-9999

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. WELCH. Mr. President, my colleague the Senator from Arizona speaks and spoke with the authority of a person who committed his life, before he came to the U.S. Senate, to the service of our country in the military. I do not speak with that authority. I speak with the gratitude of a citizen who has benefited from the willingness of folks like the Senator from Arizona to dedicate their professional lives to the defense of our country.

In that respect, as a citizen, I speak for what all Americans have come to expect and rely on, and that is the willingness of young men and young women to sign up for service in the military--among them, the people who make that commitment that this will be their careers. They do it day in and day out, being ready for whatever may come, being willing to respond to the call of the Commander in Chief no matter what that may be, and all of us citizens who have not worn the uniform may take it for granted that we have these folks out there.

What the Senator from Alabama is doing is essentially attacking that willingness to serve by pulling the rug out from under the people who have dedicated their lives, who have served with distinction, and who have earned the promotions for which they have been nominated by the President of the United States.

You can't have an organization that functions when you don't have leaders. You can't have an organization that functions when the people who have committed their lives to the profession and who perform with great distinction and get that nomination for promotion aren't promoted.

It does, as the Senator from Arizona described, erode morale, and it erodes the effectiveness of the institution. The cascading effects will be long term, and it is all on the basis of a willful determination to essentially abuse the men and women of the military and to abuse the military itself for an individual goal that is unrelated to the performance of the military but that has a very detrimental impact on the military.

But do you know there is another element here? We are Senators, so that is a big position, and there is a lot of authority that goes with that job. But can any of us look in a mirror and feel good about the use of that authority when the effect of that power as it is being used right now is just flat-out mean? It is mean to families. It is mean to kids.

You have folks whose lives are committed to the service of the military. They have been promoted. They are making a plan about taking children out of the schools they are in and getting them into new schools. That is incredibly disruptive, and it takes an immense amount of love and concern on the part of the men and women of the military to make certain, as they get promoted and move on in their careers and go from where they are to where their next assignments are, that they take care of those kids. That is incredibly important.

How can a Senator take an action that is going to cause so much trauma for innocent people--including the children of these people--who have earned the distinction of a promotion?

This has got to end. It has got to end. It has got to end because the citizens of this country are entitled to a functioning military, and a single Senator cannot intrude or should not intrude on the promotion process. This has got to end so that we show respect for families and the burden that goes along with moving from where you are to the next duty station.

So I join with my colleagues in calling upon the Senator from Alabama to stand down and let us act on these promotions. Our men and women in the military deserve it, our military needs it, and the citizens of this country are entitled to it.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source