Quorum call quorum call mr. Sanders madam president. The presiding officer the senator from vermont is recognized. Sorry. Mr. Sanders thank you. Madam president , since last week the senate has been quote, unquote, debating the presiding officer senator, were in a quorum call. Mr. Sanders i would ask that the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Sanders madam president , since last week, the senate ostensibly one of the great deliberative bodies in the world, supposedly, has been quote, unquote, debating the 740 billion National Defense authorization act. Its been a very, very silent debate because of the 700 amendments that have been filed to this bill. There has been no roll call votes on any of them. I do understand that in the managers amendments have been accepted, and thats fine, but weve had a vigorous debate but nobody in the world has heard that debate because theres not been one amendment here on the floor. And knowing the way the senate does business, i worry very much, and i hope i am wrong and i will do my best to prevent it, but i worry very much that we are supposed to be getting out of here for july 4 break. And light now it is a little after 2 00 on wednesday, out of here on thursday, im a little bit worried given the fact that 53 of the discretionary budget of the United States of america, im just a little worried about how amendments, significant amendments, are going to be offered. And let us be clear that over the last year we have been part of what i consider to be the biggest donothing senate in the modern history of this country. This country faces enormous crises in terms of a pandemic, enormous crises in terms of economic breakdown, enormous crises in terms of not guaranteeing health care to all people as a human right, enormous crises that in siberia last week the temperature was 100degrees which is frightening the Scientific Community because they understand this is the tip of the eisenberg regarding iceberg regarding climate. We have all of these crises and nothing is happening in the United States. I think it might be a good idead to start some real debate right here. And i have introduced six amendments, and i will discuss each of them that are significant. Other senators, democrats and republican have significant amendments. Given the fact that we have done virtually nothing over the last year, i think it is not inappropriate to have some serious debate on one of the very major pieces of legislation that we will be dealing with. Madam president , we are talking about a bill that will spend some 740 billion. That is more money in terms of military spending than the next 11 nations combined. Anybody have a problem with that . Well, some of us do. Maybe others dont. Lets debate it. Were talking about a bill that will be spending more money on the pentagon than we did during the height of the cold war and the height of the wars in vietnam and korea. Anyone have a problem with that . Well, i do. Maybe some other people do. Maybe you dont. Tell me why you think we should be spending more money on the military today in terms of inflation than we did during the war in vietnam. Lets debate it. We are talking about a bill that will provide 53 of the entire discretionary budget to the bloated and wasteful pentagon at a time when the Defense Department cannot even pass an independent audit. Weve got a huge budget for the pentagon, they cannot pass an independent audit, and the response of the senate is, well, lets give them even more money. It may make sense to some people. It doesnt make sense to me. In my view, it would be rather disgraceful for us to leave town, recess the senate for two weeks without getting a vote on a single amendment, and then come back in a couple of weeks to pass a 740 billion defense bill without any opportunity to amend that bill. Madam president , if the horrific pandemic that we are now experiencing where tens and tens of thousands of people are coming down with the virus every single day, if the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that National Security, the wellbeing of our people, protecting our people, is a lot more than just building bombs and missiles and jet fighters and tanks and submarines. Our people are in trouble today in an unprecedented way with the pandemic with an economic meltdown in which tens of millions of people have lost their jobs over the last couple of months. And we have got to focus on how we protect those people. And its not just spending money on planes and guns and bombs. Madam president , in order to begin the process of addressing some of the most important issues facing our country, i have introduced five amendments all of which i think are important and all of which i believe need to have a vote and a debate. And let me very briefly explain what those amendments are and what they would do. The First Amendment would reduce the military budget by 10 and use that 740 billion in saving to invest in distressed communities in every state in this country that have been ravaged by extreme poverty, mass incarceration, deindustrialation and decades of neglect. It is no secret to anybody that the American People are hurting. All across this country we have communities where unemployment today is 20 , 25 , 30 , where people are sleeping out on the streets, where schools are underfunded, where decreasing child care is virtually unavailable, where air and Water Pollution are rampant, and it is time that we stopped turning our backs on those communities. So what we are doing right now is focusing attention on the fact that 40 million americans are living in poverty. Half of our people are living paycheck to paycheck, and maybe, just maybe, instead of investing more money in Nuclear Weapons and submarines, and god knows what else, maybe we want to invest in our own