Unanimous Consent Request--Amendment No. 2457

Floor Speech

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Mr. CRAMER. Mr. President, in reserving the right to object, I, like the entire staff in the Chamber today and like the Presiding Officer for most of this time, has endured this for the last hour, an hour that has been very similar to the hour we had yesterday on the very same topic and with the very same motion to have the very same amendment passed in the Defense Authorization Act.

I am a member of the Committee on Armed Services. Prior to the Presiding Officer, I was presiding. I was honored to sit in that chair and watch the chairman of the Committee on Armed Services and the ranking Democrat of the Committee on Armed Services talk in glowing terms about each other and the bipartisan effort that has led to a National Defense Authorization Act that has considered 807 amendments to this point. As we sit here, 40 more amendments--20 by Republicans and 20 by Democrats--are being hotlined for further consideration for, hopefully, tomorrow's final passage.

The National Defense Authorization Act has been greatly debated. In fact, it has been the most debated bill that I have been part of since I got here. Not only that, the amendments that are represented in this 807 are almost, nearly, equally divided among the two parties represented in this great Chamber.

What we have been witnessing tonight is a diatribe--in some cases, fantasy but, in every case, an exaggeration and, in many cases, a fabrication. The good Senator from Oregon has shown us pictures of what democracy looks like. I don't disagree. We are self-governed. The exceptionalism of America is that we are self-governed.

Democracy also demands protocol in this Chamber, the most deliberative body in this world. Yet, without any warning--without any heads-up--here we are, dealing with a unanimous consent motion on an amendment that has already failed to get unanimous consent just in the last 24 hours on a bill that has already been debated for weeks and months. It included bipartisan amendments across the board. Then we are confronted with this breach of not only protocol but of--well, let's just say--common decency and respect for each other.

I do agree with the Senator from Oregon on this point: He is right in that we should have the debate, and that is why it is too bad that his amendment wasn't allowed to be debated in Senator Tim Scott's JUSTICE Act.

And the reason it couldn't be debated there was because he and most every one of his colleagues on the Democrat side other than three filibustered against Tim Scott's police reform bill.

I don't think they want a solution. They want to have this crazy rhetoric, demagogue all day and all night, wherever they can have a demagogue, and they want to blame President Donald Trump for the actions of criminals.

Now, I have heard it all when I have heard, from the Senate floor, antifa referred to as the anti--what did he call them? The antifascists. The antifascists. That is the way to sugarcoat thugs.

So for these reasons--and I could think of dozens of others, but I will spare you all and the staff this late night, getting later--I object.

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Mr. CRAMER. I think we have had enough debate.

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Mr. CRAMER. Mr. President, I don't object.

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Mr. CRAMER. Mr. President, I am just going to reiterate my final point one final time, and I promise not to take more time than the Senator from Oregon.

He had his opportunity to have this amendment considered, debated, and voted on in the JUSTICE Act, introduced by Senator Tim Scott, a bill that dealt specifically with police reform.

It would have been the perfect place to have the debate, except that my colleague voted against cloture so we couldn't even proceed to the bill.

I don't know how we could have made it any easier or better. In fact, when we took up the JUSTICE Act, he and his side were provided at least 20 amendment opportunities. We could have had the debate he seeks tonight at the appropriate time on the appropriate bill, and I am sorry that we didn't do that.

Perhaps after tonight's episode, he and his colleagues will reconsider, and perhaps before we are done this year, Senator Scott's JUSTICE Act could be brought to the floor and we could have an adult discussion and debate on amendments and on the bill and on all kinds of great ideas right here in the most august body in the United States. I hope that can happen.

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