John Thune

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Madam President, let me begin by echoing what the leader said earlier about the importance of passing the Defense appropriations bill. I just came from a meeting with members of our Defense Department where we talked about how important it is that the appropriations process moves forward. The Defense authorization bill, the broader bill that sets the priorities for military spending, is also stalled out here. That is something that both sides have agreed to for 58 years. It sets out how we are going to make sure that we take care of our men and women in uniform and that they have the equipment, the weaponry, and the training they need to do their jobs and to keep America safe. The authorization bill is stalled right now. That is the priority bill. The appropriations bill, the part that funds all of that--that, too, has been blocked last week, most recently by the Senate Democrats, who filibustered the Defense appropriations bill. So both the authorization bill and the funding bill are now both stalled out here in the Senate because of obstruction and delays by the Senate Democrats. That is unfortunate for the men and women in uniform in this country because in that Defense appropriations bill is the largest pay increase in a decade for our men and women in uniform, not to mention all of the important priorities that are funded when it comes to the weapons systems and the most sophisticated technology that is necessary, again, to keep Americans safe both here at home and around the world. I can't emphasize enough how important it is for our Democratic colleagues to come to their senses and conclude that taking care of America's military is job No. 1. If we don't get national security right, the rest is conversation. It really is. All these other things that we talk about are secondary and pale in comparison to making sure that we are taking the steps necessary to protect Americans, as I said, both here at home and around the world. The Defense appropriations bill funds all of those priorities, all those things that are important, from pay and benefits for our men and women in uniform to, again, all the things that are necessary for them when it comes to training, equipment, and weaponry to do their jobs and to do them well, to continue to keep Americans safe both here at home and around the world, and to be able to project American power where necessary in a world that is increasingly dangerous. I would just urge the Democrats here in the Senate to allow this appropriations process to move forward. Give us a vote. Let's vote on it. Let's get the military funded. Every day that goes by where it is not funded is lost time, and there are resources that can't be put into those important priorities that are so essential to America's national security interests. We have a filibuster being conducted by the Senate Democrats. It needs to be stopped. We need to move forward with the Defense appropriations bill, and I hope the Senate Democrats will come to the conclusion that this is the right thing to do, not only for the Senate but, more importantly, for our country.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Burr) and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Isakson).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Burr) and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Isakson).

Mr. THUNE

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

Mr. THUNE

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

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

Mr. THUNE. Madam President, last weekend, I had the privilege of attending the welcome-home ceremony for 112 members of the South Dakota National Guard. These men and women, who serve in the 147th Forward Support Company or the Bravo Battery of the 1-147th Field Artillery Battalion, were deployed to Europe as part of Atlantic Resolve, a partnership with our allies in Eastern and Central Europe developed in response to Russia's invasion of Crimea in 2014. The Atlantic Resolve allows U.S. and allied forces to build strong working relationships and to hone their ability to conduct operations. Members of Bravo Battery and the 147th Forward Support Company spent most of the year in Europe working with partner forces. They participated in two multinational exercises and brought artillery to Germany and Hungary. These soldiers finally got home last weekend, but they didn't leave Atlantic Resolve without South Dakota support. Other members of the 147th Forward Support Company and Alpha Battery of the 1-147th Field Artillery Battalion head for Europe in September. Other South Dakota- based military members--airmen from Ellsworth Air Force Base--also deployed abroad recently. Four B-1 bombers from the 34th and 37th Bomb Squadrons at Ellsworth made a flying trip to Saudi Arabia late this month to support the U.S. military presence there. The bombers flew directly from South Dakota to Saudi Arabia, refueling six times in midair, once again demonstrating the incredible capability of this aircraft and of our Ellsworth airmen. Atlantic Resolve, the B-1 mission, the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during a raid conducted by U.S. troops--they are all a reminder of the vital work that our military members are doing. A lot of military missions don't make a big splash in the news. We don't hear a lot about everything that our men and women are doing on a daily basis. We don't hear details of all the operations: the joint exercises with our allies, the countless training evolutions, the never-ending aircraft and vehicle maintenance, the hours watching radar systems for contacts, the endless logistical work to support troops in the field, the painstaking weeks and months of intelligence gathering for a single mission. Every hour of every day, members of the U.S. military are on duty working to keep the peace and to ensure the security of our Nation. As Members of Congress, we have no greater obligation than to ensure that our troops have the resources they need. We owe it to the men and women who get up each day willing to lay down their lives for us, and we owe it to every man, woman, and child we represent because the safety of our country depends upon the strength of our military. Ensuring that our troops have the resources they need obviously means ensuring that they have adequate funding, but it also means getting that funding to them in a timely fashion. It means passing regular order appropriations bills instead of forcing our military to rely on temporary funding measures that leave the military in doubt about funding levels and unable to start important new projects. Getting military funding approved in a timely manner is a priority for me and for a lot of my colleagues here in the Senate. Chairman Shelby, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, worked hard this year to ensure that we could bring the Defense appropriations bill to the floor in a timely fashion, but Senate Democrats have so far blocked Senate consideration of this important legislation. Their refusal to allow the Senate to move forward on funding has left the military in limbo, unable to fully fund 2020 priorities and to move ahead on key projects for the future. Later today, Democrats will have another chance to move forward with the Defense appropriations bill and to get our military the resources that it needs. I am hoping that they will have a change of heart and decide that funding our military is more important than the partisan games they have been playing. Our military members are waiting on that funding. Their ability to do their jobs is being jeopardized by Democrats' continued blockade of Defense appropriations. We live in peace and safety every single day because of the men and women of the U.S. military. It is not a new sentiment, but it bears repeating because it is too easy to forget that we would not be enjoying the freedoms and benefits that we enjoy without the constant vigilance of our men and women in uniform. The least--the very least-- that we can do in return is to make sure that they have every resource they need to do their jobs and to come home safely. I strongly urge my Democratic colleagues to vote yes on moving forward with the Defense appropriations bill later today and to send a loud and clear message to the American military that we are going to ensure here in the Congress that you have the resources, the training, the weapons systems, the equipment, and everything that you need to keep Americans safe each and every single day. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. THUNE. Madam President, for the information of the Senate, in the managers' package of amendments that was just agreed to, amendment No. 1143 was misidentified as a Capito amendment. It is actually an amendment by Senator Jones that Senator Capito cosponsored.

