Tom Udall

Mr. President, let me, at the beginning, thank Senator Carper for his incredible leadership on the Environment and Public Works Committee. He has a very good bill on cleaning up PFAS. I have signed on to it, and I am going to talk about some of the damage in New Mexico. As Senator Carper knows, this is a nationwide problem that the Department of Defense has major responsibility for.

This is a photograph of Art Schaap at his dairy farm in New Mexico, where he owns 4,000 head of cattle. Art's farm is located outside of Clovis, in the central part of the State, adjacent to Cannon Air Force Base.

Art is a second-generation dairy farmer. He and his family worked hard to build this dairy, keep his cows healthy, and provide nutritious milk to New Mexico and the Nation's consumers, but today Art will dump 15,000 gallons of milk. That is enough milk to give 240,000 children a carton of milk with their school lunch. He will dump another 15,000 gallons tomorrow and the next day and the next day.

Why is Art dumping all of this milk? Because highly toxic contaminants from Cannon Air Force Base have polluted the groundwater he uses to water his cows. The groundwater Art uses for his cows and for his family's drinking water is polluted by a group of toxic chemicals collectively known as PFAS.

We know PFAS are dangerous to humans. They are associated with increased risk of liver, testicular, kidney, and pancreatic cancer. They are linked to altered puberty, endocrine disruption, pregnancy disorders, and lowered fertility.

Art's dairy is ruined. He can't sell his milk. He can't sell his cows. He can't sell his property. He is spending thousands of dollars to maintain his cows and dump milk. In fact, the PFAS levels in Art's groundwater are 371 times greater than what the Environmental Protection Agency says is safe.

The Air Force knows it is responsible for this environmental disaster, but it claims it doesn't have the legal authority to provide clean water for Art's cows or to reimburse Art for his lost livelihood.

Art is not alone. There are other New Mexico dairies located near Cannon Air Force Base that are threatened. Those dairies have spent hundreds of thousands of their own dollars to install water filters to prevent them from losing their livelihoods.

The Department of Defense has identified over 400 military sites where PFAS were used. There are over 100 military sites nationwide with known PFAS contamination. This is a national problem of immense proportion. Yet this President's EPA refuses to issue drinking water standards for PFAS. It has issued only an advisory that does not have the force of law. This President's EPA has failed to even list these chemicals as hazardous substances eligible for Superfund cleanup. Our farmers and rural America deserve better--much better.

Although the Air Force claimed it had no authority to provide relief, the then-head of the Air Force, Secretary Heather Wilson, assured me in a hearing, under oath, the Air Force would work with me on legislation to secure that authority for the Air Force. Contrary to that assurance, the Air Force did not work with us on that legislation. They made it clear they don't even want the authority to help farmers like Art. So, in March, I introduced the PFAS Damages Act--along with Senator Heinrich and Representatives Lujan, Torres Small, and Haaland--to ensure compensation for those hurt and to make sure those contaminated sites were cleaned up.

I also joined Senator Carper's bipartisan PFAS Action Act of 2019 that requires EPA to establish PFAS as hazardous substances eligible for Superfund cleanup funds.

Clean water is not and should not be a partisan issue. New Mexico is a patriotic State and honors its military bases, but the Department of Defense caused this contamination and needs to make it right.

Senator Heinrich was able to include our bill as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that the Senate passed by an overwhelming margin of 86 to 8 in June. It looked like relief--relief owed to Art and others unfairly hurt--would be on the way, but 2 days ago, on Tuesday, the President threatened to veto the entire Defense bill if it gets to his desk with provisions to help farmers like Art and to clean up PFAS contamination.

That is a $750 billion bill for national security and defense he is threatening to veto because it requires cleanup of a known pollutant. Without a doubt, this is one of the most outrageous veto threats I have ever witnessed in 30 years in Congress--vetoing the Defense bill over help for farmers facing ruin? It is shameful. Republican leadership in the Senate and the House should join us and make it clear to the President that this is one veto that will be overridden.

On top of all of this, the President is asking the Senate to confirm Peter Wright, a top lawyer from Dow Chemical--one of the largest chemical companies in the world and the one that manufactured PFAS--to run the EPA toxic cleanup office. This nomination is more filling the swamp by this administration, more foxes guarding the henhouse.

EPA has slow-walked designating PFAS as hazardous substances under the Superfund Program Mr. Wright wants to oversee. Mr. Wright has recused himself from matters relating to Dow Chemical and therefore will provide no leadership on this pressing issue.

The American people deserve a nominee who will clean up current PFAS contamination and prevent future contamination. Mr. Wright can give no such assurance, and I will be voting no on his nomination.

I call upon the President to nominate someone who will commit to tackling this issue with the urgency it deserves and to withdraw his shocking veto threat so innocent farmers like Art can save their families' livelihoods.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I very much appreciate being joined on the floor by Senator Kaine and Senator Merkley. I appreciate Senator Kaine's very wise words. I think all of us are here standing up to hold the President accountable. We believe he should follow and obey the Constitution.

