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S3754 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE June 12, 2018 Federation, in response to its illegal I have submitted an amendment to It was 1944. There was a serious epidemic invasion and occupation of the Ukrain- the defense authorization bill calling that year all over the country. And the dis- ian territory of Crimea. Since then, the on President Trump to retract his com- ease was very unpredictable. First, you’d Government of the Russian Federation ments on readmitting to the G– think you had the flu, and a couple of weeks later, some people would be completely nor- continues to illegally occupy Crimea 7. Absent any change in the Kremlin’s mal and some of them would be in an iron and has utterly failed to fulfill its obli- efforts to undermine the rules-based lung or dead. gations under the Minsk Agreements international order or its illegal occu- He continued: to end its violent aggression in eastern pation of Crimea, the G–7 should not In my case, it affected my left quadriceps, Ukraine. Russia has failed to respect a even consider welcoming the Russian the muscle between the knee and your thigh. full ceasefire; it has failed to pull back Federation back into its fold, let alone And in one of the great good fortunes of my its heavy weaponry; it has failed to with open arms. This amendment sends life, my mother was living with her sister in permit the monitoring and verification a necessary and strong message that this little crossroads of Five Points, Ala- of a ceasefire regime; and it has failed the stands by our friends bama, where there was not even a stoplight— to ensure access for humanitarian aid and the international rules-based order while my dad was overseas fighting the Ger- to conflict-affected individuals. that benefits American workers and mans—and it happened to be 60 miles from The story does not stop with American national security. I am com- Warm Springs, where President Roosevelt Ukraine. Since 2014, the Government of had gone [to treat his own polio]. My mother mitted to working with my Senate col- took me to Warm Springs. They taught her the Russian Federation has greatly ex- leagues on both sides of the aisle to panded its aggression around the a physical therapy regimen, and said to do it shore up our closest alliances and to four times a day and to keep me off my feet. world, including against the United hold the Russian government account- She watched me every minute and prevented States with the attack on our 2016 elec- able for its aggression in Ukraine, the me from really walking. tion. The Kremlin continues to inter- United States, and beyond. I urge adop- My first memory in life is when they told fere in elections, wage cyber attacks, tion of this amendment. my mother I was going to be okay, that I’d engage in corruption and political med- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- be able to walk without a limp, and we dling, and spread lies and ator from Tennessee. stopped at a shoe store in LaGrange, Geor- disinformation—all with the goal to di- gia, on the way back to Alabama to get a f vide societies, undermine the rules- pair of low top shoes, which were a kind of based international order, and break up MORNING BUSINESS symbol I was going to have a normal child- hood. longstanding transatlantic alliances. Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I If one knows about the determina- Our intelligence community has re- ask unanimous consent that the Sen- tion of MITCH MCCONNELL’s mother, it peatedly asserted that the Kremlin will ate be in a period of morning business, is not hard to imagine how her son de- likely target our elections again this with Senators permitted to speak termined as a college student to be a fall. The very ideal of democracy as a therein for up to 10 minutes each. system of government is under con- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without U.S. Senator, and did; determined to be stant assault from a Kremlin bent on objection, it is so ordered. his party’s Senate leader, and did; and destroying the international rules- Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I then determined to hold that leader- based order. ask unanimous consent to speak for as ship position longer than anyone in Upon considering these facts, no ob- long as I may require. U.S. history, and has. This was an ar- server could seriously think Russia de- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without duous, two-decade leadership journey: serves to be welcomed back into the G– objection, it is so ordered. chairman of the National Republican 7 club. Any such suggestion is ludi- f Senatorial Committee, counselor to crous and must be dismissed out of Majority Leader , majority CONGRATULATING MITCH hand. , minority leader, and finally, ma- The United States is a country long MCCONNELL AS THE LONGEST jority leader. governed by the rule of law, where SERVING SENATE REPUBLICAN As for his mother’s example, this is breaking the rules has consequences. LEADER what MITCH MCCONNELL said: ‘‘It sure More broadly, the United States has Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, the had to have an effect on me, which was helped to create the rules-based order Senate majority leader, Senator MITCH that if you stick to something, you in the international community that MCCONNELL of , will become keep working at it and giving it your has undoubtedly served the interests of the longest serving Senate Republican best, the chances are you may actually the American people and benefited the leader in history, surpassing former overcome whatever problem you’re cur- world since the end of WWII by fos- Senator of Kansas. This is ac- rently confronting.’’ tering peace and prosperity. The cording to the Senate historical office. A second leadership quality that United States is bound with other G–7 Today is Senator MCCONNELL’s 4,179th MITCH MCCONNELL learned early—in a nations not just because of the size of day as Senate Republican leader—a po- fistfight—was to not be pushed around. our economies, but because of our sition he assumed on January 3, 2007, According to MCCONNELL, ‘‘I was about shared values and common cause to after Republicans lost control of both 7. We lived in Athens, Alabama, and I foster societies in which our citizens Chambers of Congress. had a friend across the street named can live freely, peacefully, and pros- I would like to take a few minutes to Dicky McGrew who was a year older perously. Inviting the current Govern- put Senator MCCONNELL’s leadership in than I was and considerably bigger. He ment of the Russian Federation to re- perspective. That perspective begins in was also a bully and he kept kind of join the circle of G–7 world leaders the year 1969. I was 29 years old and pushing me around. And my dad called when President Vladimir Putin’s re- working in the Nixon White House. me over and said, ‘Son, I’ve been gime poses an ongoing threat to our Senator , Jr., of Ten- watching the way he’s been pushing freedom, peace, and prosperity serves nessee, said to me: ‘‘You might want to you around and I want you to go over his interests, not ours. get to know that smart, young legisla- there and I want you beat him up.’ ’’ President Trump’s suggestion to re- tive assistant for .’’ So, MCCONNELL says, ‘‘I went across admit Russia to the G–7 and his subse- Marlow Cook was Kentucky’s newly the street and started swinging and I quent disavowal of the joint commu- elected Republican Senator. That beat him up and bent his glasses, and it nique which the United States and smart, young legislative assistant was was an incredible lesson in standing up other G–7 nations successfully nego- 27-year-old MITCH MCCONNELL. to bullies and I’ve thought about that tiated in Charlevoix defy logic. More If one has known him for a long time, throughout my life at critical moments outrageously, they reflect his propen- the evolution of MITCH MCCONNELL’s when people are trying to push you sity to praise autocrats while attack- Senate leadership isn’t hard to trace. around.’’ ing our allies and the democratic val- To begin with, when he was 2 years old, As a junior Senator on the Foreign ues and rules-based system they de- the doctor said: ‘‘Mitch has polio.’’ It is Relations Committee, MITCH MCCON- fend. Does it put America first to side hard to imagine today how terrifying NELL surprised colleagues when he with autocrats? This President seems those words were for parents then. sponsored sanctions against the apart- to think so. McConnell remembers: heid regime in South Africa, and then

VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:39 Jun 13, 2018 Jkt 079060 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A12JN6.050 S12JNPT1 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with SENATE June 12, 2018 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S3755 in 1986, he voted to override President years and has worked quietly and tire- those speeches. So MCCONNELL ran an Reagan’s veto of those sanctions, but lessly with several administrations to ad featuring a Kentucky hunter with these colleagues would not have been try to bring democracy to the coun- bloodhounds looking for Senator Hud- surprised had they known MCCONNELL try.’’ dleston to get him back to work. In an- 25 years earlier when he was a student ‘‘Unlike South African apartheid, it other ad, the dog treed the Senator at the . was a totally unknown cause,’’ his for- right at the end of what became known He remembers: eign policy adviser, Robin Cleveland, as ‘‘the bloodhound campaign.’’ The civil rights movement was the defin- told the Times. He championed the MCCONNELL defeated Huddleston by ing issue of our generation. Working as an cause of Burma’s pro-democracy lead- fourth-tenths of 1 percent of the vote. intern in Congress during the summer of er, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who for I have searched in vain for early 1963, I got to see [Martin Luther King, Jr.’s] years was under house arrest. In 2012, clues to one more aspect of MITCH ‘‘’’ speech. Then, in 1964, I when San Suu Kyi came to Wash- MCCONNELL’s leadership style: his par- was an intern in [Kentucky Senator] John simonious use of words. Sometimes he Sherman Cooper’s office. Two important ington, DC, as the new head of govern- things happened in 1964. Cooper was in the ment, she traveled to Kentucky ‘‘to reverts to