Congressional Record, Senate, June 29, 2020, Page S3629
Summary
A page of the Congressional Record, Senate, dated June 29, 2020, beginning at page S3629. Mr. Schumer says the Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law that would have restricted abortion providers, and says Russian intelligence reportedly offered bounties to kill American troops in Afghanistan and asks for a briefing of all 100 Senators. On the coronavirus he cites 45,000 new cases on Friday, notes the CARES Act passed 96 to 0, and says he and Speaker Pelosi sent Mr. McConnell a letter urging bipartisan negotiations on the next relief bill. A Senator from Washington then objects to provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act that would give the military more control over the nuclear weapons budget and the Nuclear Weapons Council.
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“Congressional Record, Senate, June 29, 2020, Page S3629.”
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June 29, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S3629
Mr. MCCONNELL. I suggest the ab- tion troops in Afghanistan. It should cially of Vladimir Putin, President
sence of a quorum. go without saying that it is our solemn Trump stood next to Putin on the
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The obligation to support and protect our international stage and accepted his
clerk will call the roll. troops. If Russian intelligence is con- word over the word of our own intel-
The legislative clerk proceeded to ducting a shadow campaign to sponsor ligence agencies. President Trump has
call the roll. the murder of American troops, there delayed or ignored congressionally
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask must be swift, strong, and unmistak- mandated sanctions on Putin. The
unanimous consent that the order for able consequences for Putin and his President has pondered withdrawing
the quorum call be rescinded. cronies—something we should do in from NATO—the organization whose
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without this NDAA bill. very purpose is to defend the free world
objection, it is so ordered. The New York Times reported that from Vladimir Putin. Only a few
f the Trump administration was aware months ago, the President mused about
of these activities as early as March of inviting Russia back into the G7.
RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY this year. Yet, the Trump administra- If we had learned anything in the
LEADER tion has authorized no—no retaliatory past 3 years, it is that President Trump
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The actions. Russia gives bounties to kill is inclined to ignore or forgive Vladi-
Democratic leader is recognized. Americans; the administration does mir Putin’s abuses on the international
nothing. stage—even in the face of an attack on
f
Donald Trump, you are not being a our democracy. If we learned anything
ABORTION very strong President here, as usual. in the last 3 years, it is that dictators—
At the very least, you would expect whether Xi or Putin or the head of
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, this
the President and his team would want North Korea—played President Trump
morning, the Supreme Court struck
to get to the bottom of this. The Presi- for a fool and got the advantage of him
down a Louisiana law that would have
dent claimed, however, that ‘‘nobody every time.
restricted abortion providers so se-
briefed or told [him] me about this re- This means we all need to speak up
verely that Louisiana would have been
port.’’ right now and make sure that Congress
left with only a single clinic. These President Trump, you lose either and the executive branch are doing
types of laws have popped up in State way. If you weren’t briefed on this im- what is necessary to get to the bottom
after State as a backdoor means of portant report, how can you run an ad- of these reports. The first step is a
banning abortions—if not in law then ministration where something this im- briefing for all 100 U.S. Senators.
in practice—an insidious campaign to portant is not brought to your level? Despite what some administration of-
undermine the rights of women to And if you were told about the report ficials are claiming, no such briefing
make their own medical decisions. and did nothing, that is even worse. has been scheduled, and I am not aware
Today’s ruling is a thunderbolt of Shame on you. Shame on you. of any Senator who has been invited to
justice for millions of American women A few hours ago, the White House a White House briefing of any sort.
who were at risk of having their con- Press Secretary said the President still
stitutional rights invalidated by a re- f
has not received a briefing from the in-
actionary State legislature, as there telligence community about these re- CORONAVIRUS
are many throughout the country. ports. The White House Chief of Staff, Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, fi-
After surprising but very welcome meanwhile, is reportedly briefing Re- nally, on COVID–19, unfortunately,
rulings on DACA and LGBTQ rights 2 publican Members of the House before COVID–19 continues to surge in several
weeks ago, the Supreme Court has once the President of the United States gets States. Florida, Texas, and Arizona are
again made the right decision. The Su- a briefing. reporting new highs in case numbers.
preme Court is entering Buffalo Is that amazing? He is the Com- Last Friday, there were 45,000 new
Springfield, territory: ‘‘There’s some- mander in Chief. He is the one who is cases nationwide—the most in a single
thing happening here.’’ supposed to be protecting our soldiers, day.
