Jim Inhofe

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Thank you very much. Thank you. I appreciate that. It has been a tough time here. I would say that he has made my day

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, first, let me make a comment about the remarks from my friend from Nebraska. It happens that I was in Hong Kong when that happened, and I saw the people, knowing what was going to happen to them after all the promises that were made. Everything that we suspected and dreaded has now happened. I appreciate the fact that there is somebody who cares enough to bring all of this to the American people.

Mr. INHOFE. Yes.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Madam President, first of all, I would make a comment in reaction to the comments of our good friend from Texas. What he says is true, and the American people are not aware--and I don't say this critically of the previous administration--but during the Obama administration, his top priority was not really defense. He had his own agenda, and, consequently, we suffered at that time. In the last 5 years, which would have been from 2010 to 2015, he reduced the funding of our military by 25 percent. What people don't realize is, during that same timeframe, Russia increased theirs by 34 percent, and China increased the funding of their military by 83 percent. That put us in a situation in which we have to do what we are doing, and that is why this and the last bills have been very important. We are still working on the National Defense Authorization Act. I consider it to be the most important bill of the year. I know my colleagues agree with me that this is very significant, and this is something that we know is eventually going to pass. This will be the 60th consecutive year. Our military is the best in the world. This week, with this bill, we are going to make sure it stays that way. The goal of having a strong military is deterrence--to make sure that we don't have to use it--and to send a signal to our enemies that they can't win against us. This is the message we need to send today, tomorrow, and forever. That is what the national defense strategy tells us. I don't have the national defense strategy book here, but we have been adhering to it. It is a strategy that was put together a few years ago by 12 Democrats, 12 Republicans, and all the experts in the field, and we have been using it as our model ever since. So we want to make sure that we have enough ships and planes and everything in place. China and Russia have caught up in some areas, and I think it is important, as the Senator from Texas said about the hypersonic weapons, that we are talking about offensive and defensive weapons; we are talking about something that is state of the art. They actually are ahead of us right now, but with this bill we are going to get caught up. Our superiority rests on our staying ahead of our competition. We ceded that advantage under the last administration, and we are going to correct that. That is where we are right now. I see the minority leader is here, and I would like to propose a unanimous consent request. Unanimous Consent Request--Amendments En Bloc Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that, at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the Democratic leader, the following amendments be made pending en bloc and the Senate vote in relation to the amendments in the order listed without intervening action or debate: Paul amendment No. 2011; Sanders amendment No. 1790; third, Cornyn-Schumer-Cotton amendment No. 2244. I further ask unanimous consent that the following amendments be called up en bloc and the Senate vote on adoption of the amendments en bloc with no intervening action or debate. I hesitate to do this. It will take me a minute to actually name all of the amendments because it is important for our Members who are watching to be aware of where they stand in line. I ask unanimous consent that the following amendments be called up en bloc and the Senate vote on adoption of the amendments en bloc with no intervening action or debate: Moran, No. 1694; Hyde-Smith, No. 1881; Romney, No. 1883; Portman, No. 1891; Kennedy, No. 1987; Romney, No. 2018; Sullivan, No. 2391; Johnson, No. 2077; Wicker, No. 2178, Fischer, No. 2231; Risch, No. 2238; Gardner, No. 2241; Portman, No. 2243; Inhofe-Reed, No. 2248; Peters, No. 1753; Warner, No. 1803; Coons, No. 1808; Warner, No. 1907; Tester, No. 1968; Bennet, No. 1977; Smith, No. 2058; Cortez Masto, No. 2186; King, No. 2215; Merkley, No. 2251; Cantwell, No. 2255; Cantwell, No. 2256; Hirono, No. 2269; Menendez, No. 2270, and Peters, No. 2275.

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I would like to be recognized in order to make a comment. First of all, I have great respect for the Senator. I have worked with him many times, and we have really gotten quite a bit accomplished. I know that my friend is sincere in the statements that he makes, but I find myself in a different position. I see what has happened in previous administrations, and, during the last 5 years of the Obama administration, I saw when, in his budget, the President reduced the military by 25 percent at the same time that China was increasing its by 83 percent and Russia was increasing its by 34 percent. I am sensitive to this, and it is one of the considerations we make. I do object to this amendment, but I am going to work with the Senator to see which of these might be appropriate and can be sellable to a majority of the people in the Senate.

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, if the Senator would yield for one more comment so I may address that, Senator Reed and I are both in agreement. We have been wanting amendments. We have been asking on a daily basis--now for about 2 months--for Members to bring their amendments down so we can consider amendments. We are in the process now of seeing which amendments we are able to bring up that we might have reached an agreement on. We are doing that. It is not an easy process, and it does take a little bit of time. Yet I am hopeful that we will have amendments. I anticipate we will.

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I would respond by saying that I don't take issue with that, but I will say that we all remember what happened a year ago when this bill was up. One of our Members objected to all amendments coming up, and, as a result, no one got an amendment up. That isn't happening this year because the individuals who were opposed to amendments last year are no longer opposed to amendments. We are just trying to--with the understanding and the realization that things are done in the Senate with unanimous consent and that one person has a lot of power to stop a lot of other people, we don't want that to happen. We want to encourage amendments, and we are going to try to consider as many as we can.

Mr. INHOFE. Thank you.

Mr. INHOFE. First of all, let me respond by saying that this has been a long process, and it is one that has involved leadership on both sides, and we are attempting to do that. I think that by looking at the list I have read off, the Senator will see a lot of Democrats and a lot of Republicans there. For that reason I think we have an adequate number that several of us have agreed on, so I would object to modification of my amendment.

Mr. INHOFE. I yield the floor.

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I object; although, I would like to have the opportunity to look at all five of these amendments to see which ones would not be consistent with the negotiation that is taking place right now. I would like to make sure that everyone understands that, at this very moment, Democrats and Republicans are looking at a lot of amendments, as we have done every year for 60 years, to make sure that we are getting the right amendments in order to make the bill the best we can. Now, it will just take a few minutes for me to do this. Until then, I reserve the right to object. If we have a timing problem on this, I will object, but it might be that there is one I would like to consider at this time.

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I object.

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, reserving the right to object.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading be dispensed with.

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, as I said earlier, I will move to table the Paul amendment at 5:30 today, and Senators should expect a rollcall vote at that time. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I want to thank all my colleagues and my partners, my partner Senator Reed, for working so hard today to come to an agreement. It has been a tough day. We think we have created a package that is acceptable to everyone and we will be hotlining it tonight. The Senate will come back into session at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning, and hopefully, we will be able to lock in our deal here.

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I have a motion to be made, but before making it, I yield 3 minutes each to Senator Klobuchar from Minnesota and Senator Schatz from Hawaii.

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I call up the Paul amendment No. 2011 to the text proposed to be stricken.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 629.

Mr. INHOFE. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration and the Senate proceed to S. Res. 634.

Mr. INHOFE. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m., Thursday, July 2; further, that following the prayer and the pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day and morning business be closed; further, that following leader remarks, the Senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of Calendar No. 718; finally, that notwithstanding rule XXII, the cloture vote on the Vought nomination occur at 1:30 p.m.

Mr. INHOFE

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.