EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the
Senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the
following nomination, which the clerk will report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of Jeffrey
T. Kuntz, of Florida, to be United States District Judge for the
Southern District of Florida.

                   National Defense Authorization Act

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, Americans tend to trust Republicans more
than Democrats when it comes to national security. And, boy oh boy, do
Democrats seem determined to demonstrate why that is the case.
  Yesterday afternoon, Democrats voted against the National Defense
Authorization Act, the annual bill that authorizes spending for our
Nation's defense. Their ostensible excuse was the conflict in Iran.
  Well, in case they were operating under a misconception, I am happy
to tell them that this year's National Defense Authorization Act is not
an Iran funding supplemental. It is the annual--annual--legislation
authorizing the basic needs of our military and the basic needs of our
men and women in uniform, needs that exist no matter what is happening
in Iran.
  Let's just talk about what the Democrats voted against yesterday.
They voted against a pay increase for our troops. They voted against
quality-of-life improvements for our troops. They voted against the
reform of the Pentagon's acquisition process.
  They voted against funding for unmanned systems like drones and
counter-drone measures, an essential--essential--security need in this
day and age. They voted against shipbuilding efforts to strengthen our
naval fleet. They voted against measures to maintain our Nation's
airpower. They voted against including 38 of their own amendments. I
could go on here, but you get the point.
  Once again, Democrats are playing fast and loose with our Nation's
security. I say ``once again'' because Democrats have been playing fast
and loose with our Nation's security all year.
  First, there was their recordbreaking full government shutdown last
fall, which affected our military and all of our Nation's security
Agencies, to say nothing of the impact that it had on air travel.
  Then there was their recordbreaking shutdown of the Department of
Homeland Security, which lasted a staggering 76 days.
  Then, after that, Democrats refused to reauthorize a critical
intelligence-gathering tool, which the Democrat leader himself has
described as ``a very important tool for ensuring our national
security.''

  And now they have blocked the Senate from considering the National
Defense Authorization Act. And who knows what is next?
  In either a fit of self-delusion or an attempt to distract from their
actions, Democrats are trying to peddle the narrative that somehow they
can't agree to anything because Republicans are trying to make things
partisan. That is right. Well, let me spend just a minute correcting
the record here.
  The National Defense Authorization Act the Democrats voted against
yesterday? Bipartisan. That is right. The National Defense
Authorization Act is bipartisan legislation. Four Democrats voted for
the bill--for the bill--at the committee markup.
  Democrats' recordbreaking full government shutdown in the fall? Well,
that was because they wouldn't accept a nonpartisan, short-term, clean
government funding extension to allow bipartisan negotiations to
continue.
  The Democrats' recordbreaking Department of Homeland Security
shutdown? Well, that was also because Democrats couldn't take yes for
an answer.
  Democrats and Republicans had agreed on a bipartisan DHS funding
bill. Democrats reneged on that agreement because they wanted to
negotiate for more, and Republicans said yes to negotiation.
  And then Democrats shut down the Department anyway, even though
Republicans were willing to negotiate further--even though the White
House repeatedly offered a robust package of reforms.
  So as I said, I don't know whether it is self-delusion or deliberate
deception, but I have heard few things more ludicrous than Democrats'
narrative that they can't agree to legislation because Republicans are
being partisan.
  Here are the facts: Democrats can't bring themselves to authorize
funding for our Nation's security, whether that is security at our
border, funding for our military, or paychecks for our troops. It
doesn't matter how bipartisan the bill is; Democrats can't bring
themselves to support our Nation's security.
  Is it politics? Do Democrats think that voting against our national
defense and our Nation's military will gain them points with their base
or do they simply think they can afford to ignore our Nation's defense
needs until some hostile actor takes advantage of our weakness?
  I don't know, but I do know that our Nation is less safe because of
Democrats' actions.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                              Todd Blanche

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, anyone who can represent a known
pathological liar like Donald Trump can have no integrity and should
never be Attorney General.
  We all know lawyers are supposed to represent their clients, but when
you represent a client who just lies and lies and lies, pathologically,
you should never be Attorney General.
  The only thing today's hearing will confirm is that Todd Blanche
represents one client alone, Donald Trump, and he will continue to
represent that lying client when he is Attorney General. There will be
no integrity. There will be no real basis of fact. He will just do
whatever Trump wants. We know that.
  But the central question today, at this hearing and on into the
process, is not of what Trump wants but what Senate Republicans will
do. Let me repeat that. The crucial question today is not what Trump
wants, but what Senate Republicans will do.
  Where are the Senate Republicans? Are Republicans really going to go
to the mat for Blanche, after he aided Trump in his corruption every
step of the way? Do Senate Republicans have no issue with Blanche
masterminding Trump's MAGA slush fund, arranging Trump's sweetheart
deal from the IRS, and refusing to release 3 million pages of the
Epstein file? Come on, Republicans, you have no shame? Is there no bar
that can block you from, prevent you from, putting a man like this as
Attorney General?
  Republicans have set the bar so low for our Nation's top law
enforcement official that you have to dig for it. The American people
don't trust Todd Blanche. Neither should Senate Republicans, plain and
simple.

