E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 113 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION

Vol. 160 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18, 2014 No. 95 Senate The Senate met at 9:30 a.m. and was Senator from the Commonwealth of Massa- leaders—are more interested in playing called to order by the Honorable ED- chusetts, to perform the duties of the Chair. their favorite game—their favorite WARD J. MARKEY, a Senator from the PATRICK J. LEAHY, game: blame Obama. It doesn’t matter Commonwealth of Massachusetts. President pro tempore. what it is, it is his fault for putting Mr. MARKEY thereupon assumed the people’s lives in jeopardy—our mili- PRAYER Chair as Acting President pro tempore. tary, special forces. The FBI captured The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- f someone who was the ringleader of the Libya Benghazi attack. They have fered the following prayer: RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY criticized the President for bringing Let us pray. LEADER Eternal God, before the mountains this man to justice. were settled and the hills brought The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- Yesterday I listened with dismay forth, Your power and majesty were pore. The majority leader is recog- when the Republican leader suggested known. Come to our lawmakers on nized. and claimed that President Obama pre- Capitol Hill today. Come as light to en- f maturely withdrew troops from Iraq. Think about that for a minute—5,500 lighten their minds. Come as truth to SCHEDULE teach them Your precepts. Come as dead Americans, tens of thousands Spirit to transform their hearts. Come Mr. REID. Mr. President, following wounded. Thousands and thousands as fire to purge from them the dross of my remarks and those of the Repub- have been wounded grievously. transgression. Come as power to use lican leader, the Senate will resume I ask my friend and Republicans he them in Your service. May Your pres- consideration of the appropriations bill leads, would they have preferred the ence provide them with such patience, led by Senator MIKULSKI. United States stay in Iraq? Would they steadiness, and encouragement that We hope to begin the consideration of have preferred our soldiers have stayed they will be instruments for Your the bill today. We are now postcloture. in Iraq in harm’s way? Is he—are they, glory. We had to file cloture to get on the the Republicans—willing to risk more We pray in Your sacred Name. Amen. bill, as usual, and I think we have American lives? wasted the 30 hours. But that is where The Republican leader and other Re- f we are. So we hope to begin consider- publicans seem to have forgotten why PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ation of the bill today and work President Obama initiated the troop through the amendments. Senators drawdown in June of 2009. Why? The The Presiding Officer led the Pledge will be notified when votes are sched- Iraqis wanted us out. The Iraqi govern- of Allegiance, as follows: uled. ment didn’t want American forces to I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the f stay. Is the Republican leader and the United States of America, and to the Repub- Republicans he leads suggesting that lic for which it stands, one Nation under IRAQ God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for American servicemembers should risk all. Mr. REID. Over the last several days their lives even more, even as the Iraqi the world has looked in horror as the people were telling our military to f terrorist organization ISIS, the Islamic leave? APPOINTMENT OF ACTING State of Iraq and Syria, has swept What has been taking place in Iraq is PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE across Iraq. As we speak they are a civil war. Do the Republicans and sweeping even closer to Baghdad. They their leader believe that service men The PRESIDING OFFICER. The are murdering and they are pillaging. and women from Kentucky and the clerk will read a communication to the The group is now positioned outside other 49 States across this great coun- Senate from the President pro tempore Baghdad. It threatens to unleash its try should be inserted in the middle of (Mr. LEAHY). violent extremism on the capital of their civil war? I don’t think so. Fight- The assistant legislative clerk read Iraq. ISIS poses a threat to Iraq and ing between factions in Iraq has cost the following letter: the surrounding region—and that is an thousands of Iraqi and American lives U.S. SENATE, understatement. over the last decade, and it spawned a PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, As President Obama and his advisors new breed of terrorism now. Yet the Washington, DC, June 18, 2014. To the Senate: consider options to combat the threat, original architects of the war—of the Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, conservative Members of Congress—or invasion of Iraq—would have us believe of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby I should say Republican Members of that this is all President Obama’s appoint the Honorable EDWARD J. MARKEY, a Congress and their pundit cheer- fault. Think about that.

∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor.

