- 1 year ago
During a Senate Appropriations markup meeting on Thursday, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) spoke about the plane gifted to Donald Trump.
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00:00I will now turn to Senator McConnell for a manager's package.
00:05Thank you, Madam Chair. You have a collection that makes up the manager's package that we've worked through on a bipartisan basis.
00:17This package has been negotiated and agreed to, as I indicated by both sides.
00:23I ask that it be adopted by unanimous consent.
00:26Are there any objections? Without objection, the manager's package is agreed to.
00:34Are there members who wish to offer an amendment to the bill?
00:42Senator Shaheen.
00:45Thank you, Madam Chair.
00:49We are distributing the Shaheen amendment.
00:53I don't know if there's a number for this amendment, but it is just two lines, and it says,
01:03none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available in this act or any other act
01:08shall be used to operate or modify a Boeing 747-8I transferred from Qatar.
01:16Since it was announced in May, I think many of us on this committee have been trying to determine the exact cost
01:25of retrofitting the Qatari royal family's gift of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet to President Trump.
01:33In addition to the security and ethical concerns with accepting a foreign gift of this nature,
01:41there are real issues around the cost of this retrofit that have not been explained,
01:48as well as how long it will take and once that's done, whether, in fact, it will be as secure as Air Force One,
01:57which, as we know, is currently being completed by Boeing.
02:03It's been reported that the jet could cost up to a billion dollars for necessary security controls,
02:09but we've not been able to get an accurate estimate from the Air Force,
02:14and they've continued to downplay the full cost.
02:17When I asked this of the Secretary of Defense at the hearing, he told us that that number was classified.
02:27But finally, during the Air Force Secretary's testimony to the Defense Subcommittee this year on the Air Force budget,
02:35he admitted for the first time that the funds to upgrade the Qatari plane were reprogrammed from the nuclear modernization budget,
02:44specifically from the Sentinel program.
02:46Now, it's been reported that this transfer was done through reprogramming authority that was granted to the Department of Defense
02:56in the continuing resolution, and that it could be at least $900 million.
03:00I understand, like others on the committee, that the Sentinel program is over budget,
03:06but I think it weakens our credibility to take funding from nuclear modernization
03:11and move it into a project that there are still serious unanswered concerns about how much money it's going to take
03:21and whether it would, in the end, give us a plane that is going to be as secure as Air Force One.
03:29So, that's why this amendment, I hope the members of this committee will consider it carefully, and I intend to vote for it.
03:41Thank you, Madam Chair.
03:43Chairman McConnell.
03:45Well, this jet was just delivered to the Department of Defense.
03:52We'd need to have a classified briefing to understand any proposed modifications
04:00and the risk of not applying them.
04:03The aircraft timeline is such that it's not going to be modified with fiscal $26 in any event,
04:14making this a poison pill for political amendment better suited for the NDAA.
04:23Therefore, I would recommend a no vote.
04:27Are there other members who wish to speak?
04:31Senator Coombs.
04:32Thank you, Madam Chair.
04:33If I might briefly, I want to thank Senator Shaheen for offering this valuable amendment
04:36to prevent the Department from using nearly a billion dollars in taxpayer funds
04:41to retrofit the Qatari Royal Plains to serve as a temporary Air Force One.
04:45As she mentioned, it raises both security and ethical questions.
04:49The White House took advantage of the lax standards of the FY25 continuing resolution
04:54to push through a vanity project.
04:56Funds for the Department should be used for our nation's substantive defense,
05:00not a flashy object that boosts the President's ego.
05:03I urge my colleagues to vote yes.
05:05Senator Reid.
05:07Thank you, Madam Chairman.
05:08I, too, support Senator Shaheen's amendment.
05:11I believe Senator Murphy has an amendment on this topic, too.
05:15I was at the subcommittee hearing, and I asked the Secretary of Defense directly,
05:22can you tell us the top-line number for the reconfiguration of the aircraft and the delivery date?
