July 15, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4921 Given her years of experience work- move out of the chain of command. Op- lence. It is not only ineffective, it is ing on issues germane to the Federal ponents have tried to misrepresent actively concealing information and Circuit, she will be ready upon con- these crimes the bill addresses. It does hampering justice. That is why the firmation to hit the ground running. not, for example, deal with larceny current system is unacceptable. Mr. President, at the end of her hear- under $1,000 or destruction of govern- We have to reform the system. The ing, I said to her say: ‘‘Why did you ment property. Those crimes would Military Justice Improvement and In- want to do this? Why would you go into stay with the commander. creasing Prevention Act is supported public life? It seems like things are The bill includes a finite list of by experts, by servicemembers, and by going pretty well for you as a lawyer.’’ crimes. I will read them all now: re- a bipartisan filibuster-proof majority She said: ‘‘It has always been my cruit maltreatment, nonconsensual dis- of Senators if we bring it to the floor. dream to serve on this bench.’’ tribution of visual images, murder, Mr. President, as in legislative ses- Well, I hope her dream comes true manslaughter, murder of a pregnant sion, I ask unanimous consent that at and the Senate helps her reach it. I mother, child endangerment, sexual as- a time to be determined by the major- urge my colleagues to join me in vot- sault, obscene mailing, sexual assault ity leader, in consultation with the Re- ing in favor of Ms. Cunningham’s nomi- of a child, voyeurism, major financial publican leader, the Senate Armed nation. crimes, major fraud, robbery, bribery, Services Committee be discharged from I yield the floor. graft, kidnapping, arson, extortion, ag- further consideration of S. 1520 and the I suggest the absence of a quorum. gravated sexual assault, maiming, do- Senate proceed to its consideration; The PRESIDING OFFICER. The mestic violence, stalking, perjury, ob- that there be 2 hours for debate, equal- clerk will call the roll. struction of justice, and retaliation. ly divided in the usual form; that upon The legislative clerk proceeded to That is it. That is the list. Those are the use or yielding back of that time, call the roll. crimes that have punishment of more the Senate vote on the bill with no in- Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, I than 1 year associated with them. tervening action or debate. ask unanimous consent that the order I ask those who oppose this reform to The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there for the quorum call be rescinded. tell me why they would expect a com- objection? The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without mander with as little as a few hours of Mr. REED. Mr. President, I object. objection, it is so ordered. training to be prepared to try cases on The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objec- UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST—S. 1520 obscene mailing or to be well versed on tion is heard. Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, I the elements of extortion. Tell me rise again today to call for every Sen- about the commander who understands f ator to have the opportunity to cast the intricacies of using false docu- their vote on the Military Justice Im- ments to claim benefits or has the time CLOTURE MOTION provement and Increasing Prevention to investigate complex financial The PRESIDING OFFICER. Pursuant Act. frauds. Tell me about what leaves our to rule XXII, the Chair lays before the It is time for us to look at this issue commanders prepared to act as judge Senate the pending cloture motion, to move serious crimes like sexual as- and jury in a murder trial or a kidnap- which the clerk will state. sault and murder out of the chain of ping case. The legislative clerk read as follows: command and put them in the hands of Our bill simply recognizes that these CLOTURE MOTION well-trained military prosecutors who are serious crimes that require legal We, the undersigned Senators, in accord- are independent, impartial, and highly expertise to properly review and pros- ance with the provisions of rule XXII of the trained uniformed prosecutors. ecute. By moving these crimes to inde- Standing Rules of the Senate, do hereby This is an issue that deserves ur- pendent military lawyers, this reform move to bring to a close debate on the nomi- gency. I began calling for this full floor allows commanders to focus on what nation of Executive Calendar No. 193, Tiffany vote on May 24. Since then, it is an es- they are trained to do: preparing our P. Cunningham, of Illinois, to be United