S6488 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 20, 2012 

$4,200 in additional out-of-pocket prescription costs—a huge transfer of 

wealth from America’s seniors to the 

big drug companies. 

Repealing the Affordable Care Act 

would not just harm seniors, it would 

also mean that insurance plans would 

no longer have to cover young adults 

up to age 26 on their parents’ plans. 

This moves over 3 million young Americans—just getting out of college, still 

looking for that first job that has 

health insurance coverage—back on to 

the rolls of the uninsured. 

The radical Ryan budget would also 

hurt young people by slashing Pell 

grants, making college less affordable. 

Students and graduates are already 

struggling to pay a record trillion dollars that Americans now owe in outstanding student loans, and the Ryan 

plan would force students to take on 

even greater debt burdens. 

On top of these specific cuts, the 

Ryan budget takes an additional $1 

trillion in unspecified discretionary 

spending cuts. Domestic discretionary 

funding is the money that is used to 

keep the government operating each 

year—FBI agents investigating cases, 

Border Patrol agents working our borders, doctors and nurses treating veterans at the VA, employees mailing 

out Social Security checks, and many 

other important programs and functions. 

It is already at its lowest level as a 

share of GDP since the 1950s. It is hard 

to imagine any Federal investment— 

whether it is education or housing or 

highways or law enforcement, you 

name it—not being jeopardized by such 

Draconian cuts. 

That is why President Reagan’s— 

President Reagan’s—former economic 

adviser said about this Ryan budget 

plan: 

The Ryan plan is a monstrosity. 

Ronald Reagan’s economic advisor 

said: ‘‘The Ryan plan is a monstrosity.’’ 

The rich would receive huge tax cuts while 

the social safety net would be shredded to 

pay for it. . . . It is less of a wish list than 

a fairy tale utterly disconnected from the 

real world, backed up by make-believe numbers and unreasonable assumptions. 

If that is what Ronald Reagan’s economic advisor thought about it, think 

what regular people might think about 

it. 

Ryan’s plan isn’t even an act of courage; 

it’s just pandering to the Tea Party. 

But that is what is being held hostage on this sequester. 

I hope when the election season is 

over, no matter who wins, that Republicans will work with us—without insisting on a monstrosity, without insisting on the end of Medicare—on a 

balanced and reasonable plan to reduce 

the deficit. With a record national 

debt, now is no time for more tax giveaways to billionaires, as Mr. RYAN proposes, but, rather, it is the time to ensure an America where everyone gets a 

fair shot, everyone pitches in their fair 

share, and we go forward as a country 

together, as we always have in our best 

days. 

I thank the Chair and I yield the 

floor. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The senior Senator from Washington is recognized. 

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I 

caught some of the dog-and-pony show 

that Republicans put on this morning 

on the floor of the Senate, and I 

thought it was pretty indicative of 

their approach to this entire Congress—all politics, no participation. 

Someone must have reminded them 

this morning that they are 47 days 

away from an election and that for the 

last 624 days of this Congress, they 

have done nothing but say no. 

But I am here to say that an hour of 

speeches on the Senate floor cannot 

erase an entire Congress of obstruction. In fact, the Republicans’ show 

this morning reminded me of a move I 

have seen many times before as a 

former preschool teacher and as a mom 

who has watched a lot of kids go 

through school. It reminded me how on 

the very last day of school before summer there was always one student who 

had not done their homework all year 

long, and on that last day they showed 

up on their best behavior, homework in 

hand, hoping to leave a good impression. They thought maybe this lastditch effort could help them avoid a 

bad grade. 

Unfortunately, it does not work that 

way. 

So let me assure Republicans of one 

thing: Their record of obstruction and 

their refusal to compromise will not go 

away at the eleventh hour. One-minute 

speeches on the day before they go to 

face voters cannot paper over 100 filibusters. It will not change the fact 

that almost 2 years ago the Senate minority leader revealed that his No. 1 

priority was—not working to get 

Americans back to work, it was not 

bringing our economy back from the 

brink, it was not ensuring that America remained a leader at home and 

abroad, no—to defeat President Obama, 

it was playing politics, just as we saw 

this morning. 

There has been, seemingly, no group 

of Americans—well, with the exception 

of millionaires and billionaires—who 

have been spared in the Republicans’ 

efforts to achieve their goals—not our 

teachers, not our college students, not 

our farmers, not construction workers, 

not first responders, not even our Nation’s veterans have been spared their 

efforts to destroy the work of this Congress. 

