is a national security problem. It is an economic problem not only for our country but for every hard-working family. I hope Congress will do what it has not done in the preceding months and actually act in a bipartisan way to solve some of these problems which I mentioned in a way that hopefully would make our constituents proud of us rather than disdainful, which is demonstrated, of course, by the historic low approval rating which Congress now--I was going to say enjoys, but certainly we do not enjoy that--now suffers.

Exhibit 1

U.S. SENATE,

Washington, DC, September 9, 2008.
Hon. MICHAEL B. MUKASEY,
Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC.

DEAR GENERAL MUKASEY: The recent government takeover of the Federal National Mortgage Association (``Fannie Mae'') and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (``Freddie Mac'') raises serious concerns whether a well-documented culture of corporate executive corruption at these organizations contributed to the mortgage giants' collapse. I request that the Department of Justice begin a new, full-scale investigation into accounting fraud and other corrupt practices perpetuated by top executives--and coordinate efforts with the Department of Treasury and other regulatory entities to determine to what extent any illegal activities led to the institutions' failure. The public deserves a full understanding of the events surrounding the failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and, furthermore, corporate executives must be held accountable to the American people.

In May 2006, a report by Fannie Mae's oversight authority, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), noted that ``[b]y deliberately and intentionally manipulating accounting to hit earnings targets, senior management maximized the bonuses and other executive compensation they received, at the expense of shareholders.'' The investigation into illegal accounting practices resulted in fines levied on Fannie Mae and three of its top corporate officers--but no criminal charges. While the three corporate officers who overstated Fannie Mae's earnings by approximately $10.6 billion may possess some form of prosecutorial immunity, it is imperative that there is accountability for each and every fraud perpetrated upon shareholders and the public. Moreover, the efficacy of prior investigations by OFHEO and Justice are further called into question in light of evidence of disturbing allegations of active interference on the part of Fannie Mae lobbyists. According to the OFHEO report, Fannie Mae ``sought to interfere'' with the OFHEO investigation by petitioning Congress to conduct a separate investigation of OFHEO. Furthermore, they allegedly lobbied Congress to cut OFHEO's funds for failure to fire the top official responsible for investigating Fannie Mae.

As the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is debated, it is essential for Congress to shine more light on the culture of corruption that plagued these institutions. But federal prosecutors and regulators also must vigorously investigate these institutions with the utmost urgency. Shareholders--indeed, all taxpayers--are entitled to a critical examination of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in light of the huge costs they are forced to bear as a result of the mortgage companies' demise.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

JOHN CORNYN,
U.S. Senator.

Source