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Unanimous Consent Request--Executive Calendar
Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, I am here today to speak in support of the nomination and confirmation of Christopher Lowman to be the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment. We are in a fight for the free world and that requires maintaining a robust military presence of our allies, including and especially NATO countries.
Any U.S. mission also needs a strong logistics chain. That means being able to move troops, medical supplies, fuel, tents, anything else throughout the world at any given time. And this is no longer an abstraction. We have seen what happens when it isn't in place. We are seeing it in real time with Russia's equipment and training problems in Ukraine.
And that is why we have an Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment to lead on logistics. As we are watching the Ukrainians bravely push back this unprovoked Russian war, part of the reason that they are having success is that the Russian logistics chain is absolutely broken. We, in the United States, and our Armed Forces take logistics extraordinarily seriously. But we don't have the person in charge of that confirmed to lead the Department on logistics.
This position is left unfilled because Josh Hawley is blocking Mr. Lowman's nomination. Senator Hawley apparently disagrees with the Biden administration policy on Afghanistan, and so he is punishing our servicemembers and our NATO allies while a war in Europe is raging. It is worth repeating. Senator Hawley is mad about what happened 6 months ago in a different part of the world, and in response, he is harming the Department of Defense and our national security.
Mr. HAWLEY. Will the Senator yield?
Mr. SCHATZ. I will not yield.
Mr. Lowman is well-qualified for this job, and no one is disputing that. He is a Marine Corps veteran who spent nearly four decades working for the Army. He has the exact expertise necessary to help support our logistics chain and help to make sure that our military remains the best fighting force on the planet. It is time for Senator Hawley to release this hold and move the nomination forward.
This is preposterous. You can do a hold. Members do a hold. The Presiding Officer has done a hold. I have done a hold. I voted no on nominees. I retaliated against Democratic and Republican administrations when I disagreed with policy. But a blanket hold on the Department of Defense and holding the person in charge of our logistics chain is absolutely inexcusable.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the following nomination, Calendar No. 777, Christopher Joseph Lowman, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary of Defense, and that the Senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate; that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and statements related to the nomination be printed in the Record.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
The Senator from Missouri is recognized.
Mr. HAWLEY. Reserving the right to object, now that I have the floor, will the Senator from Hawaii answer a question?
Do you agree with this administration's policy to denying MiGs to the Ukrainians?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator may not interrogate the other Senator.
Mr. HAWLEY. Well, the Senator doesn't want to answer any questions. I see. He denied my request to ask a question a moment ago.
Mr. SCHATZ. Is there an objection? Does he object or not?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Regular order has been called.
Is there objection?
Mr. HAWLEY. I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard. The Senator from Missouri is recognized.
Mr. HAWLEY. Mr. President, thank you for finally giving me an option to speak. It is interesting, the Senator will come to the floor but doesn't want to engage in a colloquy or answer questions.
Let's talk a little bit about the policy--disastrous policy--that he is supporting. This is the White House's latest talking points that their failure in Ukraine is now due to some logistics problem and the Department of Defense--they, of course, can't be responsible for what they are doing, just like they are not responsible for anything. They are not responsible for what happened in Afghanistan--their policy. They are not responsible for what has happened in Ukraine--their policy.
Let's talk about their policy in Ukraine.
Mr. SCHATZ. Will the Senator yield to a question?
Mr. HAWLEY. So what has President Zelenskyy been asking for for weeks, indeed, months on end? He said: ``Send us planes.''
What has this administration done? No. Actually, first they said yes, then they said maybe, then they said no.
Today, the Secretary of Defense testified before the Armed Services Committee, under oath, that even though this Congress has appropriated
$3 billion in military lethal aid to the people of Ukraine, the Defense Department has so far given them less than one-third of it. Why, because of logistics? No. He was asked that. No, because of policy. His comment was: We are giving them what we think they need.
I would just point out that that is not what the Ukrainians think. If you listen to President Zelenskyy, if you listen to the Ukrainian parliamentarians who have been here, if you talked to them, what they will say is they need more military aid; they need more help.
This administration won't give it to them, not because of logistics but because of policy. We don't have a logistics problem; we have a Joe Biden problem, and we have had that problem in Ukraine from day one.
This administration's policy was to deter a Russian invasion of Ukraine. It failed. Why did it fail? It is not hard to see. President Biden came to office, what did he do?
Mr. SCHATZ. Will the Senator yield?
Mr. HAWLEY. When Ukraine asked for military assistance, he denied it.
Can we have order?
Mr. SCHATZ. I am asking, will the Senator yield.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri has the floor.
Mr. HAWLEY. When Joe Biden came to office, the people of Ukraine asked for military assistance a year ago--a year ago. Did he give it to them? No. He denied them military stance. He denied them lethal aid. What did he do, though, for Vladimir Putin? When he came to office, he green-lighted Vladimir Putin's pipeline. He turned their pipelines on. He turned our pipelines off. What did he do with American energy production? He throttled it down. He turned it off.