Mr. THUNE. I yield the floor.

Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Isakson).

Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Isakson).

Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Isakson).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Isakson) and the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran). Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran) would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. THUNE

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

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, ISIS took a big hit over the weekend when U.S. forces raided ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's compound in Syria. Al-Baghdadi died in the raid after he detonated a suicide vest in a final act of cowardice, killing three children with him. The second in command was confirmed killed in a second military strike hours later, leaving the organization temporarily leaderless. Over the past few years, ISIS has spilled a river of blood across the Middle East. Its brutality has set it apart even among other terrorist organizations. Torture, rape, enslavement, crucifixions, beheadings, and the deliberate targeting of whole populations based on their religious beliefs--the list of crimes is long and often nearly unspeakable. The world is a safer place today because of al-Baghdadi's death. This impact will only be temporary unless we dedicate ourselves to ensuring that ISIS is permanently defeated. The successful raid on al-Baghdadi's compound is a reminder of the fact that our military may be called on at a moment's notice to head halfway around the world to fight evil. The men and women of the U.S. military stand on guard 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, ready to put themselves between us and danger. This past weekend, I had the honor of helping to welcome home 112 South Dakota Army National Guard soldiers of the 147th Forward Support Company and Bravo Battery of the 147th Field Artillery Battalion. These citizen soldiers were in Europe for nearly a year working with our NATO allies and increasing unit readiness. As Members of Congress, we have no more fundamental responsibility than ensuring that our men and women in uniform are prepared to meet any threat. We do that by providing timely and adequate funding for the current and future needs of our Armed Forces. That means funding the military through regular order appropriation bills--not through temporary funding measures that leave the military in doubt about funding levels and unable to start essential new projects. Unfortunately, our efforts to fund the military in a timely fashion have been stymied by Democrats who blocked the Senate from passing the Defense appropriations bill in September before the end of the fiscal year. We are now a month into the new fiscal year, and Democrats are still indicating that they intend to block this year's Defense appropriations bill. Let me briefly review what Democrats are blocking. They are blocking funding to support a pay increase for our military men and women. They are blocking funding for weapons and equipment that our troops need right now. They are blocking investment in the equipment and technology that our military will need to defeat the threats of the future. They are blocking funding for missile defense, for research and development, for ships, planes, and combat vehicles to update our aging fleets, and they are blocking funding for our allies, including $250 million in military assistance for Ukraine. Let me just repeat that last point. Democrats, who are currently trying to impeach the President for allegedly delaying Ukraine funding, are currently blocking $250 million in assistance for Ukraine. Now, I am pretty sure that is the definition, if you look it up, of both irony and hypocrisy. Toward the end of the summer, it looked like Democrats might actually be willing to work with Republicans to pass this year's appropriations bills. Both Democrats and Republicans agreed to a bipartisan deal laying out funding levels for both defense and nondefense spending, but, apparently, that was as far as Senate Democrats were prepared to go. Now that it has come time to honor the spirit of that agreement and get this year's Defense appropriations bill done, Senate Democrats are balking. Democrats would like us to believe they are serious about legislating; that their yearslong obsession with impeaching the President isn't distracting them from doing their job. Well, they are going to have a chance to prove that in the very near future. If Democrats are actually serious about legislating, if they are serious about meeting their responsibilities, then they will work with Republicans to move forward on the Defense appropriations bill and to get this legislation to the President as soon as possible. I hope that is what they will choose to do. As Chairman Shelby noted on the floor last week, Congress's failure to do its job and fund our military is making the military's job more difficult, and that, as Chairman Shelby noted, is unacceptable. It should be unacceptable to all of us. It is time to get our men and women in uniform the funding they need and the pay increase they deserve. It is time to get this year's Defense appropriations bill done. It is time for the Democrats to stop stalling and foot-dragging and blocking, and for them to work with us to make sure our men and women in uniform have what they need to protect Americans and keep us safe. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, the legislation to which the Senator from Illinois has referred, Senator Lee's bill--Senator Lee is not able to be here to object, so on his behalf, I object.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, before I begin, I want to say I was sad to hear of the death of former Senator Kay Hagan yesterday. Kay represented the State of North Carolina in the Senate. She was a very dedicated public servant. I think she was someone whom all of us who were here at the time enjoyed working with and always was a very bright presence. As I said, she was tremendously dedicated to the people she represented and the issues she cared so deeply about. Our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family today. I ask all Members to continue to lift her family up.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Isakson), the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis), and the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey).

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Isakson), the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis), and the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey).

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Cassidy), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Isakson), the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis), and the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey).

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Mississippi (Mrs. Hyde-Smith), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Isakson), and the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran). Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran) would have voted ``yea.''