people, in jocks, in health care, in education so that they can live their lives with dignity and security. I believe right now in the midst of all of the crises that this country faces, the crisis of the pandemic, the crisis of the economic meltdown, the crisis of Racial Injustice, the crisis of 100 Million People being uninsured or underinsured, the crisis of climate change, i think the American People want real transformation. They are tired of the status quo. They want a government which represents all of us, not the 1 and wealthy campaign contributors. And i do understand that the people behind this military budget who love it so much are the military Industrial Complex and the defense contractors. They are doing phenomenally well. Its a great budget for them. Their c. E. O. s made tens of millions of dollars a year. They make huge profits every single year. Its a good budget for them. Maybe we may want to get our priorities right and have a good budget for working families and lowincome families in america, and that is what my amendment does. And that amendment is being cosponsored by senators markey and warren. It is being supported by over 60 organizations throughout this country representing millions and millions of people, organizations like public citizen, union of concerned scientists, physicians for social responsibility and the coalition of human needs. And what these organizations are saying that maybe, just maybe, instead of investing in weapons of destruction, instead of spending more money on the military than the next 11 nations combined, maybe we should invest in our people. And what this amendment would do is provide funding, again, for 1,000 distressed communities from vermont to oklahoma who would receive federal funding to hire more Public School teachers, provide nutritious meals to children and parents, offer free tuition to public colleges, universities, or trade schools. Madam president , at this Pivotal Moment in American History, we have to make a fundamental decision. Do we want to continue spending billions on endless wars in the middle east, on weapons of mass destruction, of which we have more than enough, or do we provide decent jobs and education and health care for millions of people in our country . Further, madam president , a major reason why there is so much waste, fraud, and abuse at the pentagon is, in fact, that the Defense Department remains the only federal agency in america that hasnt been able to pass an independent audit. So that deals with the Second Amendment that i have introduced. I dont think it is too much to say that the Largest Agency of the federal government that you have to pass an independent audit. There is nobody in the senate who does not believe that there is massive waste and fraud at the pentagon, defense contractor after defense contractor has pled guilty to fraud. We have massive over loss overruns, and all that that Second Amendment that im offering does, which is cosponsored by senator grassley, longtime republican leader here, senator lee, republican from utah, and senator wyden of oregon and myself, all that were asking is that there be an independent audit of the Defense Department and that that be completed no later than fiscal year 2025. Not a very radical idea. Now the third amendment that im offering, i think is one that i would hope and expect would have large support right here. And i think those have support among the American People and certainly has widespread support among the medical community, the epidemiologists of this country. Just yesterday i was participating in a hearing of the health, education, Labor Committee and we had the leading experts in this country, including several representatives of the trump administration, dr. Fauci and others, talking about the pandemic and what we can do about it. And there was wried consensus wye spread consensus. Nobody has any doubt anymore except maybe donald trump that masks are an important preventive measure. Not going to solve all of the problems but the evidence is overwhelming that people who wear masks in the public when theyre around other people are less likely to transmit the virus or receive the virus. Nobody doubts that anymore. So the question that we have got to ask ourselves is how does it happen that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, the strongest economy in the world, we have doctors and nurses today who are dealing with people with covid19 who dont even have the personal be protective equipment that they need . How in gods name does that happen . Were spending 18 of our g. D. P. On health care, twice as much as any other country, and yet we cannot provide a 1 mask to a doctor or a nurse whose life is at stake. But its not only doctors and nurses. What a number of countries around the world are doing, which is very smart, is they are producing or acquiring large numbers of highquality masks and theyre distributing those masks to all of the households in their country. We should be making sure that every household in this country has the masks that they need. That will save us lives. Theres an estimate from the university of washington. It would save 30,000 lives in this pandemic if 95 of the American People wore masks. And it would save us substantial sums of money because its a lot cheaper to invest in masks than in hospitalization for those who have the virus. And i should mention that other countries not as wealthy as we, countries like south korea, france, turkey, austria, and others, are doing just that. And again, this is an idea that won support not only from dr. Fauci, but other leading Health Care Experts who testified before the help committee yesterday. Thats the third amendment. Making sure that we utilize the defense production act to produce the masks that our medical professionals need and