05:28And he told us, no, it's classified.
05:31You know, that's ridiculous.
05:34If it's classified, I wouldn't classify it as secret.
05:37I'd classify it as embarrassing because it will cost at least a billion dollars,
05:42at least a billion dollars.
05:44And it probably will take one or two years to complete this aircraft.
05:50And we all know where this is headed, to the President's library,
05:57a fully functional aircraft which is going to be delivered to the President's library,
06:03which I presume he will use with the permission of the library,
06:08although the library will pay for it.
06:10This is completely, I think, unacceptable.
06:15It's never been done before by any President.
06:21To stop it now, I think, makes sense.
06:25Senator Murphy's suggestion, I think, is that at least it spends its useful life
06:30in the Department of the Air Force where it should.
06:32This is being transferred to the Air Force.
06:34But as soon as the President leaves office,
06:37a functionally useful aircraft is going to accompany him.
06:42The only precedent I think we have here is the aircraft at the Ronald Reagan Library
06:50in California, and that was completely stripped of its engines and everything else
06:55so there could be a model, a display.
06:59That's not the intent, I think, of the President right now.
07:01He wants a free plane when he leaves.
07:04So I would very strongly urge that this amendment be passed,
07:08and if not, Senator Murphy's amendment be passed.
07:12Madam Chair.
07:13Senator McConnell, then Senator Mullen.
07:16I just wanted to say to my good friend, Senator Reid,
07:21I'm proud of the fact that the NDAA passes every year,
07:24but this bill has to be signed, has to be signed,
07:30in order to fund what we believe is in the best interest of the country.
07:38Senator Mullen.
07:39Senator Mullen.
07:41I have a tremendous amount of respect for the ranking member,
07:43but I think the narrative that you're drawing is just not factual, sir.
07:47That has not been said.
07:48The President has never came out and said he's putting this in the library.
07:51He said it in a joke one time, but the truth is that the,
07:54because you've been in the briefing, I've been in the briefing,
07:56they actually talked about using this particular plane for the Vice President
08:01in the next presidential election, or the next president that sets President 40,
08:05whoever the 48th President of the United States is.
08:07They're talking about using the current one that has been in the air for over 35 years
08:11to possibly be retired and go in the presidential library.
08:14You and I sat in that same conversation, that same briefing,
08:18and so the narrative that you're drawing is just not factual.
08:20And then the plane itself, for those that don't know, but those that do know,
08:25because there's a few of us that was in the briefing that was on the armed services,
08:28this plane was offered during the President Biden's administration.
08:34They actually started negotiating this in August.
08:37And I was in Qatar when the prime minister originally supposed to talk to me about it.
08:42I came back and actually talked to our committee about it at the time
08:47because there was an issue on how they could actually do it,
08:49if it could be a gift or if it could be a transfer,
08:51or if the Department of Defense could take it or it could go straight to the executive branch.
08:55That conversation happened.
08:57And so the narrative that you guys were drawing just isn't accurate.
09:00And I wish if you guys are going to have concerns that you actually speak from it
09:04on an actual perspective, not a political point.
09:07Now, if we want to talk about dollars and what it's going to take to retrofit it, fine.
09:11We can do that.
09:13But the current Air Force Two is also completely outdated,
09:18and the current Air Force One is completely outdated.
09:22So what are we supposed to do?
09:24Keep flying old airplanes?
09:26I just want to know what the solution is here.
09:30Senator Murray.
09:31Well, thank you very much.
09:33Look, I think that President Trump's decision to accept this foreign plane is really an outrageous bribe.
09:40Under no circumstances should our taxpayers be on the hook for this massive cost
09:45to modify and use a foreign plane as Air Force One.
09:49The funding that Congress appropriates in this bill should take care of our service members
09:54and provide them with cutting-edge capabilities, not spent unnecessarily to retrofit a royal plane.
10:02This is massively wasteful, and actually the next generation Air Force One is already in the pipeline.
10:10And I also, by the way, think it is a huge security vulnerability on this plane.
