Congressional Record, Senate, September 13, 2021, Page S6441
Summary
A page of the Congressional Record, Senate, dated September 13, 2021, at page S6441, carrying remarks by Senators who are not named in the portion read. One Senator criticizes the Afghanistan withdrawal, saying trust in the Taliban to ensure safe passage to the airport was fatally misplaced and that the administration blamed everyone but itself. The same speaker criticizes the Democrats' reconciliation plans as new government intrusion into childcare, prescriptions and the power grid and as staggering tax hikes. Another Senator says the Republican-led war on democracy has worsened, citing the signing in Texas of a voter suppression bill. The remarks are the speakers' own and are partisan.
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“Congressional Record, Senate, September 13, 2021, Page S6441.”
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September 13, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S6441
colleagues to try and garner support Well, our adversaries are sending em- in an effort to move our country to the
for this important legislation. This is a issaries to the Taliban, and the terror- left, literally, forever.
good proposal and I encourage all my ists in Kabul seem unconcerned with Massive new government intrusion
Senate colleagues to support it. diplomacy. Trust in the Taliban to en- into Americans’ childcare arrange-
That said, we must be honest about sure safe passage to the airport for ments, into Americans’ medical pre-
the facts. The Republican-led war on evacuees was fatally misplaced. Any- scriptions, into the power grid; new
democracy has only worsened in the one who expected the group to become welfare spending that hands out cash
last few weeks. Most notably, the Gov- ‘‘inclusive’’ should now rightly expect with zero—zero—work requirements;
ernor of Texas recently signed into law to literally be laughed out of the room. socialist price setting that would leave
a vile new voter suppression bill that The administration confidently in- our medical system with fewer new
ranks as one of the most draconian and sisted it would own the consequences of cures; and a thousand more awful, far-
undemocratic in living memory. Mean- its withdrawal efforts; but as soon as left policies just like these, all accom-
while, partisans across the country are their lack of planning bore real, deadly panied by a suite of staggering—lit-
sharpening their knives for a coming consequences, it pointed the blame at erally staggering—tax hikes that
spate of vicious gerrymandering, which everyone but the reflection in the mir- would kill jobs, hurt families, and
further threatens to divide our politics. ror. crush our competitiveness with the
This is unacceptable. So the Senate Now, in a bizarre twist of narcissism, Chinese.
much must act. I intend to hold a vote the White House is now holding up its Details are already emerging about
in the Senate as early as next week on belated and frantic evacuations as wor- the seismic tax hikes that Democrats
voting rights legislation. Time—time— thy of praise and credit. are cooking up: more higher taxes on
is of the essence. So where are we now? employers and job creators, targeted
I yield the floor. A wall outside the compound that, tax hikes to hit small businesses and
f until recently, housed the U.S. Em- family farms, pulling more Americans
RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY bassy in Kabul now bears a mural of into the death tax.
the Taliban flag. Four terrorists once This tax-hiking wish list would add
LEADER
detained at Guantanamo Bay now hold up to one of the biggest tax hikes in
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- American history at exactly the time
senior positions in the Taliban regime.
pore. The Republican leader is recog- their liberal policies already have our
And in the void left by our coalition’s
nized. economy sputtering. So it is the very
withdrawal, we are less able to collect
f last thing American workers need. It is
intelligence and fight terrorists on
AFGHANISTAN their own soil. the last thing American families can
This failure was entirely avoidable; afford, and Republicans are going to
Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President,
the consequences were totally foresee- fight these terrible, painful policies
over the State work period, as Sen-
able; and the stain on our retreat has tooth and nail.
ators attended business back home, the
Biden administration’s reckless deci- left America more endangered, less f
sion to retreat from Afghanistan was credible, and with fewer capabilities in CONCLUSION OF MORNING
carried through to a damaging and the face of real and growing terrorist BUSINESS
deadly end. threats.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
The consequences of its hasty retreat f pore. Morning business is closed.
were not just foreseeable; they were ac- THE ECONOMY f
tually foreseen. And yet, against the
advice of Members from both parties Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, EXECUTIVE SESSION
and even its own national security ex- on another matter, the international
stage isn’t the only area where the ---
perts, the administration plowed right
Biden administration’s policies have EXECUTIVE CALENDAR
ahead.
