00:00I have a condition to make a unanimous consent request.
00:04Without objection?
00:06Mr. President, actually, I'm going to ask unanimous consent that we go ahead and confirm General Cain as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
00:17But I must say that I do so with mixed feelings.
00:22On the one hand, we need a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff immediately.
00:27And there's overwhelming support on the Democratic side and Republican side for this nomination.
00:35On the other hand, passage of this confirmation would pretty much end our week.
00:44And that would prevent us from getting a lot of work done later on this afternoon and into tonight and tomorrow.
00:52If we have to stay until tomorrow to confirm this very important officer as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
01:00So, in a way, we can have it either way.
01:05But, frankly, to stay here and get some Congressional Review Act resolutions done so that we can end a number of the pernicious regulations,
01:18force it off on the American people and on our economy by the Biden administration, that has a lot of appeal also.
01:25So, with that in mind, and in an effort to accommodate members on both sides of the aisle who really believe we can finish our business today,
01:37I ask unanimous consent that the cloture motions filed yesterday on Executive Calendar No. 75, No. 75 and No. 74,
01:47making General John Cain, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ripen at 3 p.m. time today.
01:55Is there objection?
01:57I object.
01:58Objection is heard.
02:00Mr. President, I may have other unanimous consent requests,
02:07but if I could be heard on this matter for another moment, I would seek recognition for that purpose.
02:15The senator is recognized?
02:18And I'm happy to yield to my friend from Alaska, who has now vacated the floor.
02:26I thought we had this more synchronized, Mr. President.
02:31But let me say this.
02:33There was a vote earlier this week in the Armed Services Committee.
02:38It passed the Armed Services Committee with overwhelming Democrat and Republican support.
02:4523 yeses and only four noes.
02:49So there's really no reason to delay this any longer.
02:53And frankly, there's so much going on around the world with the four powers that constitute an axis of aggression to the United States,
03:04that we really should give the president the choice that has been endorsed so overwhelmingly by a bipartisan majority of the Armed Services Committee.
03:15And with that, having communicated better now with my dear colleague from Alaska,
03:23I would yield to the junior senator from the state of Alaska.
03:27Mr. President.
03:28I recognize the senator from Alaska.
03:32Mr. President, I certainly hope my Democratic colleagues can let us move forward on this.
03:36We're going to stay all night until we get the president's chairman of the Joint Chiefs confirmed.
03:43Now, look, I know there was some concern about removing General Brown, C.Q. Brown.
03:47I actually really like General C.Q. Brown.
03:50I thought he did a good job.
03:51I've publicly stated a number of times that he served his country very well.
03:58But here's the deal.
03:59The president of the United States is entitled to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs that he wants.
04:07And you look at history, senior military commanders on Democrat side, on Republican side,
04:13if the president doesn't feel comfortable with them, he has the right to remove them and move on.
04:19That's just our history.
04:20That's happened with Democrats.
04:22George W. Bush wasn't comfortable.
04:24General Peter Pace, he was a Marine.
04:27I happen to respect him a lot.
04:29He said, hey, I'm not comfortable.
04:30I'm moving to another chairman.
04:32President Obama fired two very senior four-star generals inside of two years.
04:38One was General McChrystal, one of the most seasoned warriors, you know, in a generation of warfighters.
04:47And he removed them.
04:50And so President Trump clearly had the authority to remove General Brown.
04:56He has now put forward General Cain, who, by the way, everybody on the committee,
05:02Armed Services Committee, thought he did a great job.
05:05He's going to get a really big vote here.
05:07So why are we delaying it?
05:10I don't know.
05:12Doesn't make any sense to me.
05:13The president deserves a senior military advisor.
05:17That's what the chairman of the Joint Chiefs is, his senior military advisor.
05:21The president needs to feel comfortable with that person.
05:24That person's actually out of the chain of command.
05:27And we've seen throughout history that when the president doesn't feel comfortable,
05:32he can move, remove one general, and bring in another one.
05:39And that's what's happened here.
05:40And we should confirm General Cain immediately.
05:43I think he's going to do a really, really good job.
05:46Matter of fact, Mr. President, I've interviewed, sat down with, served under hundreds of flag officers.
05:55General Cain is one of the most impressive I've ever met.
05:58So we need to get on with it.
06:00And, you know, there's these press stories about, you know, why President Trump removed President, or General Brown.
06:08I think it's just because he wanted to have a general who he trusts and feels comfortable with.
06:16And that's exactly his right as the commander in chief.
06:18So we should move on.
06:20General Cain's going to get a very, I think, significant bipartisan vote.
06:25He should.
06:27And if the minority leader wants to object, we'll just grind it out all night and get it done.
06:33I want to make it reclaimed my time to ask my distinguished friend from Alaska a question.
06:45The senator from Alaska has the floor, and he can yield for a question.