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VerDate Mar 15 2010 01:04 Jun 19, 2014 Jkt 039060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A18JN6.000 S18JNPT1 smartinez on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with SENATE S3774 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE June 18, 2014 Is there anything further from the comed as liberators in Iraq. He said the that would actually do something to truth? war would last 2 months. Well, he was alleviate the concerns and anxieties of I don’t think so. This is an Iraqi civil only wrong by about 9 years and 10 the middle class, these Democratic war, and it is time for the Iraqis to re- months. Kristol also claimed there was leaders have been blissfully content to solve it themselves. Those who attack no evidence of discord among Sunnis play politics year after year after year. President Obama for bringing our and Shiites in Iraq. No? Only centuries Instead of delivering relief, they have troops home from Iraq are wrong and of discord—centuries. Yet even in light delivered a steady diet of bad political out of step with the American people. of this incorrect assertion about Iraq, theater day in and day out with the After a decade of war the American Kristol went on to say that we need to same ridiculous and predictable moral people have had enough. American have more fighting in Iraq, beating the every single time: Democrats care. So families have had enough. I do not sup- drum alongside all the neoconservative vote for them and all will be well. port in any way putting our men and friends. If you haven’t noticed, all is not well women in the midst of this civil war in This morning there was an op-ed for working families in this country. Iraq. It is not in the national security piece in the Wall Street Journal. Who Four years after administration offi- interests of our country. It is not would write that? How about Dick Che- cials trumpeted ‘‘recovery summer’’ in worth the blood of American soldiers. ney? Just to remind everyone, he is the June 2010, working men and women in It is not worth the monetary cost to former Vice President of the United this country are more anxious about the American taxpayer. States, who clearly was the chief archi- work and family and the high cost of Rather than spending hundreds of tect of the war. If there is one thing living—and that is to say nothing of billions of dollars—the war in Iraq is at this country does not need, it is that the millions who can’t find work at all. about $1.5 trillion. Rather than spend- we should be taking advice from Dick The White House knows all of this, ing more money doing that—fighting Cheney on wars. Being on the wrong and that is why they are planning to George W. Bush’s war—how about we side of Dick Cheney is being on the hold a summit on the topic next week. use that money to rebuild our Nation’s right side of history. They want everyone to think they are infrastructure—roads, bridges, dams, To the architects of the Iraq war, on the case, that they have a plan, but water systems, sewer systems. We have who are now so eager to offer their ex- what they don’t seem to realize is no- a deficit in infrastructure of trillions pert analysis, I say thanks but no body believes them anymore and that of dollars. thanks. Unfortunately, we already folks have moved on. How about doing a better job of edu- tried it your way, and it was the big- The sad truth is most of the folks I cating our children? Maybe we could gest foreign policy blunder in the his- have talked to are convinced govern- raise the minimum wage or give the tory of the country. Now people come ment is working against them, not for long-term unemployed unemployment back and say they can give me some them. I don’t blame them. Whether it compensation or maybe we could help examples that have been worse, and I is frustration over an absurdly com- men and women draw the same amount listen. But for me—I know a little bit plicated Tax Code that drains people of of money for doing the same work or about history—this was a foreign pol- their time and energy or just a general maybe we could fully fund the Vet- icy blunder that would be hard to take sense that government programs are erans’ Administration and ensure that away from being the number one for- rigged to help the well-off and well- our veterans—more than a million eign policy blunder in the history of connected, an increasing number of our have come back from Iraq—are getting the country. constituents don’t even think govern- the care they need and deserve. Instead President Obama and his military ad- ment is capable—let alone interested— of addressing these issues at home, visors are considering their options to in making their lives any easier these they are stuck in the same game. And address ISIS, but putting combat days. It is a shame because while the it is not blame Obama; this is a new troops back in Iraq isn’t one of them. I Obama administration has been play- one—new yesterday or the day before. have no doubt that President Obama ing politics, Republicans have been They are stuck listening to the very and America will meet this threat quietly assembling a lot of good ideas same neocons—obviously, that is where head-on without the advice of to help Americans deal with the the Republicans are getting their infor- Wolfowitz, Cheney, Kristol—the archi- stresses of a modern economy. mation again—the same neocons who tects of the invasion of Iraq. President All of these ideas are consistent with pushed us into the Iraq war in the first Obama will meet the threat with the our party’s longstanding commitment place, as they try to plunge our mili- same smart foreign policy which has to the principles of upward mobility, tary in yet another foreign misadven- been the hallmark of his administra- shared responsibility for the weak, and ture. tion. The President will continue to a strong but limited central govern- What is absurd is the fact that after identify and protect what is truly in ment. Every single one of them de- all these years their suggestions our national security interests, using serves a vote. haven’t changed. They are in a time our full array of national security tools For my part, I have pressed for legis- warp. Those who are the so-called ex- and standing up to terrorism where it lation that addresses a variety of con- perts are so eager to commit American threatens our national stability. cerns of the people in my State. The Family Friendly and Workplace Flexi- soldiers to another war. Why is their f advice so valuable? bility Act, which I introduced with Take President Bush’s Paul RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY Senator AYOTTE, would enable working Wolfowitz, who some say was the archi- LEADER mothers to enter into a voluntary tect of the war. He has accused Presi- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Re- agreement with their employers where- dent Obama recently of not taking a publican leader is recognized. by they could bank overtime com- strong position in Iraq. Wolfowitz took f pensation in the form of time off with a strong position on Iraq’s sectarian vi- their families. It would give families olence when he stated—listen to this THE ECONOMY the choice, not just the employer. bizarre statement—and this is a quote: Mr. MCCONNELL. For 51⁄2 years the Another bill I will introduce today ‘‘There’s been none of the record in Obama administration and its allies in will fix a flaw in the Tax Code so men Iraq of ethnic militias fighting one an- Congress have sought cover for their or women who work at home are not other.’’ No, only for centuries. Look at disastrous economic agenda with rou- prevented from claiming a deduction what he said: There is none of the tine broadsides against an endless pro- for a home office if that office includes record in Iraq of militias fighting each cession of straw men. It is hard to re- a baby crib so they can take care of other. That is Wolfowitz. call a single speech from a Democratic their child while working. The Working How about Bill Kristol—not the co- leader in Washington that didn’t in- Parents Home Office Act would not median. He is a writer. Bill Kristol is volve some spirited defense of a prin- only help parents save on childcare another one of the architects of the ciple nobody ever challenged or some costs, it would help increase their earn- Iraq war who infamously predicted attack on a villain that doesn’t exist. ing potential by incentivizing them to that American soldiers would be wel- Instead of working with us on ideas create new income streams from home.

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