His first actions in office were to, among other things, cancel the Keystone Pipeline, halt the leasing program in ANWR, issue a halt to new oil and gas leases and drilling permits on Federal lands, impose tougher regulations on oil and gas and methane emissions, and a host of new regulations on other energy production.
And that had the desired effect. Russian energy production--up. Russian revenues--up. What has happened since then, since the invasion of Ukraine? It has been one gaffe after another. He won't send them planes.
Today, the Secretary of Defense also confirmed that this administration has, in fact, not been sharing intelligence with the Ukrainians. In fact, today the Secretary of Defense had to admit that the administration was going to be forced to change policy--his words--
change policy in Ukraine because of the fact we had not been sharing all the intelligence we might have with Ukrainian soldiers and the Ukrainian military despite their request for that. Whose decision was that? Joe Biden's. It is his policy.
The President hasn't been entirely silent. He did have this to say:
For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power.
Now Joe Biden doesn't appear to know whether we are fighting or struggling to help the Ukrainians defend themselves or whether we are launching a war of regime change in Russia, itself.
You know, the bottom line is this: On one issue after another, when it comes to Ukraine, this President has been wrong. On every aspect of policy that has mattered, he has been wrong. Is it any wonder the Ukrainians are saying: Change policies, share your intelligence, send us the aid that we have requested.
I say again, we don't have a logistics problem. The White House shouldn't point fingers and shift the blame. We have a Joe Biden problem. That is the nub of the issue here.
There was Joe Biden's comment sounding like we are going to send ground troops:
You're going to see when you go there--
He said to servicemembers.
And you . . . some of you have been there. You're going to see--you're going to see women, young people standing . . . in front of a damn tank, just saying, ``I'm not leaving. I'm holding my ground.''
The President--it is one gaffe after another. It is one switch in policy after another. It is disaster from beginning to end. And let's not forget where these foreign policy disasters really kicked off in a big way. Yeah, I was in Afghanistan. Am I concerned about Afghanistan? You are darn right I am. Thirteen servicemembers were killed at Abbey Gate, including one from my home State. I will never forget talking to his father as soon as we learned of the attack--before, in fact, the official notice of his son's death had been released. His father asked me to do everything in my power to hold this administration accountable, and that is exactly what I am going to do.
Has anyone been held accountable yet for Afghanistan? Has somebody been fired? Has somebody been relieved of command? No. Has somebody been shown the door? No. Has there been a change in policy at the Department of Defense? No.
We just stumble from one crisis to another. Why? Because we have a Joe Biden problem. This administration is doing exactly what their Commander in Chief wants them to do and it is wrong, again and again and again and again.
Until we see some change in policy from this administration, until this Senate gets serious about its oversight responsibilities at the Department of Defense, I am going to ask that for senior defense leaders, we at least observe regular order. I can't block a nomination. I can't halt it, but I can ask that regular order be followed. That is exactly what I am going to ask with regard to this nomination and other senior leaders until there is accountability, until we have a change in policy, and until this administration admits that on issue after issue, in virtually every aspect of its foreign policy, it is just dead wrong.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
Mr. SCHATZ. What Senator Hawley wants is an excuse to go through his litany of criticisms of the Biden administration. And the truth is that every Senator has that right without blocking the logistics guy from the Department of Defense.
He could have brought his floor charts out here and given a withering speech about all of the things that he thought went wrong. But he is doing a very specific thing: He is damaging the Department of Defense. We have senior DOD leaders, we have the Armed Services Committee coming to us and saying: I don't know what to tell him. I don't know how to satisfy him, but he is blocking the staffing of the senior leadership at the Department of Defense.
This comes from a guy who raised his fist in solidarity with the insurrectionists. This comes from a guy who, before the Russian invasion, suggested that maybe it would be wise for Zelenskyy to make a few concessions about Ukraine and their willingness to join NATO. This comes from a guy who, just about a month ago, voted against Ukraine aid. He is saying it is going too slow. He voted no. He voted no on Ukraine aid, and now, he has the gall to say it is going too slow.
And this final insult is that until--what--Secretary Austin resigns? That is not a serious request. People used to come to me during the Trump administration all the time: Do you think Trump should resign? Do you think Tillerson should resign? That is stupid. Of course, I think all the people I disagree with should quit their jobs and be replaced with people I love; of course, I think they should all resign. That is not how this world works. That is not a reasonable request from a U.S. Senator: Until the Secretary of Defense quits his job, I am going to block all his nominees. That is preposterous--and coming from a person who exonerated Donald Trump for extorting Zelenskyy for withholding lethal aid.
They withheld lethal aid until--unless--Zelenskyy would release false smears against Joe Biden's son, and then he voted to exonerate President Trump for this. So spare me the new solidarity with the Ukrainians and with the free world, because this man's record is exactly the opposite.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.
SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 62
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