timate that 2,912 servicemembers will troops to fight and win our Nation’s States Circuit Judge for the Federal Circuit. Charles E. Schumer, Richard J. Durbin, have been raped or sexually assaulted wars. Tina Smith, Margaret Wood Hassan, during that time; more will have been Additionally, the chairman has said Catherine Cortez Masto, Jeff Merkley, victims of other serious crimes. Many that this bill would remove from the Patty Murray, Tammy Baldwin, Debbie will not even report these crimes be- chain of command ‘‘crimes that have Stabenow, Gary C. Peters, Angus S. cause they have no faith in the current been handled by the military chain of King, Jr., Sheldon Whitehouse, Robert system, where decisions about whether command effectively for years and P. Casey, Jr., Christopher Murphy, Ben to prosecute are made by commanders years and years.’’ Ray Luja´ n, Jack Reed, Chris Van Hol- and not trained lawyers. And yet this But, actually, that is not the case. len. vote continues to be delayed and de- They haven’t been handled effectively. The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unan- nied, week after week. Just this week the Military Times re- imous consent, the mandatory quorum While I am glad to see that more of ported on the case of Private Jonathan call has been waived. our colleagues have acknowledged that Lauture, who is alleged to have shot The question is, Is it the sense of the we must move sexual assault out of the and killed Jason Lindsay in June 2019, Senate that debate on the nomination chain of command, it is not enough. It when Lindsay entered Lauture’s home of Tiffany P. Cunningham, of Illinois, doesn’t address the fundamental flaw in an attempt to intervene in a situa- to be United States Circuit Judge for in the military justice system, which is tion of domestic violence. the Federal Circuit, shall be brought to that it asks commanders to act as His chain of command at Fort Bliss a close? judge and jury in highly complex was aware of the killing, but they did The yeas and nays are mandatory crimes that they are not trained to do. not inform the Army’s criminal inves- under the rule. In fact, the training commanders get tigation division. Instead, they quickly The clerk will call the roll. includes just a few hours, at the most, reassigned him to Fort Stewart, where The bill clerk called the roll. on legal topics like military justice he continued to assault his wife. Mr. THUNE. The following Senators and unlawful command influence. No The Military Times reports: ares necessarily absent: the Senator one could be expected to learn in a few Army investigators had no idea that the from South Carolina (Mr. GRAHAM), the hours what it takes lawyers years of shooting had even occurred, much less the Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. JOHNSON), domestic violence. Lauture’s Fort Bliss and the Senator from Kansas (Mr. study and decades of experience to chain of command did not inform the CID of MORAN). master. the shooting. Nobody did, until a domestic That is why this bill would move se- violence investigation in December 2019 by The yeas and nays resulted—yeas 63, rious crimes to the purview of those Fort Stewart CID incidentally learned that nays 34, as follows: lawyers who have had the time to prop- Lauture had [allegedly] killed a man who [Rollcall Vote No. 266 Ex.] erly prepare for the job. was attempting to rescue his wife. YEAS—63 Today, I would like to outline ex- That is how the current system han- Baldwin Blumenthal Brown actly which crimes this bill would dles alleged murder and domestic vio- Bennet Booker Cantwell VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Jul 16, 2021 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 0637 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G15JY6.020 S15JYPT1 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE S4922 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 15, 2021 Capito Kaine Romney These new hurricanes and rain events Senator CASSIDY’s bill and my bill Cardin Kelly Rosen Carper King Rounds and freezes impacted probably close to would authorize the use of $1.1 billion Casey Klobuchar Rubio one-third, maybe 40 percent of my peo- of that $80 billion in cash to be used Collins Leahy Sanders ple. The worst part of it, but not the through community development block Coons Lee Schatz only part that was hit hard, was South- grants to help my people recover. Cornyn Luja´ n Schumer Cortez Masto Manchin Shaheen west Louisiana. At last count, about I can assure you that I wouldn’t be Duckworth Markey Sinema 100,000 homes were damaged, flooded, here today asking for this if my people Durbin Menendez Smith or blown over. didn’t desperately need it. They are Ernst Merkley Stabenow They are still running the numbers.