There was no better example of that 

than yesterday here on the floor of the 

U.S. Senate. The Veterans Jobs Corps 

bill that we brought to the floor included 12 provisions to help veterans 

find jobs. 

Eight of them. Let me repeat that. 

Eight of those provisions were Republican ideas. This bill was fully paid for. 

It was based on existing grant programs that are putting Americans to 

work. It would have allowed the veterans to serve their communities. It 

would have given unemployed veterans 

the self-esteem that a job provides. It 

would have allowed them to support 

their families and help ease that transition back home. 

That bill came at a time when one in 

four young veterans today is out of 

work. It came at a time when our military and veteran suicide rates are outpacing combat deaths and when more 

and more, as we all know, veterans are 

coming home today. The American Legion supported it. The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America supported it. 

The problem was, it seemed, President 

Obama supported it. So we know from 

everything we have seen and attempted 

on the Senate floor, no matter how 

good or bad of an idea, no matter which 

struggling American would benefit, it 

seems that if the President supports it, 

you can pretty much guarantee Senate 

Republicans will not. 

That is the legacy the Senate Republicans are going to take home to voters, the legacy that when middle-class 

American families needed their help 

the most, they refused to compromise 

to get things done; that when Americans were hurting, they put politics before people; that they set a goal of not 

participating, and they followed 

through on that at every single turn. 

No amount of snappy speeches is going 

to change that. No last-minute appeals 

for leniency will change that record. 

In fact, it is ironic that this morning 

all of the Republican Senators showed 

up on the floor because for the last 2 

years, when the American people have 

needed them the most, they have been 

absent. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida. 

f 

THE MIDDLE EAST 

Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, I come to 

the floor of the Senate to talk briefly 

about an amendment on which we may 

or may not get a vote. It is an amendment by my colleague, Senator PAUL. 

It really is directly related to the 

issues that have happened around the 

world in the last week and a half. We 

certainly watched in horror as our Ambassador, a fantastic and honorable 

American, along with three of his colleagues in the American consulate in 

Benghazi, was murdered last week. So I 

wanted to talk briefly about that because it really is an important moment 

in our foreign policy in the region. 

Let me begin by expressing our deep 

condolences for that loss. All the members of the families of those folks who 

have died over there, our hearts are 

with them, our prayers are with them. 

We thank them for their brave service 

to our country and to the cause of freedom. 

We have the right to be angry. The 

American people are angry and rightfully so. For years we have been investing our taxpayer dollars in aid to that 

region, and yet we turn on the television and we see these protests 


tjames on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with SENATE
September 20, 2012 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S6489 

against us. On one hand, every single 

year we send billions of dollars and 

hundreds of millions of dollars to help 

people in the region. We help them to 

stand and fight for themselves, to get 

rid of dictators. Then we turn on the 

television and we see people attacking 

our embassies or burning images of our 

President and burning our flag and 

chanting anti-American slogans. So 

the American people are both confused 

and angry. How can this be happening? 

But I think it is important for us that 

while we have the right to be angry, we 

should still remain smart in our foreign policy. 

What I would like to talk about 

today is what it means to have a smart 

foreign policy, a pro-American foreign 

policy in that region of the world given 

these factors we are facing. 

The amendment on which Senator 

PAUL is asking for a vote would condition foreign aid to three particular 

countries. Let me begin my conversation by saying that this is a complicated issue, and not all these countries are the same. Let me contrast 

two of them, for example. 

Let’s talk about Egypt for a moment. 

Now, of course, the Egyptian people 

got rid of a dictator. They had an election. It was a very close election that 

was won by the current President, 

Mursi, who comes from the Muslim 

Brotherhood. But Egypt has a well-organized security apparatus, a well-organized and well-funded security apparatus. Egypt has the capability to conduct counterterrorism in Egypt. Egypt 

has the capability, they have the people and the resources to protect our 

Embassy in Egypt. They have no excuse for not doing that, if they fail to 

do that, because they are able to do it. 

What was really troubling to me 

about Egypt, however, was that President Mursi, rather than immediately 

condemning the attack against the 

United States and the murder of our 

Ambassador, his first reaction was to 

condemn a YouTube video. That is 

what we are talking about here—a 

YouTube video. Anybody can make a 

YouTube video. 

