February 26, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 35 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session
All in Senate sectionPrev16 of 60Next
North Korea (Executive Session); Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 35
(Senate - February 26, 2019)
Text available as:
Formatting necessary for an accurate reading of this text may be shown by tags (e.g., <DELETED> or <BOLD>) or may be missing from this TXT display. For complete and accurate display of this text, see the PDF.
[Pages S1450-S1451] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] North Korea Madam President, finally, on North Korea--and I appreciate the indulgence of my friend from Illinois. There are a lot of topics and a lot of things going on today. As the President continues negotiations in Hanoi with the North Koreans, I want to restate that his goal should be complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of Korea. An agreement that includes significant U.S. sanctions relief in exchange for something short of that will be woefully insufficient. It will make North Korea stronger and the world more dangerous, not safer. To simply say to North Korea that we are going to let you continue to be nuclear in exchange for something else--a peace treaty or some words, a photo op--that is not protecting the security of the United States. I remind my colleagues, Congress passed sanctions against the North Korean regime for its appalling record on human rights. Congress would need to repeal that law for President Trump to give North Korea reliable sanctions relief. The North Koreans themselves should realize many of us in Congress will not, will not, will not--no matter what President Trump does, many of us in Congress will not remove this sanction relief until North Korea denuclearizes, verifiably and irreversibly. Make no mistake about it, no matter what President Trump does in Vietnam this week, this Chamber will have a significant role to play if President Trump decides to reduce sanctions as part of any deal with North Korea. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority whip. S. 311 Mr. THUNE. Madam President, last night, for the second time in a month, Democrats objected to a bill to ban infanticide. That statement to me is absolutely chilling, but for the second time in a month, Democrats objected to a bill that would do nothing more than state that a living, breathing baby born in an abortion clinic is entitled to the same protection and medical care as a living, breathing baby born in a hospital is entitled to. It is a pretty basic bill. It just says that living, breathing, born human beings are entitled to protection even if they are born in an abortion clinic, but apparently that is not something Democrats are prepared to say. This is where Democrats' support for abortions has led them--to being unable to condemn infanticide. Let's remember why we voted on this bill last night. We voted on this bill because the Democratic Governor of Virginia implicitly endorsed infanticide--because the Democratic Governor of Virginia got up and said that you could keep a living, breathing baby comfortable while you decided what to do with it. There is only one answer to what you do with a living, breathing baby, and that is to provide it with the care it needs. A baby born alive in an abortion clinic is no less valuable and deserving of protection than a baby born in a delivery room. It is horrifying that we are actually having a debate about this. Honestly, it is horrifying that the Democratic Party can't get up and say that infanticide is wrong. My Democratic colleagues like to talk about protecting the vulnerable, but how can they claim to care about helping those in need if they harden their hearts toward the most vulnerable among us? If they are willing to deny living, breathing babies basic medical care, do you really stand for the vulnerable if you can't stand up and say that infanticide is wrong? It is terrible enough that we have so far betrayed our founding principles as to deny the right to life of living, breathing unborn babies, but we are not even talking about abortion here. We are talking about withholding essential care from babies who are born alive. My Democratic colleagues can't even bring themselves to say this is wrong. I would say to my Democratic colleagues, do you really want to be the party of Governor Northam? Do you really want to be the party of infanticide? The American people don't agree with the Democratic Party on abortion and on infanticide. Most Americans believe that babies born alive after an abortion should be provided with medical care. Most Americans think there should be at least some limits on abortion. In fact, most countries in the world think there should be some limits on abortion. The United States is just one of a tiny handful of countries that allow elective abortion past 20 weeks of pregnancy. Among the others on that list are China and North Korea--not exactly the company we want to be keeping when it comes to protecting human rights. A recent poll found that 71 percent of Americans oppose abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Yet the Democratic Party is aggressively embracing an agenda of zero restrictions on abortion, ever, up to--and now, apparently, after--the moment of birth. I hope last night is not the last time we vote on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. I hope my Democratic colleagues have a chance to recast their votes. I hope, next time, they will decide to vote against infanticide. I hope, next time, they can affirm what should be a basic, foundational principle, and that is that every baby, wherever he or she is born, deserves to be protected. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois. Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I listened to the statements of my colleague from South Dakota. I would like to make a suggestion. Since the Republicans are in control of the U.S. Senate, since there is a Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I would suggest to my colleague that perhaps we have a hearing on this bill he just described. You see, it came to the floor yesterday without any hearing. And the reason why we need a hearing is that many of us--many of us--voted for an infanticide law, which is currently on the books--a law that says that a child needs to be protected and that those who don't protect that child are subject to criminal penalties, as they should be. Now, if this is a different approach to it, doesn't it at least merit a hearing from the Republican majority before it comes to the floor for a vote? There are many questions I would like to ask of those who propose this. I want to understand why the law that has been on [[Page S1451]] the books now for 17 years, as I remember, is inadequate to the challenges it faces. I supported the infanticide law. I will continue to. If there are any changes that the Republicans want to make, is it too much to ask them to have a hearing in their own committee, which they chair, on this subject matter? I hope they will take it seriously enough to do it. Critics have said this has nothing to do with changing the law. It is just a ``gotcha'' vote on the floor--an amendment which may be used against candidates in future elections. When it comes to children, something as serious as life and death should be taken much more seriously by the Republican majority.
All in Senate sectionPrev16 of 60Next