NO. 36

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

The Senate assembled at 11:00 A.M., the hour to which it stood adjourned, and was called to order by the ACTING PRESIDENT, Senator SHEALY.

The following remarks by Senator SHEALY were ordered printed in the Journal of February 20, 2024:

Thank you, Mr. PRESIDENT. I have been quite interested in the activities of the day in here, but before all that happened, I was quite interested in the activities in the calendar we get every day. I was looking through it and somebody said, "Oh, we don't have that much that's objected to" but yes, we do. We have fifty Bills total on the calendar. We have sixteen Republican Bills that are objected to by Republicans. We have fourteen Bills that are objected to by Democrats. We have four whatever those things were that we got a while ago that everybody got so upset about. So, that leaves us sixteen Bills that we could work on, but every time we get to one, somebody carries it over. So, we wonder why we can't get anything done in here and everything we need to get done has to go on special order.

Now, I don't know what our problem is. I think we should look at everybody's Bills. If you've got a problem with it, you go talk to them. I don't have anything contested to, but maybe I should start using my five and start contesting to everybody's Bill whether I find anything wrong with it or not -- I wanted to get up here and say that, because as Republicans and Democrats, we ought to start working together. I can walk across here and talk to you all or you can walk over here and talk to us and then tell us what's wrong with our Bill before you just start slapping your name on it. Some of those names have been on the Bills for over a year. If you don't like it, tell us what you don't like about it. Don't just be obstinate and not do anything. There are a lot of Bills that come through here that I didn't like, but I stomached them. So just because you don't like it doesn't mean there's not forty other people in here that might.

Now today, I have suddenly found out, and that's just been since I walked in this room today, that there are a lot more people in this room that care about children's issues. Where did y'all suddenly come from? I mean, I've been working on children's issues for the last twelve years, and I have fought tooth and nail by myself to get them done. Suddenly, everybody wants to stick their thumb in the pot and tell me what I'm doing wrong. Well, maybe y'all should look at the Bill and come tell me what's wrong with it before y'all start trying to correct them out here on the floor and getting mad and trying to make everybody look bad.

So, if you've got a problem with it, come tell me, but don't start trying to get up here like you're all excited about children. We know what time of year it is, so if you were excited about children before, that's alright, but don't suddenly get excited about them now. Thank you.

On motion of Senator DAVIS, with unanimous consent, the remarks of Senator SHEALY were ordered printed in the Journal.

The following remarks by Senator HARPOOTLIAN were ordered printed in the Journal of February 22, 2024:

Thank you, Mr. PRESIDENT. Earlier I was talking to Senator KIMBRELL about a matter of international interest. It reminded me that I have been enthralled with a new television series called "The Masters of the Air". It is the story of the 8th Air Force B-17 bomber group that bombed Germany into submission -- in the sense that they had to pull their fighters back to cover Germany and left the channel open which led to D-Day. My dad was a member of the 8th Air Force B-17s out of a town near Cambridge. He went on thirty missions and bombed Berlin three or four times. As I watched the show it made me realize and remember these were teenagers. My dad was twenty-four -- the old man; thousands of them died. Thousands of them died. I pulled out something I hadn't pulled out in a long time, that is his diary that he kept on every mission. I want to share just one entry from January 6, 1944. This was his third mission, "We had no fighter cover over the target and on the way home boy was it rough. The fighters peppered us at will. A twenty-millimeter shell went off in the cockpit and wounded my co-pilot, Clements, in the leg. He was sitting in my seat. He says, 'The pathetic part about it is we lost two ships in our squadron, Born and Powell.' That is ten boys per ship that went down, twenty men dead. Born's brother had come over to visit him the day before the raid. They had not seen each other for over two years. The kid stayed here overnight and the next day Born went down. And so it goes, killed, damn, I hate it." How did we get there? In 1939, Hitler annexed and invaded countries that he considered part of Germany -- the Sudetenland, Austria, and that is how it began. From 1939 to 1941, until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, we stayed out of it. Now we did win these, but we said not our problem. And as a result, World War II ended in hundreds of thousands of American men and women dead. He lived through it. Many did not. We refuse to confront a tyrant, a thug, a murderer, and as a result World War II -- millions dead internationally.

Now, why am I talking about this today? Because we have another thug, a dictator killing thousands of people under the guise that Ukraine is a Russian territory. His goal is to expand and take countries to expand to the old USSR boundaries. He is a thug and a murderer. His political opponents, he throws out of windows, or poisons them, or most recently this week, Navalny was killed in a prison. This man's crime was speaking out for democracy against a dictator. We have supported Ukraine, but we are now floundering in that process. We are not living up to our commitments. If we continue our current path, that democracy will be taken by a thug dictator who will subjugate them and do away with democracy in that part of the world. I visit that part of the world. As you all know my wife is an ambassador in that part of the world. They are scared that we will fail to keep our commitments. So, talking to Senator KIMBRELL a while ago, who has relatives -- I believe his wife is from Ukraine. He understands that we as a country must support democracies like Ukraine. This is not some third world country. This is a democracy in the middle of Europe. If we do not support them with money and arms, your children or grandchildren may end up doing what my father had to do. Thank you.

On motion of Senator DAVIS, with unanimous consent, the remarks of Senator HARPOOTLIAN were ordered printed in the Journal.

At 11:04 A.M., on motion of Senator CROMER, the Senate adjourned to meet next Tuesday, March 12, 2024, at 12:00 Noon.

This web page was last updated on Friday, March 8, 2024 at 12:39 P.M.