I rise to call upon this body to do its duty, to assume its constitutional responsibility, and to make it clear that the President cannot wage war against Iran without congressional authorization. Whether you are in favor of giving the President that authorization or whether, like me, you are opposed, everyone in this Chamber should vote in favor of our bipartisan amendment because a vote in favor is a vote to fulfill our sworn oath to uphold the Constitution. I appreciate that at long last the Senate will finally have this debate; that we will finally take this vote because these matters of war and peace are among the most consequential responsibilities that fall to Congress. These are the hard votes, and we must step up to take them.

I am proud to partner with Senators Kaine, Paul, Merkley, Durbin, Murphy, and Lee in this effort and to call

upon Congress to meet its constitutional responsibilities. After years of abdicating our responsibilities on matters of war, this entire body must stand up and show that we will not roll over for an unauthorized, unconstitutional war. We must pass this amendment.

This dangerous course with Iran began last May when the President unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear agreement. This hard-fought diplomatic achievement denied Iran the nuclear material required to even begin work on a nuclear weapon. Since this administration turned away from diplomacy and resorted to a maximum pressure campaign to box in Iran, the risk of war has steadily risen.

Just last week, we were 10 minutes away from a strike on Iran, 10 minutes from a nightmare of escalation in the Gulf. This week, the President threatened Iran. I am quoting his words here--these are pretty strong words--he said to Iran: I threaten them with ``great and overwhelming force,'' and he used the word ``obliteration.'' That is not diplomacy; that is a drumbeat toward war without congressional approval.

Tensions are the highest they have been in many years, and the risk of a costly miscalculation grows day by day. Just days ago, the President falsely claimed he does not need congressional approval to launch strikes against Iran. Article I, section 8 of the Constitution could not be clearer: It is Congress and Congress alone that has the authority to ``declare war.'' This is not a close call; the Founders placed this responsibility squarely on our shoulders. The consequences of going to war are profound, so this decision rests with the people's representatives, not one person--not even one President. It is time that Congress confront the administration's rejection of diplomacy.

Our amendment prohibits funding for military action against Iran without congressional authorization. It does not prohibit war altogether; it prohibits an unconstitutional war, a war that has not been authorized by Congress.

We must be accountable to the American people and to our men and women in uniform whose lives would be on the line. Our soldiers are brave enough to face the danger of war. If my friends in this Chamber believe they should, we should be brave enough to be held accountable for that decision.

Some have claimed that this amendment would prohibit the President from defending the United States against attack. That is wrong. It is completely false. This amendment and the War Powers Act incorporated as part of it allow the United States to act in self-defense. I am going to quote from our amendment. The amendment clearly states that it shall not be interpreted ``to restrict the use of the United States Armed Forces to defend against an attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its Armed Forces.'' It is explicit. The United States may defend itself against an attack by Iran. The claim that the military's hands would be tied in the event of an emergency has no basis and cannot be used as an excuse to vote against the amendment.

I am heartened, as Senator Kaine was and as I am sure Senator Merkley will also say, that Senator McConnell and the Republican leadership will finally allow debate and a vote on this amendment. This is what the American people want and deserve.

Over the years, Democratic and Republican Presidents alike have steadily encroached upon Congress's war powers, and Congress has tacitly allowed that encroachment.

I stood up to President Obama when he threatened to attack Syria without authorization, and so did many of my colleagues. I am standing up again now because the administration's reckless actions have brought us to the precipice of war.

Mr. Bolton and Secretary Pompeo's failed strategy has led directly to these heightened tensions, to the brink of war, with no benefits to show for their tactics.

The administration has reimposed and tightened sanctions on Iran three times--sanctions we agreed not to impose if Iran agreed not to develop nuclear capabilities.

Secretary Pompeo placed a dozen conditions on negotiations and then withdrew them.

Just this week, at the same time that Advisor Bolton claims we will talk with Iran anytime, the President sanctions the lead diplomat in Iran and tweets out his threat of obliteration, shutting the door on any diplomatic overtures.

This ping-pong diplomacy, manufactured crisis, and go-it-alone posture further diminish our world's standing and credibility. None of the signatories to the Iran nuclear agreement, including our closest allies, backs us in what we are doing.

This reckless diplomacy is dangerously reminiscent of the run-up to war with Iraq. But any war with Iran, with its military capability, proxy forces, and a population of 80 million living in a geographically perilous region, would be more disastrous and more costly than Iraq. Yet we continue to march up to the brink.

According to the President's tweet last week, he stopped a strike against Iran that he had already ordered because he learned at the last minute that 150 lives were at stake. I know I am not alone in being deeply alarmed at this decisionmaking--national security decisionmaking process. I know Members on both sides of the aisle share my concerns.

We must assert our constitutional authority. We must tell the President and affirm to the American people that we will assume our constitutional responsibility. And we must do so now before, through miscalculation, mistake, or misjudgment, our Nation finds itself in yet another endless war.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.