Now, there is a belief, by the way, in 

the Muslim world that because in their 

countries, if you produce a YouTube 

video or any movie, for that matter, 

your government had to approve it— 

they think, well then in America, your 

government must have approved it as 

well. But that is not true, and their 

leaders know better. The leaders of 

these countries know better. Some of 

these leaders in the Egyptian Government were educated in this country. 

They know full well that anyone can 

make a YouTube video. But instead of 

standing and explaining that to their 

people, they go along with this stuff. 

They say one thing in Arabic to their 

people and another thing to the rest of 

the world in English. 

There is a long pattern of doubleplaying behavior that we should not 

stand for and should not tolerate. It is, 

in my mind, unacceptable that a full 2 

days went by before the Egyptian Government clearly condemned the attack 

on Benghazi and clearly condemned 

these actions against America. 

Contrast that with Libya for a moment. Libya had an election as well 

where two-thirds of the Libyan people 

rejected the Islamists and they elected 

pro-Western, pro-modern, pro-progress 

leaders to their government. But, unlike Egypt, Libya does not have the 

ability to protect our consulate as 

well. They did not inherit from Qadhafi 

a well-organized security apparatus. In 

fact, it was one of the reasons why I argued for a more forceful American engagement in Libya. I did not want the 

conflict to last that long. That protracted and long conflict in Libya— 

what it did is it created more time and 

more space for these independent militias—these are literally independent 

gangs who got their hands on weapons 

and fought in this revolution against 

Qadhafi, but now the central government cannot get these groups to give 

up their arms because to do so would 

be to give up their power. That is why 

having this go on for as long as it did 

is a terrible idea. The fact is, though, 

the Libyans do not even have control 

over large portions of the country. 

There are entire areas of Libya that 

the government does not control. 

There is an increasing body of evidence that shows that what happened 

in Benghazi was not an anti-American 

protest, it was not as a result of a 

YouTube video; it was an orchestrated 

anti-American terrorist attack by terrorists—not by Libya, not by Libyans, 

by terrorists. 

In addition to evidence that this was 

a terrorist attack, not a Libyan antiAmerican uprising, look at the reaction in Libya since the attack. I wish 

the media in the United States would 

give more coverage to the Libyans in 

the streets protesting the terrorists, 

holding up signs apologizing. 

Our Ambassador in Benghazi was 

loved by the Libyan people, especially 

the people of Benghazi, who credited 

him for saving their lives when Muammar Qadhafi’s troops were on the outskirts of the city about to massacre 

them. I wish more attention were paid 

to that. I wish more attention were 

paid to the ceremonies that are happening today in Tripoli honoring—our 

Under Secretary William Burns is 

there honoring the service of Ambassador Stevens. The demonstrations in 

Benghazi are going to occur tomorrow 

honoring him as well. 

I am not saying everyone in Libya is 

pro-American. I am saying we have a 

government in Libya that is trying to 

do the right thing. There is open source 

reporting in the press today. Fifty 

American FBI agents are there now investigating this. Those are the actions 

of a cooperative government. They are 

trying to help us, but they just do not 

have the resources to do it well. Cutting off aid to them does not make 

sense to me. 

On the one hand, we are demanding 

that they protect our embassies. They 

are saying: We want to, but we do not 

have the resources to do it. On the 

other hand, we are threatening to take 

away their resources. 

So not all these countries are the 

same. 

There are a lot of misconceptions 

floating around out there. I have heard 

some people say: You know what, 

maybe we were better off with dictators in the Middle East because they 

could maintain order. Let me tell you, 

that is a false choice. Here is why. 

These dictators were no friends of 

America. 

Let me give you an example of 

Egypt, where people now say: Well, this 

stuff did not happen when Mubarak 

was there. No, it happened but in a different way. Let me tell you about the 

deal Mubarak and other dictatorial 

leaders in the region cut with extremists. Here is the deal they cut with extremists: As long as you do not do anything against us, you can do anything 

you want anywhere in the world. Conduct all the terrorism you want. Attack Americans. Blow up a train in 

Spain. Do whatever you want, just do 

not do it here. Do it in your country. If 

you do it in our country, we will cut 

your head off. If you do it somewhere 

else, that is not our business. 