10:15This amendment that the Senator's office offers would prevent the Department of Defense
10:21from wasting any more precious taxpayer resources on a truly corrupt and, I believe, wasteful endeavor.
10:28So I hope my colleagues vote yes.
10:31Senator Kennedy.
10:32Thank you, Madam Chair.
10:42I don't really have a dog in this hunt.
10:47I think like Senator McConnell, we ought to be driven by the numbers.
10:54And in order to be driven by the numbers, you've got to have the numbers first.
11:02But I've sat here this morning, and I appreciate the bipartisan words.
11:10But with all due respect, Madam Vice Chair, when you say that the President of the United States has been bribed.
11:19I said potential.
11:20That's pretty strong.
11:22When you say that the Director of the Office of Management and Budget is corrupt, that's pretty strong.
11:35And I think if you're going to say someone has been bribed or someone is corrupt, you ought to be specific.
11:45And I notice you haven't been.
11:50And I don't think this is – I've listened to a lot of pretty words about bipartisanship.
11:57But then we get personal.
11:59I don't think it's productive.
12:01It's up to you.
12:02This is America.
12:02You can say and believe what you want.
12:04But if you're going to say somebody's been bribed, you need to say specifically by whom, for what.
12:10But if you say Russ's vote is corrupt, I want to know what that means with all due respect.
12:20Senator Murkowski.
12:23Thank you, Madam Chairman.
12:24I am going to be opposing the Shaheen Amendment and perhaps others that may be introduced with regards to this aircraft.
12:36But I don't want my no vote to be assumed that I'm okay with where we are with this transfer,
12:48that I'm okay not knowing the numbers behind it, that I am perhaps okay with the appearances because I have concerns about them.
12:58But what I have is the utmost respect and regard for the chairman and the vice chair of this subcommittee
13:08that have executed a pretty strong defense bill.
13:13And I am going to vote no on this amendment, but that is because I think the imperative in passing this bill
13:27overrides any concerns that I may have now about where we are with this transfer of this aircraft.
13:37I just wanted that stated for the record.
13:38Thank you, Madam.
13:39Are there other senators to which to comment?
13:42Senator Chihine.
13:44Well, thank you, Madam Chair.
13:46And my intent is not to derail the underlying bill.
13:52But it is, and I would say to Senator Mullen and Senator Kennedy both, I didn't accuse anybody of fraud.
13:58I said it raises serious concerns about the implications.
14:03And I would say to anyone who is on SAC-D, if you haven't read the classified information
14:09about what is going to be entailed in producing this plane, you need to do that, because there
14:17are serious questions that haven't been answered, and they won't give us answers.
14:21So my concern is aimed at the Secretary of Defense, at, as I said, we finally got some insights
14:30when we heard from the Secretary of the Air Force, who admitted that the money is going
14:36to be transferred from the Sentinel program, which is already a concern for us.
14:41So I think there are serious concerns that are raised.
14:45I don't want to derail this underlying bill.
14:48I think it's really important for us to pass it.
14:51But I do think we ought to be asking questions about what's going on here, because there are
14:56real ramifications for our military, for the Department of Defense, for our future.
15:03And I agree with you, Senator Mullen.
15:05We need to have secure planes for the President and Vice President to fly in.
15:10And what's going to be done as the result of this is not going to give us that secure plane.
15:15And spending a billion dollars to do that, I think, is a real issue that we should all
15:21be concerned about.
15:22So thank you, Madam Chair.
15:24I'm happy to withdraw this amendment if there are concerns about it.
15:30But I do think we need to be paying attention, and we aren't currently.
15:35I appreciate the withdrawal of the amendment.
15:39Are there other amendments?
15:41I have a comment.
15:43I have a comment.
15:45I'm sorry.
15:45Senator Reid.
15:46Thank you very much.
15:48First of all, I hope my comments weren't interpreted as...
15:53It's on.
15:54I've got to get close.