06:48I yield to my good friend from Mississippi.
06:51Yes, that's correct.
06:52Well, I would then ask my distinguished friend from Alaska.
06:55Isn't it a fact that General Cain, time and again, has demonstrated his aptitude and leadership abilities
07:05while actually deployed in combat zones, leading service members in Iraq and Syria,
07:11and while serving in various special operations force units,
07:15and also in the intelligence community?
07:18And that he ran some of our most secretive programs for the security of Americans?
07:24That's absolutely my good friend from Mississippi.
07:28The chairman of the Joint Chiefs, by the way.
07:31I mean, sorry, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, by the way.
07:34A senator who knows probably more about the military than anyone else here has it exactly right.
07:39General Cain has this breadth of experience, not just a fighter pilot with thousands of hours, combat hours in flight,
07:48but has worked very closely with our intel services, has very significant combat experience in Iraq and Syria.
07:57Very interestingly, Mr. President, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee knows this, has private sector experience.
08:07And you would say, well, why does that matter?
08:08It actually matters a lot because of our military and the need to integrate our very powerful private sector.
08:16So he brings a wealth of experience that, to be honest, in my 10 years in this position as a U.S. senator on the Armed Services Committee,
08:26in my 30 years in the Marine Corps, I have never seen a general that brings it all together.
08:31So I think he's going to be outstanding and exceptional.
08:39If the gentleman would further yield, and I just wondered if the gentleman would yield to the distinguished minority leader
08:52to ascertain how this matter is going to be resolved differently if we wait until tomorrow.
09:02If the gentleman has the floor, perhaps he would do so.
09:06Mr. President, I would yield to the distinguished minority leader,
09:09and maybe having him watch this distinguished debate between me and the chairman of the Armed Services Committee
09:18has convinced him to bow to the inevitable, and that's the confirmation of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
09:29Senator from Alaska has the floor.
09:32Senator from New York is not seeking recognition.
09:35Maybe this minority leader will explain why he's objecting,
09:40given that we just laid out very cogent, strong reasons that we need to move forward
09:48on confirming the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
09:52Right now, it's a very dangerous world.
09:54Why would we wait?
09:55I'm curious on what the minority leader says.
10:00Now, yield the floor if he has an answer.
10:07Senator, yield the floor.
10:09Senator, yield the floor.
10:11To answer that inquiry that I asked you.
10:13I asked him if I put the floor on the floor.
10:18The clerk will call the roll.
10:20It's also Brooks.
10:21I don't have another one.
10:26I asked that the quorum call be officiated.
10:51I asked that the quorum call be officiated.
10:53Is there objection?
10:54There is an objection.
11:24There is an objection.
11:54There is an objection.
12:24Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to vitiate the quorum call.
12:41Mr. President, I just want the American people who are watching, those who care about our
12:49national security, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee just had a colloquy here
12:54on the floor talking about why we needed to move the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
13:02to get confirmed on the Senate here.
13:07And I, and the chairman of the Armed Services Committee respectfully asked the question
13:13of the minority leader, Democratic minority leader, why are you blocking this?
13:18And you may have seen he just walked off the floor.
13:21He didn't answer.
13:22I don't know if he has an answer.
13:24If he has an answer, it sure would be good to hear what the answer is, because we need
13:29President Trump's chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed.
13:33And I bet he gets a strong bipartisan support in terms of his confirmation, because he's
13:38very qualified, and yet without any explanation, the minority leader of the U.S. Senate just
13:47said, I object, and he walked off the floor.
13:50I hope the press reports on that.
13:52Holy cow, that's kind of big news.
13:55And if we have to be here all night, jamming down on them to get the chairman of the Joint
14:00Chiefs of Staff confirmed, because our country needs it during a very dangerous time.
14:05A general who's immensely qualified, then that's what we're going to do.
14:11But it sure would be easier to just agree with us, start moving on the boat, and get
14:17this highly qualified general confirmed as President Trump's chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
14:24But what you just witnessed, for anyone watching, the American people watching, was a non-debate.
14:30My good friend from Mississippi and I were describing why we need to move this forward.
14:37The minority leader of the U.S. Senate, who has the power to do it, just said, I object.
14:41Normally, on the Senate floor, when someone objects, they explain why.
14:46But he didn't want to do it.
14:48Just walked off the floor.
14:49So that's what we just witnessed.
14:51A little bit unusual, particularly when it comes to a confirmation that's so important.
14:57There's very few confirmations that the U.S. Senate does that are more important than confirming
15:02the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
15:06And I guess the Democrats are going to block it for now, and we will go all night to make
15:11sure President Trump has his principal senior military advisor, which he needs during these
15:18dangerous times.
15:19I yield the floor.
15:25Clerk will call the roll.
15:27Mr. Alsterbrooks.
15:28Mr. Alsterbrooks.
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