That is the deal these dictators cut 

with extremists. 

It was not a coincidence that there 

were Egyptians involved in the 9/11 

plot. These were not Egyptians who 

came from poor families; they came 

from prominent and distinguished families in Egypt, which leads me to the 

second point. These dictators allow 

anti-Americanism, because—imagine if 

you lived in a dictatorial country—you 

are not allowed to protest the government. You are not allowed to protest 

your leaders. There are only two things 

you are allowed to protest—America 

and Israel. So that is what everybody 

does. It is almost a relief valve for frustration. Then they have a state-controlled media that feeds into antiAmericanism. Do you know that there 

were media outlets in Egypt under Mubarak and even now that tell the people in Egypt that in America denying 

the Holocaust is a crime? Denying the 

Holocaust is dumb, it is outrageous, 

but it is not a crime in America. Yet 

they spread these lies, these antiAmerican lies through the region. Of 

course there are people in the region 

who hate us because our so-called dictatorial friends and allies have allowed 

anti-Americanism to grow and be fostered because it has helped them hold 

on to the power. 

So these dictators are not good for 

the region, not good for America. And 

the choice should not be between dictators and democracy. The second fallacy is, well, we will just have an election and everything will be better. 

That is not true either. Democracies 

can elect people who do not like us too. 

So this is not an easy issue to confront, 

but disengaging from the region is not 

the solution. 


tjames on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with SENATE
S6490 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 20, 2012 

Now, I do not have a magic solution. 

I have only been here in the Senate for 

about a year and a half, so these are 

issues I am engaging in for the first 

time over the last year, but here are 

my opinions given what I have learned 

in the first 2 years I have been here, 

some points I would like to make. 

The first is that we should expect 

more. We should expect more from 

leaders in the region. We should expect 

Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood and 

others to stand up to people and say: 

Look, we understand you are upset 

about this video, but you do not have 

the right to burn down an embassy. By 

the way, in America the government 

does not control these videos. Anyone 

can make a YouTube video. They are a 

free society. 

No. 2, we should expect them to say 

the same things in Arabic as they are 

saying in English. Do not express condolences and outrage in English on the 

attack against America but in Arabic 

completely ignore it and only talk 

about the YouTube video. 

We should expect more from them. 

They want a true partnership. They 

want American and Western aid. They 

want tourists to return. They want 

economic interchange between our two 

countries. We should expect more from 

them. 

Here is the second point. This stuff is 

not happening because of a video, because people are upset. You know 

what, let me explain something to you. 

For radical Islam, our entire culture is 

offensive. They are not just offended 

about a YouTube video. They are offended that women serve in the Senate. 

They are offended that women drive. 

They are offended that little girls get 

to go to school. In some of these countries, converting to Christianity is 

punishable by death. So our whole culture is offensive to them, not just a 

YouTube video. 

Here is the third point we have to accept. This is a critical moment not just 

for America, this is a critical moment 

for the Muslim world, where they have 

to decide what kind of future they 

want for themselves. Is this the future 

they want, a future isolated from the 

world, a future isolated from the promises of the 21st century, or do they 

want a different future? I know there 

are millions of people in the Muslim 

world who do not want this future, but 

they are afraid to speak up. They are 

intimidated from speaking up because 

of these radical forces that need to be 

defeated. 

This brings me to my last point. We 

need to be very clear. We will support 

those who want a better future, like we 

should have supported the Green Revolution in Iran when brave young Iranians took to the streets to protest a 

fraudulent election, and instead of taking their side, the President disengaged 

and said nothing. We will support those 

who want a new future and a better future for their region. We are not asking 

them to abandon their religion or their 

beliefs, but they have to respect ours. 

We are not asking them to walk away 

from the Koran, but they have to respect our beliefs and tolerate our beliefs as well. We will support those who 

are willing to do that. We want to work 

with them. It benefits no one to have 

violence and destruction in the region. 

But we also have to accept the hard 

cold fact that there are people, there 

are radical Islamists in that part of the 

world with whom you can never and 

will never be able to reason. They are 

never going to change their minds. 

They are never going to come around. 

They are never going to one day all of 

a sudden change their behavior because 

we engaged them more, because we 

give more speeches at their universities. They are radical Islamists, violent people. It is a very clear choice: 

Either they win or we win. And the 

sooner we accept that, the better off we 

are going to be. 