Just weeks after abandoning our caused damage that was both foresee- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
strategic airbase in the dead of night, able and foreseen. pore. Under the previous order, the
the Biden administration told Ameri- Back in the springtime, Washington Senate will proceed to executive ses-
cans and vulnerable Afghan partners Democrats dumped trillions of dollars sion and resume consideration of the
they were largely on their own to make in liberal borrowing and spending onto following nomination, which the clerk
it to the commercial airport in Kabul if the American people. They pretended it will report.
they wanted out of Afghanistan. was a COVID relief bill. What it was, The legislative clerk read the nomi-
And by the White House’s own admis- was a recipe for rampant inflation, a si- nation of James Richard Kvaal, of Mas-
sion, some of the Americans who want- lent tax hike on American families. sachusetts, to be Under Secretary of
ed to come home were left behind. So It was clear what would happen. Even Education.
let’s let that sink in. President Biden liberal economists warned this was a The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
left Americans who wanted to escape bad idea that would cause inflation. pore. The majority whip.
behind, in the clutches of the Taliban. But just like in Afghanistan, Demo- AFGHANISTAN
Of course, Americans aren’t the only crats had made up their minds long ago Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I
people we left behind. In order to meet and were certainly not going to be de- rise to speak to 9/11, the 20th anniver-
an arbitrary political deadline, the terred. sary, but before that, I would like to
Biden administration also pulled out Now working Americans are paying address some of the remarks made by
before we helped all the brave Afghans the price. Annual inflation is up 5.4 the minority leader just a few mo-
who stuck their necks out to assist percent, tied for the worst inflation in ments ago.
American servicemembers and build a over a decade. It has more than He discussed, in the context of the
better future for their country. swamped American workers’ wage Biden Presidency, what he called a
Our Nation made a promise of aid gains over the last year. The Demo- ‘‘reckless decision to retreat from Af-
and safety in exchange for their serv- crats’ inflation is turning American ghanistan with an arbitrary deadline.’’
ice; and on this President’s watch, we workers’ pay raises into effective pay What the Senator failed to include was
actually failed to keep the promise. We cuts, essentially pick-pocketing Amer- the efforts made last year, before Joe
left Americans and vulnerable Afghans ican families. Biden was elected President, by the
behind. You might think this would give our previous President, Republican Donald
ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with SENATE
The administration naively expected Democratic friends some pause and en- Trump, through his Secretary of State,
the Taliban to behave like any law- courage them to deal in reality; but, Pompeo, in direct negotiation with the
abiding member of the so-called inter- alas, that is not what is happening. In- Taliban, to establish the deadlines for
national community, supposedly sub- stead, they are eager to jam through the evacuation of Afghanistan. The
ject to tremendous leverage for rec- yet another massive multitrillion-dol- idea didn’t come with the new Presi-
ognition and for funding. lar reckless taxing-and-spending spree dent, Joe Biden; the idea started under
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S6442 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 13, 2021
the previous Republican President, ican Rescue Plan was a recipe for infla- ington, DC, as part of American Uni-
Donald Trump, who sent our Secretary tion, and he called it a ‘‘tax hike upon versity’s Washington Semester Pro-
of State to directly negotiate with the working families.’’ Let’s clear up that gram. He managed to become an intern
Taliban leaders. record. here on Capitol Hill for U.S. Senator
One of the things that they nego- The American Rescue Plan was sug- Charles Percy from Illinois.
tiated, incidentally—I want to make a gested by President Biden. The goals of An opportunity like that can change
record of it—was the release of 5,000 that plan were several. The goals in- your outlook on life. I know it changed
prisoners by the Afghan Government cluded the administration of mine when I was an intern for Senator
the Taliban wanted released, and Presi- coronavirus vaccines across America, Paul Douglas. It changed Dan
dent Trump negotiated their release. which has taken place in one of the Shanower’s mind, and he started think-
Now, the Republican leader in the most effective efforts ever to make it ing about what he could do by way of
Senate comes and notes the fact that available. I am sorry that some 30 per- public service.
four Guantanamo prisoners are now in cent of Americans refuse to be vac- He wasn’t interested in politics,
positions of power in the Taliban ad- cinated, but it has nothing to do with though. So after college, he enlisted in
ministration. Well, of course, that the availability of the vaccine. Presi- the Navy. He became an intelligence
speaks for itself. But honesty would re- dent Biden kept his word to bring that officer. He served in the Persian Gulf
quire us to note the fact that they were vaccine to the American people, and war and in assignments around the
among the very same Taliban team that was part of the American Rescue globe.