                   National Defense Authorization Act

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, few votes in this body are as important
as the vote to fund our troops, our military.
  Yesterday, right here on this floor, the U.S. Senate--every single
Democrat--voted to block that funding. And just 10 minutes ago, the
minority leader came to the floor and bragged about the fact that the
Democrats had blocked the funding for our military. He stood here and
said they are proud of the fact that they are, once again, choosing
politics over the security of our Nation.
  That is what we're facing here in the U.S. Senate today. We're
talking about the National Defense Authorization Act, and this Congress
has passed this bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act every
year for the past 65 years.
  And when it came to the floor of the Senate yesterday, the minority
leader said to the Democrats: Say no. Say no to the military.
  I am going to go through the list of all the things they said no to
yesterday. This year should be no different than the other years--65
years in a row.

  This year's Defense bill gives our military every tool it needs to
keep us, as Americans, safe. It invests in peace through strength at
home and abroad. Importantly, this bill provides a pay raise for the
men and women who defend our Nation.
  Every single Democrat in this Chamber joined Senator Schumer, joined
Bernie Sanders, and joined Elizabeth Warren and said: No, we are not
voting for it. We are not voting for it.
  That is what they said. They refused to allow the debate to even
begin. This was before the bill even started the debate here on the
floor of the Senate. And it is interesting because many of them flip-
flopped. What do I mean by that? It means that, first, many of them
voted for the bill in the committee in order to send it to the floor.
Then it gets to the floor, and what happens? All of them vote to block
it from even beginning the debate. Apparently, Democrats were for it
before they were against it.
  Here is what Democrats voted against: They voted against higher pay
for our troops. They voted against better healthcare for our service
members and their families. Democrats voted against better housing for
our troops. Democrats voted against stronger deterrence. Democrats
voted against a more lethal military. Democrats voted against a larger,
stronger Navy.
  Democrats even voted against a modern nuclear deterrent. Don't we
want to deter nuclear war? This is at a time when nuclear weapons are
proliferating all around the world. In my home State of Wyoming, we
have F.E. Warren Air Force Base. The airmen who serve there are the
lynchpin of our land-based nuclear force. The deterrence there has been
known over the decades as our Nation's ``ace in the hole.'' That is how
it works--the desire to protect us as a nation.
  Democrats voted against all of it. They actually even voted against
expanding our military recruitment effort. They don't want us to be
able to recruit for the military, and they don't want the military to
be properly funded and equipped in a way that protects us as a nation.
  Democrats actually even voted against more savings for taxpayers.
Democrats voted against protecting women's sports at our military
schools. No, they don't want any of that. Democrats voted against
promotions based on merit and merit alone: Oh, no. You have merited and
earned a promotion? No, you are not getting it on merit alone.
  That is who the Democrats have become. That is the threat to our
Nation--this far-leftist group that is telling the Democrats here on
the floor of the Senate what to do. And for things that had been
bipartisan in the past, they said: No, we can't do that anymore.
  This far-left wing of the party is telling us what to do and how to
march in step.
  Democrats voted against ending harmful DEI mandates. They voted
against stronger border security. They like open borders. They don't
want border security. They voted against funding to combat against the
cartels that are moving poison into the country--killing young people
in record numbers. Democrats voted against stopping the flood of deadly
drugs and illegal border crossings.
  Just 2 days ago, right here on the Senate floor, the Senator from
Maryland, Senator Chris Van Hollen, said this: Missile defense--to
defend against incoming missiles for the American people--was wasteful
spending.
  It is remarkable. Defending the country is wasteful spending. That is
who the Democrats have become.
  The Democrats act like pennypinchers when it comes to paying our
troops to protect our homeland; yet, they accept the astronomical cost
of the waste, the fraud, and the abuse--free healthcare for illegal
immigrants, the fraud that is happening like we are seeing in
Minnesota, and all of those things. The Democrats are for all of that,
but they are not for our troops, and they are not for defending our
Nation. That is the Democrat Party of today.
  The Democrats of today are radical; they are extreme; they are
dangerous; they are scary. Well, the world is a dangerous place, and by
voting against the National Defense Authorization Act, the Democrats
are disrespecting the American troops; they are undermining American
security; and Democrats are jeopardizing America's strength.
  Look, our friend Lindsey Graham believed in peace through strength. I
do, as well as do most Americans--but not the Democrat Party of today.
It is time for us to act on that belief: that America is best when we
are strong and it helps make us more safe. It is time for the Senate to
pass a bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act, and it is time
for Democrats to act like Americans.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sheehy). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the scheduled
vote at noon now begin immediately.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.