15:56I hope my comments weren't interpreted as questioning the legality of anyone's activities.
16:04But the fact is that this aircraft has been thoroughly considered for donations to the
16:13President's Library.
16:14We all know that.
16:16And this is not something that's going to go in the Air Force and just be another Air Force
16:19aircraft.
16:19In fact, its ABC reporter, Attorney General Pam Bondes, and Trump's top White House lawyer,
16:26David Waggerton, concluded it would be legally permissible for the donation of the aircraft
16:30to be conditioned on transferring its ownership to Trump's presidential library before the end
16:35of his term, according to sources familiar with their determination.
16:38So, the contemplation is very clear, and it's been documented.
16:42This is going to be transformed with Air Force money and then given to the library.
16:50I don't think that's an appropriate use of Air Force money.
16:55Senator Durbin.
16:57Thanks, Madam Chair.
16:58I have an amendment which I'd like to have circulated to the Department of Defense, Bill.
17:05Madam Chair, this amendment would ensure the Department of Defense funding is used for defense,
17:12not as a blank check for the Department of Homeland Security.
17:16A few years ago, with the passing of Senator Inouye, I found myself, surprisingly, in a position
17:21of chairing this subcommittee.
17:23It is an enormous responsibility.
17:25I salute Senator McConnell, Senator Coons, and one of the best appropriation staffs on
17:30the Hill for putting together this massive work.
17:33But what they've tried to do, and was explained by both the ranking member and the chair of
17:37the subcommittee, is to take limited resources and make sure they're spent well to keep America
17:42safe.
17:43What I'm addressing here is a practice which many members of the Senate may not be aware
17:48of.
17:48This amendment addresses a practice where the Department of Defense is called on to loan
17:54money to other departments, sometimes reimbursable, sometimes not.
17:59This bill would prohibit the Department of Defense from supporting DHS immigration enforcement
18:04on a non-reimbursable basis.
18:08In other words, if the Department of Homeland Security is going to spend the money for that
18:12purpose, let them do so.
18:13But if they're going to borrow it from the Department of Defense, pay it back.
18:18Immigration enforcement should be no different than other agencies.
18:22For example, when we have a natural disaster and the Stafford loan is activated, we have
18:30had instances in the past where the Department of Defense has provided the money to pay off
18:35for that natural disaster with the understanding they would be paid back, except in extraordinary
18:41circumstances.
18:41So, it is done, but it's done on a reimbursable basis.
18:45So, let's take a look at what's happened so far.
18:49So far this year, in the last few months, the Department of Homeland Security has borrowed
18:53$900 million from the Department of Defense not to be reimbursed, $900 million.
18:59The estimate is, by the end of this year, it will be $2 billion.
19:04What does that mean?
19:05I'll give you an example.
19:06How are we going to house people who are being deported?
19:11You can house them through DHS facilities, or you can house them through the Department
19:15of Defense.
19:16The decision was made, let's do it at Guantanamo.
19:20How does that sound?
19:21Well, let's take a look at what that is costing, as an example.
19:25Over 180 individuals to be housed in Guantanamo for the Department of Homeland Security on
19:33a three-month basis cost $40 million.
19:37Hmm.
19:39How much is that per night?
19:41$72,000 a night for each one of the detainees, because they chose to put them in Guantanamo
19:48in a DOD facility and, incidentally, not reimburse the Department of Defense for the expenditure
19:54to do this.
19:56What if they used the DHS facility to house these individuals?
19:59How much would that cost, Senator?
20:01Less than $3.2 million for the same group of $180 million.
20:05Instead of a $72,000 a night place for them to sleep in Guantanamo, it's merely $7,000 a
20:12night.
20:13The point I'm trying to make to you is, is this going to be an expensive undertaking?
20:17This notion of massive deportation, it's going to involve moving around a lot of money in
20:23a lot of ways.
20:24Reconciliation already addressed some part of this.
20:27All I'm saying is that if you're going to borrow the money from the Department of Defense
20:30to pay for this massive deportation, pay it back.