absolute silence. In his auto- middle of breaking the southern Senators’ thank [MCCONNELL] for everything he biography, he admits he only speaks to filibuster on civil rights and we nominated did for us over, well, two decades. the press when it is to his advantage. , one of the few people who That’s a long time,’’ she said. He also tells of when Microsoft founder voted against the Civil Rights bill. Honestly, Of course, in order to be the Senate Bill Gates visited him and the two of I was mad as hell about it. And I was so irri- leader, one first has to be elected to them just sat there waiting for one to tated about Goldwater voting against the the Senate. In MITCH MCCONNELL’s speak, making others in the room un- Civil Rights bill and defining the Republican early career, one can find multiple comfortable. At another time, someone Party in a way that I thought would be un- fortunate that I voted for Lyndon Johnson, clues that point to his fascination with once told President George W. Bush which in retrospect was a huge mistake. But political campaigns and the pugnacious that MITCH MCCONNELL was excited it was a protest vote. style with which he wins them. Of over a certain vote, and President Bush That willingness as a college student course, an early signal was the fistfight replied: ‘‘Really, how can you tell?’’ to buck his own political party resur- with Dicky McGrew. Another: ‘‘I was Why so few words? McConnell’s an- faced 40 years later in his leadership on the only 14-year-old in America watch- swer is, ‘‘I learn a lot more by listen- First Amendment free speech issues. In ing political conventions from gavel to ing. And so frequently I start out by listening and think about what I want 2006, he cast the deciding vote against gavel [and] I began to practice the to say before I say it. You don’t get in the adoption of a constitutional craft and see if I could get good at it.’’ trouble for what you don’t say. There’s amendment to prohibit flag burning When he was elected president of his nothing wrong with being cautious when most of his Republican colleagues high school student body, he remem- about your comments. I certainly don’t and almost all of his constituents had bers, ‘‘I was hooked.’’ At the Univer- mind talking but I usually like to a different point of view. He argued sity of Louisville, he campaigned for know what I’m talking about before I that the First Amendment protects president of student council both in venture down that path.’’ even personally offensive messages, college and in law school, participated in civil rights marches on the State He is not the first Senate leader to be and MCCONNELL became the Senate’s frugal with words. According to col- leading voice against restrictions on capitol, and as president of the , persuaded Barry Gold- umnist Bob Novak, former majority political speech under the guise of leader was the most ‘‘campaign reform.’’ Again, some in his water to come to campus to speak. He did learn the craft of the politics, difficult interview on ‘‘Meet the Press’’ own party disagreed, including Presi- because ‘‘I would ask Mansfield a ques- dent George W. Bush and Senator JOHN and he did get good at it. He is undefeated in his own political cam- tion and he says ‘Yep,’ and then I MCCAIN, but he persisted and on mul- would ask him another one and he’d tiple occasions, the Supreme Court has paigns, winning six Senate races in Kentucky, more than any other Com- say, ‘Nope’ and I’d run out of ques- agreed with MCCONNELL’s view of pro- tions.’’ Former Vice President Dick tecting political speech under the First monwealth Senator. He has been elect- ed Republican leader more than any Cheney, in his constitutional capacity Amendment. as President of the Senate, would at- Two of the three U.S. Senate office other U.S. Senator, each time unani- mously, and he has been proficient in tend weekly luncheons of Republican buildings in Washington, DC, are Senators, rarely saying a word. This named for Philip A. Hart of Michigan not just his own races. In 2010 and 2012, the Senate Conserv- made certain that, when Cheney did and Richard B. Russell, Jr., of Georgia, rise to speak, Senators listened. And two Senators who were never elected to ative Fund helped nominate Repub- lican candidates in five States who lost silence, after all, was one of Benjamin formal leadership positions by their Franklin’s 13 virtues and a tactic colleagues. In this book, Senator the general election when more main- stream conservative nominees might Franklin often employed in his leader- MCCONNELL discusses ‘‘leaders without ship style. have won. So, in 2014 and 2016, MCCON- portfolio’’ in some of his writings, de- In July 2014, when he was minority NELL organized an effort to defend in- scribing occasions when a Senator as- leader, Senator MCCONNELL spoke on cumbent Republican Senators who sumes a major policy role outside of the Senate floor about what kind of were challenged in primaries. He was the confines of formal party or com- majority leader he would be if Repub- successful in every case, including his mittee leadership. His favorite was licans won the majority in the Novem- own primary. This is what he said: Senator Cooper, whom MITCH has de- ber elections. His model, he said, would scribed as ‘‘my role model as a young We were not going to allow [what happened be Mike Mansfield, the Democrat who man, a man of great conviction, very in 2010 and 2012] to happen anymore. And so we got the most electable people nominated was majority leader 45 years earlier smart.’’ In his autobiography ‘‘The who basically took them on, because if when MCCONNELL and I were Senate Long Game,’’ Senator MCCONNELL tells you’re dealing with a group of people who aides. ‘‘What I meant by that,’’ he said, of when Cooper took him to the signing think compromise is a dirty word and who ‘‘was . . . first of all, you have to open of the Civil Rights Act and, later on, of always want to make a point but never want the Senate up. The last year of the pre- watching Cooper’s principled ques- to make a difference, the only thing to do if vious [Democrat] majority (2014) there tioning of the . you want to win the election is to beat them. were only 15 roll call votes on amend- Senator Cooper’s example must have Mostly, MITCH MCCONNELL’s political ments the entire year. In the first year influenced his young intern’s one-man skills were born of necessity. In July of our majority, in 2015, we had over crusade 20 years later against a repres- 1984, he was 34 points behind in his 200. Open the Senate up, let people sive junta in faraway Burma. Accord- challenge to incumbent Democrat Sen- vote. Number two, we needed regular ing to , on Sep- ator Dee Huddleston. MCCONNELL dis- order, which means the bill is actually tember 15, 2016, Senator MCCONNELL covered that his opponent had been worked on together in committee, ‘‘has been a lead sponsor of every making speeches for money—now, that comes out to the floor, with bipartisan major sanctions measure against the was legal then—but Dee Huddleston support, and has a better chance of suc- Burmese government over the last 20 had been missing Senate votes to make cess. The best example I can think of

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And by the fault and resulted in the most signifi- the U.S. Senate as a unique institution time it came out of committee, you cant spending reductions in recent in American life have contributed a had the Democrats and the Repub- memory. valuable extra dimension to his Senate licans lined up, it went to the floor, it In late 2012, the United States risked leadership. was relatively open for amendments, prolonging the Great Recession and in- In a 2016 C–SPAN interview, he was not that absolutely everybody got ev- creasing unemployment due to a series asked: ‘‘What would you like for high erything they wanted, and in the end, of expiring tax policies and indiscrimi- school American history teachers to it passed with a very large majority. nate spending cuts scheduled to take tell their students about the United President Obama called it a ‘Christmas effect on January 1, 2013. Once again, States Senate?’’ Miracle’ and the Wall Street Journal Senator MCCONNELL crafted a bipar- He replied: said it was ‘the largest devolution of tisan compromise with Vice President That the Senate has been the indispensable federal control to the states in a quar- Biden to avert this fiscal crisis by pre- legislative body. Because that’s the place ter-century.’’’ venting a tax increase on a majority of where things are sorted out, the place where MCCONNELL is quick to list a series of Americans and making the spending only rarely does the majority get things ex- bipartisan accomplishments during his cuts in a more prudent manner. actly their own way, the place where sta- bility can occur. time as majority leader which he re- Finally, in 2013, a standoff involving gards as ‘‘concrete legislative results Federal spending and the debt limit led And at a time when many Americans for the American people.’’ In addition to the second longest Federal shutdown are not optimistic about our country’s to the first significant education re- since 1980, threatening thousands of future, he was asked: ‘‘What would you form since 2002, these accomplishments public and private sector jobs, and put- want those teachers to tell students include the first significant reforms to ting the economic health of the coun- about their future in this country?’’ MITCH MCCONNELL replied: Social Security since 1983, the first try in jeopardy. Despite these chal- trade promotion authority bill since lenges, Senator MCCONNELL orches- Because of our woeful ignorance of Amer- ican history we always think the current pe- 2002, the first long-term highway bill trated an agreement with then-Senate Majority Leader that re- riod we’re in is tougher than others. We’ve since 2005, and the first major legisla- had nothing like the Civil War period. We tion to confront the Nation’s opioid opened the government and raised the haven’t had a single incident where a Con- crisis. And don’t forget, he says, meas- debt ceiling, allowing the United gressman from South Carolina came over ures to protect victims of human traf- States to continue making payments and almost beat to death a Senator from ficking, to address Puerto Rico’s fiscal on its debt. Massachusetts. America’s had plenty of crisis, to sanction North Korea, to The humorist Roy Blount, Jr., who tough challenges. World Wars. Depressions. strengthen the Nation’s cybersecurity grew up in Georgia has written, ‘‘You This is a great country. We’re going to deal start getting in trouble when you stop with whatever our current problems are, and defenses, to reform and to move on to another level. And I’m just as op- provide permanent tax relief for fami- sounding like where you grew up.’’ The political corollary is you start getting timistic as I ever was that this generation is lies and small businesses. These are se- in trouble when you stop coming home. going to leave behind a better America than rious accomplishments for a legislative our parents left behind for us. This is advice MCCONNELL has not for- body many had written off as irredeem- gotten. He and his wife, Elaine, go I thank the Presiding Officer. ably broken. I yield the floor. home to Kentucky almost every week- ‘‘Now, what do all these things that f we have done time after time under our end. He has kept his eye on Kentucky majority have in common?’’ he asks. matters, both large and small, includ- NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZA- ‘‘In a time of divided government, ing disposal of chemical weapons that TION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR we’re focusing on the things that we have long been stored in the middle of 2019—Continued can agree on, and do those. Because Kentucky, enacting a tobacco buyout Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, I when people elect divided government, to help local farmers, support for the ask unanimous consent that the Sen- I think what they’re saying is, I know State’s public universities, and his ad- ate resume consideration of H.R. 5515. you have big differences, but why don’t vocacy for workers at the Paducah The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. you look for the things you agree on Gaseous Diffusion Plant. Kentucky an- DAINES). Without objection, it is so or- and do those. And that’s how this ma- glers and tourists appreciate his help- dered. jority is totally different from the pre- ing to enact a law to require the Army MOTION vious one.’’ Corps of Engineers to allow fishing Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, I To gather other clues for what kind below the dams on the Cumberland send a cloture motion to the desk for of majority leader MCCONNELL would River. Twenty years ago, he created the Toomey amendment No. 2700. be, one only had to look to previous the McConnell Center at the University The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clo- Congresses when he was minority lead- of Louisville, attracting a bipartisan ture motion having been presented er and was at the center of four major, parade of national leaders to visit with under rule XXII, the Chair directs the bipartisan legislative efforts that 10 scholars chosen each year from each clerk to read the motion. helped to keep the American economy undergraduate class. The senior assistant legislative clerk from being seriously damaged. At the Each year, MITCH MCCONNELL buys 12 read as follows: end of 2010, the country was facing a season tickets to the University of CLOTURE MOTION tax ‘‘cliff.’’ Republicans controlled nei- Louisville football games. He said: We, the undersigned Senators, in accord- ther the White House nor Congress. I have some regulars. We go to every home ance with the provisions of rule XXII of the With an economy still reeling from the game and occasionally an away game. We Standing Rules of the Senate, do hereby make a day of it. We go out early. One of my Great Recession, the expiration of tax move to bring to a close debate on Senate friends has an RV in the parking lot and we amendment No. 2700 to amendment No. 2282, relief threatened to further imperil the will talk about what will happen in the game as modified, to H.R. 5515, an act to authorize economy; yet Senator MCCONNELL led a and then go to the game and then we talk appropriations for fiscal year 2019 for mili- bipartisan effort to ensure that taxes about what did happen after the game and tary activities of the Department of Defense, were not raised on any Americans. it’s a complete, lengthy exercise. And one of for military construction, and for defense ac- The next year, the United States was the great joys of life. tivities of the Department of Energy, to pre- on the verge of defaulting on its debt MITCH MCCONNELL’s University of scribe military personnel strengths for such payments for the first time in history. Louisville honors thesis on fiscal year, and for other purposes. With the clock ticking on the full faith tempted him to pursue a Ph.D. in , , Cindy Hyde- and credit of the United States and ca- American history and a career as a pro- Smith, , , , , , lamitous economic consequences star- fessor, but those of us who know him Mitch McConnell, , James M. ing policymakers in the face, Senator doubt that he would have been satisfied Inhofe, James E. Risch, , MCCONNELL negotiated an eleventh interpreting the action rather than , , Steve hour deal with Vice President Joe being in the middle of the action, but Daines, Ron Johnson.

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