the American People need. We can save tens of thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars by doing that. The Fourth Amendment i have filed madam president would prohibit funding for military aid and Logistical Support for the disastrous saudiled war in yemen. I believe it is past time that we put an end to our unconstitutional and unauthorized participation in this war. And on this issue, i am certainly not alone. A bipartisan majority of the u. S. Senate has already voted three times not once, not twice, three times to halt all u. S. Military support for the saudiled war in yemen. It is time for us to do that again. This time not just in words, but in action. No money going toward u. S. Participation in this horrible war which is destroying some of the, a nation of some of the poorest, most desperate people on earth. So thats the Fourth Amendment that i think would be hard for anybody here to deny that that is an important amendment because its already been in one form or another passed three times, so lets get some teeth into it. And the last amendment i have filed madam president mr. President , i am sorry, would reduce the Defense Budget by. 1 . 1 , not a lot of money, and use that money to make our nation safer by reaching out to people throughout the world by expanding educational and Cultural Exchange programs. In other words, the theory behind this whole bill is that by spending 740 billion building planes and tanks and guns and the most sophisticated weapons of mass destruction in the history of the world, that will make us safer. Well, im not so sure. Maybe what makes us safer is when we break down the fears and the hatred that exists between peoples all over the world. Maybe what makes us safer is when we get to know each other, that as human beings, whether were chinese or russians or iranians or brazilians or canadians, maybe we all share the same human aspirations. Throughout history it has always been easy to demonize people you dont know. Always easy. Thats what demagogues always have done. Were fearful of jews and blacks and irish and italians and gay people. So easy to demonize people we are not comfortable with and we dont know. Theyre not in our community. We dont know anybody. Lets demonize the people that are wrong, lets demonize the people in china and russia, which is not saying that i or anybody else here is in agreement with our policies. But are weapons the only approach we toward them . Yeah, we need a strong military. I believe in a strong military. But you know what i also believe is in a believe . Is that when we have kids go to the United States from other countries and when other countries are sending their kids, farmers, doctors, to america and when we get to know each other, weve got a shot to break down the irrational hatred which foments so many problems throughout the world. I can tell you as a former mayor, and im not alone, this idea of sister cities, not a radical idea. I suspect everybody here in the senate comes from a state where sister city programs exist. You have programs with cities in other countries. In vermont we have a number of them. I started some of them when i was mayor of burlington. It was a beautiful thing to see, kids from another country coming to our country, our people going to other countries learning. All im asking for is. 1 , 7 billion. No, less than that. 700 million to encourage cultural and Educational Exchange programs. By taking this tiny fraction,. 1 , from our Defense Budget and applying it to these Exchange Programs, we will send the message about the Critical Role that these Exchange Programs which exist all over this country already, but i want to see them grow, play in supporting not only american security, but our common global security. Therefore, i listed and described five amendments. Therefore, mr. President , i ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment and call up the following amendments en bloc Senate Amendment number 1788, number 1920, number 1789, number 1990 1919, im sorry, 1919, and number 1918. That they be reported by number, and further that there be two hours of debate on the amendments equally divided and controlled by me or my designee designee, and senator inhofe or his designee. And that following the use or yielding back of that time the senate vote on adoption of the amendments in the order listed without intervening action or debate. The presiding officer is there objection . Mr. Inhofe reserving the right to object. The presiding officer the senator from oklahoma. Mr. Sanders senator inhofe, did you have anything else you wanted to say on this . Mr. Inhofe and i will object, although i would like to have the opportunity to look at all five of these amendments to see which ones would not be consistent with the negotiation that is taking place right now. Id like to make sure that everyone understands, democrats and republicans at this very moment are looking at a lot of amendments as weve done every year for 60 years and to make sure were getting the right amendments to make the bill the best bill that we can have. Just take a few minutes for me to do this. Until then, id reserve the right to object. If we have a timing problem on this, i would object. It might be theres one id like to consider at this time. The presiding officer is there objection . Mr. Inhofe i object. The presiding officer objection is heard. Mr. Inhofe id like to be recognized too just to make a comment. First of all, i have Great Respect for the gentleman. I have worked with him many times. Weve really gotten quite a bit accomplished. I know that my friend is sincere in the statements that he makes. I find myself in a different position. I look and i see what has happened in previous administrations, and i saw that during the last five years of the Obama Administration