20:34This money has been appropriated for the defense of our nation, and that's how it should be spent.
20:41Senator McConnell.
20:42Well, we've certainly had a lot of back and forth about the border over the years.
20:49Well, here's the factual situation.
20:54Unchecked migration at the southern border represents, we would all agree, a national security threat.
21:02The administration's policies, including DOD support to the border, have helped dramatically
21:12curtail the threat.
21:14As a practical matter, this is a poison pill amendment, but even more important than that,
21:20it's a hypocritical one.
21:22You may or may not remember that the Obama and Biden administrations used DOD assets to
21:31support border and immigration activities.
21:36In fact, during the previous administration, Democrats not only used DOD to assist DHS, but
21:44objected to efforts to get DHS to reimburse DOD.
21:51This is also a political debate masquerading as a budget debate.
21:56So I would ask my colleagues to reject the amendment.
22:01Are there further comments on the amendment?
22:05Senator Coons.
22:06Thank you, Madam Chair.
22:07Look, both parties support border enforcement and common sense immigration reform.
22:12DOD has been dragged, service members have been dragged into a separate set of activities,
22:19like paying for migrant detention centers or flying deportation flights that have no
22:23law enforcement on board.
22:25DOD's diverted hundreds of millions of dollars away from training and service members by reallocating
22:32these funds.
22:33As the former chairman of this subcommittee said, DOD's diverted about $900 million that
22:38this committee had appropriated for troops and they admit it will be in the billions
22:41before we're done.
22:43DHS was just provided $160 billion for these purposes.
22:48So there's no reason DOD should continue to provide this support on a non-reimbursable
22:53basis.
22:54There's lots of legitimate military needs we have to meet.
22:56I would encourage a yes vote on this amendment.
23:00Are there other senators who wish to be recognized on this amendment?
23:05If not, the clerk will call the roll.
23:10Senator McConnell.
23:11No.
23:12Senator Murkowski.
23:13No.
23:14Senator Graham.
23:15No.
23:16By proxy.
23:17Senator Moran.
23:18No.
23:19Senator Hoven.
23:20Nope.
23:21Senator Bozeman.
23:22No.
23:23Senator Capito.
23:24No.
23:25Senator Kennedy.
23:26No.
23:27Senator Hyde-Smith.
23:28Yes.
23:29Senator Hegarty.
23:30No.
23:31Senator Hegarty.
23:32No.
23:33By proxy.
23:34Senator Britt.
23:35No.
23:36Senator Mullin.
23:37No.
23:38Senator Fisher.
23:39No.
23:40Senator Rounds.
23:41No.
23:42Senator Murray.
23:43Aye.
23:44Senator Durbin.
23:45Aye.
23:46Senator Reid.
23:47Aye.
23:48Senator Shaheen.
23:49Aye.
23:50Senator Merkley.
23:51Aye.
23:52Senator Coons.
23:53Aye.
23:54Senator Schatz.
23:55Aye.
23:56Senator Baldwin.
23:57Aye.
23:58Senator Baldwin.
23:59Aye.
24:00Senator Murphy.
24:02Aye.
24:03Senator Van Hollen.
24:04Aye.
24:05Senator Heinrich.
24:06Aye.
24:07Senator Peters.
24:08Aye.
24:09Senator Gillibrand.
24:10Aye.
24:11Senator Assoff.
24:12Aye.
24:13Chair Collins.
24:14No.
24:15No.
24:16No.
24:17On this vote, there are 14 ayes and 15 nays.
24:35The amendment is not agreed to.
24:38Here chill in the process.
24:40No.
24:41No.
24:42No.
24:43No.
24:44No.
24:45No.
24:46No.
24:47No.
24:48There.
24:49No.
24:50No.
24:51Yes.
24:52No.
24:53No.
24:54No.
24:55No.
24:56No.
24:57Hi Hi.
24:58No.
24:59No.
25:00No.
25:03No.
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