President Trump negotiated with last Plan. I don’t know if the Senator from On September 11, 2001, Dan Shanower
year and now have positions of author- Kentucky is questioning the wisdom of was on duty at the Pentagon. He was
ity. There is no blame for President that, but it is a fact. hurriedly gathering papers to brief his
Biden in that score. The second thing it did was to pro- superiors on the attack on the World
To say that we were naive toward the vide a $1,400 payment, if you will re- Trade Center, when American Flight 77
Taliban is to ignore the obvious. Presi- member, that had been promised by crashed into the Pentagon and took his
dent Trump negotiated an agreement President Trump, and we completed life.
with them. If we would hold to a dead- and kept that promise with the Amer- Navy CDR Dan Shanower was one of
line for leaving Afghanistan, they ican Rescue Plan, so dollar assistance 125 servicemembers and civilians who
would make certain that American for families across America, including lost their lives in the Pentagon on 9/11;
forces were spared attacks during that working families, let me add. And also one of the 2,977 Americans lost to the
period of time. That was part of the then came the child tax credits. It was terrorist attacks that fatal day. He was
conversation. That was part of the ne- the most extraordinary effort made by 40 years old. Two years later, the peo-
gotiation. That in and of itself was a our government to help families rais- ple of Naperville, IL, dedicated a me-
positive thing, but it also held us to a ing children—cash payments through morial to his honor on the Riverwalk,
deadline to keep our troops safe. the end of this year. To argue that this on the banks of the DuPage River. It
The notion of working with and nego-
is somehow a tax on working families was one of America’s first 9/11 memo-
tiating with the Taliban started with
is to ignore the fact that it is the big- rials. This past Saturday, the victims
President Trump and Secretary of
gest tax break in the history of this and heroes of 9/11 were remembered at
State Pompeo under the President.
As to whether the situation in the country for working families. the memorial in Naperville.
How many Republicans supported us Twenty years after the attacks, the
evacuation was entirely avoidable, I
for the $1,400 cash payment to families, remembrances of that year seem to
am not certain there was a playbook
for the plan to administer the vaccine contain a new kind of sadness, not only
left by President Trump when he left
across America, for the help for fami- for those who perished—rest their
office as to how he would have handled
lies with children, for more assistance souls—but for all we have lost in the
that evacuation.
I will say this for President Biden: I for businesses? Not one. Not one Re- years since. Amid our shock and grief
believe, as he did, that it was time for publican vote in support of the Amer- following 9/11, Americans were sus-
this war to come to an end. There were ican Rescue Plan. tained by acts of heroism, sacrifice,
2,461 American body bags—American To hear the theory that was given compassion, and a deep sense of na-
lives lost in the war in Afghanistan. just a few moments ago by the Repub- tional unity.
More than 20,000 of our troops were se- lican leader is to ignore the obvious: I watch ‘‘60 Minutes’’ every week.
riously injured during the course of That plan was essential to this country Last night, I saw the program that
that war. There was $2 trillion spent in coming to grips with this pandemic and they dedicated to the New York Fire
20 years on a war that seemed like it starting to get this economy back on Department and 9/11. It was touching,
would never end. And we spent most of its feet. emotional, and heartbreaking. I had
that money in an effort to build up an The Senator from Kentucky has tears in my eyes as they told the sto-
Afghan security force that would take characterized our reconciliation bill as ries of the 343 firemen who went into
care of itself so America could come reckless, and he talks about the mas- those buildings to rescue the people
home. And what happened? As soon as sive tax increases. He forgets one par- who were there. They told their stories
the United States said there would be ticular element. What we are doing is even with their voices from radio
an end to this, sadly, many of these Af- reversing the tax breaks given by the transmissions and the voices of those
ghan soldiers—uniformed, paid for, and Trump administration 4 years ago to victims in the building praying that
equipped by the U.S. taxpayers—threw the wealthiest people in America. Yes, someone would rescue them. It was a
their guns down and surrendered, and their taxes will go up. But President touching moment and a reminder of
then, of course, the administration of Biden has made it clear that there will what true courage looks like.
the Government in Afghanistan left be no tax increases for anyone making We have a responsibility now to ask
the scene completely. less than $400,000 a year. So if we are a basic question about our responsi-
So I am one who voted for the inva- talking about a new tax burden, it is bility when it comes to the people in
sion of Afghanistan for obvious rea- on people who can certainly afford to this country. Do you remember the na-
sons. That is where Osama bin Laden pay, and it reverses the tax cut which tional unity that we felt after 9/11?
was supposedly hiding out with al- many of the Republicans—I think vir- That tragedy brought us together.
Qaida, responsible for the 9/11 atrocity, tually all of them—at the time voted Imagine then—fast-forward, if you will,
which we have noted the 20th anniver- for. to January 6, 2021, when the insurrec-
sary of this week. But I don’t believe SEPTEMBER 11 tionist mob overran this Capitol.
ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with SENATE
anyone on the floor in this Senate en- Madam President, I want to tell you I was in this Capitol on 9/11, meeting
visioned a war that would go on to be about an extraordinary person from my just off the floor. We heard that the
the longest war in American history. State. Dan Shanower grew up in first plane had crashed into the World
That is what happened. Naperville, just outside of Chicago— Trade Center, and we went and turned
The second issue raised by the Re- one of five kids in his family. In col- on the television to see if there was
publican leader notes that the Amer- lege, he spent a semester at Wash- any further news and saw in real time
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