Harry Reid

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, the Senate will resume consideration of the appropriations bill led by Senator Mikulski. We hope to begin the consideration of the bill today. We are now postcloture. We had to file cloture to get on the bill, as usual, and I think we have wasted the 30 hours. But that is where we are. So we hope to begin consideration of the bill today and work through the amendments. Senators will be notified when votes are scheduled.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Over the last several days the world has looked in horror as the terrorist organization ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, has swept across Iraq. As we speak they are sweeping even closer to Baghdad. They are murdering and they are pillaging. The group is now positioned outside Baghdad. It threatens to unleash its violent extremism on the capital of Iraq. ISIS poses a threat to Iraq and the surrounding region--and that is an understatement. As President Obama and his advisors consider options to combat the threat, conservative Members of Congress--or I should say Republican Members of Congress and their pundit cheerleaders--are more interested in playing their favorite game--their favorite game: blame Obama. It doesn't matter what it is, it is his fault for putting people's lives in jeopardy--our military, special forces. The FBI captured someone who was the ringleader of the Libya Benghazi attack. They have criticized the President for bringing this man to justice. Yesterday I listened with dismay when the Republican leader suggested and claimed that President Obama prematurely withdrew troops from Iraq. Think about that for a minute--5,500 dead Americans, tens of thousands wounded. Thousands and thousands have been wounded grievously. I ask my friend and Republicans he leads, would they have preferred the United States stay in Iraq? Would they have preferred our soldiers have stayed in Iraq in harm's way? Is he--are they, the Republicans-- willing to risk more American lives? The Republican leader and other Republicans seem to have forgotten why President Obama initiated the troop drawdown in June of 2009. Why? The Iraqis wanted us out. The Iraqi government didn't want American forces to stay. Is the Republican leader and the Republicans he leads suggesting that American servicemembers should risk their lives even more, even as the Iraqi people were telling our military to leave? What has been taking place in Iraq is a civil war. Do the Republicans and their leader believe that service men and women from Kentucky and the other 49 States across this great country should be inserted in the middle of their civil war? I don't think so. Fighting between factions in Iraq has cost thousands of Iraqi and American lives over the last decade, and it spawned a new breed of terrorism now. Yet the original architects of the war--of the invasion of Iraq--would have us believe that this is all President Obama's fault. Think about that. Is there anything further from the truth? I don't think so. This is an Iraqi civil war, and it is time for the Iraqis to resolve it themselves. Those who attack President Obama for bringing our troops home from Iraq are wrong and out of step with the American people. After a decade of war the American people have had enough. American families have had enough. I do not support in any way putting our men and women in the midst of this civil war in Iraq. It is not in the national security interests of our country. It is not worth the blood of American soldiers. It is not worth the monetary cost to the American taxpayer. Rather than spending hundreds of billions of dollars--the war in Iraq is at about $1.5 trillion. Rather than spending more money doing that-- fighting George W. Bush's war--how about we use that money to rebuild our Nation's infrastructure--roads, bridges, dams, water systems, sewer systems. We have a deficit in infrastructure of trillions of dollars. How about doing a better job of educating our children? Maybe we could raise the minimum wage or give the long-term unemployed unemployment compensation or maybe we could help men and women draw the same amount of money for doing the same work or maybe we could fully fund the Veterans' Administration and ensure that our veterans--more than a million have come back from Iraq--are getting the care they need and deserve. Instead of addressing these issues at home, they are stuck in the same game. And it is not blame Obama; this is a new one--new yesterday or the day before. They are stuck listening to the very same neocons--obviously, that is where the Republicans are getting their information again--the same neocons who pushed us into the Iraq war in the first place, as they try to plunge our military in yet another foreign misadventure. What is absurd is the fact that after all these years their suggestions haven't changed. They are in a time warp. Those who are the so-called experts are so eager to commit American soldiers to another war. Why is their advice so valuable? Take President Bush's Paul Wolfowitz, who some say was the architect of the war. He has accused President Obama recently of not taking a strong position in Iraq. Wolfowitz took a strong position on Iraq's sectarian violence when he stated--listen to this bizarre statement-- and this is a quote: ``There's been none of the record in Iraq of ethnic militias fighting one another.'' No, only for centuries. Look at what he said: There is none of the record in Iraq of militias fighting each other. That is Wolfowitz. How about Bill Kristol--not the comedian. He is a writer. Bill Kristol is another one of the architects of the Iraq war who infamously predicted that American soldiers would be welcomed as liberators in Iraq. He said the war would last 2 months. Well, he was only wrong by about 9 years and 10 months. Kristol also claimed there was no evidence of discord among Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq. No? Only centuries of discord--centuries. Yet even in light of this incorrect assertion about Iraq, Kristol went on to say that we need to have more fighting in Iraq, beating the drum alongside all the neoconservative friends. This morning there was an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal. Who would write that? How about Dick Cheney? Just to remind everyone, he is the former Vice President of the United States, who clearly was the chief architect of the war. If there is one thing this country does not need, it is that we should be taking advice from Dick Cheney on wars. Being on the wrong side of Dick Cheney is being on the right side of history. To the architects of the Iraq war, who are now so eager to offer their expert analysis, I say thanks but no thanks. Unfortunately, we already tried it your way, and it was the biggest foreign policy blunder in the history of the country. Now people come back and say they can give me some examples that have been worse, and I listen. But for me--I know a little bit about history--this was a foreign policy blunder that would be hard to take away from being the number one foreign policy blunder in the history of the country. President Obama and his military advisors are considering their options to address ISIS, but putting combat troops back in Iraq isn't one of them. I have no doubt that President Obama and America will meet this threat head-on without the advice of Wolfowitz, Cheney, Kristol-- the architects of the invasion of Iraq. President Obama will meet the threat with the same smart foreign policy which has been the hallmark of his administration. The President will continue to identify and protect what is truly in our national security interests, using our full array of national security tools and standing up to terrorism where it threatens our national stability.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I appreciate the chairman of the Appropriations Committee being so kind. There are 27 tribes in the State of Nevada, Native Americans. The issue regarding the name Redskins is very important to every one of those tribes. Every time they hear this name, it is a sad reminder of a long tradition of racism and bigotry. A month or so ago, Daniel Snyder, the owner of the team, had some people come to Nevada and agree to buy one of the Indian tribes a car if they would say nice things about the Redskins. They refused. This is extremely important to Native Americans all over the country, that they no longer use this name. It is racist. Daniel Snyder says it is about tradition. I ask: What tradition? The tradition of racism, that is all this name leaves in its wake. The writing is on the wall. The writing is on the wall in giant blinking neon lights. This name will change and justice will be done for the tribes in Nevada and across the Nation who care so deeply about this issue. The Patent and Trademark Office today took away all the trademarks. The Redskins no longer have trademarks. They are gone. So as I understand the law, if the Presiding Officer wants to use the name Redskins and sell them shirts, she can do that. There is no trademark anymore for the Redskins. Daniel Snyder may be the last person in the world to realize this, but it is only a matter of time before he is forced to do what is right and change the name. The leader on this issue is the junior Senator from the State of Washington. Senator Cantwell has been tireless in showing the American people how unfair it is for the Redskins' name to be used as it is. I think she is one of the leading causes that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said it is no longer--no longer--a trademark. They did that this morning.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators allowed to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Chair lay before the Senate a message from the House of Representatives with respect to H.R. 3230. The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate a message from the House, as follows:

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate insist on its amendment, agree to the request for a conference with the House, and authorize the Chair to appoint conferees with a ratio of eight Democrats and six Republicans, with all of the above occurring with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. REID. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I rise today to honor and recognize the career of Chuck Loveless, director of Federal Government Affairs for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFSCME. For 21 years, Mr. Loveless has labored tirelessly to protect the rights of workers. I have had the pleasure of working with Mr. Loveless as he represented AFSCME in the Nation's capital on a wide variety of issues affecting State and local government and health care employees. Mr. Loveless has a long list of accomplishments over the span of his career. He received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and an M.A. degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a past chairman of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans' Public Employees Committee and of its Government Liaison Committee. He is a member of the International Foundation's Government Liaison Committee and Health Care Expert Panel. Mr. Loveless is a former chair of Americans for Tax Fairness and of Americans United for Change, and he continues to serve on the latter's board. He is also a member of the board of Citizens for Tax Justice. On behalf of the Senate, I commend Chuck Loveless on a lifetime of public service, and I wish him the best in all his future endeavors.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 352, S. 1237.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee- reported substitute amendment be considered, the Murkowski amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to, the substitute amendment, as amended, be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 19; that following the prayer and 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; that following any leader remarks, the Senate be in a period of morning business for 1 hour with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the Republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the final half; that following morning business, the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 4660, the CJS, T-HUD, and Agriculture appropriations bill, and all but 2 hours of postcloture debate time be considered expired.

Mr. REID

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

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I understand that S. 2491 is at the desk, and I now ask, through the direction of the Chair, for its first reading.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for its second reading but object to my own request.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, this bill is long overdue. I appreciate very much the work done by the author of this legislation, the senior Senator from Arkansas, Mr. Pryor.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I move to proceed to Calendar No. 428, the appropriations matter we have been working on.

Mr. REID. Following my remarks, we will be in morning business until 11:00 this morning. At 11:00 a.m. we will have four rollcall votes to confirm three district court judges and the Assistant Attorney General. The time until 11:00 will be equally divided and controlled by the leaders or their designees. Measures Placed on the Calendar--H.R. 4453, H.R. 4457 Mr. President, there are two bills at the desk due for their second reading.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I would object to any further proceedings with respect to these bills, en bloc.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, today we are going to begin work on three very important appropriations bills. The leader of these bills, of course, will be the chairman of the overall committee, Senator Mikulski. Working with her will be other committee chairs--on the transportation subcommittee Senator Patty Murray, who is extremely well versed on matters here on the floor, and on agriculture, the Senator from Arkansas Mr. Pryor. We hope we can move forward on these bills immediately. There is no reason we cannot. It is something we should be doing to fund our government. Senator Mikulski is going to be leading this, as I indicated, along with the senior Senator from Alabama Mr. Shelby. These bills will provide our government with the resources it needs to serve the American people. The manner in which we handle these very important issues will largely dictate how the appropriations are managed in the coming weeks and months. We need to keep our government operating. I look forward to a cooperative amendment process and participation from all Senators. If we are successful in passing the bills in a timely manner, we can move to other essential legislation, including the much needed surface transportation bill. Reservation of Leader Time Mr. President, will the Chair announce the business of the day.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, the distinguished senior Senator from Iowa is here to speak on one of the nominations. I am sure that if the Republican leader does come, he would yield to the Republican leader.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I yield back all time.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.