Truthfully, today’s ruling should not and they are still twiddling their As the public health crisis continues,
have been a surprise. The Louisiana thumbs instead of giving him a brief- our country is facing one of the great-
law violated the Court’s precedent. In ing, which, who knows, given his lack est economic challenges since the
2016, the Court struck down a Texas of respect for the truth, he may have Great Depression. Over one-fifth of the
law that was virtually identical to the received it already and just denied it. workforce has requested unemploy-
one in Louisiana. The newest addition It raises many, many questions. ment assistance. State and local Tribal
to the Supreme Court, however, despite First, is it true the President was not governments are on life support and
promising the Senate that he would re- told this information? If so, why not? have laid off over 1.6 million workers.
spect precedent, dissented from the Was there a concern about sharing this Our perennially underfunded schools
majority’s ruling today. Justice information with the President? And are fighting an uphill battle to prepare
Kavanaugh told Senators he believed the President doesn’t seem as outraged for the fall.
Roe v. Wade to be settled law, but in as you would think he would be if, in As Americans struggle to make rent
the very first ruling on a related issue, fact, the intelligence community had payments and face potential evictions,
he decided that the Court’s precedent this vital and important information as our healthcare and childcare sys-
was wrong, and Roe v. Wade could be and had not briefed him. tems face unprecedented burdens, Sen-
greatly undermined. Something—something doesn’t smell ate Republicans have been missing in
Thankfully, Kavanaugh’s view was right here, especially when we have a action. Senate Republicans equal MIA.
not in the majority. Today, America President and an administration who Over a month ago, Leader MCCON-
can breathe a sigh of relief that the Su- has a great deal of trouble telling the NELL said that Senate the Republicans
preme Court kept the floodgates firmly truth. We need answers, and we need ‘‘have yet to feel the urgency of acting
shut against this particular attempt to them fast. I am calling for the Direc- immediately.’’ It seems like he really
nullify the landmark decision of Roe v. tors of National Intelligence and the meant it. It has been nearly 3 months
Wade. CIA to immediately brief all 100 Sen- since we passed the CARES Act on a bi-
f ators on reports that Russia placed partisan basis, 96 to 0, and over 45 days
bounties on U.S. troops in Afghanistan. since the House passed the Heroes
RUSSIA Among many other things, we need to Act—legislation that would deliver
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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, on know whether President Trump was sorely needed resources to States, es-
Russia, on Friday, the New York Times told this information and, if so, when. sential workers, American families,
and other media outlets reported that Because there has been an alarming and our healthcare system, but Leader
a Russian intelligence unit was offer- pattern in this administration, dating MCCONNELL continues to say that Re-
ing Taliban-linked fighters bounties— back to its first days of appeasement publicans ‘‘need to assess the condi-
bounties to kill American and coali- toward authoritarian leaders, espe- tions in the country’’ and insists that
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S3630 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE June 29, 2020
any future emergency relief bill will be Republican colleagues, please listen today to see that we are at a provision
written in his office. to those words. Leader MCCONNELL, that would wrestle away control of our
Assess the conditions of the country please listen. These are your own nuclear arsenal and give it to the mili-
when we have more unemployment States that are included here. They are tary. These provisions are dangerous
than any time since the Great Depres- demanding relief. To say we still don’t because, one, they would strip from the
sion? When a pandemic is killing tens see an urgent need, to say maybe we Secretary of Energy the power over his
of thousands of Americans monthly, ig- will get around to it in a month, to say own budget by requiring that he agree
nore that and assess the conditions? the legislation will be written in Mc- to a sub-Cabinet member group of the
And then for Leader MCCONNELL to say Connell’s office—all setting up for fail- Nuclear Weapons Council to approve
the bill will be written in his office, has ure and the desperately needed lack of the National Nuclear Security Admin-
he learned any lessons on COVID 2, relief that America needs. istration’s budget.
COVID 3, COVID 3.5, the Justice in Po- I yield the floor. That is right. That is why the cur-
licing Act? When you try to do some- f
rent Energy Secretary and past Energy
thing major on a partisan basis, noth- Secretaries oppose this language. They
ing happens, and America desperately CONCLUSION OF MORNING oppose it because it basically tells the
needs something to happen. BUSINESS Energy Secretary what the majority or
Leader MCCONNELL knows he has to The PRESIDING OFFICER. Morning a big chunk of his budget will be, and
negotiate if he wants to pass legisla- business is closed. it would allow DOD, then, to prioritize
tion. He has been around here a long f
things within the Energy budget as
time. He knows that. His refusal to en- they saw fit for making nuclear weap-
gage in bipartisan talks on policing re- LEGISLATIVE SESSION ons instead of focusing on our Federal
form shows that maybe our Republican priorities of nuclear waste cleanup,
friends are not interested in passing bi- R&D that we want to see in our Na-
partisan legislation, but that is what NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZA- tional Labs, or other issues that we
needs to happen—bipartisan negotia- TION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR want to see an investment in that En-
tions on policing reform and bipartisan 2021—Motion to Proceed—Resumed ergy is already doing.