So we have to accept that on the one 

hand there are millions of people in 

that region who want a new and better 

future. We will side with them. We will 

support their aspirations. We will work 

with their hopes for civilian leadership 

and peace and economic prosperity. 

But for those who are radical Islamists, 

whose view is they want to conquer and 

bring under their control everyone who 

is not who they are, we have to defeat 

them. I wish it weren’t the case, but it 

is. And the sooner we accept that, the 

clearer our policies are going to be. 

So this is not just a critical moment 

for America in our foreign policy; this 

is a critical moment for them as well, 

for they are going to have to decide. If 

Egypt truly wants a better future for 

their people, one where their economy 

is growing and prosperous and young 

people can fulfill their aspirations, 

they are going to have to unequivocally reject this type of stuff or they 

will be trapped in the 18th century forever. 

In Libya, they are trying to cooperate with us. They are allowing us to 

move forward. We should work with 

them and strengthen them, not abandon them. 

And I didn’t mention Pakistan, but 

that is important too. Let me just say 

that I think it is outrageous that doctor is being held there. I believe every 

charge against him is trumped up, and 

I think we should demand—I think it is 

right to condition some, if not all, of 

our foreign aid and cooperation with 

Pakistan on his status and on his release. So I hope Senator PAUL and 

those who support his amendment will 

consider, at a minimum, restructuring 

that amendment to recognize there is a 

difference between Libya and Egypt 

and that we should take different approaches in that regard; that we have a 

right to be outraged; that we have a 

right to be angry, but we should never 

abandon being smart. 

I yield the floor. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina. 

Mrs. HAGAN. Mr. President, I ask 

unanimous consent to speak for up to 

15 minutes as in morning business. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without 

objection, it is so ordered. 

f 

HONORING OUR ARMED FORCES 

CORPORAL DARRION TERRELL HICKS, PETTY OFFICER SECOND CLASS SEAN E. BRAZAS, LANCE

CORPORAL CHRISTOPHER PHOENIX JACOB LEVY

Mrs. HAGAN. Mr. President, 11 years 

have now passed since the attacks of 

September 11, that horrific day that 

forever changed the world. Although 

we have killed Osama bin Laden, the 

fight against the al-Qaida militants is 

not over. Al-Qaida remains a threat to 

America, and the brave men and 

women of our Armed Forces are still 

fighting every day to protect our way 

of life. 

Mr. President, I want us to honor and 

think about these men and women. 

There are over 77,000 U.S. servicemembers deployed in Afghanistan right now 

who remain in harm’s way. These men 

and women willingly joined the military during a time of war. They want 

nothing more than to serve our country. They fight for our way of life so we 

don’t have to and so that our children 

and grandchildren will not have to. 

I am going to highlight three servicemen from North Carolina who have 

made the ultimate sacrifice. I have personally spoken with their families, and 

I want to share their great love of 

country with you because it is so important that all Americans understand 

our military and their families who 

sacrifice so much for all of us. 

From my home State of North Carolina alone there are more than 6,000 of 

our finest sons and daughters, brothers 

and sisters, moms and dads deployed in 

Afghanistan. They are the men and 

women of the II Marine Expeditionary 

Force, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine 

Aircraft Wing, and 2nd Marine Logistics Group from Camp Lejeune and 

Cherry Point. They are the men and 

women of the 82nd Airborne Division 

from Fort Bragg. They are the men and 

women from the National Guard and 

Reserve Units from North Carolina. 

And they are the thousands of other 

soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines 

deployed to foreign lands to stand 

watch over the world and keep us safe. 

Sometimes I feel as if the war is 

hardly an issue in the news, in daily 

life, anywhere, except for those who 

are personally affected by it. Our focus 

is too often drawn to the news of the 

elections, of the economy, of politics, 

of celebrities, of scandals, of the rich 

and famous, and of the simply bizarre. 

We do not hear enough about the brave 

souls who have lost their lives while 

trying to make the world safer for the 

rest of us, who willingly joined the 

military during a time of war, who 

want to serve our country. 

We all need to pay respect, to honor, 

and to remember the very men and 

women whose commitment, dedication, 

and courage are what make our country safe and to respect and remember 

the families they left behind. 

As we scale down our presence in Afghanistan and bring our service men 


tjames on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with SENATE