negotiations on COVID. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under I just can’t even believe that this
This morning, Speaker PELOSI and I the previous order, the Senate will re- shift in control away from the Sec-
sent a letter to Leader MCCONNELL urg- sume consideration of the motion to retary of Energy into this sub-Cabinet
ing him to join Democrats at the nego- proceed to S. 4049, which the clerk will so that the nuclear weapons complex
tiating table for the next round of report. would be moving away from civilians
COVID–19 relief legislation. The legislative clerk read as follows: to the military is actually in this legis-
We are on the precipice of several Motion to proceed to S. 4049, a bill to au- lation. I do not believe the Nuclear
deadlines: For millions upon millions thorize appropriations for fiscal year 2021 for Weapons Council understands the De-
of Americans, another rent payment is military activities of the Department of De- partment of Energy’s priorities. How
due this week. States are planning fense, for military construction, and for de- could they? Do they sit in on any of the
their budgets right now before the new fense activities of the Department of Energy, meetings for the National Labs or the
to prescribe military personnel strengths for waste cleanup?
fiscal year on July 1. The emergency such fiscal year, and for other purposes.
boost in unemployment will run out by I do believe the DOD and the Nuclear
the end of next month. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- Weapons Council know there is a long
This week, Senate Democrats will ator from Washington. history of raiding the nuclear waste
force action on the floor on some of the Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I cleanup budget, and other administra-
most urgently needed measures to help come to the floor as we start further tions have tried this. These same indi-
working Americans, starting this consideration of the National Defense viduals tried this in 2018, only to be
evening, when Democrats will ask con- Authorization Act and ask my col- shot down by our colleagues in the
sent to pass crucial Federal support for leagues to pay close attention to what House of Representatives. The NNSA,
State, local, and Tribal governments. is included in this legislation. No one is or the National Nuclear Security Agen-
I will have more to say about this going to be surprised that the National cy, was created in 2000 to be part of the
issue this evening, but I do want my Defense Authorization Act might in- Department of Energy, to manage both
Republican colleagues to hear the clude something that had not gotten the nuclear weapons complex and the
words of State and local officials the bright light of day shown on it, but nonproliferation activities. Congress
across the country. I am here to say to my colleagues, made them a part of the Department of
Today, the Big 7 national associa- what is in this act is really egregious, Energy, not a part of the Department
tions representing Governors, mayors, and we need to correct it before we of Defense. We did that because we
State legislatures, counties, and city continue to move forward. wanted to maintain a longstanding ci-
managers—all bipartisan groups, with This legislation—mostly done behind vilian control over the country’s nu-
many Republican Members coming closed doors—is not unusual for the clear weapons. Giving the DOD now
from the deepest red States to the Senate Armed Services Committee, but control over the Nuclear Weapons
darkest blue—wrote the Senate a letter when you think about the billions of Council and their complete power over
pleading—pleading for Federal support dollars that we are spending, we need this budget gives control of our nuclear
and warning of dire consequences of to make sure this policy out here on weapons to the military.
delay. These are the seven organiza- the Senate floor is not just another I can’t believe that we are here with
tions representing Governors and legis- rubberstamp. all the things we have to deal with—a
latures and counties and towns and cit- We are here to look at particular pro- COVID–19 crisis, an economic crisis,
ies. visions that I think are troubling, par- justice reform—and now we have to
Here is what they write: ticularly because it wrestles away ci- worry about people, in the dark of
Previous federal bills responding to vilian control of our nuclear arsenal night, changing control of our Energy
COVID–19 provided important support . . . and gives it to the military—provisions budget and turning it over to the DOD
yet none allow for the replacement of bil- that, in the future, would allow the De- and giving them control of our nuclear
lions of lost revenue due to COVID–19. More fense Department to raid dollars used arsenal, to say nothing of the concerns
robust and direct stimulus is needed for by the Department of Energy for clean- I have for what they will do to short-
State and local governments to both rebuild up of nuclear waste, R&D for our Na- change the Hanford cleanup budget,
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the economy and maintain essential services tional Laboratories, or maybe other in- which is a challenge to the Nation. It is
in education, health care, emergency oper-
frastructure investment. an obligation that needs to be met
ations, public safety and more.
Months have gone by and our communities I am aware that the Presiding Officer every year, and I guarantee you there
continue to suffer. Americans have a history knows how much the quadrennial re- are always people looking at the nu-
of standing together in times of crisis and view called for in investment in energy clear waste cleanup budget and think-
must do so now. infrastructure. So I find it troubling ing they can either do it on the cheap,
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